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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is based upon, and claims the priority filing date, of previously filed, pending provisional application Ser. No. 60/389,082, filed Jun. 14, 2002, and entitled Acoustic Impedance Matched Concrete Finishing Equipment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to powered, concrete finishing equipment for treating concrete surfaces, including motorized concrete trowels, vibrating screeds, and the like. More particularly, our invention relates to a system for maximizing the mechanical power inputted to freshly placed concrete by finishing machines of the aforementioned character, by matching the characteristic acoustic impedance of the parts said machines that contact said concrete surfaces to that of the freshly poured concrete.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of relatively large, usually powered implements are well recognized in the concrete placement industry for finishing fresh concrete. For example, the prior art includes a vast number of differently-configured screeds and strike-offs comprising elongated spans of metal that directly contact freshly poured concrete. Typical screeds may float upon the surface being treated, they may be suspended or supported between and upon suitable forms. Usually a plurality of spaced apart vibrators are rigidly mounted along the length of the screed or “strike-off” to vigorously distribute vibrational energy, as the raw concrete is pre-shaped and fresh concrete is struck off. As the freshly poured concrete hardens, subsequent finishing begins with pan-troweling.
While relatively small job applications are adequately finished with single-rotor “walk behind” trowels, larger self-propelled riding trowels, often equipped with multiple engines and power steering controls, can rapidly finish extremely large surface areas. High power riding trowels offer significant advantages well recognized in the art. Typical power riding trowels have two or more downwardly projecting rotors that contact the concrete surface and support the trowel weight. Each rotor comprises radially oriented, spaced-apart finishing blades that frictionally revolve upon the concrete surface. These blades secure circular finishing pans that start the panning process while the concrete is still green. When the rotors are tilted, steering and propulsion forces are frictionally developed by the blades (or pans) against the concrete surface, enabling the operator to control and steer the apparatus. Troweling typically commences with the panning of green concrete, and as the material hardens, troweling is concluded with the trowel blades after removing the pans.
Much activity in the concrete industry pertains to highway building. There are two basic methods of laying concrete pavement: fixed-form paving and slipform paving. Fixed-form paving requires the use wooden or metal side forms that are set up along the perimeter of the pavement before paving. Slipform paving does not require any steel or wooden forms. A slipform paving machine extrudes the concrete much like a caulking gun extrudes a bead of caulk for sealing windows. In general, slipform paving is preferred by contractors for large paving areas where it can provide better productivity with less labor than fixed-form paving.
There are a variety of different fixed-form paving machines. The least complex are vibratory screeds, and revolving tubes. These hand-operated machines finish the surface of the pavement between fixed forms. Larger, form-riding (or bridge deck) machines are self-propelled and also place and consolidate concrete between fixed forms. These machines either ride on the forms or pipes laid outside the forms, or on curb and gutter.
All slipform machines use the principle of extrusion. The manufacturers provide a variety of sizes for everything from municipal curb and gutter to airport work. Some machines are also equipped with automatic finishing equipment and equipment to automatically insert dowel bars into the pavement at transverse joints. These devices are called Dowel Bar Inserters or DBI's.
While paving, slipform paving machines are equipped with sensors to follow stringlines that are put into position along either side of the paving area. The stringlines control the paver direction and surface elevation. All slipform machines also are equipped with vibrators to help consolidate the concrete and ease the progress of paving by making the concrete more fluid. The vibrators are located toward the front of the machine ahead of its profile pan. The profile pan is the part of the paver that actually extrudes the concrete creating the final shape of the slab. After the fixed-form or slipform equipment passes, most contractors have crew members use hand-tools to further finish the slab. These operations are called: finishing, floating or straightedging.
The entire set of paving and placing machines and activities is called the paving train. On a highway project the typical paving train consists of a spreader or belt placer, slipform paver, and curing and texturing machine. Smaller paving projects may use only the slipform machine. Many different moving parts can thus touch and shape the plastic concrete. It is our goal to modify said parts in an effort to streamline the application process, and to transfer as much energy as possible into the concrete “load” being manipulated by the concrete machinery.
Holz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,484, shows a pioneer, twin rotor, self-propelled riding trowel wherein the rotors are tilted to generate steering forces. U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,212, also issued to Holz, shows a three rotor riding trowel powered by a single motor. Although the designs depicted in the above two Holz patents were pioneers in the riding trowel arts, the devices were difficult to steer and control.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,220, owned by Allen Engineering Corporation, the same assignee as in this case, relates to an improved, fast steering system for riding trowels. It incorporates a steering system to enhance riding trowel maneuverability and control. The latter fast steering riding trowel is also the subject of U.S. Des. Pat. No. 323,510, owned by Allen Engineering Corporation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,801, issued Mar. 25, 1997, to Allen Engineering Corporation, discloses a power-riding trowel equipped with separate motors for each rotor. Steering is accomplished with structure similar to that depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,220 previously discussed.
Allen Engineering Corporation U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,258 discloses a multiple-engine riding trowel. Allen Engineering Corporation U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,667 discloses a twin engine riding trowel using “contra rotation.”
Modern riding trowels, such as the Allen trowels with multiple motors listed above, are characterized by relatively high power. Simply stated, high-powered riding trowels with power steering and hydraulic controls finish extremely large concrete surfaces faster. Earlier riding trowels used manually-operated levers for steering—a design limitation that limited their effectiveness. Such trowels can be cumbersome to control, and the operator can fatigue relatively rapidly. Modem high-power trowels with features such as hydraulic power steering are much easier to control and they are less stressful to the operator. Allen Engineering Corporation, the owner of this invention, has developed high power, hydraulically controlled trowels illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,106,193, 6,089,787, 6,089,786, 6,053,660, 6,048,130, and 5,890,833. It is now well recognized that power steering systems engender the maximum overall performance. Quick and responsive handling characteristics optimize trowel efficiency, while contributing to operator safety and comfort.
The forces exerted upon concrete by the blades or body of the chosen finishing device are many. For example, frictional forces are developed and experienced by blade contact upon the concrete surface as the trowel rotors, from which they project, forcibly revolve. Compressive forces are applied at the surface by the distributed weight of the finishing apparatus. Most importantly, a variety of forces are applied throughout the partially uncured slab by the trowel.
Vigorous vibrational forces developed and distributed by finishing screeds help solidify concrete, and, importantly, water is encouraged to migrate to the surface. Proper setting during the finishing process enhances surface quality, and minimizes delaminating problems. If vibrational screeding is optimally conducted immediately after a pour, a stronger, more chip-resistant concrete surface will result, thereby minimizing unwanted delamination.
Power trowels develop vibrational forces largely as a consequence of the high powered motor or motors, the drive train, and blade or pan contact in response to rotor rotation. Local variations in the coefficient of friction and in the inertial and gravitational forces applied to the surface of the concrete result in rapid and irregular changes in these forces. The result is intense and constant vibration that is applied to the surface of the concrete.
When poured concrete is still uncured, trowel panning proceeds. It is well recognized that optimal panning contributes to the production of a flat, smooth and uniform surface, reducing the likelihood of subsequent delamination. Shortly thereafter the trowel pans are removed and blade-troweling can enhance the finishing process by providing a highly polished surface of desired hardness. Through each of these processing stages, the vibrational energy acts on the concrete as it progresses through the finishing process. Numerous vibrational forces are generated intentionally during concrete finishing. For example, common screeds distribute vibration generated by mechanical vibrators secured to their frame. However, much vibrational energy imparted to the concrete during finishing originates from inherent vibrations caused by a combination of sources. Vibration results from motors and rotating parts, from equipment friction, from pressures applied by the apparatus upon the surface, and from movement of the trowel over the surface. The results of that action can be either useful and helpful or harmful and ineffectual depending upon the nature of the vibration and upon the condition of the concrete when it is applied.
The amount of energy that is introduced to the concrete from the finishing equipment depends upon the intensity of the applied forces and the amount of energy that is reflected back from the concrete toward the energy source. Various physical properties of the vibrating equipment and of the concrete being finished affect the energy transmission rate and efficiency. Parameters affecting the rate of transmission and reflection of acoustic energy relate to acoustic impedance. When the acoustic impedance of the energy source substantially equals that of the energy destination, the impedances are “matched” and there is no reflection of the acoustic energy away from its destination back toward its source.
The basic method of matching acoustic impedances consists of mechanically joining a source of sound energy—a vibrator or a loudspeaker or some other source—to another object that is to be vibrated such as your eardrum or a microphone. There may in fact be several linked objects in an acoustic power train. In the most general form, there is a source of sound energy (such as a converter of electrical energy to mechanical energy, represented by the voice coil in a loudspeaker) and an absorber of sound energy (such as the load to which sound energy is applied.)
In each stage of the power train, where the form of acoustic energy is altered or where the medium in which the energy travels is changed, there exists an interface through which the energy moves. This discussion assumes that the interface is an abrupt change in nature, but it may actually be a continuous transition having a gradually changing nature. It is the impedance variation at each interface that determines the nature of energy transmission.
The energy at each interface will undergo some combination of transmission (passing through it) and reflection (reflection from it), depending upon the impedance relationship. When sound impinges on an interface where the direction of propagation is at an angle to the interface, the sound may also be bent (refracted), but in this discussion we are only considering cases where the direction of propagation is normal to (perpendicular to) the interface.
The transmission coefficient, the fraction of the energy that is transmitted through the interface, is
T =(4 Z 1 *Z 2 )/( Z 1 +Z 2 ) 2
where Z 1 and Z 2 are the acoustic impedances before and after the interface. Conservation of energy requires that the sum of the reflected energy and the transmitted energy totals the incident energy; there is no loss within the interface, which is a dimensionless surface rather than a physical object. The reflection coefficient, the fraction of the energy that is reflected from the interface, is 1−T.
It is not readily apparent that the transfer of energy from a concrete finishing tool (trowel, float, etc.) to the concrete being finished is an acoustic process. It is not enough to say “it makes a noise”—although it does. The noise itself is certainly acoustic in nature. The fundamental factor is that there is a transfer of energy. If there were none, then troweling would have no finishing effect and it would have no lasting influence on the concrete. Since energy is transferred, and since there is no significant net change in the elevation of the concrete resulting from troweling, the only mechanism for energy transfer is the input of mechanical oscillation, which is acoustics.
Recognizing that many of the aspects of working with concrete involve the transfer of acoustic energy, it becomes easier to understand the physical mechanisms of such concrete work. For example, in the past we have asked the question “Why do floats made of wood or magnesium bring up water and fines while steel floats seal the surface, trapping the fines and water?” No one had any answer except some form of “It has always worked that way.”
The frequency distribution of the vibrational energy applied by typical finishing machines of the character described is concentrated within relatively narrow bands of acoustic frequencies. As will be recognized by those with skill in the acoustic arts and/or familiarity with wave transmission theory in physics, the concrete masses being vibrated have a characteristic acoustic impedance. Further, the finishing machinery involved exhibits a characterized acoustic “output impedance.” Those with skill in the art of physics will appreciate the fact that, in general, the energy transfer between a given “source” and a given “load” will be optimal when the impedance of the load is approximately the same as the impedance of the source. This general principle finds examples in radio antenna theory, acoustic audio applications, and in kinetics of moving systems. We have postulated and experimentally confirmed that the vibrational energy transferred into a concrete slab by a given finishing machine will be maximized when and if the load impedance that the machine experiences is approximately the same as the machine output impedance.
Stated another way, energy transfer will be maximum when there is a minimal acoustic “standing wave ratio” (i.e., “SWR.”), which ideally should approach 1:1. Typically however, with prior art concrete finishing devices known to us, there is an appreciable mismatch between the acoustic load impedance characterizing the concrete slab, and the acoustic output impedance exhibited by the finishing machine. As the realized SWR greatly exceeds 1:1, energy that could otherwise be imparted into the concrete “load” is instead “reflected” back into the machine, unnecessarily shaking its structure and in the case of riding trowels, the machine operator. Since acoustic energy is transferred in the process, it is natural to look at the acoustic impedances of the interfaces.
Concrete too has characteristic impedance values which change as the concrete changes—sets and cures. Values of impedance for a typical unvibrated concrete as it ages are tabulated below:
TABLE 1
Concrete Impedance At Time After Initial Placement
Condition:
Fresh
2 hour
3 hour
4 hour
6 hour
10 hour
4 day
Cured
Impedance:
2.7
2.8
2.3
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
One possibility for our method is the use of an impedance matching insert, or transmission plate: Considering the simplified case where energy is assumed to be transmitted into the concrete in a direction normal to the surface being finished, two conditions are required to approach 100% transmission of the energy into the concrete (i.e. an acoustic SWR of 1:1). In general, the required characteristic impedance Z o of a quarter wave matching section applied between a source impedance, Z s and a load Z R is governed by the relationship:
Z o 2 =( Z s 2 *Z R 2 ).
The specific acoustic impedance of the transmission plate is the square root of that of the source and destination layers:
Δ II c II =(Δ I c I *Δ III c III ) 1/2 .
where Δ is the material density, c is the speed of sound in the material, and I , II and III refer to the source layer, the transmission plate, and the destination layer respectively. Using the physical properties given in the table below, and assuming that the energy source is made of steel, the transmission plate must have an impedance of about 10.8 N-s/m 3 .
TABLE 2
Selected Acoustic Properties
Speed of sound
Acoustic Impedance
Material
(m/sec)
Density(kg/m 3 )
(N s/m 3 × 10 −6 )
fresh concrete
1000
2500
2.5
Magnesium
5800
1740
10.1
steel
5900
7860
46.4
Granite
3950
2750
10.9
The second required condition is that the thickness of the transmission plate equals one-quarter wavelength of the transmitted sound. Although the vibrational energy extends across a spectral band of frequencies, because of phenomena called “resonance”, maximal energy will be concentrated in a relatively dominant frequency. When the frequency of operation is fixed by an active transmitter or by a frequency-selective aspect of the system, design is simple; at other times, a resonant condition may determine the operating frequency. More generally, a combination of circumstances will set a range of frequencies. Testing of the equipment will provide design information. If there are no other frequency-determining factors, selection of a transmission plate thickness will force the system to operate at the condition of maximum transmission power based on the same quarter-wavelength criterion. Then, thickness selection will result in setting a resultant frequency that maximizes transmitted power.
For example, if power is to be provided to a four-inch thickness of concrete then it will be most effective when the frequency of operation corresponds to that thickness representing a quarter-wavelength of the sound energy. Fresh concrete has a sound speed of close to 1000 meters per second, so a quarter wavelength of four inches (0.1 meters) occurs at 2500 Hz. The transmission plate then will have an optimum thickness of:
TABLE 3
Suggested Transmission Plate Thickness
Material:
Suggested Thickness:
Magnesium
22.8 inches
Granite
15.6 inches
Neither of these thicknesses are practical for concrete finishing equipment, but they illustrate what is theoretically possible.
It is also possible to match acoustic impedance by fabricating an impedance transmission plate made from two different materials, with each material having an acoustic impedance equal to one of the two terminating impedances. For a steel-to-fresh-concrete transition, one material would require an impedance of 2.5 (perhaps beechwood where it is 2.51) and the other would be made of steel. The two pieces, one made from each material, are simply glued together. The preferred system provides a means wherein the characteristic acoustic impedance of a finishing machine is matched to the acoustic impedance of the concrete load.
Tables 4 and 5 show the resultant transmission coefficients for the tabulated concrete impedances during the setting and curing cycle given on the previous page. The energy transfer characteristics are given for likely trowel materials, i.e., for some likely metal blade and pan materials and for some possible plastic and wood material that may have more favorable properties.
TABLE 4
Interface Transmission Coefficient: Common Metals
Fraction Transmitted
Age-
hours
MAGNESIUM
ALUMINUM
TITANIUM
BRASS
STEEL
1
0.68
0.48
0.34
0.24
0.21
2
0.69
0.49
0.35
0.25
0.22
3
0.71
0.50
0.36
0.26
0.23
4
0.57
0.39
0.27
0.19
0.17
5
0.73
0.53
0.38
0.27
0.24
6
0.81
0.61
0.45
0.33
0.29
7
0.89
0.70
0.53
0.39
0.35
8
0.94
0.76
0.60
0.45
0.41
9
0.97
0.82
0.65
0.50
0.46
10
0.99
0.86
0.71
0.55
0.50
TABLE 5
Interface Transmission Coefficient: Common Woods
Fraction Transmitted
Age-
TEF-
hours
PINE
LDPE
FIR
HDPE
BEECH
UHMW
LON
PVC
1
0.94
0.96
0.98
0.99
1.00
1.00
1.00
0.99
2
0.93
0.96
0.97
0.99
0.99
1.00
1.00
1.00
3
0.92
0.95
0.97
0.98
0.99
1.00
1.00
1.00
4
0.99
1.00
1.00
1.00
0.99
0.98
0.97
0.95
5
0.91
0.94
0.96
0.97
0.98
0.99
1.00
1.00
6
0.84
0.87
0.90
0.93
0.95
0.96
0.98
0.99
7
0.76
0.80
0.83
0.86
0.89
0.91
0.94
0.96
8
0.69
0.73
0.77
0.80
0.83
0.86
0.89
0.92
9
0.63
0.67
0.71
0.74
0.78
0.80
0.84
0.87
10
0.58
0.62
0.66
0.69
0.73
0.75
0.79
0.83
When mechanical energy is generated at the interface between the trowel and the concrete surface, it can be transmitted into the body of the concrete to the degree that the transmission coefficient (T) permits. As seen above, several materials have T quite close to 1 while the concrete is fairly fluid; in this case, up to about four hours after the pour. Specifically, HDPE (high-density polyethylene), beech wood and UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) have excellent transmission of acoustic energy into concrete up to the point where transfer of water and fines from the concrete interior is complete. These materials, especially UHMW since it has adequate abrasion resistance, will make excellent power (or manual) trowel blades or pans. Under slurry-abrasion tests, UHMW is five times more abrasion resistant than steel; performance under troweling conditions has been proven substantially similar. At this point, we have thus determined that trowels must be improved to more adequately seal the concrete surface.
When concrete has hardened and water and fines have been adequately removed, the impedance of the concrete increases to the point where transmission coefficient is too low. The energy applied to the concrete interface is no longer absorbed into the body of the concrete. It is not completely clear what the actual mechanism is, and where the acoustic energy goes, but it seems likely that it is trapped at the interface and that most of the energy is converted to heat. Before the energy transfer behavior is finally known there will have to be some careful experimentation. The result on the concrete surface—hardening, sealing the surface, and development of an impermeable shiny coating, is consistent with what might be expected from interfacial heating and friction.
Magnesium exhibits favorable characteristics as a trowel material. From 75% to almost 100% of the interfacial energy is passed into the concrete with this troweling metal, In comparison, steel only permits 25% to 50% of the energy to pass into the concrete—a good explanation of why steel causes sealing of the concrete surface and the entrapment of water inside it. However, magnesium is not as advantageous for optimizing acoustic energy transfer as wood or plastic.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention enhances concrete finishing processes, i.e., troweling, by adjusting the nature and intensity of the forces applied to the concrete that effect its quality and performance. Through the methods and apparatus disclosed herein, concrete surfaces of superior characteristics are obtained. More specifically, the common industry problem of delamination is minimized.
In accordance with the invention, concrete is first poured at a desired site through conventional methods. Known power screeding and vibration techniques are preferably employed during pouring. While forms are preferred, they are not mandatory. The rough and raw concrete slab is power-toweled as soon as it can bear the weight of the power finishing equipment.
According to our invention, it is recognized that the freshly placed concrete exhibits an approximate characteristic acoustic impedance range. Further, it is important that the characteristic acoustic impedance of the treating equipment is “optimized” with respect to the acoustic impedance of the concrete slab being treated. In other words, we have determined that the effective acoustic impedance of the treating equipment be matched with the acoustic impedance of the concrete. Thus, for example, during the panning of green concrete, the characteristic acoustic impedance of the pan material should be approximately the same as the impedance of the green concrete being treated.
Preferably a powered, twin rotor riding trowel is provided with a pair of circular finishing pans adapted to be attached to the conventional rotor blades used later in the finishing process as the slab cures. Suitable pans may be made from a variety of materials, all of which are characterized by an acoustic impedance approximating the acoustic impedance of green concrete. With the impedances approximately matched as aforesaid, energy transfer from the finishing machine to the slab being treated is maximized. Additionally, we have proposed improvements in slip form paving machinery.
The process of maximizing the energy transfer promotes high quality finishing, and minimizes the troweling time required. It is suggested that by maximizing the energy transferred, and thus minimizing the troweling time required, that power trowels with reduced horsepower may be used. Further, it is thought that by reducing the required troweling time, surface characteristics that resist delamination are more likely obtained. During troweling the pans are frictionally revolved over the green concrete for finishing the surface without prematurely sealing the uppermost slab surface. Through the disclosed troweling method, a highly stable concrete surface results, and delamination is minimized.
While the pans must be impedance matched, mechanical durability and wear characteristics must be considered as well. Preferred pans comprise ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) plastic, which provides durability and suitable frictional characteristics. An alternative-troweling concept uses steel pans coated with one or more layers of impedance matching material.
Thus a basic object of our invention is to increase the efficiency of concrete finishing methods and apparatus.
Another basic object is to provide a system for power concrete finishing devices that delivers an enhanced amount of energy to the concrete.
Another basic object is to optimize the power transferred into concrete by powered finishing machines, including riding trowels, slip form pavers, powered screeds and the like.
A related fundamental object is to match the acoustic impedance of concrete finishing machines to that of the concrete being finished.
More particularly, it is an important object to match the acoustic impedance of troweling pans to the acoustic impedance of green concrete.
A basic object is to improve the quality of treated concrete structures.
Similarly, it is an important object to minimize delamination, which often deleteriously characterizes conventionally treated slabs.
Another simple object is to efficiently couple vibrational energy generated by typical concrete finishing machines to the concrete load or mass undergoing placement and treatment.
A more specific object is to substantially match the characteristic acoustic impedance of the concrete masses being treated to the characteristic output impedance of the finishing equipment.
A related object is to adapt concrete finishing machines such that they output energy into a favorable acoustic impedance standing wave ratio.
Another basic object is to provide a system capable of matching acoustic impedance that is suitable for use with conventional screeds, walk behind trowels, and power riding trowels having two or more rotors.
A further object is to provide an acoustic impedance transformation system of the character described that is readily compatible with conventional trowel blades, combo-blades, or finishing pans.
Another object is to provide a system of the character described that may be easily retrofitted to existing power finishing equipment without substantial mechanical alterations.
Another object is to improve the process of slip form paving.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention, along with features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear or become apparent in the course of the following descriptive sections.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the following drawings, which form a part of the specification and are to be construed in conjunction therewith, and in which like reference numerals have been employed throughout in the various views wherever possible:
FIG. 1 is a partially exploded, fragmentary isometric diagrammatic view illustrating the preferred method and apparatus;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary isometric view of a typical construction sub grade upon which concrete is to be poured;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary isometric view similar to FIG. 2 , showing the preliminary placement of raw concrete upon the sub grade;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary isometric view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 , illustrating a typical screed and strike-off operation;
FIG. 5 is a top isometric view of a conventional steel-finishing pan adapted to be coupled to the blades of a conventional riding trowel rotor;
FIG. 6 is a partially, fragmentary, top isometric view of a finishing pan constructed in accordance with the best mode of the invention;
FIG. 7 is an exploded, partially, fragmentary, isometric view of an alternative finishing pan having a metallic frame and a lower, plastic impedance matching layer;
FIG. 8 is a semi-logarithmic graph plotting observed acoustic frequencies against intensity, in which noise from an idling trowel has been measured and plotted;
FIG. 9 is a graph similar to FIG. 8 showing observed acoustic energy in a slab with 5.5% air entrainment that is being troweled with conventional steel pans;
FIG. 10 is a graph similar to FIGS. 8 and 9 showing observed acoustic energy in a slab with 5.5% air entrainment being troweled with our new acoustically-matched pans;
FIG. 11 is a graph similar to FIGS. 8-10 showing observed acoustic energy in a slab with zero percent air entrainment that is being troweled with our new acoustically-matched pans;
FIG. 12 is a fragmentary, isometric view of a portion of a slip form paver arrangement, with portions thereof omitted for brevity;
FIG. 13 is an exploded fragmentary isometric view similar to FIG. 12 , showing the acoustically matched layer, and with portions shown in section for clarity; and,
FIG. 14 is an abbreviated pectoral view of typical tamper bar construction used for slip form pavers.
FIG. 15 is a fragmentary isometric view of the side form attachment used for slip form pavers. In addition, a rear plan view is shown for clarification.
FIG. 16 is a side plan view of a typical slip form paver setup.
FIG. 17 is rear plan view of a typical setup for slip form pavers.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
With initial reference directed now to FIGS. 1-6 of the appended drawings, a typical power riding trowel 20 comprises a pair of downwardly projecting rotors 22 , each of which can receive a conventional steel finishing pan 21 ( FIG. 5 ) for troweling green concrete, as is known in the art. However, pan 26 ( FIGS. 1 , 6 ) is constructed of materials whose acoustic impedance approximates that of the green concrete 30 comprising slab 32 (FIG. 1 ). Finishing pans 21 , 26 have conventional brackets 27 adapted to be coupled directly to the rotor blades 23 in the operation of treating green concrete. During the initial stages of troweling, when pans are used, they frictionally contact the concrete surface 31 (FIG. 1 ); however, after the slab 32 hardens, the pans are removed and blades 23 directly polish the surface 31 , generating a hard, impact-resistant outer surface.
Structural details of pertinent riding trowels illustrating basic structural concepts are set forth in detail in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,108,220, 5,613,801, 5,480,257, 5,685,667, 5,890,833, 6,019,545, 6,048,130, 6,053,660, 6,089,786, 6,089,787, and 6,106,193, which, for disclosure purposes, are hereby incorporated by reference herein. The new concepts of this invention may be used with trowels from various manufacturers of different configurations and sizes.
As recognized by those with skill in the art, a selection and preparation of a suitable subgrade 40 ( FIG. 2 ) precedes the normal placement process. Appropriate forms 42 may confine the subgrade, and one or more transverse headers 44 are typical. By way of example, as raw concrete 45 is discharged from the delivery truck chute 46 , it will spread throughout the slab area defined between forms 42 and headers 44 ( FIGS. 2 , 3 ). Normally the rough concrete 45 will be hand-manipulated by the crew members and distributed evenly between the forms. A conventional vibrating screed 48 suspended upon and between forms 42 moves towards the left (i.e., as viewed in FIG. 4 ), thereby striking off the rough concrete 45 , and yielding the flattened slab region 47 (FIG. 4 ). At this point it is common to treat any remaining surface mars, bumps or irregularities with suitable hand tools such as the bull float 49 . Shortly after screeding the slab, it will have sufficient strength to support the weight of the trowel 20 . Panning starts the process while the concrete is still green. Once the concrete sufficiently hardens, the pans are removed and the rotor blades directly polish the surface.
In FIG. 6 the improved pan 26 is seen to be generally circular like conventional steel pan 21 . Preferred pans comprise ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) plastic, as represented in cross section in FIG. 6 . When the pan is mounted, brackets 27 contact the rotor blades 23 , which rest upon the upper surface 36 of pan 26 (FIG. 6 ).
FIG. 7 reveals an alternative pan arrangement, generally designated by the reference numeral 50 . In this instance, a preferably metallic subframe 52 resembling a conventional steel pan 21 as discussed earlier is used to support a lower impedance matching layer 54 . Layer 54 is coaxially and rigidly beneath subframe 52 , i.e., underside of subframe 52 is flatly secured to the upper surface 53 of layer 54 . The interior surface 56 of subframe 52 is directly contacted by the rotor blades 23 as before, which contact brackets 59 . The thickness of the impedance matching layer 54 , designated by arrow 58 ( FIG. 7 ) approximates a quarter wavelength (i.e., at the speed of sound in the medium) at the frequency of interest. Preferably, the layer 54 may comprise UHMWPE plastic as before.
In a preliminary test, pans made in accordance with FIG. 6 were mounted upon riding trowels similar to trowel 20 ( FIG. 1 ) described earlier. A subgrade was prepared, forms erected, and concrete was applied. Three separate slabs resembling the aforedescribed arrangement were prepared, using different concrete air percentages. Pan impedance is ideally between 67% to 150% of the impedance of the green concrete.
TABLE 6
Treated Slab Parameters
Slump
Unit Wt.
Ambient
Concrete
Cylinders
Time
Slab No.
(in)
Air (%)
(pcf)
Temp.
Temp.
Per Set
Cast
Act - 1
4.25
6.5
NT
80
84
3
9:00 am
Act - 2
3.00
5.5
NT
87
87
3
1:45 pm
Act - 3
4.75
3.5
NT
88
87
2
2:45 pm
After placement and vibrational screeding, spectrum analysis of the sound frequencies within each slab were observed and processed during panning, both with steel pans and our new pan. To study and evaluate the effect of matching the acoustic impedance of concrete finishing equipment on the performance of the finishing process, measurements of the energy of vibration induced in the concrete slab, as a function of frequency, were made for equipment having different values of acoustic impedance. The experimental setup included the following: Vibration sensors (for ambient sound level in air in the vicinity of the tested equipment); Don Bosco Electronics, Inc. SA-116 Dynamic Microphone Probe (for vibration induced into the concrete slab); Don Bosco Electronics, Inc. SA-112 Vibration Pickup; Frequency Spectrum Analyzer ; Hewlett-Packard HP3561A Signal Analyzer.
The sensors were attached to the spectrum analyzer using 75 feet of RG-59A coaxial cable attached using BNC connectors. Frequency spectra were collected by photographing the HP3561A CRT screen using a Kodak 211 digital camera. All of the sample spectra have a vertical axis representing acoustic energy in units of dB(v), with scale values of −131 dB(v) minimum to −41 dB(v) maximum. The horizontal axis of the spectra represents frequency, ranging from 10 Hz to 10,010 Hz, logarithmically scaled.
For in-air spectra the microphone was positioned approximately six feet away from the operating trowel. For in-concrete spectra the vibration sensor probe was inserted vertically into the concrete to a maximum depth of 1.25 inches. The trowel was positioned so that the edge of the rotating pans was about six inches away from the axis of the probe.
Typical frequency spectra are included. FIG. 8 depicts the ambient background noise in the vicinity of the operating “rider trowel.” The region of significant energy level lies below 50 Hz, with intensity less than −90 dB(v). Above a frequency of 50 Hz, the energy level remains less than −115 dB(v).
FIG. 9 depicts a trowel having a steel pan, operating over air-entrained concrete. There is significant energy at frequencies below 60 Hz where the vibration intensity varied between −90 to −75 dB(v). The maximum intensity occurred at about 50 Hz.
FIG. 10 similarly shows an impedance-matched trowel pan (in this case fabricated from UHMW-PE), also operating over air-entrained concrete. The frequency spectrum is broader, having significant intensities at frequencies up to 120 Hz with a maximum intensity at about 40 Hz. The vibration intensity was higher, having a maximum value of −67 dB(v). This intensity is, on a linear scale, about six times that of the maximum measured for the steel pan. The combination of a higher intensity and a broader frequency spectrum demonstrates that there is much more energy transmitted from the rotating pans to the concrete slab when the acoustic impedance of the pans matches that of the concrete.
FIG. 11 is a plot of the frequency spectrum of an impedance-matched pan, this time operating over non-air-entrained concrete. The improved vibration transmission into this material shows two effects, both of which enhance the effectiveness of the vibration. First, the impedance match of the concrete and the pans is closer so that more energy is put into the concrete. Second, the sound travels through the concrete more freely since it is not absorbed as strongly as the air-entrained material. As a result, the measured maximum vibration intensity is −46 dB(v), which is over 125 times the intensity shown in FIG. 3 . Acoustic energy delivered to the concrete is spread over a wider frequency band, in this case up to a maximum effective frequency of over 1000 Hz.
Turning now to FIGS. 12-15 , improvements to slip form machines and slip form methodology will be described. As recognized by those skilled in the art, a typical slip form paver profile pan has been generally designated by the reference numeral 80 (FIG. 13 ). Profile pan 80 comprises a generally rectilinear, plate 82 ( FIGS. 12 , 13 ) with a steel member protruding vertically, designated by reference numeral 84 . The spaced-apart cross braces 86 , 87 support a plurality of upright joints 88 that enable conventional mechanical interconnection between adjoining pans for creating larger width concrete slabs. Importantly, a lower acoustic coupling plate 93 made of UHMW plastic material is secured beneath plate 82 . Plate 93 is conformed and configured substantially as depicted to adjoin and bond to plate 82 . Its undersurface 94 ( FIG. 13 ) directly contacts raw concrete 95 ( FIG. 12 ) during the pavement laying process to shape and solidify it. The conventional tamper bar actuator assembly 90 shown schematically in FIG. 14 , residing directly in front of the profile pan, also utilizes the UHMW plastic material designated by reference numeral 91 . In FIG. 15 , the side form 105 comprised of heavy-duty steel acts as an edge for the concrete, eliminating the use of steel or wooden forms. Attaching the UHMW plastic material 108 to the side form allows the concrete to shape and solidify more preferably than without. This process also is the preferred method when adding keyways 104 to the concrete slab. FIG. 16 shows a side plan schematic view of the standard setup on a slip form paver. Reference numeral 113 illustrates an auger for distribution of the concrete to the entire machine. A heavy-duty plate 115 used for striking-off also assists in the distribution and settles the concrete for the next phase of the slip form process. The vibrators 109 are utilized to remove air from the concrete. All additional reference numerals noted have been previously discussed in FIGS. 11-15 . FIG. 17 is a rear plan schematic view showing the paving pan and side form pan utilizing the UHMW plastic material on each.
EXAMPLE 1
Numerous six-inch concrete slabs were laid directly on a graded dirt base. The slabs were finished using dual-pan, power rider trowels employing acoustically matched float pans. The slabs were arranged in line, end to end, with the first slab at the southern-most position followed by subsequent slabs abutting toward the north. Slab edges to the east were defined by an existing slab of similar dimensions; all other edges were made of steel forms which were removed after the slabs achieved adequate strength. The forms at the abutting edges of these slabs were replaced with one-inch by six-inch wooden planks prior to pouring the next slab.
Thermocouples were placed in the forms before the concrete was poured, and acoustic spectral analysis was conducted during the finishing process to evaluate performance. UHMWPE pans with an impedance that matches fresh concrete were compared to steel pans with impedances about twenty times higher. The entrained air content of concrete was measured. Slab characteristics were as follows:
TABLE 7
Summary Of Slab Parameters
Slab
Designation
Slab #1
Slab #2
Slab #3
Ticket Number
19929
19931
19938
19944
19946
19952
Yards Deliv-
7.0
9.5
10.5
17.5
20.5
9.0
ered
Time On
8:18
8:35
9:24
12:32
12:47
13:51
Ticket
Slump
4.5″
5.5″
3″
4.75″
Measured
Entrained Air
6.5%
5.5%
3.5%
Measured
Water Added
8 gal
0
4 gal
23 gal
10 gal
0
On Site
Concrete
84 deg
87 deg
87 deg
Temperature
Flatness readings on adjacent finished slabs for forty-six inch steel pans and UHMWPE materials were as follows:
TABLE 8
Pan Flatness comparison:
Steel Pan Flatness
UHMWPE Flatness
Segment
(Slab 1)
(Slab 2)
E-W North End
45.1
21.3
W-E South End
55.6
38.5
S-N East End
37.5
27.6
S-N West End
36.7
35.4
Overall
42.1
28.4
Slab # 1 was poured, allowed to set, floated with a regular steel pan and then troweled with steel blades, all using a 46″ power trowel. When floating was complete on the first slab, the second slab was poured. There was a delay between pouring the first and second loads of concrete, so floating of the first portion of the second slab approached completion before the second portion was ready to float. The situation was intensified due to the apparent high slump of the second load of concrete, although that slump was not measured. In any case, floating of the second slab required nearly two hours. The second slab experienced very little surface delamination, despite entrained air. In contrast, the first slab showed delamination, although it was not troweled before the water sheen had dissipated.
EXAMPLE 2
On Oct. 22-23, 2002, at Paragould, Ark., four, six-inch thick concrete slabs were placed in forms directly on a graded dirt base completely covered with polyethylene sheeting. The slabs were finished with dual-pan, power rider trowels driving several types of specially designed float pans. Thermocouples were placed in the forms before the concrete was poured, and acoustic spectral analysis was conducted during the finishing process to aid in evaluating the performance of the pans as was done previously. A first set of pans was made of ceramic-impregnated UHMWPE and mounted beneath a steel disc of the same diameter. The ceramic-impregnated material was found to be more abrasion-resistant than unmodified UHMWPE materials. A second set of ceramic-impregnated UHMWPE pans used reduced-diameter steel backing (i.e., 15% of the diameter of the plastic pan). It was determined that an acceptable material should have an abrasion resistance of no greater than 150 (measured using ASTM Method G-65, with steel having a rating of 100; a lower rating has greater abrasion resistance.) Finally, normal steel pans that were spray-coated with polyurethane for abrasion-resistance were used.
TABLE 9
Impedance Matching Results
Slab
Material
Diameter
F-Meter
Dimensions
Concrete
1
UHMWPE pans
36 Inch
Overall
19′9″ × 14′4″
Air
laminated beneath a
50.1 Ff
Entrained,
steel disc
No Calcium
2
Steel pans with sprayed
46 Inch
Overall
29′6″ × 14′4″
Air
polyurethane coating
55.6 Ff
Entrained,
With
Calcium
3
UHMWPE pans
46 Inch
Overall
19′9″ × 14′4″
No Calcium
beneath small disc
41.0 Ff
4
Steel pans with sprayed
46 Inch
Overall
15′3″ × 9′9″
No Calcium
polyurethane coating
48.4 Ff
EXAMPLE 3
On Nov. 8, 2002, at Paragould, four, six-inch thick slabs were laid directly on a graded dirt base that was completely covered with polyethylene sheeting. The concrete was air entrained, with no calcium additives. The slabs were finished using dual-pan power rider trowels driving several types of specially designed float pans. Thermocouples were placed in the forms before the concrete was poured, and acoustic spectral analysis was conducted during the finishing process to aid in evaluating the performance of the pans, as was done previously. The first slab was finished with normal steel pans without modification, as a control. The second slab was finished with ceramic-impregnated UHMWPE pans mounted beneath a steel disc of the same diameter. The third slab was finished with normal steel pans that were spray-coated with a polyurethane compound that is extremely abrasion-resistant. A fourth slab was finished with ceramic-impregnated UHMWPE pans and mounted beneath a reduced-diameter steel backing disc (i.e., 15% of the diameter of the plastic pan), which used to support the curvature of the pan. The urethane-coated pans used for finishing the third slab failed quickly; the coating deteriorated and large segments of it very rapidly peeled off. After a brief delay, the same trowel used on the fourth slab finished the third slab.
TABLE 10
Delamination Characteristic of Finished Concrete
Slab
Material
Diameter
Delamination
1
Steel Pans
36 Inch
Apparent
2
Ceramic-impregnated UHMWPE pans
46 Inch
Reduced
3
Steel pans with sprayed polyurethane coating
46 Inch
Apparent
followed by UHMWPE pans beneath small central
steel disc
4
UHMWPE pans beneath smaller steel disc
36 Inch
Reduced
EXAMPLE 4
On Dec. 11, 2002, at Paragould, Ark., three six-inch thick concrete slabs were laid directly on a graded dirt base completely covered with polyethylene sheeting. The concrete was air-entrained, without calcium additives. The slabs were finished with dual-pan power rider trowels driving the three types of float pans as discussed in Example 3. Three pan designs were used. The pans were the same ones used in previous tests, to further study the abrasion resistance and durability of plastic pans. Observed results were as follows:
TABLE 11
Test Results for Impedance Matching Method
F-Meter
Slab
Pan Material
Pan Diameter
Overall
1
Steel
46 inch
79.5 Ff
2
Ceramic UHMWPE Compound
46 inch
45.9 Ff
3
UHMWPE W/No Backing
46 inch
50.9 Ff
The first slab, which was finished with normal steel pans, exhibited extensive delamination. The third slab, which was finished with UHMWPE pans, had no observable delamination. We determined that the normal practice of power-troweling with materials having a significantly different acoustic impedance from that of fresh concrete contributes significantly to delamination. In other words, the use of pans made of steel (Z˜46) upon low-slump fresh concrete (Z˜2.7) results in a detrimental acoustic impedance mismatch. Another mismatch is obtained from the combination of high-slump concrete (Z˜1.8) and ceramic-impregnated UHMPWPE (Z˜3.4). Pans of unmodified UHMWPE with an acoustic impedance of approximately 2.1 are closely matched in impedance to both low-slump and high-slump fresh concrete.
The data shown, typical of that taken in tests of acoustic impedance-matched concrete finishing equipment, shows clearly the advantages of our acoustic impedance matching apparatus and finishing methods.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to obtain all the ends and objects herein set forth, together with other advantages which are inherent to the illustrated structure and methods.
It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.
As many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof. It is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
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Methods and apparatus for power finishing freshly placed concrete in which the acoustic impedance of the treating equipment is made substantially equal to the acoustic impedance of the concrete slab being treated. Preferably, a powered, twin rotor riding trowel is provided with a pair of circular finishing pans that are attached to the conventional rotor blades used later in the finishing process. The pans are characterized by an acoustic impedance approximating the acoustic impedance of green concrete, thereby optimizing the energy transferred to the concrete. Preferred pans comprise ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) plastic. During troweling, the pans are frictionally revolved over the green concrete for finishing the surface without prematurely sealing the uppermost slab surface. Through the disclosed troweling method, a highly stable concrete surface results, and delamination is minimized. Alternative troweling uses pans coated with layered impedance matching material. Alternative equipment includes slip form pavers.
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This application claims priority of provisional application Ser. No. 60/005,283, filed Oct. 12, 1995 now abandoned.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to the finishing treatment of knitted fabrics, both tubular and open width. In the preliminary processing of knitted fabrics, the fabrics tend to become significantly elongated and correspondingly narrowed in width, by reason of lengthwise tensions applied to the material during processing. Conventionally, the finishing treatment of such fabrics has involved spreading of the fabric to a predetermined width, steaming the fabric while it is held at such width, and immediately thereafter subjecting the fabric to a finish processing operation, such as calendering between pressure rollers or compacting the fabric in a lengthwise direction to remove or minimize any residual lengthwise shrinkage tendencies.
At the stage of finishing treatment, the fabric is in a substantially dry condition, typically at or near equilibrium with ambient conditions. In order for the finish treatment operations to be properly carried out, the fibers of the fabric are lubricated by the addition of steam. In a typical process for the treatment of tubular knitted fabric, for example, the fabric is directed over an internal spreader frame, which typically includes entry and exit portions, with external edge drive means located at an intermediate point, driving the entry portion of the spreader frame at a somewhat higher rate of speed than the exit portion to accommodate the tendency of the fabric to decrease in length as its width is enlarged. Conventionally, arrangements are providing for directing jets of steam through the fabric, as it passes over the exit portion of the spreader frame and immediately before the fabric enters the finish processing, such as calendering or compacting. An example of such a conventional arrangement is shown in the Frezza U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,185.
Although the arrangement described above is in extensive use on a worldwide basis, it has certain shortcomings, which we have been able to obviate by the present invention. Among the shortcomings is the requirement to inject substantial amounts of steam toward the fabric, usually from above and below a horizontally moving flat fabric web, in an effort to adequately lubricate the fibers of the fabric. In this procedure, substantial quantities of excess steam are discharged into the ambient, requiring the installation of a substantial exhaust hood and exhaust fan in order to maintain an appropriate working environment. Significant expense is involved in such an arrangement, not only in the loss of heat energy from the excess steam, but also (and perhaps more importantly) in the simultaneous exhausting of plant air, which may have been heated or air conditioned.
Preferably, the application of steam should be made at or near the upstream end of the spreading apparatus, so that the fabric has the benefit of the lubricating heat and moisture during the initial phases of lateral distention of the fabric on the entry portion of the spreader. With conventional steaming equipment, however, it was observed that, if the steam were applied at the entry end of the spreader, too much of the moisture had evaporated by the time the fabric reached the finish processor, at the discharge end of the spreader. Providing steaming devices at both the entry and exit portions of the spreader was not a satisfactory answer, because of the excessive amounts of steam and energy required.
In accordance with the present invention, a novel method and apparatus is provided for the finishing treatment of knitted fabric, wherein the fabric is thoroughly steamed immediately adjacent the entry end of the spreader, with the steaming operation being effective to impart moisture to the fabric in amounts and at temperature levels that result in the fabric being able to traverse the entire length of the spreader and to enter the finish processor with adequate heat and moisture for the desired fiber lubrication. Effective steaming of the incoming, substantially dry knitted fabric is achieved by directing the fabric through a vertically oriented steaming chamber, which is open only at the bottom, and through which the fabric travels first in an upwardly direction and then downwardly, and thence directly to the entry end of the spreader.
In accordance with the invention, steam is supplied to the interior of the steam chamber in a condition of 100% saturation at atmospheric pressure. The steam, being lighter than air, displaces all of the air in the upper portion of the chamber, so that the fabric, in its travel through the vertical steam chamber, is exposed for a period of time to an atmosphere made up substantially exclusively of saturated steam, substantially free of air. Because of this substantially "pure" atmosphere of saturated steam, the fabric can be heated and fully moisturized in a very short period of time so that, even with relatively high rates of operating speed, a steam chamber of modest vertical heights is sufficient to effectively process the incoming fabric and impart sufficient moisture thereto to both facilitate the spreading operation at the entry end of the spreader and to effectively complete the processing in the finish processing stage at the exit end of the spreader.
Pursuant to the invention, the delivery of steam to the vertical steam chamber is controlled to maintain a steam-air boundary layer at a level slightly above the bottom extremity of the chamber. This allows the processing to be carried out without the release of large amounts of excess steam, as is required by current practices. Thus, the process of the invention can be carried out with great economic advantage over conventional practices.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and to the accompanying drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a processing line according to the invention for effecting the finishing treatment of tubular knitted fabric.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view, showing details of a steam processing chamber according to the invention, as incorporated in the processing line of FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 indicates a pre-processed tubular knitted fabric being supplied for finishing operations. Primary finishing operations involve spreading, which is carried out on a suitable spreader frame generally indicated by the reference numeral 11 in FIG. 1. A typical spreader apparatus includes an entry portion 12, an exit portion 13 and edge drive roll means 14 positioned intermediate the entry and exit portions. In accordance with well known practices, the spreader frame may include separate internal belts on the entry and exit portions, which are driven at slightly different speeds by opposed edge drive rolls 14, which support and position the spreader frame and drive its belts through intervening walls of fabric. Conventionally, the exit end portion 13 of the spreader frame is provided with means (not shown in the present illustration) for steaming the fabric while it is still on the exit portion of the spreader frame and immediately before the fabric is discharged into a finishing processor 15. The finishing processor may be a pair of calender rolls, for example, as shown in the before mentioned Frezza U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,185, or the finish processor 15 may comprise mechanical compressive shrinkage apparatus, such as is shown in the Milligan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,329.
The incoming, pre-processed fabric 10 typically is supplied in generally flat form but at a width substantially less than the desired finished width. The spreader frame 11 is arranged to distend the fabric laterally while advancing it forwardly such that, at the exit end 13 of the spreader frame, the fabric is set at a predetermined, desired width for discharge into the finish processor 15. Typically, the fabric, under lateral tension as it passes over the spreader frame, narrows slightly as it enters the finish processing stage 15, and the setting of the spreader frame is thus set to sufficiently overspread the fabric to assure that the desired final width is realized at the end of the processing operations.
In accordance with the present invention, significant improvements in the finish processing of the fabric are realized by, immediately prior to spreading of the fabric on the spreader frame 11, exposing the fabric to fully saturated steam at atmospheric pressure, in the substantial absence of air, so that the fabric becomes thoroughly heated and moisturized. This is accomplished by directing the fabric upwardly into a confined steam chamber 16, and maintaining the confined chamber filled with substantially 100% saturated steam 17. In the illustrated form of the invention, the steam chamber 16 is a vertically oriented closed chamber, typically formed of a sheet metal liner 18 surrounded externally by a thick layer 19 of thermal insulation. The chamber 16 is completely closed, except for an opening 20 at its bottom and is formed with steeply slanted (e.g. 45°) upper wall panels 21.
Directly below the bottom opening 20 of the chamber 16 are entry and exit side guide rollers 22, 23. The incoming pre-processed fabric 10 passes around the entry side guide roller 22 and is directed generally vertically upward into the steam chamber 16, around an upper guide roller 24 and thence directly downward, exiting through the bottom opening 20 of the steam chamber and passing around the exit side guide roller 23, which is positioned immediately upstream of the entry portion 12 of the fabric spreader.
To advantage, the upper guide roller 24 is mounted for vertical movement from an upper limit position, shown in full lines in FIG. 2, to a lower limit position, shown in broken lines at 24a in FIG. 2. A pair of suitable fluid actuators 25 or other positioning mechanisms are provided for this purpose.
In a preferred form of the invention, the upper guide roller 24 is mounted at each end in movable bearings 26, which are slidably guided in channels 27 mounted on opposite side walls 28 of the steam chamber. Thus, as the actuators 25 are extended, the bearings 26 and the upper guide roller 24 are supported and guided laterally by the channel 27. At the uppermost position of the roller 24, the bearings 26, which are formed with tapered upper surfaces, are received in a seat 29 of inverted V-shaped configuration to lock the bearings rigidly in position.
The retractability of the upper guide roller 24 is particularly desirable for initial threading of the processing line with a new length of fabric. Initially, the guide roller 24 is retracted to its lowermost position, indicated in FIG. 2, in which it lies below a plane defined by the bottom surfaces of the entry and exit side guide rollers 22, 23. Thus, in the initial threading operation, the pre-processed fabric 10 can be led horizontally underneath the guide roller 22, over the top of the guide roller 24 in its retracted position, and underneath the exit side guide roller 23. Thereafter, the actuator 25 is extended, elevating the guide roller 24 to its upper position within the steam chamber.
Within the steam chamber, there are sparger pipes 30 connected to a steam source through an inlet line 31 and control valve 32. In accordance with the invention, the inlet line 31 is connected to a source of saturated steam. Desirably, the steam is maintained at a condition of 100% saturation, substantially at atmospheric pressure and substantially at 212° F. When the valve 32 is opened, the saturated steam flows into the interior of the steam chamber 16 and substantially completely fills the chamber, which preferably is not divided or baffled, so that the steam may flow freely within the chamber. The saturated steam, being lighter than air, displaces air from the upper portion of the chamber. As the chamber fills, a steam-air interface, indicated at 33 in FIG. 2, approaches a point near the open bottom 20 of the chamber. Desirably, the steam-air interface 33 is maintained at a level just slightly above the bottom opening 20, so that steam does not escape from the bottom of the housing. At the same time, saturated, air-free steam occupies most of the volume of the chamber.
Automatic control of the level of the steam-air interface is enabled by providing a thermocouple element 34 in the lower portion of the steam chamber, projecting into the internal environment. The thermocouple element 34, provided with capillary feelers 35, normally detects the interface 33 by reason of the temperature differential on opposite sides thereof, and controls the valve 32 accordingly.
Substantially dry knitted fabric, passing through an air-free environment of saturated steam, can absorb heat and moisture at an extremely rapid rate. For example, a double layer of tubular knitted fabric, passing through such an atmosphere, will absorb adequate heat and moisture in less than 1.5 seconds. Under such conditions, fabric being processed at, for example, 100 yards per minute will be properly processed in the course of travel of about seven feet or less, so that the "working" portions of the steam chamber 16 can be less than four feet in height.
Reference herein to "substantially dry" knitted fabric does not refer to fabric that is in a bone-dry condition, or which has been specifically dried in preparation for the finishing operations. Rather, the term refers generally to fabric which carries a moisture content more or less consistent with ambient conditions in the plant and in any event less than the levels of moisture required for satisfactory finish processing.
In the finish processing of tubular or open width knitted fabric, it is important to prevent any condensate from dropping on to the fabric. To this end, the steam chamber 16 is heavily insulated to minimize condensate formation in the first instance. Nonetheless, inasmuch as some condensate inevitably will form, the upper walls 21 of the chamber are set at such an angle as to cause the condensate to flow along the surfaces thereof to the surfaces of the side walls. Adjacent the bottom of the chamber, the chamber is provided with condensate gutters 36, 37 arranged to receive all condensate coming down the entry side and exit side side walls 38, 39 and to drain any such condensate off to the side and safely away from the fabric being processed. Similar condensate gutters (not specifically illustrated) are provided in connection with the side walls 28.
It is understood of course that, in the processing of tubular knitted fabric, the steam is required to penetrate two layers of fabric. In the processing of open width fabric, on the other hand, only a single layer of fabric has to be penetrated, and contact times with the saturated steam may be correspondingly less.
It is contemplated that the upper guide roll 24 may be adjustably positioned vertically within the steam chamber 16. Thus, for processing of lightweight and/or narrow fabrics, for example, where less time may be required to achieve desired steam penetration contact time of the fabric with the steam may be reduced, if desired, by lowering the upper guide roll 24 to an intermediate position within the steam chamber.
Truly extraordinary benefits are realized through the practice of the invention, both in terms of superior processing results, and also in terms of significant reduction in processing costs. The processing of the fabric is significantly improved in that it becomes possible, in an economically feasible procedure, for the knitted fabric to be steamed prior to its initial entry on to the spreading apparatus. Because the fabric is effectively lubricated and supple when it enters the spreader, the desired lateral distention of the fabric is accomplished more easily, and the entry portion of the spreader apparatus is much more effective than with conventional procedures. More significantly, perhaps, because the fabric more easily accepts the lateral distention throughout its entire passage over the spreader frame, it has been found that the required "overspreading" of the fabric, in order to achieve a desired width of finish processed fabric exiting from the finish processor 15, can be reduced by as much as an inch. It thus becomes much easier to control the final width of the fabric, and the fabric is less likely to become marked or distorted during the spreading process.
In addition to the important processing advantages realized in the practice of the invention, as described above truly extraordinary monetary savings can be realized in the practice of the new process. Thus, in a typical conventional finish processing line running at the rate of about 7200 hours per year and with a steam cost calculated at about $5.00 per 1000 lb. of steam, annual savings of around $4000.00 per year can be expected in steam costs alone, because of the greater efficiencies in steam usage enabled by the system of the invention. Of possibly even greater importance, moreover, is the savings in the cost of make-up air. Thus, in the course of exhausting excess steam through a steam hood, as is presently required, as much as 10,000 cfm of plant air is exhausted along with the excess steam. Frequently, this exhausted blant air has been either heated or air conditioned at a cost of, for example, five cents per 10,000 cubic feet. Accordingly, the monetary savings resulting from elimination of the air losses through an exhaust hood can be a multiple of four or five times the savings in steam costs. Other less dramatic but nevertheless important cost savings result from eliminating the capital expense of the steam hood and the power costs involved in operating a substantial (e.g., five horsepower) exhaust fan.
Thus, both the process advantages and the cost savings from the use of the process and apparatus of the invention are very dramatic.
It should be understood, of course, that the specific forms of the invention herein illustrated and described are intended to be representative only, as certain changes may be made therein without departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope of the invention.
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A method and apparatus for finish processing of knitted fabric. Fabric, supplied in substantially dry condition and in generally flat form, is directed through an open bottom, vertically oriented steam chamber, constantly supplied with fully saturated steam at atmospheric pressure. Upon exiting the steam chamber, the knitted fabric is laterally distended to a predetermined width, and then subjected to finish processing, such as calendering or compacting. A sensing device in the steam chamber maintains a steam-air interface slightly above the open bottom of the chamber. More effective moisturizing of the fabric is accomplished, enabling the steaming operation to be performed prior to the spreading operation, without compromising the finish processing operations. Improved performance is realized, along with extraordinary savings in operating costs.
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THE FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a solar heat accumulator which makes use of solar energy and employs a heat transfer fluid medium to cover for the needs in heating and/or air-conditioning in a domestic or industrial scale.
THE PRIOR ART
Solar energy has been used from ancient times in a plurality of applications. Nowadays, the energy and environmental crisis increasingly leads to research and new developments in the field of solar energy and other renewable sources of energy.
However, much of the research that has been made so far has not led to compact units, which will be able, by using solar energy alone or solar in combination with other sources of energy, to cover for the heating and/or air-conditioning, domestic, commercial or industrial needs.
The problems of solar energy storage together with the variations in the availability of sunshine as well as the fact that often huge solar installations would be needed to cover for the needs, even in the case of domestic applications, have kept employment of solar energy at a low level.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to provide ways and means in which solar energy may be advantageously exploited to cover for the heating and/or air-conditioning needs in domestic, commercial and industrial applications and in particular for heating and air-conditioning needs.
Another object of the invention is the employment of various designs of solar collection devices and the employment of those devices and the energy collected therefrom in combination with other sources of energy to provide adequate coverage for heating and air-conditioning needs in domestic commercial or industrial applications under any circumstances.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be made apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawings, which depict preferred, illustrative embodiments of the invention.
FIG. 1 shows a front view of a first preferred solar heat accumulator of the invention, where plates of a high heat capacity are used as the solar energy collection means, air ducts are used to convey heated air and electricity is used as an auxiliary or reserve energy source.
FIG. 2 shows a front view of a second preferred solar heat accumulator of the invention, where a fluid medium contained in a boiler combined with piping passing through an arrangement of file bricks are used as the solar energy collection means.
FIG. 3 shows a front view of a third preferred solar heat accumulator of the invention, where pipes, a portion of which passes through an arrangement of file bricks, are used as the solar energy collection means.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the various illustrative embodiments of the heating and air-conditioning solar heat accumulator of the invention, the solar energy collection means can be the plates 10 of high heat capacity shown in FIG. 1, or the boiler 20 shown in FIG. 2 or the piping arrangement 36 of FIG. 3, whereas the heat transfer working medium can by way of example be distilled water or oil. The sun collection area is in any case covered by an arrangement of glass panels 11, where panels 11 can be single and preferably double or triple suitably spaced with intermediate vacuum for insulation purposes.
The piping 36 or boiler 20 are preferably painted black so as to achieve maximum absorption of sun rays. The fluid within piping 36 or boiler 20 flows upwards as it gets heated and enters into the overlying pipe coil 21, whereby heat is conducted to the arrangement of file bricks 22, which are preferably covered by a metallic foil 13 with an interior silver plated surface so as to minimize radiation losses. Another metallic housing 12 filled with insulating material, such as by way of example glass wool or other sufficiently insulating material surrounds the metallic foil covering 13, and aims to minimizing at the maximum possible degree thermal losses to the surroundings. The top surface of the metallic foil covering 13 is perforated with holes 14 through which passes the warm air to be supplied into the space to be heated via duct 17 as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2.
As the file bricks 22 get heated, so does the air which is contained within the channels and holes formed by the file bricks, thereby rising upwards since it becomes lighter and can be conducted to the space which must be heated.
The bottom of the solar accumulator device of the invention may be flat as in FIGS. 2 and 3 or with downwards convergent walls as is the case in FIG. 1, or it may be of any other suitable and desired configuration. The bottom of the solar accumulator is made from metallic laminates 2 with an intermediate gap which is packed with an insulating material 3 in order to minimize thermal losses at the maximum possible degree.
The abovementioned bottom of the solar accumulator is connected to a suitable arrangement of supporting legs 1, which are provided with holes 4, via which bolts are passed to firmly mount the device onto the ground.
The circulation of air from the heating chamber within the solar accumulator to the space which has to be heated or air-conditioned takes place by means of either natural or forced convection, where in the latter case an electric fan 6 is employed by means of which circulation of hot air is implemented.
The air introduced into the heating chamber of the solar accumulator preferably passes through a filtering system 5 by means of which the air is cleaned and thereby is led to the space to be heated free of dust or other polluting ingredients.
The plates 10 of high heat capacity of the solar accumulator in FIG. 1 or the boiler 20 in FIG. 2 or the piping 36 of FIG. 3 are mounted either directly (FIG. 1) or via supporting legs 19 (FIGS. 2 and 3) onto a rectangular or of other desired configuration platform 9, whose shape and dimensions correspond to those of the overall basement of heating chamber.
In order to cover for the heating and/or air-conditioning needs in cases of insufficient sunshine, it is necessary to employ an auxiliary or reserve energy source, such as by way of example electricity, fuels, etc.
In order to keep down operational cost, the proposed solar accumulator may be combined and exploit already provided energy sources, such as by way of example the central heating installation of the building or a fireplace or the connection to a natural gas network, etc. By way of illustration, electricity is used as an auxiliary energy source and in particular an electric resistor 8 is shown, which may by way of example pass in a coil mode through heat conductive plates 10 of FIG. 1 or it may extend directly upwards a resistor box 7 as is the case in the solar accumulators of FIGS. 2 and 3. Both terminal leads of resistor 8 and fan 6 are connected into the connection box 26 depicted in FIG. 3. In order to keep operation costs to a minimum, operation of the electric resistors may take place during off-peak periods when the Electricity Board charges may be lower, and further their operation may be automatically controlled in correspondence to the changing weather conditions by means of thermostats and automatic operation regulating devices.
The air is introduced into the heating chamber of the solar accumulator of the invention, either directly from the surroundings or via a filter 5 (FIG. 1) or via an added independent duct 18 (FIG. 2) or directly from the space to be air-conditioned by means of a suitable ducting system. It is to be particularly noted that in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the air being introduced via filter 5 flows upwards into the heating chamber 15 through a suitable arrangement of holes 16 being provided onto frame 9.
Further, reference will be made in detail to the accompaying drawings, where in FIG. 1 there is depicted a first embodiment of the solar accumulator of the invention, where the air is heated when passing through and around the heat conductive plates 10, which are heated either by means of solar energy or by means of the electric resistor 8, thereby flowing upwards and being supplied to the space which has to be heated.
Another illustrative embodiment of the solar accumulator of the invention is depicted in FIG. 2, where the heat conductive medium is a fluid, by way of example distilled water or oil contained within a boiler 20 which extends to a top arrangement of pipes 21 which are located within an arrangement of file bricks 22. The heated air passes through file bricks 22 and is led via duct 17 to the space that has to be heated. In addition, FIG. 2 as well as FIG. 3 show a vertical pipe extension, being provided with a filling tap 24 by means of which the system is filled with the heat conductive fluid medium and a relief valve 25 which operates as a safety device in cases of possible overheating of the fluid.
A third illustrative embodiment of the solar accumulator of the invention is depicted in FIG. 3, which shows a pipe network 36 wherein circulation takes place of the heat conductive fluid medium and where in accordance to an illustrative, preferred embodiment of the invention a fireplace chimney 32 is used as part of the air duct system of the proposed solar accumulator.
Three gates 27, 28 and 29 each being controlled by an independent electrical relay and spring are used in the air duct system of the solar accumulator of FIG. 3.
A gate 27 with the corresponding relay allows, when open at a vertical position, usage of the chimney duct 32 for the vertical upward discharge of combustion gases of the operating fireplace to the surroundings.
When gate 27 assumes a horizontal position, the air discharged via duct 35 having been heated by the solar accumulator is supplied through the outlet 31 to the space to be heated.
The second gate 28, when the solar accumulator performs a heating operation, shuts off the air introduction duct from inlet 31. At the same time the third gate 29 shuts off the oulet duct 34, which is bent downwards in order to obstruct entrance of rain water into the system. Thus the air introduced cool through inlet 30 is heated and is subsequently supplied to the space to be heated via duct 35.
In accordance to a further preferred and illustrative embodiment of the invention, the same air duct system and solar accumulator of the invention may be used as a ventilating system for refreshing the air and air-conditioning the same space during summer. Such air-conditioning operation is performed as follows:
Gate 29 keeps the outlet towards duct 35 closed and allows discharge to the surroundings via outlet 33 of the bent duct 34. In the same time, gate 28 keeps the air inlet 30 to the solar accumulator shut and allows passage of air via duct 31 from the space whose air-conditioning is desired. The warm air supplied from the space to be air-conditioned flows upwards and is discharged from the outlet 35 of the bent duct 34, whereas it is automatically replaced with fresh air. Such air circulation for air-conditioning the desired space may be natural or forced by employing fan 6.
The entire air duct system may be contained within a suitable housing, within which a connection box 26 is provided, whereupon the terminal leads of the three electric relays 27, 28 and 29 are connected.
The solar accumulator may be made in various sizes and it is possible that the glass panels and the corresponding piping or otherwise the surface of the heat conductive plates which is disposed to the sun as well as the bottom metallic surface may comprise the roof of the building or a pavilion of the terrace, thereby leaving a space underneath which might be advantageously exploited by the proprietor.
The surfaces of the glass panels 11 as well as of piping 36 or of the boiler walls 20 containing the heat conductive fluid preferably have always the same inclination and form a pyramidal configuration with a polygonal or circular basement with a low height, such as to avoid formation of shades independently of the sun's position and thereby achieve a maximum exposure to the sun rays throughout the day. Piping 36 is preferably densely packed at a radial configuration around a central cylindrical liquid container.
It must hereby be noted that description of the present invention was made by reference to illustrative but non-confining embodiments. Thus any change or amendment in shape, sizes, types, means, materials and accessories used, as long as they do not comprise a new inventive step and do not contribute towards technical innovation, must be considered part of the scope and aims of the present invention.
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The invention relates to a solar accumulator, which is used to collect the sun rays to heat a heat conductive fluid medium contained within a piping system and an arrangement of plates--file bricks of high heat capacity. The heat produced is subsequently used to heat the air which is conveyed to the space to be heated. The air duct system employed making use of electrical relay controlled gates can alternatively be used for heating or air-conditioning/ventilating. Operation of the solar accumulator requires usage of an auxiliary or reserve energy source, e.g. electricity.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention generally relates to apparatus and methods of fabricating plastic articles, and particularly relates to apparatus and methods of forming pultruded plastic articles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Pultrusion is a well-established process for the production of composite material with continuous fiber reinforcement. Such fiber-reinforced materials have been used as dental devices, such as orthodontic archwires. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,178 to Kusy et al. discloses a pultrusion apparatus configured to form fiber-reinforced polymeric plastic materials having a linear shape.
[0003] In K. C. Kennedy and R. P. Kusy, Investigation of Dual - staged Polymerization and Secondary Forming of Photopultruded, Fiber - reinforced, Methacrylate - Copolymer Composites , 41 J. B IOMED. M ATER. R ES. at 549 (1998), the authors propose pultruding fibers through a resin comprising benzoin ethyl ether (BEE), 2,2-Bis[4-(2-hydroxy-3-methacyloxypropoxy)phenyl]propane (Bis-GMA), triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA), and methyl metha/crylate (MMA) and curing the pultruded fibers to form a partially cured, β-staged composite. Secondary forming of the β-staged composites is accomplished by swaging circular cross-sections into rectangular ones, using a multi-chambered compression mold, while maintaining a constant cross-sectional area. Thermal polymerization of the β-staged composites is conducted within the mold for reformed materials.
[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,012 to Goldberg et al. discusses forming dental appliances directly on a dental cast from preformed bars, strips, or wires using a heat gun. Alternatively, the preformed shape is initially fabricated using a mold that is heated at optimum temperature under pressure in an oven or by a heat gun applying drying heat. The preformed shape may allow arch forms and other complex shapes that more closely approximate the final dental appliance. While the final dental appliance can be made using a male-female mold, the preformed shape used for the final dental appliance may also be formed with a heat gun on the dental cast. The final forming process for a dental appliance may be accomplished using a dental cast, which accurately duplicates both the hard and soft tissues in the mouth. The fiber-reinforced composite strip or bar is sealed or clipped to the cast, and the sections are sequentially heated until soft. Following the softening of the preformed component, the preformed component is molded to the intricate detail of the teeth or soft tissues by hand. The final dental appliance is cooled to room temperature before its removal from the cast.
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,946 to Goldsworthy proposes an apparatus that receives strands of filament reinforcing material impregnated with a hardenable binder such as a curable resin. The resin-impregnated fiber containing reinforcing strands are disposed about plugs formed from a bulk-molding compound, each of which are draped over a continuous string to form a chain of the plugs on the string. A shrinkable film is wrapped about and encloses each of the strand-encased plugs on the chain. The film is shrunk and a pre-curing device initiates a cure of the curable resin binder impregnated in the strands. The fiber-wrapped, strand-encased composite plugs are introduced into a final mold that contains a pair of split mold elements, which imparts the final shape to each of the articles to be produced. The final mold also applies a curing radiation to the film-wrapped, strand-encased plugs to cure finally the plugs to hardened reinforced plastic composite articles. The shrinkable film is removed, and the final articles are cut into the discrete composite articles.
[0006] Various polymeric resins have been described for pultrusion applications. For example, in A. C. Karmaker and A. T. DiBenedetto, Continuous Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials as Alternatives for Metal Alloys Used for Dental Appliances, 11 J. B IOMAT . A PPL ., at 318 (January 1997), the authors propose fabricating prepregs by pulling glass rovings through a resin bath containing a 50/50 mixture of Bis-GMA and polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate (PEGDMA 200), to which 0.75 weight percent benzoyl peroxide (BPO) was added as an initiator. The prepregs were mounted on a flat plate and transferred to an oven for β-staging.
[0007] In T. Chen and R. P. Kusy, Effect of Methacrylic Acid:Methyl Methacrylate Monomer Ratios on Polymerization Rates and Properties of Polymethyl Methacrylates, 36 J. B IOMED . M AT . R ES . at 190 (1997), the authors propose five binary formulations that were prepared from methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methacrylic acid (MAA) monomers, and six ternary formulations that were prepared from polysols of polymethyl methacrylate, MMA and MAA. Benzoin ethyl ether (BEE) was used as an ultraviolet initiator.
[0008] In Ross P. McKamey and Robert P. Kusy, Stress - relaxing Composite Ligature Wires: Formulations and Characteristics, 69:5 T HE A NGLE O RTHODONTIST , at 441 (1999), the authors propose encasing ultra-high molecular weight poly(ethylene) fibers in a poly(n-butyl methacrylate) polymer, formulated from a polysol and an optimal benzoin ethyl ether concentration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] According to one aspect of embodiments of the present invention, a pultrusion apparatus for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced plastic article having a non-linear shape includes a mold configured to receive a partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article and to form the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article into a spirally wound shape. A drive mechanism is coupled to the mold and configured to rotate the mold such that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up on the mold. An energy source is operatively associated with the mold and positioned so that the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article is cured in a spirally wound shape as the article is taken up on the longitudinally extending mold.
[0010] In embodiments of the present invention, the mold includes a core having a longitudinally extending outer surface, and a longitudinally extending sleeve substantially surrounding a portion of the outer surface of the core. Alternatively, the core and the sleeve may be integrally formed. The longitudinally extending sleeve is configured to provide a first die portion, and may comprise a material, such as a fluoropolymer, which will provide a non-adherent surface. A second die portion is positioned to abut the sleeve such that the first die portion and the second die portion define a die configured to receive the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article. In some embodiments, the energy source is positioned downstream from the die, while in other embodiments the energy source is operatively associated with the second die portion. The energy source may be an electromagnetic radiation source and the second die portion may comprise a material that is substantially transparent to electromagnetic radiation emitted by the electromagnetic radiation source.
[0011] In other embodiments of the present invention, an alpha-staging apparatus through which one or more fibers are drawn is used to form the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article. In still other embodiments of the present invention, the pultrusion apparatus includes a carriage system operatively associated with the mold for maintaining the die and a forming die on the alpha-staging apparatus in substantially vertical alignment with one another. The mold may move longitudinally, laterally, and/or vertically within the carriage system such that the die and the forming die are substantially vertically aligned with one another as the fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up along a longitudinal portion of the mold.
[0012] According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present invention, a pultrusion apparatus for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced plastic article includes a die having a first die portion and a second die portion, and an energy source coupled to the die. At least the second die portion is substantially transparent to energy provided by the energy source so that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is cured by passing energy through the die. The energy source may be an electromagnetic radiation source, which emits electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum or the ultraviolet spectrum. The second die portion may comprise a material that is substantially transparent to electromagnetic radiation emitted by the electromagnetic radiation source. The first die portion may also be substantially transparent to energy provided by the energy source or, alternatively, the first die portion may be substantially opaque to energy provided by the energy source.
[0013] According to a third aspect of embodiments of the present invention, a method of forming a fiber-reinforced plastic article includes the steps of continuously pultruding a fiber-reinforced plastic article to form a fiber-reinforced plastic article having a first partially cured state, continuously shaping the first fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state into a spirally wound shape, and continuously curing the fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state to form a spirally wound fiber-reinforced plastic article having a second cured state that is more rigid than the fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state. In embodiments of the present invention, the shaping step includes the step of molding the fiber-reinforced plastic article on a rotatable mold. The shaping step may further include the step of drawing the fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state through a die having a cross-section to form a fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state and substantially having the cross-section. A portion of the rotatable mold may define a portion of the die. The drawing step and the molding step may occur contemporaneously. In other embodiments, the shaping step includes the step of drawing the fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state through a die having a cross-section to form a fiber-reinforced plastic article having the first partially cured state and substantially having the cross-section. The curing step and the drawing step may occur simultaneously.
[0014] In still other embodiments of the present invention, the curing step includes inputting energy into the fiber-reinforced plastic article and the ratio of the energy input per unit length of the fiber-reinforced plastic article is substantially constant. The energy may be electromagnetic radiation as well as thermal energy. The pultruding step may include the steps of shaping an uncured fiber-reinforced plastic article, and curing the uncured fiber-reinforced plastic article to form the fiber-reinforced plastic article having a first partially cured state. The step of curing the uncured fiber-reinforced article may include inputting a first type of energy into the fiber-reinforced article, and the step of curing the fiber-reinforced plastic article having a first partially cured state may include inputting a second type of energy into the fiber-reinforced plastic article. The first and the second types of energy are preferably different, and are more preferably different types of electromagnetic radiation, for example, ultraviolet radiation and electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum.
[0015] In a fourth aspect of embodiments of the present invention, a composition of matter includes from about 55 to about 85 percent by weight of a binder, from about 15 to about 45 percent by weight of a diluent monomer, from about 0.05 to about 1 percent by weight of an ultraviolet photoinitiator, from about 0.05 to about 0.5 percent by weight of a visible photoinitiator, and from about 0.05 to about 0.5 percent by weight of an accelerator.
[0016] Embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to form a fiber-reinforced composite to a desired shape as part of a continuous manufacturing process. The present invention allows for continuously shaping a spirally wound fiber-reinforced plastic article, obviating the need for any of the work to be done by hand, which may be labor intensive, not as highly reproducible, and potentially contaminating.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] [0017]FIG. 1 is an end view of an embodiment of a pultrusion apparatus according to the present invention having a die portion operatively associated with an energy source;
[0018] [0018]FIG. 2 is an end view of the embodiment of the pultrusion apparatus of FIG. 1 with an exploded schematic diagram of the alpha-staging portion of the apparatus;
[0019] [0019]FIG. 3 is a top view of the embodiment of the pultrusion apparatus of FIG. 1;
[0020] [0020]FIG. 4A is an exploded view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3 showing the die portion abutting a sleeve to shape a pultruded fiber positioned in the surface of the sleeve;
[0021] [0021]FIG. 4B is an exploded view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3 showing the die portion abutting a sleeve to shape a pultruded fiber positioned in the die portion;
[0022] [0022]FIG. 4C is an exploded view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3 showing the die portion abutting a sleeve to shape a pultruded fiber positioned partially in the surface of the sleeve and partially in the die portion;
[0023] [0023]FIG. 4D is an exploded view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3 showing the die portion abutting a sleeve to shape a pultruded fiber positioned partially in the surface of the sleeve and partially in the die portion;
[0024] [0024]FIG. 5 is an end view of an embodiment of a pultrusion apparatus according to the present invention having an energy source separate from the die portion;
[0025] [0025]FIG. 6 is an end view of an embodiment of a pultrusion apparatus according to the present invention having an energy source and no die portion; and
[0026] [0026]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0027] The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed 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. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. Elements in the various figures are not drawn to scale and may be enlarged to show detail.
[0028] Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a pultrusion apparatus 100 according to the present invention will now be described. The pultrusion apparatus 100 has a first support column member 124 coupled to a first cross bar member 139 by a first coupling member 138 , and a second support column member 126 coupled to a second cross bar member 141 by a second coupling member 140 . The first and the second cross bar members 139 and 141 , respectively, are coupled to a carriage system 130 . The carriage system 130 includes a lateral slide rod 134 . A slide member 132 and a spring 136 are operatively associated with the lateral slide rod 134 such that the slide member 132 slides on the lateral slide rod 134 and is biased toward the first cross bar member 139 by an opposing force provided by the spring 136 .
[0029] Still referring to FIG. 1, a mold 116 is operatively associated with the slide member 132 via a longitudinal slide rod 128 . The mold 116 has a core 118 and an outer sleeve 119 . The core 118 preferably comprises a material selected from the group consisting of wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, and/or composite, and in the presented embodiments is comprised of a wood inner core and a body filler (Dynatron/Bondo Co., Atlanta, Ga.) outer core. The outer sleeve 119 preferentially substantially surrounds the outer surfaces of the core 118 . The sleeve preferably comprises a material that provides a non-adherent surface; more preferably the sleeve comprises a fluoropolymer. A particularly preferred sleeve material is one of the partially or fully fluorinated materials marketed as Teflon® or Teflon® PFA (DuPont Corp., Wilmington, Del.). While the core 118 and the sleeve 119 as shown in FIG. 1 are separately formed, it is to be understood that cores and sleeves of the present invention may be integrally formed, preferably from the group consisting of wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, and/or composite.
[0030] A drive cable 105 and drive wheel 106 are operatively associated with the mold 116 such that the drive cable 105 and the drive wheel 106 form a drive mechanism that acts to cause the mold 116 to rotate about the axis defined by the longitudinal slide rod 128 as shown in FIG. 1 by arrows 117 . The mold 116 is rotated by taking up the drive cable 105 on the drive wheel 106 which is driven by a drive motor 107 operatively associated with the drive wheel 106 . As will be understood by those skilled in the art, various drive mechanisms may be employed.
[0031] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the mold 116 has an elliptical cross-section having a semi-major axis and a semi-minor axis. The semi-major axis is preferably between about 0.1 and about 10 meters, more preferably between about 10 and about 100 centimeters, and most preferably between about 100 and about 200 millimeters. The semi-minor axis is preferably between about 0.1 and about 10 meters, more preferably between about 10 and about 100 centimeters, and most preferably between about 100 and about 200 millimeters. The length of the semi-major and semi-minor axes may be critical when the pultrusion apparatus is used to form orthodontic appliances such as preformed archwires because the archwires, which have a parabolic shape formed by cutting the elliptically shaped spirally wound fiber-reinforced plastic article into two, should be sized properly to fit the set of teeth on which they will be used. While the mold 116 as shown in FIG. 1 has an elliptical lateral cross-section, it is to be understood that molds of the present invention may have various other lateral cross-sections including, but not limited to, oblong, circular, and rectangular. It is preferred to use molds having elliptical or similar cross-sections for the fabrication of orthodontic archwires.
[0032] As shown in FIG. 1, the mold 116 is operatively associated with an alpha-staging apparatus 114 . In operation, a strand of fiber material 110 , which may include one or more individual fibers, enters the alpha-staging apparatus 114 . The alpha-staging apparatus 114 is described further herein with reference to FIG. 2. A partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 exits the alpha-staging apparatus 114 . The partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 is then taken up on the mold 116 . The mold 116 shapes the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 in two ways. First, the mold 116 continuously shapes the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 longitudinally from a straight article into an article having a spirally wound shape. As used herein, the term “spirally wound shape” is used to describe the shape of a fiber-reinforced plastic article that is taken up on any of the various molds of the present invention and should not be limited to the shape formed when a fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up on a cylindrical mold. To form an orthodontic appliance such as a preformed archwire, this spirally wound shape can be cut at points a and b to form a plurality of parabolic arches. Second, the mold 116 continuously shapes the cross-section of the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 such that it has, for example, a substantially rectangular cross-section, as described herein with reference to FIG. 4. As used herein, the term “rectangular cross-section” includes square cross-sections. The mold 116 continuously shapes the cross-section of the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 using a die defined by the surface of the mold 116 , which acts as a first die portion, and a second die portion 122 , which is operatively associated with the mold 116 .
[0033] Still referring to FIG. 1, an energy source 120 is coupled to the first cross bar member 139 by a support member 121 . The energy source 120 may be any one or more of various energy sources, including thermal sources, infra-red sources, visible sources, ultraviolet sources, x-rays, gamma rays, beta particles, high energy electrons, and combinations thereof. The energy source 120 is preferably an electromagnetic radiation source, which may emit various forms of electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic radiation source preferably emits electromagnetic radiation that is in the visible (i.e., about 400 to about 700 nm) or ultraviolet (i.e., about 100 to about 475 nm) spectra. A particularly preferred electromagnetic radiation source is a Midwest Insight II with a blue filtered light bulb for the visible light source (Midwest Co., Des Plaines, Ill.) or a Lesco Super Spot MKII 100 watt short-arc DC mercury vapor lamp for the UV light source (Lesco Inc., Torrence, Calif.). The energy source 120 is operatively associated with the mold 116 and positioned so that a partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 is cured in a non-linear shape (i.e., spirally wound) as it is taken up on the mold 116 . The energy source 120 is also operatively associated with the second die portion 122 such that the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 is cured to have a lateral cross-section that has substantially the shape of the second die. The second die portion 122 is preferably substantially transparent (i.e., transmits at least 90% of emitted energy) to the energy emitted by the energy source 120 . More preferably, the second die portion transmits at least 95% of the emitted energy, and, most preferably, the second die portion transmits at least 99% of the emitted energy. For example, when the energy source 120 is an electromagnetic radiation source that emits electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum, the second die portion 122 preferably comprises quartz. A particularly preferred second die portion 122 may be fabricated from a standard plate of quartz as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Those skilled in the art will be able to select appropriate materials for the second die portion 122 based on the type of energy emitted by the energy source 120 .
[0034] To achieve uniform material characteristics for the fiber-reinforced plastic article, it is preferable that a ratio of the energy input into the fiber-reinforced plastic article per unit length of the fiber-reinforced plastic article be substantially constant. This ratio may be maintained substantially constant in various ways, such as, but not limited to: (1) maintaining constant energy input from the energy source 120 while varying the speed of the drive wheel 106 to account for the non-circular outer circumference of the mold 116 having an elliptical lateral cross-section; or (2) maintaining constant the speed of the drive wheel 106 while varying or pulsing the energy input from the energy source 120 . The rotation of the mold and the pulsing of the energy input from the energy source may be controlled by a computer that is programmed to maintain a substantially constant ratio of the energy input per unit length of the fiber-reinforced plastic article. In an alternative embodiment, the ratio of energy input into the fiber-reinforced plastic article per unit length of the fiber-reinforced plastic article may be varied so that the fiber-reinforced plastic article does not have uniform properties along its length. For example, the archwire may be more fully cured in the posterior region than in the anterior region. Such an archwire may have its inherent stiffness in the posterior region immediately but more formability in its anterior region so that the archwire could be modified before the practitioner initiates final curing to provide substantially uniform stiffness to the modified archwire. The partially-cured archwires are preferably stored in a dark, refrigerated, oxygen-free environment. Modification of the archwire may be desirable if the arch of the mold does not precisely match the arch of the teeth undergoing correction, and/or if loops, bends, and/or step-bends are necessary. Modification and final curing preferably occurs in the practitioner's office. The practitioner may employ various devices including, but not limited to, a triad device to effect the final cure.
[0035] Turning to FIG. 2, the alpha-staging apparatus 114 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 will now be further described. The alpha-staging apparatus 114 includes a polymer reservoir 210 operatively associated with a forming die 212 and a curing chamber 214 . In general, a plurality of continuous fibers 110 enter the polymer reservoir 210 and are coated with a polymer resin. The coated fibers 211 are then formed by the forming die 212 which results in coated fibers having an initial cross-sectional shape 213 . The coated fibers having a desired cross-section 213 are then cured in the curing chamber 214 to form the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 , which is flexible enough for further forming. A particularly preferred alpha-staging apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,178 to Kusy et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The mold 116 may move longitudinally or laterally within the carriage system so that the die defined by the first and the second die portion 122 and the forming die 212 are substantially vertically aligned with one another as the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 is taken up along a longitudinal portion of the mold 116 . Although the embodiment of the carriage system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 provides for longitudinal and lateral motion of the mold 116 , it is to be understood that carriage systems of the present invention may also provide for vertical movement of the mold.
[0036] Still referring to FIG. 2, an energy source associated with the curing chamber 214 and the energy source 120 may emit the same or different types of energy. If the two energy sources emit the same type of energy (e.g., electromagnetic energy in the ultraviolet spectrum), it may be difficult to control the amount of cure that the fiber-reinforced plastic article undergoes during alpha-staging. As a result, it is preferable that the two energy sources emit different types of energy. More preferably, the energy source associated with the curing chamber 214 emits electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet spectrum while the energy source 120 emits electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum, or vice versa.
[0037] While the fiber-reinforced plastic article is preferably fully cured by apparatus according to the present invention, it may be desirable for these apparatus to form partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic articles. Such partially cured articles may be useful, for example, by dentists who prefer to perform a final forming step in their offices in order to conform the plastic article (e.g., an archwire) to fit the needs of a particular patient. Apparatus according to the present invention may provide such partially cured fiber-reinforced articles in various ways. For example, the curing chamber 214 in the alpha-staging apparatus 114 may be turned off such that the resin-coated fibers are not cured in the alpha-staging apparatus. In an alternative embodiment, an alpha-staging apparatus of the present invention may be provided without a curing chamber such that the fibers are coated with a polymer resin but not cured in the alpha-staging apparatus. The resin-coated fibers may then be partially cured by the energy source 120 as they are taken up on the mold 116 . These partially cured articles may then be provided to a third party (e.g., a dentist) for final shaping and curing. In yet another alternative embodiment, the curing chamber 214 and the energy source 120 may use the same type of energy (e.g., visible energy) to partially cure the fiber-reinforced article. The partially cured fiber-reinforced article could then be completely cured by a separate apparatus located, for example, at a dentist office using an energy source that emits a different type of energy (e.g., an ultraviolet energy source). In still another embodiment, a polymer resin having a ternary cure system could be used such that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is partially cured in the curing chamber 214 which emits a first type of energy, is further cured as it is taken up on the mold 116 by the energy source 120 which emits a second type of energy, and is cured to completion by a separate apparatus which emits a third type of energy. The separate apparatus is preferably a triad device in a dental practitioner's office.
[0038] The polymer reservoir 210 preferably contains a polymer composition according to embodiments of the present invention. The polymer composition is preferably biocompatible when used to form a medical device, such as a dental archwire. Polymer compositions of the present invention have been formulated to allow for partial curing by input of electromagnetic radiation in either the ultraviolet or visible spectra followed by more fully curing by input of the type of electromagnetic radiation (ultraviolet or visible) not used for the partial cure. According to embodiments of the present invention, the polymer composition comprises a binder monomer, a diluent monomer, an ultraviolet photoinitiator, a visible photoinitiator, and an accelerator. The use of a dual cure polymer system may allow for more control over the flexibility of the initial composite.
[0039] The polymer composition comprises preferably from about 55 to about 85 percent by weight, more preferably from about 60 to about 80 percent by weight, and most preferably from about 70 to about 80 percent by weight, of the binder monomer. The binder monomer is preferably selected from the group consisting of 2,2-bis[4-(2-hydroxy-3-methacryloxypropoxy)phenyl]propane (Bis-GMA), 2,2-bis(4-methacryloyloxy-phenyl) propane, 2,2-bis-[4-(2-hydroxyethoxy) phenyl]propane dimethacrylate, 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane dimethacrylate, 2,2-bis-[4-(2-hydroxypropoxy)phenyl]propane dimethacrylate, and mixtures thereof. More preferably, the binder monomer is Bis-GMA. Mixtures of urethane diacrylate oligomers in combination with Bis-GMA as described in Robert G. Craig, “Chemistry, Composition, and Properties of Composite Resins,” Symposium on Composite Resins in Dentistry, Dental Clinics of North America, 25(2): 219-239 (April 1981).
[0040] The polymer composition comprises preferably from about 15 to about 45 percent by weight, more preferably from about 20 to about 40 percent by weight, and most preferably from about 20 to about 30 percent by weight, of a diluent monomer. The diluent monomer is preferably an acrylic monomer. The acrylic monomer is preferably selected from the group consisting of methyl methacrylate (MMA), isobutyl methacrylate, cyclohexyl methacrylate, triethylene glycol methacrylate (TEGMA), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, diethylene glycol dimethacrylate, triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA), tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate, trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate, 1,6 hexanediol dimethacrylate, 1,4-butanediol dimethacrylate, and mixtures thereof. When the acrylic monomer is a monomethacrylate monomer, it is preferably methyl methacrylate. When the acrylic monomer is a di- or tri-methacrylate monomer, it is preferably triethylene glycol dimethacrylate.
[0041] The polymer composition comprises preferably from about 0.05 to about 1 percent by weight, more preferably from about 0.2 to about 0.7 percent by weight, and most preferably from about 0.3 to about 0.5 percent by weight, of an ultraviolet photoinitiator. The ultraviolet photoinitiator is preferably an ether, and is more preferably a benzyl alkyl ether. The ether is preferably selected from the group consisting of benzoin methyl ether, benzoin ethyl ether, benzoin butyl ether, benzoin isobutyl ether, benzoin phenyl ether, and mixtures thereof. The ether is most preferably benzoin ethyl ether.
[0042] The polymer composition comprises preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.5 percent by weight, more preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.3 percent by weight, and most preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.15 percent by weight, of an a visible photoinitiator. The visible photoinitiator is preferably a quinone. The quinone is preferably selected from the group consisting of camphorquinone, 9,10-phenanthraquinone, 9,10-anthraquinone, acenaphtheneinone, α-naphthoquinone, β-naphthoquinone, 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, 2-t-butyl-9,10-anthraquinone, 2-ethylanthraquinone, 1-chloroanthraquinone, 1,2-benzanthraquinone, 2-methylanthraquinone, 2-methyl-3-phytyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, 2-methyl-3-geranylgeranyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone, and mixtures thereof. The quinone is most preferably camphorquinone.
[0043] The polymer resin comprises preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.5 percent by weight, more preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.3 percent by weight, and most preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.15 percent by weight, of an accelerator. The accelerator is preferably selected from the group consisting of dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate, N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine, N,N-dihydroxyethyl-p-toluidine, N-(2-cyanoethyl)-N-methylaniline, and mixtures thereof. The accelerator is more preferably selected from the group consisting of N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine, N,N-dihydroxyethyl-p-toluidine, dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate, and mixtures thereof.
[0044] Referring now to FIG. 3, a top view of the embodiment of the pultrusion apparatus 100 described above with reference to FIG. 1 will now be described. The alpha staging apparatus 114 has been omitted for clarity. A spring 330 provides for movement of the mold 116 in the longitudinal direction l along longitudinal slide rod 128 . The longitudinally extending mold 116 has a core 310 having a longitudinally extending outer surface. The core preferably comprises a material selected from the group consisting of wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, and/or composite, and in the presented embodiments is comprised of a wood inner core and a body filler (Dynatron/Bondo Co., Atlanta, Ga.) outer core. A longitudinally extending sleeve 320 substantially surrounds a portion of the outer surface of the core 310 . The longitudinally extending sleeve 320 preferentially substantially surrounds the longitudinal outer surfaces of the core 310 . The sleeve preferably comprises a material that provides a non-adherent surface; more preferably the sleeve comprises a fluoropolymer. A particularly preferred sleeve material is one of the partially or fully fluorinated materials marketed as Teflon® or Teflon® PFA (DuPont Corp., Wilmington, Del.). As illustrated in FIG. 3, the sleeve 320 does not extend the entire length of the mold 116 . However, it is to be understood that sleeves of the present invention may extend the entire length of the mold. While the core 310 and the sleeve 320 as shown in FIG. 3 are separately formed, it is to be understood that cores and sleeves of the present invention may be integrally formed, preferably from the group consisting of wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, and/or composite.
[0045] Still referring to FIG. 3, the sleeve 320 is preferably configured to provide a first die portion 324 . The first die portion 324 defines a spirally wound groove in and/or a protuberance on the surface of the sleeve 320 . In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the fiber-reinforced plastic article is formed in the first die portion 324 as shown at 325 . The configuration of the first die portion 324 is more fully described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 4. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the spirally wound groove has a pitch p that is preferably between about 0.00025 and about 0.33 meters, more preferably between about 0.025 and about 3.0 centimeters, and most preferably between about 0.25 and about 1.25 millimeters. When the pultrusion apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention is used to fabricate an orthodontic appliance, such as a preformed archwire, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, the pitch p of the spirally wound groove may be critical for several reasons. First, the pitch p may cause the arch to have a slight cant such that it does not lie perfectly flat on a flat surface. This cant may cause undesired teeth movement when the preformed archwire is installed. Second, the pitch may actually cause the cross-section of the arch wire to have a slight twist that may cause undesired teeth movement. As a result, the spirally wound groove at the surface of the mold in a pultrusion apparatus for forming orthodontic archwires according to the present invention preferably has a pitch between about 0.25 and about 1.25 millimeters. A perspective view of the apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1 - 3 is provided in FIG. 7. As in FIG. 3, the alpha staging apparatus 114 has been omitted for clarity. The plurality of continuous fibers 110 and the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 have also been omitted for clarity. In this embodiment, the support column members 124 are coupled to a first cross bar member 139 by U-shaped bolts 710 .
[0046] Referring now to FIGS. 4A through 4D, the configuration of the first die portion 324 and the second die portion 122 to define the die will now be described. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the second die portion 122 is positioned to abut the sleeve 320 such that the first die portion 324 and the second die portion 122 define a die configured to receive and shape, and, in this embodiment, more fully cure the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article to form a fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 . As shown in FIG. 4A, the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 has continuous fibers 110 in a polymer matrix 420 formed from the polymer resin as described above with referenced to FIG. 2. The die has a height h that is preferably between about 0.00025 and about 0.33 meters, more preferably between about 0.025 and about 2.5 centimeters, and most preferably between about 0.25 and about 1.5 millimeters. The width w of the die is preferably between about 0.00025 and about 0.33 meters, more preferably between about 0.025 and about 2.5 centimeters, and most preferably between about 0.25 and about 1.5 millimeters. When the pultrusion apparatus is used to fabricate an orthodontic appliance such as a preformed archwire, the dimensions of the die may be critical as they determine the cross-sectional dimensions of the resulting archwire, which help to ensure that the archwire properly engages the brackets and/or molar tubes and that the archwire appropriately delivers the forces per unit of deactivation to the teeth. While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4A shows a die defined by the first die portion 324 and the second die portion 122 with the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 positioned in the sleeve 320 , it is to be understood that the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 may also be positioned in the first die portion 122 , or positioned partially in the first die portion 122 and partially in the sleeve 320 .
[0047] As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 is positioned in the first die portion 122 . The first die portion 122 has a first arm 430 and a second arm 432 that define two sides of the die defined by the first die portion 122 and the second die portion 324 . While the end 431 of the first arm 430 and the end 433 of the second arm 432 are shown to abut the surface of the sleeve 320 as illustrated in FIG. 4B, it is to be understood that one or both of the first and the second arms 430 and 432 , respectively, may extend into the sleeve. In this way, the first and/or the second arm 430 and 432 , respectively, may act as a guide to align the first die portion 122 with the second die portion 324 .
[0048] As illustrated in FIGS. 4C and 4D, the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 is positioned partially in the first die portion 122 and partially in the sleeve 320 . Referring first to FIG. 4C, the first die portion 122 has a groove 440 defined in part by an arm 442 . The sleeve 320 has a protuberance 441 that extends from the surface of the sleeve 320 and engages the groove 440 of the first die portion 122 . While the protuberance 441 and the groove 440 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4C extend beyond the upper surface 443 of the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 , it is to be understood that protuberances and grooves according to the present invention may extend to a position that is shallower than the upper surface of the fiber-reinforced article, provided, however, that the groove 440 and the protuberance 441 are biased in such a way as to ensure that the groove side 440 a contacts the protuberance side 441 a . While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4C show a first die portion 122 having an arm 442 , it is to be understood that first die portions of the present invention need not have an arm, provided, however, that the groove 440 and the protuberance 441 are biased in such a way as to ensure that the groove side 440 b contacts the protuberance side 441 b . Although the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4C show only one groove 440 and one protuberance 441 on only one side of the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 , it is to be understood that first die portions and sleeves of the present invention may have one or more grooves and protuberances, which may be located on one or both sides of the fiber-reinforced plastic article.
[0049] Referring now to FIG. 4D, the sleeve 320 has a first groove 450 and a second groove 452 . The first die portion has a first arm 451 and a second arm 453 that engages the first and the second grooves 450 and 452 , respectively. While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4D shows first and second arms 451 and 453 , respectively, and first and second grooves 450 and 452 , respectively, that are shallower than the lower surface 454 of the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 , it is to be understood that one or both of the arms and grooves of the present invention may extend beyond the lower surface of the fiber-reinforced plastic article. Although the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4D shows a first die portion 122 having a first arm 451 positioned on a first side of the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 , and a second arm 453 positioned on a second side of the fiber-reinforced plastic article 405 opposite the first side, it is to be understood that first die portions of the present invention may have only one arm positioned on only one side of the fiber-reinforced plastic article, provided, of course, that the outer side of the arm and the inner side of the groove are biased so as to contact one another if the arm and the groove do not extend beyond the lower surface of the fiber-reinforced plastic article. It is also to be understood that first die portions and sleeves of the present invention may have more than one arm and more than one groove, respectively, on one or both sides of the fiber-reinforced plastic article. While various embodiments of dies defined by configurations of first die portions and sleeves have been illustrated in FIGS. 4A through 4D and described with reference thereto, the present invention should not be limited to the illustrated embodiments, which have been 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. Those skilled in the art will understand that other suitable configurations within the scope of the invention may be possible.
[0050] The continuous fibers 110 may be selected from various fibers as will be understood by those skilled in the art including, but not limited to, polymeric fibers including polyethylene fibers (e.g., ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fibers such as Spectra series, and/or self-reinforcing liquid crystal or nanocrystalline polymeric fibers), Kevlar® brand fibers, nylon fibers, glass fibers (S2 and E), carbon fibers such as graphite, quartz fibers, metal fibers, ceramic fibers, boron fibers, aluminum fibers, or combinations thereof. Such fibers are commercially available from various companies as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Fibers are preferably pre-coated with a coupling agent such as a silane, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.
[0051] Fiber-reinforced plastic articles according to the present invention may have various levels of fiber loading. The fiber loading is preferably expressed as the volume fraction of reinforcement, V f , which may be calculated by summing the cross-sectional area of the fibers in the cross-section of a fiber-reinforced plastic article and dividing by the total area of the cross-section of the fiber-reinforced plastic article. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, V f can vary from about 0.2 to about 0.85. V f is preferably from about 0.4 to about 0.8, is more preferably from about 0.5 to about 0.75, and is most preferably from about 0.6 to about 0.7.
[0052] Referring now to FIG. 5, an embodiment of a pultrusion apparatus 500 according to the present invention having a second die portion 512 and an energy source 514 that are not operatively associated will now be described. While similar to the pultrusion apparatus 100 described above with reference to FIG. 1, the pultrusion apparatus 500 has an energy source 514 that is not operatively associated with the second die portion 512 , which is coupled to the cross member 139 by coupling member 510 . Instead, the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article 112 is laterally shaped by the die defined by the second die portion 512 and the mold 116 prior to being cured by the energy source 514 . The second die portion 512 and the energy source 514 are similar to the second die portion 122 and the energy source 120 , respectively, described above with reference to FIG. 1 and will not be further described.
[0053] Referring now to FIG. 6, an embodiment of a pultrusion apparatus 600 according to the present invention having an energy source 514 and no second die portion. The pultrusion apparatus 600 longitudinally shapes the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article as it is continuously taken up on the mold 116 . However, unlike the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, the pultrusion apparatus 600 does not shape the cross-section of the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article.
[0054] While embodiments of the present invention have focused on the fabrication of preformed archwires, it is to be understood that apparatus according to the present invention may be used to fabricate orthodontic appliances such as passive appliances (e.g., retainers and space maintainers) and/or functional appliances (e.g., face bows, palatal expansion apparatus, and cleft palate devices) as well as articles for general dentistry and/or medical applications such as, for example, alveolar ridge augmentation, bone scaffolding, bridge abutments, facial reconstruction, and/or splints. Apparatus according to the present invention can also be used in various situations where contouring of a preform or prepreg is advantageous, in various situations where anisotropy (i.e., different properties in different directions) is beneficial, and/or various situations where high strength, variable stiffness, high springback, and/or high resilience is needed after formability is complete. For example, apparatus of the present invention may be used to form struts, curved beams, springs, and/or cables for diverse applications such as construction, sports, and/or aerospace, among others.
[0055] The foregoing embodiments are illustrative of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting thereof. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
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A pultrusion apparatus for manufacturing a fiber-reinforced plastic article having a non-linear shape includes a mold configured to receive a partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article and to form the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article into a spirally wound shape. A drive mechanism is coupled to the mold and configured to rotate the mold such that the fiber-reinforced plastic article is taken up on the mold. An energy source is operatively associated with the mold and positioned so that the partially cured fiber-reinforced plastic article is cured in a spirally wound shape as the article is taken up on the longitudinally extending mold. The pultrusion apparatus allows for continuously shaping a non-linear fiber-reinforced plastic article, obviating the need for any of the work to be done by hand, which may be labor intensive, not as highly reproducible, and potentially contaminating.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/204,059, filed Dec. 31, 2008, and is incorporated herein by reference.
GOVERNMENT RIGHTS
The present application was made with the United States government support under Contract No. N88858, awarded by the United States Navy. The United States government has certain rights in the present application.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to gas turbine engines and more particularly to systems, apparatuses, and methods of harnessing thermal energy of gas turbine engine(s).
BACKGROUND
Gas turbine engines are an efficient source of energy and have proven useful to propel aircraft and other flying machines, for electricity generation, as well as for other uses. One aspect of gas turbine engines is that they produce significant amounts of thermal energy during operation. It is well understood that some thermal energy is harnessed by a gas turbine engine during its operation; however, a significant amount of thermal energy is not harnessed or put to use and is lost. Thus, there remains a need for systems, apparatuses, and methods of harnessing thermal energy of gas turbine engine(s).
SUMMARY
One embodiment according to the present invention is a unique system for harnessing thermal energy of a gas turbine engine. Other embodiments include unique apparatuses, systems, devices, and methods relating to gas turbine engines. Further embodiments, forms, objects, features, advantages, aspects, and benefits of the present invention shall become apparent from the following description and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an illustrative view of an aircraft propelled by two gas turbine engines.
FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a gas turbine engine.
FIG. 3 is a system schematic according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic timeline of an apparatus in several states according to one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
For purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
With reference to FIG. 1 , there is shown airplane 100 including gas turbine engine engines 110 and 120 which operate to propel airplane 100 . Airplane 100 is one example of a use to which gas turbine engines can be put. There are a variety of additional applications for gas turbine engines, including, for example, electricity generation, pumping sets for gas and oil transmission lines, land and naval propulsion, and still other applications. It should be appreciated that systems, apparatuses, and methods according to the present invention can be used in connection with the gamut of gas turbine engine applications. Thus, while the following description is in the context of one embodiment of a gas turbine engine suitable for aircraft propulsion, the invention broadly applies to the aforementioned applications and others.
With reference to FIG. 2 , there is illustrated a schematic view of a gas turbine engine 200 which includes a compression system 215 , a combustor section 223 , and a turbine section 224 that are integrated together to produce an aircraft flight propulsion engine. In one form, the compression system 215 includes a fan section 221 and a compressor section 222 . This type of gas turbine engine is generally referred to as a turbo-fan. One alternate form of a gas turbine engine includes a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine that have been integrated together to produce an aircraft flight propulsion engine without-the fan section. The term aircraft broadly includes helicopters, airplanes, missiles, unmanned space devices and any other substantially similar devices. It is important to appreciate that there are a multitude of ways in which the gas turbine engine components can be linked together. For example, additional compressors and turbines could be added with intercoolers connecting between the compressors and reheat combustion chambers could be added between the turbines. A wide variety of additional configurations and variations are also possible.
The compressor section 222 includes a rotor 219 having a plurality of compressor blades 228 coupled thereto. The rotor 219 is affixed to a shaft 225 that is rotatable within the gas turbine engine 200 . A plurality of compressor vanes 229 are positioned within the compressor section 222 to direct the fluid flow relative to blades 228 . Turbine section 224 includes a plurality of turbine blades 230 that are coupled to a rotor disk 231 . The rotor disk 231 is affixed to the shaft 225 , which is rotatable within the gas turbine engine 200 . Energy extracted in the turbine section 224 from the hot gas exiting the combustor section 223 is transmitted through shaft 225 to drive the compressor section 222 . Further, a plurality of turbine vanes 232 are positioned within the turbine section 224 to direct the hot gaseous flow stream exiting the combustor section 223 .
The turbine section 224 provides power to a fan shaft 226 , which drives the fan section 221 . The fan section 221 includes a fan 218 having a plurality of fan blades 233 . Air enters the gas turbine engine 200 in the direction of arrows A and passes through the fan section 221 into the compressor section 222 and a bypass duct 227 . The term airfoil will be utilized herein to refer to fan blades, fan vanes, compressor blades, turbine blades, compressor vanes, and turbine vanes unless specifically stated otherwise. Further details related to the principles and components of a conventional gas turbine engine will not be described herein as they are known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
With reference to FIG. 3 there is shown a system 300 according to one embodiment of the present invention. System 300 includes a gas turbine engine 310 which includes a housing 312 . A chamber 314 is coupled to housing 312 and contains water 316 . In an operational state, engine 310 rapidly becomes hot (for example up to 3000° C. or more) as indicates by letter H. In a non operational state engine 310 can be at room temperature, or at other non-operational temperatures as indicated by letters RT. At room temperature water 316 is in a substantially liquid physical phase; however, at an operational temperature, water 316 will undergo a phase change to become super heated steam. Given the high operating temperature of engine 310 this phase change can occur very rapidly, and can be nearly instantaneous upon engine operation. In certain applications, such as aircraft, additional heat can be generated on or about housing 314 through air drag. Such heat resulting from engine operation can be harnessed according to various embodiments of the present invention.
It should be appreciated that the illustrated coupling of engine 310 and chamber 314 where housing 312 and chamber 314 share a common wall is only one exemplary configuration. A number of other embodiments are contemplated, for example, coupling where the chamber is separated from the housing by one or more additional walls or other structures, or a portion of the chamber or some intermediate heat transfer structure extends into or through housing 312 . Regardless of the particular configuration, system 300 includes thermal coupling of engine 310 and water 316 effective to promote or cause a phase change of water 316 . Thermal coupling can include conduction, convention, radiation, or combination of these and other modes of heat transfer. It should also be appreciated that a variety of materials having the capacity to change phases within the operational/non-operational range of engine 310 could be used instead of or in addition to water. For example, materials such as other motive fluids for gas turbine engines or combinations of these or other materials could also be used. There may also be provided one or more devices to introduce additional water to chamber 314 .
Chamber 314 is coupled to valve 320 by conduit 318 . Though not illustrated, an additional valve, such as a steam valve or one way flow valve, can optionally be provided between chamber 314 and valve 320 to control movement of matter from chamber 314 to or at some position along conduit 318 . Several such additional valves and other intermediate parts or pathways could also be included. Once water 316 changes phase to steam, assuming no barrier exists, it travels to or pressurizes a flow passage within conduit 318 as indicated by arrow S 1 . Steam then travels through conduit 318 and ultimately encounters valve 320 as indicated by arrow S 2 . Valve 320 can be closed, open to the right so that steam travels to conduit 322 in the direction indicated by arrow S 3 , open to the left so that steam travels to conduit 324 in the direction indicated by arrow S 4 , partially open in either or both directions, or open to provide external venting such as in the case of an emergency vent.
Conduits 322 and 324 are coupled to actuator 330 . Conduit 322 leads to chamber 333 as illustrated by arrow S 5 . Conduit 324 leads to chamber 332 as illustrated by arrow S 6 . Thus, depending upon the setting of valve 320 , the relative pressure of chambers 332 and 333 can be varied. Such variation can cause movement of piston 331 which in turn can move rod 340 and ultimately act upon load 350 . As arrow M-M shows, this motion can be reciprocation. A variety or other movement can also occur, for example, rotation, vibration, twisting, torque, orbital motion, bending, and virtually any other manner of movement, force or action. It should also be appreciated that a variety of other actuators could be used to accomplish a variety of other purposes. For example, the actuator could include or could be coupled to a variable geometry actuator, such as a piston, operable to drive the variable geometry of a compressor. The actuator could include or could be coupled to an injector for direct injection into one or more locations in a gas turbine engine which could result in a variety of pollution and performance improvements. Furthermore, the actuator could include or could be coupled to an electrical generator such as a small steam turbine or other generation device. Additionally, the actuator could include or could be coupled to an injector for injection into the exhaust stream for IR or noise suppression purposes. Thus it will be understood that actuators according to various embodiments of the present invention include the foregoing and other devices operable to move, apply force, transfer matter such as steam or other motive fluid, and/or do some work.
With reference to FIG. 4 there is shown a timeline 400 illustrating an apparatus 410 in several states 410 A, 410 B, 410 C, 410 D, 410 E, and 410 F. Each state corresponds to a time along timeline T O -T N , specifically, state 410 A is at or about time T O , state 410 B is at or about time T 1 , state 410 C is at or about time T 2 , state 410 D is at or about time T 3 , state 410 E is at or about time T 4 , and state 410 F is at or about time T 5 . The several states of apparatus 410 each include a gas turbine engine including a housing 412 which is coupled to a chamber 414 which contains a liquid or other phase excitable material. A flow path 418 can interconnect chamber 414 and actuator 430 . There is also provided a triggerable pressure inducement element 490 which could be, for example, an explosive, a combustible, a valve opening to a pressure source such as a tank of flow passage, a cartridge, a compressor, an injector or any other source of pressure or combination of sources. For convenience element 490 is illustrated as an explosive; however, the foregoing and other alternatives are also contemplated.
Along the timeline T O -T N apparatus 410 begins at T 0 in a room temperature or other non-operational state. Water or other matter 416 is in a liquid phase. Explosive 490 is un-exploded, but triggerable by a variety of techniques. Then at T 1 explosive 490 is triggered. At T 2 explosive force begins traveling along pathway 418 as shown by the arrows. At T 3 the explosive force reaches actuator 430 . At T 4 (which could be simultaneous or subsequent to T 3 ) actuator 430 is actuated. Also at (or before or subsequent to) T 4 , the engine is started and moves from non-operational temperature to a hot operating state. Through transfer across a heat transfer interface, such as the illustrated intermediate metal wall structure, but optionally any of a wide variety of heat transfer structures including sinks, conductors, piping, counter flow, and/or combinations of these ant other interfaces, a phase change or excitement in matter 416 occurs. At T 5 the phase change or excitement reaches and actuates actuator 430 .
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment(s), but rather, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as permitted under the law. Furthermore it should be understood that while the use of the word preferable, preferably, or preferred in the description above indicates that feature so described may be more desirable, it nonetheless may not be necessary and any embodiment lacking the same may be contemplated as within the scope of the invention, that scope being defined by the claims that follow. In reading the claims it is intended that when words such as “a,” “an,” “at least one” and “at least a portion” are used, there is no intention to limit the claim to only one item unless specifically stated to the contrary in the claim. Further, when the language “at least a portion” and/or “a portion” is used the item may include a portion and/or the entire item unless specifically stated to the contrary.
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One embodiment according to the present invention is a unique system for harnessing thermal energy of a gas turbine engine. Other embodiments include unique apparatuses, systems, devices, and methods relating to gas turbine engines. Further embodiments, forms, objects, features, advantages, aspects, and benefits of the present invention shall become apparent from the following description and drawings.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/765,789 filed on Jun. 20, 2007, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/667,040 filed on Sep. 22, 2003, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/882,536 filed on Jun. 14, 2001 and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 of Danish application nos. PA 2000 00932 and PA 2001 00372 filed on Jun. 16, 2000 and Mar. 7, 2001 respectively, and U.S. provisional application Nos. 60/214,470 and 60/275,790 filed on Jun. 27, 2000 and Mar. 14, 2001 respectively. The benefit of application Ser. No. 11/765,789 filed on Jun. 20, 2007; Ser. No. 10/667,040 filed on Sep. 22, 2003; Ser. No. 09/882,536 filed on Jun. 14, 2001 in the U.S. is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to syringes by which a dose can be set by rotating a dose setting member and by which an injection button elevates from an end of the syringe a distance proportional to the set dose and wherein the set dose can be injected by pressing home the injection button to its not elevated position.
An almost classic pen of this type is described in EP 327 910.
By setting a dose on this pen a tubular member forming an injection button is screwed up along a threaded piston rod a distance corresponding to the distance said piston rod must be moved to inject the set dose. The tubular member simply forms a nut which is during the dose setting screwed away form a stop and which is during the injection pressed back to abutment with said stop and the force exerted on the button is directly transmitted to the a piston closing one end of an ampoule in the syringe which ampoule contains the medicament to be injected. When the piston is pressed into the ampoule the medicament is pressed out through a needle mounted through a closure at the other end of the ampoule.
By time it has been wanted to store larger amount in the ampoules, typically 3 ml instead of 1.5 ml. As it has not been appropriate to make the syringe longer the ampoule is instead given a larger diameter, i.e. the area of the piston facing the medicament in the ampoule has been doubled and consequently the force which has to be exerted on the piston to provide the same pressure as previously inside the ampoule has been doubled. Further the distance the piston has to be moved to inject one unit of the medicament has been halved.
This development is not quite favourable, as especially users having reduced finger strength have their difficulties in pressing the injection button, a problem that is further increased when still thinner needles are used to reduce the pain by injection. Also with quite small movements of the button it is difficult to feel whether the button is moved at all and by injection of one unit from a 3 ml ampoule the piston and consequently the injection button has to be moved only about 0.1 mm.
Consequently a wish for a gearing between the injection button and the piston has occurred so that the button has a larger stroke than has the piston. By such a gearing the movement of the injection button is made larger and the force, which has to be exerted on the injection button, is correspondingly reduced.
In EP 608 343 a gearing is obtained by the fact that a dose setting element is screwed up along a spindle having a thread with a high pitch. When said dose setting element is pressed back in its axial direction the thread will induce a rotation of said dose setting element, which rotation is via a coupling transmitted to a driver nut with a fine pitch which driver nut will force a threaded not rotatable piston rod forward.
A similar gearing is provided in WO 99/38554 wherein the thread with the high pitch is cut in the outer surface of a dose setting drum and is engaged by a mating thread on the inner side of the cylindrical housing. However, by this kind of gearing relative large surfaces are sliding over each other so that most of the transformed force is lost due to friction between the sliding surfaces. Therefore a traditional gearing using mutual engaging gear wheels and racks is preferred.
From WO 96/26754 is known an injection device wherein two integrated gear wheels engages a rack fixed in the housing and a rack inside a plunger, respectively. When the plunger is moved axially in the housing the rack inside this plunger can drive the first gear wheel to make the other integral gear wheel move along the fixed rack in the housing. Thereby the gear wheel is moved in the direction of the plunger movement but a shorter distance than is this plunger and this axial movement of the integrated gear wheels is via a housing encompassing said gear wheels transmitted to a piston rod which presses the piston of an ampoule further into this ampoule. However, the rack inside the plunger is one of a number axial racks provided inside said plunger. These racks alternates with untoothed recesses, which allow axial movement of the plunger without the first gear wheel being in engagement with a rack in this plunger. This arrangement is provided to allow the plunger to be moved in a direction out of the housing when a dose is set. When the plunger is rotated to set a dose it is moved outward a distance corresponding to one unit during the part of the rotation where the first gear wheel passes the untoothed recess, thereafter the first gear wheel engages one of the racks so the set unit can be injected, or the rotation can be continued to make the first gear wheel pass the next recess during which passing the set dose is increased by one more unit and so on until a dose with the wanted number of units is set.
A disadvantage by this construction is that the teeth of the racks and gearwheels alternating have to be brought in and out of engagement with each other with the inherit danger of clashing. As only a few racks separated by intermediary untoothed recess can be placed along the inner surface of the plunger only few increments can be made during a 360 degree rotation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the invention to provide an injection device, which combines the advantages of the devices according to the prior art without adopting their disadvantages and to provide a device wherein is established a direct gearing, i.e. a gearing by which more transformations of rotational movement to linear movement and linear movement to rotational movement are avoided, between the injection button and the piston rod.
This can be obtained by an injection device comprising a housing wherein a piston rod threaded with a first pitch is non rotatable but longitudinally displaceable guided, a nut engaging the thread of the piston rod which nut can be screwed along the threaded piston rod away from a defined position in the housing to set a dose and can be pressed back to said defined position carrying the piston rod with it when the set dose is injected, a dose setting drum which can be screwed outward in the housing along a thread with a second pitch to lift an injection button with it up from the proximal end of the housing, which injection device is according to the invention characterised in that a gearbox is provided which provides a gearing between the axial movements of the injection button and the nut relative to the housing which gearing has a gearing ratio corresponding to the ratio of said second and first pitch.
In a preferred embodiment the gearing between the movements of the injection button and the nut is obtained by the gearbox comprising at least one gear wheel carried by a connector which projects from the gear box longitudinally displaceable but non rotatable relative to said gearbox and is integral with the nut, a first rack integral with a first element of the gearbox, which element is rotational but not longitudinally displaceable relative to the housing, and second element carrying a second rack projecting from said gearbox longitudinally displaceable but non rotatable relative to said first element and being coupled to the injection button to follow longitudinal movements of said button, the at least one gear wheel engaging the first and the second rack, respectively, and being dimensioned to provide a gearing by which a longitudinal movement of the second rack is transformed to a longitudinal movement of the connector with a gearing ratio for the mentioned longitudinal movements of the second rack and the connector relative to the housing, which gearing ratio corresponds to the ratio of said second to said first pitch.
In such a device only the forces necessary to drive the dose setting drum are transformed by a thread with a high pitch whereas the forces necessary to move the piston by injection is transmitted to said piston through a conventional gear with constantly engaging gears and racks.
The piston rod is provided with a stop for the movement of the nut along the thread of said piston rod. This way a dose setting limiter is provided in the classic way, which involves no additional members to prevent setting of a dose exceeding the amount of liquid left in the ampoule.
In the following the invention is described in further details with references to the drawing, wherein
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 schematically shows a sectional view of an injection device according to the invention, and
FIG. 2 shows schematically a sectional view of the gear box along the line I-I in FIG. 1 ,
FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view in the dose setting part of another embodiment of an injection device according to the invention,
FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal sectional view perpendicular to the view in FIG. 3 , and
FIG. 5 shows an exploded picture of the of the device shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In the device shown in FIG. 1 an elongated cylindrical housing 1 has a partitioning wall 2 which divides the housing in a compartment containing a dose setting mechanism and a compartment 3 designed for the accommodation of a not shown ampoule. A threaded piston rod 4 has a not round cross section by which it fits through a central opening in the wall 2 so that the piston rod 4 can be displaced longitudinally through the central opening in the wall 2 but not rotated relative to this wall.
Concentrically with the housing 1 the wall 2 carries on its side turning away from the compartment 3 a tubular element 5 which is at a part of it adjacent to the wall 2 provided with an outer thread 6 and which has at its free end a circumferential recess 7 . A ring shaped coupling element 8 on a gear box 9 engages the recess 7 . By this coupling the gearbox is fixed in the housing 1 in a way that allows the gearbox 9 to rotate in the housing but not to be axially displaced relative to said housing.
In the gearbox 9 a gear wheel assembly comprising two integral gear wheels is journaled on a shaft 11 , which runs perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the device between two axial connection bars 12 . The connection bars 12 project from the gear box towards the partition wall 2 and are connected to a nut 13 which adjacent to the wall 2 engages the thread of the piston rod 4 . The gear wheel assembly comprises a gear wheel 14 with a large diameter engaging the teeth of a rack 15 which is guided in the gear box to be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the device, and a gear wheel 16 with a small diameter engaging a rack 10 in FIG. 2 extending in the longitudinal direction of the device on the inner wall of the gearbox 9 . The gear wheel 16 with the small diameter may be divided into two gear wheels placed on each side of the of the gear wheel 14 , and the rack on the inner wall of the gearbox 9 may have a longitudinal recess without any teeth to make room for the gear wheel 14 .
A tubular dose setting drum 17 fitting into the housing 2 is at an end provided with an internal thread mating and engaging the outer thread 6 of the tubular element 5 and has at its other end a part with enlarged diameter forming a dose setting button 18 . Due to the engagement with the thread 6 the dose setting drum 17 may be screwed in and out of the housing to show a number on a not shown helical scale on its outer surface in a not shown window in the housing 1 .
A bottom 19 in a deep cup shaped element, which has a tubular part 20 fitting into the dose setting drum 17 and encompassing the gearbox 9 , forms an injection button. Coupling means between the dose setting drum 17 and the cup shaped element ensures that rotation of the dose setting drum 17 is transmitted to the cup shaped element. Further the inner wall of the tubular part 20 has longitudinal recesses 22 engaged by protrusions 23 on the gearbox 9 so that rotation of the dose setting drum 17 via the cup shaped element is transmitted to the gearbox 9 .
At the edge of the open end of the cup shaped element a rosette of V-shaped teeth are provided, which teeth engage a corresponding rosette of V-shaped teeth 24 on a ring 25 which is pressed against the edge of the cup shaped element by a spring 26 which is compressed between a not toothed side of the ring 25 and a round going shoulder 27 on the inner wall of the dose setting drum 17 at an inner end of the inner thread of this drum. The ring is provided with an inner recess, which is engaged by a longitudinal rib 28 on the tubular element 5 so that the ring 25 can be displaced in the axial direction of the device but cannot be rotated relative to the housing 1 . Thereby a click coupling is established which makes a click noise when the V-shaped teeth at the edge of the cup shaped element by rotation of this element rides over the V-shaped teeth of the ring 25 .
A head 29 on the projecting end of the rack 15 is with a play fixed at the bottom of the cup shaped element between the bottom 19 forming the injection button and an inner wall 30 near this bottom. The rack is fixed in a position with its head pressed against the wall 30 by a spring 31 between the bottom 19 and the head 29 .
To set a dose the dose setting button 18 is rotated to screw the dose-setting drum 17 up along the thread 6 . Due to the coupling 21 the cup shaped element will follow the rotation of the dose-setting drum 17 and will be lifted with this drum up from the end of the housing 1 . By the rotation of the cup shaped element the V-shaped teeth 24 at the edge of its open end will ride over the V-shaped teeth of the non rotatable ring 25 to make a click sound for each unit the dose is changed. A too high set dose can be reduced by rotating the dose setting button 18 in the opposite direction of the direction for increasing the dose. When the dose setting drum is screwed up along the thread 6 on the tubular element 5 the ring 25 will follow the dose setting drum in its axial movement as the spring 26 is supported on the shoulder 27 . The spring will keep the V-shaped teeth of the ring 25 and the cup shaped element in engagement and maintain in engagement the coupling 21 , which may comprise A-shaped protrusions 32 on the cup shaped element engaging A-shaped recesses in an inner ring 33 in the dose setting button 18 .
The rotation of the dose setting button 18 and the cup shaped element is further transmitted to the gearbox 9 through the protrusions 23 on this gearbox engaging the longitudinal recesses 22 in the inner wall of the tubular part 20 of said cup shaped element. The rotation of the gearbox 25 is through the connection bars 12 transmitted to the nut 13 , which is this way screwed up along the thread of the piston rod 4 and lifted away from its abutment with the wall 2 when a dose it set. As the dose is set by moving the nut 13 on the very piston rod which operates the piston in the not shown ampoule in the compartment 3 a dose setting limiter, which ensures that the size of the set dose does not exceed the amount of medicament left in the ampoule, can easily be established by providing the piston rod 4 with a stop 35 which limits the movement of the nut 13 up along the piston rod 4 .
Due to the confinement of the head 29 in the space between the bottom 19 and the wall 30 of the cup shaped element, the rack 15 is drawn with the injection button outward. Also the axial movement of the nut 13 relative to the housing 1 will be transmitted to the gear wheel assembly through the connection bars 12 and this movement will through the gearbox induce an outward movement of the rack 15 . This induced outward movement have to be the same as the outward movement induced by outward movement of the injection button. This is obtained by dimensioning the gear wheels of the gearbox 9 so that the gear ratio for the movements of the connection bars 12 and the rack 15 relative to the housing corresponds to the ratio of the pitches for the thread on the piston rod and for the thread 6 for the longitudinal movement of the dose setting drum 17 .
To inject a set dose the injection button is pressed by pressing on the bottom 19 . In the initial phase of the pressing the spring 31 is compressed where after the pressing force is directly transmitted to the head 29 of the rack 15 and this way to the rack 15 itself. Through the gear box 9 the force is transformed and is transmitted through the connection bars 12 to the nut 13 which will press the piston rod 4 into the compartment 3 until the dose-setting drum 17 abuts the wall 2 .
During the initial phase of the movement of the injection button the A-shaped protrusions 32 on the cup shaped element will be drawn out of their engagement with the A-shaped recesses in the ring 33 . The dose-setting drum 17 can now rotate relative to the injection button and will do so when the A-shaped protrusions 32 press against a shoulder 34 at the bottom of the dose setting button 18 . Only a force sufficient to make the dose setting drum rotate to screw itself downward along the thread 6 is necessary as the force necessary to make the injection is transmitted to the piston rod 4 through the gearbox 9 . A helical reset spring 36 concentric with the dose setting drum can be mounted at the lower end of this drum and can have one end anchored in the dose setting drum 17 and the other end anchored in the wall 2 . During setting of a dose this spring may be tighter coiled so that on the dose setting drum it exerts a torque approximately corresponding to the torque necessary to overcome the friction in the movement of the dose setting drum along the thread 6 so that the force which the user have to exert on the injection button is only the force necessary to drive the piston rod into an ampoule to inject the set dose.
It shall be noticed that use of only one size gear wheel which engages as well the rack 15 , which is movable relative to the gear box 9 , as the rack 10 , which is unmovable relative to the gear box, provides a gearing ratio of 2:1 for the longitudinal movement relative to the syringe housing 1 for the movable rack 15 and the connector 12 , which carries the shaft 11 of the gear wheel.
FIGS. 3 and 4 shows a preferred embodiment wherein only one size gear wheel is used and wherein elements corresponding to elements in FIGS. 1 and 2 are given the same references as these elements with a prefixed “1”.
For manufacturing reasons minor changes are made. So the partitioning wall 102 and the tubular element 105 are made as two parts which are by the assembling of the device connected to each other to make the assembled parts act as one integral part. The same way the dose setting drum 117 and the dose setting button 118 are made as two parts, which are fixed firmly together.
A circumferential recess 107 is provided as an outer recess at the free end of the tubular part 105 and a ring shaped coupling element is provided as an inner bead 108 on the gearbox element 109 which bead engages the recess 107 to provide a rotatable but not axially displaceable connection between the tubular part 105 and the gearbox.
A tubular element 120 having ridges 122 which engages recesses 123 on the gearbox is at its upper end closed by a button 119 from which a force provided by pressing this button is transmitted to the tubular element 120 .
The gearbox is formed by two shells, which together form a cylinder fitting into the tubular element where the shells are guided by the engagement between the ridges 122 and the recesses 123 . Racks 110 and 115 are provided along edges of the shells facing each other. One shell forming the gearbox part 109 is provided with the inner bead 108 , which engages the circumferential recess 107 at the end of the central tubular part 105 and carries the rack 110 . The other shell is axially displaceable in the tubular element 120 and forms the rack 115 . At its outer end projecting from the gearbox the shell carrying the rack 115 is provided with a flange 140 which is positioned in a cut out 141 in the end of the tubular element 120 carrying the button 119 so that this button and the tubular element 120 can be moved so far inward in the device that the engagement of the teeth 132 and 133 can be released before the button 119 abuts the flange 140 .
A tubular connection element 112 connects the threaded piston rod 104 with the gearbox. At its end engaging the piston rod 104 the connection element has a nut 113 with an internal thread mating the external thread of the piston rod. At its end engaging the gear box the connection element is provided with two pins 111 projecting perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the connection element 112 at each side of this element. Each pin 111 carries a gear wheel 114 which is placed between and engages the two racks 110 and 115 .
This way the connection element 112 will be rotated with the gear box but can be displaced axially relative to said gear box when the racks 110 and 115 are moved relative to each other. In practice it will be the rack 115 , which is moved relative to the gearbox element 109 and the housing and will by the shown construction result in a movement of the connection element 112 relative to housing a distance which is half the distance which the rack 115 is moved. A ring 125 which is at its periphery provided with a rosette of teeth 124 and has a central bore fitting over the central tube in the housing 101 so that this ring 125 can be axially displaced along said central tube 105 , but internal ridges 128 in the central bore of the ring 125 engages longitudinal recesses 137 in the central tube to make the ring non rotatable in the housing so that a rosette of teeth at the edge of the tubular element 120 can click over the teeth 124 of the ring when said tubular element is rotated together with the dose setting drum 117 . A spring 126 working between the ring 125 and an internal shoulder 127 provided in the dose setting drum 117 makes the ring follow the tubular element 120 when this element with the dose setting drum is moved longitudinally in the housing. To make the dose setting drum easy rotatable, especially when said dose setting drum is pressed inward in the housing, a roller bearing having an outer ring 142 supported by the shoulder 127 and an inner ring 143 supporting a pressure bushing 144 which supports the spring 126 . By the provision of this smooth running support only very small axial forces are needed to rotate the dose setting drum 117 back to its zero position when a set dose is injected. This solution replaces the provision of a reset spring as the spring 36 in FIG. 1 . The bearing is shown as a radial bearing but can be replaced by an axial bearing
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A medication dispensing device with a housing and a member wherein the member is moveable in a distal direction is useful in delivering medication to a patient. A fluid container can be used with the device and often has a moveable piston at one end and an outlet at the other. The member receives a force from a user and drives the piston in the distal direction to expel medication. A intermediate system is disposed between the member and the piston including a gear set that has a pinion in meshed engagement with a rack. The system allows the member to move a greater distance than the piston moves thereby increasing the force on the piston.
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NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT
[0001] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a heater.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Arts
[0005] Currently, most outdoor heaters use standing columns to prop up burners, for example, patent 200520005035.0 discloses an infrared remote control heating stove, which uses a standing column to prop up its burner; by arranging a reflecting cover above the burner to reflect the heat; that infrared remote control heating stove has some drawbacks such as low thermal efficiency and small heating space; the heat is circumferential radiated, resulting in most of the heating area not being utilized; and using a standing column for connecting parts can easily cause the head part of heater to become askew.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0006] The main object of the present invention is to provide a balanced high efficiency outdoor heater. The technical problem of the conventional heater to be solved is to increase the heating radiation area and improve the structural stability.
[0007] To solve the above mentioned problem, the present invention utilizes the following technical improvement: a balanced high efficiency outdoor heater includes a burner, and the burner is set at the upper end of a standing column, and the lower end of the standing column is provided with a bottom base, and the burner is an infrared burner, and a beam is set between the burner and the standing column, wherein the beam and the to standing column are connected by pipe fittings, and the rear end of the beam is provided with a base, and an ignition control device is equipped inside the base, and the burner is mounted on the front end of the beam, and the heating surface of the burner is facing downwards, and an electrode rod and a thermocoupler are connected to the ignition control device under the burner; a first reflector is fixedly connected to the lower end of the burner, and a gas valve is equipped in the bottom base, wherein an inlet and an outlet of the ignition control unit are connected to the burner by a gas pipe in the beam and a gas valve in the bottom base separately.
[0008] The present invention comprises a burner which further comprises a furnace cover with an opening facing downwards and a combustion chamber, and a furnace cover bracket is set on the upper end of the furnace cover being fixedly connected to the beam;
[0009] an ejector pipe is transversely arranged inside the combustion chamber, and the ejector pipe is connected to the outlet of the ignition control device by gas pipes; a spoiler is upwardly bent arranged at the front end of the ejector pipe; the first reflector is arranged at the lower end of the furnace cover, and a sintered mat is fixedly set between the furnace cover and the first reflector which can cover the opening of the furnace cover.
[0010] The ignition control device of the present invention is a gas stove ignition switch, and the ignition switch shaft of the gas stove ignition switch extends from the rear end of the base, and a rotary knob is set on the ignition switch shaft.
[0011] The ignition control device of the present invention comprises an automatic gas control, a solenoid valve, a battery box, a valve dead plate, and an anti-dumping switch, and the automatic gas control, the solenoid valve, the battery box, and the anti-dumping switch are mounted on the valve dead plate by screws respectively, and the automatic gas control is connected to the battery box, the solenoid valve and the thermocouple respectively, and a first ejector pipe is connected to an outlet of the solenoid valve by gas pipes, and an inlet of the solenoid valve is connected to the gas valve; a key-press pad is fixedly connected to the rear end of the base, and the key-press pad is connected to a control wire end of the automatic gas control, and the key-press pad is provided a faceplate which is bonded to the key-press pad.
[0012] A second reflector is arranged between the sintered mat and the first reflector, and the reflector surface of the second reflector is smaller than the reflector surface of the first reflector; the second reflector, the first reflector and the sintered mat are fixedly connected to the furnace cover by screws successively.
[0013] The second reflector further comprises a gas-collecting hood which has a cavity inside; the upper end of the gas-collecting hood extends from the upper end of the second reflector, and the electrode and the thermocoupler are arranged inside the cavity of the gas-collecting hood, and louvers are arranged on the lower end surface of the gas-collecting hood for wind shutter purposes.
[0014] The lower end of the second reflector is connected to a meshed shield cover.
[0015] Each of the pipe fittings are Tee pipe fittings.
[0016] The upper end of the burner is provided with a rain cover.
[0017] The present invention, compared with prior art, utilizes an infrared burner with a sintered mat, and the heating surface of the infrared burner faces downwards, in that case, the thermal efficiency is increased without an open flame; by utilizing the beam to increase the heating area, the whole heating area can be utilized; and the standing column is connected to the beam by pipe fittings, using such a balanced arrangement which can improve the structural stability.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 is a structure schematic view of the present invention.
[0019] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a burner of the present invention.
[0020] FIG. 3 is a first structure schematic view of a base of the present invention.
[0021] FIG. 4 is a second structure schematic view of a base of the present invention.
[0022] FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the connecting part between the beam and the standing column.
[0023] FIG. 6 is a structure schematic view illustrating a first preferred embodiment of the ignition control device of the present invention.
[0024] FIG. 7 is a structure schematic view illustrating a second preferred embodiment of the ignition control device of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0025] The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0026] Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a balanced high efficiency outdoor heater comprises a bottom base 3 , and a standing column 2 is connected to the bottom base 3 , and a curved beam 4 is connected to the upper end of the standing column 2 by pipe sittings, and a furnace cover bracket 13 is arranged at the front end of the beam 4 connecting by screws, and an ignition control device 6 is connected to the rear end of the beam 4 ; a burner 1 is mounted at the lower end of the furnace bracket 13 with the heating surface facing downwards, and the burner 1 is an infrared burner; the standing column 2 and the beam 4 both have a hollow tube structure, and two gas pipes are arranged inside the standing column 2 and the beam 4 , wherein one gas pipe is connecting the burner 1 and an outlet of the ignition control device 6 , and the another gas pipe is connected to a gas valve 10 and an inlet of the ignition control device 6 , and on the upper end of the burner 1 is provided a rain cover 48 .
[0027] The beam 4 has a two-section structure, which is a first beam 27 and a second beam 28 with the same outer diameters, and the length of the second beam 28 is less than the length of the first beam 27 . The pipe fitting 5 is a tee pipe fitting. By connecting the pipe fitting 5 with the first beam 27 , the second beam 28 and the standing column 2 by bolts, the interior of the first beam 27 , the second beam 28 and the standing column 2 can communicate with each other, so that the gas pipes can be arranged therein.
[0028] A base 15 is set at the rear end of the second beam 28 , and the base 15 is provided with a base cover 43 which can be opened, and the gas ignition device 6 is fixed in the base 15 , and the burner 1 is connected to the front end of the first beam 27 .
[0029] Referring to FIG. 2 , the burner 1 comprises a furnace cover 12 which is a cuboid, wherein the furnace cover 12 has an opening at the lower end, and the furnace cover 12 comprises a combustion chamber 11 , and the upper end of the furnace cover 12 is connected to a furnace cover bracket 13 by screws; a furnace cover hole 29 is set on the rear end of the furnace cover 12 , and an outer edge 30 is set on the opening of the furnace 12 for connecting other parts like a sintered mat which is extended outwardly, and an ejector pipe 14 is transversely mounted inside of the combustion chamber 11 , and the rear end of the ejector pipe 14 is extended through the furnace cover hole 29 to the outside of the furnace cover 12 , and the rear end of the ejector pipe 14 is hermetically connected to an outlet of the ignition control device 6 by gas pipes; a spoiler 23 being bent upwardly is fixedly connected to the lower end of the pipe orifice at the front end of the ejector pipe 14 , and some small holes are evenly distributed on the spoiler 23 ; the upwardly bent part of the spoiler 23 blocks the front pipe orifice of the ejector pipe 14 , so that exhaust gas from the ejector pipe 14 is guided to the upper end of the inner wall of the furnace cover 12 and be reflected to the front inner wall of the furnace cover 12 , and the gas is exhausted downward; beneath the combustion chamber 11 is provided with an electrode 7 and a thermocouple 22 , and at the lower end opening of the furnace cover 12 is provided with a sintered mat 8 which can completely cover the opening, and the gas is finally discharged to the upper end surface of the sintered mat 8 and burn there, and at the lower end of the sintered mat 8 is successively equipped a first reflector 9 and a second reflector 52 by screws, and the first reflector 9 is in a flared shape, and the shape and the size of the upper end opening of the first reflector 9 is adapted with that of the sintered mat 8 , and the opening diameter of the upper end opening of the first reflector 9 is smaller than the opening diameter of the lower end opening; and the reflect surface of the second reflector 52 is smaller than that of the first reflector 9 , and the second reflector 52 is also in a flared shape, and the shape and the size of the upper end opening of the second reflector 52 is adapted with that of the sintered mat 8 , and the lower end opening diameter is larger than that of the upper end opening; at the rear side of the upper opening of the second reflector 52 is equipped with a gas-collecting hood 24 , and a cavity is set inside the gas-collecting hood 24 , and after the gas-collecting hood being mounted in the second reflector 52 , the upper end of the gas-collecting hood 24 is extended through the upper end opening of the second reflector 52 , and on the lower end surface of the gas-collecting hood 24 is provided with some gas-collecting hood holes 25 .
[0030] A shield cover 26 is mounted at the lower end of the second reflector 52 , wherein the shield cover 26 is a strip meshed cover, and the shield cover can be connected to the second reflector 52 by screws, and can also be connected to the second reflector 52 by providing some holes on the second reflector 52 , and by using some column which can fit with the holes to fix the shield cover 26 .
[0031] Furthermore, the thermocoupler 22 and the electrode 7 are arranged inside the cavity of the gas-collecting hood 24 . The electrode 7 and the thermocoupler 22 are connected by screws on the dead plate of the second reflector 52 .
[0032] Furthermore, the ejector pipe 14 can be set into two sections, which is a first ejector pipe 31 and a second ejector pipe 32 , and the first ejector pipe 31 is connected by screws to the rear end of the furnace cover hole 29 and outside of the furnace cover 12 , and the front end of the first ejector pipe 31 is plugged into the furnace cover hole 29 , and the second ejector pipe 32 is muff-coupled to the front end of the first ejector pipe 31 , and the second ejector pipe 32 is thread connected to the first ejector pipe 31 ; the second ejector pipe is set inside the combustion chamber 11 , and the spoiler 23 is mounted at the front end orifice of the second ejector pipe 32 ; at the connection part of the first ejector pipe 31 and the second ejector pipe 32 is provided with a gasket 33 , when the ejector pipe is set into two sections, the outlet of the ignition control device 6 is connected to the first ejector pipe 31 by gas pipes, and the first ejector pipe 31 is connected to the gas pipes by thread connection.
[0033] Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , the bottom base 3 has an internal hollow barrel structure, which comprises an upper and a lower circular surface referred to as a bottom surface 39 and a top surface 40 respectively, two pieces of semi-circular cross-sectional shaped shells 38 and a framework 46 , and the two shells 38 are hinged on one side, and the other side of the two shells 38 are connected by a snap joint, after the two shells 38 are combined together, they form a cylindrical barrel body, and a gas cylinder can be placed inside the bottom base 3 ; after the gas cylinder is connected to the gas valve 10 , the gas cylinder can supply air for the burner 1 ; wheels 34 are provided on the rear side peripheral wall of the bottom surface 39 , and a column hole 35 is provided on the top surface 40 for column inserting purpose, and the column hole 35 is set at the front side of the top surface 40 ; a hollow column holder 37 is arranged in the column hole 35 , and the column holder 37 is fixed within the column hole 35 ; the peripheral wall of the column holder 37 is provided with grooves 44 along the axial direction, and an adjustable pipe clamp 36 is set at the lower end of the column holder 37 and inside the bottom base 3 which is extended to the lower end of the bottom base 3 , and after the standing column 2 is plugged into the column hole 35 , screws can be locked into the standing column 2 from the grooves 44 , and by tightening nuts on the pipe clamp 36 , the standing column 2 is fixed within the column holder 37 .
[0034] Furthermore, a chain 45 is set in the bottom base 3 for fixing the gas cylinder, and two ends of the chain 45 are connected to the framework 46 by buckles which are detachable.
[0035] Referring to FIG. 5 , the pipe fittings 5 are tee pipe fittings, and the pipe fittings 5 comprise a left and a right pipe pieces 47 which are symmetrical to each other, and the pipe pieces 47 further comprise a column fixing part 41 for connecting with the standing column 2 and a beam fixing part 42 for connecting with the two beams, and the beam fixing part 42 is arranged on the front and rear sides of the column fixing part 41 , and cross-sectional shape of the column fixing part 41 and the beam fixing part 41 are both semi-circle; and the inner diameter of the column fixing part 41 is equal to the outer diameter of the standing column 2 ; and the inner diameter of the beam fixing part 42 is equal to the outer diameter of the beam, and after combing the two pipe pieces 47 together, the cross-section of the column fixing part 41 forms a circle, and the cross-section of the beam fixing part 42 forms a circle. Two first screw holes 49 are provided on the column fixing part 41 along the axial direction, and two second screw holes 50 are provided on the two beam fixing parts 42 with one on each side respectively, and a third screw hole 51 is provided on the standing column 2 at the corresponding position to that of the first screw hold 49 on the lower end of the column fixing part 41 , and the two pipe pieces 47 can hold the column and the beam by inserting bolts into the first screw hole 49 , the second screw hole 50 and the third screw hole 51 and using nuts to tighten the bolts, so that the column, the beam and the pipe pieces are fixedly connected.
[0036] Referring to FIG. 6 , the first embodiment of the ignition control device 6 can utilizes a manual type gas stove ignition switch 16 of the prior art, and an ignition switch shaft [No.?] of the gas stove ignition switch 16 extends to the rear end of the base 15 , and a rotary nob 17 is provided on the ignition switch shaft of the gas stove ignition switch 16 , and the rotary nob 17 is set at outside of the rear end of the base 15 , and the electrode 7 is connected to the ignition wire of the gas stove ignition switch 16 , and the thermocoupler 22 is connected to a signal wire of the gas stove ignition switch 16 , and an outlet of the gas stove ignition switch 16 is connected to the first ejector pipe 31 by pipes, and an inlet of the gas stove ignition switch 16 is connected to the gas valve 10 by pipes.
[0037] The manual type gas stove ignition switch 16 can also utilize the SRSV03 gas ignition device which is produced by SHINERICH INDUSTRIAL Co., Ltd. (the burner in China Patent No. 200520005035.0)
[0038] Referring to FIG. 7 , the ignition control device 6 comprises an automatic gas control 18 , a solenoid valve 19 , a battery box 54 , a valve dead plate 53 and an anti-dumping switch 55 , and the power line of the automatic gas control 18 is connected to the battery box 44 which provides power for the ignition control device 6 . The solenoid valve wire end of the automatic gas control 18 is connected to the solenoid valve 19 . The anti-dumping switch 55 and the thermocoupler 22 are connected to a signal sensing wire end of the automatic gas control 18 respectively. The first ejector pipe 31 is connected to an outlet of the solenoid valve 19 by gas pipes, and an inlet of the solenoid valve 19 is connected to the gas valve 10 by gas pipes, and an ignition wire of the automatic gas control 18 is connected to the electrode 7 ; a key-press pad 20 is fixedly connected to the rear end of the base 15 , and the key-press pad 20 is connected to a control wire end of the automatic gas control 18 , and a faceplate 21 is provided on the key-press pad 20 , and the faceplate is bolted on the key-press pad 20 . The ignition control device 6 can also be connected following the wire connecting arrangement of the ignition control device in China Patent No. 200520005035.0.
[0039] When in use, by rotating the rotary nob 17 or pressing the ignition key on the key-press pad 20 , gas goes into the combustion chamber 11 via gas pipes and the ejector pipe 14 , which the electrode 7 discharges to ignite, so that the gas is burned on the upper end surface of the sintered mat 8 . Because the gas is burned on the sintered mat 8 , an infrared effect can be achieved. When heat is reflected downward by the second reflector 52 and the first reflector 9 , an effect of efficiently radiated heat can be achieved.
[0040] As a result of no open flame being used in the present invention, the thermal efficiency is increased over 30%, and even in a windy environment, the function of the burner is not effected, and the ignition control device uses a module design, which makes the maintenance more convenient.
[0041] One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
[0042] It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
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A balanced high efficiency outdoor heater is provided to increase the heat radiation area, and to improve the stability of the structure. The heater includes a burner provided at an upper end of a standing column, a bottom base provided at a lower end of the standing column, and a beam is set between the burner and the standing column. The beam and the standing column are connected by pipe fittings. An ignition control device is equipped inside the base and is connected to the burner. An electrode rod and a thermocoupler are connected to the ignition control device under the burner. A first reflector is fixedly connected to the lower end of the burner and a gas valve is equipped in the bottom base. Compared with the prior art, the burner uses sintered felt and a heating surface of the burner faces upside down to improve thermal efficiency.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a valve control device for a gas exchange valve of an internal combustion engine, comprising a cam follower lever interacting with a camshaft and a rocker arm that is contacting the cam follower lever and that actuates the valve. The rocker arm is adjustable for valve lift adjustment by means of an adjusting device.
[0002] Mechanically fully variable valve control devices are known and are employed for reducing fuel consumption in internal combustion engines of passenger cars (DE 101 40 635 A1). The cam follower lever is pivotable about an axis and is positioned with a first roller on a guide and with a second roller on an adjusting device that is in the form of a slidable adjusting bar. For changing the valve lift, the adjusting bar is displaced and the cam follower lever adjusted thereby. The rocker arm is resting on the cam follower lever. The rocker arm is supported with a first lever end on the cylinder head of the internal combustion and actuates with a second lever end the gas exchange valve. As the camshaft rotates, the cam follower lever moves by means of a roller along a curved path of a guide provided at the cylinder head. The manufacture and support of the guide are complex. Extremely high engine speeds are not possible because the main mass of the cam follower lever is high. Mounting of the guide in the cylinder head is also very complex.
[0003] A further valve control device (DE 41 12 833 A1) is known in which the cam follower lever and the rocker arm are formed by two pivotably supported single-arm levers. The cam follower lever is connected with one end rotatably on an eccentric whose eccentric shaft is eccentrically supported in an actuator that is rotatable about a fixed axis associated with the cylinder head. The cam follower lever is resting on the rocker arm which, in turn, is also pivotably supported about a fixed axis that is associated with the cylinder head. By means of the eccentric, the cam follower lever is linearly displaced and in this way the valve lift is adjusted. The adjusting device with the eccentric and the actuator is very complex and expensive. During adjustment, a significant friction force is produced so that the potential for reducing consumption of the internal combustion engine is limited. The eccentric of the adjusting device enables moreover only a minimal adjusting travel so that the valve control device is not suitable for large valve lift adjustments. A lift adjustment of only approximately 50% of the maximum lift can be achieved.
[0004] In another known valve control device (US 2005/0028766 A1), the rocker arm is pivotably supported about an axis. In order to adjust the valve lift, the axis of rotation of the rocker arm or the axis of rotation of the cam follower lever is moved. The movability increases the constructive expenditure of the valve control device. The rocker arm and the cam follower lever are contacting each other with curved control surfaces that are substantially positioned at a slant to the valve axis. This causes significant friction forces when the valve control device is operating. Due to the adjustable elements, the valve control device does not operate at a low noise level.
[0005] In a further known valve control device (US 2006/0021590 A1), the rocker arm is pivotably supported in the cylinder head and is resting on the valve to be actuated. The cam follower lever is designed as a rocker lever that is rotatably supported about a central axis. The axis of rotation of the cam follower lever can be moved along a guide that is secured on the cylinder head in order to adjust the valve clearance. The valve control device has therefore a complex and failure-prone configuration.
[0006] Also, a valve control device is known (DE 29 51 361 A1) in which the rocker arm is pivotably connected at one end to a slide that is slidable transverse to the axis of the valve for valve lift adjustment. For this purpose, a complex adjusting drive is required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It is an object of the present invention to configure a valve control device for a gas exchange valve of the aforementioned kind such that with a constructively simple configuration a reliable valve lift adjustment even at high engine speeds of the internal combustion engine is ensured wherein the energy consumption for maintaining and adjusting the valve lift is minimal.
[0008] In accordance with the present invention, this is achieved in accordance with the present invention in that the cam follower lever and the rocker arm have curved control surfaces, in that the rocker arm with a first control surface is resting on a curved control surface of a guide element associated with the engine and with a second control surface is resting on a valve element, and in that the radii of curvature of the control surfaces of the cam follower lever, of the guide element, and of the rocker arm are adjusted relative to each other such that, when the valve lift is adjusted, the valve does not open while the cam follower lever is resting on the base circle section of the cam of the camshaft.
[0009] In the valve control device according to the invention, the rocker arm is resting with its curved control surfaces on a guide element associated with the engine and on a valve element. The radii of curvature of the control surfaces of the cam follower lever, of the guide element, and of the rocker arm are adjusted relative to each other such that, when adjusting the magnitude of the valve lift, the valve does not open as long as the cam follower lever is resting on the base circle section of the cam. Due to the radii of curvature that are adjusted relative to each other, it is ensured that, upon adjustment of the valve lift, the gas exchange valve does not open in the compression phase and in the working phase of the internal combustion engine. This adjustment of the valve lift is done when the cam follower lever is resting on the base circle section of the cam of the camshaft. Since the two control surfaces of the rocker arm and the control surface of the guide element are curved, only a very minimal friction occurs upon operation of the valve control device so that the valve lift adjustment can be carried out reliably.
[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the control surface of the guide element has a greater radius of curvature than the first control surface of the rocker arm. Accordingly, between the two control surfaces of the guide element and of the rocker arm, only a linear contact is substantially existing, which contributes to a low-friction operation and adjustment of the rocker arm relative to the guide element.
[0011] However, it is also possible that both control surfaces of guide element and rocker arm have the same radius of curvature.
[0012] The second control surface of the rocker arm, with which it is resting on the guide element, has advantageously a smaller radius of curvature than the first control surface of the rocker arm and/or the control surface of the guide element.
[0013] A contribution to a low-friction operation of the valve control device is provided in an advantageous manner when the cam follower lever is resting with a curved control surface on the rocker arm.
[0014] Advantageously, the control surface of the cam follower lever has a first control surface section with a section radius of curvature. The cam follower lever is pivoted by the camshaft in a known way back and forth wherein the rocker arm resting on the cam follower lever is moved by the required magnitude in order to open or close the valve.
[0015] Advantageously, the first control surface section of the cam follower lever passes, continuously curved, into a second control surface section which is curved opposite to the first control surface section. Due to the differently oriented curvature of the two control surface sections, the rocker arm can be adjusted such that for one revolution of the camshaft the valve will not open depending on whether the contact between the cam follower lever and the rocker arm occurs at the first or the second control surface section. By means of the two control surface sections it is possible to adjust in a continuous way (no steps) the valve lift from 0 to a maximum.
[0016] In order to achieve a friction that is as minimal as possible, the rocker arm is advantageously resting with a freely rotating roller on the control surface of the cam follower lever.
[0017] In an especially advantageous embodiment, the rocker arm is provided with a through bore through which the adjusting device extends. In this way, there is the possibility to mount the adjusting device while the rocker arm is already installed. On the other hand, in this way there is also the possibility to mount the rocker arm after the adjusting device has already been mounted. In both cases, the rocker arm can be demounted, if needed, without the adjusting device having to be removed also.
[0018] A very compact configuration of the valve control device results when the adjusting device has a control shaft which is provided with a control surface on which the rocker arm is resting. The control shaft requires only little space for installation. In particular, the control shaft can be used for several valve control devices provided within the internal combustion engine. The through opening is designed advantageously such that it is open toward the edge of the rocker arm. This facilitates mounting of the control shaft and/or of the rocker arm.
[0019] Preferably, the control surface is the circumferential surface of an eccentric member of the control shaft. Since an internal combustion engine has several valve control devices for the gas exchange valves, it is thus possible to provide a common control shaft for all valve control devices. The eccentric member of the control shaft is designed such that it does not project past the circumference of the control shaft. Accordingly, the outer diameter of the control shaft determines the size of the through opening of the rocker arm.
[0020] The rocker arm is positioned advantageously with a freely rotating roller on the control surface of the control shaft so that in this contact area only minimal frictional forces occur.
[0021] In another embodiment according to the invention, the rocker arm is floatingly supported. No complex rotary support is required so that the constructive configuration of the valve control device and thus of its manufacturing costs are minimal. The rocker arm is secured between the adjusting device and the cam follower lever. When a valve lift adjustment is to be performed, the floatingly supported rocker arm is displaced transversely to the axis of the valve so that the relative position of the cam follower lever and of the rocker arm relative to each other is changed.
[0022] The guide element is advantageously adjustable transversely to the axis of the control shaft. In this way, the position of the rocker arm can be adjusted precisely.
[0023] The rocker arm is secured in the mounted position in that the control shaft and the cam follower lever are resting on opposite sides of the rocker arm. In combination with the contact of the rocker arm on the guide element and on the valve element, it is thus ensured in a simple way that the rocker arm maintains its respectively adjusted position reliably. In any position of the control shaft and of the cam follower lever, the rocker arm is positioned transverse to the valve axis between these two elements of the valve control device.
[0024] In an advantageous embodiment the adjustment of the rocker arm is realized by means of the valve element and/or by means of an eccentrically adjustable bearing axis of a roller of the cam follower lever that is resting on the camshaft and/or by means of an eccentrically adjustable bearing axis of the roller of the rocker arm resting on the camshaft follower lever and/or by means of an eccentrically adjustable bearing axis of the roller of the rocker arm that is resting on the control shaft and/or by means of the adjustable guide element. The described adjusting possibilities can be provided each individually but also in any combination with each other on the valve control device. Depending on the situation of use of the valve control device, there is therefore the possibility to provide the various adjustments such that the valve lift adjustment is possible in an optimal way.
[0025] In an advantageous embodiment, a valve control arrangement is provided that comprises two of the valve control devices as described above that have different control surfaces on the cam follower levers and/or different control surfaces on the control shafts. In this way, the valve lifts of the different valve control devices can be designed differently.
[0026] The present invention not only results from the individual claims but also from the features and disclosures provided in the drawings and the description. Accordingly, features and disclosures that are not claimed are considered to be important for the invention inasmuch as they are individually or in combination novel relative to the prior art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a valve control device according to the invention with a rocker arm in a first position.
[0028] FIG. 2 shows the valve control device according to FIG. 1 with the rocker arm in a second position.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0029] By means of the valve control device, the lift of the gas exchange valves can be adjusted continuously and individually up to the range of very high engine speeds of the internal combustion engine. The energy consumption for maintaining and adjusting the adjustable valve lift is kept minimal. The valve control device is characterized by an inexpensive manufacture and can be mounted easily.
[0030] FIG. 1 shows a valve 1 to be controlled that has a valve stem 2 which has at one end a valve plate 3 with which a valve opening 4 can be opened and closed. In the position according to FIG. 1 , the valve plate 3 closes the valve opening 4 of the internal combustion engine. At the other end, the valve stem 2 is provided with a valve cap 5 . At the cap's underside, a pressure spring 6 is supported which loads the valve stem 2 in the direction of the closed position of the valve plate 3 . The pressure spring 6 is supported also on a cylinder head 7 of the internal combustion engine.
[0031] At the other side of the valve cap 5 , a rocker arm 8 is resting which is interacting with a cam follower lever 9 that is pivoted by a camshaft 10 whose cams 11 each interact with a respective cam follower lever 9 .
[0032] The camshaft 10 rotates about axis 12 . The cam follower lever 9 is resting with a roller 13 on the cam 11 ; the roller 13 is supported rotatably about axis 14 on the cam follower lever 9 . The cam follower lever 9 is supported about stationary axis 15 pivotably on the cylinder head 7 .
[0033] The cam follower lever 9 has a radial arm 16 projecting radially relative to pivot axis 15 ; the roller 13 is rotatably supported on the radial arm 16 . The width of the radial arm 16 is smaller than the outer diameter of the roller 13 so that the cam follower lever 9 is resting only with the roller 13 on the cam 11 .
[0034] The rocker arm 8 is supported on a guide element 17 that is seated on support element 18 . It is advantageously supported to be adjustable in axial direction on the cylinder head 7 . The support element 18 can be designed, for example, like a screw so that a continuous adjustment of the guide element 17 is possible. The support element 18 can also be hydraulically adjustable.
[0035] The guide element 17 has on its side that is facing the rocker arm 8 a concave control surface 19 that has a radius of curvature R 2 . On the curved control surface 19 of the guide element 17 the rocker arm 8 is resting with a control surface 20 . Control surface 20 is convexly curved and has a radius of curvature R 4 that is smaller than the radius of curvature R 2 of the curved control surface 19 . The control surface 20 is advantageously provided on a projecting curved arm 21 of the rocker arm 8 . The curved arm 21 is provided on its side opposite the control surface 20 with a concavely curved surface 22 that delimits a through opening 36 for a control shaft 23 partially. The control shaft 23 is designed as an eccentric shaft. By rotation of the eccentric shaft 23 about axis 24 , the rocker arm 8 is adjusted transversely to axis 24 and to the valve axis. The maximum adjustment travel is determined by the eccentricity of the control shaft 23 . By means of the control shaft 23 , the magnitude of the valve lift is adjusted.
[0036] The contact of the rocker arm 8 on the control shaft 23 is realized by means of roller 25 which is supported on the rocker arm 8 so as to be freely rotatable about axis 26 . The roller 25 projects past the surface 22 and is resting on a circumferential surface 27 a of an eccentric member 27 of the control shaft 23 .
[0037] The contact area 28 between the two control surfaces 19 , 20 and the contact area 29 between the roller 25 and the eccentric member 27 are located on opposite sides of the axis 24 of the control shaft 23 as well as at different levels.
[0038] The rocker arm 8 is positioned on the valve cap 5 with a control surface 30 that is convexly curved and has the radius of curvature R 3 . The radius of curvature R 3 is smaller than the radii of curvature R 2 and R 4 . The contact side of the valve cap 5 is planar. As a result of the curved control surface 30 the friction between the rocker arm 8 and the valve cap 5 is minimal. The control surface 30 is advantageously provided on a projecting arm 31 of the rocker arm 8 .
[0039] The contact of the rocker arm 8 on the cam follower lever 9 is realized by a freely rotating roller 32 that is rotatable about axis 33 and is projecting past the rocker arm 8 in the direction of the cam follower lever 9 . The roller 32 is resting on a curved control surface 34 of the cam follower lever 9 . The curved control surface 34 has a control surface section 34 a which extends in a convex shape with a radius of curvature R 1 about axis of rotation 15 of the cam follower lever 9 . The control surface section 34 a passes continuously curved into a concave control surface section 34 b. As a result of this continuous transition, the roller 32 of the rocker arm 8 upon actuation of the valve 1 can pass without problem from one of the control surface sections onto the other one of the control surface sections.
[0040] The rocker arm 8 is provided for passage of the control shaft 23 with an opening 36 which is delimited in the direction of the guide element 17 by the curved arm 21 . In this way, it is possible to mount the control shaft 23 after the rocker arm 8 has already been mounted. On the other hand, it is possible in this way to mount or demount the rocker arm 8 even though the control shaft 23 is already installed.
[0041] The surface 22 forms also the lateral surface of a projecting arm 37 on which the roller 25 is supported. The through opening 36 is open toward the edge of the rocker arm 8 so that mounting of the control shaft 23 and/or of the rocker arm 8 is possible in a simple way.
[0042] In the area of the roller 32 , the rocker arm 8 has a projecting arm 38 ; the roller 32 projects past this arm 38 with a portion of its circumference.
[0043] The radii of curvature R 1 to R 4 of the curved control surfaces on the rocker arm 8 and on the cam follower lever 9 are adjusted relative to each other such that, upon adjustment of the valve lift through the control shaft 23 , the gas exchange valve 1 is not opened as long as the roller 13 of the camshaft follower lever 9 is in contact with the base circle section 39 of the cam 11 . In FIG. 1 the roller 13 is resting on this base circle section 39 of the cam 11 . As a result of the adjustment of the radii of curvature R 1 to R 4 , it is ensured that, when adjusting the valve lift, the valve 1 is not opened in the compression phase and in the working phase of the internal combustion. The adjustment of the magnitude of the valve lift is always realized once the roller 13 is resting on the base circle section 39 of the cam 11 . When subsequently the camshaft 10 rotates about its axis 12 , the cam follower lever 9 is pivoted about its axis 15 so that the rocker arm 8 is pivoted accordingly. As this happens, the roller 32 moves along the control surface 34 of the cam follower lever 9 . The valve 1 is opened and closed in accordance with the adjusted lift. The curved control surface 30 of the rocker arm 8 enables a reliable lift of the valve 1 .
[0044] In FIG. 2 , the maximum adjustment of the rocker arm 8 by the control shaft 23 is illustrated. In comparison to the position according to FIG. 1 , the control shaft 23 is rotated by 180°. Since the rocker arm 8 is resting by means of roller 25 on the eccentric member 27 of the control shaft 23 , the rocker arm 8 is moved in FIG. 2 to the right. The arm 21 glides with its control surface 20 on the curved control surface 19 of the guide element 17 . At the same time, the rocker arm 8 glides with the control surface 30 on the valve cap 5 .
[0045] Since the rocker arm 8 is resting with its roller 32 on the control surface 34 of the cam follower lever 9 , the movement of the rocker arm 8 by means of the control shaft 23 has also the result that the roller 32 is moved along the control surface 34 of the cam follower lever 9 by an appropriate travel. As a result of the curvature of the control surface 34 , the rocker arm 8 is not only moved transverse to the axis of the valve stem 2 but is also minimally pivoted.
[0046] Since the rollers 25 , 32 of the rocker arm 8 are supported to be freely rotatable, the adjustment of the rocker arm 8 can be carried out reliably with minimal friction. The curved control surfaces 20 , 30 assist in the low-friction adjustment of the rocker arm 8 .
[0047] The floatingly supported rocker arm 8 is reliably secured by the control shaft 23 (i.e., by the contact of the roller 25 on the eccentric member 27 ), by the roller 32 , by the guide element 17 , and by the valve cap 5 . The cam follower lever 9 which is supported by roller 13 on the camshaft 10 forms the support for the roller 32 of the rocker arm 8 . The rocker arm 8 is loaded by means of the cam follower lever 9 toward the control shaft 23 and the valve cap 5 . In this way, the rocker arm 8 is securely held in its mounted position. The control shaft 23 and the cam follower lever 9 are resting in any position on opposite sides of the rocker arm 8 so that the rocker arm 8 is positionally secured in its longitudinal direction transverse to the axis of the valve 1 .
[0048] The rocker arm 8 is a part that can be manufactured in a simple way; on the rocker arm 8 , the freely rotatable rollers 25 , 32 that have a spacing relative to each other can be mounted in a simple way. The adjustment of the position of the rocker arm 8 is possible in a simple way. For example, the guide element 17 can be fine-adjusted by means of the support element 18 in the axial direction of the support element 18 . The adjusting direction is advantageously parallel to the valve axis. A further possibility resides in that the roller 13 of the cam follower lever 9 is designed to be eccentrically adjustable. The adjusting direction is advantageously parallel to the valve axis. A further possibility of positional adjustment resides in that the roller 32 with which the rocker arm 8 is resting on the cam follower lever 9 is designed to be adjustable eccentrically.
[0049] The described adjusting possibilities can be provided individually or in any combination with each other. In this way, there is the possibility to fine-adjust the rocker arm 8 optimally in its mounted position.
[0050] In the internal combustion engine, the valve control devices can be designed such that two neighboring valve control devices for valve lift adjustment in the cylinder head 7 have different control surfaces 34 on the cam follower lever 9 and/or different control surfaces 27 a on the eccentric member 27 of the control shaft 23 .
[0051] In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the curved control surface 19 of the guide element 17 and the control surface 20 of the rocker arm 8 have different radii of curvature. In this way it is achieved that the rocker arm 8 and the guide element 17 substantially are resting on each other with linear contact.
[0052] Basically, it is however also possible that the control surfaces 19 and 20 have the same radius of curvature. The described adjustment of the rocker arm 8 is then possible also.
[0053] When the camshaft 10 upon operation of the internal combustion engine rotates about its axis 12 , the valve stem 2 is opened and closed by the cam follower lever 9 and the rocker arm 8 wherein the lift travel depends on the adjusted position of the rocker arm 8 . The pressure spring 6 ensures that the valve cap 5 is always contacting the rocker arm 8 and the valve plate 3 is returned into its closed position. Advantageously, the valve cap 5 is axially slidable relative to the valve stem 2 to a limited extent. In this way, possible clearance between the valve cap 5 and the control surface 30 of the rocker arm 8 can be compensated. In this case, the valve cap 5 is seated on a bolt 41 that projects into the valve stem 2 and which is loaded by the force of a pressure spring 42 surrounding the bolt 41 . The spring 42 is supported on the end face of the valve stem 2 as well as on the thicker area 43 of the bolt 41 . The pressure spring 42 ensures that, when the valve 1 is closed, the valve cap 5 is resting on the control surface 30 of the rocker arm 8 .
[0054] The specification incorporates by reference the entire disclosure of German priority document 10 2013 013 913.9 having a filing date of Aug. 16, 2013.
[0055] While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the inventive principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.
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A valve control device for a gas exchange valve of an internal combustion engine has a cam follower lever interacting with the camshaft. A rocker arm rests on the cam follower lever and actuates the valve. An adjusting device acts on the rocker arm to adjust a valve lift. The rocker arm has first and second control surfaces with first and second radii of curvature, respectively, The cam follower lever has a third control surface with third radius of curvature. The first control surface contacts a fourth control surface of a guide element of the engine with fourth radius of curvature. The second control surface of the rocker arm contacts a valve element. The first to fourth radii of curvature are adjusted such that, when adjusting the valve lift, the valve does not open when the cam follower lever rests on a cam base circle section of the camshaft.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switching device which is constructed in such a manner as to perform a switching operation on a plural number of switching elements by a pushing operation of an operating knob which can be operated for its swinging motion in any of four directions.
The present invention further relates to a switching device which is provided with a first switching element to be switched on the basis of an operation of an operating knob and with a second switching element to be switched on the basis of an operation of a changeover knob.
2. Related Art
A switching device in the following construction (Refer, for example, to the Japanese Utility Model Application No. 35718/88) is available as a switching device, for example, for controlling a motor for an electric mirror constructed so as to regulate the direction of each of outer mirrors installed respectively on the left door and the right door of a motor car.
More specifically, the switching device is provided with an operating knob which, being installed on the switch body, can be operated for its swinging motion in any of four directions and is also provided with an elastic member made, for example, of silicone rubber and having a plural number of elastically deformable contact holders, which, being pushed down on the basis of a swinging operation of the operating knob, performs a switching operation for an operating switch on a wiring board arranged within the switch body. In addition, the switching device is formed in a construction with a changeover knob being provided in an opening formed in the central area of the operating knob in such a manner as to permit the changeover knob to slide in the horizontal direction and with contact holders provided on the above-mentioned wiring board and operates the changeover switch for a switching operation while the changeover knob slides on the wiring board by the effect of its sliding operation.
However, a switching device in the construction described above is capable of enabling the user to select one of the left mirror and the right mirror by performing a switching operation of the changeover switch by operating the changeover knob so as to perform a sliding motion and then to adjust the direction of the mirror on a selected side upward, downward, leftward, or rightward by performing a switching operation of the operating switch by operating the operating knob so as to set it into its performance of a swinging motion.
However, this type of switching device has had the disadvantage that the contact holder hits the switch body, causing relatively large collision noises, when the changeover knob is put into a sliding motion.
In order to deal properly with this disadvantage, it is a conceivable measure, for example, to fit an impact noise reducing cushion rubber piece to one of an end portion of the contact holder or the switch body facing the end portion of the contact holder.
Yet, such a construction, which can certainly reduce the operating noises generated at the time of a sliding operation of the changeover knob, additionally requires a cushion rubber piece, which results in an increase in the number of the component parts and also in an increase in the complexity of assembly and eventually results in an increase in the cost.
Here, specifically, the switching elements which are switched by means of the operating knob 1 mentioned above are disposed in a total of six elements, as shown in FIG. 10. In this case, the two switching elements 2a and 2b are disposed in two opposed positions in the two opposite corners of the operating knob formed in a rectangular shape, and two sets of switching elements respectively comprising the two switching elements 2c and 2d and 2e and 2f are disposed in positions slightly detached from the corner portion in the proximity of each of the remaining two corners of the operating knob 1.
In this construction, the two switching elements 2a and 2c located on the upper side in the Figure will be turned on at the same time when the upward operating part 1a of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, and, on the basis of this switch-on operation, the motor for upward and downward movements is set into its forward rotation, so that the mirror is rotated upward, and, when the downward operating part 1c of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, the two switching elements 2b and 2f on the lower side will be turned on at the same time, on the basis of which the motor for the upward and downward movement is rotated in the reverse direction, so that the mirror is rotated downward. Further, when the leftward operating part 1b of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, the two switching elements 2a and 2e on the left side will be turned on at the same time, on the basis of which the motor for the left side and the right side is put into its forward rotation, by which the mirror is rotated leftward, and, when the rightward operating part 1d of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, the two switching elements 2b and 2d will be turned on at the same time, on the basis of which the motor for the left side and the right side is put into its reverse rotation, so that the mirror is rotated rightward.
However, in case the operating knob 1 is pushed aslant in the switching device formed in the construction described above, the switching device will be at a disadvantage as described below. That is to say, in case the operating knob 1 has been operated by pushing a diagonally upper left point or by pushing a diagonally lower right point, the switching elements 2a or 2b alone will be turned on, but no power conducting path will be formed to the motor. However, in case the operating knob 1 is operated by pushing a diagonally upper right point or by pushing a diagonally lower left point, the switching element 2c and the switching element 2d in the next set, or the switching element 2e and the switching element 2f in the next set will be turned on at the same time, in which case both of the motor for the upward and downward movements and the motor for the leftward and rightward movements will be supplied with electric power.
Moreover, as regards the arrangement of the switching elements, it has hitherto been in practice also to arrange eight switching elements in a switching device as shown in FIG. 11. In this arrangement, pairs of two switching elements 3a and 3b, 3c and 3d, 3e and 3f, and 3g and 3h are arranged in adjacent individual corners of the operating knob 1.
Now, in this arrangement of the switching elements, the two switching elements 3a and 3b on the upper side in the Figure will be turned on at the same time in case the upper operating part 1a of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, and the switching elements 3e and 3f on the lower side will be turned on at the same time when the lower operating part 1c of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in. Further, when the leftward operating part 1b of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, the two switching elements 3c and 3d on the left side will be turned on at the same time, and, when the rightward operating part 1d of the operating knob 1 is operated so as to be pushed in, the two switching elements 3g and 3h will be turned on at the same time.
However, also in the case of the switching device shown in this FIG. 11, a disadvantage similar to that appearing in the construction shown in FIG. 10 will be found to exist. In specific terms, the switching element 3a and the switching element 3c in the next set, or the switching element 3f and the switching element 3g in the next set, will be turned on when the operating knob 1 is operated at a point diagonally upper left of it or at a point diagonally lower right of it, but no power conducting path will be formed to the motor in this case. Yet, when the operating knob 1 is operated at a point diagonally upper right of it or at a point diagonally lower left of it, then the switching element 3b and the switching element 3h in the next set, or the switching element 3d and the switching element 3e in the next set, will be turned on at the same time, and, in this case, both of the motor for the upward and downward movements and the motor for the leftward and rightward movements are supplied with electric power at the same time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to offer a switching device which is capable of reducing the operating noises without increasing the number of its component parts and can eventually attain a reduction of its cost.
It is another object of the present invention to offer a switching device which, being capable of performing switching operations on a plural number of switching elements by operations for pushing in an operating knob that can be moved in a swinging motion, can overcome the disadvantages that occur when the operating knob has been pushed aslant.
A switching device according to the present invention comprises: a switch body; a base plate provided in the inside of this switch body; an operating knob provided in such a manner that it can be pushed into the above-mentioned switch body; an elastic member which is arranged on the above-mentioned base plate and has a contact holder portion, which, being elastically deformable, operates a first switching element when the elastic member is pushed on the basis of a pushing-in operation performed on the above-mentioned operating knob; a changeover knob provided in the proximity of the above-mentioned operating knob; and a contact holder, which, being disposed on the above-mentioned base plate in such a manner as to be able to slide thereon, performs a switching operation on a second switching element while sliding on the base plate on the basis of an operation of the above-mentioned changeover knob; wherein the elastic member is provided with a buffering member which, being formed in an integrated structure therewith, is put into its direct contact with the contact holder at the terminal point of the sliding movement of the contact holder mentioned above.
A switching device according to the present invention comprises: a switch body; an operating knob, which is formed in an approximately rectangular shape, has corner areas in four locations and also has an operating portions between the individual adjacent corner areas, and is installed on the above-mentioned switch body, in such a manner as to be permitted to slide, so that the operating knob can move aslant in any of four directions on the basis of the pushing-in operations on each of the above-mentioned operating parts provided in four locations, the operating knob being returned to the neutral position upon the release of an operation; and a total of eight switching elements provided in pair of two elements each in correspondence to the corner areas in the four locations of the above-mentioned operating knob in the inside of the switch body mentioned above; wherein the switching device wherein these eight switching elements perform a normal switching operation when the four switching elements each provided on both the sides of the operating part put into its operation.
With the means described above, the contact holder will get into its direct contact with the buffering member when the contact holder is moved to the terminal position of its sliding movement by means of the second operating knob, so that this switching device is capable of reducing the collision noises. In this case, the buffering member is formed in an integrated structure with the elastic member, the number of the component parts is not increased because of the use of the buffering member.
With the means described above, only the two switching elements disposed in the corner area will be turned on when the operating knob has been pushed aslant, and the structure of the switching device prevents the switching elements in neighboring pairs from being turned on as in the operation of the prior art switching device, so that the switching elements are operated under the same condition for each set thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a first example of preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the switching device taken along the line A--A in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the switching device taken along the line B--B in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the principal component parts of the switching device according to the present invention;
FIGS. 5 a plan view illustrating an elastic member of the switching device according to the present invention;
FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the elastic member taken along the line C--C as shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the wiring board;
FIG. 8 is an electrical circuit diagram;
FIG. 9 is a chart corresponding to FIG. 8 and illustrating a second example of preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the arrangement of the switching elements of a switching device in the prior art construction; and
FIG. 11 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 10 and showing a switching device in another prior art construction.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
First embodiement
In the following part, a description will be made of a first example of preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 8.
First, as shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 4, a switch body formed in an approximately rectangular shape has a partition plate 12 set up therein to partition the inside region of the switch body into two parts, namely, the upper and lower areas of the switch body, and the upper and lower surfaces of the partition plate 12 are kept open. A riser wall 13 formed in the upper portion of the switch body 11 has an engaging hole 14 made in each of the four locations, namely, the front area, the rear area, the left area, and the right area of the switch body 11. Further, a water drain opening 15a with its upper part kept open is formed in each of the two areas, namely, the front area and the rear area, and also a water drain opening 15b with its upper part kept closed is formed in each of the two locations, namely, the left area and the right area of the switch body 11.
The partition plate 12 mentioned above has a guide part 16 having an insertion hole 16a formed in an approximately cross shape in each of its four corner areas, and also a notched concave part 17 for draining the water is formed in each of the four locations. The upper part of each guide part 16 is formed at a level higher than the upper surface of the partition plate 12. The notched concave parts 17 formed in the four locations are respectively in intercommunication with the above-mentioned water drain openings 15a and 15b. Also, in an approximately central area of the partition plate 12, a protruding part 18 is formed to attain an elevation higher than the upper surface of the partition plate 12, and this protruding part 18 has a long insertion hole 19 formed in the leftward-rightward direction in each of two locations in its front and its rear respectively.
In the lower part of the switch body 11, a wiring board 20 is disposed for use as a substrate, and also a connector 21 is provided below this wiring board 20. As shown in FIG. 7, a wiring pattern 22 is formed on the wiring board 20. Moreover, an elastic member 23, which is made, for example, of silicone rubber, is disposed on the wiring board 20, as shown in FIG. 5.
The elastic member 23 is formed in a rectangular frame shape as a whole and is provided with a contact holder part 25, which is elastically deformable and has two movable contacts 24 (Refer to FIG. 6) each on the inside surfaces of the four corners corresponding to the lower area of the guide part 16 mentioned above. Further, a buffering part 26, which is formed in an approximately T-letter shape, is formed in two mutually confronting locations on the left and right shorter sides of the four sides of this elastic member 23 in such a manner that the buffering part 26 constitutes an integrated structure with this elastic member 23.
Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the eight movable contacts 24 provided on the four contact holder parts 25 of the elastic member 23 and the stationary contacts of the wiring pattern 22 on the wiring board 20 together form eight switching elements 27 through 34, as shown in FIG. 7, and these switching elements 27 through 34 form an operating switch 35 for operating a motor for a mirror, as shown in FIG. 8.
On the upper area of the switch body 11, a first operating knob 36 formed in an approximately rectangular shape is disposed for its use as an operating knob. This first operating knob 36 is composed of two component parts, i.e., an operating member 37 provided in its upper portion and a retaining member 38 provided in its lower portion. Of these component parts, the operating member 37 has an opening 39 formed in a rectangular shape in its central area, with an engaging hole 40 made in the side area between the left part and the right part. Further, the operating member 37 uses the portions between adjacent individual corner parts 41a through 41d, out of the corner areas 41a through 41d in the four locations, as operating parts 42a through 42d (Refer to FIG. 1). Four marks or characters each indicating an operating direction are displayed in positions corresponding to the operating parts 42a to 42d on the upper surface of the operating member 37.
In contrast with this, an annular wall 43 in a rectangular frame shape is formed on the upper surface of the retaining member 38, and the operating member 37 set so as to form a structure unified with the retaining member 38, with the engaging pawls 44 formed in both the left and right sides of this annular wall 43 being set in the engaging hole 40 made in the operating member 37. An empty area 45 is formed between these two members, namely, the operating member 37 and the retaining member 38.
Out of the peripheral edge portion of the retaining member 38, both the left and right side portions of the front edge portion and the rear edge portion have variable hinges 46 made of projecting parts are formed in a total of four locations, and projecting parts 47 are formed in two locations in the left edge portion and the right edge portion. Of these parts, the four variable hinges 46 are respectively inserted into the above-mentioned engaging holes 14 made in the switch body 11 in such a manner as to permit each of them to move in the upward-downward direction, and the two projecting parts 47 are respectively inserted into the water drain openings 15b in such a manner as to permit each of them to move in the upward-downward direction.
Further, the retaining member 38 has a water drain hole 48 made in each of two locations positioned in the front part and the rear part of the outer peripheral portion in the inside of the annular wall 43. A protruding part 49, which is at a level higher than the surrounding area, is formed in the central area of the retaining member 38, and insertion holes 50 longer in the leftward-rightward direction and in its communication with the insertion hole 19 in the switch body 11, respectively, are made in two locations in this protruding part 49.
Then, a push rod 51 is inserted into an insertion hole 16a made in each of the guide parts 16 in four locations in the switch body 11. This push rod 51 is in direct contact at its lower end portion as set from above with the contact holder part 25, and its upper end portion is held in its direct contact, as set from below, with the lower surface of the retaining member 38 in the first operating knob 36. The first operating knob 36 is urged toward the neutral position by the elastic force applied by each contact holder part 25 by way of each push rod 51, and the first operating knob 36 is thereby kept ready for its swinging motion in any of the four directions, i.e., forward, backward, leftward, and rightward, in accordance with the pushing-in operations in the forward, backward, leftward, and rightward, of the operating parts 42a through 42d respectively provided in four locations, and the first operating knob 36 is thus constructed in such a manner as to operate the contact holder part 25 by applying its pressing force thereto via the push rod 51 in accordance with the direction of its sliding movement.
Here, it is observed with reference to FIG. 1 that the eight switching elements 27 through 34 mentioned above are provided in sets each composed of two switching elements in correspondence with the corner parts 41a through 41d provided in four locations in the operating knob 36.
A second operating knob 52 for a changeover between the left and the right is provided in the inside of the first operating knob 36. This second operating knob 52 has an operating part 53 disposed in the opening 39 of the operating member 37, an eaves part 54, which is formed in a rectangular shape larger than the opening 39 and, being applied from above, covers up the insertion hole 50 of the retaining member 38, and a lever 55, which extends in the upward-downward direction, and the lever 55 is inserted into the insertion holes 50 and 19 made respectively in the rear sides of the retaining member 38 and the switch body 11.
The lower end portion of the lever 55 is fitted into the contact holder 56, and this contact holder 56 is disposed in an approximately central area of the above-mentioned wiring board 20 in such a manner as to be permitted to slide in the leftward-rightward direction. The contact holder 56 is provided with three movable contacts 57 (Refer to FIG. 7). These three movable contacts 57 and the stationary contacts provided in the central area of the wiring pattern 22 on the wiring board 20 form three sliding switches 58 through 60, and these three switches 58 through 60 constitute a changeover switch 61 for selecting one of the left mirror and the right mirror.
In the central area in the front of the contact holder 56, a spring 62 and a moderating piece 63 are provided, and, in correspondence with this, a moderating wall 64 (Refer to FIG. 2) is provided on the side of the switch body 11, and this spring 62, this moderating piece 63, and the moderating wall 64 together form a moderating mechanism 65.
Further, the contact holder 56 is constructed so as to be set into its sliding motion in the leftward-rightward direction by means of the second operating knob 52 and also to be held in a neutral position in the central area in the leftward-rightward direction and also in the leftward-rightward operating position by the action of the moderating mechanism 65. Moreover, the contact holder 56 is constructed in such a manner that an end portion of this contact holder 56 will be brought into its direct contact with the buffering part 26 when the contact holder 56 has moved to the sliding movement terminal position, which is an operating position for a leftward movement and a rightward movement.!
In FIG. 8, which illustrates the electrical construction, the reference number 66 denotes a motor for an upward or downward adjustment of the mirror on the left side out of the left and right mirrors (not shown in FIG. 8), the reference number 67 similarly denotes a motor for a leftward or rightward adjustment of the mirror on the left side, and the reference number 68 denotes a motor for an upward or downward adjustment of the mirror on the right side, and the reference number 69 similarly denotes a motor for a leftward or rightward adjustment of the mirror on the right side. These motors are respectively connected as shown in FIG. 8. In FIG. 7, moreover, the parts indicated by the broken line show the pattern connected on the back side of the wiring board 20.
Then, the effects produced by the construction described above will be described.
When the second operating knob 52 is operated so as to slide it in the leftward direction, for example, in the state in which both the first operating knob 36 and the second operating knob 52 are held in the neutral position (Refer to FIGS. 1 to 3), the contact holder 56 will slide in the leftward direction by way of the lever 55, and, along with this, the individual sliding switches 58 through 60 of the changeover switch 61 are changed to the left side as shown in FIG. 8 and are kept in that state. By this, the motors 66 and 67 for the mirror on the left side are selected.
At this time, as the contact holder 56 is moved to the terminal position of its sliding movement on the left side, the left end portion of the contact holder 56 will be brought into its direct contact with the buffering member 26 on the left side, and the collision noises caused on such an occasion will therefore be reduced.
When the upward operating part 42a on the first operating knob 36 is operated so as to be pushed in while the second operating knob 52 is in the state of having been operated to be on the left side, the first operating knob 36 will be moved so as to be inclined toward the back side on the variable hinges 46 and 46 in the front edge area working as the supporting points, so that the contact holder parts 25 and 25 in two locations on the rear side are pushed down via the push rods 51 and 51, the four switching elements 27 through 30 on the rear side being thereby turned on. Then, in the construction shown in FIG. 8, an electric current flows in the direction marked by the arrow A to be applied to the motor 66 for an upward or downward adjustment of the mirror on the left side, and, along with this, the mirror on the left side is turned upward.
Moreover, when the operating force applied to the first operating knob 36 is released, the first operating knob 36 will be returned to the neutral position by the urging force exerted by the individual contact holder parts 25, and, at the same time, the individual switching elements 27 through 30 are put into an off-state.
When the downward operating part 42c of the first operating knob 36 is operated so as to be pushed in, the first operating knob 36 will be moved so as to be inclined toward the front side on the variable hinges 46 and 46 in the rear edge part working as the supporting points, so that the contact holder parts 25 and 25 provided in two locations on the front side are pressed down by way of the push rods 51 and 51, the four switching elements 31 through 34 on the front side being thereby turned on. Then, in the construction shown in FIG. 8, an electric current flows in the direction reverse to the direction indicated by the arrow A to be applied to the motor 66 for an upward or downward adjustment of the mirror on the left side, and, along with this, the mirror on the left side is turned downward.
Further, in case the leftward operating part 42b of the first operating knob 36 is operated so as to be pushed in, the first operating knob 36 will be moved so as to be inclined toward the left side on the variable hinges 46 and 46 on the right side working as the supporting points, so that the contact holders 25 and 25 provided in two locations on the left side are pressed down by way of the push rods 51 and 51, the four switching elements 27, 28, 31, and 32 on the left side are thereby turned on. Then, in the construction shown in FIG. 8, an electric current flows in the direction marked by the arrow A to be applied to the motor 67 for a leftward-rightward adjustment of the mirror on the left side, and, along with this, the mirror on the left side is turned leftward.
Further, in case the rightward operating part 42d of the first operating knob 36 is operated so as to be pushed in, the first operating knob 36 will be moved so as to be inclined toward the right side on the variable hinges 46 and 46 on the left side working as the supporting points, so that the contact holders 25 and 25 provided in two locations on the right side are pressed down by way of the push rods 51 and 51, the four switching elements 29, 28, 33, and 34 on the right side are thereby turned on. Then, in the construction shown in FIG. 8, an electric current flows in the direction reverse to the direction marked by the arrow A to be applied to the motors 68 and 69 for a leftward-rightward adjustment of the mirror on the right side, and, along with this, the mirror on the right side is turned rightward.
In the meantime, when the second operating knob 52 is operating so as to slide in the rightward direction, which is reverse to the direction mentioned above, in the state in which both the first operating knob 36 and the second operating knob 52 are held in the neutral position, the contact holder 56 will slide in the rightward direction by way of the lever 55, and, along with this, the individual sliding switches 58 through 60 of the changeover switch 61 are changed to the right side in the construction shown in FIG. 8, and the state is maintained. By this, the motors 68 and 69 for the mirror on the right side will be selected.
At such a time, as the contact holder 56 moves to the terminal point for the sliding movement on the right side, the right end portion of the contact holder 56 will be brought into its direct contact with the buffering part 26 provided on the right side of the elastic member 23, and the collision noises generated on that occasion are thereby reduced.
Further, in case the individual operating parts 42a through 42d of the first operating knob 36 are operated so as to be pushed in while the second operating knob 52 is operated for a movement to the right side, the motor 68 for an upward-downward adjustment of the mirror on the right side will be selected in stead of the motor 66 for an upward-downward adjustment of the mirror on the left side as described above and the motor 69 for a leftward-rightward adjustment of the mirror on the right side is selected in stead of the motor 67 for a leftward-rightward adjustment of the mirror on the left side, and, since the effect of the operations are the same except for these points, a description of the operations is omitted here.
Here, in case the first operating knob 36 has been pushed aslant in the state in which the second operating knob 52 is operated to move to the left side or to the right side, i.e., in case one location of the corner areas 41a through 41d is pushed down, the switching elements in sets of two switching elements, i.e., 27 and 28, 31 and 32, 33 and 34, and 29 and 30, corresponding to the corner areas so operated have been operated so as to be turned on, but, in either of these cases, no power conducting path will be formed to any of the motors 66 through 69.
On the other hand, in case any water happens to come into its contact, for example, with the first operating knob 36 and to intrude into the inside of the central area through the opening 39, the intrusive water will flow along the outer surfaces of the operating member 53 and the eaves part 54 of the second operating knob 52, and will be received by the retaining member 38 of the first operating knob 36. Then, the intrusive water flows down onto the partition plate 12 of the switch body 11 through the water drain hole 48 made on the side of the outer peripheral area of the retaining member 38 and will then be discharged to the outside of the switch body 11 through the notched concave part 17 and the water drain openings 15a and 15b.
Further, in a case in which water has intruded into the inside of the switch body 11 from the peripheral edge portion of the first operating knob 36, the intrusive water will be received on the partition plate 12 and will be discharged thereafter into an area outside of the switch body 11 through the notched concave part 17 and through the water drain openings 15a and 15b in the same way as in the case described above.
According to the first example of preferred embodiment of the present invention described above, all the eight switching elements 27 through 34, which are operated on the basis of the operation of the first operating knob 36, are disposed in sets each consisting of two elements in locations corresponding to the corner parts 41a through 41d of the first operating knob 36, so that only the two switching elements 27 and 28, 31 and 32, 33 and 34, or 29 and 30 which are disposed in each corner part will be operated so as to be turned on, in case the first operating knob 36 is pushed aslant, and it will not happen in this construction that the switching elements in adjacent sets are turned on at the same time as is the case with the prior art switching device.
Further, according to the construction of the switching device described herein, it is possible surely to turn on only the four switching elements which should be operated, since the switching device is not liable to cause any such trouble as incompletely operating the four switching elements located on the side opposite to the operating parts which have been HR and the two terminals B and E have been short-circuited and thereby judges which switches (the eight switching elements 27 through 34 and the sliding switch 58 through 60) have been operated and then controls the individual motors 66 through 69 by way of a driving circuit 71 on the basis of the judgment concerning the operated switches.
Further, in this second example of preferred embodiment, the control circuit does not need any signal from the two switching elements 28 and 33 connected to the terminal C, among the eight switching elements 27 through 34, for the purpose of controlling the motors 66 through 69, and these two switching elements 28 and 33 are, so to speak, in an idle state.
As described so far, the switching device according to the present invention may be applied to both of the direct operation type switching device shown in the first example of preferred embodiment and the switching device which may be called the indirect operation type using a micro computer as shown in the second example of preferred embodiment.
As it is obvious from the description given above, the present invention offers a switching device formed in a construction in which a contact holder runs against a buffering part when the contact holder is moved to the terminal position of its sliding movement, so that the construction of this switching device can reduce the collision noises, i.e., the operating noises. Even in such a case, the switching device operated, in case the operating part in one location out of the operating parts 42a through 42d of the first operating knob 36 has been operated so as to be pushed in.
Yet, with such a switching device like the one described above, the four variable hinges 46 for the first operating knob 36 are provided, in general, in the square areas in four locations of the first operating knob 36. However, in case those variable hinges 46 are provided in the square areas of the first operating knob 36, even a slight change in the external shape of the first operating knob 36 for a change of its design or the like will result also in a change of the distance between the individual variable hinges 46, so that each such change requires that an examination should be conducted on each such occasion on the amount of the stroke of the first operating knob 36 and eventually on the amount of the elastic deformation and so on for each of the individual contact holder parts 25 in the elastic member 23.
In this respect, this example of preferred embodiment is provided with four variable hinges 46 of the first operating knob 36, but these variable hinges 46 are formed not in any square portion but in locations slightly closer to the central portion of the switch body 11 (Refer to FIG. 1), so that it will not be necessary to change the distance between the individual variable hinges 46 even in a case in which the external shape of the first operating knob 36 has been changed slightly in the leftward-rightward direction by reason of a design change or the like. Therefore, the construction of the switching device in this example of preferred embodiment offers the advantage that the construction does not require any case-by-case examination of the amount of stroke of the first operating knob 36 and the amount of elastic deformation and the like in each of the contact holder part 25 in the elastic member 23.
Second embodiment
FIG. 9 shows a second example of preferred embodiment of the present invention, and this example is different in the following respects from the first example of preferred embodiment of the present invention as described above.
Specifically, in the case of the first example of preferred embodiment described above, the present invention is applied to a construction for a direct control in which the individual motors 66 through 69 are controlled directly for turning on and off the electric power supplied to them with the operating switch 35 (comprising eight switching elements 27 through 34) and the changeover switch 61 (comprising the sliding switches 58 through 60), but the second example of preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 9 features a construction in which the individual motors 66 through 69 are controlled by means of a door-mounted control circuit 70 provided with a micro computer.
In this case, the door-mounted control circuit 70 judges which terminals among the four terminals VL, VR, HL, and does not require any increase in the number of its component parts since this switching device has the buffering member in a structure integrated with an elastic member having a contact holder part capable of undergoing an elastic deformation when it is pressed down under a pressing force generated by an operation for pressing a first operating knob. Accordingly, the present invention can reduce the operating noises of the switching device without any increase in the number of its component parts and can eventually attain a reduction of cos
As it is also obvious from the description given above, the present invention offers a switching device which is operated by switching operations performed on a plural number of switching elements by operations for pushing down an operating knob which can be set into its swinging motion in four directions, and the switching device is provided with eight switching elements disposed in sets of two switching elements in each as arranged in correspondence with the corner areas in four locations of the operating knob, and, even if the operating knob is pushed aslant, it will therefore not happen that switching elements in adjacent sets are turned on at the same time as is the case with the prior art switching device, and the operating knob attains the same condition in whatever direction it is pushed aslant. Thus, the present invention can eliminate the disadvantage which the prior art switching device produces when the operating knob is pushed aslant.
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A switching device includes a switch body, a base plate provided in the switch body, an operation knob provided in the switch body so as to pushed therein, an elastic member arranged on the base plate, the elastic member including a contact holder portion, which is elastically deformable, for switching a first switching member in response to a pushing operation of the operation knob, a switching knob provided near the operation knob; and a contact holder for switching a second switching member in response to a switching operation of the switching knob, the contact holder slidably arranged on the base plate.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to invasive probes, and specifically to producing a magnetic resonance imaging compatible catheter.
BACKGROUND
[0002] A wide range of medical procedures involve placing objects, such as sensors, tubes, catheters, dispensing devices, and implants, within the body. When placing a medical probe fitted with position sensors within the body, a reference image of the body cavity being treated is typically presented on a display. The reference image assists a medical professional in positioning the probe to the appropriate location(s).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] An embodiment of the present invention provides a method, including,
[0004] passing a cylindrical carbon fiber through a press so as to produce a flat ribbon; and
[0005] weaving multiple strands of the flat ribbon together to create a cylindrical braid.
[0006] Typically, the press includes a roller press. In one embodiment the carbon fiber has a diameter no greater than 500 μm.
[0007] In a disclosed embodiment the method includes repeating passing the cylindrical carbon fiber through the press one or more times until the flat ribbon meets defined dimensional specifications. Typically, the dimensional specifications define a rectangle having a width no greater than 500 μm, and a thickness no greater than 500 μm.
[0008] In an alternative embodiment the cylindrical braid is flexible. Typically, the method includes cutting the flexible cylindrical braid to a pre-defined cut length, thereby creating a section; covering the section with a flexible biocompatible sheath; and positioning one or more functional elements within the cut length of the braid, thereby producing a magnetic resonance imaging compatible medical probe.
[0009] Each of the one or more functional elements may be selected from a list consisting of an electrode, a position sensor, a force sensor, cabling and tubing. The magnetic resonance imaging compatible probe typically consists of only non-magnetic materials.
[0010] There is further provided, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a medical probe, which has proximal and distal ends and includes:
[0011] a flexible cylindrical braid woven from multiple strands of a flat carbon ribbon;
[0012] a flexible biocompatible sheath that is formed over the braid; and
[0013] one or more functional elements running within the braid between the proximal and the distal end of the probe.
[0014] Typically, the probe includes only non-magnetic materials.
[0015] Each of the one or more functional elements may be selected from a list consisting of an electrode, a position sensor, a force sensor, cabling and tubing. Typically, the flat carbon ribbon has dimensional specifications defining a rectangle having a width no greater than 500 μm, and a thickness no greater than 500 μm.
[0016] There is further provided, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a method, including:
[0017] weaving a flexible cylindrical braid from multiple strands of a flat carbon ribbon;
[0018] forming a flexible biocompatible sheath over the braid so as to produce a probe having proximal and distal ends; and
[0019] running one or more functional elements within the braid between the proximal and the distal ends of the probe.
[0020] There is further provided, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a method, including:
[0021] forming a flexible biocompatible sheath over a flexible cylindrical braid woven from multiple strands of a flat carbon ribbon, so as to produce a probe having proximal and distal ends; and
[0022] running one or more functional elements within the braid between the proximal and the distal ends of the probe.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] The disclosure is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0024] FIG. 1A is a pictorial illustration of an apparatus for producing a carbon ribbon, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 1B is a pictorial illustration of a braiding apparatus used for producing a braid of the carbon ribbon, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0026] FIG. 1C is a magnified pictorial illustration of the braid produced by the braiding apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0027] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that schematically illustrates a method of producing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible probe, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0028] FIG. 3 is a schematic detail view showing a distal end of the MRI-compatible probe, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0029] During some medical procedures, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to assist in visualizing detailed internal structures of the body. To produce an image using MRI, a radio frequency transmitter in an MRI system transmits an electromagnetic field. In response to the electromagnetic field, cells in the body transmit electromagnetic signals, which are detected by a scanner. The MRI image is then produced based on the received electromagnetic signals.
[0030] Since MRI uses strong magnetic fields, any magnetic material in the area being visualized may distort the MRI image. In some instances, exposing a magnetic object within the body to the MRI's strong magnetic field may cause a trauma to the patient due to movement of the magnetic object exposed to the magnetic field.
[0031] Medical probes, such as catheters, commonly contain a braided steel reinforcing layer for mechanical strength. This sort of steel layer, however, may create problematic effects when exposed to the strong magnetic field from the MRI system as described supra.
[0032] Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for producing a carbon ribbon, which when braided, can be used to produce a medical probe with a cylindrical carbon braid as reinforcement. In some embodiments, a cylindrical carbon fiber is conveyed through a press such as a roller press, producing a flat, thin carbon ribbon. The ribbon is then woven into a cylindrical braid, which can be used as a reinforcement layer for a carbon-braided probe.
[0033] Carbon-braided probes produced using embodiments of the present invention are typically comparable in both strength and flexibility to steel-braided probes, and are unaffected by the MRI's magnetic field. Furthermore, a carbon-braided probe can be used in other applications, in addition to procedures using MRI. For example, in multi-catheter procedures, the non-magnetic carbon braid in the catheter may be helpful in reducing magnetic field disturbance, which can otherwise affect position and force measurements made by other catheters.
System Description
[0034] FIG. 1A is a pictorial illustration of an apparatus 20 for producing a carbon ribbon 36 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. An operator 24 inserts a cylindrical carbon fiber 26 into a roller press 28 , and rotates a handle 30 to advance the carbon fiber through the roller press. In some embodiments, carbon fiber 26 may have a diameter between approximately 50 μm and approximately 500 μm.
[0035] Roller press 28 comprises two rollers 32 , handle 30 and a pressure dial 34 . Rotating pressure dial 34 increases or decreases the distance between the two rollers. Handle 30 is coupled to one or both of rollers 32 . Operator 24 rotating handle 30 (counter-clockwise, in the example shown in FIG. 1A ) conveys the carbon fiber between the two rollers, thereby producing flat, thin carbon ribbon 36 . Alternatively, roller press 28 may include a motor coupled to one or both of rollers 32 in order to convey carbon fiber 26 between the two rollers. Using the carbon ribbon whose dimensions are described supra, the dimensional specifications of ribbon 38 produced by roller press 28 has a width between 50 μm and 500 μm, and a thickness between 50 μm and 500 μm. In some embodiments, operator 24 may insert multiple carbon fibers 26 simultaneously into roller press 28 thereby producing multiple flat carbon ribbons 36 .
[0036] FIG. 1B is a pictorial illustration of a braiding apparatus 38 , and FIG. 1C is a magnified pictorial illustration of a braid 48 produced by the braiding apparatus, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. Braiding apparatus 38 is configured to create a cylindrical carbon braid 22 from ribbon 36 . As a rotating wheel 40 conveys a flexible plastic tubing 42 through the braiding machine, a braiding mechanism 44 conveys multiple ribbons 36 from multiple spools 46 , and weaves braid 48 ( FIG. 1C ) surrounding the plastic tubing, thereby producing cylindrical carbon braid 22 .
Producing an MRI-Compatible Catheter
[0037] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that schematically illustrates a method of producing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatible probe in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In an initial step 50 , operator 24 defines a range of dimensional specifications (i.e., length and width) for carbon ribbon 36 . The ranges are typically based on the specifications of carbon ribbon 36 , which may include ribbons of different dimensions. It will be appreciated that one of ordinary skill in the art may determine suitable dimensional ranges for the ribbon without undue experimentation.
[0038] In a compression step 51 , operator 24 inserts cylindrical carbon fiber 26 into roller press 28 , where rollers 32 compress the carbon fiber, thereby creating carbon ribbon 36 . In a comparison step 52 , if ribbon 36 does not meet the dimensional specifications defined in step 50 (i.e., width and thickness), then the method returns to step 51 . Typically, several passes through press 28 may be required to meet the defined dimensional specifications.
[0039] If, however, ribbon 36 meets the defined dimensional specifications, then in a weaving step 54 , operator 24 loads the ribbon to spools 46 of braiding apparatus 38 , which then weaves the ribbon into cylindrical carbon braid 22 . In a first probe producing step 56 , operator 24 cuts braid 22 to a pre-defined cut length to create a section of the braid and covers the section with a flexible, insulating, biocompatible material (also referred to herein as a sheath). Finally, in a second probe producing step 58 , operator 24 positions functional elements, such as cabling and/or tubing, within the braid, thereby producing an MRI-compatible probe, where the functional elements typically run between proximal and distal ends of the probe.
[0040] FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of an MRI-compatible probe 60 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 3 shows functional elements of probe 60 used in creating a map of cardiac electrical activity. An electrode 64 at a distal tip 66 of the probe senses electrical signals in cardiac tissue. Alternatively, multiple electrodes (not shown) along the length of the probe may be used for this purpose. Electrode 64 is typically made of a metallic material, such as a platinum/iridium alloy or another suitable material.
[0041] A position sensor 68 generates a signal that is indicative of the location coordinates of distal tip 66 . Position sensor may comprise an electrode, wherein impedances between the electrode and additional electrodes positioned outside a patient's body are measured to determine the position of the electrode. In alternative embodiments, position sensor 68 may comprise a tri-coil position sensor (for example, as is implemented in the CARTO™ system produced by Biosense Webster, Inc., Diamond Bar, Calif.) or an ultrasonic position sensor. Although FIG. 3 shows a probe with a single position sensor, embodiments of the present invention may utilize probes with more than one position sensors.
[0042] A force sensor 70 senses contact between distal tip 66 and endocardial tissue, by generating a signal that is indicative of the pressure exerted by distal tip 66 on the tissue.
[0043] Probe 60 is covered by a biocompatible, flexible sheath 72 .
[0044] Sheath 72 is shown cut away in FIG. 3 in order to expose cylindrical carbon braid 22 , which is covered by the sheath. In embodiments of the present invention, functional elements (e.g., electrode 64 , position sensor 68 , force sensor 70 , and any cabling) are within sheath 72 and run between a distal end 62 and a proximal end 74 of the probe. The functional elements are typically constructed using non-magnetic materials. Using non-magnetic materials such as the platinum/iridium alloy described supra enables probe 60 to be MRI-compatible.
[0045] It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above are cited by way of example, and that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove, as well as variations and modifications thereof which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not disclosed in the prior art.
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A method, consisting of passing a cylindrical carbon fiber through a press so as to produce a flat ribbon. The method further includes weaving multiple strands of the flat ribbon together to create a cylindrical braid.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a glue line material as defined in the preamble of claim 1 and a wood board as defined in the preamble of claim 18 .
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Known from prior art are various wood boards, e.g. plywoods, veneer boards or the like.
[0003] Known from prior art are various glues for gluing the veneers together to form a wood board. Also known is to glue coating layers on top of the veneer layers, e.g. with a polyurethane or phenolic glue.
[0004] Known from prior art is the gluing of different types of adhesive labels or product specifications onto the surface of the wood board in a separate working phase to provide product information.
[0005] From U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,126, U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,091, EP0782917, WO 9906210 and EP 0429253 different wood panels and adhesive materials are known.
[0006] Patent publication WO 03/033252 discloses a composite material comprising two layers in which the first layer is formed of high strength fibers and resin and the second layer is structural sheathing e.g. plywood. The high strength fibers are selected from the group consisting of aramid fibers, glass fibers, polyethylene fibers, polyvinyl alcohol fibers, polyarylate fibers, polybenzazole fibers, or carbon fibers.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The objective of the invention is to disclose a new type of glue line material, its production and the attachment of the material to a wood board. Further, the objective of the invention is to disclose conversion of the coupling agent to an active form for forming the material and for attaching the material on the wood board.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] A glue line material and a wood board according to the invention is characterized by what is presented in the claims.
[0009] The invention is based on a glue line material for a wood board. According to the invention the glue line material is formed of at least first layer formed of a film, and the film comprises at least three film layers and at least outer film layers contain polyolefin and a coupling agent which is reactive with —OH groups of the wood for forming self-adhesive properties to make the glue line material self adhesive to —OH groups of the wood.
[0010] The invention is specifically based on the glue line material having certain properties and structure. The layers of the glue line material are substantially joined together by the coupling agent which is reactive with —OH groups of the wood, preferably via esterification, for forming self-adhesive properties, e.g. by maleic anhydride polyolefin. The glue line material is used as a glue line and/or a coating in conjunction with the wood board.
[0011] In this context, a wood board refers to any wood panel product, plywood product, composite product, beam, pressed panel product or the like, formed of a number of layers, preferably veneer layers, and principally of wood-based materials, in which the layers are laid one upon the other and glued together. Further, a wood board refers to any wood product or fiber product.
[0012] In this context, a layer refers to any layer of material, typically a thin layer of material.
[0013] In one embodiment the first layer is a bottom layer.
[0014] In one embodiment of the invention the glue line material comprises the top layer arranged on the first layer. In one embodiment of the invention the top layer is a protective layer. Preferably the top layer provides the protection for the other layers.
[0015] In one embodiment of the invention the glue line material comprises at least one middle layer arranged between the first and the top layers. In one embodiment the middle layer is arranged between the first and top layers for providing a protected middle layer. The glue line material can comprise more than one middle layer.
[0016] In one embodiment of the invention the glue line material comprises reinforcement fibers.
[0017] In one embodiment of the invention the glue line material comprises at least one reinforcement layer. In one embodiment the glue line material comprises at least two reinforcement layers. In one preferred embodiment the coupling agent is reactive with —OH groups of the reinforcement layer or reinforcement fibers.
[0018] In one embodiment of the invention the film of the first layer is a multi-layer film containing more than three film layers.
[0019] In one embodiment of the invention the top layer is formed a film.
[0020] In one embodiment of the invention the middle layer is formed a film.
[0021] In one embodiment of the invention the film is a 2-layer film. In one embodiment the film is a 3-layer film. In one embodiment the film is a multi-layer film comprising more than three film layers, e.g. 3-11 film layers.
[0022] Preferably the layers and the film layers are joined together by means of the coupling agent, e.g. by maleic anhydride polyolefin. Preferably, the film is the self-adhesive film provided by the coupling agent which reacts with —OH groups in other material e.g. natural products like wood or wood derivative products.
[0023] In one embodiment of the invention at least one layer of the film contains the coupling agent.
[0024] In a preferred embodiment the layer, the film or the film layer which includes the coupling agent also contains polymer e.g. polyethylene or polypropylene.
[0025] In one embodiment of the invention the coupling agent is selected from the group: grafted silanes, grafted isocyanates, grafted epoxy groups and maleic anhydride polyolefin, e.g. maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP), maleic anhydride grafted copolymer and maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (MAPE).
[0026] In one embodiment maleic anhydride polyolefin used is maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) and/or maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP). Preferably, the film layer including maleic anhydride polyolefin essentially consists of MAPE+PE or MAPP+PP. In one embodiment the film contains 2-15% w/w maleic anhydride.
[0027] In one embodiment the coupling agent or polyolefin of the coupling agent or the film containing coupling agent is grafted with alkoxysilane containing reactive functional groups with the polyolefin. In one embodiment the polyolefin is grafted with hydrolysable vinyl-mono-, -di- or -tri-alkoxysilane. In one embodiment vinyl group can be replaced with isosyanate- or epoxy groups. Alkoxysilanes alcohol groups can be methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- or isopropyl-groups and silane can contain 1,2 or 3 alkoxy-groups. The reaction with polyolefin with the vinyl or other reactive groups happens already during the manufacturing of the coupling material, and reaction with wood by silane-groups during or after the manufacturing of the wood board.
[0028] Preferably the coupling agent forms covalent bonds, ester bonds and/or covalent bonds via esterification with celluloses —OH groups. In one embodiment the coupling agent forms covalent bonds via esterification with celluloses —OH groups.
[0029] In one embodiment of the invention the coupling agent is activated at temperatures of more than 180° C. during the manufacture of the coupling material. The coupling material can be manufactured by co-extrusion. Also other extrusion methods are possible. The extrusion temperature is between 180-200° C. In a preferred embodiment an extrusion melt temperature of 200° C. for 2 minutes is employed, which is sufficient time to convert the coupling agent to a reactive form. The coupling agent formed contains activated functional groups capable of forming the maximum number of covalent and/or ester bonds with —OH groups of wood. The melt index of the polyolefin being 4 g/10 min (measured 190° C/2.16 kg) makes the activation of the reactive groups possible in film form.
[0030] In a preferred embodiment of the invention the layers are joined together by means of the maleic anhydride polyolefin. The maleic anhydride forms covalent bonds, preferably covalent bonds via esterification, with celluloses —OH groups.
[0031] Preferably, maleic acid is converted to maleic anhydride during the film manufacturing. The film can be manufactured by co-extrusion of the polyolefin and maleic anhydride grafted polyolefin. Also other extrusion methods are possible. The extrusion temperature is between 180-200° C. In a preferred embodiment of the coating process an extrusion melt temperature of 200° C. for 2 minutes is employed, which is sufficient time to convert the coupling agent from maleic acid to maleic anhydride. The film formed contains activated functional groups capable of forming the maximum number of covalent bonds with —OH groups of wood. In one embodiment maleic anhydride conversion is more than 86% and unconverted maleic acid conversion is less than 14% in the film or in the layer of the film containing the maleic anhydride polyolefin. In one preferred embodiment maleic anhydride conversion is more than 92% and unconverted maleic acid conversion is less than 8%.
[0032] In one embodiment of the invention the top and/or middle layer contains polyolefin and the coupling agent.
[0033] In one embodiment of the invention the first, middle and/or top layer contains polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), medium density polyethylene (MDPE), high molecular weight polyethylene (HMWPE), ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), the coupling agent, e.g. maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) or maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP), metallocene produced polyethylene (TIE) and/or derivates thereof or their combinations. The layer can include additives and fillers. In a preferred embodiment the TIE-material includes the coupling agent.
[0034] In one embodiment of the invention the first, top and/or middle layer contains polyolefin having melt flow index in the range 0.1-4 g/10 min and DSC melting temperature in the range of 100-140° C.
[0035] In one embodiment polymers with low viscosity are used in the outer layers of the 2-layer and S-layer films. In one embodiment of the invention the layer contains polyolefin having melt flow index (MFI) in the range 0.3-4 g/10 min (measured at 2.16 kg and 190° C.) and DSC (Differential scanning calorimeter) melting temperature in the range of 100-140° C. In one a preferred embodiment this polyolefin is used in the outer layers of the first and top layer to improve penetration of the outer surfaces into the wood. In one embodiment this polyolefin is used in the mono film to aid in adhesion of the middle layer to the reinforcement material.
[0036] The creep resistance of the polymers can be improved by using polymers of high molecular weight in the middle layer or the middle film layer. In one embodiment the middle layer has the following structure MAPE+LDPE/HDPE/LDPE+MAPE, MAPE+LDPE/HDPE/HDPE, MAPE+LDPE/HDPE/MDPE, MAPE+LDPE/HDPE+MAPE/LDPE+MAPE, MAPE+LDPE/MDPE/LDPE+MAPE, MAPE+LDPE/MDPE+MAPE/LDPE+MAPE or MAPP+PP/PP/MAPP+PP. In one embodiment the molecular weight of the polymer is >100000 and preferably between 100 000-500 000. The MFI of a polymer is inversely related to its molecular weight and therefore polymers with a low MFI (in the range of 0.1-1.0 g/10 min, measured at 21.6 kg and 190° C.) have a high molecular weight. In one embodiment polyethylene density affects on the creep resistance and therefore the density of polymer used in the middle layer is in the range of 0.940-0.965 g/cm 3 .
[0037] In one embodiment any polyolefin film can contain mineral fillers e.g. PCC or aluminium oxide, preferably in amount 1-15% of film volume.
[0038] In one embodiment any polyolefin used is cross-linked. By the cross-linking of the polyolefin the creep resistance can be improved. Further, the creep resistance can be improved by addition of MAPP and/or MAPE coupling agent to the layers.
[0039] In one embodiment of the invention the reinforcement layer can contain different reinforcement fibers and polymers. The reinforcement layer can contain woven textile, non-woven textile, woven fiber, non-woven fiber, oriented or non-oriented fiber material, organic fiber, glass fiber, carbon fiber, nylon 66, aramid, natural fiber e.g. flax, cotton, viscose-pulp or hemp fiber and/or derivates thereof or their combinations. Further, in a preferred embodiment, the reinforcement layer contains polyolefin, e.g. polyethylene or polypropylene, a coupling agent, e.g. maleic anhydride polyolefin, and/or TIE which are preferably a support material of the reinforcement layer. The polymer can be polyolefin or its copolymer or known biopolymer like lactic acid polymer, poly-glyconate or poly-peptide. In one embodiment the glue line material can be reinforced with polymer fibers having a higher melting point than polyethylene, polypropylene or their copolymers.
[0040] In one embodiment the reinforcement layer is arranged in conjunction with the middle layer e.g. beside the middle layer. In one embodiment the reinforcement layer is arranged between the first and middle layers. In one embodiment the reinforcement layer is arranged between the middle and top layers. In one embodiment the reinforcement layer is arranged between two middle layers. In one embodiment alternating reinforcement and middle layer constructions are formed with up to 4 middle layers and 5 reinforcement layers.
[0041] In one embodiment, the reinforcement layer is formed by co-extruding the reinforcement fibers into the support polymer.
[0042] The creep resistance of polymers can be improved by the reinforcement fibers. At same time the bending strength can be substantially improved.
[0043] The fibers loaded to polymers during extrusion are more or less oriented depending on fiber length and extrusion conditions. Textiles, placed between two films, can be oriented in structures as required by the end-product.
[0044] In one embodiment at least one film layer of the glue line material contains the coupling agent. In one embodiment all the film layers of the film contain the coupling agent. In one embodiment the outer film layers of the film contains the coupling agent.
[0045] In a preferred embodiment of the invention the layers are joined together and the glue line material is attached onto the surface of the veneer by means of the coupling agent. The coupling agent forms covalent bonds via esterification between two layers or films or materials. Adhesion can be further improved by using the polymers of low viscosity (MFI 0.3-4 g/10 min, measured at 2.16 kg and 190° C.) and DSC melting temperature of 100-130° C. in the outer film layers for providing greater penetration into the wood. The maleated polyolefins can be used in all film layers, which is advantageous for films 0.1 mm thick and necessary for thinner films <0.1 mm.
[0046] Penetration of the films into the wood can be improved by applying shear, e.g. rolling, vibration or rotating, during hot-pressing (standard or continuous press) at the point when the polymers are in the molten state. The shear will result in a drop in the viscosity.
[0047] Preferably, the first and the third layers penetrate into the porous reinforcement layer for forming a strong composite laminate.
[0048] In one embodiment at least one film layer is formed of the thermoplastic material.
[0049] The layer, film or film layer can be made from petrochemical and renewable feedstock materials. In addition bioplastic material, preferably the bio-based polymers having processing temperature over 180° C. or over 190° C., can be used.
[0050] In one embodiment the glue line material comprises an RFID-identifier or RF-tag. In one embodiment, the glue line material comprises electrically conductive material, e.g. carbon fibers or thin metallic fibers. An electrically conductive layer is used on table tops or for heating purposes. The RFID-identifier, RF-tag or electrically conductive material can be placed in the middle layer or the reinforcement layer.
[0051] The layer or at least one film layer of the layer can be printed, painted and/or pigmented.
[0052] In one embodiment, all film layers of said layer are substantially formed of the same material. In an alternative embodiment, at least one film layer of said layer is formed of a different material than the other film layers.
[0053] The layer thickness of the glue line material may vary depending on the properties of the film materials and the application of the wood board.
[0054] A compatibilizing agent can be added to any layer in order to adhere the dissimilar polymers to each other. When dissimilar polymers are co-extruded a compatibilizing agent is required in the reinforcement layer to join the dissimilar materials.
[0055] Further, the invention is based on a wood board, which comprises the glue line material according to the invention as defined above.
[0056] A wood board according to the invention can comprise veneer layers of different thickness. The thicknesses of the veneer layers can vary. The veneer layers can be arranged in the desired position, i.e. crosswise or lengthwise in the desired order.
[0057] The wood board can be made using apparatuses and methods known per se. Laying the veneers one upon the other, joining them together and other typical steps in making the wood board can be performed in any manner known per se in the art.
[0058] In one embodiment the glue line material is arranged between the veneers of the wood board. In one embodiment the glue line material is arranged as a coating onto the wood board. In a preferred embodiment the glue line material has been attached in conjunction with the wood board by the coupling agent.
[0059] In one embodiment the glue line material between each veneer comprises reinforcement fibers. In one embodiment the glue line material between one or more veneers comprises fibers but the other glue lines consist of only polyolefin-based films. In one embodiment the fiber-film is arranged to replace veneer raw material. This is especially the case when the fiber-film provides increased strength and bending properties equal and greater to that of a veneer.
[0060] Arranging the glue line material of the invention on the surface of the veneer or the wood board can be performed e.g. using the hot pressing technique, extruder technique, film technique, roll application technique, cylinder application technique, coat and multi-layer coat application technique, all known per se, their combinations or a corresponding technique. The veneers can be joined together e.g. using the hot pressing technique.
[0061] The glue line material of the invention can be prelaminated to make handling easier and more economical.
[0062] The coupling agents, e.g. maleated polymers, are cheap and nontoxic and they form chemical bonds that are less susceptible to hydrolysis. The defined coupling agent is easy to use as a glue line. Adhesion on wood is excellent.
[0063] The fiber-film between the veneer plies improves the bending strength for building applications. The middle layer with reinforcement fibers improves also resistance against projectiles or high point loads.
[0064] The glue line material and the wood board in accordance with the invention are suitable for various applications. These kinds of materials and products can be used in conjunction with different structures e.g. doors, window protector covers, vehicle floors and vibration change structures.
LIST OF FIGURES
[0065] In the following, the invention is described by means of detailed embodiment examples with reference to accompanying FIGS. 1 a, 1 b, 2 and 3 , in which
[0066] FIGS. 1 a, 1 b and 2 show glue line materials according to the invention,
[0067] FIG. 3 shows a method for making the glue line material according to the invention, and
[0068] FIG. 4 shows the ATR spectroscopy results.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0069] FIGS. 1 a and 1 b disclose the glue line material structures of the invention. The glue line material is a fiber-polymer laminate.
[0070] A top layer ( 1 ) is formed of a 3-layer film which is PE/PE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/PE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/HDPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MAPE+PE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MDPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/HMWPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/UHMWPE/MAPE+PE, MAPP+PP/PP/MAPP+PP, MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP, PP/MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP, PP/PP/MAPP+PP, PP/TIE/MAPE+PE, PA/TIE/MAPE+PE, PET/TIE/MAPE+PE or MAPP+PP/TIE/MAPE+PE. The thickness of the top layer is 0.05-1 mm.
[0071] The middle layers ( 4 ) are formed of 3-layer film which is MAPE+PE/PE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/HMWPE/PE, MAPE+PE/HDPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MAPE+PE/MAPE+PE, MAPP+PP/PP/MAPP+PP, MAPE+PE/HDPE+MAPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MDPE+MAPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/UHMWPE+MAPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MDPE+MAPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MDPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/HMWPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/UHMWPE/MAPE+PE, MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP, PP/TIE/MAPE+PE or MAPP+PP/TIE/MAPE+PE. The thickness of the top layer is 0.05-1 mm.
[0072] The reinforcement layers ( 2 ) are formed of flax, hemp, viscose-cellulose, cotton, polyvinyl-alcohol, nylon 66, aramid or glass-fiber. Further the reinforcement layers can include PE, PP, MAPE, MAPP and/or TIE. The reinforcement layers are attached to the outer surfaces of the middle layer. The reinforcement fiber material has melting point over melting points of the polyolefins of the middle layer. The thickness of the reinforcement layer is at least 0.05-1 mm but it can be more. The reinforcement material can consist of PE/PE+Fibres+MAPE/MAPE+PE, PP/PP+Fibres+MAPP/MAPP+PP, PP/TIE+Fibres/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/PE+Fibres+MAPE/MAPE+PE, MAPP+PP/PP+Fibres+MAPP/MAPP+PP.
[0073] The combination of the middle layer ( 4 ) and the reinforcement layer ( 2 ) can consist of reinforcement layer/middle layer up to 9 layers.
[0074] A bottom layer ( 3 ) is formed of 3-layer film which is MAPE+PE/PE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MAPE+PE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/HDPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/MDPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/HMWPE/MAPE+PE, MAPE+PE/UHMWPE/MAPE+PE, MAPP+PP/PP/MAPP+PP, MAPP+PP/TIE/MAPE+PE or MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP/MAPP+PP. The thickness of the bottom layer is 0.1-1 mm.
[0075] The middle layers are sandwiched between the top layer and the bottom layer. All the layers are self adhesive films and include maleic anhydride polyolefins like MAPE and/or MAPP. The reinforcement layers ( 2 ) are sandwiched between the top ( 1 ) and middle ( 4 ) layers or alternating middle ( 4 ) layers.
[0076] The final reinforcement layer ( 2 ) is sandwiched between the middle ( 4 ) and the bottom ( 3 ) layer. The combination of the middle layer ( 4 ) and the reinforcement layer ( 2 ) can consist of 3-9 alternating layers of layers ( 2 ) and ( 4 ).
[0077] At least one film layer or one layer can include additives and/or fillers. At least one film layer or one layer can be pigmented, painted or printed.
[0078] FIG. 2 discloses the second glue line material structure of the invention. The glue line material is formed by co-extruding so that the polymer film layers and reinforcement layer with reinforcement fibers and polymers are co-extruded to form the reinforced glue line film material.
[0079] The glue line material can consist of a) MAPE+PE(1)/PE+fibres+MAPE(2)/MAPE+PE(3); b) MAPE+PE(1)/PE+fibres+MAPE(2)/MAPE+PE(3); or c) MAPP+PP(1)/Tie+fibres(2)/MAPE+PE(3). In these preferred compositions maleated polyolefins are used in all three layers. The outer layers provide adhesion to the wood and the middle layer encapsulates the fibres in the polymer. The thickness of all layers is between 0.05-1 mm.
[0080] Further, wood boards used in the tests were prepared according to FIG. 3 . As the wood board can be used plywood, particle board, high or middle density fiberboard, or some other pressed and glued board containing wood or other plant fibers.
[0081] The maleated polyolefin contains normally 2-15% maleic acid of the amount of polyolefin. At extrusion the maleic acid is converted to maleic anhydride, partially or totally. The polymer film can also be cross-linkable if it in any way improves the use of the products. The maleated films are pressed at temperature 120-170° C. to the wood surface and to the other films and layers. It is important in order to include plastic melt flow that the hot-pressing temperature is set to a temperature 20-50° C. above the melting temperature of the polymer. The top layer can be cross-linked by vinyl-silane hydrolysis method or electron beam (EB) radiation. Each polymer film can contain also fillers like PCC (Precipitated Calcium Carbonate) or aluminium oxide etc. up to 30% of the polymer volume.
[0082] The fiber content, when mixed in the extruder, can be from 1 to 40% by volume. Greater than 40% may result in a brittle material. Fibers arranged separately between polymer film layers can be 20-120 g/m 2 .
[0083] The glue line material can be arranged by hot-pressing onto the veneer of the wood board in a manner known per se.
[0084] From the test it was discovered that the material of the invention is a suitable glue line material to be used as a glue line or as a coating in wood boards.
EXAMPLE 1
[0085] In this example, the reinforcement glue line materials of the invention and the reinforcement materials were tested.
[0086] Table 1 shows the tensile strength (EN789) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the modified thermoplastic films. The MOE was calculated from 10-40% of the maximum force. The cross-head distance was mm and sample size 50×250 mm. The radiation sensitive film had much better tensile strength properties after radiation. Cross-linking of polyethylene by radiation treatment appeared to damage slightly the mechanical properties of the films. The polymer density, which was to be expected, had a significant effect on the stiffness of the polymer.
[0000]
TABLE 1
Cross-
Mechanical properties
linking
Tensile
Middle reinforcement
dosage
MOE
strength
material
(kGy)
(N/mm 2 )
(N/mm 2 )
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
150 (100)
437.1 (416.8)
13.6 (13.0)
MI-0.5HDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
(radiation sensitive
HDPE)
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
200
374.9
13.0
MI-0.2HDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
200
285.9
10.3
MI-0.4MDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
150
191.6
8.6
MI-0.3PE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
—
291.4
10.5
MI-0.4MDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
—
357.2
11.3
MI-0.2HDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
—
191.9
8.4
MI-0.3PE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
3% MAPE + MI-0.2HDPE/
—
926.6
21.4
MI-0.2HDPE/
3% MAPE + MI-0.2HDPE
MI is the melt index of a polymer. It is a measure of the melt viscosity, but it is the inverse of real viscosity.
[0087] Table 2 shows the tensile strength (EN789) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of different fiber materials. The MOE was calculated from 10-40% of the maximum force. The cross-head distance was 10 mm and sample size 50×250 mm. The radiation sensitive film had much better tensile strength properties after radiation. The materials had varying mechanical properties. The material with the best tensile properties was not necessary the one with the highest MOE. The flax materials (woven) had the highest tensile strength properties but the glass fiber non-woven material as the best MOE.
[0000]
TABLE 2
Fibre
TS
MOE
Thickness
Width
material
(N/mm 2 )
(N/mm 2 )
(mm)
(±1 mm)
Glass fibre (30 g/m 2 )
8.32
620.12
0.22
50
non woven
Glass fibre (80 g/m 2 )
10.6
730.55
0.51
50
non woven
Train paper
8.47
181.29
0.17
50
Textile (Viscose +
10.09
317.45
0.12
50
cellulose)
Textile
14.96
88.55
0.56
50
Colback S90, Non woven
10.98
91.26
0.44
50
polyester
Colback SNS 75, Non
9.49
216.33
0.38
50
woven polyester
Polyester fleece
14.63
152.81
0.4
50
Linen sheet, white, (nro
35.48
179.265
0.6
50
3118) Flax mat
Linen sheet, natural, (nro
28.73
525.84
0.51
50
3322) Flax mat
Profillin NV, Flax mat
29.295
479.5
0.49
50
Textile (50% cotton +
20.10
233.88
0.40
50
50% polyester)
[0088] Table 3 shows the tensile strength (EN789) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of different Colback S90 (non-woven synthetic polymer) laminates. The laminate consisted of a bottom and top film (specified in Table 5) and a middle layer of Colback S90, Flax material. The MOE was calculated from 10-40% of the maximum force. The cross-head distance was 10 mm and sample size 50×250 mm. The radiation sensitive film had much better tensile strength properties after radiation. The materials had varying mechanical properties. Laminates of the Profillin flax and HDPE in all of the film layers provided a laminate with MOE values similar to that of a birch veneer.
[0000]
TABLE 3
Bottom and top
layer of the
MOE
TS
laminate
Middle Layer
(N/mm 2 )
(N/mm 2 )
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
Colback S90
366.2
18.9
MI-0.3PE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
Colback S90
481.5
21.4
MI-0.2HDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
Colback S90
467.1
21.3
MI-0.4MDPE/
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
3% MAPE + MI-0.2HDPE/
Profillin NV,
1021
41.4
MI-0.2HDPE/
Flax material
3% MAPE + MI-0.2HDPE
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
Linen sheet,
442.6
45.3
MI-0.3PE/
white, Flax
3% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
material
2% MAPE + MI-0.3PE/
Linen sheet,
720.9
43.5
MI-0.2HDPE/
natural, Flax
3% MAPE + MI-0.3PE
material
[0089] Table 4 shows the results for overlapping single flax fibers. The aim was to find the critical overlapping length (10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm, 25 mm). It is clear from Table 4 that the minimum overlapping length is 20 mm since the strength and stiffness increases linearly from 10 mm -20 mm and then levels out after 20 mm.
[0000]
TABLE 4
Fibre overlapping distance
MOE
TS
(mm)
(N/mm 2 )
(N/mm 2 )
10
8122
67.7
15
10158
76.1
20
11813
108.3
25
12643
111.9
[0090] Table 5 shows the tensile strength (EN789) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of different single flax and jute fiber laminates. The laminate consisted of a bottom and top film (2% MAPE+MI-0.3PE/MI-0.3PE/3% MAPE+MI-0.3PE) and a middle layer of jute or flax fibers. The MOE was calculated from 10-40% of the maximum force. The cross-head distance was 10 mm and sample size 50×250 mm. The radiation sensitive film had much better tensile strength properties after radiation. It was clear that 50% fiber content was the limit before the mechanical properties start to decrease for both fiber types. In addition to this jute had better overall mechanical properties, this was owing to its better continuous length compare to flax.
[0000]
TABLE 5
Fibre
TS
MOE
proportion (%)
(N/mm 2 )
(N/mm 2 )
Jute
35.77
68.36
9260.72
40.54
81.15
12467.64
42.11
73.17
13729.93
46.99
73.84
17047.23
51.11
100.60
18874.44
54.40
107.14
14252.19
56.44
116.07
16204.44
Flax
30.52
100.32
9277.89
31.50
105.65
9042.32
35.46
120.15
9811.15
35.16
111.09
9772.33
43.29
128.90
10337.79
57.33
164.52
14157.57
72.88
139.75
10765.32
[0091] Table 6 shows the taber (EN14354) and impact resistance (SS 839123) results of various fiber reinforced laminate coatings. The laminate consisted of a bottom and top film (2% MAPE+MI-0.3PE/MI-0.3PE/3% MAPE+MI-0.3PE) and a middle layer (specified in Table 6). It was clear that the wear resistance (Taber results) and impact was improved by the coatings.
[0000]
TABLE 6
Impact resistance
Thickness
Taber (r),
(small diameter
Middle layer
(mm)
mm/1000 r
ball test)
Linas linen,
0.46
0.085/5000
r
200
mm
100% linen
Linen sheet,
0.60
0.15/5000
r
200
mm
white color,
width 165 cm
(nro 3118)
Linen sheet,
0.51
0.15/5000
r
100
mm
natural color,
width 100 cm
(nro 3322)
Lato linen,
0.64
0.125/5000
r
100
mm
100% linen
Single flax
0.46
0.19/5000
r
200
mm
fibre laminate
WISA-form MDO
0.4
0.3 mm/1000
r
10
mm
WISA-form
0.1
0.2 mm/1000
r
0
mm
Spruce
WISA-form Beto
0.1
0.2 mm/1000
r
10
mm
WISA-form 220
0.15
0.2 mm/1000
r
10
mm
WISA-form
0.2
0.2 mm/1000
r
25
mm
Super
WISA-form
1.6
0.1 mm/1000
r
400
mm
Elephant
WISA-form
1.6
0.1 mm/1000
r
400
mm
Elephant U2
WISA-form
0.6
0.2 mm/1000
r
—
Epoxy
[0092] Table 7 shows bending strength and stiffness of panels containing reinforced jute and flax glue-line. Phenol foil was used as a reference value. 5 mm birch plywood was used with reinforced jute and flax laminates between each veneer. The laminate consisted of a bottom and top film (3% MAPE+MI-0.2HDPE/3% MAPE+MI-0.2HDPE/3% MAPE+MI-0.2HDPE) and a middle layer specified in Table 7. Hot-pressing was performed in conditions: 150° C. temperature, 0.5 N/mm 2 and 90 sec. It was clear that there was very little difference in bending strength and stiffness between jute and flax fibers. According to analysis, strength and stiffness (3-point bending strength and bending modulus) of 50% single fibre reinforced foil laminate was about same with a single birch veneer in longitudinal direction. The phenol bonded plywood was better when no fibers were used. This indicates the importance of wetting of the fibers by the matrix.
[0000]
TABLE 7
Panel
Bending
Bending
information
strength (N/mm 2 )
stiffness (N/mm 2 )
All veneers
Flax fibre
19
881
are in same
reinforced
direction
(Foil)
Jute fibre
18.5
742
reinforced
(Foil)
Flax fibre
20.9
830
reinforced
(Phenol foil)
Jute fibre
21.4
903
reinforced
(Phenol foil)
without fibre
10.4
296
(Foil)
without fibre
28.8
1006.33
(Phenol foil)
All veneers
without fibre
25
909.33
are in cross
(Foil)
direction
without fibre
38.9
1425.33
(Phenol foil)
[0093] Table 8 shows bending strength and stiffness of panels containing reinforced flax glue-line. Phenol foil was used as a reference value. 7 ply birch plywood was used with reinforced flax laminates used between the two outer veneers either side of the plywood. The laminate consisted of a bottom and top film (3% MAPE+MI-0.2HDPE/3% MAPE+MI-0.2HDPE/3% MAPE+MI-0.2HDPE) and a middle layer specified in Table 8. Hot-pressing was performed in conditions: 140° C. temperature, 1.7 N/mm 2 and 580 sec.
[0000]
TABLE 8
Bending strength
Bending modulus
Panel type
(N/mm 2 )
(N/mm 2 )
1. Flax fibre reinforced
31.5
2747
2. control panel 1
8.2
269
3. control panel 2
8.5
320
[0094] From the tests it was discovered that the material of the invention is a suitable reinforcement glue line material to be used as a glue line or as a coating in wood boards.
EXAMPLE 2
[0095] In this example, stability of the glue-line material of the invention was tested.
[0096] Tables 9 to 11 and FIG. 4 show and the conversion of maleic acid to maleic anhydride and its affect on the glue-line strength and the stability of the films after maleic anhydride is converted to the active state and contact angles of the polar groups face inwards.
[0097] Table 9 shows the conversion to maleic anhydride during film manufacturing of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (Fusabond MB-226DE) film 2% MAPE+PE/PE/2% MAPE+PE at different extrusion temperatures.
[0000]
TABLE 9
Treatment
Treatment
Maleic
Maleic
Coating glue-line
temperature
time
acid
anhy-
strength N/mm 2 (wood
(° C.)
(minutes)
(%)
dride (%)
failure %) After boiling
No
3
55
45
—
treatment
170
3
36
64
0.17 (0%)
180
3
20
80
0.31 (70%)
185
3
14
86
0.34 (80-90%)
190
3
10
90
0.36 (90-100%)
195
3
8
92
0.36 (90-100%)
[0098] It is clear from the results of Table 9 that the maleic acid is converted mostly to maleic anhydride at temperatures of 185° C. for 3 minutes and therefore it can be considered that during extrusion where the polymer is in the melt for about 2-3 minutes that an extrusion temperature of >185° C. is sufficient but preferably >190° C. The coating glue-line strength and percentage wood failure is on a similar level after boiling as for Wisa Multi-wall (0.4 N/mm 2 , 80-90% wood failure) which also supports that conversion of maleic acid to maleic anhydride is sufficient at temperatures of >185° C.
[0099] Once the maleic acid is converted to maleic anhydride it is important to know how long the films will remain in the active state before enough moisture is absorbed and the maleic anhydride is converted back to maleic acid. Films containing the activated material were conditioned (humidity 65% and temperature 23° C.) for 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and month. The films were analysed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.
[0100] FIG. 4 and Table 10 show the ATR spectroscopy results comparing the maleic anhydride in the films (Table 9) extruded for 2-3 minutes at 200° C. it is clear that sufficient maleic acid is converted to maleic anhydride and therefore the extrusion temperature and processing time is sufficient. FIG. 4 shows ATR-FTIR spectra of 3 different films identified in Table 10 (45 degree Germanium ATR unit).
[0000]
TABLE 10
Coupling
Film
agent
Film age
Film type
2
Fusabond
1 year
2% MAPE + PE/PE/2% MAPE + PE
3
MB226DE
6 month
2% MAPE + PE/PE/2% MAPE + PE
4
3 month
2% MAPE + PE/PE/2% MAPE + PE
[0101] The results revealed no change in the amount of maleic anhydride and spectra similar to film- 4 in FIG. 4 resulted after each month for a total of 12 months. This shows the maleic anhydride is stable long-term when surrounded by polyethylene. This is owing to the low water absorption of polyethylene and also to the fact in the solid state the maleic acid groups will not be at the polymer surface but facing inwards and therefore shielded. The maleic groups are only facing outwards when the polymer is in the melt. This theory of the hydrophilic groups facing inwards is supported by the contact angle results in Table 11. Table 11 shows contact angles (receded and advanced) and surface free energy measured for different activated 3-layer co-extruded films by the pendent drop method. Two test liquids were used diiodomethane (DIM) and water. The maleated polymer films were compared with other polar group (EVA) containing films.
[0000]
TABLE 11
2% MAPE +
4% EVA +
8% EVA +
PE/PE/2%
PE/PE/2%
PE/PE/8%
Film type
MAPE + PE
EVA + PE
EVA + PE
Film thickness (mm)
0.27
0.27
0.27
Average water
Advanced
108.5 ± 0.6
98.8 ± 0.6
98.7 ± 1.6
contact angle (°)
Receded
89.6 ± 0.6
85..8 ± 0.6
83.0 ± 2.9
Average DIM
Advanced
57.1 ± 1.2
53.8 ± 0.6
49.0 ± 1.4
contact angle (°)
Receded
46.7 ± 0.8
43.4 ± 1.1
43.8 ± 1.3
Surface free energy (mJm −2 )
38
40
41
[0102] A glue line material and a wood board according to the invention are suitable in their different embodiments for different types of applications.
[0103] The embodiments of the invention are not limited to the examples presented rather many variations are possible within the scope of the accompanying claims.
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The invention relates to a glue line material for a wood board. In accordance with the invention,the glue line material is formed of at least first film layer ( 3 ), and the film comprises at least three film layers and at least outer film layers contain polyolefin and a coupling agent which is reactive with —OH groups of the wood for forming self-adhesive properties to make the glue line material self adhesive to —OH groups of the wood.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/847,756 filed on Jul. 18, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth herein.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This invention generally relates to caskets, and more particularly, to casket panel assemblies for casket caps or lids.
BACKGROUND
[0003] It is a common wish among family members and friends to display personal items and memorabilia of a deceased loved one during a funeral viewing. These items help family members and friends to remember the deceased and provide special memories. A typical option for displaying personal items includes using a poster board and easel to display pictures of the deceased. However, this option fails to allow a family member or friend to display items that are too big or that cannot be attached to the poster board. Items such as a favorite hat or book could not be properly mounted on the poster board, leaving the family members with no place to display these items of the deceased.
[0004] Caskets traditionally comprise a shell to which a cap or lid is pivotally attached thereto. During a viewing of the deceased individual in the casket, the cap is left open to allow relatives, loved ones, and acquaintances to view the deceased and pay their respects. As such, the under surface of the casket cap and any cap panel assembly arranged therein is visible.
[0005] Traditional cap panel assemblies include a rectangular cap panel, with a puffing member being attached to each side of the cap panel. The cap panel is positioned in the casket cap atop a ridge or groove on a bottom peripheral edge of the casket cap. The puffing members are positioned in peripheral edges along the casket cap. A rectangular cap panel insert, which may include decorative embroidery, pictures, or the like, is installed in between the puffing members and on an outside surface of the cap panel. Traditionally, the cap panel insert has been press fit into this position, establishing a friction between the puffing members, to allow the cap panel insert to remain in place. However, this technique has not always been the most reliable, because the cap panel is not able to support much weight. As a result, the cap panel insert often falls out of the cap panel assembly after the casket has been shaken or moved.
[0006] An additional method of installing the cap panel insert into the cap panel assembly includes the use of straps attached to a back surface of the cap panel insert. The straps are positioned along the length of the cap panel insert and are fastened to the cap panel insert near the lower ends of the strap. The straps are longer than the height of the cap panel insert, thereby extending over the top and bottom edges of the cap panel insert. During installation of the cap panel insert, an installer inserts the bottom strap portions between the cap panel and the puffing member by angling the cap panel insert outwards towards the installer. The cap panel insert is flexible enough to allow the installer to bow the cap panel insert, thereby inserting the top edge of the cap panel insert into the top edge of the cap panel and puffing member. Because the cap panel insert needs flexibility in order to be inserted, both the top and bottom straps cannot be fastened to the cap panel insert at the same time.
[0007] Accordingly, there is a need for a cap panel assembly that allows families to decorate with memorabilia that reflects the deceased and that can also be easily removed and installed and more securely mounted in a cap panel assembly.
SUMMARY
[0008] This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, devices and methods described, as these may vary. The terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.
[0009] As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Nothing in this disclosure is to be construed as an admission that the embodiments described in this disclosure are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention. As used in this document, the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.”
[0010] In an embodiment, a cap panel assembly for a casket may include a cap panel insert configured to be coupled to at least a portion of the casket and a plurality of resilient members arranged on an exposed surface of the cap panel insert, the plurality of resilient members being tensioned to support at least one display element on the cap panel insert.
[0011] In an embodiment, a casket configured to provide for the presentation of display elements may include a cap panel insert coupled to the casket and a plurality of resilient members arranged on an exposed surface of the cap panel insert, the plurality of resilient members being tensioned to support at least one display element on the cap panel insert.
[0012] In an embodiment, a method of manufacturing a cap panel assembly for a casket may include providing a cap panel insert configured to be removably arranged within the casket and arranging a plurality of resilient members on an exposed surface of the cap panel insert, the plurality of resilient members being tensioned to support at least one display element on the cap panel insert.
[0013] In an embodiment, a cap panel assembly for a casket cap may include a cap panel, a puffing member attached to each edge of the cap panel, a cap panel insert positioned in-line with the cap panel, and a plurality of resilient members positioned on a front face of the cap panel insert. In general, the front face of the cap panel insert may include the exposed surface of the cap panel when installed in the cap pane. The plurality of resilient members may be tensioned, for example, to hold keepsakes, memorabilia, or other types of objects on or in the cap panel insert. The cap panel may include a frame, fabric, filler, and a backing board. The plurality of resilient members may be formed as elastic or (elastic or non-elastic) ribbon-shaped straps. The elastic or ribbon-shaped straps may be positioned in a lattice-type or grid-like arrangement. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert may be removably fastened to the cap panel using various fasteners. A non-limiting example of a fastener is a pin, such as a hat pin, a push pin, or flat-headed pins. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert may be permanently or semi-permanently installed within the cap panel assembly using methods known to those having ordinary skill in the art, such as adhesives, staples, sewing methods, or the like. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert may be removably installed in the cap panel assembly via a press-fit or friction-fit. The cap panel insert may include various mounting elements, such as a mounting bracket, frame, and/or a screw and wire assembly for mounting the cap panel insert on a wall.
[0014] In an embodiment, a casket may include a casket shell, at least one casket cap pivotally mounted on the casket shell, and a cap panel assembly mounted in the casket cap. The cap panel assembly may include a cap panel, a puffing member attached to each edge of the cap panel, a cap panel insert positioned in-line (e.g., parallel or substantially parallel) with the cap panel, and a plurality of resilient members positioned on a front face of the cap panel insert. The plurality of resilient members may be tensioned, for example, to hold keepsakes, memorabilia, or other types of objects on or in the cap panel insert. The cap panel may include a frame, fabric, filler, and a backing board. The plurality of resilient members may be formed as elastic or (elastic or non-elastic) ribbon-shaped straps. The elastic or ribbon-shaped straps may be positioned in a lattice-type or grid-like arrangement. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert may be removably fastened to the cap panel using various fasteners. A non-limiting example of a fastener is a pin, such as a hat pin, a push pin, or flat-headed pins. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert may be permanently or semi-permanently installed within the cap panel assembly using methods known to those having ordinary skill in the art, such as adhesives, staples, sewing methods, or the like. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert may be removably installed in the cap panel assembly via a press-fit or friction-fit. The cap panel assembly may be bubble-wrapped and stored in the casket shell while being transported from a distribution center to a destination location.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 depicts is a perspective view of an illustrative casket and a cap panel assembly according to some embodiments.
[0016] FIG. 2 depicts an isolated view of an illustrative cap panel according to some embodiments.
[0017] FIG. 3A depicts an illustrative cap panel insert according to some embodiments.
[0018] FIG. 3B depicts an illustrative cap panel insert according to some embodiments.
[0019] FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative cap panel insert according to some embodiments.
[0020] FIG. 5 depicts a back view of an illustrative cap panel insert according to some embodiments.
[0021] FIG. 6 depicts a perspective view of an illustrative cap panel insert according to some embodiments.
[0022] FIGS. 7 and 8 depict a back side and a front side of a cap panel insert, respectively, according to some embodiments.
[0023] FIG. 9 depicts an isolated view of casket having an illustrative cap panel assembly configured to transport according to some embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] For purposes of the description hereinafter, spatial orientation terms, as used, shall relate to the referenced embodiment as it is oriented in the accompanying drawings, figures, or otherwise described in the following detailed description. However, it is to be understood that the embodiments described hereinafter may assume many alternative variations and configurations. It is also to be understood that the specific components, devices, features, and operational sequences illustrated in the accompanying drawings, figures, or otherwise described herein are simply exemplary and should not be considered as limiting.
[0025] FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative casket with a cap panel assembly configured according to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1 , a casket 10 with a cap panel assembly 18 is described herein. The casket 10 may include a shell 12 with a rectangular or substantially rectangular shape. One or more caps or lids 14 , 16 may be pivotally attached to the shell 12 . The caps 14 , 16 may be pivotally attached to the shell 12 by hinges and/or structures configured to provide a pivotable and/or rotatable attachment to a surface as known by those having ordinary skill in the art. The casket 10 may include two caps, for example, a head end cap 14 and a foot end cap 16 . In some embodiments, the casket 10 may include one continuous cap that extends the full longitudinal length of the shell. Each cap 14 , 16 may include a cap panel assembly 18 mounted on an interior surface of each cap.
[0026] FIG. 2 depicts an isolated view of an illustrative cap panel according to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 2 , the cap panel assembly 18 may include a cap panel 20 . The cap panel 20 may be designed to correspond to the shape of the cap 14 . As shown in at least FIGS. 1 and 2 , the cap panel 20 may have a rectangular or substantially rectangular shape. However, the cap panel 20 may have any geometric shape or size capable of operating according to some embodiments. A puffing member 22 may be attached to each edge of the cap panel 20 , for example, by stapling, nailing, or otherwise affixing the puffing member to the edges of the cap panel.
[0027] The cap panel assembly 18 may also include a removable cap panel insert 24 . The cap panel insert 24 may be configured to correspond or substantially correspond to the shape of the cap 14 . As shown in FIG. 3A - FIG. 6 , the cap panel insert 24 may have a rectangular or substantially rectangular shape. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert 24 may be the same or substantially the same size as the cap panel 20 . However, the cap panel insert 24 may have any geometric shape or size capable of operating according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert 24 may have two opposing long sides 24 a , 24 b and two opposing short sides 24 c , 24 d . The cap panel insert 24 may include several components including, without limitation, a frame 30 , fabric material 40 , filler material 42 , and a backing board 44 . The fabric material 40 may include any material capable of being fastened to the backing board 44 , including, but not limited to cloth, linen, paper, and any combination thereof. The filler material 42 may include any material capable of adding body and/or depth to the cap panel insert 24 , including, without limitation, fiber, cotton, or a combination thereof. The backing board 44 may be formed of various materials, including rigid materials such as wood, plastic, metal, any combination thereof, or the like.
[0028] The cap panel insert 24 may also include a plurality of elastic straps 26 that may be positioned in various arrangements on an exterior side of the cap panel insert, including, without limitation, a lattice-type arrangement, a grid-like pattern, or any other arrangement or combination of arrangements that permit an individual to secure items to the cap panel insert. The elastic straps 26 allow a user to place cards, photographs, memorabilia, or any other personal or commemorative items (“display elements”) on the cap panel insert 24 . The elastic straps 26 may be pulled tight, stretched, strained, or otherwise made taut or semi-taut across the cap panel insert 24 , thereby creating tension, at least along one axis of the elastic straps (for example, the longitudinal axis).
[0029] By pulling the elastic straps 26 away from the cap panel insert 24 , an individual may place the item against the cap panel insert. After the item has been positioned, the elastic straps 26 may be released, forcing the elastic straps back into their original position. In some embodiments, the straps 26 may be shaped to provide aesthetic appeal to the cap panel insert 24 , such as ribbon-shaped or substantially ribbon shaped straps or other aesthetic designs capable of operating according to some embodiments.
[0030] As shown in FIG. 2 , the cap panel insert 24 may be mounted in or coupled to the cap 14 using fasteners 32 . The fasteners 32 may extend an appropriate length to ensure that all the components of the cap panel insert 24 may be attached to the cap 14 . The fasteners 32 may be screws, hat pins, push pins, flat-headed pins, or any fastener capable of temporarily or semi-permanently retaining the cap panel insert 24 within the cap 14 . In some embodiments, the cap panel insert 24 may be mounted in or coupled to the cap 14 via a friction-fit or press-fit configuration. In this manner, the cap panel insert 14 may be removed from the casket without having to damage the cap panel insert 24 or any portion of the casket 10 or requiring the removal of any portion of the casket. In some embodiments, the cap panel insert 24 may be permanently or semi-permanently positioned in the cap panel assembly 18 such that, for example, the cap panel insert 24 may not be removed without damaging, tarnishing, or otherwise negatively affecting at least a portion of the cap panel insert 24 or portion of the casket 10 .
[0031] In some embodiments, the cap panel insert 24 may be permanently attached to the casket 10 , for instance, within the cap 14 . In such embodiments, the cap panel insert 24 may not be removed from the casket without damage to the cap panel insert and/or portions of the casket.
[0032] Although the cap panel insert 24 may be coupled to the cap 14 using fasteners, embodiments are not so limited, as the cap panel insert may be coupled to or hung from any portion of the casket 10 using any method or element capable of operating according to some embodiments. For instance, the cap panel insert 24 may be temporarily or semi-permanently coupled to a portion of the casket by arranging at least a portion of the cap panel insert against a portion of the casket 10 configured to hold the cap panel insert in place within the casket. For example, a portion of the casket 10 , for example, within the cap 14 , may include at least one pocket-type ridge capable of receiving at least a portion of the cap panel insert 24 , for example, at least a portion of the outer edge of the cap panel insert and supporting the cap panel insert within the casket.
[0033] The cap panel insert 24 may be bubble-wrapped using pins, staples, or tape, and placed in the shell 12 along with detailed marketing and installation instructions (see FIG. 9 ). The casket 10 may be transported from the distribution center to the individual, organization, or company that has purchased the casket. This assembly may be provided to allow a grieving family or friend to take home the cap panel insert 24 from the funeral home and display it at their home in remembrance of the deceased. As shown in FIGS. 4-5 , the cap panel insert 24 may be removed from the casket 10 and, for example, inserted into a frame 30 , which may be placed on an easel 28 or mounted on a wall. The cap panel insert 24 may include mounting elements configured to allow the cap panel insert to be mounted to a surface. As shown in FIG. 5 , the cap panel insert 24 may include a mounting bracket 34 on the back surface of the cap panel insert. The cap panel insert 24 may also include “eye-screws” 36 and a wire 38 connected to the “eye-screws” to mount the cap panel insert on the wall.
[0034] FIGS. 7 and 8 depict a back side and a front side of a cap panel insert, respectively, according to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 7 , the ends of the elastic straps 26 may be affixed to a back side of the cap panel insert 24 using a fastening element 27 . As depicted in FIG. 8 , the ends of the elastic straps 26 may be affixed to a front side of the cap panel insert 24 using a fastening element 29 . Non-limiting examples of fastening elements 27 , 29 may include staples, tape, adhesives, glue, nails, tacks, pins, or the like. In some embodiments, only one fastening element 27 , 29 may be used to affix the straps 26 to the cap panel insert 24 . For instance, the straps 26 may be affixed to the cap panel insert 24 by affixing the straps to the back side of the cap panel insert or vice versa.
[0035] A user may make space for placing an object between the straps 26 and the front surface of the cap panel insert 24 by pulling the elastic straps away from the front surface of the cap panel insert. After the item is correctly positioned, the straps 26 may be placed (or “snapped”) back into position, holding the object against the front surface of the cap panel insert 24 .
[0036] FIG. 9 depicts an isolated view of casket having an illustrative cap panel assembly configured to transport according to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 9 , the cap panel assembly 18 may be encased in a packaging material, such as bubble wrap, using adhesives or fasteners according to some embodiments, such as pins, staples, or tape. The packaged cap panel assembly 18 may be placed in the shell 12 along with, for example, detailed marketing and installation instructions. This assembly may be provided to allow a grieving family or friend to take home the cap panel insert 24 from the funeral home and display it at their home in remembrance of the deceased.
[0037] In the above detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be used, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein.
[0038] The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods, reagents, compounds, compositions or biological systems, which can, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting.
[0039] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.
[0040] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (for example, bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (for example, the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to”). While various compositions, methods, and devices are described in terms of “comprising” various components or steps (interpreted as meaning “including, but not limited to”), the compositions, methods, and devices can also “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the various components and steps, and such terminology should be interpreted as defining essentially closed-member groups. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (for example, “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (for example), the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (for example, “ a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, et cetera” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (for example, “ a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, et cetera). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
[0041] In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.
[0042] As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, or the like. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third, a middle third, and an upper third. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as “up to,” “at least,” and the like include the number recited and refer to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.
[0043] Various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is also intended to be encompassed by the disclosed embodiments.
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Caskets, cap panel assemblies for a casket, and methods for manufacturing cap panel assemblies are described. A casket may include a casket shell, at least one casket cap pivotally mounted on the casket shell, and a cap panel assembly mounted in the at least one casket cap. The cap panel assembly may include a cap panel, a puffing member attached to each edge of the cap panel, a cap panel insert positioned in-line with the cap panel, and a plurality of resilient members positioned on a front face of the cap panel insert. The plurality of resilient members may be tensioned, for example, to hold keepsakes, memorabilia, or other types of objects on or in the cap panel insert. The cap panel insert can include a mounting bracket or a screw and wire assembly for mounting the cap panel insert on a wall.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to solenoids and methods of making them.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The state of the art contains a substantial number of patents relating to solenoids for valves, such as solenoids for fuel injectors. Typically, a solenoid valve comprises an armature that reciprocates between a first and second position for causing a valve member such as a needle to seat on and unseat from a valve seat thereby closing and opening the valve. The basic solenoid design comprises an electromagnetic coil and a ferromagnetic pole forming a stator, and a ferromagnetic armature that is connected to the valve member. The armature is kept separated from the stator by a force such as gravity, spring, or pressure.
One of the factors slowing the response time of the solenoid is eddy current generation in the ferromagnetic materials. When the solenoid is energized, eddy currents tend to inhibit the rate at which the magnetic force builds. Likewise, eddy currents tend to inhibit the rate at which the magnetic force decays upon solenoid de-energization.
Previous methods of reducing eddy currents have involved laminating the ferromagnetic material. The lamination approach, however, tends to be limited to a rectangular package. Unfortunately, fitting the lamination design into a cylindrical package like a typical fuel injector results in either a larger cylindrical package or a smaller flux path with reduced force output.
It is seen then that there still exists a need for further reducing eddy currents in a the solenoid of a cylindrically shaped valve, like a typical fuel injector.
This need is met by a low eddy current magnetic flux circuit according to the present invention, wherein a magnetically permeable wire, or filament, is toroidally wound on a tubular electromagnetic coil, and then encapsulated. The assembly is then severed into two parts, namely a stator assembly and an armature assembly.
For a fuller understanding of the present invention and its attendant features and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a fuel injector including a filament magnetic flux circuit of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of an alternative embodiment;
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate cutting planes to achieve particular configurations for toroidal filament magnetic flux circuits; and
FIG. 5 is a top view representative of FIGS. 1 and 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Although, the present invention is particularly suitable for use with a high-speed solenoid valve for automotive fuel injection, it may be extended to any solenoid application where fast speed of response is of primary importance.
Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates application of the invention to a spherical needle and cone seat fuel injector 10 including a tubular housing 12 made from non-magnetic stainless steel. The inside of housing 12 contains a plurality of different diameters to form various shoulders for a variety of different functions. Seated in grooves around the outside of housing 12 to either side of an inlet 14 are O-ring seals 16 and 18 for sealing fuel injector 10 in a bore of an engine or manifold when in use. Housing 12 has an upper end 20 containing an adjusting mechanism 21 and two electrical terminals 19 for connecting the fuel injector to an electric control circuit (not shown). It also has a lower outlet, or nozzle, end 22 that injects fuel from the injector. Outlet end 22 has a shoulder 24 for locating a seat member 30 and a swirl member 28 that are assembled into the outlet end. Member 28 has an axially aligned through-hole 34 for guiding the reciprocation of a needle 36.
Needle 36 has a rounded tip at one end for coaction with a conical valve seat in the interior face of seat member 30. At the opposite end, needle 36 is attached to an armature assembly 40. Mechanism 21 comprises a spring 44 which is disposed inside a tube 46 to bias needle 36 to seat on the valve seat thus biasing the fuel injector closed.
The injector has a solenoid 38 that is constituted by armature assembly 40 and a stator assembly 48. The stator assembly comprises a tubular electromagnetic coil 50 in the form of multiple convolutions of electrical conductor wire wound on a bobbin 51. The stator and armature assemblies are separated by a working gap 53 which has a radially outer annular portion 53o and a radially inner annular portion 53i. In cooperation with said working gap, the stator and armature assemblies form a closed path for magnetic flux issued by coil 50 when electric current flows through its conductor wire.
In accordance with the invention, at least one of said armature and said stator assemblies comprises a truncated toroidal winding composed of a multitude of individual magnetically permeable wires which are distributed collectively around said one of said armature and said stator assemblies and each of which individually has one end terminus disposed at said radially inner annular zone 53i of said working gap and an opposite end terminus disposed at said radially outer annular zone 53o of said working gap. In FIG. 1, both stator and armature assemblies are so constructed. In each a respective binding structure 57a, 57s, respectively, immovably binds said multitude of individual magnetically permeable wires 54, 52, respectively, together. In the stator assembly, the multitude of individual magnetically permeable wires are distributed collectively around coil 50. In both the stator and armature, said binding structure comprises encapsulating material encapsulating the entirety of the multitude of magnetically permeable wires except at said end termini thereof and said end termini of each are disposed in a common plane in each assembly. In the described application of the solenoid to a fuel injector, a circular groove is provided in binding structure 57a for receiving a metal ring 59 which bears against an annular spacer 59a on an internal shoulder of housing 12.
The invention also comprises a method of making one or both of a stator assembly and an armature assembly of a solenoid, said solenoid comprising multiple convolutions of electrical conductor wire forming a tubular electromagnetic coil, a stator and an armature which are separated by a working gap and which, in cooperation with said working gap, form a closed path for magnetic flux issued by said electromagnetic coil when electric current flows through said conductor wire. As shown by FIG. 3, the method comprises creating said armature and stator assemblies by toroidally winding a length of magnetically permeable wire 52, 54 about said electromagnetic coil 50 to create a toroidal winding surrounding said electromagnetic coil, and then encapsulating said toroidal winding in an encapsulating material (not shown in FIG. 3) to immovably bind the individual turns of said toroidal winding. Finally, a portion of the encapsulated toroidal winding is severed in a plane A as shown by FIG. 3 so as to create an armature assembly composed of a multitude of individual magnetically permeable wires which are derived from said toroidal winding to form said armature, each of which individually has one end terminus disposed in the fuel injector at a radially inner annular zone of said working gap and an opposite end terminus disposed in the fuel injector at a radially outer annular zone of said working gap, and which are immovably bound together in said armature assembly by said encapsulating material, and so as to simultaneously create a stator assembly having as said stator another multitude of individual magnetically permeable wires which are derived from said toroidal winding, each of which individually has one end terminus disposed in the fuel injector at said radially inner annular zone of said working gap and extends in partial embracement of said electromagnetic coil to an opposite end terminus disposed in the fuel injector at said radially outer annular zone of said working gap, and which are immovably bound together in said stator assembly by said encapsulating material.
The method is characterized further in that said severing step is conducted in a flat plane that is perpendicular to the axis of said electromagnetic coil.
The method is characterized still further in that bobbin 51 has a flange 62 beyond one axial end of coil 50 and said severing step is conducted through the middle of said bobbin flange. The bobbin flange may be considered to be a spacer.
FIG. 4 shows a method of using the invention to make two stator assemblies by severing the encapsulated toroid in the middle at plane B. Note that the toroidally wound iron wire is wound so as to allow the terminals 19 that are connected to coil 50 to protrude through.
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment where only the stator assembly of the invention is used, the armature being merely a ferromagnetic disk 40b.
The filament 52, 54 is preferably a drawn wire of an optimized ferromagnetic material. It may be coated with an insulation (similar to magnet wire) to maximize the reduction of eddy currents. The particular ferromagnetic material selected may be optimized for desired properties, for example to optimize the hysteresis curve, to maximize resistivity for the purpose of further reducing eddy currents, and to optimize filament processing. The filament's shape may be selected to optimize packing. The fact that the filament is drawn enhances its properties because of grain orientation. For a given package size for a solenoid, minimizing the filament size, for optimizing the speed of the solenoid, must be weighed against the increased cost to manufacture a solenoid having a smaller filament size.
Having described the invention in detail and by reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be apparent that other modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.
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A length of wire is toroidally wound, and then the toroid is encapsulated and cut in two along a plane that is perpendicular to the toroidal axis. The resulting portions are used as stator and/or armature of a solenoid, and in the solenoid the cut face of each forms one side of the solenoid's working gap so that the faces move toward and away from each other as the solenoid operates.
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FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to support mechanisms for crane sub-assemblies.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Presently, crane sub-assemblies such as mobile crane counterweight base plates are placed on supports prepared on an undercarriage of the mobile crane. By means of multiple abutments, it is elaborately tried to align the base plates in a position, which allows simple placement of the counterweight plates on the base plate. The multiple abutments are fixedly connected to the undercarriage and cannot be adjusted, for example upon change of the base plate.
SUMMARY
[0003] An embodiment of an adjustable bearing foot assembly for installation in a base plate includes a threaded nut comprising an inner thread, a bearing foot comprising an outer thread, and a securing element with which the bearing foot can be fixed, rotationally secure, in the threaded nut.
[0004] In another embodiment an adjustable footing support system for crane sub-assemblies includes a base plate with a bore, a threaded nut adapted to be secured in the bore, the threaded nut comprising an inner thread, a bearing foot comprising an outer thread, and a securing element with which the bearing foot can be fixed, rotationally secure, in the threaded nut.
[0005] In another embodiment an adjustable footing support system for crane sub-assemblies includes a base plate having a first bore disposed therein and an nut configured to be secured within the first bore, the nut having a first face, a second face spaced apart from the first face, and a second bore with a first inner thread and a first central axis. The adjustable footing support system further includes a bearing foot having a second central axis aligned coaxial the first central axis, a first end and a second end spaced apart from the first end, and a first outer thread between the first end and the second end, the first outer thread intermeshed with the first inner thread of the nut, and a securing element configured to selectively fix a rotation of the bearing foot with respect to the nut.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] To further clarify the above and other advantages and features of the one or more present inventions, reference to specific embodiments thereof are illustrated in the appended drawings. The drawings depict only typical embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting. One or more embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
[0007] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a section of a base plate with three bearing foot assemblies.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an individual bearing foot assembly with a securing element as depicted by circle A of FIG. 1 .
[0009] FIG. 3 is sectional view of an individual bearing foot assembly as depicted by circle B of FIG. 1 .
[0010] The drawings are not necessarily to scale.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] The present invention will now be further described. In the following passages, different aspects of the invention are defined in more detail. Each aspect so defined may be combined with any other aspect or aspects unless clearly indicated to the contrary. In particular, any feature indicated as being preferred or advantageous may be combined with any other feature or features indicated as being preferred or advantageous.
[0012] Embodiments of the invention are directed to an adjustable footing support for crane sub-assemblies, such as a counterweight base plate. While the embodiments will be described in connection with a counterweight base plate, it will be understood that the embodiments are suitable other crane sub-assemblies.
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of an adjustable footing support system 100 having a base plate 1 and three bearing feet 3 . The base plate 1 includes other bores 101 , unrelated to the invention, and therefore not explained in more detail. While FIG. 1 shows only a portion of the base plate 1 with three bearing feet 3 , it will be understood that more or less than three bearing feet 3 are possible. The base plate 1 can have any number of bores 8 for the reception of nuts 2 . A nut 2 does not have to be seated in every one of the bores 8 and a bearing foot 3 does not have to be threaded into each nut 2 . For example, bore 102 and bore 103 do not have bearing feet 3 or nuts 2 disposed therein.
[0014] The bores 8 may be formed by a process that removes material such as machining, drilling, milling, etc., or the bores 8 may be formed at the time the base plate 1 is made, such as a casting having the bores 8 present in the mold. The bores 8 of FIG. 1 are through bores that extend from a top face 5 of the base place to a lower face (not shown). In other embodiments, the bores 8 may be blind bores formed in the lower face and not extending to the top face 5 . In still other embodiments, the bores 8 may have varying diameters and features such as countersinks.
[0015] A nut 2 having a nut bore with an inner thread 21 is secured within each of the bores 8 . In other embodiments, a subset of the bores 8 may have nuts 2 secured therein. The nuts 2 may be secured within the baseplate 1 by way of a press fit, welding, gluing, bonding, brazing, or any other type of securing technique as known in the art. Preferably, the nuts 2 are welded into the base plate 1 on one or both front sides. In embodiments where the nuts 2 are press-fitted in the base plate 1 , they may be subjected to a cold treatment before press-fitting, such that they expand by warming to ambient temperature in the fitted state, thereby increasing the pressing force in the bore 8 . In some embodiments, the nut 2 has an outer thread and the bore 8 has an inner thread. In such embodiments the nut 2 is threaded into the bore 8 and secured in place. In some embodiments the nut may overhang the bore such that a portion of the nut extends beyond the bore.
[0016] A bearing foot 3 having an outer thread 31 sized and shaped to thread into the nut bore is threaded into the inner thread 21 . At this time, the bearing foot 3 is free to rotate within the nut 2 and the bearing foot's 3 axial position is constrained by the mating of the inner thread 21 and the outer thread 31 .
[0017] A securing element 4 constrains the rotational movement of the bearing foot 3 relative to the nut 2 . When in place, the securing element 4 prevents the bearing foot 3 from being threaded into or out of the nut 2 . In combination with the axial constraint provided by the mating threads 21 , 31 , the bearing foot 3 is effectively secured in place. When the securing element 4 is removed, the bearing foot 3 can again be threaded into or out of the nut 2 .
[0018] For adjusting or aligning the base plate 1 , it can be placed on a supporting surface and be aligned by adjustment of the bearing feet 3 to compensate for any unevenness of the supporting surface and manufacturing tolerances of the base plate 1 . Each of the bearing feet 3 can be individually threaded into the nut 2 or be threaded through the nut 2 . The length of a portion of the bearing foot 3 protruding beyond the bottom face of the base plate 1 is varied by threading the bearing foot 3 into the nut 2 , and the position of the base plate 1 with respect to the supporting surface is correspondingly adjusted. By means of the bearing feet 3 , the base plate 1 can thus be aligned.
[0019] Once each of the bearing feet 3 are adjusted, they are then be locked in place with the securing element 4 , preventing further movement of the bearing feet 3 . Thus the positions of the bearing feet 3 are prevented from changing with the time by vibration or other disturbance. The base plate 1 does not have to be continuously readjusted, as the bearing feet 3 are secured in the nuts 2 with securing elements 4 with the base plate 1 aligned.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a close up view of the bearing foot 3 and the securing element 4 of FIG. 1 secured to the baseplate 1 . The securing element 4 is a disk having an opening 42 sized and shaped to complement a cross section of the bearing foot 3 extending from the top of the nut 2 . The securing element 4 is placed adjacent the nut 2 such that the bearing foot 3 extends through the securing element 4 . The bearing foot 3 and the opening 42 together couple the rotation of the securing element 4 and the bearing foot 3 .
[0021] The securing element 4 has at least one through bore 41 , preferably a plurality of through bores 41 arranged annularly about the axis of the securing element 4 . The nut 2 has at least one blind bore 22 at the same radial distance as the through bores 41 . The blind bore 22 is threaded and sized to receive a screw 9 . The screw 9 is inserted through the through bore 41 and threaded into the blind bore 41 . With the screw 9 threaded into the blind bore 41 , the securing element 41 is constrained from moving relative to the nut 2 . More than one blind bore 22 may be present in the nut 2 and preferably the nut 2 has a plurality of blind bores 22 arranged annularly about the axis of the nut 2 . The spacing of the through-bores 41 determines how finely the bearing foot 3 can be adjusted.
[0022] Due to the cross section of the bearing foot 3 protruding beyond the securing element 4 and the shape of the opening through with the bearing foot 3 extends, the bearing foot 3 can no longer be rotated relative to the nut 2 .
[0023] In the embodiment of FIG. 2 , the nut 2 has three blind bores 22 underneath the securing mechanism 4 at an angular distance of 120° from one another. Accordingly, the bearing foot 3 can only be secured in a position in which the through-bore 41 aligns with a blind bore 22 .
[0024] Preferably, three blind bores 22 are equidistantly provided on the front side of the nut 2 at an angular distance of 120° between the blind bores 22 . However, four through bores 41 with four corresponding blind bores 22 or six through bores 41 with six corresponding blind bores 22 can also be provided with angular distances of 90° and 60°, respectively. Preferably, the securing element 4 has numerous through bores 41 that align with the blind bores 22 in the front side of the nut 2 in each position of the bearing foot 3 and the bearing foot 3 can be connected to the nut 2 in numerous positions.
[0025] That is, the more through-bores 41 present in the securing element 4 , the finer the bearing foot assembly 10 can be adjusted. However, the spacing of the through-bores 41 cannot be selected arbitrarily small, since there would be the risk that the material between the individual through-bores 41 would yield upon loading. However, the number of the through-bores 41 can be increased if the outer radius of the securing element 4 is increased. If the nut 2 does not protrude beyond the top face 5 of the base plate 1 , the securing element 4 can also have an outer diameter, which is larger than an outer diameter of the nut 2 . Thus, in another embodiment, the securing element 4 is attached directly to the base plate 1 using through bores 7 annularly arranged on the base plate 1 . The larger diameter of the annular arrangement could allow a finer adjustment of the bearing foot 3 .
[0026] In this case, the blind bores 7 , in which the securing element 4 is retained by screws 9 for securing the bearing foot 3 , are not formed on the front side of the nut 2 , but in the top face 5 of the base plate 1 . This prevents the bearing foot 3 from being able to be rotated in the nut 2 if the securing element 4 is threaded onto the base plate 1 . A load of the securing element 4 in the rotating direction of the bearing foot 3 is not transmitted to the nut 2 in this embodiment, but is instead received by the base plate 1 .
[0027] In FIG. 3 , a cross-section of a footing support 10 is shown. Preferably, the bearing foot 3 is longer than the nut 2 . A threaded portion 33 of the bearing foot 3 can correspond to the overall length of the thread of the nut 2 . The bearing foot 3 has a first unthreaded portion 32 above the threaded portion 33 and a second unthreaded portion 34 below the threaded portion 33 . Thus, the first unthreaded portion 32 and the second unthreaded portion 34 protrude from the top and bottom of the base plate 1 , respectively, with the outer thread 31 of the bearing foot 3 completely threaded into the inner thread 21 of the nut 2 .
[0028] The bearing foot 3 can be threaded by hand, or through the use of a tool. The first unthreaded portion 32 has a cross section that is complementary to a tool. The first unthreaded portion 32 of the bearing foot of FIG. 3 has a cross section that is generally square in shape and is complementary to a tool having a squared recess sized and shaped to match the cross section, such as a square spanner. In other embodiments the cross section may have a different shape such as a triangle, a rectangle, a polygon, a star, etc. Shapes allowing the use of standard tools are therein preferred.
[0029] The function of the footing support system 100 can be simply explained. The base plate 1 prepared with the nuts 2 is applied in the field. From the top, the bearing foot 3 can be screwed into the nut 2 until they are flush with the bottom 6 of the base plate, or with nut 2 protruding beyond the bottom 6 , flush with the end of the nut 2 . Now, the base plate 1 can be adjusted by further screwing the bearing feet 3 into the nut 2 by means of a tool (not shown), thereby lifting the base plate 1 . If the base plate 1 is in the desired position, each of the bearing feet 3 is secured by means of a securing element 4 in its adjusted position, wherein very small corrections of individual bearing foot positions can be required to exactly position the through-bores 41 above the threaded bores 22 , in order that the screws 9 can be screwed into the threads of the threaded bores 22 . Now, the base plate 1 rests on the portions 34 of the bearing feet 3 .
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An adjustable bearing foot assembly for installation in a base plate, for example a base plate of a crane sub-assembly, including a threaded nut comprising an inner thread; a bearing foot having an outer thread; and a securing element with which the bearing foot can be fixed, rotationally secure, in the threaded nut.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This U.S. non-provisional patent application claims the benefit of and/or priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/927,095 filed Jan. 14, 2014 titled “Implant For Immobilizing Cervical Vertebrae,” the entire contents of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present disclosure relates to devices for immobilizing vertebrae of the spine and, more particularly, to devices for immobilizing the C1 vertebra with respect to the C2 vertebra of the spine.
BACKGROUND
Because of various circumstances such as injury, trauma, degeneration or the like, it becomes necessary to immobilize one or more vertebrae with respect to other vertebrae of the spine. This includes vertebrae of the lumbar, thoracic and the cervical areas. Various devices have been devised in order to accomplish this result.
While these devices are adequate to immobilize lumbar vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae, and some of the cervical vertebrae of the spine, they are particularly deficient in effectively immobilizing the C1 cervical vertebra relative to the C2 cervical vertebra. The C1 or atlas vertebra is the topmost cervical vertebra of the human spine and, along with the C2 or axis vertebra forms the joint connecting the skull and spine. A major difference of the atlas cervical vertebra relative to other vertebrae is that it does not have a body but is fused with the C2 vertebra. The C2 vertebra forms the pivot upon which C1 rotates. It is because of these peculiarities that prior art vertebral immobilization devices are inadequate for use with a C1 to C2 immobilization.
In view of the above, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a better device, method and manner of immobilizing the C1 vertebra to the C2 vertebra.
The present invention sufficiently accomplishes these means.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a spinal implant for immobilizing the C1 vertebra with respect to the C2 vertebra of the spine. The immobilization implant provides controlled coupling between the C1 and C2 vertebrae.
The immobilization implant includes a C1 component configured for attachment to the C1 vertebra, two C2 components each configured for attachment to the C2 vertebra, and a transverse element.
The C1 component can have a singular hook configured for placement midline on the C1 vertebra or multiple hooks configured for placement on multiple areas of the C1 vertebra. The arms and/or hook(s) are capable of being bent and translated to a desired position. The C1 component has two arms that each retains a rod holder which is configured to rotate and translate with respect to its respective arm for capturing a rod from each C2 component. This allows the device to accommodate varying anatomy.
In one form, the rod holder of each arm is retained in a slot in the upper surface of the respective arm. This allows each rod holder to translate along the respective arm in the cephalad-caudal direction. Rotation of each rod holder is fixed through interaction between structures on the bottom outside surface of the rod holder and structures beneath the bottom outside surface of the rod holder within the slot. In a particular instance, and without being limiting, such structures may be serrations, teeth or the like. Downward pressure exerted on the rod holder causes the two structures to mesh and lock. Other manners of fixing rotation of the rod holder may be used.
In another form, the rod holder of each arm is retained in a slot in the side surface of the respective arm. This allows each rod holder to translate along the respective side arm in the cephalad-caudal direction. Rotation of each rod holder is fixed through interaction between structures on the lower outside surface of the rod holder and structures adjacent the lower outside surface of the rod holder within the slot. In a particular instance, and without being limiting, such structures may be serrations, teeth or the like. Downward pressure exerted on the rod holder causes the two structures to mesh and lock. Other manners of fixing rotation of the rod holder may be used.
The underside of the C1 hook may be configured to provide stable securing of the C1 hook at its implanted position after the surgeon releases the implant instrumentation therefrom. This feature may be embodied as spring-loaded serrated teeth that projects from the C1 hook. The serrated teeth are angled and thus retained within the hook such that the serrated teeth recess into the hook during insertion and positioning of the C1 hook on the lamina of (or other relevant anatomy) at the particular level (e.g. C1), then is biased against the lamina of (or other relevant anatomy) by its spring-loading to help keep the hook in the same position at which it was intended.
Each C2 component has a body with a hook for connection with a side of the C2 vertebra lamina and a rod for attachment to one of the rod holders of the C1 component. Each C2 component is also configured to receive and secure the transverse connector or element that holds a position of the C2 components relative to one another. The transverse element runs caudally to the C2 spinous process. In one form, the body of each C2 component is integrated with a plate that is configured to be compressed against the C2 vertebra spinous process. Each plate includes projecting spikes to aid in preventing migration of the construct once installed.
In one form, the transverse element may include integrated connectors configured to connect the C1/C2 construct (the present spinal implant) to an occipital rod that connects the occiput to the cervical/thoracic region.
The present spinal implant may also be used with respect to the immobilization of vertebrae other than the C1/C2 vertebrae such as the other cervical vertebrae, the thoracic vertebrae, and the lumbar vertebrae.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above mentioned and other features of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a view of a device for immobilizing a C1 vertebra of the spine relative to a C2 vertebra of the spine fashioned in accordance with the principles of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view of one of two C2 components of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 3 is another view of the C2 component of FIG. 2 ;
FIG. 4 is a view of a C1 component of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial view of the C1 component of FIG. 4 ;
FIG. 6 is another view of the C1 component of FIG. 4 ;
FIG. 7 is another view of the C1 component of FIG. 4 ;
FIG. 8 is a view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 1 installed on the C1 and C2 vertebrae of the spine;
FIG. 9 is another view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 1 installed on the C1 and C2 vertebrae of the spine;
FIG. 10 is a view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 1 installed on the C1 and C2 vertebrae of the spine and having an additional transverse element thereon for connecting the cervical immobilization device to an occipital rod;
FIG. 11 is a view of another cervical vertebrae immobilization device fashioned in accordance with the principles of the present invention;
FIG. 12 is an underside view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 11 ;
FIG. 13 is an end view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 11 ;
FIG. 14 is another view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 11 ;
FIG. 15 is a top view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 11 ; and
FIG. 16 is an end view of the cervical vertebrae immobilization device of FIG. 11 .
Although the drawings represent embodiments of various features and components according to the present invention, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be enhanced in order to better illustrate and explain the present invention. The exemplifications set out herein thus illustrate embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Those of skill in the art will understand that various details of the invention may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing description is for illustration only, and not for the purpose of limitation.
Referring to the figures and in particular, FIG. 1 , there is depicted an exemplary embodiment of an implant or device, generally designated 10 , for immobilizing vertebrae of the spine and particularly, but not necessarily, the cervical vertebrae of the spine and, more particularly, but not necessarily, a C1 (atlas) vertebra of the spine relative to a C2 (axis) vertebra of the spine fashioned in accordance with the present principles. Thus, while the present vertebral immobilization implant 10 is shown and described herein with respect to the C1 and C2 vertebrae of the spine, it should be appreciated that the vertebral immobilization implant 10 may be used with other vertebrae of the spine. Additionally, as described further below, the vertebral immobilization implant 10 allows connection to other vertebral implants if desired.
As seen in FIG. 1 , in general, the vertebral immobilization implant 10 has a C1 component 12 configured to attach to the C1 vertebra, and two C2 components 14 a , 14 b each one configured to attach to the C2 vertebra. Particularly, the C1 component 12 is attached to the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra, while each C2 component 14 a , 14 b attaches to the vertebral body of C2 on opposite sides of its spinous process (see, e.g. FIGS. 8-10 ). A transverse element or connector, shown in the form of a rod 70 , is provided between and captured by the two C2 components 14 a , 14 b . The transverse element 70 allows the position of the C2 components to be fixed relative to one another and to aid in securing each C2 component by compression to respective sides of the C2 spinous process.
FIG. 4 shows the C1 component 12 . The C1 component 12 is made from a biocompatible material such as, but not limited to, stainless steel or titanium. The C1 component 12 is defined by a body 16 having first and second arms, wings, extensions or the like (arms) 20 a , 20 b that project from a generally central head 18 , the nomenclature first and second being arbitrary here and throughout unless otherwise indicated. Each arm 20 a , 20 b is generally paddle or ovoid-shaped but may take different forms if desired. A channel, groove, concavity, depression or the like 21 separates the first and second arms 20 a , 20 b . As depicted in FIG. 4 , each arm 20 a , 20 b project outwardly and generally downward. Each arm however, may be angled as desired relative to the head 18 . This is particularly illustrated in the position of the arms 20 a , 20 b in FIGS. 6 and 7 . Angling the arms 20 a , 20 b provides a better fit on the C1 vertebra.
Referring back to FIG. 4 , the first arm 20 a includes a recess, cutout or the like (recess) 22 a that extends in and along an upper surface of the arm 20 a . A first holder 24 a is positioned within the recess 22 a . The first holder 24 a is rotatable within the recess 22 a and thus relative to the arm 20 a . The rotational position of the first holder 24 a is fixed through interaction of the bottom area of the first holder 24 a with a first fixation structure 23 a within the recess 22 a . The first fixation structure 23 a is illustrated as a first ring of teeth, notches, serrations or the like (teeth) with the bottom area of the first holder 24 a configured with a like ring of teeth. The first holder 24 a may also translate within the recess 22 a.
The first holder 24 a is generally U-shaped and thus defines a slot between first and second cupped sides 25 a , 27 a . The slot of the first holder 24 a is configured to receive a bar or rod 44 a of the C2 component 14 a . The first side 25 a has threading 28 a on the inside cupped surface thereof, with the second side 27 a also having threading 26 a on the inside surface thereof. The internal threading 26 a , 28 a is configured to receive a threaded set screw 90 for securing the bar 44 a of the C2 component.
The second arm 20 b includes a recess, cutout or the like (recess) 22 b that extends in and along an upper surface of the arm 20 b . A second holder 24 b is positioned within the recess 22 b . The second holder 24 b is rotatable within the recess 22 b and thus relative to the arm 20 b . The rotational position of the second holder 24 b is fixed through interaction of the bottom area of the second holder 24 b with a second fixation structure 23 b within the recess 22 b . The second fixation structure 23 b is illustrated as a second ring of teeth, notches, serrations or the like (teeth) with the bottom area of the second holder 24 b configured with a like ring of teeth. The second holder 24 b may also translate within the recess 22 b.
The second holder 24 b is generally U-shaped and thus defines a slot between first and second cupped sides 25 b , 27 b . The slot of the second holder 24 b is configured to receive a bar or rod 44 b of the C2 component 14 b . The first side 25 b has threading 28 b on the inside cupped surface thereof, with the second side 27 b also having threading 26 b on the inside surface thereof. The internal threading 26 b , 28 b is configured to receive a threaded set screw 90 for securing the bar 44 b of the C2 component.
As seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 , the C1 component 12 has a hook structure 29 extending from the underside of the head 18 . The hook 29 has a generally planar tongue 30 that defines a recess 31 . The hook 29 is configured to attach to and around the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra and, particularly, the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra is received in the recess 31 of the hook 29 with the tongue extending under the C1 posterior arch, and more particularly midline on the C1 vertebra. The hook 29 is configured to be bent at various angles to accommodate varying C1 anatomy.
The underside of the hook 29 is configured to provide stable securement of the hook 29 at its implanted position after it is released from the implant instrumentation. While not being limiting, in one form, this feature is embodied as spring-loaded serrated teeth 33 that projects from a recess 32 on the underside of the hook 29 . The serrated teeth 33 are angled and thus retained within the recess 32 such that the serrated teeth 33 recede into the head 18 during insertion and positioning of the hook 29 on the lamina of the C1 vertebra. The teeth 33 are then biased against the lamina of by its spring-loading in order to help keep the hook in the same position at which it was intended.
FIGS. 2 and 3 particularly show the first C2 component 14 a . The second C2 component 14 b is a mirror image of the first C2 component. As such the second C2 component will not be discussed in detail since its features, components and configuration are the same as the first C2 component, the numerical labeling of which ends in a “b”. The first C2 component 14 a has a body 40 a that defines a plate 42 a having an angled front face 58 a and an angled rear face 62 a , the nomenclature front and rear being arbitrary. The front face 58 a is generally planar. The rear face 62 a is generally planar with a plurality of spikes, projections or the like (spikes) 63 a extending outwardly therefrom. The rear face 68 a is angled to follow the contour or angling of a side of the spinous process SP (see, e.g., FIGS. 8-10 ). The spikes 63 a are configured to grip the side of the spinous process SP. A bore 59 a extends through the plate 42 a from the front face 58 a to the rear face 68 a . The bore 59 a accepts a bone screw or other fastener (not shown) in order to positively secure the plate 42 a to the side of the spinous process SP if desired.
The body 40 a further has a rod, shaft, pole or the like (rod) 44 a that projects outwardly from a side 45 a of the plate 42 a . The rod 44 a is configured to be received in the first holder 24 a of the C1 component (see, e.g., FIGS. 8-10 ). The rod 44 a also has a length that allows the first holder 24 a of the C1 component to receive and retain the rod 44 a at various longitudinal positions along the rod, thereby providing length adjustment between the C1 component/C1 vertebra and the first C2 component/C2 vertebra and/or a side of the spinous process SP. This accommodates variations in anatomy (i.e. spacing between the C1 vertebra and the C2 vertebra).
The body 40 a moreover has a rod holder 50 a that extends from an end of the plate 42 a opposite the end 45 a and offset from a longitudinal axis of the rod 44 a . The rod holder 50 a has a front portion 54 a that extends outward from and generally perpendicular to the side of the plate 42 a . The front portion 54 a has threading 55 a on an inside surface. The rod holder 50 a further includes a rear portion 52 a that extends from the bottom of the front portion 54 a such that the rod holder 50 a is generally cupped shaped and defines a rod holder area therein and between the front and rear portions 54 a , 52 a . The rear portion 52 a has threading 53 a on an inside surface facing the threading 55 a of the front portion 54 a . The threading 53 a , 55 a is configured to receive a set screw 90 or the like (see, e.g., FIGS. 8-10 ).
A hook 46 a extends from a bottom of the rod holder 50 a and defines a hook area 47 a . The hook 46 a is configured to attach onto and extend under a portion of the lamina of the C2 vertebra adjacent one side (first side) of the spinous process SP thereof (see, e.g. FIGS. 8-10 ). Particularly, as discerned in FIGS. 8-10 , the first C2 component 14 a is designed to hook or grasp onto and/or around the inferior end of the C2 lamina.
As indicated above, the second C2 component 14 b is a mirror configuration of the C1 component 14 a . Thus, while the first C2 component 14 a is configured to connect to the left side of the C2 vertebra and extend to the left side of the C1 vertebra, the second C2 component 14 b is configured to connect to the right side of the C2 vertebra and extend to the right side of the C1 vertebra. The rod 44 a of the first C2 component 14 a is receive in the rod holder 24 a of the C1 component 12 while the rod 44 b of the second C2 component 14 b is received in the rod holder 24 b of the C1 component.
FIGS. 8 and 9 particularly show various views of the present vertebral immobilization implant 10 situated, implanted on, or otherwise attached to and between the C1 vertebra and the C2 vertebra. The vertebral immobilization implant 10 stabilizes the C1 and C2 vertebrae relative to one another.
FIG. 10 shows a variation of the present implant 10 wherein the transverse element 70 has been replace with a transverse element assembly 80 for connecting the present implant 10 to one or more occipital rods that connect the occiput to the cervical/thoracic region of the spine. The transverse element assembly 80 includes a rod 81 that is configured to be received in the first and second rod holders 50 a , 50 b of the respective first and second C2 components 14 a , 14 b . A first rod holder (integrated connector) 82 a is provided on a first end of the rod 81 and is configured to receive a connecting rod (not shown). A second rod holder (integrated connector) 82 b is provided on a second end of the rod 81 and is configured to receive another connecting rod (not shown). The rod holders 82 a , 82 b are configured to each receive a threaded set screw 90 . Other configurations and/or manners of providing this connection are contemplated.
Referring to FIGS. 11-16 , there is shown another exemplary embodiment of an implant or device, generally designated 100 , for immobilizing vertebrae of the spine in like manner and function and to the implant 10 . In general, the vertebral immobilization implant 100 has a C1 component 112 configured to attach to the C1 vertebra, and two C2 components 114 a , 114 b each one configured to attach to the C2 vertebra. Particularly, the C1 component is attached to the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra, while each C2 component 114 a , 114 b attaches to the vertebral body of C2, preferably, but not necessarily, on opposite sides of its spinous process (see, e.g. FIGS. 8-10 ). A transverse element or connector, shown in the form of a rod 170 , is provided between and captured by the two C2 components 114 a , 114 b . The transverse element 170 allows the position of the C2 components 114 a , 114 b to be fixed relative to one another and to aid in securing each C2 component by compression to respective sides of the C2 spinous process.
The C1 component 112 is made from a biocompatible material such as, but not limited to, stainless steel or titanium. The C1 component 112 is defined by a body 116 having first and second arms, wings, extensions or the like (arms) 117 a , 117 b , the nomenclature first and second being arbitrary here and throughout unless otherwise indicated. Each arm 117 a , 117 b is generally paddle or ovoid-shaped but may take different forms if desired. A lower notch 118 a is formed at the bottom of the body 116 between the first and second arms 117 a , 117 b . A first upper notch is formed at the top of the body 116 adjacent the first arm 117 a , while a second upper notch is formed at the top of the body 116 adjacent the second arm 117 b . Each arm 117 a , 117 b project outwardly and generally downward. Each arm however, may be angled as desired relative to the head 18 .
As best seen in FIG. 11 , the first arm 117 a includes a slot or the like 119 a that extends in and along the side of the first arm 117 a . A first adjustable element 120 a is retained in the slot 119 a so as to be translatable (movable) along the length of the slot 119 a (in the medial-lateral direction or transverse plane) and rotatable relative thereto. As such, the first adjustable element 120 a is rotatable relative to the first arm 117 a . A weld plate 140 a ensures that a hook 121 a of the first adjustable element 120 a does not disassociate from the body 116 /arm 117 a . The weld plate 120 a also ensures that the translation of the first adjustable element remains parallel with the medial-lateral (transverse) plane and does not travel obliquely.
The first adjustable element 120 a includes a generally U-shaped rod holder 121 a defining a slot between two cupped sides, the slot configured to receive the rod ( 134 a , 134 b ) of a C2 component ( 114 a , 114 b ). While not seen, the two cupped sides have threading on the inside cupped surface thereof. The internal threading is configured to receive a threaded set screw 90 for securing the rod of the C2 component.
The first adjustable element 120 a also includes a hook 122 a extending from the underside of the rod holder 121 a . The hook 122 a defines a pocket or reception area 123 a configured to attach to and around a portion of the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra. The hook 122 a may be configured to be bent at various angles to accommodate varying C1 vertebra anatomy.
Again, as best seen in FIG. 11 , the second arm 117 b includes a slot or the like 119 b that extends in and along the side of the second arm 117 b . A second adjustable element 120 b is retained in the slot 119 b so as to be translatable (movable) along the length of the slot 119 b (in the medial-lateral direction or transverse plane) and rotatable relative thereto. As such, the second adjustable element 120 b is rotatable relative to the second arm 117 b . A weld plate 140 b ensures that a hook 121 b of the second adjustable element 120 b does not disassociate from the body 116 /arm 117 b . The weld plate 120 b also ensures that the translation of the first adjustable element remains parallel with the medial-lateral (transverse) plane and does not travel obliquely.
The second adjustable element 120 b includes a generally U-shaped rod holder 121 b defining a slot between two cupped sides, the slot configured to receive the rod ( 134 a , 134 b ) of a C2 component ( 114 a , 114 b ). While not seen, the two cupped sides have threading on the inside cupped surface thereof. The internal threading is configured to receive a threaded set screw 90 for securing the rod of a C2 component.
The second adjustable element 120 b also includes a hook 122 b extending from the underside of the rod holder 121 b . The hook 122 b defines a pocket or reception area 123 b configured to attach to and around a portion of the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra. The hook 122 b may be configured to be bent at various angles to accommodate varying C1 vertebra anatomy.
The C2 component 114 a will now be described. The second C2 component 114 b is a mirror image of the first C2 component 114 a . As such the second C2 component 114 b will not be discussed in detail since its features, components and configuration are the same as the first C2 component, and its numerical labeling of which ends in a “b”. The first C2 component 114 a has a body 130 a having a rod, shaft, pole or the like (rod) 134 a that projects outwardly from an end of the body 130 a . The rod 134 a is configured to be received in the rod holder 121 a of the C1 component. The rod 134 a also has a length that allows the rod holder 121 a of the C1 component to receive and retain the rod 134 a at various longitudinal positions along the rod, thereby providing length adjustment between the C1 component/C1 vertebra and the first C2 component/C2 vertebra. This accommodates variations in anatomy (i.e. spacing between the C1 vertebra and the C2 vertebra).
The body 130 a moreover has a rod holder 131 a that is formed at an end of the body 130 a opposite the rod 134 a . The rod holder 131 a utilizes an end wall of the body 130 a as one side of the two sided rod holder 131 a and a shaped flange as the other side. The outside surface of the end wall and the inside surface of the shaped flange both have threading for receiving the threaded set screw 90 . A hook 132 a extends from a bottom of the rod holder 131 a and defines a hook area 133 a (see, e.g., FIG. 12 ). The hook 131 a is configured to attach onto and extend under a portion of the lamina of the C2 vertebra adjacent one side of its spinous process SP. This is in like manner to the first C2 component 14 a shown in FIGS. 8-10 wherein the first C2 component 14 a is designed to hook or grasp onto and/or around the inferior end of the C2 lamina.
As indicated above, the second C2 component 114 b is a mirror configuration of the C1 component 114 a . Thus, while the first C2 component 114 a is configured to connect to the left side of the C2 vertebra and extend to the left side of the C1 vertebra, the second C2 component 114 b is configured to connect to the right side of the C2 vertebra and extend to the right side of the C1 vertebra. The rod 44 a of the first C2 component 114 a is receive in the rod holder 24 a of the C1 component 12 while the rod 44 b of the second C2 component 114 b is received in the rod holder 24 b of the C1 component.
The implant 100 is attached to the spine in a manner similar if not the same as the implant 10 . As such, reference should be made to FIGS. 8-10 that show various views of the vertebral immobilization implant 10 situated, implanted on, or otherwise attached to and between the C1 vertebra and the C2 vertebra. The vertebral immobilization implant 100 stabilizes the C1 and C2 vertebrae relative to one another.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the foregoing drawings and description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only illustrative embodiments thereof have been show and described and that all changes and modifications that are within the scope of the following claims are desired to be protected.
All references cited in this specification are incorporated herein by reference to the extent that they supplement, explain, provide a background for or teach methodology or techniques employed herein.
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A spinal implant for immobilizing the C1 vertebra with respect to the C2 vertebra of the spine provides controlled coupling between the C1 and C2 vertebrae, and includes a C1 component attachable to the C1 vertebra, two C2 components attachable to the C2 vertebra, and a transverse element. The C1 component has two wings each of which retains a rod holder that rotates and translate for capturing a C2 component rod. Each C2 component has a hook for connection with a side of the C2 vertebra lamina and a rod for attachment to one of the rod holders of the C1 component. Each C2 component receives and secures the transverse connector which holds position of the C2 components relative to one another. Each C2 component may include a plate configured for compression against the C2 vertebra spinous process, with each plate including spikes to aid in preventing construct migration.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to and claims priority from Japanese Patent Applications No. 2005-201763 filed on Jul. 11, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the invention
[0003] The present invention generally relates to a tandem rotary electric machine in tandem mechanism or a rotary electric machine, equipped with a single rotor shaft and dual stator-rotor pairs, applicable to various applications, movable bodies such as vehicles.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] The following prior-art patent documents D1 to D3 have disclosed a rotary electric machine equipped with dual stator-rotor pairs (hereinafter, referred to as “a tandem rotary electric machine”), in which dual Lundel type rotors are assembled in a tandem mechanism, and which is capable of generating different voltages independently.
D1: Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP H1-157251; D2: Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP H5-137295; and D3: Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP H5-308751.
[0009] Further, the prior-art patent document D4 has disclosed an electrical machine such as alternator for motor cars having a dual pole system cooperating with dual stator windings.
D4: U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,249 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP H5-500300).
[0011] Using the tandem mechanism with the Lundel type rotors can reduce the entire size of a rotary electric machine. Such a tandem rotary electric machine is capable of controlling the electricity generation to generate and output different voltages independently. In other words, the tandem rotary electric machine can be manufactured with a compact size at a relatively low manufacturing cost. Further, such a tandem rotary electric machine can reduce its mounting space in a vehicle when compared with the case where two different non-tandem rotary electric machines are mounted on a vehicle.
[0012] Such a tandem rotary electric machine is used as a dual-voltage rotary electric machine having a double-voltage power system capable of generating and supplying both a normal 12-volt power source widely used and a 42 volt power source as a high voltage.
[0013] Because a rectifier device is placed or arranged at the outer end of a secondary stator-rotor pair along the axis direction of such a tandem rotary electric machine, it is necessary to electrically connect the stator of a primary stator-rotor pair to the rectifier device through lead wires (hereinafter, referred to as “connection lead wires”).
[0014] The prior art patent document D2 has proposed to wire such connection lead wires on the outer peripheral end of the secondary stator-rotor pair along its radial direction.
[0015] The inventors according to the present invention have disclosed new stator-coil mechanism using a sequential segment joining type stator coil that is applicable to the rotary electric machine field. For example, following patent documents D5 to D12 have been disclosed. The sequential segment joining type stator coil can increase the occupancy or share rate of segment conductors (as a stator coil) in each slot, arrange the entire shape of the stator coil with a compact size, and thereby reduce the entire size of the rotary electric machine.
D5: Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-048939; D6: U.S. Pat. No. 6,774,528 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,995,492 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-048941); D7: U.S. Pat. No. 6,979,926 and US publication No. 2006/0033394A 1 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-064914); D8: U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,589 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-048967); D9: Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-032987; D10: U.S. Pat. No. 6,833,648 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-032882); D11: US publication No. 2003/0233748A1 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-032884); and D12 : U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,257 (corresponding to Japanese patent laid open publication NO. JP 2004-032890).
[0024] Recent trend in this rotary electric machine field needs to further reduce the entire size and weight of the rotary electric machine. However, because the tandem rotary electric machine tends to increase the longitudinal length along its axis direction, there is a strong demand to reduce the entire size and weight of the rotary electric machine.
[0025] Although the patent document D2 has disclosed the manner to wire the connection lead wires along the axis direction at the outer peripheral end of a secondary stator-rotor pair in the tandem rotary electric machine, this manner increases the volume or size of the rotary electric machine along the radial direction in order to keep the electrical insulation of the connection lead wires and further to achieve the mechanical protection and thermal protection against outer impact and shock. As a result, this manner decreases the degree of adaptation of the tandem rotary electric machine to various applications, in particular, to vehicles equipped with various types of vehicle engines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0026] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tandem rotary electric machine having dual stator-rotor pairs in tandem mechanism with a simple configuration without increasing the total size, volume and weight.
[0027] According to one aspect of the present invention, a tandem rotary electric machine has a primary stator-rotor pair, a secondary stator-rotor pair, and a rectifier device. Each pair of the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair has a rotor core on which field windings being wound and a stator core on which a stator coil being wound. Those rotor cores are fixed to a same rotary shaft and placed adjacently to each other in its axis direction, and driven simultaneously by the power of a vehicle engine, for example. The rectifier device is configured to rectify independently output powers such as output voltages provided from both the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair. The rectifier device is placed at the outside portion of the secondary stator-rotor pair in the axial direction, and in particularly, separated from the primary stator-rotor pair. The tandem rotary electric machine further has a controller configured to control independently the exciting current flowing through the field windings of the rotor cores in both the primary and secondary stator-rotor pairs. Although it is preferred to use a Lundel type rotor core as the rotor core, the present invention is not limited by this manner and it is therefore acceptable to use another types of rotor cores other than the Lundel type. Further, the concept of the present invention is also applicable to an electric motor as the rotary electric machine, to a vehicle stator, for example. Still further, it is possible to add an additional stator-rotor pair in tandem mechanism in addition to the configuration of the dual stator-rotor pairs.
[0028] The tandem rotary electric machine according to one aspect of the present invention has one of features in which the stator coil of the primary stator-rotor pair is electrically connected to the rectifier device through a connection lead wire that is penetrated in an accommodation part formed in a slot of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair. Because the stator coil of the primary stator-rotor pair is electrically connected to the rectifier device through the connection lead wire penetrated through the slot of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair placed near the rectifier device, it is possible to prevent any expansion of the entire volume or size of the tandem rotary electric machine in the radial direction.
[0029] Because the slot occupancy rate becomes low, namely only is increased a little even if the secondary stator-rotor pair uses a normal wire-wound stator coil as its stator coil when compared with the case of the primary stator-rotor pair, it is possible to penetrate easily the connection lead wire through the slot of the stator core using the normal wire-wound stator coil of the secondary stator-rotor pair.
[0030] According to another aspect of the present invention, the stator coil wound on the stator cores in both the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair are sequential segment joining type stator coil. Each of the sequential segment joining type stator coil is inserted in the corresponding slot formed in the stator core in one direction and adjacent front terminals of the adjacent sequential segment joining type stator coil are electrically connected by welding in order to form the stator coil. The stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair has a slot having plural accommodation parts and the connection lead wire is penetrated through at least one accommodation part where no segment conductor is inserted and penetrated. It is thereby possible to penetrate the connection lead wire to one accommodation part in the slot in the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair without difficulty and causing any problem when the sequential segment joining type stator coil of a high occupancy rate in slot are used as the stator coil.
[0031] Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, the connection lead wire is penetrated through the slot of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair. The connection lead wire includes a lead wire to be used for penetrating through a slot, one end of the lead wire is electrically connected to one end of the stator coil in the primary stator-rotor pair. That is, according to the aspect of the present invention, the lead wire connected to one end of the stator coil of the primary stator-rotor pair is not used as the connection lead wire, namely, this lead wire is not penetrated through the slot of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair. The connection lead wire that is penetrated in advance through the slot in the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair is used and electrically connected to the one end of the stator coil of the primary stator-rotor pair. This manner can reduce the manufacturing steps and time.
[0032] Still further, according to another aspect of the present invention, the connection lead wire is penetrated through the slot of a same phase of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair. That is, the armature current of the primary stator-rotor pair flowing through the connection lead wire becomes a half-turn stator current in the slot of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair. This can avoid the occurrence of fluctuation of magnetic field in the secondary stator-rotor pair by the phase current flowing through the stator coil of the primary stator-rotor pair.
[0033] Still further, according to another aspect of the present invention, both the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair have the same number of the stator cores having a same sectional shape, and have the same sectional area of the sequential segment joining type stator coil. This can achieve a simplification of the manufacturing process.
[0034] Moreover, according to another aspect of the present invention, the tandem rotary electric machine has a slip ring power supply mechanism and a controller. The slip ring power supply mechanism is configured to supply electric power to both the field windings of the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair. The controller has field current control elements such as transistors fixed to both the rotor cores. The field current control elements are configured to independently control exciting currents flowing through the field windings of the rotor cores of the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair.
[0035] That is, according to the tandem rotary electric machine of the present invention, the common slip ring power supply mechanism can supply the electric power to both the field windings of the rotor cores of both the primary and secondary stator-rotor pairs. This can achieve the simplification of the entire configuration of the tandem rotary electric machine and reduce the friction loss caused by the brushes, and thereby reduce the entire size and weight of the rotary electric machine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0036] A preferred, non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0037] FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional diagram of a tandem rotary electric machine having dual stator-rotor pairs according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
[0038] FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the tandem rotary electric machine shown in FIG. 1 ;
[0039] FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the tandem rotary electric machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
[0040] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an exciting current control circuit in the tandem rotary electric machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
[0041] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a placement of stators and stator coil in both a primary and secondary stator-rotor pairs of the tandem rotary electric machine according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;
[0042] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a placement of stator coil of the primary stator-rotor pair placed at the frond end of the tandem rotary electric machine according to the fourth embodiment; and
[0043] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a placement of stator coil of the secondary stator-rotor pair placed at the rear end of the tandem rotary electric machine according to the fourth embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0044] Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the various embodiments, like reference characters or numerals designate like or equivalent component parts throughout the several diagrams. A tandem rotary electric machine or a vehicle alternator according to the present invention is applicable to various devices and mounted on movable bodies such as a vehicle.
First Embodiment
[0000] (Entire Configuration)
[0045] The entire configuration of a tandem electric rotary machine for vehicle (or a vehicle alternator) according to the first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 1 .
[0046] FIG. 1 is a sectional view along a rotor shaft direction of the tandem electric rotary machine having dual stator-rotor pairs, a primary rotary electric machine section 2 (also referred to as G 1 in the diagrams) and a secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (or referred to as G 2 in the diagrams), arranged in a tandem mechanism according to the first embodiment. The tandem electric rotary machine has a housing 1 , the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ), the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ), a rotor shaft 4 , a pulley 5 , bearings 6 and 7 , a rectifier 8 , a regulator 9 , and a slip ring power supply device 10 .
[0047] As shown in FIG. 1 , the housing 1 comprises a front housing 11 , a center housing 12 , and a rear housing 13 . Those housing components 11 , 12 , 13 of the housing 1 are fixed tightly together by through bolts 14 . The rotor shaft 4 is supported to the housing 1 through the bearings 6 and 7 . The pulley 5 is fixed to the front end part of the rotor shaft 4 that protrudes from the front end surface of the housing 1 . The rectifier device 8 , the regulator 9 , and the slip ring power supply device or mechanism 10 are fixed to the rear housing 13 placed at the rear end of the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ).
[0048] The primary rotary electric machine has a primary stator-rotor pair that has made of a Lundel type rotor core 21 , field coil 22 , a stator core 23 , and stator coil 24 . The individual field coil 22 is wound on the Lundel type rotor core 21 . The stator core 23 is arranged in radial direction on the outer surface of the Lundel type rotor core 21 . The individual stator coil 24 is wound on the stator core 23 .
[0049] The Lundel type rotor core 21 is made of a pair of half core bosses faced to each other. Each half core boss has a boss section 211 , a pole section 212 as a claw base part extended outside from the boss section 211 in the radial direction, and a claw part 213 (a claw pole or a claw magnetic pole). The field coil 22 is wound on the boss section 211 of the Lundel type rotor core 21 . The stator core 23 is placed tightly between the front housing 11 and the center housing 12 . The stator coil 24 is wound on the stator core 23 .
[0050] The secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ) has a secondary stator-rotor pair that is made of a Lundel type rotor core 31 , a field coil 32 , a stator core 33 , and a stator coil 34 . The individual field coil 32 is wound on the Lundel type rotor core 31 . The stator core 33 is arranged in the radial direction on the outer surface of the Lundel type rotor core 31 . The individual stator coil 34 is wound on the stator core 33 .
[0051] The Lundel type rotor core 31 is made of a pair of half core bosses faced to each other. Each half core boss has a boss section 311 , a pole section 312 as a claw base part extended outside from the boss section 311 in the radial direction, and a claw part 313 (a claw pole or a claw magnetic pole). The field coil 32 is wound on the boss section 311 of the Lundel type rotor core 31 . The stator core 33 is placed tightly between the center housing 12 and the rear housing 13 . The stator coil 34 is wound on the stator core 33 . Because each of the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ) and the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ) has the well-known typical Lundel type rotor core, the explanation for the configuration and operation is omitted here.
[0000] (Explanation for Circuit Configuration)
[0052] A description will now be given of the circuit configuration of the tandem rotary electric machine of the present invention with reference to FIG. 2 .
[0053] The stator coil 24 has three phase windings U, V, and W in a star connection and provide a three phase AC voltage to a three phase full wave rectifier 81 . The three phase full wave rectifier 81 performs the full wave rectifying and supplies the output current i 1 to the outside of the rotary electric machine.
[0054] The output terminals of the phase windings U, V, and W are connected to three AC input terminals 811 , 812 , and 813 of the three phase full wave rectifier 81 through connection lead wires 35 , 36 , and 37 , respectively.
[0055] Similarly, the stator coil 34 has three phase windings U′, V′, and W′ in a star connection and provide a three phase AC voltage to a three phase full wave rectifier 82 . The three phase full wave rectifier 82 performs the full wave rectifying and supplies the output current i 2 to the outside of the rotary electric machine.
[0056] The output terminals of the phase windings U′, V′, and W′ are connected to three AC input terminals of the three phase full wave rectifier 82 through connection lead wires, respectively. The reference characters U and U′ designate the same phase, V and V′denote the same phase, and also U and U′ indicate the same phase. The stator coil 24 in the primary stator-rotor pair has the phase windings U, V, and W, and the stator coil 34 in the secondary stator-rotor pair has the phase windings U′, V′, and W′.
[0057] The slip ring power supply device 10 has a pair of slip rings. One of the slip rings is a common terminal of the field windings connected to the ground voltage level. The other of the slip rings is connected to a positive terminal of a battery (not shown) through which the voltage of the battery is supplied.
[0058] A pair of field current control transistors is fixed to each of the rotor cores 21 and 31 . Those field control transistors controls independently the field current flowing through the field coil 22 in the primary stator-rotor pair and the field current flowing through the field coil 32 in the secondary stator-rotor pair.
[0059] The regulator 9 controls ON/OFF operation of those field current control transistors in order to control the magnitude of the field current in the field coils 22 and 32 , independently.
[0060] The stator coil 34 of the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 has a large turn number rather than that of the stator coil 24 of the primary rotary electric machine section 2 . The primary rotary electric machine section 2 provides a normal voltage power (as a low voltage 12 Volts, for example). Through the embodiments of the present invention, the low voltage power, the 12V power is normally provided to and used by low voltage loads (not shown) in a vehicle. The primary rotary electric machine section 2 continuously provides the 12V power to those low voltage loads which need the low voltage power of 12V at all times (as a high priority power source).
[0061] On the contrary, the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 generates and provides a high voltage power (42 volts, for example) to high voltage loads (not shown) incorporated in a vehicle. The secondary rotary electric machine section 3 provides the 42V power to those high voltage loads (not shown) which need the high voltage power of 42V optionally (as a low priority power source).
[0000] (Explanation for the Stator Coil 24 and the Stator Coil 34 )
[0062] A description will now be given of the configuration of the stator coil 24 in the primary rotary electric machine section 2 and the stator coil 34 in the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 in the tandem rotary electric machine of the embodiment with reference to FIG. 1 .
[0063] Each of the stator coils 24 and 34 is made of sequential segment joining type stator coil which has been disclosed in the patent documents D5 to D12 , and some of the inventors of which are also the inventors of the present invention.
[0064] In the structure of each of the stator coils 24 and 34 using the sequential segment joining type stator coil, the leg parts (as a line part) of a pair of segment conductors of a U-shape are firstly inserted independently along the axis direction into slots of the stator cores. The slot are separated to each other by the electric angle of m:. The front parts of a pair of the U-shaped segment conductors extended from those slots are then welded sequentially in order to form wave-shaped windings or overlap-shaped windings. The patent documents D5 to D12 have disclosed the configuration and manufacturing manners of the stator coil wound on the stator cores using the sequential segment joining type stator coil. The explanation for them is therefore omitted here.
[0065] The number of the slots in the stator core and the number of segment conductors per slot are selected optionally according to various applications.
[0066] As shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 6 , and FIG. 7 , each slot has four segment accommodation parts along the radial direction of the stator core to which four sequential segments for the stator coil 24 and the stator coil 34 are inserted and fixed.
[0067] The leg parts of large segment conductors are inserted into the first and fourth accommodation parts at the innermost end and the outermost end of each slot and the leg parts of small segment conductors are inserted into the secondary and third accommodation parts at the middle end of the slot. However, the present invention is not limited by the above accommodation manner of the segment conductors (SCs) according to the various applications and demands.
[0068] Each phase winding of the three phases (U. V, and W) of the stator coil 24 has N1/3 small segment conductors and N1/3 large segment conductors, where N 1 is the number of slots in the stator core 23 , and N 2 is the number of slots in the stator core 33 . Each phase winding of the three phases (U, V, and W) has N1/3 small segment conductors, and N1/3 large segment conductors. The stator coil 24 is a small coil part made of N1/3 small sequential conductors (SCs) connected to each other sequentially, and a large coil part made of N1/3 large sequential conductors (SCs) connected to each other sequentially, where the small SCs and the large SCs are connected in series.
[0069] Similar to the stator coil 24 , each phase winding of the three phases (U′, V′, and W′) of the stator coil 34 has N2/3 small segment conductors and N2/3 large segment conductors, where N 2 is the number of slots in the stator core 33 . Each phase winding of the three phases (U′, V′, and W′) has N2/3 small segment conductors and N2/3 large segment conductors. Each stator coil 34 is a small coil part made of N2/3 small sequential conductors (SCs) connected to each other sequentially, and a large coil part made of N2/3 large sequential conductors (SCs) connected to each other sequentially, where the small SCs and the large SCs are connected in series. As described later, the turn number of each of the three phase windings U′, V′, and W′ in the stator coil 34 is less one turn.
[0070] In more detailed, each of the phase windings U′, V′, and W′ of the stator coil 34 of the secondary stator-rotor pair 3 arranged at the rectifier device end (or at the rear end) of the tandem rotary electric machine of the embodiment is less the primary half turn and the final half turn. In addition, the primary segment conductor (SC) and the final segment conductor (SC) of each of the phase windings U′, V′, and W′of the stator coil 34 of the secondary stator-rotor pair 3 is made of the I-shaped SC, not the U-shapes SC. The primary I-shaped SC as the primary half turn of each of the phase windings U′, V′, and W′acts as a terminal lead wire of each of the phase windings U′, V′, and W′. Further, the final I-shaped SC as the final halt turn of each of the phase windings U′, V′, and W′ is connected to each other and becomes an intermediate voltage node. The terminal lead wire is connected to the connection lead wire through which the stator coil is electrically connected to the rectifier device 8 .
[0071] In the stator core 33 , a pair of the segment conductor accommodation parts that are separated to each other by electric angle of π becomes space area where no segment conductor is inserted. The space area of those segment conductor accommodation parts are designated by the reference characters P 1 and P 2 , for example, as shown in FIG. 6 .
[0072] That is, in the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ), each of the stator windings U′, V′, and W′of the stator coil 34 of the secondary stator-rotor pair has ((2N2/3)−1) turns that is less by one turn when compared with the normal turn-number (2N2/3).
[0073] On the contrary, in the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ), each of the stator windings U, V, and W of the stator coil 24 of the primary stator-rotor pair has (2N/3) turns. The primary segment conductor (SC) and the final segment conductor (SC) of each of the phase windings U, V, and W of the stator coil 24 of the primary stator-rotor pair is made of a I-shaped SC, not U-shapes SC. The primary I-shaped SC of each of the phase windings U, V, and W becomes a terminal lead wire of each of the phase windings U, V, and W. Further, the final I-shaped SC of each of the phase windings U, V, and W is connected to each other and becomes an intermediate voltage node. Each of the stator windings U, V, and W of the stator coil 24 of the primary stator-rotor pair therefore has (2N1/3) turns.
[0074] The terminal lead wires 101 , 102 , and 103 of the phase windings of the stator coil 24 in the primary stator-rotor pair of the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ) must run or be wired to the AC input terminals of the three phase full wave rectifier device 8 over the secondary stator-rotor pair in the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ) along the axis direction of the secondary rotary electric machine 3 (G 2 ).
[0075] In particular, according to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 , the connection lead wires 35 , 36 , and 37 are inserted through the segment conductor accommodation parts P 1 or P 2 (see FIG. 6 ) of space are and the terminal lead wires 101 , 102 , and 103 of the phase windings U, V, and W in the primary stator-rotor pair are connected to the AC input terminals 811 , 812 , and 813 , respectively through the connection lead wires 35 , 36 , and 37 that penetrate through the segment conductor accommodation parts P 1 or P 2 . Further, the front part of the terminal lead wire 101 of the U phase winding is connected to the front part of the connection lead wire 35 by welding. The front part of the terminal lead wire 102 of the V phase winding is connected to the front part of the connection lead wire 36 by welding. The front part of the terminal lead wire 103 of the W phase winding is connected to the front part of the connection lead wire 37 by welding. The rear part of the connection lead wire 35 is connected to the AC input terminal 811 of the three phase full wave rectifier device 81 . The rear part of the connection lead wire 36 is connected to the AC input terminal 812 of the three phase full wave rectifier device 81 . The rear part of the connection lead wire 37 is connected to the AC input terminal 813 of the three phase full wave rectifier device 81 .
[0076] According to the configuration of the tandem rotary electric machine having the above configuration of the connection lead wires 811 , 812 , and 813 and the terminal lead wires 101 , 102 , and 103 in the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair, it is possible to connect the stator coil 24 in the primary rotary electric machine G 1 to the three phase full wave rectifier 81 of the rectifier device 8 efficiently with a compact size without increasing the entire volume or size of the tandem rotary electric machine in addition to the effect obtained by using the sequential segment joining type stator coil having a high occupancy or share of segment conductors (as the stator coil 34 ) in each slot.
MODIFICATIONS
[0077] A description will now be given of various modifications of the configuration of the tandem rotary electric machine of the present invention with reference to FIG. 1 .
[0078] In the embodiment described above, the sequential segment joining type stator coil is adapted to the stator coil 24 in the primary stator-rotor pair of the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ). The present invention is not limited by this configuration. For example, it is possible to apply to the normal wire-wound stator coil, not the sequential segment joining type stator coil, the concept of the present invention, regarding the connection of the connection lead wires and the lead wires. In the winding type stator coil, because coil conductors of a round-cable shape and a circle sectional area are inserted into corresponding slots in the stator cores 23 and 33 , the occupancy rate or share rate of the wires in each slot is small and an idle spaces are present in the slots. Therefore it is possible to insert easily the connection lead wires 35 , 36 , and 27 into the idle spaces in the slots after the completion of the windings of the stator coil.
[0079] It is preferred that the connection lead wire 35 connected to the U phase coil of the stator coil 24 is connected to the rectifier device 8 through the slot through which the U′ phase coil (as shown in FIG. 2 ) of the stator coil 34 is inserted. That is, it is preferred to flow the current in the U′phase sequential segment conductor of the stator coil 34 and the current in the connection lead wire 35 in the same direction, namely, the same phase. Similarly, it is preferred that the connection lead wire 36 connected to the V phase coil of the stator coil 24 is connected to the rectifier device 8 through the slot through which the V′ phase coil (as shown in FIG. 2 ) of the stator coil 34 is inserted. That is, it is preferred to flow the current in the V′ phase sequential segment conductor of the stator coil 34 and the current in the connection lead wire 36 in the same direction, namely the same phase. Still similarly, it is preferred that the connection lead wire 37 connected to the W phase coil of the stator coil 24 is connected to the rectifier device 8 through the slot through which the W′ phase coil (as shown in FIG. 2 ) of the stator coil 34 is inserted. That is, it is preferred to flow the current in the W′ phase sequential segment conductor-of the stator coil 34 and the current in the connection lead wire 37 in same direction (same phase).
Second Embodiment
[0080] A description will now be given of the configuration of the tandem rotary electric machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. 3 .
[0081] In the second embodiment, a DC high voltage output terminal of the three phase full wave rectifier 81 for the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ) is connected to the DC low voltage output terminal of the three phase full wave rectifier 82 for the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ) through a connection node A.
[0082] It is possible to adjust the output voltage ( 12 Volts) and output current from the three phase full wave rectifier 81 by adjusting the magnitude of the exciting current If 1 to be flowing into the field coil 22 . Similarly, it is possible to adjust the output voltage (42 volts) and output current from the three phase full wave rectifier 82 by adjusting the magnitude of the exciting current If 2 to be flowing into the field coil 32 . Thus, through the connection node A, both the high DC voltage (42 volts) output terminal of the three phase full wave rectifier 81 is connected to the low DC voltage (12 Volts) output terminal of the three phase full wave rectifier 82 . This configuration reduces the load of the secondary rotary electric machine (G 2 ) for generating high voltage (42 volts).
Third embodiment
[0083] A description will now be given of the configuration of the tandem rotary electric machine according to the third embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. 4 .
[0084] As shown in FIG. 4 , the slip ring power supply device 10 has a pair of brush 200 and a slip ring 201 contacted to the brush 200 , and a pair of brush 202 and a slip ring 203 contacted to the brush 202 . Reference number 204 designates a transistor for controlling ON/OFF operation of the exciting current flowing through the field coil 22 . Reference number 205 denotes a transistor for controlling ON/OFF operation of the exciting current flowing through the field coil 32 . Reference number 206 indicates an emitter follower transistor for amplifying the base current of the transistor 204 , 207 designates an emitter follower transistor for amplifying the base current of the transistor 205 , and reference character D indicates fly wheel diodes. Those electric components such as the transistors 204 , 205 , 206 , and 207 , and the fly wheel diodes D are fixed to and mounted on the rotor core and are rotated by the rotation of the rotor core. Reference number 208 designates a de-multiplexer, mounted on the rotor core, configured to distribute control signals to be transferred optically from the regulator 9 mounted on the regulator 9 through optical devices such as rotary photo couplers under non-contact condition. As described above, the third embodiment can make the slip ring mechanism with a simple configuration, and thereby reduce the entire size of the tandem rotary electric machine.
Fourth Embodiment
[0085] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a placement of the stators and the stator coil in both the primary and secondary stator-rotor pairs of the tandem rotary electric machine according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
[0086] Each phase of the stator coil 24 has a primary coil and a secondary coil connected in series. The primary coil is made of the sequential segment conductors inserted to and accommodated in the corresponding conductor accommodation part of the first and second layers in each slot. The secondary coil is made of the sequential segment conductors inserted to and accommodated in the corresponding conductor accommodation part of the third and fourth layers in each slot. Similarly, each phase of the stator coil 34 has a primary coil and a secondary coil connected in series. The primary coil is made of the sequential segment conductors inserted to and accommodated in the corresponding conductor accommodation part of the first and second layers in each slot. The secondary coil is made of the sequential segment conductors inserted to and accommodated in the corresponding conductor accommodation part of the third and fourth layers in each slot.
[0087] FIG. 6 shows the placement or arrangement of the stator coil of the U′ phase in the secondary stator-rotor pair 3 of the secondary rotary electric machine section 3 (G 2 ), when the number of the slots in each phase of the stator core 33 is four. FIG. 7 shows the placement or the arrangement of the stator coil of the U phase in the primary stator-rotor pair of the primary rotary electric machine section 2 (G 1 ) when the number of the slots in each phase of the stator core 33 is four.
[0088] In both FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 , the solid lines show U-shaped head parts of the coil ends 242 and 342 of the U-shaped segment conductors placed or arranged at the rear end of the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair. Further, the dotted lines show both leg parts 241 and 341 of the coil ends of the U-shaped segment conductors placed or arranged at the front end of the primary stator-rotor pair and the secondary stator-rotor pair.
[0089] As shown in FIG. 6 , the reference characters P 1 and P 2 indicate the idle space in the slots S 1 and S 2 of the stator core 33 in the secondary stator-rotor pair of the secondary rotate electric machine section 3 (G 2 ) supplying the high voltage (42 volts) power. Reference number 301 denotes an I-shape sequential segment conductor as the terminal lead wire of the U phase winding of the stator core 33 . The I-shape sequential segment conductor 301 also becomes the start end portion of the stator coil 34 wound on the stator core 33 . Reference number 303 designates an I-shape sequential segment conductor as the terminal end portion of the stator coil 34 wound on the stator core 33 . The I-shape sequential segment conductor 303 becomes the middle voltage point. Reference characters S 1 to S 4 denote slot numbers.
[0090] The connection lead wire connected to the I-shaped sequential segment conductor 301 as the start end of the U′ phase winding is connected to the rectifier device 8 through the connection lead wire inserted in one of the idle spaces P 1 and P 2 . Thus, the I-shaped sequential segment conductor 301 is connected to the rectifier device 8 through the connection lead wire and the connection lead wire penetrated through the idle space P 1 or P 2 where no segment conductor is inserted. The selection of the idle space P 1 or P 2 can be performed according to its working efficiency.
[0091] After the completion of the manufacturing of the tandem rotary electric machine, the lead wire becomes a part of the connection lead wire through which the stator coil is electrically connected to the rectifier device 8 .
[0092] While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limited to the scope of the present invention which is to be given the full breadth of the following claims and all equivalent thereof.
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A tandem rotary electric machine for vehicles is equipped with a primary rotary electric machine and a secondary rotary electric machine arranged in tandem mechanism, namely, of a dual stator-rotor pair mechanism. In the tandem rotary electric machine, a connection lead wire connects a stator coil wound on a stator core of the primary stator-rotor pair to a rectifier device through one of accommodation parts formed in slots of the stator core of the secondary stator-rotor pair. This structure reduces the entire size or volume of the tandem rotary electric machine and increases the mechanical safety against the impact or force from outside.
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This invention was made with government support under contract number N00014-89-J-3202 awarded by the Navy. The government has certain rights in the invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to actively controlled structures and in particular to active control of buckling in beams or columns loaded in compression.
For many physical geometries, buckling is a factor limiting the maximum compressive force that may safely be applied to a member. Indeed, for many long slender members, the strength limitation imposed by buckling is several orders of magnitude more important than other factors limiting the loading of the member, such as plastic deformation.
Previous work in active control as it relates to beams and columns has included vibration control for application to large space structures. In particular, one group at MIT has done much work involving the use of piezoelectric actuators to damp out various vibration modes.
Other work has been done at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. As an axial load on a column is increased, bending begins. At about a quarter of the buckling load, this bending becomes quite noticeable. One part of the Catholic University work involves sensing when this bending begins and using Nitinol actuators to reduce the load on the column, thereby preventing the onset of significant bending and preventing buckling of the column. This work appears to make complex structures more robust by shifting weight to other supporting members when one member becomes overloaded.
Another aspect of this work involves the use of Nitinol shape memory wires, embedded within a beam, to control the beam's curvature. This work seems to be aimed at adaptive structure applications, in which it is desirable for a single beam to take on different shapes during different stages in the construction process. For instance, when constructing a long bridge out of smaller segments, actuators can arrange for the bridge segments to arch upwards, both to correct for differences in height between the two land masses being joined by the bridge, and to correct for bending caused by heavy loads crossing the bridge itself.
This nitinol wire approach has also been used to forcibly correct the bending that arises when a beam is axially loaded. It allows the beam to bend as the load approaches (but does not exceed) the buckling mode, and then uses the nitinol wires to stiffen the beam (on a time scale of 3-4 seconds) such that it takes on the desired shape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In general, the invention features increasing the compressive strength of a beam loaded in compression. Briefly, one or more sensors are responsive to shape changes of the loaded beam, and one or more actuators responsive to the sensor are constructed to apply a force to counteract the bending of the beam.
Actively controlled structures, according to the invention, are advantageous in that they may be loaded to levels well in excess of levels that would otherwise cause catastrophic buckling of the structure. These structures may therefore be lighter, stronger and/or less expensive. Structures of this type may not require provisions for shifting weight as the strength of the beam is permanently increased. As axially loaded members find wide application in a variety of structures, the technique of the invention has the potential both to reduce the amount of material a structure requires, and to increase the structure's load bearing capability.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram of an actively controlled column.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of an alternative embodiment of an actively controlled column.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of another alternative embodiment of an actively controlled column.
FIG. 4 is an illustration of an actively controlled truss bridge.
DESCRIPTION
Theoretically, a perfectly uniform, straight column subjected to a large, perfectly centered axial load will not buckle because it is in perfect equilibrium. In a sense, the column does not buckle because it is perfectly balanced and can not decide which direction to buckle towards. Unfortunately, this state is unstable--even the slightest perturbation in the load or the slightest imperfection in the column will lead immediately to buckling. From a structural engineering point of view, this instability renders the column useless under heavy loads, since in the real world beams are not perfectly uniform, and loads are not perfectly axial or perfectly centered.
The invention involves the use of active control to stabilize the otherwise unstable equilibrium condition associated with a beam being perfectly straight and under a perfectly centered axial load. When an external perturbation or material imperfection leads to the onset of buckling, this is measured by sensors. Actuators are then used to push the beam back towards its equilibrium position.
In this method, the onset of buckling is detected very early, while the beam is still very close to its equilibrium position. With the beam nearly at equilibrium, a very small force can be used to push the beam back towards the equilibrium position, effectively altering the direction in which the buckling will occur. By repeating this process of using very small forces to return the beam to the equilibrium position, what would normally be a catastrophic structural failure is reduced to a small oscillation of the beam about its equilibrium point.
In typical use, a sensor and actuator combination will play the role of a virtual brace. Placed at the midpoint of a column, the actuator effectively divides the long column into two smaller columns, each of which is half the length of the original. Since buckling strength increases as the square of the column length, the overall strength of the braced member increases by a factor of four. This corresponds to the elimination of the first buckling mode.
This technique can be applied repeatedly, with two additional sensor/actuator combinations being used to form two virtual braces, to be placed at the midpoint of each of the two half-length members that remain after cancellation of the first buckling mode. In this way, the second buckling mode can be cancelled, resulting in an overall buckling strength increase of a factor of 16. This technique may also be applied simultaneously in two dimensions, preventing buckling in any direction. Furthermore, extra actuators may be used for other purposes, such as to compensate for non-axial loading, such as wind loading.
There are considerations in this repeated application of the method. In some instances, only a few buckling modes can be meaningfully cancelled before material properties other than the buckling load become the factor limiting the overall strength of the member. As this approach is applied repeatedly N times, the effective length of each sub-member decreases by a factor of 2 N , resulting in short column segments. Stabilizing the equilibrium position of these short columns requires the use of greater actuator force than is required for stabilizing long columns. Alternatively, the onset of buckling will need to be reacted to sooner in short columns, before the angular deflection grows to the point where excessive actuator force is required. Additionally, as the number of actuators grows and the effective column lengths grow shorter, the interaction between the various actuators may become significant, and the beam segments may no longer appear to be approximately axially loaded.
Overall, the number of times this technique can be applied (and hence the overall strength increase attainable) will vary both with material type and geometry, and with the set of stresses and potential external perturbations that a particular structure will undergo. However, even if the approach is only used once or twice on a long member, the effect of a factor of four or 16 increase in strength is very significant.
The virtual bracing techniques can be realized using a variety of structural approaches. Referring to FIG. 1, one approach is to fasten a motive element 10 such as a linear induction motor to the midpoint of the column 12. A sensor such as a strain gage is used to measure the deflection of the midpoint of the column (see sensor 32 on FIG. 3). When the sensor indicates that buckling is starting, the motor applies a force that opposes the buckling motion. This force can be generated by accelerating a reaction mass 14. The reaction mass approach is attractive in that it allows a control force to be applied without relying on any other members or ground-based anchors for support.
Asymmetry may limit the effectiveness of the reaction-mass based approach in that an unfortunate sequence of unidirectional perturbations could cause the reaction mass to reach the physical limit of its motion. This can be overcome to some extent by having the motor over-react to perturbations, such that the beam starts to buckle in the opposite direction, giving the reaction mass time to return to the center of its motion range. Nevertheless, it may prove desirable to supplement the reaction-mass force with a method of applying a constant force to the center of the column to correct for asymmetries.
An alternative approach is the use of a set of tendons arranged in a configuration that resembles a boat mast, as shown in FIG. 2. In this configuration, a small beam 16 (the `yard`) is mounted perpendicular to the long column 18. Tendons 20 such as guy wires anchored to the top and bottom of the column are attached to the yard. When buckling is detected, an actuator 22 moves the yard relative to the center of the column. Since the tendons apply forces that resist the motion of the yard, it is the column itself that moves, thereby countering the buckling motion. This approach has a significant advantage over the inertial mass approach in that it is capable of applying a constant force to the beam in order to counter asymmetries (e.g., due to wind loading). Additional material is generally required to form the yard, however, and the forces exerted by the tendons may vary the compressive load applied to the beam.
The active control technique may also be applied to the problem of a boat mast resisting bending caused by wind forces. In the boat mast, the sole force resisting bending is the tension in the tendons. As a result, a relatively long yard must be used in order for a significant component of this force to be directed in the horizontal direction to resist bending. Furthermore, the tension in each tendon must be sufficient to both counter the forces exerted by the other tendon, and to resist the bending motion of the column. By utilizing a `smart yard` that actively pushes on the appropriate tendon to counter bending, it is feasible to use a much shorter (hence lighter) yard. The unidirectional force applied by the `smart yard` would also reduce the need for simultaneous large tension in both tendons, as each tendon would no longer be resisting the forces exerted by the other.
The active control technique can be applied to many variations of the structures described above. Referring to FIG. 3, for instance, in the tendon approach, rather than mounting the motor 24 on the yard 26 itself, the motor could be located remotely. Buckling would be resisted by varying the relative tension between the two tendons 28, rather than by moving the yard relative to the column 30. The imbalance in the tension of the tendons engaging the yard would lead to a net horizontal force being applied to the yard, which in turn would counter the buckling motion of the beam. Other possibilities include the use of compressed gas or water jets to apply force to the center of the beam.
For the inertial mass approach, linear induction motors can provide large actuation forces in a compact package. These linear motors are well suited for the inertial mass approach. For the active yard approach, hydraulic motive elements have the ability to provide a constant force with no power drain, which is useful for countering asymmetries. Hydraulics have the further advantage that the pressure source may be located remotely, permitting a relatively lightweight, yet powerful actuator to be mounted on the column itself. Many other motive element types, such as DC motors, are readily available and usable. Sensors to track the motion of a beam or column are also readily available, such as strain gages and piezoelectric sensors, which may be mounted directly on a beam. In addition, various fiber-optic and laser based sensing devices may be used.
This technique may be accomplished by constructing an active column, as illustrated in FIG. 3, using a variant of the tendon/yard based approach described earlier. A set of strain gages may be used to measure curvature of the beam, thereby detecting the onset of buckling. The strain gage signal may be amplified (36), and then transmitted to a controller 34. The controller determines the appropriate reaction force required to counteract the buckling motion, and then applies this force to the beam. The actuator may be a permanent magnet electrical motor, which applies a torque that varies the relative tension between the two tendons, thereby applying a net horizontal force to the midpoint of the column.
One demonstrative embodiment may be constructed of a 12 inch long, 2 inch wide piece of very thin steel (0.010 inches). The controller may be implemented using a programmable computer equipped with an analog interface card that allows it to sense and respond to beam motion in real time. The use of the computer allows fast experimentation with different control strategies. The controller may be implemented as single chip analog circuit, or as a single chip microprocessor with an analog interface.
A variety of control algorithms may be used to allow the beam to be loaded above its critical buckling load. Proper control design can allow the actuator to be constructed to modulate the actuating force on a time scale that is sufficiently small to allow it to be less than approximately 100 times smaller than the loading force and still prevent significant loss of loading strength or catastrophic failure. For many smaller beams, the actuator will be required to modulate the force on a time scale on the order of hundredths of a second.
The applications of this work may be quite widespread. Many bridges are composed of trusses, such that the length of the bridge is limited by the buckling resistance of a beam subjected to axial loading. FIG. 4 illustrates how this technology may be applied to a truss bridge 40, producing a bridge that is both stronger and lighter than would otherwise be possible. This bridge, composed of "Smart Beams," 38 may be strengthened by using active control to increase the buckling strength of compressively loaded members. Vibration control actuators may be employed to prevent undesirable interactions between the active beams in such a structure.
Other applications include making boat masts with active yard's that are both shorter and lighter, and earthquake engineering applications in which certain members must be strong at certain times, but allowed to flex and buckle at other times. Structures subjected to sudden compressive loading, such as airplane landing gear, could also be strengthened by this technology.
Certain types of ship designs have a compressively loaded beam running the entire length of the ship. When subjected to the periodic excitation of wave action, this beam buckles slightly, eventually leading to failure. Active control could be used to apply force to the midpoint of this column, thereby countering the buckling effect of the wave action, increasing the life of the beam.
Other modifications and implementations will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as claimed. Accordingly, the invention is to be defined not by the proceeding illustrative description, but by the following claims.
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Apparatus and method for increasing the compressive strength of a beam loaded in compression. A sensor is responsive to shape changes of the loaded beam, and an actuator responsive to the sensor is constructed to apply a force to counteract the bending of the beam.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for thermally affecting graft organs during harvesting and transplantation procedures. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an insulation jacket that may cool graft organs during harvesting procedures and may insulate the graft organ from heat sources during transplantation.
[0002] Transplantation surgery is one of the leading and fastest growing surgical technologies of our time. The rapid development of this field is due to current organ donation policies, changes in public awareness and viewpoints pertaining to the necessity for donors, and recent technical innovations that are making transplantations easier and safer to perform. While technological improvements have reduced some of the complications associated with transplantation surgery, other severe complications continue to exist.
[0003] One of the most frequent complications in transplantation surgeries is ischemia. Ischemia is the reduction or stoppage of flow of oxygen and nutrients to living cells. Ischemia may have drastic consequences, including apoptosis and senescence, which entails the death of the oxygen and nutrient deprived cells. Unfortunately, because the supply of blood and nutrients ceases when a graft organ is removed from a donor's body, ischemia is always present in transplantation procedures.
[0004] Ischemia has been the central focus of numerous research projects and studies. As a result of these studies, many theories have been developed to better explain the detection and consequences of ischemia and to suggest how to slow down its damaging effects. Previous attempts to limit the consequences of ischemia, and thereby improve graft organ preservation, include training centers for surgeons devoted to reducing operation time and improving implantation techniques, the development of drugs designed to protect cells from entering into apoptosis, and the cooling of donated graft organs prior to implantation.
[0005] From these studies and projects, two types of ischemia have been defined, namely warm ischemia and cold ischemia. Warm ischemia typically begins when the blood supply to the organ is stopped and the graft organ is removed from the donor's body. The onset of apoptosis during warm ischemia typically occurs extremely fast and leads to irreversible damages. Injury due to warm ischemia has had a severe influence on the viability and post-transplantation outcome of organ grafts. However, after many years of research, it was discovered that the apoptosis process could be slowed down by reducing the temperature of the graft organ, which is known as cold ischemia.
[0006] Cold ischemia reduces the temperature of the removed graft organ so that enzymatic activity is delayed or stops altogether. The slowing of the apoptosis process through the use of cold ischemia significantly reduces the presence of irreversible complications. For example, while exposure of the graft organ to warm ischemia is measured in minutes, cold ischemia is measured in hours. Thus, the discovery of the benefits of cold ischemia over warm ischemia was a big step towards improving the success of transplantation procedures.
[0007] Yet, injuries due to cold and warm ischemia remain an important source of morbidity and mortality in some transplantation procedures. For instance, while cold ischemia may slow the apoptosis process, the graft organ may be irreparably damaged if cooled below 4° Celsius. Further, similar to warm ischemia, there is a time limit on how long a graft organ may withstand cold ischemia.
[0008] However, because of the benefits offered by cold ischemia, graft organs are prepared for transplantation in a cold environment. A graft organ is typically reduced to a temperature of approximately 4° Celsius. However, during the implantation operation, the temperature of the graft organ gradually increases and results in the onset of undesirable warm ischemia. This increase in temperature may be facilitated by the exposure of the graft organ to a number of different heat sources, including warmth from the recipient's body, the surgeon's hands, operating lights, general room illumination, room temperature, and operating instruments.
[0009] Many existing cooling packs are designed to cool a variety of items, including food, beverages, and biological materials, such as organs. Such cooling packs may be similar to ice packs in which a sealed pouch is filled with a thermal cooling agent that is converted to a frozen solid state when cooled, whereupon the cooling agent may no longer be malleable. Other prior art devices include a thermal cooling agent that does not transform into a solid state when cooled. However, these thermal cooling agents are often contain within a single bladder-like enclosure or a series of individual chambers that are in communication with adjacent chambers. The problem with such configurations is that if one section of the bladder or a single chamber is accidentally or purposefully breached, a significant portion, if not all, of the cooling agent may flow out of the cooling pack, and thus hinder or ruin the ability of the cooling pack to function.
[0010] Further, prior art cooling packs may have a general, non-organ specific shape or configuration. Unfortunately, in organ transplantation and harvesting operations, the general shape of a cooling pack may result in unnecessary interference with the field of operation. Additionally, by not providing a cooling pack that is configured for use with a specific type of graft organ, the prior art devices may not, when at least partially secured about a graft organ, provide openings through which graft organ vessels or veins may pass away from the graft organ and cooling pack. The lack of openings may prevent the surgeon from having access to necessary vessels and veins during a harvesting or transplantation procedure.
[0011] Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to prevent or delay the warming of a graft organ during an implantation process.
[0012] It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for insulating a graft organ placed inside a recipient's body during a transplantation operation and thereby prevent the onset of warm ischemia.
[0013] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a thin organ insulation jacket that is configured to have the general shape of the particular graft organ that is being harvested or transplanted.
[0014] It is another object of the present invention to provide an organ insulation jacket that provides a surgeon with access to required vessels of the graft organ during transplantation surgery while the insulation jacket continues to enclose at least a portion of the graft organ.
[0015] It is a further object of the present invention to provide an insulation jacket that may be sterilized so that the graft organ may be enclosed by the insulation jacket while inside a patient's body during a transplantation procedure.
[0016] It is also an object of the present invention to provide a insulation jacket that may include a non-toxic and sterile cooling material that may reduce the temperature of the graft organ, the cooling material being able to retain a malleable nature when cooled to desired implantation temperatures.
[0017] A least one of the preceding objects is met, in whole or in part, by the present invention, which will become apparent in view of the present specification, including the claims and drawings.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0018] The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for insulating graft organs during harvesting and transplantation procedures. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an insulation jacket that may enclose at least a portion of a graft organ and which may be sterilized so as to be capable of being placed within the body of a patient during a harvesting and transplantation operation. The insulation jacket includes a body portion that may be constructed from a flexible surgical grade plastic, insulation foam, or a thermo mass, for example a dense gel. The body portion may also be operably connected to connectors that allow the body portion to be secured in a closed position when manipulated about at least a portion of a graft organ. In one embodiment of the present invention, the body portion may be configured to form a plurality of pillows, the pillows being configured to contain a non-toxic sterile cooling material. In such an embodiment, the cooling material may assist in reducing the temperature of the graft organ to desired transplantation temperatures. Further, some embodiments of the present invention may also include at least one layer of insulation that may assist in insulating the graft organ and/or cooling materials from outside heat sources. The selection of materials for the body portion and, when used, the sterile nature of the cooling material allows the insulation jacket to be placed inside a patient's body during harvesting and transplantation surgery.
[0019] The body portion includes inner and outer walls and may be specifically shaped for a particular type of organ and its attached veins and vessels, such as, but not limited to, a heart, liver, lung, pancreas, and kidney. The body portion may be comprised of at least one panel. The panel may be operably connected to an adjacent panel through the use of an adhesive. The body portion may also be configured so that, when enclosed about at least a portion of the graft organ, the insulation jacket includes openings which may be positioned around vessels and arteries of the graft organ so that the vessels may pass through or extend away from the insulation jacket. These openings in the insulation jacket provide the surgeon with access to organ vessels, which allows the surgeon to conduct the transplantation surgery while at least a portion of the graft organ remains enclosed in the insulation jacket.
[0020] The non-toxic sterile cooling material may include, but is not limited to, a sterile liquid or gel. The selected cooling material may be capable of retaining a malleable condition when cooled to a temperature of approximately 4° Celsius. Each of the plurality of pillows may not be in communication with adjacent pillows, and thus the puncture or rupture of one pillow may not result in the loss of cooling material from adjacent pillows. Therefore, in the event that a pillow is punctured, torn, or ruptures, adjacent pillows may still retain the chilled or unchilled cooling material.
[0021] Further, the selection of materials for the body portion may also allow the body portion to have an elastic nature. For example, the flexible nature of some surgical grade plastics may allow at least some areas of the body portion between the non-communicating pillows to function as elastic bands. Besides connecting adjacent pillows, the flexible nature of any such elastic bands could assist in the ability of the insulation jacket to be manipulated about the specific graft organ that the insulation jacket was designed to at least partially enclose.
[0022] In some embodiments of the present invention, the body portion may be operably connected to at least one layer of insulation. The insulation may be operably affixed along at least a portion of the inner wall and/or outer wall of the body portion of the insulation jacket. Also, the layer of insulation may be constructed from a number of different materials, including, but not limited to, a closed cell insulating foam, including a polyethylene closed cell foam. Further, the layer of insulation may be thin and malleable in nature so as to not interfere with the flexibility of the body portion. The layer of insulation may also serve as a wall of the body portion.
[0023] When used, the insulation jacket may be placed around the organ before transplantation into the recipient, including prior to harvesting the graft organ from the donor's body. For example, when possible, to further attempt to minimize the onset of warm ischemia, it may be preferable to not cut the vessels supplying blood and oxygen to the harvested organ until the insulation jacket has been placed around the graft organ. Once secured around the graft organ, the graft organ may be removed from the donor's body. The graft organ may then be prepared for implantation into the body of the recipient.
[0024] While being prepared for transplantation, the organ is preferably maintained at approximately 4° Celsius. During the transplantation operation, the graft organ may remain enclosed at least in part by the insulation jacket so as to prevent damage to the cells that is associated with warm ischemia. For embodiments of the present invention that include a plurality of pillows, because the pillows may not be in communication with adjacent pillows, the loss of cooling material in pillows that are damaged (i.e. pillows that may be ruptured, punctured, tom, severed, or pierced) may not cause undamaged adjacent pillows to lose any of their cooling material. Therefore, the surgeon may accidentally or purposely remove cooling material from some pillows without completely destroying the ability of the insulation jacket to continue to cool the graft organ.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates an inside elevation view of an insulation jacket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket configured to enclose at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross sectional view of the pillows of an insulation jacket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0028] FIG. 4 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having a plurality of panels and connectors in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0029] FIG. 5 illustrates a partial, cross-sectional end view of an insulation jacket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0030] FIG. 6 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having an insulated outer wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0031] FIG. 7 illustrates a cross sectional view of an insulation jacket having an insulated outer wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0032] FIG. 8 illustrates of an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having a plurality of panels and connectors in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0033] FIG. 9 illustrates a partial, cross-sectional end view of an insulation jacket having insulation on the outer wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0034] FIG. 10 illustrates an inside elevation view of an insulation jacket having an insulated outer wall and an inner wall that is not insulated in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0035] FIG. 11 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having an insulated outer wall and an insulated inner wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0036] FIG. 12 illustrates a cross sectional view of the insulation jacket that is insulated on both the inner wall and outer wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0037] FIG. 13 illustrates of an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having a plurality of panels and connectors in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0038] FIG. 14 illustrates a partial, cross-sectional end view of an insulation jacket having insulation on both the inner wall and outer wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0039] FIG. 15 illustrates an inside elevation view of insulation jacket having an insulated inner and outer wall in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0040] FIG. 16 illustrates an inside elevation view of an insulation jacket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of an insulation foam.
[0041] FIG. 17 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket configured to enclose at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of an insulation foam.
[0042] FIG. 18 illustrates a cross sectional view of the closed cells of an insulation jacket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of an insulation foam.
[0043] FIG. 19 illustrates of an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having a plurality of panels and connectors in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of an insulation foam.
[0044] FIG. 20 illustrates an inside elevation view of an insulation jacket in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of a thermo mass.
[0045] FIG. 21 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket configured to enclose at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of a thermo mass.
[0046] FIG. 22 illustrates of an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket having a plurality of panels and connectors in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of a thermo mass.
[0047] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of certain embodiments of the present invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings, certain embodiments. It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not limited to the arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the attached drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0048] FIG. 1 illustrates an inside elevation view of an insulation jacket 10 that is configured to enclose at least a portion of a graft organ 15 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The insulation jacket 10 may include a body portion 11 and a plurality of connectors. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the body portion 11 has an inner wall 12 and an outer wall 14 and may be constructed from relatively thin and flexible surgical grade plastics. Further, the inner wall 12 and outer wall 14 may be separate pieces of flexible surgical grade plastics that are operably connected, such as through the use of adhesive materials, to form the body portion 11 . The size and shape of the body portion 11 may be determined by the specific type of graft organ 15 . More specifically, the insulation jacket 11 may be contoured and sized to enclose at least a portion of a specific organ, for example a heart, liver, lung, or kidney, while still providing access to the vessels 17 of the graft organ 15 .
[0049] For example, as is known, different types of graft organs have different shapes and sizes. More specifically, although the actual size of a graft organ may vary from person to person, generally, a normal adult liver may be 28 cm long, 8 cm in height, and 18 cm in antero-posterior thickness. Further, an average kidney in a living adult may weigh from 2000 to 2500 grams, while the liver in a cadaver may weigh 1400 to 1500 grams. Although the actual dimensions of the kidney of an adult may vary depending on a variety of factors, including sex, age, and pathology, a normal adult kidney may be 10 to 12 cm long vertically, 5 to 6 cm wide, have a 3 cm antero-posterior thickness, and weigh 115 to 150 grams. Additionally, while a variety of factors may also affect the size of a lung, a lung removed from an adult of intermediary respiratory status may have a vertical length of 25 cm, a width at the base of 15 cm, a transversal base measurement of 10 cm, and a weight of 700 grams. Therefore, by designing the shape of the body portion 11 to cover at least a portion of specific type of graft organ 15 , the organ specific body portion 11 may occupy a minimal amount of space in the operation field and thus may minimize the potential risk that the insulation jacket 10 may interfere with the vision or maneuverability of the surgeon during an implantation operation.
[0050] While the body portion 11 may be a single panel 20 that is designed to encompass at least a portion of a graft organ 15 , in the illustrated embodiment, the body portion 11 may be comprised of a plurality of panels 20 a , 20 b , 20 c that are operably connected to an adjacent panel. In such an embodiment, the panels 20 a , 20 b , 20 c may be operably connected to an adjacent panel through the use of an adhesive. The location of the attachment of panels 20 a , 20 b , 20 c may result in the formation of creases 19 a , 19 b between adjacent panels 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . Because the insulation jacket 10 may be designed for use with a specific type of graft organ 15 , the creases 19 a , 19 b may be positioned in locations in which the body portion 11 is folded about at least a portion of the graft organ, thereby assisting in preventing the formation of undesirable protruding points and corners that may harm adjacent tissue or take up additional space in the operating field.
[0051] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross sectional view the pillows of an insulation jacket 10 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 3 , the inner wall 12 and outer wall 14 of the body portion 11 may be configured to allow for the formation of a plurality of pillows 22 . The pillows 22 may include an inner section 25 that is configured to contain a cooling material. The cooling material may be a sterile liquid or gel that will not freeze solid when cooled to temperatures of at least approximately 4° Celsius and which will remain malleable at low temperatures. Suitable cooling material include, but are not limited to, Aquasonic™ Clear ultrasound gel from Parker Laboratories Inc. of Fairfield, N.J., lubricants such as K-Y™ lubricants offered by a division of McNeil-P.P.C., Inc. of Skillman, N.J., a Johnson and Johnson company, and saline solutions.
[0052] In the illustrated embodiment, the pillows 22 may not be in communication with other adjacent pillows 22 , but instead may be separated so that the tearing or puncturing of one pillow 22 will not result in the loss of cooling material from an adjacent undamaged pillow 22 . In the illustrated embodiment, the connection of the inner wall 12 and outer wall 14 across the interconnecting region between adjacent non-communicating pillows 22 allows for the formation of bands 23 . Because of the flexible nature of the material used for the body portion 11 , the bands 23 may be elastic in nature and thus may assist in providing flexibility and/or plasticity to the body portion 11 .
[0053] FIG. 2 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket 10 configured in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Connectors may be used to secure the body portion 11 around at least a portion of the graft organ 15 . The connectors may include, but are not limited to, mating strips of hook and loop material, staples, tape, and adhesives.
[0054] FIG. 4 illustrates an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket 10 having a plurality of panels 20 a , 20 b , 20 c and connectors in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the connectors may include mating strips of hook and loop material in which a first strip 26 is positioned to attach to a mating second strip 28 when the body portion 11 is partially secured around a graft organ 15 . Further, in the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 , and 4 , the connectors may be operably attached to the outer wall 14 of the body portion 11 , including through the use of an adhesive material.
[0055] As also illustrated in FIG. 4 , the contours and shape of the body portion 11 allow the insulation jacket 10 to enclose at least a portion of the graft organ 15 while still providing openings 18 for the vessels 17 and/or arteries of the graft organ 15 to pass out of the insulation jacket 10 . By providing these openings 18 , a surgeon may have access to the main vessels 17 and/or veins while the insulation jacket 10 is placed around at least a portion of the graft organ 15 during the removal and/or subsequent transplantation of the graft organ 15 .
[0056] FIG. 5 illustrates a partial, cross-sectional end view of an insulation jacket 10 of FIG. 4 . When wrapped about at least a portion of a graft organ (not shown), the surface of the pillows 22 along the inner wall 12 may come into direct contact with at least a portion of the enclosed graft organ. In such an embodiment, because of the potential direct physical contact between the surface of the pillows 22 along the inner wall 12 and the graft organ, the temperature of the cooling material contained within the pillows 22 should not be reduced to temperatures that may cause damage to the graft organ. More particularly, the temperature of the pillows 22 and cooling material contained therein preferably should not be cooled to be below 4° Celsius so as to ensure that the tissue and cells of the graft organ that come into contact with the pillows 22 are not unnecessarily damaged.
[0057] FIGS. 6, 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 illustrate another embodiment of the present invention in which the insulation jacket 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 also includes an outer layer of insulation 30 along at least a portion of the outer wall 14 . The outer layer of insulation 30 may be operably attached to the body portion 11 , including through the use of an adhesive. For example, the outer layer of insulation 30 may be adhered to the outer wall 14 . Further, as shown, the outer layer of insulation 30 may also be operably connected to the first and second strips 26 , 28 of the connectors, such as through the use of an adhesive material. Additionally, the outer layer of insulation 30 may be comprised of an insulation foam, including, but not limited to, a closed cell insulating foam, for example a polyethylene foam. Alternatively, the outer layer of insulation 30 may be comprised of multiple layers of sterile drapes that are encapsulated in a surgical grade material. By placing the outer layer of insulation 30 along the outer wall 14 , the outer layer of insulation 30 may insulate the insulation jacket 10 from outside heat sources, including, but not limited to, heat from the body of the patient, surgical lights, and surgical equipment, and thereby assist in retaining the cool temperature of the cooling material and/or graft organ 15 for longer periods of time. Similarly, the layer of insulation may be positioned along a portion of the inner wall 12 of the insulation jacket 10 rather than being along the outer wall 14 , as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.
[0058] FIGS. 11, 12 , 13 , 14 , and 15 illustrate yet another embodiment of the insulation jacket 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 in which both the inner and outer walls 12 , 14 are insulated. As previously discussed, at least a portion of the outer wall 14 may be operably connected to an outer layer of insulation 30 and may also be operably connected to the connectors. Similarly, at least a portion of the inner wall 12 may be operably connected to an inner layer of insulation 32 , including through the use of an adhesive. As with the outer layer of insulation 30 , the inner layer of insulation 32 may be comprised of an insulation foam, for example a closed cell foam, or alternatively, may be comprised of multiple layers of sterile drapes that are encapsulated in a surgical grade material.
[0059] By insulating both the inner and outer walls 12 , 14 , the cooling medium may be able to maintain desirable temperatures during organ harvesting and/or transplantation procedures for longer periods of time so as to prevent or delay the harmful affects of warm ischemia. For example, the inner layer of insulation 32 may prevent the warming of the cooling material contained within the plurality of pillows 22 from exposure to the body heat of a patient. Additionally, the presence of the inner layer of insulation 32 may allow for the temperature of the cooling material to be lower than what may typically be achieved in embodiments that do not include an inner layer of insulation 32 , such as temperatures below approximately 4° Celsius. In such circumstances, because the inner layer of insulation 32 does not function as a cooling source, but instead is an insulator, the inner layer of insulation 32 is able to insulate the cooling material from outside heat sources and ambient temperatures while also acting as a buffer against the direct exposure of the graft organ 15 to the pillows 22 and the cooled cooling material contained therein. By acting as a buffer, the inner layer of insulation 32 may prevent damage to the graft organ 15 and its tissue that may otherwise occur from direct contact with the chilled pillows 22 . In such embodiments, the inner layer of insulation 32 may reach a thickness of approximately one-half an inch.
[0060] The method for using the insulation jacket 10 of the present invention includes chilling the cooling material contained within the insulation jacket 10 . One factor considered in determining the appropriate chilling temperature for the cooling material is what temperatures the graft organ may be exposed to without causing cell and tissue damage. As previously discussed, the cooling material may be chilled so that when the insulation jacket 10 encloses at least a portion of the graft organ 15 , the temperature of the portion of the insulation jacket 10 that comes into direct contact with the graft organ 15 should not be chilled to below approximately 4° Celsius. However, if the insulation jacket 10 includes an inner layer of insulation 32 , the cooling material may be exposed to lower chilling or even freezing temperatures than what may be acceptable for embodiments of the present invention that do not include an inner layer of insulation 32 .
[0061] As illustrated in FIGS. 4, 8 , and 13 , the insulation jacket 10 may include openings 18 that allow the insulation jacket 10 to be placed around at least a portion of the graft organ 15 before the graft organ 15 is severed from the body of the donor. Further, when harvesting a graft organ 15 , because the pillows 22 may not be in communication with adjacent pillows 22 , the surgeon may elect to puncture some pillows 22 in order to improve the positioning and/or enclosure of the insulation jacket 10 about at least a portion of the graft organ 15 or to improve the field of operation without destroying the cooling capabilities of insulation jacket 10 .
[0062] After preparing the graft organ 15 for transplantation, at least a portion of the graft organ 15 is enclosed by the insulation jacket 10 prior to the insertion of the graft organ 15 into the body of the recipient. During this aspect of the procedure, the openings 18 provide the surgeon with access to the vessels 17 of the graft organ 15 needed for reattaching the graft organ 15 in the body of the recipient. This access permits the insulation jacket 10 to continue enclosing at least a portion of the graft organ 15 during the transplantation surgery, and thus may prevent or delay the onset of warm ischemia. As with the harvesting process, during the transplantation procedure, because of the sterile non-toxic nature of the cooling material, the surgeon also may elect to puncture some of the pillows 22 without destroying the cooling capabilities of the insulation jacket 10 or harming the graft organ 15 or patient. Upon completion of the transplantation procedure, the insulation jacket 10 may be removed from the body of the patient. Given the nature of use, the insulation jacket may be used for only one transplantation operation.
[0063] FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrate inside and outside elevation views of an insulation jacket 50 in accordance with alternative embodiment of the present invention in which insulation jacket 50 includes a body portion 40 that is comprised of an insulation foam, for example a polyethylene closed cell foam. The body portion 40 may have an inner wall 44 and an outer wall 46 , as further shown in FIG. 18 . The body portion 40 may also be comprised of a single panel or a plurality of panels 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , in which case the plurality of panels 42 a , 42 b , 42 c may be operably connected to the adjacent panel, including being connected through the use of adhesives.
[0064] FIG. 19 illustrates of an outside elevation view of an insulation jacket 50 having a plurality of panels 42 a , 42 b , 42 c and connectors 48 in which the insulation jacket is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention in which the body portion is comprised of an insulation foam. As shown, the insulation jacket 50 may be operably secured around at least a portion of the graft organ 15 through the use of connectors 48 , including mating strips of hook and loop material, staples, tape, and adhesives. Additionally, the connectors 48 may be operably secured to the body portion 50 , for example through the use of an adhesive material. Further, the body portion 40 may also be configured to generally conform to the shape of a specific type of a graft organ 15 . By configuring the shape of the body portion 40 to generally conform to the shape of the graft organ 15 , the insulation jacket 50 may have improved insulation characteristics while also minimizing the space in the operation field that is occupied by said insulation jacket 50 when the insulation jacket 50 is enclosed about at least a portion of the graft organ 15
[0065] In an alternative embodiment of the insulation jacket 50 illustrated in FIG. 19 , either the inner wall 44 or the outer wall 46 of the body portion 40 may be operably connected to a liner. For example, the liner, which may be constructed from a flexible surgical grade plastic, may be connected to at least a portion of the inner wall 44 or outer wall 46 through the use of an adhesive material. When connected to the inner wall 44 or the outer wall 46 of the body portion 40 , the liner may be configured to form a plurality of non-communicating pillows between said liner and the inner wall 44 or outer wall 46 . The pillows may contain a cooling material that may assist in cooling or retaining the chilled temperature of a graft organ. In such an embodiment, the selection of material for the body portion 40 , for example the use of a closed cell foam, may prohibit cooling material contained within the pillows from leaking or seeping through the inner or outer walls 44 , 46 of the body portion 40 respectively.
[0066] FIGS. 20 and 21 illustrate inside and outside elevation views of an insulation jacket 60 in accordance with another alternative embodiment of the present invention in which insulation jacket 60 includes a body portion 61 that is comprised of an thermo mass 62 , for example a polyethylene closed cell foam. The thermo mass 62 may include an inner wall 64 and an outer wall 64 and may be comprised of, but is not limited to, a dense rubber thermo conductor gel, for example commercially available Akton™ Polymer from Action Products of Hagerstown, Md. In the illustrated embodiment, the thermo mass may be ¼ inch thick. In such an embodiment, the thermo mass 62 may have a sufficient density so that the thermo mass 62 may not have to be contained within a separate bladder, while still being sufficiently plyable so as to allow the body portion 61 to be manipulated about at least a portion of the graft organ 15 .
[0067] FIG. 21 illustrates an outside elevation view of the insulation jacket 60 in which the insulation jacket 60 is secured about at least a portion of a graft organ 15 . As with the previous embodiments, the thermo mass 62 may be shaped to conform to the shape of the graft organ 15 while still provide openings for the passage and/or access to the vessels 17 of the graft organ 15 . Further, the body portion 61 may be operably connected to at least one connector 68 , the connector 68 being configured to assist in securing the insulation jacket 60 about at least a portion of the graft organ 60 . Additionally, the inner wall 64 and/or outer wall 66 of the body portion 61 may be operably connected to at least one layer of insulation, the at least one layer of insulation being configured to insulate the graft organ 15 from outside heat sources and assist in retaining the cool temperature of the chilled graft organ 15 .
[0068] While the invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
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A method and apparatus for thermally affecting graft organs during harvesting and transplantation operations. An insulation jacket is configured to conform to the shape of the graft organ. The insulation jacket includes a body portion constructed from a flexible surgical grade plastic, insulation foam, or thermo mass. The body portion may include a plurality of non-communicating pillows capable of retaining a malleable condition when chilled to desired implantation temperatures. The selection of material for the body portion and the sterile nature of the cooling material allow the insulation jacket to be placed inside a patient's body during surgery. When secured about a graft organ, the insulation jacket provides openings for access to graft organ vessels, thereby allowing the implantation surgery to proceed while at least a portion of the graft organ remains enclosed in the insulation jacket. The insulation jacket may also include at least one layer of insulation.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of priority to PCT/BR2013/000075, filed Mar. 13, 2013, which claims priority to Brazilian Patent No. BR102012008340-0, filed Mar. 19, 2012, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention refers to a process and a system for dry recovery of fine and superfine-grained oxidized iron ore from iron-mining waste basins (also known as tailings). The invention further deals with a magnetic separation unit to separate the fine-grained oxidized iron ore (generally in the form of hematite) using a dry process.
In this regard, the present invention aims to improve the recovery of iron ore still contained in mining dumps, often considered as waste, by providing high metallurgical and mass recoveries. Thus, it is possible to obtain a commercially superior product, more precisely an oxidized iron ore concentrate with Fe-contents higher than 63%. Such result represents a significant advance from the environmental point of view, if one considers the risk that is historically represented by wastes of the mining industry in Brazil and in the rest of the world.
The innovatory characteristics of the dry process in the present invention advantageous and simultaneously meet the economical, environmental and strategic requirements of the mining industry, enabling the improved recovery of the ore wastes that constitute a risk of high environmental impact, changing them into commercial products in a technically and economically feasible manner. In this dry process no water is used, and the final residue will be a stack of waste, without the need to further waste tailings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
At the beginning of the mining activities on an industrial scale, little was known about the techniques for waste disposal. The low interest in this area was still due to the fact that the amount of generated waste was reasonably small and the environmental problems were not yet part of the operational concerns of the industry.
In this regard, the waste was usually thrown at into water streams in a random manner. However, with the expansion of the mining sector, the growing social concern about the environmental issues, as well as the occurrence of a few accidents involving waste retention tailings since the 1970's in various parts of the world, including Brazil, the challenge of guaranteeing the operation of the industrial units was imposed on the mining companies with a view to minimize the environmental impacts and to reduce the risks of accidents, through more secure and optimized projects.
In general, three techniques are used for disposing mining wastes, namely:
by wet way in tailings,
by dry way in waste stacks, or
by using the paste-fill technology.
The difference between the wet-way disposal and the dry-way disposal is that, in the wet way at tailings, there is also retention of liquids along with the solid material discarded. High intensity magnetic separation is traditionally adopted for continuous flow of material, operating normally wet, a process known intentionally as WHIMS—Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separation.
The paste-fill disposal is an alternative to conventional practices, with advantages like greater recovery and recirculation of water, larger resting angles and reduced environmental impact. However, this process is carried out at high implantation and operation costs.
For instance, the Brazilian Patent Application BR PI 0803327-7 discloses a magnetic concentration process with low consumption of water and low generation of waste slurry. The wet magnetic separation and disposal of the magnetic waste may decrease the release of large volumes of solid waste into decantation tailings. However, this process does not deal with the waste recovery. So, there is no effective decrease in the environmental risk inherent of the mining activity.
Another document, the patent application BR PI0103652-1 describes a process of recovering residues from iron oxide. These residues may be obtained directly by recovering fines from metallurgy reduction processes, as well as the deviation of return of fines from companies that supply iron ore to iron and steel companies. The material is loaded onto a feed silo and follows through chutes and conveyor belts into a rotary drying oven. The dry material is unloaded for stock without passing through any sorting/concentration process or it is led directly to the reduction furnaces by a conveyor-belt system.
With regard to the step of drying/disaggregating the waste for subsequent separation, the prior art usually employs a rotary drum dryer. By this technique, the presence of fines in the dryer results in formation of an expressive amount (30 to 50%) of pellets inside the dryer (which obviously is contrary to the objective of recovering fines), leading to a low efficiency rate of the equipment for coarse particles and even greater inefficiency for fine particles.
Fluid-bed dryers are recommended for coarse particles that enable the formation of fluid beds, but it is impossible to form a fluid bed for fine particles.
Spray Dry is widely used today in the ceramic industries especially in preparing masses for the process of manufacturing porcelain floors. However, in the Spray Dry, it is necessary to form a pulp with 50% solids for promoting the spraying of particles to be injected against a current of hot air. Feeding 500 ton/h of feedstock requires more than 500 m 3 of water, which makes the operational cost unfeasible.
As to the magnetic separation process usually employed in the prior art, one usually employs a magnetic roll equipment, or a high-intensity permanent magnet drum, the efficiency of which is satisfactory for separating materials dimensionally higher than 100 μm.
For materials with dimensions lower than 100 μm, the high-intensity magnetic roll separator, as it has been employed, has proved to be inefficient. This inefficiency results from the fact that, at the moment when the particles are expelled from the conveyor belt, the particle separation take place to the proportion between the magnetic and centrifugal forces to which the particles are subjected.
Thus, for particles with dimension lower than 100 μm, in most cases the magnetic force is higher than the centrifugal force, which also leads to the conduction also of non-magnetic particles to the zone intended for receiving magnetic particles.
In view of the average granulometric distribution of the material in waste basins with d50 of 27 microns, which means that 50% of the passing material is at 27 microns, and a d80 of 51 microns, which means that 80% of the passing material is at 51 microns, it is possible to consider an extremely fine material, difficult to dry by conventional methods.
Prior art reference U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,713, published on Aug. 28, 2013 is directed to the separation of metallic iron obtained from the reduction of ilmenite with carbon, provided with a rotating magnetic drum which does not have the required magnetic intensity to separate fines and superfines as aimed by the present invention.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,717, published on Mar. 2, 1982 discloses an equipment for recycling urban waste, and recyclable materials such as aluminum cans, wherein the magnets used therein are ferrite magnets (iron-boron) whereby the maximum intensity of 1,500 Gauss is not sufficient to separate the oxidized iron minerals, such as hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ).
A further prior document, U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,951, refers to an inner drum magnetic separator with several magnet devices alternating north and south, which in the bottom of the drum collects the magnetic minerals of high magnetic susceptibility, such as metallic iron in the recycling of industrial and household waste, made of ferrite magnets (iron-boron), with a maximum intensity of 1,750 Gauss, thus with a magnetic field that is also insufficient to separate the oxidized iron minerals such as hematite.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,071 discloses a magnetic drum, developed for separation of metallic iron in metallic waste, similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,717, built with ferrite magnets (iron-boron) and which, likewise, does not allow the attraction of iron minerals of low magnetic susceptibility that is the case of oxidized iron ores in general with particle size less than 150 microns.
Finally, prior art document U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,991 consists of an apparatus for generating eddy current, wherein the magnet rotor rotates at high rpm (+/−3500 rpm) and generates eddy current. This machine was designed for the recycling of non-magnetic conductive metals and magnetic metals wherein non-magnetic conductive metals include aluminum cans, brass, stainless steel and copper and non-conductive and magnetic metals, which consists of metallic iron with a high magnetic susceptibility. Its manufacturing cost is extremely high which prevents it from being applied in the iron mining industry. In addition, the magnets that form the magnet rotor, are made of solid bars of ferrite magnet, therefore, of low intensity that lacks sufficient force to attract the oxidized iron minerals (e.g., hematite), which characteristically present low magnetic susceptibility.
Objectives and Advantages of the Invention
According to the scenario set forth above, the present invention has the objective of providing a system and a process for dry recovery of fines and superfines of oxidized iron ore, which are highly efficient and do not have the environment drawbacks of processes and systems in use at present, which further have implantation and operation costs that are perfectly admissible to the industry.
In the same way, the present invention further aims at providing a magnetic separation unit that is efficient for materials that traditionally cannot be processed by conventionally employed magnetic roll separators.
Such objectives are achieved in an absolutely effective manner, reducing the potential risk for the environment in implanting the system, promoting a rational use of the natural resources, recovering the wastes that may represent environmental risk in case of accidents at the tailings and in stacks, and with a friendly interaction with the surrounding environment.
In terms of growing environmental demands, the present invention constitutes a definitive reply to the challenge of generating economic results in an environmentally sustainable manner, characterized chiefly by:
greater mass and metallurgical recovery of iron; recovery of fines from iron ore in fractions <100 mesh (about 150 microns) without loss by hauling; clean combustion, without residues; non-existence of residues to the atmosphere; more efficient separation of iron with generation of cleaner waste having lower iron contents; logistic optimization with localized treatment; preservation of water streams and aquifers; minimization of the risk of accidents with tailings; decrease in the physical space intended for implantation; low energy consumption; modularity and flexibility of the system; increase in the lifetime of the mines.
As said before, the singularity of the solution of the present invention lies on adopting of an entirely dry mineral processing route, which requires the introduction of a drying unit prior to the feeding of the finest fractions into the magnetic separator.
The route that constitutes the mainstay of the present invention can be summarized as follows: the moisture degree of the ore is reduced by means of a mechanical stir dryer (using natural gas to prevent contamination or burning of biomass), which is then sorted into various fractions and finally separated magnetically, with the important difference of being an entirely dry process.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram:
FIG. 2 shows an operational flowchart of the process;
FIG. 3 shows a rapid dryer with mechanical stir/mechanical stir system used in the process and in the system of the present invention;
FIG. 4 shows an arrangement of the set of cyclones;
FIG. 5 shows a diagram of distribution of the forces actuating on the magnetic roll of a magnetic separation unit;
FIG. 6 shows a diagram of the magnetic field lines existing around a permanent magnet employed on the magnetic roll of a magnetic separation unit;
FIG. 7 is an illustrative diagram of the ratio of the field lines with the thicknesses of the magnets and the air gap;
FIG. 8 is a scheme of the magnetic separation unit according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Before initiating the description of the invention, it should be pointed out that the magnitudes set forth herein are given merely by way of example, so that they should not be taken as limitative of the scope of protection of the present invention. A person skilled in the art, in the face of the presently disclosed concept, will know how to determine the magnitudes suitable to the concrete case, so as to achieve the objectives of the present invention.
In FIG. 1 , the reference numbers 1 to 7 represent steps and components just as they are traditionally employed in the prior art, so that they do not incorporate the innovations brought by the present invention.
In this regard, there is a volume of material to be processed ( 1 ), which is extracted by an excavator ( 2 ) and placed in a truck bucket ( 3 ). The truck ( 3 ) feeds a silo or hopper ( 4 ), which is then led by a shaking conveyor ( 5 ) to a sieve ( 6 ) intended for caring out the preliminary separation.
The sieve ( 6 ) may consist of a shaking sieve for removal of contaminating material. In this way, the material is led to stockpile ( 7 ).
The capacity of said stockpile ( 7 ) can reach 2,000 tons of material, for instance.
Additionally, a mist curtain involving the hopper may be provided to prevent dust from falling on the external part of the hopper. In this regard, the belt conveyor may be completely enclosed, thus preventing possible loss of material and the consequent emission of dusts into the atmosphere.
Below the stockpile ( 7 ), there may be a duct comprising a shaking feeder (not shown), which transfers the ore to the belt conveyor.
From the belt feeder of the stockpile ( 7 ), the material is then led to the first one of the so-called three unitary operations that constitute the present invention. The first unitary operation is the particle drying/disaggregation process.
Hence, in order to solve the already mentioned problem of drying/disaggregation of fine particles, and to obtain particles 100% individualized to achieve maximum efficiency in the magnetic separation process, it is proposed the use of a rapid dryer ( 9 ) with mechanical stirring/mechanical stirring system, as shown in FIG. 3 .
The dryer ( 9 ) is composed by a heating chamber ( 8 ), which generates hot air (maximum temperature around 1,100° C.) introduced in the main body, inside which two axles with propellers ( 9 . 2 ) are provided, which cause the movement of the particulates both vertically and horizontally. These gases go through a labyrinth system ( 9 . 5 ), which forces the heated air to come into contact with the material. The vertical movement of particles, besides promoting contact of particles with hot air to increase the efficiency of the drying process, further facilitates the removal of fines by the system of fine collection due to the negative pressure exerted by the exhauster ( 24 ). There is also an efficient disaggregation step of the so-called “fine-waste barrage”. In this way, particles are moved horizontally, so that the dry material moves along the main body to the discharge point ( 9 . 3 ).
The dryer may be sized, for instance, for a capacity of 200 t/h, based on the characteristics of the material to be dried; the dryer may have, for instance, capability for drying, disaggregating and, at the same time, removing the fines. The volume of the material fed to the dryer that is lower than 100 mesh (about 150 microns) can reach up to 98% of the total.
The main characteristics of the dryer employed in the tests carried out are listed hereinafter:
two rapid dryers, each dryer being equipped with two 150 HP motors; the assembly has two pendulum double sluice valves with reducing motor, each having power of 7.5 HP×2=15 HP, one being intended for feeding the product to the dryer and the other for discharging the fraction >100 mesh of the dried product. These valves prevent the entry of air in the system, as well as the exit of hot gas, thus keeping the performance at the temperature of the hot gases, that is, the thermal balance is excellent; two safety valves to each dryer, in case of the occurrence of explosion; two hot gas generators with ducts that interconnect the generator to the dryer, coated with refractory material. There are also inlet valves for cold air to keep the balance of the temperatures measured by thermocouples. These temperatures may be indicated and controlled in the panel; a set of cyclones and interconnecting ducts for output for gases and products, as well as helical threads with rotating valves. There is provided the support structure for the cyclones, a duct for interconnection of the cyclones to the sleeve filters 22 , and threads for exit of the products, exhauster and chimney; an electric panel for the system, automation measuring and controlling instruments.
The dryer further has a complete powder aspiration system, wherein the powder is collected at different cycloning stages, thus preventing the particulates from escaping into the environment. As already said, in order to generate heat, natural gas is used, which together with the adequate control of the air flow, in a correct air/fuel ratio, provides clean and complete combustion, with the gases being discharged after passing through press filters.
The process of removing the gases containing water steam and fines is carried out by a high-capacity exhauster arranged at the end of the circuit. Associated to the exhaustion system circuit, there is provided the component that integrates the so-called second unitary operation of the process of the present invention, which consists in air-sorting of 98% of fines fed. Such a component consists of at least one set of cyclones 10 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 and 20 connected in series, as shown in FIG. 4 .
The cyclones collect the fines with different grain sizes. These cyclones will perform a selective and decreasing retention depending on the grain size of the material fed. Therefore, the first cyclone may be configured, for example, to have coarser particles, such as 44 μm, in the second and in the third, the grain size of the retained material would be about 37 μm, and gradually at each cyclone until the last cyclone with retention of finer particles up to 10 μm. The air-sorting takes place at the cyclones as a function of the loss of speed by each cyclone.
The grain distribution achieved with the exemplified arrangement in question is shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1
Grain-Size Distribution - Exhaustion System - Cyclones
Grain Distribution - Exhaustion System - Cyclones
weight %
t/h
1st cyclone (fraction −100 and +325 mesh)
15.26
76.30
2nd cyclone (fraction −325 and +400 mesh)
11.05
55.25
3rd cyclone (fraction −325 and +400 mesh)
11.05
55.25
4th cyclone (fraction −400 and +500 mesh)
15.24
76.20
5th cyclone (fraction −500 and +600 mesh)
12.73
63.65
6th cyclone (fraction −600 and +10 microns)
16.26
81.28
7th Sleeve filters (fraction −10 microns)
16.26
81.30
Totals
97.85
489.23
Finally, with regard to the superfine particles, below 10 μm, they are aspirated and removed in a set of sleeve filters ( 22 ). The products collected at the different cyclones are intended for magnetic separation, to recover a magnetic product of high iron contents in the pellet sorting (fraction −100 mesh or 0.15 mm at zero mm).
The coarser fraction lower than 2 mm and higher than 0.15 mm is released at the dryer discharge. In order to prevent heat losses, the discharge is then controlled by two double-stage valves, the dried material is collected and transported by a conveyor belt to the magnetic separator.
With regard to the separation step, more specifically the magnetic separation, it consists of the third unitary operation of the process of the present invention.
The installed capacity of the magnetic separation unit is of up to 150 ton/h for each drying unit (without being limited to this value), comprising roller magnetic separator. At this stage, each fraction has a different treatment, as exemplified hereinafter
the coarser fractions (fractions lower than 40 mm and higher than 6.35 mm and in the fraction lower than 6.35 mm and higher than 2 mm) are separated by the first and second magnetic high-intensity separators with roller diameter of 230 mm, equipment with magnetic intensity sufficient to retain particles of up to 40 mm on the surface of the magnetic roll; the intermediate fractions, lower than 2 mm and higher than 0.15 mm, will be separated by the third medium-intensity drum magnetic separator (6.500 gauss); finally, finer fraction, lower than 0.15 mm (about 150 microns), has their magnetic dry separation considered as a great operational difficulty, due to the dragging of non-magnetic fines along with the magnetic fraction, caused by the magnetic field lines. The field lines, when moved at a high speed, generate currents (Eddy Current).
This process is used to separate conducting metals, for example, in recyclable aluminum cans, representing an invisible and actuating force for the fine particles.
Hence, the present invention further provides a high-intensity magnetic roll separation equipment, exclusively for separating iron oxide fines at grain sizes of 0.15 mm to zero. At this magnetic separation, it is possible to obtain a product with high Fe (T) contents. For instance, in the test of ore sample, the recovered iron content was of 68.72%. Each of the products is collected at different containers for better utilization and blending with the products obtained.
With regard to the functioning of said magnetic separation, this operation consists of a process in which two or more materials of different magnetic susceptibility are separated from each other. The main driving power is magnetic force (Fm). In addition to this force, other forces also actuate on the particles, such as the centrifugal force (Fc) and the gravity force (Fg), as shown in FIG. 5 .
Thus, a particle is considered to be MAGNETIC when Fm>Fc+Fg and is considered to be NON-MAGNETIC when Fm<Fc+Fg. For coarser particles, higher than 15 μm, at the same speed, a centrifugal force is greater than that at a particle of 40 μm.
In this scenario, the magnetic separation of fine particles is usually considered a great difficulty or even impossible. Fine-grained particles exhibit low centrifugal force, as demonstrated in the formula below:
Fc=m·v 2 /r
wherein:
Fc=centrifugal force
m=mass
v=velocity
r=radius.
As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, fine particles, besides exhibiting lower centrifugal force, also undergo the influence of the magnetic field, so that the smaller their diameter the greater this influence. When this magnetic field is subjected to rotation, a conducting field is generated, which is known as Eddy Current, which tend to draw the non-magnetic metallic fine particles to the magnetic fraction. The lines of magnetic field created by a permanent magnet are shown in FIG. 6 .
The magnetic rolls used in the present invention are made by conjugating magnets having the same polarity (North) with a gap therebetween, thus creating magnetic field lines that alternate throughout the magnetic roll. The ratio between the magnetic thickness and the gap thickness is responsible for the depth of the magnetic field known as gradient, as demonstrated in FIG. 7 .
Thus, bearing in mind the fact that fine particles exhibit low centrifugal force as well as the drawing of the non-magnetic fraction to the magnetic fraction caused by the magnetic field lines, the present invention proposes a fine-separation scheme that has the objective of overcoming the limitations reported above. The scheme comprises inclining the magnetic roll, as shown in FIG. 8 , to raise the particle speed, decreasing the contact area of the magnetic field and, as a result, contributing to the increase of the result of the centrifugal force and gravity force.
Besides, in order to increase the particle velocity so as to overcome the draw of the non-magnetic fraction, it was necessary to increase the magnetic field depth, as a ratio of 3:1 (magnetic thickness:gap thickness).
In this regard, the inclination angle may undergo a variation depending of the grain fineness, so that for finer particles the inclination angle may be greater. The variation of this angle will be easily determined by a person skilled in the art, as long as he is aware of the inventive concept disclosed in this patent.
The permanent-magnet roll separators exhibit the following characteristics, which provide selectivity to the magnetic separation process:
low gradient; high magnetic intensity, maximum up to 13,000 gauss, the magnetic intensity may be higher or lower depending on the arrangement, the magnet thickness and the gap thickness; ratio of magnet of larger thickness versus gaps of smaller thickness provide higher magnetic intensity; Rare-Earth permanent magnet having in their composition 52% of neodymium, besides iron and boron. The magnetic saturation level is directly proportional to the amount of neodymium.
Other characteristics of this equipment are presented hereinafter:
the magnetic roll is of the permanent type of high intensity, high gradient, built with superpotent neodymium magnets, resistant to temperatures of up to 80° C. and steel disc of high magnetic permeability; the actuation of the magnetic roll is effected by means of a complete, three-phase, variable-velocity 2.0 HP AC motor with frequency inverter for 220 VCA (VAC) 60 Hz, (it may be run on 220/380/440 (VAC) the belt tensioning and aligning system may solve the problem related to the short distance between small-diameter rolls of thin belt. It is possible to replace the belt in a few minutes, without the need for special tools. The employed three guide systems enable the tensioning and alignment of the belt, thus extending its lifetime; a separation belt of the type of polyester fabric coated with PU (Polyurethane) layer, with 0.6-1.00 mm thickness; roller-type feed system with a 2.0 HP, 220 VAC, three-phase driving motor with frequency inverter, for regulating the feed speed. It includes storage silo; this type of feeder enables more controlled and uniform feeding, especially for particles having different densities or formats, and is not sensitive to variations in the level of material in the silo. This is the main technical advantage over shaking feeders; support structure built with carbon steel profiles, with respective paint finish, making the assembly a compact and easy-to-install unit. Entirely powder-proof control panel, including measuring instruments, speed controllers, frequency inverters, feed voltage: 220 VAC, 60 Hz, three-phase.
However, all the above conditions and characteristics enable an improvement introduced in the unit, according to which the permanent-magnet roll magnetic separator is arranged with a determined angle with respect to the horizontal direction, so as to provide an additional force that sums to the centrifugal force and thus manages to retain non-magnetic materials in a satisfactory manner.
Such an arrangement may be viewed on the magnetic separators illustrated in FIG. 1 with reference numbers 11 , 13 , 15 , 17 , 19 , 21 and 23 .
The mentioned low gradient results from the magnetic depth resulting due to the arrangement of the magnets and gaps.
EXAMPLE 1
Analysis of Waste Sample
With a view to make a physicochemical characterization of a known stack of wastes, to attest the efficiency of the technology of the plant of the present invention in its dry processing, and with the highest recovery possible of the iron oxide contained therein, samples of said stack were collected for analysis by a specialized laboratory, using a circuit mounted therein, simulating the same operational route adopted by the plant of the invention.
The ore sample of the waste pile exhibited an extremely simple mineralogy, constituted essentially by iron-bearing minerals and by a non-magnetic fraction, wherein the iron-bearing materials are: magnetite, martite, hematite and by iron oxides and hydroxides, as shown hereinafter. The non-magnetic fraction is composed essentially by silica. The percentage of these minerals is shown in Table 2 below.
TABLE 2
Minerals
Chemical formula
Weight %
Magnetite
Fe 2+ Fe 2 3+ O 4 or Fe 3 O 4
18
Martite
Fe 3 O 4 => Fe 2 O 3
15
Hematite
Fe 2 O 3
47
Silica
SiO 2
15
Iron Oxide and
Fe(OH) 2
5
hydroxide
In the first test, a metallurgical recovery of 70.17% of total iron was obtained, which is quite high for the industry, the result of which can be seen in Table 3 below:
TABLE 3
First test of sample of waste
Chemical analysis
Head contents
Fe(T) = 42.09%
Granulometry
Fraction
Weight
Weight %
% Fe
Fe count
Dist. Fe %
≧5 mm
180.0
4.85
44.52
2.16
5.06
≧3 mm
120.0
3.23
55.25
1.79
4.19
≧1 mm
220.02
5.93
59.77
3.54
8.30
≧325#
2,170.0
58.59
37.14
21.72
50.50
≧325#
1,020.0
27.49
48.98
13.47
31.55
TOTAL
3,710.0
100.00
42.68
100.00
Magnetic Separation - High-Intensity Roll Magnetic Separator
Fraction −1 mm and +325 mesh
Product
Weight
Weight %
% fe
Fe cont
Dist. fe %
Magnetic
986.05
26.88
66.60
17.90
41.94
Mixed
32.44
0.88
50.24
0.44
1.04
Non-
1127.31
30.73
10.99
3.38
7.91
Magnetic
Totals
2145.80
56.49
21.72
50.89
The fraction −1 mm and +325 mesh contains 21.72% iron; a recovery of
41.94% relative to the sample was achieved;
Magnetic Separation - High-Intensity Roll Magnetic Separator
Fraction −325 mesh
Intensity
Weight
Weight %
% Fe
Fe cont
Dist. Fe %
1,000
10.06
0.27
67.26
0.18
0.43
gauss
2,000
28.42
0.77
68.09
0.52
1.22
gauss
4,000
82.55
2.22
68.38
1.52
3.56
gauss
8,000
331.10
8.92
68.40
6.10
14.30
gauss
16,000
206.73
5.57
66.76
3.72
8.71
gauss
non-
361.14
9.73
14.56
1.42
3.32
magnetic
total
1,020.00
27.49
13.47
31.55
The fraction −325 mesh contains 31.55% of Iron; a recovery of 28.23%
was achieved in this fraction.
RECOVERY % (fraction −1 mm +325 and −325 mesh) 70.17
The fraction +1 mm further containing 17.55% of the iron contained,
which may be recovered in a high-intensity magnetic separator with
differentiated gradient, is still to be processed.
The maximum recovery can reach 70.17%+17.55%=87.72%.
In order to prove the efficiency of the process, a new sample of larger volume was collected and processed.
After the processing, the following results were obtained:
Fraction higher than 6.35 mm achieved a recovery of 19.86% by weight, with Fe(T) contents of 63.75%, which corresponds to a metallurgical recovery of 26.33% of the iron contained; Fraction lower than 6.35 mm and higher than 2 mm achieved a recovery of 11.85% by weight, with Fe(T) contents of 62.63%, which corresponds to a recovery of 15.44% of the iron contained; Fraction lower than 2 mm and higher than 100 mesh with recovery 14.87% by weight and Fe(T) contents of 62.03%, which corresponds to a metallurgical recovery of 19.18% of contained iron; Fraction lower than 100 mesh with recovery of 13.86 by mass and Fe(T) average contents of 68.72%, which corresponds to a metallurgical recovery of 19.80% of the iron contained.
Thus, in the second test, carried out according to the established flowchart, and a route simulating the invention, a recovery was achieved of 60.45% by weight with average Fe(T) contents of 64.23% and a metallurgical recovery of 80.75% of the iron contained, still higher than that obtained in the first test.
The results of the tests developed in laboratory attest the efficacy of the technological route of dry magnetic recovery of the present invention, in the processing of the “dump” from said pile of wastes. The results or the second test are shown in tables 4 (chemical grain analysis) and 5 (recovery table) below.
TABLE 4
Second test of waste sample
Unit
3.20%
Chemical analysis
Head contents
Fe(T) = 48.08%
GRANULOMETRY
Fraction
Weight
Weight %
Fe %
Fe cont
Dist. Fe %
+¼″
7,700.0
26.75
60.42
16.16
33.60
−¼″
3,700.0
12.85
59.73
7.68
1596
and +2 mm
−2 mm and
5,230.0
18.17
53.16
9.66
20.08
+100 mesh
−100 mesh
12,160.0
42.24
34.57
14.60
30.36
TOTAL
28,790.0
100.00
48.09
100.00
Magnetic Separation - High-Intensity Roll Magnetic Separation
Fraction +¼″
Product
Weight
Weight %
Fe %
Fe cont
Dist. Fe %
Magnetic
5,719.,80
19.87
63.75
12.67
26.33
Mixed
1,461.30
5.08
59.47
3.02
6.28
Non-
518.90
1.80
26.43
0.48
0.99
magnetic
Totals
7,700.00
26.75
16.16
33.60
Metallurgical recovery of Fe(T) in fraction −100 mesh of the
Magnetic fraction = 16.33%
Fraction −¼″ and +2 mm
Product
Weight
Weight %
Fe %
Fe cont
Dist. fe %
Magnetic
3,413.50
11.85
62.36
7.42
15.44
Mixed
114.60
0.40
40.35
0.16
0.33
Non-
171.90
0.60
15.11
0.09
0.19
magnetic
Totals
3,700.00
12.85
7.68
15.96
Metallurgical recovery of the Fe(T) in fraction −100 mesh of the
Magnetic fraction = 15.44%
Fraction −2 mm and +100 mesh
Product
Weight
Weight %
Fe %
Fe cont
Dist. fe %
Magnetic
4,279.60
14.87
62.03
9.22
19.18
Mixed
132.10
0.46
25.22
0.12
0.24
Non-
818.30
2.84
11.27
.032
0.67
magnetic
Totals
5,230.00
18.17
9.66
20.08
Magnetic recovery of Fe (T) in fraction −2 mm and +100 mesh of
Magnetic fraction = 19.18%
Magnetic Separation - High-Itnensity Roll Magnetic Separatos
Fraction −100 mesh
Product
Weight
Weight %
Fe %
Fe Cont
Dist. Fe %
Magnetic
3,990.00
13.86
68.72
9.52
19.80
Mixed
1,090.00
3.79
43.57
1.65
3.43
Non-
7,080.00
24.59
13.94
3.43
7.13
magnetic
Totals
12,160.00
42.24
14.60
30.36
Metallurgical recovery of Fe(T) of Magnetic Fraction = 19.80%
with iron contents = 68.72%
Metallurgical recovery of Fe(T) of Magnetic Fraction + Mixed =
22.23% with Fe contents = 63.32%
Weight %
Dist Fe(T) %
Total Iron Recovery in the Sample
60.45%
80.75%
TABLE 5
Summary - Recovery Table
Product
Weight
Weight %
Fe %
Fe cont
Dist. Fe %
Magnetic
5,719.80
19.87
63.75
12.67
26.33
+¼″
Magnetic −¼″
3,413.50
11.85
62.63
7.42
15.44
and
+2 mm
Magnetic
4,279.60
14.87
62.03
9.22
19.18
−2 mm and
+100 mesh
Magnetic −100
3,990.00
13.86
68.72
9.52
19.80
mesh
Totals
17,402.90
60.45
64.23
38.83
80.75
Moreover, during the tests carried out, the granulometry profile of the collected material was also determined, as shown in Table 6 below.
TABLE 6
Granulometry of the feed of the plant
Feed
250
Sieve
Weight
Weight %
Ton/solids
Fraction
6.38
2.93
7
+40 mm
Fraction +¼
42.87
19.72
49
Fraction
46.71
21.48
54
+2 mm
Fraction +100
46.23
21.26
53
mesh
Fraction +200
15.45
7.10
18
mesh
Fraction +325
35.21
16.19
40
Fraction +400
23.48
10.80
27
mesh
Fraction +500
1.11
0.51
1
mesh
Fraction −500
32.58
14.99
37
mesh
Totals
217.41
100.00
250
Although the present invention has been described with respect to its particular characteristics, it is clear that many other forms and modifications of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art.
The accompanying claims were drafted so as that they can cover such obvious forms and modifications, which will be within the scope of the present invention.
|
The present invention refers to a system and method for the totally dry treatment of iron-ore wastes from previous mining operations, suitable for both the processing of ore wastes deposited in barrages and wastes stored in piles. The present invention solves the problems of magnetic separation processes that employ the wet and waste-dewatering way, eliminating the risks which throwing solid wastes into retention barrages bring by a system and method wherein the moisture degree of the ore is reduced by means of a mechanical stir dryer (using natural gas to prevent contamination), which is then sorted into various factions and finally separated magnetically, with the important difference of being an entirely dry process.
| 2
|
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/219,413, filed Jul. 20, 2000.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Particles differing in density may be separated by using hydrostatic forces, such as used in separating coal from rock and pyrites in aqueous and non-aqueous slurries, but that entails large expenditures of energy for removing the water, drying the product, and treating the waste water. The usual methods for separating particles of differing density utilize hydrostatic forces as in coal washing or ore beneficiation. Those operations commonly employ a water slurry that flows slowly through a system of troughs. The denser particles drift toward the bottom, leaving the less dense particles in the upper layers. The flow is usually laminar, and a large number of stages may be employed a where the ore concentration in the initial feed may be as low as 0.05%,.as is the case in copper mining operations. In coal cleaning, on the other hand, the bulk of the raw feed material is coal, while the rock and/or pyrite to be removed is only 1 to 20%. Major disadvantages of this wet slurry approach are the contamination of the water required and the large amount of energy required to dry the product where it constitutes the bulk of the feed, as is the case for coal cleaning operations. If gas-fluidized beds are employed to avoid those problems, the pumping power required is substantial and the dust problems are formidable.
Both of those problems may be alleviated somewhat by employing an “air flow jig” in which a thin bed of crushed coal flows over a vibrated plate that is perforated to introduce a stream of air to fluidize the bed. However, this system is not sufficiently attractive to have led to more than a very limited commercial use. Air flotation may be employed, but this is effective only for mixtures having a small range of particle size and presents difficult problems with dust.
A low attrition dry process is particularly advantageous for removing mineral matter from low-rank coals, such as lignite, in a which the lumps are quite frangible even when dry, and their frangibility is greater when wet. Many efforts to effect density separation through the use of vibrating beds have been made in the past, but none has been effective. Rather than acting as separators, vibrating beds have proved to be an excellent means for obtaining homogeneous mixtures of granular materials differing in density, e.g., corn starch and foundry sand, for making dry sand cores. All of these efforts have employed vibratory motions given by the vast majority of the vibrating machines on the market that produce a simple linear vibratory motion, or the balance that produce a simple whirl.
At first thought, one would expect that vibration-fluidized beds could be used to give a dry process. On the surface it would seem that vibration would aid the usual separation operation, and that when a bed is fluidized by vibration the dense particles should sink to the bottom. One patent that has been granted for such a separation process is U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,148 (the '148 patent), issued Jan. 16, 1990. The abstract of the '148 patent states that “[t]he mass is received in a trough-shaped [container] and subjected to vibration causing high density constituents to segregate downwards and low density constituents to segregate upwards, so that the fractions may be removed at different layer levels.” FIG. 1 of the '148 patent shows an old-fashioned bathtub-shaped casing with three outlets, one at the top, one at an intermediate level, and one at the bottom. However, no experimental evidence of its effectiveness is cited in the '148 patent, and people with extensive experience with vibrating beds (e.g., Prof. Arthur M. Squires at VPI&SU) state that they have looked for but never found any evidence of particle separation as a consequence of differences in particle density in conventional vibrating beds.
Several patents have been issued for the use of vibrating beds to mix granular materials differing in particle size, density, and character. U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,556, issued Jan. 15, 1985, cites experimental confirmation of the outstanding-effectiveness of the linear motion vibrating bed for mixing flour and sand (apparently for making dry sand cores for foundry molds). The effectiveness of the linear motion vibrating bed for mixing materials of different character, particle size, and density negates the use of simple linear vibratory motion for separating particles on the basis of density with a simple linear vibratory-motion. Another significant point is that there is a tendency for larger particles to work toward the surface when operating with granular materials differing in particle size but having the same grain density. The effect is small, but nonetheless it definitely is present.
All present methods and apparatus have employed the usual simple linear vibratory motion, either vertically or inclined to the vertical at some angle. A need exists for the effective separation of granular matters of different densities that overcomes the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an apparatus and method for a dry separation process using a complex-mode vibration-fluidization, i.e., a carefully chosen combination of linear, whirl, oscillation, pitching, and rocking motions, that is generated by machines especially designed to produce these unusual motions.
The physical basis for this new density separation process lies in the basic difference in the character of the particle motion and bed flow in a vibration-fluidized bed where the dominant driving forces involve the interchange of momentum. The hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces that govern conventional fluid flow, whether ideal potential flow, laminar flow, or turbulent flow, have only secondary effects in vibration-fluidized flow, and are useless in the design of vibration-fluidized beds.
The proper combination of linear, whirl, oscillation, pitching, and rocking motions for a good particle density separation process depends on the particle size distributions for the lower and higher density particles, the vibration amplitude and frequency, the elastic characteristics of the particles, and some twenty-other secondary variables, so that experiments are required to establish the proper combination of vibratory modes for any particular application. Thus, there is no simple way to delineate the combination of vibratory modes that produce a good separation factor for any given set of granular materials, but it has proved possible to delineate the analytical procedures for selecting promising combinations of vibratory modes, to design a vibrating machine to produce the desired vibrational mode, and to use experimental techniques that may be used in conjunction with the analyses to find and define particular sets of conditions that give good separation factors for many applications.
These and further and other objects and features of the invention are apparent in the disclosure, which includes the above and ongoing written specification, with the claims and the drawings.
This invention provides the combining of variously linear, whirl, oscillation, pitching, and rocking vibratory motions to fluidize a vibrated bed of granular or powdery materials in such a way as to give particle motions and bed flow patterns that separate materials of different density. This makes possible a dry fluidized bed steady through-flow process that does not require (but may employ) a gas flow to assist in fluidizing or drying the stream of solids.
Complex-mode vibratory motions variously include the thousand of different combinations of linear, whirl, oscillation, pitching, and rocking motions. These motions may be produced by many different machines including motor-driven shafts fitted with eccentric weights, or by linkages driven by electromagnets, or hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders.
The relative magnitude, frequency, and phase angle of the various components of the vibratory motion may be varied from zero to large amplitudes by such measures as changing the size of eccentric weights or their effective radius of action, the relative speed of shafts by changing gear ratios, and the position of the center of gravity of the vibrated assembly relative to the line of action of the driving forces.
The vibration-fluidization process can be carried out with an exceptionally low rate of attrition, thus minimizing decrepitation of the granular material processed, a particularly important advantage in handling coal, most grades of which are quite frangible.
Opposite ends of a dry vibration-fluidized separator are moved with complex vibrations, including linear, whirl, linear plus whirl, oscillation, linear plus oscillation, pitch and roll. Near zero to large amplitudes up to about ±0.050 inches and low frequencies of about 30 Hz are used. Mixed particulate materials are fed into a first end and circulate across and along the separator in a shallow depth. More dense materials move linearly along, a floor and are removed through an opening in a second end of the floor. The more dense materials flow over a weir at the second end of the separator.
A vibration-fluidizing bed method of separating solid materials of different densities vibrates a separator with complex vibrations and feeds mixed solid materials having different densities to the separator.
A fluidized flow of the materials is established in the separator with the complex vibrations. Dense materials move upward in the separator as a result of the complex vibrations. Less dense materials move along a bottom of the separator.
The more dense materials flow out of the conveyor from an upper portion of the separator and the less dense materials are discharged from a lower portion of the separator.
Preferably the vibrating comprises vibrating the separator with linear whirl, oscillation, linear plus whirl, linear plus oscillation, pitching and rocking motions.
The vibrating comprises vibrating the separator with motions varied from near zero to large amplitudes of ±0.050 inches or more.
Preferably the separator is a shallow separator.
The less dense materials are discharged through a hole in the bottom of the separator remote from the feeding. The more dense materials are flowed over a weir at one end of the separator.
The mixed solid particulate materials are fed into a top of the separator at one longitudinal end thereof.
The establishing of a fluidized flow includes establishing a circulation of the particulate material across and along the separator.
Vibrating the separator at low frequencies of about 30 Hz or less.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view of a complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed for density separation showing the bed flow pattern.
FIG. 2 is an illustration of momentum transfer.
FIG. 3 is an illustration of the basic types of vibratory a motion.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are a perspective view and a front view of a vibration exciter for producing linear vertical motion in a b complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed.
FIG. 5 is a graph of the motion of the midpoint between two shafts of a pair at one end of the complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed.
FIG. 6 is a graph of the separation factor as a function of the total flow rate for silica sand and magnetite flowing through a 1×6 inch vibrated bed operated at 30 Hz.
FIG. 7 is a replot of the graph of FIG. 6 using the difference between the dense fractions in the enriched and depleted discharge streams divided by the difference between the dense fractions in the feed and depleted discharge streams as a parameter.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention is an apparatus and method for a dry separation process using a complex-mode vibration-fluidization, i.e., a carefully chosen combination of linear, whirl, oscillation, pitching, and rocking motions, as shown in FIG. 3 , that is generated by machines especially designed to produce these unusual motions.
Experiments have been carried out with steel shot in sand and with magnetite in sand using a small 1×6 inch bed designed to operate in a wide variety of complex vibratory modes. These tests showed that while there is no measurable separation with linear motion, separation factors of at least 1.4 are obtainable by certain forced vibratory motions of complex-mode vibration-fluidized beds. The results of a typical set of tests are shown in Table 2.
Complex vibrating systems are difficult to analyze because they present so many subtle problems. There are so many elements in the machine structure affecting its stiffness and, hence, the natural frequency of resonant vibration for the various modes of motion that may be induced by the dynamics of the mechanism producing the vibration excitation for fluidizing the bed that a conventional cut-and-dry approach is highly unlikely to succeed. There are vastly more modes of motion that are unfavorable to any given process than there are modes that are favorable to that process, so the odds are strongly against random choices in a search for a good solution. Over twenty independent variables affect the particle motion and flow pattern in a vibration-fluidized bed, e.g.:
vibration frequency and amplitude;
vibration mode (linear, whirl, oscillation, rocking, etc.);
particle size and size distribution;
particle shape (from spherical to angular shards);
particle physical properties (density, hardness, elastic modulus, etc.);
bed depth, width, and length;
bed floor detail geometry and inclination;
sweep gas flow rate (from zero to incipient fluidization);
and
inflow rates of solids streams, and shape and location of feed spouts.
Analytical work serves at least to focus attention on the key factors, and tremendously narrows the range of promising steps to take in experiments. Further, the experiments must be carried out with special instrumentation, and vibration pickups such as accelerometers must be placed in the right spots and at the right angles to yield data on the vibratory motion that may be closely related to an incisive analysis.
Flow in a vibration-fluidized bed is fundamentally quite different from that in a liquid. At first glance, the flow in a vibrating bed appears to be similar to laminar flow in a liquid, but it is not, although there is no small-scale turbulence. Not only is the velocity distribution not parabolic, but there is no boundary layer; the flow usually seems to be very nearly pure slug flow. If a cylinder is thrust vertically downward into the surface of a flowing stream in a vibration-fluidized bed, the stream will divide and flow around the cylinder, leaving a triangular cavity rather than a turbulent wake downstream. That cavity has a length three or four times the diameter of the inserted cylinder, clearly showing that there is no small-scale turbulence, and that classical potential flow theory provides little insight into the flow patterns to be expected in a vibration-fluidized bed. Particle motion and flow patterns in a vibration-fluidized bed differ in vital respects from fluid motion in laminar or turbulent flow, and from particle motion and flow patterns in bubbling gas-fluidized beds. Particle momentum and kinetic energy, rather than static and hydrodynamic pressure forces, are the principal factors governing the motion of particles.
In appraising the possibility of density separation in a complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed 1 designed to produce circulation, as in FIG. 1 , it seemed desirable to try to envision effects peculiar to complex-mode vibrating beds that might be beneficial for density separation. Differences in the momentum input to the particles from the floor 3 of the casing 5 seemed to offer some possibilities. It should be remembered that the floor 3 of the casing 5 comes in contact with the particles of the bed 1 only near the top center of the vibratory motion of the casing, at which point the floor of the casing impacts on the particles in the bottom layer of the bed of particles, striking the particles in the bottom layer as if they were ping pong balls. The impact imparts momentum that is transmitted upward through a vertical column of particles. There is very little relative motion between particles in this vertical column except at the top and bottom ends, much as in the similar case of the momentum transfer model shown in FIG. 2 .
FIG. 2 illustrates a model 21 using steel balls 23 suspended on threads 25 to demonstrate the momentum transfer through a stack 22 of elastic spheres 23 when a sphere 24 at one end 27 is pulled back to position 28 and allowed to swing down to impact the end 29 of the column 22 . The momentum is transferred through the stack 22 of spheres 23 , resulting in the momentum imparting motion in sphere 31 to a position 33 at the other end 35 of the stack.
If the particles are all of about the same size and density, the adjacent columns move in unison. However, if some particles at the bottom of the bed 1 have a higher density, the momentum imparted to these high density particles by their impact with the casing floor 3 tends to give them a somewhat higher momentum, and thus a greater upward penetration of the bed, than would be the case for adjacent particles of the same size but with a lower density. The effect is similar to that of using an extremely dense material, such as uranium, rather than a moderately less dense material, such as lead for rifle bullets. The more dense particles tend to penetrate farther upward into the bed. Thus the lower density rather than the higher density particles tend to congregate at the bottom of the bed, the opposite of what one would expect from conventional hydrostatic forces.
By generating a favorable flow pattern 7 in the fluidized bed 1 and strategically placing outlet orifices 11 and 13 or weirs 9 , a marked enrichment of the higher density material leaves one exit 15 and a reduced concentration leaves the other exit 17 .
It appeared that if this hypothetical effect proved significant, it would be advantageous to make use of conditions somewhat different from those usually employed in vibration-fluidized beds. For example, a lower frequency of vibratory motion with a higher amplitude may be used to impart a greater momentum to the particle, and thus give a greater relative penetration of the bed by the high density particles. It also seemed likely that if this effect prevails there would be no advantage to the use of a deep bed because the bulk of the separation effect would be in the region close to the bottom of the bed. Inasmuch as the low and high density particles are uniformly mixed in the feed stream 19 that is introduced to the fluidized bed 1 through feed spout 10 , it also seemed likely that it would be desirable to induce circulation in the bed with a pitching or rocking motion so that a large fraction of the dense particles are circulated across the floor 3 of the casing 5 for at least a portion of their axial transit through the bed 1 . This leads to enrichment of the upper portion of the flow by dense particles driven upward from the floor through the bottom layer. The position and shape of the bed discharge ports 11 and 13 take advantage of this effect.
In planning the initial tests to separate higher density particles, previous observations of particle motions and flow patterns in complex-mode testing made it seem desirable to induce a pitching motion something like that used in panning for gold. One of the many ways in which this can be accomplished is to employ a two-shaft vibrating machine with the eccentric weights on one shaft larger than those on the other.
The pitching motion could be made even more pronounced by having the eccentric weights of the two shafts 180° out-of-phase. FIG. 3 shows several different vibratory modes obtainable with such a machine. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the basic types of vibratory motion that may be combined to give complex-mode vibratory motions, such as the linear plus oscillation motion (pitching) shown in the bottom row of FIG. 3 . The diagram shows the positions of the outer shell 31 relative to the at rest position of the inner core 33 at 90 degree intervals. The path of the center of gravity is shown in the final column. The vibratory motions shown in FIG. 3 are linear, whirl, linear plus whirl, oscillation, and linear plus oscillation (pitching).
More complex vibratory motions may be obtained with the two-shaft 43 and 45 vibrating machine 41 of FIGS. 4A and 4B . FIGS. 4A and 4B show a vibration exciter 41 for producing linear vertical motion. Two of these machines 41 may be located at either end of a rigid frame and operated at different phase angles and with different amounts of eccentric weight to produce a wide variety of complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed behavior. The weights 47 and 49 , shown as one per shaft 43 and 45 , may be of the same size and weight or of different size and/or weight depending on the type of motion that is desired. As shown in FIG. 4B , the rotating weights 47 and 49 may be split to avoid side-to-side rocking of the vibration exciter 41 . Timing gears 42 and 44 are preferably spur gears, as shown in FIG. 4A , because they are easier to align than beveled gears. Sprocket 46 imparts the motion generated by the vibration exciter 41 to the fluidized bed 1 .
The path 51 of a point on the machine for one such complex mode is shown in FIG. 5 . For more complex motions, a 2-shaft system may be placed at either end of the vibrating bed, and the motions generated may be very different for the two ends, except that their horizontal displacements must be the same and in-phase. One of the many special motions that is obtainable is achieved by operating one shaft 43 at half the frequency of the other shaft 45 . The motion of the midpoint between the two shafts 43 and 45 of a pair at one end of the machine 1 is shown in FIG. 5 .
Note that the vibratory motions shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 are for the bed casing 5 . The vibration-fluidized particles of the bed itself generally move with the casing 5 in any given up and down cycle, but asymmetries in the impulses delivered to the particles in the bed near the top of the stroke of the casing induce low velocity circulation currents in the bed. Those motions of particles are hard to predict in detail, but the general effects may be envisioned from diagrams such as FIGS. 3 and 5 , which define the motion of representative points in the casing.
Particle sizes, shapes, and physical properties other than density, particularly the modulus of elasticity, may also be factors in any separation effects. Table 1 shows the physical properties that may be significant for a number of minerals that appear to be of interest in separation processes, such as in ore beneficiation and coal cleaning operations. Unfortunately, the physical properties of rocks and minerals differ substantially as a consequence of differences in their geological history so that handbook data is often not available or varies considerably.
A series of preliminary scouting tests was carried out to investigate the possibility of employing a complex-mode vibration-fluidized bed in a density separation process. A 1×6 inch vibrating bed 1 ( FIG. 1 ) on a small machine 41 ( FIGS. 4A and 4B ) designed and built to produce a wide variety of vibratory motions was at hand and was chosen as the test unit because it had proved invaluable, adaptable, and reliable in hundreds of hours of test work on other concepts. A drawing of a typical bed casing is shown in FIG. 1 . The bed side walls 53 were made of Plexiglass so that the particle motion and bed flow patterns 7 may be viewed during operation. Note the weir 9 for discharging material from the top of the bed and the vertical discharge passage 57 at the lower right end of the bed casing for discharging material from the bottom of the bed. The height of the weir 9 at the discharge end is adjustable to permit operation with bed depths from 1 to 4 inches. The dotted line 55 shows the position of the bed free surface 55 for a typical set of conditions. In this case the bed depth was 2.5 inches. There is a square hole cut 13 in the floor 3 to provide a drain 17 at the discharge end 81 . The drain port measured 0.25×0.25 inches giving a discharge port area of 0.062 square inches. This acted as an orifice that established the solids discharge flow rate from the bottom of the bed. On the other hand, the flow rate out of the top of the bed over the weir 9 increases with the inflow rate 19 with little increase in the bed depth at the discharge end 81 . Thus the bed depth may be controlled independently of the inflow rate 19 by adjusting the height of the weir 9 .
Two chutes 17 and 15 were fabricated of sheet aluminum and fitted respectively to the discharge port 13 through the floor 3 and over the top 57 of the weir 9 . The base granular material chosen was −16+35 mesh silica sand with a mean particle size of about 700 μm and a grain density of about 2.7 g/cm 3 , while the dense material was −16+30 mesh (mean particle size of 800 μm) magnetite with a grain density of 5.1 g/cm 3 . While waiting for delivery of the magnetite a few tests were run using −16+30 mesh steel shot, which had a density 7.6 g/cm 3 . Using a magnetic material for the dense particles made it possible to remove the dense material from the discharge streams 61 and 63 with a magnet. This gave an expeditious way to measure the weights of the low and high density fractions in each discharge stream and thus obtain a good measure of the degree of separation of the light and heavy fractions. After weighing, the magnetic material and sand were remixed and recycled for another test so that less than a kilogram of mix was required, which was a major advantage in this test series in which over 70 separate test runs were made. Another advantage to the combination of these two materials is that the black magnetite or steel shot contrasts strongly with the white sand to provide direct visual observation of both the flow patterns and the apparent concentration of the dense fraction for each vibratory mode tested, and thus provided valuable guidance in the choice of conditions for subsequent tests.
The most significant result of the tests is that the heavy fraction was discharged from the top 57 of the bed 1 rather than from the bottom drain 13 , thus supporting the initial hypothesis that separation is induced by the greater momentum input to dense particles than to the lighter ones on impact with the bed floor 3 , and a greater tendency for these particles to penetrate upward in the bed. This is consistent with, not only the separation mode observed, but also with the facts that spherical steel shot gave better separation characteristics than crushed magnetite, and that reducing the bed depth from 2.8 to 1.8 in improved both the apparent concentration of black particles in the upper layers of the bed in visual observations and the measured separation factor.
The data from the more significant of the tests run are summarized in Table 2. The left column gives the log sheet number and the run number on that log sheet. The testing was tedious because it was necessary to get accurate measures (within 0.1 g) for the gross weight of the total amount discharged from each spout, the weight of the sand and of the magnetite in each case, and then the tare weight of the container was subtracted to get the net weight for each case. The data was cross-checked for consistency as the tests progressed to assure not only the accuracy of the measurements but also that the operations were free of aberrations from small spills. The data for the net amounts from nine log sheets are summarized in Table 2.
The initial cases were run with a nearly linear vibratory motion; as expected these tests did not yield a significant separation factor, i.e., in this case the ratio of the concentration of the dense material in the discharge stream 61 from the top 57 of the bed to that in the discharge 63 from the bottom 13 . The linear vibratory motion gave a weight fraction of the dense material in both discharge streams 61 and 63 within 1 or 2% of that in the feed stream 19 , which was in the range of the experimental error inherent in these tests. A linear vibration driving force was used in which the line of action of the driving force was 0.5 inches from the center of gravity of the assembly in order to superimpose a mild pitching motion. This resulted in a small separation factor for operation with roughly spherical steel shot, and some of this data is included as the first five runs in Table 2. However, when magnetite particles of the same size were used rather than spherical steel shot of the same size, as anticipated from the analysis presented above, the separation factor was very poor, apparently because the irregular particles of crushed magnetite tend to rebound isotropically from the vibrating floor 3 of the bed 1 rather than rebounding vertically as would be the case for spheres. Thus with a vibration mode yielding only a small separation effect, when operating with the angular particles of crushed magnetite the separation effect gained from the higher momentum of the denser particles is apparently largely vitiated in random movements.
In view of the poor separation factors found for operation with the mild pitching motions obtainable by offsetting the center of gravity with the linear driving motion, it was decided to change to a vibration mode that would give a stronger pitching motion. This was done by changing the shafting and eccentric weight system to shift from a simple linear driving force to a combination of linear and whirl motions, as shown in the bottom row of FIG. 3. A fairly strong pitching motion was generated by using a pitching moment arm of 2.05 inches between the line of action of the vertical component of the whirl and the center of gravity of the vibrated mass. This basic system was used for the balance of the tests, and the mass of the eccentric weight on the motor and the length of the moment arm were varied to change the amplitude of the shaking force and the degree of pitching in order to investigate these effects.
As suggested by the above discussion, many parameters (at least twenty), such as the vibration amplitude and frequency, may influence the behavior of a vibrated bed. For these preliminary scouting tests, the effects of changing ten of the twenty parameters were examined briefly. Measures of these changes are shown in the right-hand set of columns of Table 2. These columns show respectively the type of dense material employed, the, particle size, the bed depth, the vibration mode, the area of the bottom drain port, the moment arm inducing pitching, the mass of the eccentric weight on the drive to give an indication of both the amplitude of the vertical acceleration and the degree of pitching, the total solids flow rate through the bed, and the fraction of the feed to the bed in the form of dense material. To minimize clutter in Table 2, where a condition was kept constant the value for that condition was entered only when the condition was changed, and the next entry in the column is at the point where a subsequent change was introduced. Thus the blank spaces in these columns of Table 2 are the equivalent of ditto marks.
When running these preliminary scouting tests it was impracticable to control closely all but one of the many independent variables affecting the separation factor, the prime parameter of concern. As a consequence, there is considerable scatter in the points when plotting the separation factor against any one of the variables, enough so that it appeared that the effects of most of the parameters varied were relatively small. One reason for the small effects was that in these tests the ranges covered usually gave variations less than a factor of two in a given parameter.
To help analyze for the effects of the conditions varied in the tests, a different symbol was used for each set of conditions in which parameters other than the flow rate were kept constant, and these symbols are shown in the extreme right column of Table 2. Examination of the nine adjacent columns show which parameters were kept constant for the tests covered by each symbol.
The first significant graph obtained is that shown in FIG. 6 , in which the separation factor was plotted against the total solids flow rate through the bed for silica sand and magnetite flowing through a 1×6 inch vibrated bed operated at 30 Hz. The points were plotted from Table 2 using the symbols in the right-hand column of the table. The maximum flow was about three times that of the minimum. The scatterband is wide because points were plotted for every run. A mean curve 69 was drawn through these points to indicate the large effect of the solids flow rate on the separation factor. Unfortunately, the inlet feed rate 19 varied somewhat during a run, which affected the bed level distribution along the length of the bed, which in turn affected the ratio of the two discharge flows 61 and 63 (FIG. 1 ).
The data of FIG. 6 was examined using another parameter that includes all three streams of solids, not just the inflow and the enriched outflow, i.e., a parameter that includes all of the factors involved in a complete material balance. This n parameter f is defined as:
f=(C 2 −C 3 )/(C 1 −C 3 )
where C is the concentration of the dense material in the total flow in any stream, and the subscripts 1 , 2 , and 3 signify the inlet, upper outlet, and lower outlet stream, respectively. The parameter f is the difference between the dense fractions in the enriched and depleted discharge streams divided by the difference between the dense fractions in the feed and depleted discharge streams. This parameter was calculated for each of the runs of Table 2 and plotted against the total flow to give FIG. 7 . FIG. 7 shows that the only factor varied in the tests other than the total flow to have a discernable effect was the size of the orifice for the bottom drain. This resulted in two clearly defined curves 71 and 73 , as shown in FIG. 7 . Reducing the drain orifice size by 20% moved the curve 71 to the left 73 by 20% of the total flow. The lower curve 73 is for the smaller orifice for the depleted stream while the upper curve is for the larger orifice. The shape of this curve 73 is nicely consistent with that drawn initially through the scatterband of FIG. 6 , and shows conclusively that the solids flow rate is an important factor, and that reducing the total solids flow rate increases the separation factor.
Several important points emerge from examination of the way some of the symbols fall relative to the mean curve of FIG. 7 . For example, the last three points in Table 2 were obtained with a mean particle size that was half that of the others, yet these points also scatter closely around the mean curve. It is also interesting that the first set of data, that from Log No. 1 for steel shot, happened to be run at flow rates about double those for the runs with magnetite so that the points fall far to the right of the edge of FIG. 7 , but these points gave separation factors close to the those obtained by extrapolating the curve for magnetite. This implies that the shape of the particles does not have much effect.
A major advantage of complex-mode vibration-fluidization is that the particle velocities are so low that the power requirements, the rate of particle attrition, and the rate of fine particle elutriation are exceptionally low. Tests of particle beds designed for similar processes to be carried out by vibration-fluidized beds, bubbling gas-fluidized beds, and entrained gas-fluidized beds have demonstrated that the complex-mode vibration-fluidized beds require one-tenth the power input, give less than 1% the rate of attrition, and 0.01% the rate of elutriation of bubbling gas-fluidized beds, and the differences are even greater for entrained beds.
While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, modifications and variations of the invention may be constructed without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the following claims.
TABLE 1
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS
FOR USE IN VIBRATING BEDS
VELO-
PHYSICAL
MODULUS
CITY
SPECI-
THERMAL
GRAIN
OF
OF
HARD-
FIC
CONDUC-
DENSITY
ELASTICITY
SOUND
NESS
HEAT
TIVITY
MATERIAL
g/cm 3
psi × 10 −6
m/s
Moh
g-cal/g-K
W/cm-K
Al 2 O 3
3.5-4
40.2
9
0.19
Barite
4.5
3-3.5
Brick
1.4-2.2
3
4300
Calcite
2.8
3
Coal
1.2-1.5
Coke
1-1.7
Dolomite
2.84
3-12
3.5-4
Fused
2.65
10.4
5500
7
0.15
Quartz
Glass
2.4-2.8
12
5650
5-6
0.20
Gypsum
2.32
3.5
Hematite
5.24
5-6
Iron
5.0
6-6.5
Pyrite
Limestone
2.1-2.7
1.2-14
Magnetite
5.18
5.5-6.5
Malachite
3.7-4.1
4
Marble
2.6-2.8
8
3800
Sandstone
2.14-2.3
1-8
Slate
2.6-3.2
TABLE 2
Summary of Test Data on Density Separation 1 × 6 in. Vibrating Bed, 30 Hz
Top
Top
Top
Bed
Drain
Mom't
Motor
Accel-
Flow
Dense
L g
Total
Dense
Lower
Lower
Conc.
Separ
Dense
Depth
Vibr.
Area
Arm
Ec. Wt
erome-
Rate
Fract
Graph
No.
g
g
Total g
Dense g
%
Fact'r
Mat'l
in.
Mode
in. 3
in.
g
ter g
g/s
%
Symbol
1-1
346.5
46.2
154.1
18.5
.1333
1.032
Steel
2.8
Linear
.06
0
57.7
12.99
1-2
396.2
226.3
68.1
15.8
.5712
1.095
Shot
27.27
1-3
327.6
171.8
76.3
22.3
.5244
1.091
21.17
1-4
261.2
135.5
76.1
15.5
.5188
1.159
17.73
1-5
283.8
143.6
79.1
17.2
.5060
1.142
18.35
2-1
118.5
34.7
163.2
32.6
.2928
1.226
Magnt
Whirl
2.05
6.904
—
2-2
134.5
36.7
143.7
30.5
.2729
1.130
800 μm
7.744
•
2-3
119.5
29.8
88.2
21.1
.2494
1.018
9.420
—
2-4
23.7
7
21.3
3.3
.2954
1.290
1.8
8.451
*
2-5
51.3
10.7
38.6
5.1
.2086
1.187
9.316
16
2-6
30.3
5.9
72.2
9.9
.1947
1.263
3.5/2.8
5.679
3-1
90.8
21.4
105.2
11.9
.2357
1.387
.045
5.962
—
3-2
207.3
48.4
192.1
21.8
.2335
1.328
6.653
+
3-3
98.6
20.8
80.7
11.9
.2110
1.157
74
4.5/2.4
7.110
—
3-4
54.1
9.9
42
6.3
.1830
1.086
7.322
Δ
3-5
116.8
24.3
79
11
.2080
1.154
7.931
—
3-6
27.4
5.1
76.9
11.8
.1861
1.149
66.2
4.2/2.4
4.340
4-1
98.7
20.3
127.4
16.4
.2057
1.267
5.679
4-2
133.5
26.3
208.6
30
.1970
1.197
5.248
□
4-3
152.3
30.6
196.9
26.1
.2009
1.237
5.675
4-4
177.7
39
144.1
17.9
.2195
1.241
2.69
3.8/2.4
7.146
—
4-5
103.5
24.1
183.3
21.1
.2329
1.477
5.007
⊙
4-6
156.8
36.4
154.6
17.4
.2321
1.344
6.446
—
5-1
137.3
25.5
174.8
27.5
.1857
1.094
74
3.6/2.6
5.714
—
6-1
150.8
30
148.8
22.7
.1989
1.131
6.443
6-2
169.5
35.9
133.7
19.5
.2118
1.159
7.257
6-3
123.4
26.7
154.4
20
.2164
1.287
5.66
6-4
100.2
24.6
179.7
23.7
.2455
1.423
4.9
6-5
135.1
30.2
118.5
14.9
.2235
1.257
7.04
6-6
124.2
27.1
106.9
13
.2182
1.257
7
x
7-1
117.4
24.5
120.9
13.6
.2087
1.305
6.27
7-2
196.7
42.8
181.3
24.2
.2176
1.228
6.75
7-3
126
30.1
238.1
33.6
.2389
1.365
5.06
7-4
130.5
31.9
220.6
27.5
.2444
1.445
5.16
7-5
164.3
37.2
151.3
18
.2264
1.295
10.2
8-1
99.1
15.9
36.3
4.4
.1604
1.070
12.3
—
8-2
109.2
23.2
72.5
8.3
.2125
1.225
2.05
7.57
8-3
300.1
62.4
99.1
12
.2079
1.116
13.3
8-4
262.8
56.5
129.4
17.3
.2150
1.143
9.8
∇
8-5
234.1
43.5
46.7
5.1
.1858
1.074
13
8-6
74.6
11.6
124.9
11.2
.1555
1.361
5.111
9
9-1
81.3
12.2
87.7
6.9
.1501
1.328
6.166
—
9-2
38.7
10.9
75.5
13.9
.2817
1.297
400 μm
4.840
9-3
214.5
47.9
89.2
13.7
.2233
1.101
10.90
λ
9-4
183.7
40
82.9
8.4
.2177
1.199
10.29
—
|
Opposite ends of a dry vibration-fluidized separator are moved with complex vibrations, including linear, whirl, linear plus whirl, oscillation, linear plus oscillation, pitch and roll. Near zero to large amplitudes up to about ±0.050 inches and low frequencies of about 30 Hz are used. Mixed particulate materials are fed into a first end and circulate across and along the separator in a shallow depth. More dense materials move linearly along a floor and are removed through an opening in a second end of the floor. The less dense materials flow over a weir at the second end of the separator.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a catalytic conversion process. Specifically, the present invention relates to a catalytic conversion process for the maximum conversion of heavy feedstocks into high cetane number diesel.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The global demands for high quality diesel are increasingly stepped up, while the demands for the fuel oils are decreasing. On the whole, the growth speed of the global demands for diesel will go beyond that on gasoline, although the area demands vary. Therefore, more and more light diesels with low cetane number produced by catalytic cracking (FCC) are being used as the harmonic component of diesel. In order to satisfy the demands for high quality diesel, it is necessary to modify the FCC light diesel, or produce high quality FCC light diesel with high output by FCC.
[0003] In the prior art, the processes for modifying the catalytic light diesel primarily include hydrogenation and alkylation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,036 discloses a process for modifying the FCC recycled light oil by hydrogenation. CN1289832A also discloses a process by hydrogenation for modifying the catalytically cracked diesel, comprising, under the hydrogenation conditions, passing the feedstocks in turn through the hydrotreating catalyst and the hydrocracking catalyst in single-stage series without any intermediate separation. Due to said process, the cetane number of the diesel fraction in the product is increased by 10 units as compared with the feedstocks, and the sulfur content and nitrogen content are notably decreased. U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,444 discloses a process for increasing the cetane number of a FCC recycled light oil, comprising the alkylation of the FCC recycled light oil with a linear alkylene having 3 to 9 carbon atoms in the presence of solid acid catalyst. U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,916 discloses a process for modifying a FCC recycled light oil, comprising the alkylation of the FCC recycled light oil with α-C 1-4 alkylene or coker gas oil on a solid acid catalyst.
[0004] Another process of enhancing the quality of catalytic light diesel directly is achieved by varying the processing parameters or catalysts of the catalytic cracking CN1900226A discloses a catalytic cracking promoter for producing more diesel and a process for preparing the same. By the addition of a certain amount of such promoter, the diesel yield of FCC catalytic unit will be increased, and the product distribution will be improved without any change of the catalyst initially used in the refining unit. However, such process does not mention any improvement in the properties of diesel. CN1683474A also involves a catalytic cracking promoter for producing more diesel and a process for preparing the same. CN1473908A relates to a process for producing diesel from heavy oil and residue with Ca 2+ -EDTA catalytic cracking. CN101171063A relates to a fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) process for improving the quality of the distillate useful as harmonic oil of a diesel fuel. The FCC process combines the stage FCC conversion with the interstage separation of the multi-cyclic arene species. The reaction zones with lower and higher severities and selective separation of molecules in the riser of the FCC reactor together increase the outputs of the distillate with high diesel quality. The process emphasizes to obtain a saturated hydrocarbon enriched diesel fraction with high cetane number by a membrane separation.
[0005] Another process to enhance the quality of the catalytic light diesel uses the duplex combination of hydrogenation and catalytic cracking. For example, CN1896192A feeds the wax oil together with the recycled catalytically cracked heavy oil and the catalytically cracked light diesel into a hydrogenation unit, and feeds the hydrogenation tail oil into a catalytic cracking unit. The process can reduce the contents of aromatics and sulfur in the diesel, and increase the cetane number thereof. CN1382776A involves a process combining the hydrogenation of residues and the catalytic cracking of heavy oils. The processes in above patents do not set requirements on the procedures of catalytic cracking, but modify the diesel by hydrogenation.
[0006] CN101362959A discloses a catalytic conversion process for producing propylene and a gasoline with high octane number, comprising contacting the raw materials difficult to be cracked with a thermo-regenerated catalyst and conducting the cracking reaction under the conditions of: a temperature between 600 and 750° C., a weight hourly space velocity between 100 and 800 h −1 , a pressure between 0.10 and 1.0 MPa, a ratio of the catalyst to the raw materials between 30 and 150, a ratio of the steam to the raw materials between 0.05 and 1.0; mixing the reaction stream with the raw materials easy to be cracked and conducting the cracking reaction under the conditions of: a temperature between 450 and 620° C., a weight hourly space velocity between 0.1 and 100 h −1 , a pressure between 0.10 and 1.0 MPa, a ratio of the catalyst to the raw materials between 1.0 and 30, a ratio of the steam to the raw materials between 0.05 and 1.0; separating the spent catalyst and the reaction oil vapors, followed by feeding the spent catalyst into a stripper, stripping and coke-burning the catalyst, and recycling the regenerated catalyst to the reactor; and separating the reaction oil vapors to obtain the propylene and gasoline with high octane number as the target products, as well as re-cracked raw materials. The re-cracked raw materials comprise a fraction with distillation range of from 180 to 260° C. and a raffinate of heavy aromatics. The yield and selectivity for propylene are much increased by the process, and the yield of gasoline and the octane number are also increased significantly. The yield of dry gas decreases by 80% by weight or more.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a process for the maximum conversion of heavy feedstocks into high cetane number diesel, with both increased cetane number of the diesel and increased yield of the diesel, i.e., the increased cetane barrel of the diesel, wherein the term “cetane barrel” means the product of the cetane number of the diesel and the yield of the diesel. The present invention primarily relates to selectively cracking hydrocarbons in the catalytic feedstocks, such as alkanes, alkyl side chains and the like, minimizing at the same time the entry of aromatics in the feedstocks into the diesel fractions, avoiding other components in the product from retention in the diesel fractions by producing aromatics via aromatization and the like. While the feedstocks are cracked into high cetane number diesel, the dry gas and coke yields are significantly reduced, thereby achieving the efficient utilization of petroleum resources.
[0008] In one aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a catalytic conversion process for increasing the cetane barrel of the diesel, wherein the feedstock oil is contacted with a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity containing mainly the large pore zeolites in a catalytic conversion reactor, wherein the reaction temperature, oil vapors residence time and weight ratio of the catalyst/feedstock oil are sufficient to obtain a reaction product containing a diesel, and from about 12 to about 60% by weight of a fluid catalytic cracking gas oil (FGO) relative to the weight of the feedstock oil; the reaction temperature ranges from about 420° C. to about 550° C.; the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.1 to about 5 seconds; the weight ratio of the catalytic cracking catalyst/feedstock oil is about 1-about 10.
[0009] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction temperature ranges from about 430° C. to about 500° C., preferably from about 430° C. to about 480° C.
[0010] In a more preferred embodiment, the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.5 to about 4 seconds, preferably from about 0.8 to about 3 seconds.
[0011] In a more preferred embodiment, the weight ratio of catalyst/feedstock oil is from about 2 to about 8, preferably from about 3 to about 6.
[0012] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction pressure ranges from about 0.10 MPa to about 1.0 MPa, preferably from about 0.15 MPa to about 0.6 MPa.
[0013] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is selected from or comprises petroleum hydrocarbons and/or other mineral oils, wherein petroleum hydrocarbons are selected from the group consisting of vacuum gas oil, atmospheric gas oil, coker gas oil, deasphalted oil, vacuum residue and atmospheric residue or mixture of two or more (including two, the same below); other mineral oils are selected from the group consisting of coal liquefied oil, oil sand oil and shale oil, or mixture of two or more.
[0014] In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst containing mainly the large pore zeolites comprises zeolites, inorganic oxides and clays respectively in an amount of from about 5 to about 50 wt %, preferably about 10 to about 30 wt % of the zeolites; from about 0.5 to about 50 wt % of the inorganic oxides; and from 0 to about 70 wt % of the clays, relative to the total weight of the catalyst on a dry basis, wherein the zeolite is used as the active component and is selected from large pore zeolites. Large pore zeolites are selected from one or more of rare earth Y, rare earth H—Y, ultra-stable Y obtained by various methods, and high-silica Y.
[0015] The inorganic oxide as the substrate is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 and/or Al 2 O 3 . On a dry basis, the inorganic oxide comprises about 50 to about 90 wt % of silica, and about 10 to about 50 wt % of alumina.
[0016] The clay as the binder is one or more selected from the group consisting of kaolin, meta halloysite, montmorillonite, diatomite, halloysite, saponite, rectorite, sepiolite, attapulgite, hydrotalcite, and bentonite.
[0017] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity (including the catalytic cracking catalyst and the catalyst for producing more diesel) has an initial activity of not higher than about 80, preferably not higher than about 75, more preferably not higher than about 70, a self-balancing time ranging from about 0.1 h to about 50 h, preferably from about 0.2 h to about 30 h, more preferably from about 0.5 h to about 10 h, and an equilibrium activity ranging from about 35 to about 60, preferably from about 40 to about 55.
[0018] Said initial activity of the catalyst or the fresh catalyst activity as mentioned below means the catalyst activity evaluated by the light oil micro-reaction unit. It can be measured by the measuring method in the prior art: Enterprise standard RIPP 92-90-Micro-reaction activity test for catalytic cracking fresh catalysts, Petrochemical analytic method ( RIPP test method ), Yang Cuiding et al, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as RIPP 92-90). The initial activity of the catalyst is represented by light oil micro-reaction activity (MA), calculated by the formula MA=(output of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas output+coke output)/total weight of the feedstock oil×100%=the yield of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas yield+coke yield. The evaluation conditions of the light oil micro-reaction unit (by reference to RIPP 92-90) include pulverizing the catalyst into particles having a particle diameter of about 420-841 μm; the weight being 5 g; the reaction feedstocks being straightrun light diesel fuel having a distillation range of 235-337° C.; the reaction temperature being 460° C.; the weight hourly space velocity being 16 h −1 ; and the catalyst/oil ratio being 3.2.
[0019] The self-balancing time of the catalyst is the time necessary for achieving the equilibrium activity by ageing at 800° C. and 100% water vapor (by reference to RIPP 92-90).
[0020] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is obtainable by, for example, the following three processing methods.
[0021] The Catalyst-Processing Method 1:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0024] The processing method 1 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0025] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit.
[0026] The Catalyst-Processing Method 2:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with an ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0029] The technical solution of the catalyst-processing method 2 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0030] A catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from about 0.20 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas. The weight ratio of water vapor to ageing medium ranges from about 0.2 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60.
[0031] The catalyst-processing method 3:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, feeding the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator into the fluidized bed, and conducting heat exchanging in the fluidized bed; (2) contacting the heat exchanged fresh catalyst with water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (3) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0035] The technical solution of the present invention is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0036] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator is loaded into the fluidized bed at the same time to conduct heat exchanging in the fluidized bed. Water vapor or an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the fresh catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the fresh catalyst is aged by water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. Under the circumstance of the ageing medium containing water vapor, the weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from greater than about 0 to about 4, preferably from about 0.5 to about 1.5. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. In addition, water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the reaction system (as one or more selected from the group consisting of stripping steam, anticoking steam, atomizing steam and lifting steam, and added into the stripper, settler, feedstock nozzle and prelifting zone of the catalytic cracking unit respectively) or the regeneration system. The ageing medium containing water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the regeneration system, and the heat exchanged regenerated catalyst is recycled back to the regenerator. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas.
[0037] By the aforesaid processing methods, the activity and selectivity distribution of the catalyst in the industrial reaction unit are more homogeneous; the selectivity of the catalyst is notably improved so as to decrease the dry gas and coke yields significantly.
[0038] The particle size distribution of the catalyst may be the particle size distribution of the conventional catalytic cracking catalyst or a coarse particle size distribution. In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst is characterized in using the catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution.
[0039] The catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution comprise less than about 10 vol. %, preferably less than about 5 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of less than 40 μm relative to the volume of all the particles; less than about 15 vol. %, preferably less than about 10 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of greater than 80 μm relative to the volume of all the particles, and the remaining being the particles having a particle size of from 40 to 80 μm.
[0040] In a more preferred embodiment, the reactor is one or more selected from the group consisting of a riser, a fluidized bed with an equal linear velocity, a fluidized bed with an equal diameter, an upstream conveyor line and a downstream conveyor line or combinations thereof, or combinations of two or more same reactors, wherein the combinations comprises combinations in series or/and parallel; the riser is a conventional one with an equal diameter or various risers with variable diameters.
[0041] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is fed into the reactor at one position, or at more than one positions at the same or different heights.
[0042] In a more preferred embodiment, the process further comprises separating the reaction product from the catalyst, stripping and coke-burning the spent catalyst and recycling it to the reactor, wherein the separated product comprises diesel having high cetane number and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil.
[0043] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 330° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 10.8 wt %.
[0044] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 350° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 11.5 wt %.
[0045] In another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a catalytic conversion process for increasing the cetane barrel of diesel, wherein the process comprises contacting the feedstock oil with a catalytic cracking catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity containing mainly the large pore zeolites in a catalytic conversion reactor, wherein the reaction temperature, oil vapors residence time and weight ratio of the catalyst/feedstock oil are sufficient to obtain a reaction product containing a diesel, and from about 12 to about 60% by weight of a fluid catalytic cracking gas oil relative to the weight of the feedstock oil; the reaction temperature ranges from about 420° C. to about 550° C.; the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.1 to about 5 seconds; the weight ratio of the catalytic cracking catalyst/feedstock oil is about 1-about 10; and introducing all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil into a conventional catalytic cracking reactor or a riser with variable diameters to further produce a product comprising diesel and gasoline, and/or introducing the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil back to the initial catalytic conversion reactor or feeding it into another catalytic conversion reactor.
[0046] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction temperature ranges from about 430° C. to about 500° C., preferably from about 430° C. to about 480° C.
[0047] In a more preferred embodiment, the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.5 to about 4 seconds, preferably from about 0.8 to about 3 seconds.
[0048] In a more preferred embodiment, the weight ratio of catalyst/feedstock oil is from about 2 to about 8, preferably from about 3 to about 6.
[0049] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction pressure ranges from about 0.10 MPa to about 1.0 MPa, preferably from about 0.15 MPa to about 0.6 MPa.
[0050] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is selected from or comprises petroleum hydrocarbons and/or other mineral oils, wherein petroleum hydrocarbons are selected from the group consisting of vacuum gas oil, atmospheric gas oil, coker gas oil, deasphalted oil, vacuum residue and atmospheric residue or mixture of two or more; other mineral oils are selected from the group consisting of coal liquefied oil, oil sand oil and shale oil, or mixture of two or more.
[0051] In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst containing mainly the large pore zeolites comprises zeolites, inorganic oxides and clays respectively in an amount of from about 5 to about 50 wt %, preferably about 10 to about 30 wt % of the zeolites; from about 0.5 to about 50 wt % of the inorganic oxides; and from 0 to about 70 wt % of the clays, relative to the total weight of the catalyst on a dry basis, wherein the zeolite is used as the active component and is selected from large pore zeolites. Large pore zeolites are selected from one or more of rare earth Y, rare earth hydrogen Y, ultra-stable Y obtained by various methods, and high-silica Y.
[0052] The inorganic oxide as the substrate is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 and/or Al 2 O 3 . On a dry basis, the inorganic oxide comprises about 50 to about 90 wt % of silica, and about 10 to about 50 wt % of alumina.
[0053] The clay as the binder is one or more selected from the group consisting of kaolin, meta halloysite, montmorillonite, diatomite, halloysite, saponite, rectorite, sepiolite, attapulgite, hydrotalcite, and bentonite.
[0054] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity (including the catalytic cracking catalyst and the catalyst for producing more diesel) has an initial activity of not higher than about 80, preferably not higher than about 75, more preferably not higher than about 70, a self-balancing time ranging from about 0.1 h to about 50 h, preferably from about 0.2 h to about 30 h, more preferably from about 0.5 h to about 10 h, and an equilibrium activity ranging from about 35 to about 60, preferably from about 40 to about 55.
[0055] Said initial activity of the catalyst or the fresh catalyst activity as mentioned below means the catalyst activity evaluated by the light oil micro-reaction unit. It can be measured by the measuring method in the prior art: Enterprise standard RIPP 92-90-Micro-reaction activity test for catalytic cracking fresh catalysts, Petrochemical analytic method ( RIPP test method ), Yang Cuiding et al, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as RIPP 92-90). The initial activity of the catalyst is represented by light oil micro-reaction activity (MA), calculated by the formula MA=(output of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas output+coke output)/total weight of the feedstock oil×100%=the yield of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas yield+coke yield. The evaluation conditions of the light oil micro-reaction unit (by reference to RIPP 92-90) include pulverizing the catalyst into particles having a particle diameter of about 420-841 μm; the weight being 5 g; the reaction feedstocks being straightrun light diesel fuel having a distillation range of 235-337° C.; the reaction temperature being 460° C.; the weight hourly space velocity being 16 h −1 ; and the catalyst/oil ratio being 3.2.
[0056] The self-balancing time of the catalyst is the time necessary for achieving the equilibrium activity by ageing at 800° C. and 100% water vapor (by reference to RIPP 92-90).
[0057] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is obtainable by, for example, the following three processing methods.
[0058] The Catalyst-Processing Method 1:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0061] The processing method 1 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0062] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit.
[0063] The Catalyst-Processing Method 2:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with an ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0066] The technical solution of the catalyst-processing method 2 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0067] A catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from about 0.20 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas. The weight ratio of water vapor to ageing medium ranges from about 0.2 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60.
[0068] The Catalyst-Processing Method 3:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, feeding the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator into the fluidized bed, and conducting heat exchanging in the fluidized bed; (2) contacting the heat exchanged fresh catalyst with water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (3) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0072] The technical solution of the present invention is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0073] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator is loaded into the fluidized bed at the same time to conduct heat exchanging in the fluidized bed. Water vapor or an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the fresh catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the fresh catalyst is aged by water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. Under the circumstance of the ageing medium containing water vapor, the weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from greater than about 0 to about 4, preferably ranges from about 0.5 to about 1.5. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. In addition, water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the reaction system (as one or more selected from the group consisting of stripping steam, anticoking steam, atomizing steam and lifting steam, and added into the stripper, settler, feedstock nozzle and prelifting zone of the catalytic cracking unit respectively) or the regeneration system. The ageing medium containing water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the regeneration system, and the heat exchanged regenerated catalyst is recycled back to the regenerator. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas.
[0074] By the aforesaid processing methods, the activity and selectivity distribution of the catalyst in the industrial reaction unit are more homogeneous; the selectivity of the catalyst is notably improved so as to decrease the dry gas and coke yields significantly.
[0075] The particle size distribution of the catalyst may be the particle size distribution of the conventional catalytic cracking catalyst or a coarse particle size distribution. In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst is characterized in using the catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution.
[0076] The catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution comprise less than about 10 vol. %, preferably less than about 5 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of less than 40 μm relative to the volume of all the particles; less than about 15 vol. %, preferably less than about 10 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of greater than 80 μm relative to the volume of all the particles, and the remaining being the particles having a particle size of from 40 to 80 μm.
[0077] The details of the riser reactor with variable diameters into which the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced may be reference to CN1237477A.
[0078] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is fed into another conversion reactor for cracking reaction, the oil vapors produced is subjected to hydrogen transfer reaction and isomerization reaction under certain reaction environment, and a reaction product comprising low olefin gasoline is obtained through separation. The conversion reactor can be divided into two reaction zones, with the following reaction conditions for each reaction zone:
[0079] The first reaction zone serves predominantly for the cracking reaction, and has a reaction temperature ranging from about 480° C. to about 600° C., preferably from about 485° C. to about 580° C.; a reaction time ranging from about 0.1 to about 3 seconds, preferably about 0.5 to about 2 seconds; a ratio by weight of the severe conversion catalyst to the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil ranging from about 0.5:1 to about 25:1, preferably about 1:1 to about 15:1; a ratio by weight of the prelifting medium to the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil ranging from about 0.01:1 to about 2:1, preferably about 0.05:1 to about 1:1; a reaction pressure ranging from about 130 kPa to about 450 kPa, preferably about 250 kPa to about 400 kPa.
[0080] The second reaction zone serves predominantly for the hydrogen transfer reaction and isomerization reaction; and has a reaction temperature ranging from about 450° C. to about 550° C., preferably about 460° C. to about 530° C.; a dense phase operation being maintained in the second reaction zone; a density of the dense phase of the catalyst bed ranging from about 100 to about 700 kg/m 3 , preferably from about 120 to about 500 kg/m 3 ; a weight hourly space velocity in the second reaction zone ranging from about 1 to about 50 hour −1 , preferably from about 1 to about 40 hour −1 ; and a reaction pressure ranging from about 130 kPa to about 450 kPa, preferably about 250 kPa to about 400 kPa.
[0081] In a more preferred embodiment, the process further comprises separating the product of the another conversion reaction and the conversion catalyst, stripping and coke-burning the conversion catalyst and recycling it to the another conversion reactor, wherein the separated product comprises the low olefin gasoline and the like.
[0082] In a more preferred embodiment, the reactor is one or more selected from the group consisting of a riser, a fluidized bed with an equal linear velocity, a fluidized bed with an equal diameter, an upstream conveyor line and a downstream conveyor line or combinations thereof, or combinations of two or more same reactors, wherein the combinations comprises combinations in series or/and parallel; the riser is a conventional one with an equal diameter or various risers with variable diameters.
[0083] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is fed into the reactor at one position, or at more than one positions at the same or different heights.
[0084] In a more preferred embodiment, the process further comprises separating the reaction product from the catalyst, stripping and coke-burning the spent catalyst and recycling it to the reactor, wherein the separated product comprises diesel having high cetane number and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil.
[0085] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 330° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 10.8 wt %.
[0086] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 350° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 11.5 wt %.
[0087] In another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a catalytic conversion process for increasing the cetane barrel of diesel, wherein the process comprises contacting the feedstock oil with a catalytic cracking catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity containing mainly the large pore zeolites in a catalytic conversion reactor, wherein the reaction temperature, oil vapors residence time and weight ratio of the catalyst/feedstock oil are sufficient to obtain a reaction product containing a diesel, and from about 12 to about 60% by weight of a fluid catalytic cracking gas oil relative to the weight of the feedstock oil; the reaction temperature ranges from about 420° C. to about 550° C.; the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.1 to about 5 seconds; the weight ratio of the catalytic cracking catalyst/feedstock oil is about 1-about 10; wherein all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced into a hydrocracking unit for the further production of diesel having high cetane number.
[0088] In a preferred embodiment, the treated hydrocracked tail oil can be introduced into a conventional catalytic cracking reactor or a riser with variable diameters to further produce a product comprising diesel and gasoline. In a preferred embodiment, the hydrocracking tail oil can be introduced back to the catalytic conversion reactor
[0089] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction temperature ranges from about 430° C. to about 500° C., preferably from about 430° C. to about 480° C.
[0090] In a more preferred embodiment, the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.5 to about 4 seconds, preferably from about 0.8 to about 3 seconds.
[0091] In a more preferred embodiment, the weight ratio of catalyst/feedstock oil is from about 2 to about 8, preferably from about 3 to about 6.
[0092] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction pressure ranges from about 0.10 MPa to about 1.0 MPa, preferably from about 0.15 MPa to about 0.6 MPa.
[0093] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is selected from or comprises petroleum hydrocarbons and/or other mineral oils, wherein petroleum hydrocarbons are selected from the group consisting of vacuum gas oil, atmospheric gas oil, coker gas oil, deasphalted oil, vacuum residue and atmospheric residue or mixture of two or more; other mineral oils are selected from the group consisting of coal liquefied oil, oil sand oil and shale oil, or mixture of two or more.
[0094] In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst containing mainly the large pore zeolites comprises zeolites, inorganic oxides and clays respectively in an amount of from about 5 to about 50 wt %, preferably about 10 to about 30 wt % of the zeolites; from about 0.5 to about 50 wt % of the inorganic oxides; and from 0 to about 70 wt % of the clays, relative to the total weight of the catalyst on a dry basis, wherein the zeolite is used as the active component and is selected from large pore zeolites. Large pore zeolites are selected from one or more of rare earth Y, rare earth H—Y, ultra-stable Y obtained by various methods, and high-silica Y.
[0095] The inorganic oxide as the substrate is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 and/or Al 2 O 3 . On a dry basis, the inorganic oxide comprises about 50 to about 90 wt % of silica, and about 10 to about 50 wt % of alumina.
[0096] The clay as the binder is one or more selected from the group consisting of kaolin, meta halloysite, montmorillonite, diatomite, halloysite, saponite, rectorite, sepiolite, attapulgite, hydrotalcite, and bentonite.
[0097] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity (including the catalytic cracking catalyst and the catalyst for producing more diesel) has an initial activity of not higher than about 80, preferably not higher than about 75, more preferably not higher than about 70, a self-balancing time ranging from about 0.1 h to about 50 h, preferably from about 0.2 h to about 30 h, more preferably from about 0.5 h to about 10 h, and an equilibrium activity ranging from about 35 to about 60, preferably from about 40 to about 55.
[0098] Said initial activity of the catalyst or the fresh catalyst activity as mentioned below means the catalyst activity evaluated by the light oil micro-reaction unit. It can be measured by the measuring method in the prior art: Enterprise standard RIPP 92-90-Micro-reaction activity test for catalytic cracking fresh catalysts, Petrochemical analytic method (RIPP test method), Yang Cuiding et al, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as RIPP 92-90). The initial activity of the catalyst is represented by light oil micro-reaction activity (MA), calculated by the formula MA=(output of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas output+coke output)/total weight of the feedstock oil×100%=the yield of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas yield+coke yield. The evaluation conditions of the light oil micro-reaction unit (by reference to RIPP 92-90) include pulverizing the catalyst into particles having a particle diameter of about 420-841 μm; the weight being 5 g; the reaction feedstocks being straightrun light diesel fuel having a distillation range of 235-337° C.; the reaction temperature being 460° C.; the weight hourly space velocity being 16 h −1 ; and the catalyst/oil ratio being 3.2.
[0099] The self-balancing time of the catalyst is the time necessary for achieving the equilibrium activity by ageing at 800° C. and 100% water vapor (by reference to RIPP 92-90).
[0100] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is obtainable by, for example, the following three processing methods.
[0101] The Catalyst-Processing Method 1:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0104] The processing method 1 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0105] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit.
[0106] The Catalyst-Processing Method 2:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with an ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0109] The technical solution of the catalyst-processing method 2 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0110] A catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from about 0.20 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas. The weight ratio of water vapor to ageing medium ranges from about 0.2 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60.
[0111] The Catalyst-Processing Method 3:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, feeding the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator into the fluidized bed, and conducting heat exchanging in the fluidized bed; (2) contacting the heat exchanged fresh catalyst with water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (3) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0115] The technical solution of the present invention is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0116] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator is loaded into the fluidized bed at the same time to conduct heat exchanging in the fluidized bed. Water vapor or an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the fresh catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the fresh catalyst is aged by water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. Under the circumstance of the ageing medium containing water vapor, the weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from greater than about 0 to about 4, preferably ranges from about 0.5 to about 1.5. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. In addition, water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the reaction system (as one or more selected from the group consisting of stripping steam, anticoking steam, atomizing steam and lifting steam, and added into the stripper, settler, feedstock nozzle and prelifting zone of the catalytic cracking unit respectively) or the regeneration system. The ageing medium containing water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the regeneration system, and the heat exchanged regenerated catalyst is recycled back to the regenerator. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas.
[0117] By the aforesaid processing methods, the activity and selectivity distribution of the catalyst in the industrial reaction unit are more homogeneous; the selectivity of the catalyst is notably improved so as to decrease the dry gas and coke yields significantly.
[0118] The particle size distribution of the catalyst may be the particle size distribution of the conventional catalytic cracking catalyst or a coarse particle size distribution. In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst is characterized in using the catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution.
[0119] The catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution comprise less than about 10 vol. %, preferably less than about 5 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of less than 40 μm relative to the volume of all the particles; less than about 15 vol. %, preferably less than about 10 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of greater than 80 μm relative to the volume of all the particles, and the remaining being the particles having a particle size of from 40 to 80 μm.
[0120] The details of the riser reactor with variable diameters into which the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced may be by reference to CN1237477A.
[0121] In a more preferred embodiment, the reactor is one or more selected from the group consisting of a riser, a fluidized bed with an equal linear velocity, a fluidized bed with an equal diameter, an upstream conveyor line and a downstream conveyor line or combinations thereof, or combinations of two or more same reactors, wherein the combinations comprises combinations in series or/and parallel; the riser is a conventional one with an equal diameter or various risers with variable diameters.
[0122] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is fed into the reactor at one position, or at more than one positions at the same or different heights.
[0123] In a more preferred embodiment, the process further comprises separating the reaction product from the catalyst, stripping and coke-burning the spent catalyst and recycling it to the reactor, wherein the separated product comprises diesel having high cetane number and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil.
[0124] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 330° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 10.8 wt %.
[0125] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 350° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 11.5 wt %.
[0126] The hydrocracking reaction system usually comprises a treating reactor and a cracking reactor, both of which are the fixed bed reactors. Other types of reactors may also be used.
[0127] The treating reactor and the cracking reactor are usually loaded with a hydrotreating catalyst and a hydrocracking catalyst, respectively.
[0128] The hydrotreating catalyst is a non-noble Group VIB or/and Group VIII metal catalyst supported on amorphous alumina or/and silicon-aluminium carrier, and the hydrocracking catalyst is a non-noble Group VIB or/and Group VIII metal catalyst supported on molecular sieves, wherein the non-noble Group VIB metal is molybdenum or/and tungsten; and the non-noble Group VIII metal is one or more selected from nickel, cobalt and iron. The molecular sieve for supporting hydrocracking catalyst is one or more selected from the group consisting of Y molecular sieves, β molecular sieve, ZSM-5 molecular sieve, SAPO series molecular sieves.
[0129] The hydrocracking is conducted under the conditions of a hydrogen partial pressure of from about 4.0 MPa to about 20.0 MPa, a reaction temperature of from about 280° C. to about 450° C., a volume hourly space velocity of about 0.1 to about 20 h −1 , and a hydrogen/oil ratio of from about 300 to about 2000 v/v. The hydrogen/oil ratio used herein means the ratio by volume of hydrogen to the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil.
[0130] In one aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a catalytic conversion process for increasing the cetane barrel of diesel, wherein the feedstock oil is contacted with a catalytic cracking catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity containing mainly the large pore zeolites in a catalytic conversion reactor, wherein the reaction temperature, oil vapors residence time and weight ratio of the catalyst/feedstock oil are sufficient to obtain a reaction product containing a diesel, and from about 12 to about 60% by weight of a fluid catalytic cracking gas oil relative to the weight of the feedstock oil; the reaction temperature ranges from about 420° C. to about 550° C.; the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.1 to about 5 seconds; the weight ratio of the catalytic cracking catalyst/feedstock oil is about 1-about 10; wherein all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced into the hydrotreating unit for further treatment to obtain hydrogenated fluid catalytic cracking gas oil with high quality.
[0131] In a preferred embodiment, the hydrotreated fluid catalytic cracking gas oil can be introduced into the conventional catalytic cracking reactor or the riser with variable diameters to further produce a product comprising diesel and gasoline. In a preferred embodiment, the hydrogenated fluid catalytic cracking gas oil can be introduced back to the catalytic conversion reactor
[0132] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction temperature ranges from about 430° C. to about 500° C., preferably from about 430° C. to about 480° C.
[0133] In a more preferred embodiment, the oil vapors residence time ranges from about 0.5 to about 4 seconds, preferably from about 0.8 to about 3 seconds.
[0134] In a more preferred embodiment, the weight ratio of catalyst/feedstock oil is from about 2 to about 8, preferably from about 3 to about 6.
[0135] In a more preferred embodiment, the reaction pressure ranges from about 0.10 MPa to about 1.0 MPa, preferably from about 0.15 MPa to about 0.6 MPa.
[0136] In a more preferred embodiment, the hydrocracked tail oil of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is fed into a conventional catalytic cracking reactor and/or a riser with variable diameters, and/or the inventive catalytic conversion unit, and/or a hydrocracking unit, for further treatment.
[0137] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is selected from or comprises petroleum hydrocarbons and/or other mineral oils, wherein petroleum hydrocarbons are selected from the group consisting of vacuum gas oil, atmospheric gas oil, coker gas oil, deasphalted oil, vacuum residue and atmospheric residue or mixture of two or more; other mineral oils are selected from the group consisting of coal liquefied oil, oil sand oil and shale oil, or mixture of two or more.
[0138] In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst containing mainly the large pore zeolites comprises zeolites, inorganic oxides and clays respectively in an amount of from about 5 to about 50 wt %, preferably about 10 to about 30 wt % of the zeolites; from about 0.5 to about 50 wt % of the inorganic oxides; and from 0 to about 70 wt % of the clays, relative to the total weight of the catalyst on a dry basis, wherein the zeolite is used as the active component and is selected from large pore zeolites. Large pore zeolites are selected from one or more of rare earth Y, rare earth hydrogen Y, ultra-stable Y obtained by various methods, and high-silica Y.
[0139] The inorganic oxide as the substrate is selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 and/or Al 2 O 3 . On a dry basis, the inorganic oxide comprises about 50 to about 90 wt % of silica, and about 10 to about 50 wt % of alumina.
[0140] The clay as the binder is one or more selected from the group consisting of kaolin, meta halloysite, montmorillonite, diatomite, halloysite, saponite, rectorite, sepiolite, attapulgite, hydrotalcite, and bentonite.
[0141] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity (including the catalytic cracking catalyst and the catalyst for producing more diesel) has an initial activity of not higher than about 80, preferably not higher than about 75, more preferably not higher than about 70, a self-balancing time ranging from about 0.1 h to about 50 h, preferably from about 0.2 h to about 30 h, more preferably from about 0.5 h to about 10 h, and an equilibrium activity ranging from about 35 to about 60, preferably from about 40 to about 55.
[0142] Said initial activity of the catalyst or the fresh catalyst activity as mentioned below means the catalyst activity evaluated by the light oil micro-reaction unit. It can be measured by the measuring method in the prior art: Enterprise standard RIPP 92-90-Micro-reaction activity test for catalytic cracking fresh catalysts, Petrochemical analytic method (RIPP test method), Yang Cuiding et al, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as RIPP 92-90). The initial activity of the catalyst is represented by light oil micro-reaction activity (MA), calculated by the formula MA=(output of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas output+coke output)/total weight of the feedstock oil×100%=the yield of the gasoline having a temperature less than 204° C. in the product+gas yield+coke yield. The evaluation conditions of the light oil micro-reaction unit (by reference to RIPP 92-90) include pulverizing the catalyst into particles having a particle diameter of about 420-841 μm; the weight being 5 g; the reaction feedstocks being straightrun light diesel fuel having a distillation range of 235-337° C.; the reaction temperature being 460° C.; the weight hourly space velocity being 16 h −1 ; and the catalyst/oil ratio being 3.2.
[0143] The self-balancing time of the catalyst is the time necessary for achieving the equilibrium activity by ageing at 800° C. and 100% water vapor (by reference to RIPP 92-90).
[0144] The catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is obtainable by, for example, the following three processing methods.
[0145] The Catalyst-Processing Method 1:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0148] The processing method 1 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0149] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit.
[0150] The Catalyst-Processing Method 2:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, contacting with an ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (2) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0153] The technical solution of the catalyst-processing method 2 is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0154] A catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the catalyst is achieved under the action of the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the catalyst is aged by the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from about 0.20 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas. The weight ratio of water vapor to ageing medium ranges from about 0.2 to about 0.9, preferably from about 0.40 to about 0.60.
[0155] The Catalyst-Processing Method 3:
(1) loading a fresh catalyst into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, feeding the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator into the fluidized bed, and conducting heat exchanging in the fluidized bed; (2) contacting the heat exchanged fresh catalyst with water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, ageing under a certain hydrothermal circumstance to obtain a catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity; and (3) loading the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity into the corresponding reaction unit.
[0159] The technical solution of the present invention is specifically carried out, for example, as follows.
[0160] A fresh catalyst is loaded into a fluidized bed, preferably a dense phase fluidized bed, and the hot regenerated catalyst in the regenerator is loaded into the fluidized bed at the same time to conduct heat exchanging in the fluidized bed. Water vapor or an ageing medium containing water vapor is fed into the bottom of the fluidized bed. The fluidization of the fresh catalyst is achieved under the action of water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor, and the fresh catalyst is aged by water vapor or the ageing medium containing water vapor at the same time to obtain the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity. The ageing temperature ranges from about 400° C. to about 850° C., preferably from about 500° C. to about 750° C., more preferably from about 600° C. to about 700° C. The superficial linear velocity of the fluidized bed ranges from about 0.1 to about 0.6 m/s, preferably from about 0.15 to about 0.5 m/s. The ageing time ranges from about 1 h to about 720 h, preferably from about 5 h to about 360 h. Under the circumstance of the ageing medium containing water vapor, the weight ratio of water vapor to the ageing medium ranges from greater than about 0 to about 4, preferably ranges from about 0.5 to about 1.5. According to the requirements on the industrial unit, the catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity is loaded into the industrial unit, preferably into the regenerator of the industrial unit. In addition, water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the reaction system (as one or more selected from the group consisting of stripping steam, anticoking steam, atomizing steam and lifting steam, and added into the stripper, settler, feedstock nozzle and prelifting zone of the catalytic cracking unit respectively) or the regeneration system. The ageing medium containing water vapor after the ageing step is fed into the regeneration system, and the heat exchanged regenerated catalyst is recycled back to the regenerator. The ageing medium comprises air, dry gas, regenerated flue gas, gas obtained by combusting air and dry gas or gas obtained by combusting air and burning oil, or other gases such as nitrogen gas.
[0161] By the aforesaid processing methods, the activity and selectivity distribution of the catalyst in the industrial reaction unit are more homogeneous; the selectivity of the catalyst is notably improved so as to decrease the dry gas and coke yields significantly.
[0162] The particle size distribution of the catalyst may be the particle size distribution of the conventional catalytic cracking catalyst or a coarse particle size distribution. In a more preferred embodiment, the catalyst is characterized in using the catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution.
[0163] The catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution comprise less than about 10 vol. %, preferably less than about 5 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of less than 40 μm relative to the volume of all the particles; less than about 15 vol. %, preferably less than about 10 vol. % of the particles having a particle size of greater than 80 μm relative to the volume of all the particles, and the remaining being the particles having a particle size of from 40 to 80 μm.
[0164] The details of the riser reactor with variable diameters into which the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced may be by reference to CN1237477A.
[0165] In a more preferred embodiment, the reactor is one or more selected from the group consisting of a riser, a fluidized bed with an equal linear velocity, a fluidized bed with an equal diameter, an upstream conveyor line and a downstream conveyor line or combinations thereof, or combinations of two or more same reactors, wherein the combinations comprises combinations in series or/and parallel; the riser is a conventional one with an equal diameter or various risers with variable diameters.
[0166] In a more preferred embodiment, the feedstock oil is fed into the reactor at one position, or at more than one positions at the same or different heights.
[0167] In a more preferred embodiment, the process further comprises separating the reaction product from the catalyst, stripping and coke-burning the spent catalyst and recycling it to the reactor, wherein the separated product comprises diesel having high cetane number and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil.
[0168] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 330° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 10.8 wt %.
[0169] In a more preferred embodiment, the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is a fraction having an initial boiling point of not less than 350° C. and a hydrogen content of not less than 11.5 wt %.
[0170] The reaction system for hydrotreating involves generally a fixed bed reactor, while other types of reactor may also be used.
[0171] The hydrotreating catalyst for the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil uses a metal of Group VIII/Group VIB of the periodic table of elements as the active component, and alumina and zeolite as support. Specifically, the hydrotreating catalyst comprises a support and molybdenum and/or tungsten and nickel and/or cobalt supported thereon. The hydrotreating catalyst comprises, in terms of oxides and based on the total weight of the catalyst, molybdenum and/or tungsten in an amount of about 10 to about 35 wt %, preferably about 18 to about 32 wt %; and nickel and/or cobalt in an amount of about 1 to about 15 wt %, preferably about 3 to about 12 wt %. The support consists of alumina and a zeolite in a weight ratio of the alumina to the zeolite ranging from about 90:10 to about 50:50, preferably from about 90:10 to about 60:40. The alumina is compounded by small pore alumina and large pore alumina i a weight ratio ranging from about 75:25 to about 50:50, wherein the small pore alumina comprises 95% or more by volume of pores with a diameter less than 80 angstroms based on the total volume of the pores, and the large pore alumina comprises 70% or more by volume of pores with a diameter of 60 to 600 angstroms based on the total volume of the pores. The zeolite is one or more selected from the group consisting of faujasite, mordenite, erionite, L-type zeolite, Ω zeolite, ZSM-4 zeolite and Beta zeolite, preferably Y-type zeolite, particularly preferably Y-type zeolite with a total acid amount ranging from about 0.02 to less than about 0.5 mmol/g, preferably from about 0.05 to about 0.2 mmol/g.
[0172] The hydrotreating is conducted under the processing conditions of a hydrogen partial pressure of from about 3.0 MPa to about 20.0 MPa, a reaction temperature of from about 280 MPa to about 450° C., a volume hourly space velocity of about 0.1 to about 20 h −1 , and a hydrogen/oil ratio of from about 300 to about 2000 v/v. The hydrogen/oil ratio used herein each means the ratio by volume of the hydrogen to the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil.
[0173] The hydrotreating catalyst for the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is prepared by a process comprising:
[0174] Mixing and shaping a precursor of alumina and a zeolite, calcinating, immersing with an aqueous solution containing nickel and/or cobalt and molybdenum and/or tungsten, then drying and calcinating. The precursor of the alumina is a mixture of the precursor of small pore alumina comprising 95% or more by volume of pores with a diameter less than 80 angstroms based on the total volume of the pores, and the precursor of large pore alumina comprising 70% or more by volume of pores with a diameter of 60 to 600 angstroms based on the total volume of the pores. The amounts of the precursor of the small pore alumina, of the precursor of the large pore alumina and of the zeolite are selected such that a weight ratio of the small pore alumina to the large pore alumina ranging from about 75:25 to about 50:50, a weight ratio of the total weight of the alumina to the zeolite ranging from about 90:10 to about 50:50, preferably from about 90:10 to about 60:40. The precursor of the small pore alumina is a hydrated alumina comprising greater than about 60 wt % of monohydrated alumina, and precursor of the large pore alumina is a hydrated alumina comprising greater than about 50 wt % of monohydrated alumina.
[0175] The inventive technical solutions combine the catalytic cracking, hydrotreating and hydrocracking, so as to achieve the maximum production of diesel having high cetane number from heavy feedstocks having a lower hydrogen content.
[0176] The present invention has the following technical advantages as compared with the prior art:
[0000] 1. The alkanes, alkyl aromatics side chains and so on in the feedstocks are selectively cracked into the diesel fraction of the product with maximum production through optimum control to the processing parameters and catalyst properties, so as to ensure the main components in the diesel fraction are alkanes, such that a diesel having high cetane number can be produced by catalytic conversion;
2. The hydrocarbons with various properties are selectively reacted under the respectively suitable reaction conditions, the selectivity of dry gas and coke is improved, and the catalyst with a coarse particle size distribution can further improve the selectivity of dry gas and coke;
3. The heavy oil is catalytically converted by the inventive process, such that the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil comprises mainly the aromatics components, whose properties change relatively less with the properties of the feedstocks, such that the feed to the hydrotreating and/or hydrocracking units is stable, and the operation cycle is correspondingly elongated;
4. Since the particles are more homogeneous, the local temperature distribution of the catalyst during the regeneration becomes more homogeneous, and the fracture tendency of the catalyst is also correspondingly decreased;
5. The catalyst consumption is reduced, and the catalyst content entrained in the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is decreased.
[0177] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods and materials are described below. In case of conflict, the patent specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.
[0178] As used herein, the term “comprising” means that other steps and ingredients that do not affect the final result can be added. This term encompasses the terms “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”.
[0179] The term “method” or “process” refers to manners, means, techniques and procedures for accomplishing a given task including, but not limited to, those manners, means, techniques and procedures either known to, or readily developed from known manners, means, techniques and procedures by practitioners of the chemical and chemical engineering.
[0180] Throughout this disclosure, various aspects of the present invention can be presented in a range format. It should be understood that the description in range format is merely for convenience and brevity and should not be construed as an inflexible limitation on the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the description of a range should be considered to have specifically disclosed all the possible subranges as well as individual numerical values within that range. For example, description of a range such as from 1 to 6 should be considered to have specifically disclosed subranges such as from 1 to 3, from 1 to 4, from 1 to 5, from 2 to 4, from 2 to 6, from 3 to 6 etc., as well as individual numbers within that range, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This applies regardless of the breadth of the range.
[0181] Whenever a numerical range is indicated herein, it is meant to include any cited numeral (fractional or integral) within the indicated range. The phrases “between” a first indicate number and a second indicate number and “ranging/ranges from” a first indicate number “to” a second indicate number are used herein interchangeably and are meant to include the first and second indicated numbers and all the fractional and integral numerals therebetween.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0182] The present invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the present invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
[0183] FIG. 1 is the schematic flow chart of one embodiment of the present invention.
[0184] FIG. 2 is the schematic figure of one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHEMATIC FLOW CHART
[0185] The drawings are intended to be illustrative, not limitative, for the processes provided in the present invention.
[0186] FIG. 1 is the schematic flow chart of one embodiment of the present invention.
[0187] The schematic flow chart is stated as follows:
[0188] As showed in FIG. 1 , the feedstock oil is introduced into a catalytic cracking reactor 1 ′ to obtain the components of catalytic diesel, fluid catalytic cracking gas oil and so on, wherein the catalytic diesel is drawn out via line 5 ′, and all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is drawn out via line 6 ′ and line 8 ′.
[0189] Or/and, all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced into a conventional catalytic cracking reactor or a riser with variable diameters 2 ′ via lines 6 ′ and 7 ′, for the production of diesel, gasoline and other products.
[0190] Or/and, all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced into a hydrotreating unit 2 ′ via lines 6 ′, 9 ′ and 10 ′, and the hydrotreated fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced into a conventional catalytic cracking reactor or a riser with variable diameters 3 ′ via line 11 ′, for the production of diesel, gasoline and other products.
[0191] Or/and, all or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is introduced into a hydrocracking unit 4 ′ via lines 6 ′, 9 ′ and 12 ′, and the hydrocracked tail oil of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil can be drawn out for introduction into reactors such as a conventional catalytic cracking reactor, a riser with variable diameters and the inventive unit, for the production of diesel, gasoline and other products.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0192] The drawings are intended to be illustrative, not limitative, for the processes provided in the present invention.
[0193] The technological process is stated as follows.
[0194] As showed in FIG. 2 , the regenerated catalyst enters the prelifting section 2 at the bottom of the riser 4 via the regeneration standpipe 12 and slide valve 11 . The prelifting medium also enters the prelifting section 2 via line 1 . Under the action of the prelifting medium, the regenerated catalyst enters the reaction zone I at the lower part of the riser 4 through the prelifting section 2 . The catalytic feedstock oil also enters the reaction zone I at the lower part of the riser 4 via line 3 , contact and react with the catalyst, and flow upward to the reaction zone II. The oil/catalyst mixture after reaction enters the cyclone separator 7 from the outlet of riser, and is subjected to the gas-solid separation by the cyclone separator 7 . The oil vapors after separation enters the reactor vessel collection chamber 6 . The spent catalyst separated with the oil vapors flows downward to the stripping section 5 , and is stripped therein with superheated steam. The stripped spent catalyst enters the regenerator 10 via the spent catalyst standpipe 8 and slide valve 9 for regeneration. The main air enters the regenerator 10 via line 20 . Coke on the spent catalyst is burned off to regenerate the inactivated spent catalyst, and the flue gas enters the exhauster via pipeline 21 . The regenerated catalyst is fed back to the lifting section 2 via the standpipe 12 and slide valve 11 for recycling use.
[0195] The oil vapors in the collector chamber 6 is fed into the subsequent separation system 14 via the main oil vapors pipe line 13 . The dry gas, liquefied gas, gasoline, diesel and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil obtained after separation are drawn out respectively via lines 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 and 19 .
[0196] All or a part of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil from line 19 can be discharged out directly; or/and be introduced into a conventional catalytic cracking reactor or a riser with variable diameters; or/and be introduced into a hydrotreating unit to obtain a hydrotreated fluid catalytic cracking gas oil, which is fed into a riser; or/and be introduced into a hydrocracking reactor. The fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is thus further treated to obtain the target product.
[0197] The following examples are used to demonstrate the effect of the present invention and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention to the detailed examples shown herein.
[0198] The feedstock oil used in the examples is vacuum gas oil (VGO-D) and atmospheric residue (AR), and the properties thereof are listed in Table 1.
[0199] The catalyst zeolite used in the inventive Examples was the aged high silica zeolite. Said high silica zeolite was prepared by the following steps: using NaY to conduct SiCl 4 vapor phase treatment and rare earth ion exchanging to obtain a sample having a silica:alumina ratio of 18 and a rare earth content of 2 wt % (calculated in terms of RE 2 O 3 ), aging such sample at 800° C. and 100% steam. 969 g of halloysite (produced by China Kaolin Clay Company, and having a solid content of 73%) were slurried by using 4,300 g of decationic water. Then 781 g of pseudo-boehmite (produced by Shandong Zibo Boehmite Factory, and having a solid content of 64%) and 144 ml of hydrochloric acid (having a concentration of 30%, and a specific gravity of 1.56) were added therein, homogeneously stirred and stood for aging at 60° C. for 1 h. The pH thereof was maintained to be 2-4, and the temperature thereof was decreased to room temperature. Then the pre-prepared zeolite slurry containing 800 g of high silica zeolites (dry basis) and 2,000 g of chemical water were added therein, homogeneously stirred, and dried by spraying to obtain the catalyst after free Na + was washed off (having a fresh catalyst activity of 79, a self-balancing time of 10 h under the conditions of 800° C. and 100% steam, and an equilibrium activity of 55). The catalyst obtained was aged at 800° C. and 100% steam. The aged catalyst was nominated as A. A part of the ageing agent was elutriated to remove fine particles and particles having a particle size of greater than 100 μm, so as to obtain the catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution, nominated as B. The properties of the catalysts were listed in Table 2.
[0200] The hydrotreating catalyst and hydrocracking catalyst used in the examples respectively have the commodity numbers of RN-2 and RT-1 and both are produced by Changling catalyst factory of SINOPEC Catalyst Company.
Inventive Example 1
[0201] The example illustrated the case using the inventive process for producing high quality light diesel and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil through a selective cracking reaction.
[0202] The flow chart of a pilot scale catalytic cracking unit was as shown in FIG. 2 . The feedstock oil VGO-D was injected into the riser reactor via line 3 , contacted and reacted with the steam-lifted catalyst B at the lower part of the riser reactor. The weight ratio of the catalyst B to the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 4:1. The residence time of the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 1.6 seconds. The reaction temperature was 460° C. The pressure in the collection chamber was 0.15 MPa. The oil vapors from the riser was fed into the downstream fractionation system after the separation by a cyclone separator. The spent catalyst which has coke was introduced into the stripping section. The stripped spent catalyst was regenerated in the regenerator, and the regenerated catalyst was fed back to the riser reactor for recycling use. The conditions and results of experiments were listed in table 3, and the properties of the diesel were listed in table 4.
Comparative Example
[0203] The experiment was conducted using a riser reactor same as the one used in the above example. The feedstock oil, the experiment steps and methods were the same as those of inventive example 1 above, except that the catalyst used was changed from catalyst B used in the above example to catalyst A. The operation conditions and distribution of products were listed in table 3. The results of the experiments were listed in table 3, the properties of the diesel were listed in table 4, and the properties of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil were listed in table 5.
[0204] It could be seen from table 3 that the yields of dry gas and coke of the inventive example were significantly lower than those of the comparative example. It could be seen from table 4 that the diesel properties of the inventive example were slightly better than those of the comparative example, with cetane numbers of 53 versus 52.
[0000]
TABLE 1
Type of the Feedstock Oil
VGO-D
AR
Density (20° C.), g/cm 3
0.8653
0.9029
Carbon Residue, wt %
0.15
4.0
Total Nitrogen Content, wt %
0.04
0.26
Sulfur, wt %
0.09
0.13
C, wt %
86.12
86.86
H, wt %
13.47
12.86
Heavy Metal Content, ppm
Ni
0.12
5.3
V
<0.1
1.1
Distillation Range, ° C.
Initial Boiling Point
284
308
10%
342
395
30%
390
440
50%
420
479
70%
449
550
90%
497
/
[0000]
TABLE 2
Number of Examples
A
B
Type of the Particle Size
Conventional
Coarse
Particle Size
Particle Size
Chemical Composition, wt %
Al 2 O 3
25
25
Na 2 O
Superficial Density, kg/m 3
790
778
Pore Volume, ml/g
Specific Surface area, m 2 /g
156
141
Abrasion Index, wt % hour −1
1.0
1.0
Sieved Composition, wt %
0~40 microns
12
8
40~80 microns
65
78
>80 microns
23
14
[0000]
TABLE 3
Inventive
Comparative
Example 1
Example 1
Number of Examples
B
A
Reaction Temperature, ° C.
460
460
Reaction Time, second
1.6
1.6
Catalyst/oil Ratio
4
4
Water Injected (based on the
10
10
feed), %
Distribution of the Products,
wt %
Dry Gas
0.48
0.57
Liquefied Petroleum Gas
7.01
7.03
Gasoline
20.76
20.91
Diesel
29.76
29.46
Fluid Catalytic Cracking
39.83
39.67
Gas Oil
Coke
1.78
1.98
Loss
0.38
0.38
[0000]
TABLE 4
Inventive
Comparative
Example 1
Example 1
Properties of Diesel
Density, g/cm 3
0.8457
0.8463
Refraction index
1.4771
1.4775
Solidifying Point, ° C.
12
12
Distillation Range, ° C.
Initial Boiling Point
210
211
5%
242
244
10%
245
246
30%
282
282
50%
308
308
70%
332
331
90%
352
350
Final Boiling Point
/
/
Composition, %
Paraffins
47.1
45.9
Cycloalkanes
27.9
28
Aromatics
25.0
26.1
Cetane Number
53
52
Cetane Number Barrel of
1577.28
1531.92
Diesel*
*Cetane Number Barrel of Diesel = Cetane Number of Diesel × Yield of Diesel
[0000]
TABLE 5
Inventive
Comparative
Example 1
Example 1
Properties of Fluid Catalytic
Cracking Gas Oil
Density, g/cm 3
0.8517
0.8522
Refraction index
1.4561
1.4565
Solidifying Point, ° C.
42
42
Distillation Range, ° C.
Initial Boiling Point
300
301
5%
374
/
10%
384
387
30%
400
/
50%
416
417
70%
437
90%
466
464
Final Boiling Point
/
/
Elemental Composition, %
C
86.07
86.08
H
13.76
13.75
Example 2
[0205] The example illustrated the case using the inventive process for producing high quality light diesel and lower olefin gasoline through a selective cracking reaction.
[0206] The flow chart of a pilot scale catalytic cracking unit was as shown in FIG. 2 . The feedstock oil VGO-D was injected into the riser reactor via line 3 , contacted and reacted with the steam-lifted catalyst B at the lower part of the riser reactor. The weight ratio of the catalyst B to the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 4:1. The residence time of the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 1.6 seconds. The reaction temperature was 460° C. The pressure in the collection chamber was 0.15 MPa. The oil vapors withdrawn from the riser was fed into the downstream fractionation system after the separation by a cyclone separator, so as to obtain the target products of diesel, fluid catalytic cracking gas oil and so on by separation. The spent catalyst which has coke was introduced into the stripping section. The stripped spent catalyst was regenerated in the regenerator, and the regenerated catalyst was fed back to the riser reactor for recycling use.
[0207] The fluid catalytic cracking gas oil obtained was fed directly into a riser reactor with variable diameters for catalytic conversion. The same catalyst B was used, and the weight ratio of the catalyst B to the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil in the riser reactor with variable diameters was 6:1. The residence time of the fluid catalytic cracking gas oil in the riser reactor was 5.5 seconds. The temperature of the first reaction zone (abbreviated as zone I) was 510° C., while the temperature of the second reaction zone (abbreviated as zone II) was 490° C. The oil vapors from the riser with variable diameters were fed into the downstream fractionation system after the separation by a cyclone separator, so as to obtain the target products of diesel, gasoline and so on by separation. The conditions and results of experiments were listed in table 6, the properties of the diesel were comparable to those of inventive example 1, and the properties of the gasoline were listed in table 7.
[0208] It could be seen from table 6 that, in this example, the yield of the dry gas was only 0.96%, the yield of the coke was only 2.78%, the yield of the heavy oil was only 2.24%, while the yield of the total liquid (the yield of liquefied petroleum gas+the yield of gasoline+the yield of light diesel+the yield of light cycle oil) was as high as 93.63%. It could be seen from tables 4 and 7 that while the high quality diesel was produced, the gasoline product with low olefin content was produced.
[0000]
TABLE 6
Example 2
Catalytic Cracking Unit
Reaction Temperature, ° C.
460
Reaction Time, second
1.6
Catalyst/oil Ratio
4
Water Injected (based on the feed), %
10
Catalytic Cracking Unit for Producing
More Lower Olefins Gasoline
Temperature of zone I, ° C.
510
Temperature of zone II, ° C.
490
Reaction Time, second
5.5
Catalyst/oil Ratio
6
Water Injected (based on the feed), %
5
Distribution of the Products, wt %
Dry Gas
0.96
Liquefied Gas
18.03
Gasoline
39.79
Light Diesel
29.76
Light Cycle Oil
6.05
Heavy Oil
2.24
Coke
2.78
Loss
0.39
[0000]
TABLE 7
Example 2
Property of Gasoline
Gasoline
Density, g/cm 3
0.7358
Refraction index
1.4174
Induction Period, min
>500
Distillation Range, ° C.
Initial Boiling Point
43
5%
61
10%
67
30%
86
50%
108
70%
134
90%
166
Final Boiling Point
194
Composition, %
Saturated Hydrocarbons
49.0
Olefins
34.9
Aromatics
16.1
RON
89.0
Example 3
[0209] The example illustrated the case using the inventive process for producing high quality light diesel through a selective cracking reaction by the combined process of catalytic cracking and hydrocracking.
[0210] The flow chart of a pilot scale catalytic cracking unit was as shown in FIG. 2 . The feedstock oil (VGO-D) was injected into the riser reactor via line 3 , contacted and reacted with the steam-lifted catalyst B at the lower part of the riser reactor. The weight ratio of the catalyst B to the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 4:1. The residence time of the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 1.6 seconds. The reaction temperature was 460° C. The pressure in the collection chamber was 0.15 MPa. The oil vapors from the riser was fed into the downstream fractionation system after the separation by a cyclone separator, so as to obtain the target products of diesel and fluid catalytic cracking gas oil by separation. The spent catalyst which has coke was introduced into the stripping section. The stripped spent catalyst was regenerated in the regenerator, and the regenerated catalyst was fed back to the riser reactor for recycling use. The fluid catalytic cracking gas oil was fed into the downstream hydrocracking unit. The reaction conditions for the hydrocracking were: a treating reaction temperature of 370° C., a cracking reaction temperature of 380° C., a hydrogen partial pressure of 12.0 MPa, a volume hourly space velocity of 1.2 h −1 . The conditions and results of tests were listed in table 8, the properties of the catalytic diesel were comparable to the light diesel of inventive example 1, the properties of the hydrocracked diesel were listed in table 9, and the properties of the hydrocracked tail oil were listed in table 10.
[0211] It could be seen from table 8 that, for this example, the yield of the catalytic diesel was as high as 29.76 wt %, the yield of the hydrocracked diesel was as high as 18.63 wt %, the yield of the dry gas was only 0.48 wt %, the yield of the coke was only 1.78 wt %. It could be seen from tables 4 and 9 that the cetane number of the catalytic diesel produced by the example was as high as 53, the cetane number of the hydrocracked diesel produced by the example was as high as 68.2, the cetane barrel of the diesel was as high as 2847.846 (i.e., 29.76×53+18.63×68.2), and the BMCI value of the hydrocracked tail oil as by-product reached to 15.6, which was useful as the raw material with relatively advantageous properties for reactors such as catalytic cracking.
[0000]
TABLE 8
Example 3
Catalytic Cracking Unit
Reaction Temperature, ° C.
460
Reaction Time, second
1.6
Catalyst/oil Ratio
4
Water Injected (based on the feed), %
10
Hydrocracking Unit
Treating Reaction Temperature, ° C.
370
Cracking Reaction Temperature, ° C.
380
Partial Pressure of Hydrogen, MPa
12.0
Volume Hourly Space Velocity, h −1
1.2
Distribution of the Products, wt %
Dry Gas
0.48
Liquefied Gas
7.01
Gasoline
20.76
Naphtha
15.93
Catalytic Diesel
29.76
Hydrocracked Diesel
18.62
Hydrocracked Tail Oil
6.77
Coke
1.78
Loss
0.38
Total
101.49
[0000]
TABLE 9
Example 3
Properties of Product
Hydrocracked Diesel
Hydrocracked Tail Oil
Density, g/cm 3
0.8153
0.8430
Refraction index
1.4525
1.4481
Solidifying Point, ° C.
−28
20
Distillation Range, ° C.
Initial Boiling Point
233
295
5%
244
378
10%
252
385
30%
269
397
50%
282
409
70%
304
422
90%
327
449
Final Boiling Point
344
512
Composition, %
Paraffin
/
53.3
Cycloalkane
/
45.0
Aromatics
/
1.7
Cetane Number
68.2
BMCI
15.6
Example 4
[0212] The example illustrated the case using the inventive process for producing high quality light diesel through a selective cracking reaction by the combined process of catalytic cracking and hydrotreating.
[0213] The flow chart of a pilot scale catalytic cracking unit was as shown in FIG. 2 . The atmospheric residue (AR) was injected into the riser reactor via line 3 , contacted and reacted with the steam-lifted catalyst A at the lower part of the riser reactor. The weight ratio of the catalyst B to the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 3:1. The residence time of the feedstock oil in the riser reactor was 1.6 seconds. The reaction temperature was 450° C. The pressure in the collection chamber was 0.2 MPa. The vapors from the riser was fed into the downstream fractionation system after the separation by a cyclone separator, so as to obtain the target products of diesel, fluid catalytic cracking gas oil and so on by separation. The spent catalyst which has coke was introduced into the stripping section. The stripped spent catalyst was regenerated in the regenerator, and the regenerated catalyst was fed back to the riser reactor for recycling use. The fluid catalytic cracking gas oil was fed into the downstream hydrotreating unit. The reaction conditions for the hydrogenation were: a hydrogen partial pressure of 14 MPa, a reaction temperature of 385° C., and a volume hourly space velocity of 0.235 h −1 . The hydrotreating fluid catalytic cracking gas oil from the unit was fed back to the catalytic cracking unit. The conditions and results of tests were listed in table 10, and the properties of the diesel were listed in table 11.
[0214] It could be seen from table 10 that, for this example, the yield of the diesel was as high as 46.51 wt %; and it could be seen from table 11 that, for this example, the cetane number of the diesel was as high as 52.5, and the cetane barrel of the diesel was as high as 2441.78.
Example 5
[0215] The experiment was conducted using a riser reactor same as the one used in the above example 4. The feedstock oil, the test steps and methods were the same as those of inventive example 1 above, except that the catalyst used was changed from catalyst B having a coarse particle size used in the example 4 to catalyst A having a conventional particle size. The conditions and results of the tests were listed in table 10, and the properties of the diesel were listed in table 11.
[0216] It could be seen from table 10 that, for the example, the yield of the diesel was as high as 45.88 wt %; and it could be seen from table 11 that, for the example, the cetane number of the diesel was as high as 51.4, and the cetane barrel of the diesel was as high as 2358.23.
[0217] It could also be seen from table 10 that the yields of the dry gas and coke in example 5 are significantly higher than those in example 4, which shows the catalyst B having a coarse particle size could reduce more the yields of the dry gas and coke compared with the catalyst A having a conventional particle size.
[0000]
TABLE 10
Example 4
Example 5
Number of Examples
B
A
Reaction Temperature, ° C.
450
450
Reaction Time, second
1.6
1.6
Catalyst/oil Ratio
3
3
Water/oil Ratio
0.05
0.05
Distribution of the Products*,
wt %
Dry Gas
1.52
1.72
Liquefied Gas
13.95
13.98
Gasoline
33.50
33.75
Diesel
46.51
45.88
Heavy Oil
0.00
0.00
Coke
4.12
4.27
Loss
0.40
0.40
*Calculated based on the total weight of atmospheric residue and hydrogen
[0000]
TABLE 11
Example 4
Example 5
Properties of the Diesel
Density, g/cm 3
0.8461
0.8468
Refraction index
1.4782
1.4785
Solidifying Point, ° C.
12
12
Distillation Range, ° C.
Initial Boiling Point
200
201
5%
240
243
10%
245
247
30%
275
275
50%
300
301
70%
335
336
90%
348
350
Cetane Number
52.5
51.4
Cetane Number Barrel of
2441.78
2358.23
Diesel*
*Cetane Number Barrel of Diesel = Cetane Number of Diesel × Yield of Diesel
[0218] It is appreciated that certain aspects and characteristics of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various aspects and characteristics of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination.
[0219] All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention.
[0220] While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments and examples thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
|
A catalytic conversion process for increasing the cetane number barrel of diesel, in which contacting the feedstock oil with a catalytic cracking catalyst having a relatively homogeneous activity containing mainly the large pore zeolites in a catalytic conversion reactor, wherein the reaction temperature, residence time of oil vapors and weight ratio of the catalyst/feedstock oil are sufficient to obtain a reaction product containing from about 12 to about 60% by weight of a fluid catalytic cracking gas oil relative to the weight of the feedstock oil and containing a diesel; the reaction temperature ranges from about 420° C. to about 550° C.; the residence time of oil vapors ranges from about 0.1 to about 5 seconds; the weight ratio of the catalytic cracking catalyst/feedstock oil is about 1-about 10. The fluid catalytic cracking gas oil is fed into other unit for further treatment or is fed back to the initial catalytic conversion reactor. The process allows the maximum production of high cetane number diesel, the cracking catalyst having a coarse particle size distribution can further improve the selectivity of dry gas and coke, and can reduce the breaking tendency of the catalyst and the consumption of the catalyst.
| 2
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This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/109,148 filed on Aug. 19, 1993; now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/994,183, filed Dec. 21, 1992, now abandoned; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/751,610, filed Aug. 21, 1992, now abandoned; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/542,632, filed Jun. 22, 1990, now abandoned; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No, 07/231,848, filed Aug. 12, 1988, now abandoned.
This invention relates generally to dermatological preparations and, more particularly, to methods and compositions for treating and preventing dry skin.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Dry skin, also known as xerosis or asteatosis, affects millions of Americans each year. Attempts to treat or prevent dry skin have led to the development of a large assortment of skin creams and lotions. All of these creams and lotions have been developed from either the point of view that applying an occlusive lipid such as petrolatum or mineral oil can retard moisture loss from the skin, or that the incorporation of water-soluble materials, such as free amino acids, organic acids, inorganic ions or urea, into the cream, ointment, gel or lotion can trap or retain water in the skin.
It has been demonstrated over the last few years that the stratum corneum of the skin contains certain lipids which may form complicated layers within the stratum corneum thus forming a "water barrier" which prevents water loss from the skin. It has been discovered that formulations may be prepared composed of components of the skin's natural water barrier forming lipid complex and that when these formulations are used by themselves or when they are incorporated into creams, ointments, gels and lotions, the resulting products provide unsurpassed protection against and treatment for dry skin conditions.
In preparing the formulations disclosed herein, combinations of components from three separate classes of lipids occurring naturally in the stratum corneum can be utilized: (1) fatty acids, in either the free acid form or as triglycerides; (2) sterols and sterol esters; and (3) phospholipids and glycolipids.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an improved method and composition for prophylaxis for or treatment of dry skin, consisting of preparing a formulation composed of representative lipids from the three classes of lipids naturally found in the stratum corneum. Such a formulation may be applied directly or may be incorporated into a cream, ointment, gel or lotion and the resulting product applied in order to prevent or treat dryness of the skin.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While other lipids may be utilized, the following members of the three classes of stratum corneum lipids combined under this invention have been successfully utilized:
1. Fatty acids: arachidonic, linoleic, linolenic, palmitic, stearic, oleic and docosanoic, all of which may be present in the inventive composition in either the free acid form or as triglycerides;
2. Sterols: cholesterol, which may be present in the inventive composition as either the sterol or as an ester, such as cholesterol sulfate; and
3. Phospholipids and glycolipids: ceramides, cephalin, and lecithin.
It is to be understood that the invention also encompasses the use of other lipids within these three classes and which occur naturally in the stratum corneum, and further encompasses the use of the naturally occurring fatty acids in either their free acid form or as triglycerides, and the naturally occurring sterols in either the sterol form or as esters. The proportions of the three classes vary in selected lipid concentrate formulations but generally fall within the following ranges:
Fatty acids: 25 to 75%
Sterols and sterol esters: 10 to 40%
Phospholipids and glycolipids: 5 to 40%
The resulting lipid concentrate formulation may then be added to cream, ointment, gel or lotion vehicles in weight/weight concentrations ranging from about 1% to about 50%. The following examples further illustrate the invention:
EXAMPLE 1
A therapeutic skin formula to treat and prevent dry skin was formulated by adding 15 gm of a lipid concentrate composed of 30% W/W cholesterol (obtained under the trade designation Loralan-CH from the Lanaetex Products, Inc., Elizabeth, N.J.), 20% W/W lecithin (obtained from American Lecithin Company, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.), and 50% W/W of a mixture of linoleic acid, linolenic acid and arachidonic acid (obtained under the trade designation of EFA complex from Phillip Rockley, Ltd., New York, N.Y.) to a lotion base as follows:
______________________________________Isopropyl Myristate 5.0% 7.5 gmCetyl Alcohol 2.0% 3.0 gmGlyceryl Stearate and 5.0% 7.5 gmPEG-100 Stearate(Arlacel 165)Benzyl Alcohol 1.0% 1.5 gmLipid Concentrate 10.0% 15.0 gm70% Sorbitol solution 25.0% 37.5 gmDistilled Water 52.0% 78.0 gmTOTAL 100.0% 150.0 gm______________________________________
This formulation was applied to the dry skin of a 44 year old male and produced noticeably softer more supple skin after only one application.
EXAMPLE 2
A therapeutic moisturizing formulation was prepared consisting of a lipid concentrate containing 10 ml of linoleic acid (obtained from Emery Industries, Cincinnati, Ohio), 10 ml linolenic acid (obtained from Fluka Chemical Corporation, Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), 10 gm of a mixture of lecithin, cephalin and lipositol (obtained under the trade designation of Asolectin from Fluka Chemical Corporation, Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), and 10 gm of cholesterol (obtained under the trade designation of Loralan-CH from the Lanaetex Products, Inc., Elizabeth, N.J.). The resulting mixture was blended to make a cream composed as follows:
______________________________________Isopropyl Myristate 5.0% 7.5 gmCetyl Alcohol 3.0% 4.5 gmGlyceryl Stearate and 5.0% 7.5 gmPEG-100 Stearate(Arlacel 165)Benzyl Alcohol 1.0% 1.5 gmLipid Concentrate 5.0% 7.5 gm70% Sorbitol solution 25.0% 37.5 gmDistilled Water 56.0% 84.0 gmTOTAL 100.0% 150.0 gm______________________________________
This formulation was applied to the dry skin on the lower legs of a 43 year old woman. Within 24 hours of twice daily application the treated skin was noticeably softer, more moist and supple.
Tests were also performed to assess the efficacy of the present invention in preventing water loss. Baseline measurements of 15 healthy adult test subjects were performed to determine the barrier-forming properties of different formulations of the present invention, and to compare these properties with those of two commercially-available skin creams, Eucerin*, manufactured by Beiersdorf, Inc., Norwalk, Conn., and Moisturel*, manufactured by Westwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y. A Servo Med Evaporimeter was used to measure rate of water loss from a 4.9 cm 2 patch of unprotected skin. Thereafter, formulations of the present invention were applied to the test subjects at separate 4.9 cm 2 test sites, as were applications of Eucerin* and Moisturel* skin creams. Each application consisted of 25 microliters of each formulation.
Lipid Concentrate I consisted of 30% w/w of cholesterol, 20% w/w of lecithin and ceramides, and 50% w/w of the linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic acid mix. Lipid Concentrate II consisted of 15% w/w of cholesterol, 10% w/w lecithin and ceramides, and 75% w/w of the linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic acid mix.
The formulations tested were prepared as follows:
______________________________________FORMULA I Percent by weight______________________________________Isopropyl Myristate 5.0Cetyl Alcohol 3.0Arlacel 165 5.0Benzyl Alcohol 1.0Lipid Concentrate II 10.070% Sorbitol Solution 25.0Distilled Water 51.0TOTAL 100.0______________________________________
______________________________________FORMULA 2 Percent by weight______________________________________Isopropyl Myristate 5.0Cetyl Alcohol 3.0Arlacel 165 5.0Benzyl Alcohol 1.0Lipid Concentrate II 5.070% Sorbitol Solution 25.0Distilled Water 56.0TOTAL 100.0______________________________________
______________________________________FORMULA 3 Percent by weight______________________________________Isopropyl Myristate 5.0Cetyl Alcohol 3.0Arlacel 165 5.0Benzyl Alcohol 1.0Lipid Concentrate II 10.0Vitamin E 1.070% Sorbitol Solution 25.0Distilled Water 500TOTAL 100.0______________________________________
Water loss measurements showed that all five formulations tested reduced water loss as compared to the untreated site, with the formulations of the present invention establishing a stronger barrier to water loss than the commercially available preparations. The test results were as follows:
______________________________________% change inevaporative water loss______________________________________ Formula 1 3.4 Formula 2 3.5 Formula 3 3.6 Eucerin ® 3.7 Moisturel ® 3.9 Untreated Site 4.5______________________________________
While the foregoing has presented specific embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments have been presented by way of example only. It is expected that others will perceive variations which, while varying from the foregoing, do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as herein described and claimed. For example, the invention encompasses lipids within the three classes and naturally occurring within the stratum corneum other than those used in the particular Examples herein, and further encompasses the use of the naturally occurring fatty acids in either their free acid form or as triglycerides, and the use of the naturally occurring sterols in either the sterol form or as esters. None of the foregoing is attempted to in any manner limit the scope of the present invention.
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A method and composition for treating and preventing dry skin includes a lipid concentrate blended from a combination of the three naturally-occurring lipid groups found in the stratum corneum. The concentrate may be applied topically as prepared, or may be blended with a therapeutically acceptable vehicle suitable for topical application.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to sheet feeding apparatus and, more particularly, to a pick control arrangement for sheet feeders adapted to separate and feed individual sheets of media from a stack, especially but not exclusively plastic sheets which have a low coefficient of friction and a tendency to adhere to each other by electrostatic attraction.
In a commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application entitled "SHEET FEEDING METHOD AND APPARATUS", Ser. No. 324,036, filed Mar. 16, 1989, a method and apparatus is disclosed by which individual sheets of plastic media are separated and fed from the top of a supply stack by engaging and flexing the rear end portion of the uppermost sheet in the stack to an elevated position so that a translating lifting roller may pass under the sheet, progressively separate it from the stack and move into a pressure nip relationship with a rotatable driving roller to feed the separated top sheet from the stack. The initial separation of the rear edge of the top sheet is effected by a pick member supported by a downwardly and rearwardly oriented arm pivotally connected to the pick member at one end and at the other end to a translating carriage elevated above the media stack and the translating path of the lifting roller. The pick member is shaped as an elongated body with a bottom surface adapted to lie on the rear end portion of the media stack and having a forwardly directed claw depending from the bottom surface by approximately the thickness of one sheet of the media to be fed.
Experimentation with the apparatus of the aforementioned co-pending patent application has demonstrated a high degree of reliability and effectiveness in feeding sheets of plastic media from the top of a stack of such sheets. On the other hand, the same experimentation has demonstrated a need for improvement particularly in control over movement of the pick member after one sheet is fed and the pick is returned to the top rear edge of the next sheet. For example, after the top sheet is lifted by the pick member, the translating lifting roller begins to take control of the sheet and ultimately feeds the sheet away from the pick member. The pick member then drops down against the top of the stack and is slid back to begin the next feed cycle. Because of the relatively fragile character of the sheet media surfaces, the impact of the pick member fall and sliding movement thereof on the top surface of the top sheet can and has resulted in scratching the media. Also in the event that the pick fails to engage and lift the rear edge of the top sheet of the media, necessitating a return of the pick to the rear end of the stack, even more severe damage may be inflicted by the fore and aft sliding movement of the pick on the top surface of the media.
Other problems encountered as a result of the freely pivoted pick member of the apparatus described is the obstruction represented by the pick to the insertion of a cassette containing the stack of sheet media into a position from which the media can be fed. Because in operation, the pick is required to move freely, the need for lifting it out of the way for cassette loading was evident but not easily satisfied without complicated and expensive additional mechanical components. Further, and because of the potential for failure of the pick to engage and lift a sheet as well as for the pick to lift more than one sheet, the need surfaced for a reliable detection system by which the absence of pick engagement or the feeding of more than one sheet could be detected and the detection used to return the pick for another feed cycle without damage to the media.
It is apparent, therefore, that while the sheet feeding apparatus of the aforementioned co-pending application represents a significant and an important advance in the handling and feeding of plastic sheet media, there is need for improvement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, an improved pick mechanism and sheet feed detection system is provided for sheet media feeding apparatus of the type described above and by which control of pick movement and positioning may be effected simply by controlling the positioning of the carriage from which the pick mechanism is supported.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the freely pivotal movement of the pick to engage the rear edge of each successive sheet in a cassette supported stack is maintained with a provision for lifting the pick to an elevated, out-of-the-way, retracted position permitting cassette insertion and removal without interference by the pick. The pick lifting provision is embodied in a flexible cable connected to the arm supporting the pick and trained in a path by which it operates to lift the pick only during the final portion of pick carriage movement during pick operation to engage and lift the top sheet in the stack to a position for operation of the lifting roller. The length of the cable is adjusted so that it remains slack and thus has no effect during the portion of each pick operating cycle when the pick comes to rest on the rear end of the next top sheet to be fed. Moreover, the measure of slack is selected so that the cable has no effect on pick positioning on the top sheet throughout the height of the cassette contained stack, thus avoiding the need for a follower mechanism to maintain the successive top sheets at a predetermined elevation. The pick lifting arrangement facilitates a sheet feed detection system by which failure of the pick to engage a single sheet from the top of the stack may be detected and subsequent pick movement controlled solely by controlling the drive for the pick supporting carriage.
Among the objects of the present invention, therefore, are the provision of an improved pick mechanism for sheet feeders of the type described, the provision of a lifting arrangement for such pick mechanisms which is exceedingly simple in the context of required components and yet highly effective in operation, and the provision of an improved sheet feed detect system by which the pick lifting arrangement may be deployed to insure reliable feeding of sheets, one at a time, and also minimize the potential for sheet damage by the pick. Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts are designated by like reference characters.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a partially schematic plan view of a sheet feeding apparatus incorporating the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a partially schematic cross section on line 2--2 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary side elevation of a component assembly of the invention; and
FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the pick mechanism of the present invention in several conditions of operation.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the sheet feeding apparatus incorporating the present invention is generally designated by the reference numeral 10 and shown to include a supporting chassis defined primarily by a pair of parallel side plates 12 and 14 joined at their ends by a front end wall 16 and a rear end wall 18. The side plates 12 and 14 are otherwise interconnected by components including a cassette shelf 20 (FIG. 2) having a ramp-like rear end portion 22 to facilitate insertion of a media cassette 24. As may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cassette 24 has a rearwardly extending handle portion 26 and a box-like major portion defined by side walls 28 and a front end wall 30. Vertical spacers 32 are provided about the inner wall surfaces of the cassette 24 to position a stack of sheet media M therein. In addition to the shelf 20, the chassis of the apparatus 10 is provided with a generally U-shaped fence 34 (FIG. 2) for determining the inserted position of the cassette 24. The cassette 24 is open at its top for feeding removal of the media M, one sheet at a time, in a manner to be described.
The major working component assemblies included in the apparatus 10 for feeding individual sheets of the media M from the cassette 24 include a pick assembly 36, a lifting roller assembly 38 and a drive roller assembly 40. These assemblies are independently driven by motors 42, 44 and 46, respectively, supported by a mounting plate 48 secured to the side plate 14. As described in the afore-mentioned co-pending application Ser. No. 324,036, the output of the motors 42, 44 and 46 to the respective component assemblies is through independent belt and sprocket drives which are represented in composite block diagram form in FIG. 1 as a drive transmission 50. The connection between the drive transmission 50 and the respective component assemblies are indicated by dashed lines 52, 54 and 56 in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lifting roller assembly 38 includes an elongated roller 58 freely journalled at opposite ends in carriage members 60 and 62 which are slidable or otherwise translatable from the position shown in FIG. 1 and in solid lines in FIG. 2 to the phantom line position of FIG. 2. Similarly, the drive roller assembly 40 is embodied in the apparatus 10 as a single traction roller 64 supported centrally on a shaft 66 extending to swinging ends of respective pivot links 68 and 70. The other end of each link 68 and 70 is pivotally supported by respective stub axles 72 and 74 from the side plates 12 and 14. As shown in FIG. 1, the shaft 66, and thus the drive roller 64, are adapted to pivot about the axes of the stub axles 72 and 74 while, at the same time, the shaft and roller 64 are driven in rotation about the axis of the shaft 64 by virtue of a belt and sprocket drive 76, the sprockets of which carried concentrically with the respective axes of the stub axles 72, 74 and of the shaft 66.
Although the components of the pick assembly 36 are detailed most fully in FIG. 3 of the drawings, the general organization and relation to other components in the apparatus may be understood from FIGS. 1 and 2. Thus, in FIG. 1, it will be observed that the assembly 36 includes a carriage plate 78 which is supported by tracks (not shown) in the chassis plates 12 and 14 for transnational movement longitudinally of the apparatus 10. A depending pivot boss 80 (FIG. 2) is cantilevered forwardly of the carriage plate 78 by a plate 82 having an aperture 84 therein. An idler roller 86 is journalled in the opening or window 84 of the plate 82 for reasons which will become more apparent from the description of operation to follow below. As may be seen in FIG. 2, the pivot boss 80 supports one end of an angular pick arm 88 freely for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis whereas a pick member 90 is pivotally supported from the opposite end of the arm 88 on a parallel pivot axis. A weight 92 is mounted on the arm 88 at the end thereof to which the pick member 90 is pivotally connected.
The details of the pick member may be understood by reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 of the drawings. As shown in FIG. 3, the pick member 90 includes an elongated base 94 having a planar bottom surface 96 which terminates in a depending and forwardly inclined pick claw 98 which extends below the surface 96 by a distance corresponding to the approximate thickness of the sheets of media M to be fed from the cassette 24. A balancing weight 100 is secured to the rear end of the pick as may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 3. A pick stop 102 is secured to the under side of pick arm 88 and is angled so that the lower end 104 thereof restricts pivotal movement of the pick 90 to the extent that the forward end of the body 94 will engage the end 104 of the stop 102 in the approximate position shown in solid lines in FIG. 3 of the drawings.
As may be seen in FIG. 1, a rod 106 is connected to the chassis plates 12 and 14 in a position elevated above the carriage plate 78 and spaced from the rear wall 18 of the chassis by a distance so as to lie slightly behind the pivot boss 80 when the carriage is in its rearward-most position as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and in solid lines in FIG. 3 of the drawings. A flexible tensile strand or cable 108 is adjustably connected to the rear wall 18 of the chassis by a releasable anchor 109 such as a screw bolt and extends over the top of the rod 106, through the window 84 of the plate 82 in front of the idler roller 86, and is connected to the pick arm 88 near the pivoted end thereof as shown in FIG. 3. The connection of the cable 108 to the anchor 109 on the rear wall 18 facilitates adjustment in the length of the cable 108. From the standpoint of operation, however, the effective length of the cable 108 is that portion of the length thereof between the end connected to the arm 88 and the fixed rod 106 elevated above the media M and the carriage 78.
Operation of the pick assembly 36, the lifting roller assembly 38 and the drive roller assembly 40 to separate and feed the top sheet of the media stack M from the cassette 24 is generally the same as that described in the afore-mentioned co-pending application Ser. No. 324,036. Essentially, the pick assembly 36 is advanced from the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 so that the claw 98 engages the rear edge of the top sheet of media M. Further forward movement of the pick assembly 36 results in an upward swinging of the pick 90 as a result of the claw 98 engaging the top sheet of media M and the rear end portion of that sheet flexing upwardly into a generally arcuate conformation. The lifting roller assembly 38 is then advanced forwardly under the pick retained rear portion of the top sheet until it underlies the drive roller assembly 40, specifically the roller 64 thereof, as depicted by phantom lines in FIG. 2 of the drawings. At this time, the drive roller 64 is driven in rotation and the sheet sandwiched between the drive roller 64 and the lifting roller 58 fed upwardly and forwardly out of the cassette 24.
In the apparatus 10, the sheet being fed from the stack of media M is directed to a pair of guide shoes 110 and 112 secured respectively to the forward portion of the chassis plates 12 and 14 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The guide shoes 110 and 112 are spaced in relation to each other so that the edges of the fed sheet of media M are supported in divergent guide tracks 114 in the guide shoes 110 and 112 as the sheet passes from the cassette 24. A first detector 116 is provided on at least one of the guide shoes 110 and 112 to indicate the presence or absence of a sheet of media in the tracks 114. A second detector 118 senses the presence or absence of the fed sheet after it passes through the guide shoes 110 and 112 on its way to a rotary drum 120 on which the fed sheet is wrapped and processed such as by printing or the like. The detectors 116 and 118 are electronically connected with a motor control unit 122 which governs operation of the respective motors 42, 44 and 46. In practice, the motor control 122 may be a computer programmed to operate the motors 42, 44 and 46 in a manner known in the art.
At least one of the drive shoes also carries a restricting roller 124 which, as will be explained in more detail below, functions to prevent the passage of more than one sheet of media M through the guide shoes 110 and 112.
Operation of the pick lifting mechanism of the present invention may be appreciated from the illustration in FIG. 3 of the drawings where the pick assembly is shown in various operating conditions relative to the cassette 24 and the stack of sheet media M contained in the cassette. In particular, it will be noted that the carriage plate 78 and its associated pivot boss 80 are shown in solid and phantom line positions in FIG. 3. These positions represent the extreme positions of the carriage 78 in operation of the pick assembly 36 and may be termed a rear position (solid line) and a forward position (phantom line). Also it will be noted in FIG. 3 that the lifting strand or cable 108 extends from the anchor 109 at the rear wall 18, forwardly over the rod 106, and down through the window 84 in the plate 82 in front of the idler roller 86 to its connection with the pick arm 88.
In the rear position of the carriage 78 as shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, it will be noted that the pick arm 88 and the pick member 90 at the free end thereof may swing from a solid line position in which the lower surface 96 on the pick body 94 is resting against the top sheet of a full stack of media M contained in the cassette. As mentioned above, the pick stop 102 in this position of the arm and pick member 90 limits pivotal movement of the pick body 94 so that it will be retained on the top surface of the uppermost sheet in the stack of media M. The phantom line position of the arm 88 and pick member 90 shown in FIG. 3, with the pick assembly carriage 78 remaining in its rear or solid line position, is swung downwardly but in the position so that forward movement of the pick member 90 will engage the bottom sheet in the stack of media M. This latter position of the pick 90 will occur as the individual sheets of media M are removed from the top of the stack contained by the cassette 24.
The swing of movement by the arm 88 and pick 90 with the carriage plate 78 in its rear position must be able to occur without interference by the lifting cable 108. This requirement is satisfied by adjusting the length of the cable so as to remain in a slack condition throughout movement of the pick arm 88 and pick 90 between the solid line and lower phantom line positions illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawings.
In a forward position of the carriage 78 and pivot boss 80, the pick arm 88 and pick 90 are lifted to an elevated position so that the pick member 90 is well above and clear of the cassette 24. This condition is achieved by the cable 108 which is now in a taut condition as a result principally of forward movement of the carriage 78 and in particular the idler roller 86 carried thereby. In other words, as the idler roller 86 moves from the rear solid line position in FIG. 3 to the forward phantom line position in that drawing illustration, any slack existing in the cable 108 is taken up and the cable made operative to lift the arm 88 upwardly as shown.
It should be noted that the point in the forward movement of the carriage plate and idler roller 86 where the condition of the cable 108 changes from a slack condition to a taut condition, initiating lifting movement of the arm 88, is not critical to the operation of the pick arm in its movement to lift a sheet of media M upwardly for passage of the lifting roller 58 thereunder. In other words, the initial lifting of the pick arm principally by the flexing action of the sheet of media M may tend to maintain the slack condition of the cable even though the pick arm would be lifted upwardly by the cable if no sheet of media had been engaged. On the other hand, if no media sheet has been engaged by the pick, causing it to be elevated from either one of the positions shown in FIG. 3 and during which the carriage 78 is in its rear position, the cable will be operative to lift the pick 90 and particularly the claw 98 thereof away from the top surface of the media sheet which otherwise would have been fed had the claw engaged that sheet. Similarly, on return of the carriage 78 from the phantom line forward position of FIG. 3 to the operative rear and solid line position, the pick is gently returned to the top surface of the sheet media always under the control of the lifting cable 108. In this respect, a combination of the length of the pick body 94 and the stop 102 enable the length of the cable 108 to be adjusted so that the claw 98 of the pick 90 is kept from contact with the top surface of the sheet media M throughout the full height of the stack.
As mentioned above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the detectors 116 and 118 are used by the motor control unit 122 to control operation of the respective motors 42, 44 and 46. Thus, if no sheet of media M is sensed by the detector 116, the motor control unit 122 becomes effective to return the pick assembly 36 to the rear position of the carriage thereof make a second pass on the same sheet of media M. The detector 118 on the other hand is located so that it will sense the presence of a sheet of media M beyond the forward end of the guide track 114 in the guide shoes 110 and 112. If no sheet is sensed by the detector 118, it is either because no sheet is sensed by the detector 116 as a result of failure of the pick 90 to engage a sheet, or it is because the sheet has not passed from the track 114. This latter condition may occur as a result of the stop roller 124 shown most clearly in FIG. 4 of the drawings. In particular, it will be noted that the roller 124 is of a diameter such that its peripheral surface is spaced from the lower surface of the track 114 by a distance T equal to the approximate thickness of one sheet of media M. Thus, if more than one sheet of media were to be passed to the guide track 114, the added thickness represented by the additional sheet or sheets would result in a jamming action by which all sheets would be prevented by passing the roller 124. This condition would be sensed by the detector 116 indicating the presence of a sheet whereas the detector 18 indicates the absence of a sheet. The logic presented by this combination of detector conditions is then used to interrupt any further driving action by the motors 42-46 through the motor control unit 122 until the condition is corrected by the operator of the apparatus.
Thus it will be appreciated that as a result of the present invention, an improved sheet feeding apparatus is provided by which the stated objectives, among others, are completely fulfilled. Also it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the preceding description and accompanying drawing illustrations that modifications and/or changes may be made in the disclosed embodiment without departure from the invention. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that the foregoing description and accompanying drawing illustrations is illustrative of a preferred embodiment only, not limiting, and that the true spirit and scope of the present invention be determined by reference to the appended claims.
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A pick mechanism for sheet feeding apparatus of a type in which the top sheet of a stack of media is separated from the remainder of the stack by pick movement to engage and lift the rear end of the top sheet from the remainder of the stack for subsequent separation and feeding from the stack, and including means for lifting the pick independently of elevating movement caused by engagement of the pick with a sheet. The pick lifting arrangement operates to lift the pick in the event of a failure thereof to engage the rear edge of a sheet and also to gently lower the pick back onto the next successive top sheet in the stack to be fed. A detector system is provided by which the conditions of sheet feed due to pick movement are detected and used to control driving components associated with the apparatus.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The invention relates to memory devices and, more particularly, to memory devices having a reduced number of wires for test mode signals.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Typically, various test mode signals are generated for testing the integrity of individual circuits of a memory device during initialization or after resetting of the device. The test mode signals are generated by a test mode (TM) block, wherein a memory device may have a single or many TM blocks. Regardless of the number of TM blocks, these blocks are usually situated near the centre of the chip, thereby enabling the test mode signals to be easily routed to all circuits on the device. As the number of circuits within a memory device increases, the routing becomes more complex. Moreover, it further complicates the routing issue with the reduction in size of a semiconductor device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] A test mode signal system comprises: a test mode block for generating a plurality, N, of test mode signals; a test mode send block, for generating and outputting a pulsed signal according to a command signal, and for multiplexing the N test mode signals in sets according to the pulsed signal and outputting the multiplexed pairs of test mode signals over M signal wires wherein M is less than N, such that each signal wire carries a multiplexed set of the N test mode signals; and a test mode receive block, for receiving the multiplexed sets of N test mode signals and the pulsed signal and demultiplexing each multiplexed set of N test mode signals according to the pulsed signal.
[0006] A method for sending test mode signals comprises: receiving a command signal; generating and outputting a pulsed signal according to the command signal; generating a plurality, N, of test mode signals; multiplexing the N test mode signals in sets according to the pulsed signal; outputting the multiplexed sets of test mode signals over M signal wires wherein M is less than N, such that each signal wire carries a multiplexed set of the N test mode signals; receiving the multiplexed sets of N test mode signals and the pulsed signal; and demultiplexing each multiplexed set of N test mode signals according to the pulsed signal.
[0007] These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a test mode system in a memory device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
[0009] FIGS. 2-4 are schematics of the internal circuitry of the TM send block shown in FIG. 1 .
[0010] FIG. 5 is a timing diagram of the signals generated in FIGS. 2-4 .
[0011] FIG. 6 is a schematic of the internal circuitry of the TM RCV block shown in FIG. 1 .
[0012] FIG. 7 is a timing diagram of the signals generated by the circuit shown in FIG. 6 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] In order to solve the problems associated with the prior art, the present invention provides a method and apparatus that can reduce the number of wires carrying test mode signals, by carrying more than one test mode signal on each individual wire.
[0014] Please refer to FIG. 1 , which shows a Test Mode system 100 inside a memory device (not illustrated), according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The Test Mode system 100 comprises a Test Mode (TM) block 110 for generating test mode signals and sending the test mode signals to a TM send block 130 . In FIG. 1 the TM block 110 and TM send block 130 are shown as separate blocks, but in an alternative embodiment the TM send block 130 may be located inside the TM block 110 . The TM send block 130 is further coupled to a TM RCV block 150 , for receiving the test mode signals. Only one TM RCV block is shown here for simplicity, but the TM block 110 and TM send block 130 may send test mode signals to a plurality of TM RCV blocks, located in different regions of the memory device. Furthermore, as described above, the memory device may have many TM blocks, but only a single set of circuits is shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity. The memory device may be a DRAM, SRAM, MRAM etc. and with suitable modifications the present invention can also be applied to logic devices.
[0015] The TM block 110 receives a number of signals including a test mode clock tmCLK, as well as signals for address lines and load mode register commands. According to these inputs, the TM block 110 will generate a plurality, N, of TM signals, which are then routed via the TM send block 130 to the TM RCV block 150 as shown in FIG. 1 . In addition, the TM send block 130 also receives the Load Mode Register (LMR) commands—by means of an inverter (not shown) such that the TM send block 130 receives the inverted LMR command LMRF—and tmCLK, as well as a test mode clear all signal (tmCLRALL). This tmCLRALL signal is for resetting the test mode system 100 by sending default test mode values. Conventionally, the TM send block 130 will output the test mode signals on individual wires. In the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 , the TM send block 130 will generate a pulsed signal and multiplex at least two signals onto a single wire according to the timing of the pulsed signal. The means and circuitry by which the TM send block 130 multiplexes the signals will be described later and is illustrated in FIGS. 2 , 3 and 4 . The multiplexed TM signals are routed to the TM RCV block 150 along with the pulsed signal so that the TM RCV block 150 can latch both test mode signals received on the same wire and decode them. The pulsed signal is shown in FIG. 1 as TMCLKPULSEF.
[0016] Please refer to FIGS. 2 , 3 and 4 , which are schematic diagrams of the internal circuitry of the TM send block 130 , and also refer to FIG. 1 . The TM system 100 has three states of operation: power up mode, which occurs when the TM system 100 is powered on; TM clear mode, which occurs when default TM values are transmitted, i.e. when the tmCLRALL signal goes high; and regular mode, which occurs when the LMR commands are transmitted according to the tmCLK. At power up, a single pulse will be generated by the TM send block 130 , as shown by the signal output TMCLKPULSEF output from TM send block 130 in FIG. 1 . When the tmCLRALL signal goes low the regular mode can be entered, in which LMR commands are latched. The tmCLRALL signal will also intermittently go high between periods of regular mode operation in order to clear test mode values. When the tmCLRALL signal goes high a single pulse will be generated by the TM send block 130 , as shown by the signal output TMCLKPULSEF output from TM send block 130 in FIG. 1 . Therefore, power up mode and TM clear mode can both be referred to as Pulse mode. After the system leaves Pulse Mode and enters Regular Mode, clock pulses will be generated according to the LMR commands.
[0017] FIG. 2 shows internal circuitry of the TM send block 130 for generating the clock pulses in Regular Mode. Not shown is an inverter by means of which the LMR commands are generated from signal LMRF. The circuit 200 comprises a latch 210 which receives the signal for LMR commands and is clocked by a differential tmCLK signal. A power up signal Pwrup 2 F is provided to the reset input of the latch 210 . Latched LMR commands, LMR_LATCHED, are output and sent to a delay block 220 and an inverter 230 , and then input to a NAND gate 240 . The output of the NAND gate 240 , CLKF, is then passed through a second inverter 250 to generate a CLK signal. When LMR_LATCHED transitioning from a logic low to a logic high state is output by the latch 210 , the delay block 220 will delay the signal and the first inverter 230 will invert the signal such that both inputs to the NAND gate 240 will be at a logic low ‘0,0’. Therefore, CLKF will be at a logic high state and a logic low is generated at the CLK. Once LMR_LATCHED is output by the delay block 220 , the inputs of the NAND gate 240 will be ‘1,0’, meaning CLKF will remain at a low state as the two inputs to the NAND gate 240 will be at logic high and logic low respectively. Therefore, during regular mode, clock pulses CLK are generated at the falling edge of each LMR_LATCHED signal as the output of the delay block 220 will remain at a high state while the output of the first inverter 230 will also be at a high state causing the output of the NAND gate 240 to be at a low state and the output clock CLK at a high state.
[0018] Please refer to FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the internal circuitry 300 of the TM send block 130 for generating the clock pulses in pulse mode (i.e. power up or TM clear mode). Please note that the circuit 300 is split into two lines for clarity of illustration. Furthermore, the circuit 300 is able to generate pulses in both power up mode and TM clear mode. No signal is provided to tmCLK and no power is provided to the VCC on the input lines to latch 310 before power up in power up mode. Therefore, tmCLK_ARRIVEDF signal is at a logic high state. Pwrup 2 is low as the system has not yet entered the power up state, so the output of the first NAND gate 330 is logic high. As tmCLRALL is also at a logic high state, Clrtmf output from the second NAND gate 340 will be at a logic low state. When Pwrup 2 first goes to a logic high state, the tmCLK has not yet been generated, so the output of the NAND gate 330 is at a logic low state. As tmCLRALL remains high, output from the second NAND gate 340 Clrtmf will turn to a logic high state. The output of the multiplexer 350 will follow the ‘1’ input, meaning PULSEMODEF is entered. As in the circuit 200 , the signal is simultaneously input to both a delay block 360 and an inverter 365 . The outputs are then sequentially passed through a NAND gate 370 , a delay block 380 and an inverter 390 to generate a pulsed signal, PULSEF.
[0019] As is well known, the tmCLK will be generated at a certain amount of time after the memory device is powered up. The system 100 remains in power up mode while tmCLRALL signal stays high; however, Clrtmf will switch to logic low state when tmCLK_ARRIVED signal switches to logic high state. When tmCLRALL goes to logic low state, Clrtmf switches to logic high state again. At this time, the memory device changes to Regular Mode, and LMR commands are latched according to tmCLK, i.e. pulses are generated by the circuit 200 and Clrtmf follows tmCLRALL. As described above, the system 100 will occasionally reset all test mode values by toggling the tmCLRALL signal, and this is similar to the system 100 entering Pulse mode. Each time the tmCLRALL signal switches to a logic high state, a pulse will be generated at the falling edge of the Clrtmf signal.
[0020] Therefore, as demonstrated by the circuit diagrams in FIGS. 2 and 3 , clock pulses are generated in each mode. In addition, each circuit generates the inverse of the pulsed signal as well. Through the generation of these pulsed signals, at least two test mode signals can be multiplexed together on a single wire regardless of which mode the system is in. Please refer to FIGS. 4A , 4 B and 4 C. Each diagram is a schematic demonstrating how an output signal may be generated through a multiplexer. FIG. 4A is a schematic of a multiplexed circuit 415 having a multiplexer that controls selection of a first test mode signal; and FIG. 4B is a schematic of a multiplexed circuit 425 having a multiplexer 425 which controls selection of a second test mode signal. For demonstration purposes, the following description refers to test mode signals TM 0 and TM 1 . Multiplexing of all other pairs of signals uses the same methodology as described for TM 0 and TM 1 .
[0021] Multiplexer 415 receives an inverse clock signal CLKF output from circuit 200 and the inverse pulse signal PULSEF output from circuit 300 . Signals PULSEMODE, PULSEMODEF are received as selection inputs. According to these selection signals, a pulsed signal SELECT_TM 0 will be generated by multiplexer 417 wherein that pulsed signal follows CLKF in non-pulse mode, i.e., regular mode, or PULSEF in pulse mode respectively. The pulsed signal is also passed through an inverter 419 and output as TMCLKPULSEF, which is shown in FIG. 1 . The multiplexed circuit 425 receives the clock signal CLK output from circuit 200 and pulse signal PULSE output from circuit 300 . As in multiplexer 415 , signals PULSEMODE, PULSEMODEF are received as selection inputs. According to these selection signals, a pulsed signal SELECT_TM 1 will be generated by multiplexer 427 wherein the pulsed signal follows CLK in non-pulse mode, i.e., regular mode or PULSE in pulse mode respectively. Therefore, when SELECT_TM 0 signal is at a high state, SELECT_TM 1 will be at a low state. FIG. 4C is a schematic illustrating the final circuit of the TM send block 130 , which is a multiplexer 437 . Both original test mode signals, TM 0 and TM 1 are received from the test mode block 110 , and the SELECT_TM 0 and SELECT_TM 1 signals are input as selection signals. Therefore, the multiplexer 437 will multiplex both test mode signals onto a single output, TM 01 .
[0022] For a full illustration of the various signals generated by the internal circuitry of the TM send block, please refer to the timing diagram illustrated on FIG. 5 , which is a timing diagram of the circuit that controls the generation of clock pulses for the select signals going into the multiplexer of the circuits described above. In particular, please note that PwrupmodeF switches to a logic low state when Pwrup 2 is at a logic high state until tmCLK_ARRIVED is generated. Furthermore, TMCLKPULSEF is the inverse of SELECT_TM 1 ; CLKF is generated at the falling edge of LMR_LATCHED; and PULSEF is generated at the falling edge of Clrtmf, except when PwrupmodeF goes high, when it is generated at the rising edge of Clrtmf. The remaining control signals and their respective timing should be clear to one skilled in the art after referring to FIGS. 2˜4 and reading the accompanying description.
[0023] As detailed in the above paragraphs, the TM send block 130 of the present invention uses internal circuitry to generate clock pulses during all three operation modes, and uses the timing of these clock pulses to multiplex two test mode signals onto a single wire. A timing/pulsed signal TMCLKPULSEF is output along with the multiplexed signals to the TM RCV block 150 . The decoding and demultiplexing of these signals will be described below.
[0024] Please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a block diagram of internal circuits of the TM RCV block 150 . The TM RCV block 150 receives both the TM 01 signal (which is the TM 0 and TM 1 signals multiplexed onto a single wire) and the TMCLKPULSEF as shown in FIG. 1 . The pulsed signal TMCLKPULSEF is first input to an inverter 615 to generate TMCLKPULSE. The multiplexed signal TM 01 (as illustrated in FIG. 4C ) is then input to two latches, 625 and 635 . In an exemplary embodiment, latches 625 and 635 are edge-sensitive latches wherein 625 latches the signal TM 0 _LATCHED at the rising edge of TMCLKPULSE and 635 latches the signal TM 1 _LATCHED at the falling edge of TMCLKPULSE. FIG. 7 is a timing diagram of the signals received at the TM RCV block 150 .
[0025] In order to ensure there is no timing issue between the TM send block and the TM RCV block, it is preferable the buffers be constructed with the same materials. The above circuitry does not require any change to the actual test mode program, as pulses are only sent according to power up and Test Clear mode, and when a TM entry occurs. Therefore, no neighbouring wires are affected. Furthermore, as the pulses only toggle according to different modes being entered, no extra power is required for the DRAM.
[0026] As mentioned above, there may be more than one TM RCV block for a single TM send block. Furthermore, in the TM send block, a MUX is required for each pair of TM signals. The control circuit only requires a single set of devices as detailed above—as each pair of signals will be multiplexed separately and decoded separately at the RCV end, the control circuit only needs to generate two selection signals, wherein these selection signals can be input to every MUX for multiplexing two signals on a single wire.
[0027] It should be noted that the internal circuitry of the TM send block as detailed in the figures and the accompanying description is merely an exemplary embodiment of the method for achieving the multiplexing of at least two test signals on a single wire. Other circuitry for achieving the above objective may be realized by those skilled in the art. Moreover, it is possible that more than two test signals are multiplexed on a single wire.
[0028] In summary, by means of multiplexers both in the TM send block and the TM RCV block and a pulsed signal generated between the two TM blocks, it is possible to mux multiple signals on a single wire and utilize the pulsed signal and the multiplexers at the receiving end for independently latching and decoding the muxed signals. In this way, circuit area for a test mode signal system is significantly reduced.
[0029] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention.
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A test mode signal system includes: a test mode block for generating a plurality, N, of test mode signals; a test mode send block, for generating and outputting a pulsed signal according to a command signal, and for multiplexing the N test mode signals in sets according to the pulsed signal and outputting the multiplexed pairs of test mode signals over M signal wires wherein M is less than N, such that each signal wire carries a multiplexed set of the N test mode signals; and a test mode receive block, for receiving the multiplexed sets of N test mode signals and the pulsed signal and demultiplexing each multiplexed set of N test mode signals according to the pulsed signal.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 104141550, filed on Dec. 10, 2015, which is herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Technical Field
[0003] The present disclosure elates to a wheel rim and a method of manufacturing the wheel rim. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a wheel rim being able to strengthen the wheel structure and lighten the weight and a method for manufacturing the wheel rim.
[0004] Description of Related Art
[0005] Since carbon fiber composite materials have material characteristics of high strength and low specific density, in recent years, the carbon fiber composite materials have gradually become the materials adopted by many structural parts as well as the driving elements applied in related vehicles. For example, the wheel rims of bicycles are suitable for using the carbon fiber composite material, and this has become the main stream of the market of high-performance bicycles.
[0006] However, since the carbon fiber composite materials are min formed by combining fiber materials with macromolecule materials, the structure of the macromolecule materials will be damaged by the high temperature state resulted from the carbon fiber composite materials being rubbed by external forces, such that the overall structure strength is decreased. Accordingly, the structure of the elements using the macromolecule materials cannot bear the loading and impact thereof, and hence the situation of accidental destructions will occur.
[0007] Furthermore, the carbon fiber composite materials under the high temperature state are also less resistant to abrasion. When the carbon fiber composite materials used in the wheel rim have been rubbed by braking elements for a long time, the high temperature therebetween will make the wheel rim less resistant to abrasion, and hence the lifetime of the wheel rim will be decreased.
[0008] A bicycle fiber wheel rim existing in the current market tries to move the contacting location (braking side) of the braking elements of the bicycle downward to be close to the key part of the overall structure strength. This solution needs to be arranged with a special bicycle brake bosses, which is not conducive for consumers to fix or change in the future. In addition, the aforementioned design merely solves the problem of being lack of strength under high temperatures, but fails to solve the problem of being nonresistant to abrasion, while the weight of the wheel rim is increased as well.
[0009] Further, another bicycle fiber wheel rim existing in the current market attaches or uses a basalt fiber on the contacting location (braking side) of the braking elements of the carbon fiber wheel rim. This way merely avoids thermal conduction but fails to overcome the problem of being nonresistant to abrasion and the effects of the abrasion to the macromolecule materials.
SUMMARY
[0010] According to a structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim is disposed between two corresponding braking elements. The wheel rim includes a rim body, two firm tracks, and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units. The rim body adopts a carbon fiber composite material, the two firm tracks are opposite to each other and exposedly mounted on two sides of the rim body, and the two firm tracks, respectively corresponds to the two braking elements; the plurality of hollow anti-thermal units spread in each of the firm tracks.
[0011] According to another structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim is disposed between two corresponding braking elements. The wheel rim includes a rim body and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units. The rim body adopts a carbon fiber composite material in one piece. The hollow anti-thermal units are spread in two surfaces corresponding to the two braking elements of the rim body.
[0012] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, another method of manufacturing a wheel rim is proposed, and the method is adapted to manufacturing the aforementioned wheel rim and includes the following steps. A plurality of hollow anti-thermal units are added to a macromolecule material and the hollow anti-thermal units are sufficiently mixed to be spread in the macromolecule material. A carbon fiber material is mixed to become a carbon fiber composite material. The carbon fiber composite material are shaped and hardened on the wheel rim corresponding to the braking elements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] The present disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates a 3-D sectional view of an embodiment of a wheel rim;
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in FIG. 1 ;
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a 3-D sectional view of another embodiment of the wheel rim;
[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in FIG. 3 ; and
[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of the method of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
[0020] Please refer to both of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 . FIG. 1 illustrates a 3-D sectional view of an embodiment of a wheel rim; FIG. 2 illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in FIG. 1 . According to a structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim 100 is proposed to be used on bicycles, where the wheel rim 100 is disposed between two corresponding braking elements (not shown). The wheel rim 100 includes a rim body 110 , two firm tracks 120 and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units 130 .
[0021] The rim body 110 adopts a carbon fiber composite material mainly including a fiber material with high rigidity and a macromolecule material that enhances the ability of the materials being abrasion-resistant and anti-thermal. The rim body 110 further includes a tire-fixing part 111 .
[0022] Two firm tracks 120 are opposite to each other and exposedly disposed on two sides of the rim body 110 . The two firm tracks 120 respectively correspond to the two braking elements. The tire-fixing part 111 is located closely to the two firm tracks 120 .
[0023] The hollow anti-thermal units 130 are hollow soda lime borosilicate glass balls, and the hollow anti-thermal units 130 are spread in each of the firm tracks 120 . An average particle diameter of the hollow anti-thermal units 130 ranges from 20 μm to 50 μm. By the aforementioned embodiments, the hollow anti-thermal units 130 are used to be mixed and spread in the firm tracks, such that not only the hollow structure of the hollow anti-thermal units 130 can be used, but also the weight of the rim body 110 can be effectively reduced. Moreover, the transmission rate of the thermal energy in the elements can be reduced through the hollow structure feature of the hollow anti-thermal units 130 , and hence the goal of preventing the material of the nm body 110 from being damaged by continuous high temperature can be achieved, such that the high temperature will not reach the rim body 110 . As a result, the present disclosure can integrate the abrasion-resistant effects with the anti-thermal effects of the hollow anti-thermal units 130 .
[0024] It should be noted that the hollow anti-thermal units 130 may be hollow ceramic balls.
[0025] Please further refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 . FIG. 3 illustrates a 3-D sectional view of another embodiment of the wheel rim; FIG. 4 illustrates a plane sectional view of the wheel rim in FIG. 3 . According to another structure embodiment of the present disclosure, a wheel rim 100 is proposed to be used on bicycles, where the wheel rim 100 is disposed between two corresponding braking elements (not shown). The wheel rim 100 includes a rim body 110 and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units 130 .
[0026] The rim body 110 adopting a carbon fiber composite material is formed integrally, and the rim body 110 mainly includes a fiber material with high rigidity and a macromolecule material that enhances the ability of the materials being abrasion-resistant and anti-thermal. The rim body 110 of the bicycles further includes a tire-fixing part 111 .
[0027] The hollow anti-thermal units 130 are spread in two surfaces 112 corresponding to the two braking elements of the rim body 110 , where the surfaces 112 may be all of the surfaces of the rim body 110 . By the another embodiment, not only the effects of preventing the high-temperature from reaching the rim body 110 can be achieved, but also the overall weight of the rim body 110 can be lightened by better using the hollow structures of the hollow anti-thermal units 130 .
[0028] Please refer to FIG. 5 , which illustrates a flow chart of the method of the present disclosure. The method in FIG. 5 is the method of manufacturing the wheel rim 100 in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3 and includes the steps as follow. In step 200 , a plurality of hollow anti-thermal units are added to a macromolecule material, and the hollow anti-thermal units are sufficiently mixed to spread in the macromolecule material. In step 300 , the carbon fiber material is mixed the macromolecule material with the hollow anti-thermal units to become a carbon fiber composite material. In step 400 , the carbon fiber composite material is shaped and hardened on the wheel rim corresponding to the braking elements. The materials mixed with the carbon fiber composite materials of step 300 mainly include fiber materials and macromolecule materials.
[0029] It can be understood based on the aforementioned embodiments that the wheel rim and the method of manufacturing the wheel rim proposed in the present disclosure may integrate the effect of lightening the wheel rim with the effect of reducing thermal transmission rate to achieve the goals of extending the lifetime of the rim body and lightening the weight.
[0030] Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
[0031] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cove modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
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A wheel rim includes a rim body, two firm tracks, and a plurality of hollow anti-thermal unit. The two firm tracks were mounted on two sides of the rim body, and these hollow anti-thermal units are spread in two firm tracks. The hollow anti-thermal unit can reduce transfer rate of the thermal when braking a car.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of gear or shaping by a gear-type gear cutter as one of the shaping processes by generating for producing profiles on workpieces, especially on cylindrical gears. The workpiece and a shaping tool are rotated continuously according to a fixed preset transmission ratio. The tool additionally carries out an oscillating movement in the direction of its axis of rotation and thereby generates small cuts on the workpiece during at least two shaping turns or rotations.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing such a method, and includes a rotatably driven shaping tool which carries out a stroke movement in the direction of its axis of rotation, and also includes a rotatably driven clamping device for the workpiece, whereby the rotary motions of the tool and of the clamping device occur continuously according to a fixed preset transmission ratio.
The tool and the workpiece carry out a rotary motion during shaping to generate a profile, for example for the manufacture of cylindrical gears; the axes of rotation of the workpiece and of the impact spindle are arranged parallel to each other when producing cylindrical workpieces. Superimposed on the rotation of the tool is a linear stroke movement in the direction of the axis of the tool for chip removal.
The workpiece flank is approximated during gear shaping by generating by making individual small cuts, whereby the shaping tool, for the purpose of chip removal, carries out an oscillating stroke movement in the direction of its axis of rotation. Thus a profile with peaks and valleys, which diverges more or less from the ideal profile, results on the workpiece flank as a result of the small cuts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The approximation of the workpiece flank to the ideal profile by means of individual small cuts becomes better the smaller the generating feed, i.e. the path about which the workpiece is rotated between the formation of two small cuts carried out directly one after the other and accordingly the slower the workpiece rotates and the larger the number of tool strokes per unit of time. Limits are set for the number of strokes per unit of time for dynamic reasons, for instance oscillations of the machine, tool, workpiece and/or clamping device, and possibly also for technological reaons, for instance too great a roughness of the workpiece flank or too great a tool wear. A good approximation of a shaped tooth flank to the ideal flank accordingly necessitates a relatively low workpiece speed. However, in certain instances the machining must occur at a relatively high workpiece speed and accordingly, with a fixed number of strokes also at a high generating feed. Thus a smaller tool wear is obtained in certain situations during shaping by generating at high generating feed than is obtained during conventional shaping by generating. A gear cutting machine also exists upon which simultaneously two gear systems can be produced by chip removal, the two gear systems, particularly cylindrical gear systems, being formed on a common base body. The machining of the one tooth or gear system occurs by hobbing, and that of the other tooth system occurs by gear shaping by generating. In such a case, the workpiece speed, for economical reasons, is preset via the hobbing process; the workpiece speed, in particular when using multiple and possibly coated hobbers, is considerably higher than with conventional shaping by generating. While frequently during conventional shaping by generating, a single workpiece rotation is sufficient for the finishing operation, i.e. for actual profile shaping, because of the small generating feed, several workpiece rotations are necessary for this profile shaping at high generating feed.
In all of these cases, as a consequence of the relatively high generating feed, there result correspondingly large profile shape deviations which under ideal conditions, i.e. when machine and tool are geometrically, statically and dynamically accurate, increase approximately quadratically with increasing generating feed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus such that, with a preset number "i" of the shaping rotations, and with preset design data of the tool and workpiece, the procedural profile shape deviations become minimal, and such that the optimum cutting speed for the respective machining case is practically unaffected, so that a minimal profile shape deviation is obtained.
This object, and other objects and advantages of the present invention, will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the formation of small cuts on a workpiece flank during shaping by generating;
FIG. 2 is an illustration of the profile-shape deviation of the workpiece flank of FIG. 1;
FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c respectively are enlarged illustrations of different profile-shape deviations of workpieces having a circular involute face-section profile;
FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus having features in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 5 shows a first possible control device for the apparatus of FIG. 4; and
FIG. 6 shows a second possible control device for the apparatus of FIG. 4.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The method of the present invention, is characterized primarily in that the small cuts produced on the circumference of the shaping circle of the workpiece after each shaping rotation are provided on the workpiece displaced, relative to the small cuts made during the previous shaping rotation, precisely by q·s w , which is at least nearly equal to s w /i, where "i" represents the number of shaping rotations, "s w " represents the generating feed, and "q" represents a number ≦0.5.
The apparatus of the present invention is characterized primarily in that the stroke movement of the shaping tool and the shaping movement are coupled with each other according to the equation p=k(±)q, where p represents the number of small cuts per workpiece rotation k=int(p+0.5), and q is at least approximately 1/i.
According to the present invention, the small cuts, in sequential shaping rotations, may be displaced relative to each other exactly by q·s w ≈s w /i. It has been found that hereby in a surprisingly simple manner the procedural small cut deviations become minimal. With a number "i" of shaping rotations there is a slight variation by less than 0.5 strokes per workpiece rotation of the number p of small cuts per one workpiece rotation. The profile-shape deviation, due to the precise displacement of the small cuts, takes on a value which is smaller by 1/i 2 than when the small cuts coincide in each shaping rotation. With the method and apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to produce profile shapes which optimally approximate the ideal profile shape.
According to specific features of the apparatus of the present invention, the tool stroke movement may be derived from the shaping movement.
The position of the tool stroke movement may be regulated or controlled as a function of the instantaneous angular position of the workpiece or of the shaping tool.
Angle signal pickup means may be provided for respectively detecting the angular position of the workpiece and the position of the shaping tool within the stroke. An actual value forming means may be connected to the output side of the pickup of the shaping tool, and a rated value forming means may be connected to the output side of the pickup of the workpiece. A common comparator may be connected to the output side of the actual value forming means and the rated value forming means, and its output signal, processed further via a regulator and an amplifier, may regulate the stroke movement of the shaping tool.
The shaping movement may be derived from the tool stroke movement.
The shaping movement may be regulated or controlled as a function of the instantaneous position of the shaping tool within the stroke. A rated value forming means may be connected to the output side of the pickup of the shaping tool, and an actual value forming means may be connected to the output side of the pickup of the workpiece. A common comparator may be connected to the output side of the actual forming means and the rated value forming means; the output signal of the comparator, further processed via a regulator and an amplifier, may control the rotary movement of the workpiece.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to the drawings in detail, and in particular to FIG. 1, when shaping by generating, the sharp tool 1 and the workpiece 2 carry out a rotary movement during the chip removal. The axis of rotation 3 of the workpiece 2, and the axis of rotation of the tool 1, are arranged parallel to each other when producing cylindrical workpieces (FIG. 4). A stroke movement in the direction of the axis of the tool 1 is superimposed upon the rotation of the tool 1 for chip removal purposes.
The workpiece flank or side 2a is approximated by individual small cuts during shaping by generating. Three shaping contact positions E 1 , E 2 , E 3 of the workpiece 2 and of the shaping tool 1 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The workpiece 2 rotates about M 2 in the direction of the arrow A, and the tool 1 rotates about M 1 in the direction of the arrow B. The tool 1 carries out an oscillating stroke movement at right angles to the plane of the drawing illustration for chip removal purposes.
Small cuts, which result from strokes of the shaping tool 1 carried out directly following one another, are made at P 1 , P 2 , P 3 . If P 2 and P 3 are turned back about M 2 into the position which they occupied in the contact position E 1 , the points P 2 ', P 3 ' are obtained. It is now apparent that for instance the small cut carried out at P 2 shapes the workpiece profile in a region around P 2 or P 2 ', which region is located between Q 1 and Q 2 . Q 1 is located approximately halfway between P 1 and P 2 ', and Q 2 is located approximately halfway between P 2 ' and P 3 ' (FIG. 1).
The shaping tool 1, in the contact or engagement position E 2 , contacts the ideal workpiece profile only at P 2 . Directly adjoining points of the ideal workpiece flank are spaced from the tool flank. The actual profile deviates from the ideal profile by this spacing; a procedural profile-shape deviation f fv exists.
The ideal profile I and the real or actual profile R upon approximation of the workpiece flank by three small cuts are illustrated in the left part of FIG. 1. The profile-shape deviations are measured at right angles to the ideal profile I.
The interrelationship between the profile-shape deviation on the workpiece flank 2a according to FIG. 1 and a pertaining diagram are illustrated in FIG. 2, in which the profile-shape deviation f fv is plotted over the shaping path w. The deviations, measured at right angles to the true flank, i.e. the ideal profile I, are respectively plotted at right angles to the straight line w of that location at which the path of the corresponding point of the true flank of rotation about M 2 intersects the straight line w. The course of f fv over w can be described approximately by quadratic paraboles having apexes in P 1 , P 2 and P 3 . Only profile-shape deviations inherent in the process have been taken into consideration in FIG. 2. The intersecting point of directly adjoining parabolas furnishes the maxiumum profile-shape deviation f fv existing in the region between these parabolas, as clearly recognizable in the further views of FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c which are still to be described.
The parabolas with the apexes at P 1 , P 2 , P 3 mostly have a different curvature. However, for simplication purposes parabolas with identical curvature are illustrated in the views of FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c.
The path about which the workpiece 2 is rotated between the formation of two directly sequentially carried out small cuts is called the generating feed. The generating feed, relative to the circumference of the workpiece divided circle, is s w ; the generating feed relative to the circumference of the workpiece base circle, and thus to the shaping path w, is s wb . In FIGS. 1 and 2, ##EQU1## where d b is the base line diameter of the workpiece toothing.
One equation ##EQU2## applies to the generating feed s w . In this equation d is the shaping circle diameter of the workpiece toothing, and p is the number of shaping strokes or small cuts per workpiece rotation.
One equation ##EQU3## applies to the generating feed s wb .
Both feeds are related to each other via the known equation s wb =s w ·cos α t . In this equation, α t is the face contact angle of the toothing. Naturally, only s w , i.e. not s wb , exists with non circular involute workpiece profiles, since with non circular involute workpiece profiles α t does not exist. The approximation of the workpiece flank by individual small cuts improves the smaller the generating feed s w is, i.e. the slower the workpiece rotates and the greater the number of tool strokes is per unit of time. A good approximation of a shaped tooth flank to an ideal flank thus has a precondition a relatively low workpiece speed. In certain cases however, there should or must be machining at relatively high workpiece speed and, accordingly, at a fixed number of strokes, also at high generating feed.
The spacing of adjoining small cuts which are made within one workpiece rotation is, in the direction of the shaping path w, equal to the generating feed s wb =π·d b /p (FIG. 3a). In this equation, d b is the base circle diameter of the workpiece, and p is the number of small cuts or shaping strokes carried out in one workpiece rotation. The profile-shape deviation f fv inherent to the process increases under ideal conditions approximately quadratically with increasing generating feed s wb . With the method according to the present invention there is now proceeded on the basis of splitting up the number p of the small cuts carried out in one workpiece rotation into an integral portion k=int(p+0.5), and a portion q≦0.5. Then follows p=k(±)q. During shaping by generating, q<<k and q<<p.
After every workpiece rotation there occurs according to this equation a displacement of the just formed small cuts relative to the small cuts formed prior to a workpiece rotation by q·s wb , i.e. about q times the spacing between adjoining small cuts at only one shaping rotation. The displacement consequently is zero for q=0, which means the small cuts, which are to form a predetermined flank portion during every workpiece rotation coincide; the profile-shape deviation f fv becomes as large as with only one shaping rotation. For q≠0, there are made further small cuts between two directly adjacent small cuts which were made during the first shaping rotation. Consequently, a smaller profile-shape deviation results.
The positioning of the small cuts to be formed during a second, third, or fourth shaping rotation is now undertaken in such a way that the procedural profile-shape deviation f fv becomes minimal. This is attained when, at i shaping rotations, the number of small cuts p per one workpiece rotation is slightly varied in such a way that the non-integral portion q is at least approximately, preferably however exactly, 1/i. The profile-shape deviation f fv in this case takes on a value which is smaller by 1/i 2 than the value for q=0, or for only one shaping rotation.
FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c profile-shape deviation diagrams of a shaped toothing for three different values of q. The machining according to the illustration of FIG. 3a takes place either only during one shaping rotation, or during several shaping rotations with q=0.
The profile-shape deviations f fv are maximum. Three shaping rotations were respectively carried out according to FIGS. 3b and 3c. q=1/i=1/3 in the illustration of FIG. 3b, and q=1/10 in the illustration of FIG. 3c. The profile-shape deviation f fv is considerably smaller in the case of FIG. 3b than in the case of 3a. The thus generated flank profile comes very close to the ideal profile, since the portion q=1/i has been selected. In the case of FIG. 3c, the portion q is no longer 1/i, since with three shaping rotations q=1/10 has been selected. The profile-shape deviations f fv again have become larger and nearly attain values which correspond to those of FIG. 3a. If the small cut curves A 2 and A 3 in FIG. 3c are displaced by equal amounts even closer relative to each other, i.e. if q is increased compared to the value in FIG. 3c, the profile-shape deviation f fv first becomes smaller and attains a minimum at q=1/i=1/3. The profile-shape deviation increases again with further increase of q. Optimum conditions result in accordance with the present invention for q=1/i, in the illustrated embodiment thus for q=1/3.
With a preset stroke of the shaping tool 1, the cutting speed can be adjusted via the number of strokes n H . An optimum cutting speed requires an optimum number of strokes n H . The following equation applies:
n.sub.H =p·n.sub.2 =(k(±)q)n.sub.2.
In this equation, n 2 represents the workpiece speed. As set forth above, q<<p. There results herefrom that q only immaterially influences the optimum number of strokes and thus the optimum cutting speed.
Rotating motion when shaping by generating refers to the for instance during the machining simultaneously occurring rotational movement of the workpiece 2 and of the shaping tool 1. The rotating motion and the stroke movement can be generated by separate motors. Both motions, however, can also be generated by a common motor. In this case, a gear unit is arranged between the motor and a gear unit for converting the rotation movement into the oscillating movement of the shaping tool in order to adapt the workpiece rotation to the stroke movement. In the first situation, the speed of the for the most part stepless controllable motor is selected for the drive of the rotating motion and thus of the workpiece rotation, while taking into consideration the number of strokes of the shaping tool, so that the desired generating feed results. In the second situation, a transmission ratio is selected in the adaptor transmission, which is mostly a change gear transmission, in such a way that likewise the desired generating feed results.
The apparatus for shaping by generating is constructed in such a way that the stroke movement of the shaping tool 1, and the rotating motion, are coupled according to the equation p=k(±)q, with q being at least approximately, preferably however exactly, 1/i.
As shown in FIG. 4, the apparatus has a drive motor 5, upon the drive shaft 26 of which there is seated an index or dividing worm 6 which meshes with a worm gear 7 of a workpiece turntable 20. A workpiece clamping device 21 for the workpiece 2 is rigidly connected with the turntable 20. The shaft 26 is drivingly connected with an intermediate shaft 27 via a bevel gearing 22; the intermediate shaft 27 is coupled with an input shaft 28 of an index change gear transmission 8 via a further bevel gearing 23. The rotating motion of the shaping tool 1 is adapted to the rotating motion of the workpiece 2 by means of this transmission. A power take-off or drive shaft 29 of the transmission 8 is provided with an index worm 9 which meshes with a worm gear 10 on a shaping spindle 4, which carries the shaping tool 1.
A further motor 12 is provided for the stroke movement of the tool 1; the motor 12 drives a crank gear or connecting-rod assembly 11 via a transmission, which in the illustrated embodiment is a belt drive 24, the crank gear 11 being connected with the spindle 4. The index worm gear 10 is connected with a non-illustrated splined-shaft profiled member in order to be able to carry out the stroke movement. However, any other suitable sliding mounting can be provided for the spindle 4.
The angular position of the workpiece turntable 20 according to FIG. 5 is detected indirectly via an angle signal element pickup 13 on the drive shaft 26 of the index worm 6 in the workpiece drive, and the angular position of the crankshaft 25 of the crank gear 11 is detected via an angle signal element pickup 14. The pickups 13, 14 are commercially available electronic components which are installed in housings from which drive shafts project. These drive shafts are rigidly connected with the drive shaft 26 or the crankshaft 25. The pickups 13, 14 deliver a predetermined number of pulses to the rated or actual value forming means 15, 16 for each rotation of the drive shaft 26 or of the crankshaft 25. For example, 100 pulses are generated during a rotation of 360°. 50 pulses would then be generated during a rotation of 180°. The instantaneous angular position of the drive shaft or crankshaft can thus be determined from the number of pulses.
The pulse sequence picked up at 13 is processed in a pulse-preparing means 15 in such a way that at the exit thereof exactly p=k(±)q times as many pulses appear per rotation of the workpiece turntable 20 as are delivered via the pickup 14, possibly after adaptation thereof in a pulse-preparing means 16, for each rotation of the shaft 25 and thus accordingly each stroke of the tool, and thereby are available at the exit of the pulse preparing means 16. The pulse preparing means 15 operates as a rated value forming means, and the pulse preparing means 16 operates as an actual value forming means. Their output signals are supplied to a phase comparator 17, in which the control error or deviation, i.e. the deviation of the angular position of the crankshaft 25 from the rated value, is formed, the rated value being given by the actual value angular position of the workpiece turntable 20 and the desired transmission ratio corresponding to the equation p=k(±)1/i. This control error or deviation is supplied to the motor 12 via a regulator 18 and an amplifier 19. The drive of the stroke movement of the tool 1 occurs from there, as described, via the belt drive 24, the crank gear 11, and the impact spindle 4 in exact coordination to the workpiece rotation. The apparatus can also be constructed in such a way that to the output side of the pickup 13 of the workpiece 2 there is connected an actual value forming means, and to the output side of the pickup 14 of the shaping tool 1 there is connected a rated value forming means. In this case, the workpiece rotation is adapted to the stroke movement of the tool 1. Also then the coupling between the stroke movement and the shaping movement can be adjusted accurately according to the equation p=k(±)1/i.
While in the first situation, the instantaneous stroke position of the tool is controlled as a function of the instantaneous angular position of the workpiece, in the second situation the control of the position of the angular position of the workpiece 2 occurs as a function of the instantaneous stroke position of the shaping tool 1 (see FIG. 6). In this situation, the output signal of the amplifier 19 is supplied to the drive motor 5. The drive occurs from there via the drive shaft 26, the index worm 6, and the worm gear 7 to the workpiece turntable 20 in exact coordination with the stroke position of the shaping tool 1.
The stroke movement of the shaping tool 1 can also be derived directly from the rotation of the workpiece 2 via suitable mechanical, hydraulic, or electrical elements. Conversely, the workpiece rotation can be derived directly from the stroke movement of the shaping tool 1 via suitable mechanical, hydraulic, or electrical elements.
It is furthermore possible to create a fixed speed ratio via an extremely accurate speed control means, for example by utilizating quartz-controlled pulse generators, for the drive of the workpiece rotation and workpiece stroke.
Finally, the positioning of both of the drives can be controlled from a central system.
The present invention is, of course, in no way restricted to the specific disclosure of the specification and drawings, but also encompasses any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.
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A method and apparatus for shaping by generating for producing profiles on workpieces, especially on cylindrical gears. The workpiece and a shaping tool rotate continuously according to a fixed preset transmission ratio. The shaping tool additionally carries out an oscillating movement in the direction of its axis of rotation and thereby generates small cuts on the workpiece during at least two shaping rotations. The small cuts generated after each shaping rotation on the circumference of a circle of contact of the workpiece are provided on the workpiece displaced, relative to the small cuts made during the previous shaping rotation. The apparatus for carrying out the method includes a rotatably driven shaping tool, which carries out a stroke movement in the direction of its axis of rotation, and a rotatably driven clamping device for the workpiece, whereby the rotating motions of the shaping tool and of the clamping device occur continuously according to a fixed preset transmission ratio. The stroke movement of the shaping tool and of the shaping or rotating motion are coupled with each other according to the equation.
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This ia a division of application Ser. No. 07/720,974, filed on Jun. 25, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,401.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to processes for the preparation of 5-fluoro-6-chlorooxindole (III). 5-Fluoro-6-chlorooxindole is particularly useful as an intermediate in the synthesis of certain analgesic and antiinflammatory agents having the formula ##STR2## wherein R 1 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl having 1 to 6 carbons, cycloalkyl having 3 to 7 carbons, cycloalkenyl having 4 to 7 carbons, phenyl, substituted phenyl, phenylalkyl having 1 to 3 carbons in said alkyl, (substituted phenyl)alkyl having 1 to 3 carbons in said alkyl, phenoxyalkyl having 1 to 3 carbons in said alkyl, (substituted phenoxy)alkyl having 1 to 3 carbons in said alkyl, (thiophenoxy)alkyl having 1 to 3 carbons in said alkyl, naphthyl, bicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl, bicyclo[2.2.1]-hept-5-en-2-yl and -(CH 2 ) n -Q-R; wherein the substituent on said substituted phenyl, said (substituted phenyl)alkyl and said (substituted phenoxy)alkyl is selected from the group consisting of fluoro, chloro, bromo, alkyl having 1 to 4 carbons, alkoxy having 1 to 4 carbons and trifluoromethyl; n is zero, 1 or 2; Q is a divalent radical derived from a compound selected from the group consisting of furan, thiophene, pyrrole, pyrazole, imidazole, thiazole, isothiazole, oxazole, isoxazole, 1,2,3-thiadiazole, 1,3,4-thiadiazole, 1,2,5-thiadiazole, tetrahydrofuran, tetrahydro-thiophene, tetrahydropyran, tetrahydrothiopyran, pyridine, pyrimidine, pyrazine, benzo[b] furan and benzo[b] thiophene; and R is hydrogen or alkyl having 1 to 3 carbons.
The compounds of the formula (A), their preparation and their utility as an analgesic and antiinflammatory agents are fully described herein and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,672.
5-Fluoro-6-chlorooxindole has been previously prepared by Kadin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,672, via 3-chloro-4-fluoro-aniline which was reacted with chloroacetyl chloride to produce N-(2-chloroacetyl)-3-chloro-4-fluoroaniline, which in turn was cyclized in the presence of a strong alkali metal halide (Lewis Acid, e.g., aluminum chloride) to produce 5-fluoro-6-chlorooxindole.
Similar types of reactions, as illustrated in Scheme 2, using hydrogen fluoride-pyridine to rearrange an aromatic hydroxylamine is well-documented in the literature: Fidler et al., J. Org. Chem., 26, 4014 (1961), Patrick al. J. Org. Chem., 39. 1758 (1974). Incorporating a nitrile in the reaction to obtain the desired compound (III) from (IV) is novel and not anticipated by the literature. The desired compound (III) is not obtained, in the absence of an alkyl or aryl nitrile, when (IV) is reacted with hydrogen fluoride-pyridine or anhydrous hydrogen fluoride alone.
This invention also relates to the novel compounds (I) and (II) having the formulas ##STR3## which are intermediates formed in the process of this invention and which therefore are useful for the production of the compound with formula (III).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have now found that 5-fluoro-6-chlorooxindole (III) can be synthesized by either of two new processes, Method A or Method B, which affords a much higher yield of compound III) than the process cited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,672.
Method A comprises the steps of:
(a) rearranging methyl 2-(2-hydroxylamine-4-chloro-phenyl)acetate (I) with a hydrogen fluoride source (e.g., anhydrous hydrogen fluoride or hydrogen fluoride-pyridine) to produce methyl (2-amino-4-chloro-5-fluorophenyl)acetate (II); and
(b) cyclizing (II) with an acid in either an aqueous or organic cosolvent to produce the compound, 5-fluoro-6-chlorooxindole (III).
Method B comprises rearranging 5-chloro-1-hydroxy-oxindole (IV) with a hydrogen fluoride source (e.g., hydrogen fluoride-pyridine), in the presence of an alkyl or aryl nitrile to produce 5-fluoro-6-chloro-oxindole (III).
Method A is shown in Scheme i and Method B in Scheme 2. ##STR4##
The present invention is also directed to compound of the formula ##STR5## which are particularly vaulable intermediates in the preparation of the compounds of the formula (III).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The overall processes of this invention are shown in Scheme 1 and Scheme 2.
The starting compound (I) in Scheme 1 is readily prepared from methyl 2-(2-nitro-4-chlorophenyl)acetate, 5% palladium on carbon, sodium hypophosphite and water, pursuant to the reactions described by Johnstone, et al., Tetrahedron 34, 213, (1978). In step [a] compound (I) is reacted with either hydrogen fluoride-pyridine or anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. In the case of hydrogen fluoride-pyridine, compound (I) is dissolved in a minimum amount of pyridine and added to an ice-bath cooled solution of the hydrogen fluoride-pyridine. After the addition, the temperature of the reaction is raised to 25° C. to 50° C. and the two reagents are allowed to react for one hour. The reaction mixture is cooled to room temperature and the pH of the mixture adjusted to 7 using a solution of weak base, preferably sodium carbonate. In the case of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, compound (I) is cooled to -78° C. in a reaction vessel, anhydrous hydrogen fluoride is condensed into the reaction vessel and the vessel is sealed. The reaction mixture is warmed to 25° C. to 50° C. and stirred for between 3 to 4 hours. The reaction vessel is opened and excess hydrogen fluoride is aspirated off. In either case rearrangement occurs to produce methyl (2-amino-4-chloro-5-fluorophenyl)acetate (II). Compound (II) can be purified by standard techniques well known to those skilled in the art. Alternatively, compound (II) can be used directly for the next reaction step.
Compound (III) is obtained by cyclizing (II) with an acid as shown in step [b] of Scheme 1. Compound (II) is dissolved in a mixture of an acid and a cosolvent, preferably the acid is glacial acetic acid in which instance the preferred cosolvent is water or the acid is hydrochloric acid in which instance the preferred cosolvent is methylene chloride. With acetic acid the ratio of the acid and cosolvent mixture ranges from 2:1 to pure acetic acid respectively, the preferred ratio being 6:1. With HCl, much less acid is required, preferably 1:4 3N HCl to CH 2 Cl 2 . Once compound (II) is dissolved, the reaction mixture is stirred at ambient temperature for from 6 to 7 hours to produce 5-fluoro-6-chlorooxindole (III). Compound (III) is readily purified by recrystallization from ethyl acetate to yield an off-white solid.
Alternatively, compound (III) can be obtained by the reaction shown in Scheme 2. The starting compound (IV) is readily prepared by the reaction of compound (I) with a catalytic amount of 50% sulfuric acid. After 18 hours, the reaction mixture is filtered and compound (IV) is obtained as a yellow solid.
Compound (III) can be obtained by reaction of compound (IV) with hydrogen fluoride-pyridine in the presence of an alkyl or aryl nitrile. Compound (IV) and hydrogen fluoride-pyridine are mixed with an alkyl or aryl nitrile, preferably methoxyacetonitrile, acetonitrile or 2-cyanopyridine, in a reaction vessel. The vessel is sealed and the reaction mixture temperature is raised to 25° C. to 50° C. and stirred for approximately between 12 to 24 hours, 18 hours is preferred. After isolation by conventional means well known to those skilled in the art, a tan solid is obtained.
The following examples serve to illustrate the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of this invention to the embodiments so exemplified. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectra (NMR) were measured on a 300 MHz instrument and peak positions are expressed in parts per million (ppm). The peak shapes are denoted as follows: s, singlet; br, broad; d, doublet; t, triplet; q, quartet; m, multiplet. "J" denotes the splitting constant which is also expressed in ppm.
EXAMPLE 1
Methyl (4-chloro-2-N-hydroxyamino] phenyl)acetate (I)
Methyl (2-nitro-4-chlorophenyl)acetate (5.0 g, 21.7 mmol) was dissolved in 250 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 15 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide. To this was added 900 mg of 10% pd/C. A solution of 5.38 g of sodium hypophosphite in 18 ml of water was added dropwise over a 40 minute period. After stirring for 4 hours another 2.68 g of sodium hypophosphite (in 8 ml of water) was added over a 10 minute period. After stirring for one hour the reaction mixture was filtered through Celite and the filtrate diluted with 500 ml of CH 2 Cl 2 . The filtrate was washed with saturated aqueous NaHCO 3 then brine and dried with Na 2 SO 4 . The solvents were evaporated under reduced pressure leaving 5.16 g of a yellow oil (110% of theory). NMR (300 MHz, CDCl 3 ) 3.51 (2H, s), 3.69 (3H, s), 5.50 (1H, br s), 6.88 (1H, dd, J=1,8), 7.01 (1H, d, J=8), 7.34 (1H, d, J=1), 7.56 (1H, br s).
EXAMPLE 2
Methyl (2-amino-4-chloro-5-fluorophenyl)acetate (II), Hydrogen fluoride-pyridine method
A polypropylene flask containing 57 ml of HF-pyridine was cooled in an ice bath. Hydroxylamine (I) (2.34 g, 10.9 mmol) was added portionwise over a 12 minute period as a solution in 2 ml of pyridine. After the addition was complete the ice bath was removed and the mixture was warmed to 35° C. for 1 hour. After cooling to room temperature the reaction mixture was cautiously added to a solution of 115 g of Na 2 CO 3 in 290 ml of water. The pH of the solution was , adjusted to 7 by addition of more Na 2 CO 3 then extracted with ethyl acetate (3×300 ml). The combined ethyl acetate extracts were washed with water (2×200 ml) then brine (200 ml) and dried with MgSO 4 . Removal of the solvents yielded 2.18 g of a tan solid. NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d 6 ) 3.57 (2H, s), 3.63 (3H, s), 5.11 (2H, br s), 6.79 (1H, d, J=8), 7.06 (1H, d, J=10).
EXAMPLE 3
Methyl (2-amino-4-chloro-5-fluorophenyl)acetate (II), Anydrous hydrogen fluoride method
Hydroxylamine (I) (0.50 g, 2.32 mmol) and a magnetic stir bar were added to a 100 ml teflon vessel. Cooled to -78° C. and 25 ml of anhydrous HF was condensed into the vessel. The vessel was sealed and allowed to warm to 20° C. The mixture was stirred for 3.4 hours at which time the vessel was opened and the HF removed under aspirator vacuum. The residue was dissolved in 50 ml of CH 2 Cl 2 and washed with saturated aq. NaHCO 3 and dried with Na 3 SC 4 . Filtration and removal of solvents under vacuum yielded 0.41 g of a brown oil. The NMR was identical to that prepared by the HF-pyridine method.
EXAMPLE 4
5-Fluoro-6-chlorooxindole (III) From (II)
A crude amount of (II) (2.18 g) was dissolved in 60 ml of 6:1 HOAc/H 2 O and stirred for 6.5 hours. The solvents were evaporated under vacuum giving 1.93 g of a tan solid. The crude oxindole was recrystallized from ethyl acetate producing 1.2 g of an off-white solid. NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d 6 ), 3.50 (2H, s), 6.89 (1H, d, J=7), 7.32 (1H, d, J=8), 10.50 (1H, br, s).
EXAMPLE 5
5-Fluoro-6-chlorooxindole (III) From (IV)
In a polypropylene flask was placed 20 ml of HF-pyridine. Then 4 ml of 2-cyanopyridine was added followed by 2.0 g (10.9 mmol) of (IV). The flask was sealed and heated to 45° C. for 18 hours. The reaction mixture was poured into 160 ml of water and extracted with ethyl acetate (3×200 ml). The combined ethyl acetate extracts were washed with 5% HCl (3×100 ml) and dried with MgSC 4 . Filtration and evaporation of the solvents left 3.39 9 of a waxy brown solid that still contained 2-cyanopyridine. Trituration of this solid with isopropyl ether removed the 2-cyanopyridine leaving 1,80 g of a tan solid. The NMR of this material was identical to that obtained in Example 4.
PREPARATION 1
5-Chloro-1-hydroxyoxindole (IV)
The hydroxylamine (I) (200 mg, 0.92 mmol) was dissolved in 10 ml of ethanol. Then 8 drops of 50% H 2 SO 4 was added. After 10 minutes a cream colored solid began to precipitate. The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 hours. The reaction was diluted with ethyl acetate (100 ml) washed with sat. aq. NaHCO 3 and dried with Na 2 SC 4 . After filtration, the solvents were evaporated under reduced pressure yielding 111 mg of a yellow solid. mp 202-208° C. NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d 6 ) 3.58 (2H, s), 6.95 (1H, d, J=1) , 7.06 (1H, dd, J=1,8), 7.26 (1H, d, J=8), 10.9 (1H, br, s).
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Process for the production of 5-fluoro-6-chloro- oxindole, (III), which is useful in the synthesis of certain analgesic and antiinflammatory agents, via two different synthetic pathways.
Compounds of formula (I) and (II) shown below ##STR1## which are intermediates in the process of this invention.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to low carbon martensitic stainless steel used for a plastic injection mold, method of its manufacture and method of using the mold.
BACKGROUND
A mold used for plastic injection can comprise a group of steel plates which align to create a molding surface. Such plates are machined out of a six sided plate with precise dimensions and surface finish.
SUMMARY
Disclosed herein is a mold for plastic injection comprising mold plates which have a highly polished mold surface shaped for panels and frames of electronic display screens such as flat screen televisions, computer monitors, laptops and the like or other applications requiring a highly polished mold surface. The mold is formed from a low carbon martensitic stainless steel alloy comprising in weight %: about 0.05 to 0.07% C; about 1.15 to 1.45% Mn; about 0 to 0.025% P; about 0 to 0.008% S; about 0.3 to 0.6% Si; about 12.15 to 12.65% Cr; about 0 to 0.5% Ni; about 0.45 to 0.65% Cu; about 0.02 to 0.08% V; about 0.04 to 0.08% N; the balance being Fe with trace amounts of impurities.
Also disclosed herein is a process of manufacturing a mold for plastic injection molds. The process comprises the steps of: casting a steel alloy comprising about 1.15%-1.45% by weight Mn, a maximum of 0.025% by weight P, about 0.3%-0.6% by weight Si, about 12.15%-12.65% by weight Cr, a maximum of 0.5% by weight Ni, about 0.45%-0.65% by weight Cu, about 0.02%-0.08% by weight V, about 0.04%-0.08% by weight N, a maximum of 0.008% by weight S, about 0.05% to 0.07% by weight C and the balance being Fe with residual impurities, at a temperature not lower than 2800° F.; hot working the steel alloy within the temperature range of about 1700-2250° F.; hot leveling and cooling the steel alloy by free air cooling to room temperature with or without heat treating so as to provide a plate having a hardness of about 38 to 42 HRC; machining a mold cavity in the plate; and polishing the mold surface to a mirror finish. The mold surface can be used to mold articles such as a panel or frame of an electronic display such as a flat screen television, computer monitor, laptop or the like; or other articles in which a highly polished surface finish is desired.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES
FIG. 1 illustrates plastic injection tooling including a pair of mold plates.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In plastic injection molding, a mold is used to allow mass production of plastic injection molded articles. The mold is typically a group of 2 or more mold plates. Manufacture of mold plates involves machining a six sided plate having parallel major surfaces, parallel top and bottom sides and parallel left and right sides. In order to minimize waste of material, it is desirable to make the mold plates from plate material requiring the least amount of machining of the six sides. It is also desirable to make the mold plates from material that exhibits good polishability and maintains dimensional stability after heavy machining.
A plastic injection mold 10 having a pair of mold plates defining a mold cavity 14 and manifold 16 is shown in FIG. 1 . The manifold 16 may include sprues 18 or runners 20 such that the manifold 16 may be used in plastic injection mold 10 . The mold plate is of a low carbon martensitic stainless steel. While a rectangular mold cavity is shown, the mold plate can have one or more mold cavities of any desired shape.
In a preferred embodiment, the stainless steel is intended for manufacture of plastic injection molds for producing panels and frames of electronic display screens such as flat screen televisions (TVs) such as LCD and plasma TVs, computer monitors, laptops and the like. The mold sizes needed for such panels can range up to 200 mm in thickness and up to 1.5 m and larger in width. The stainless steel described herein can be used to form a mold surface having a cavity shaped to mold one or more articles such as a panel or frame of a flat screen TV.
The stainless steel preferably has a composition which provides various properties such as hardness, ductility, surface quality (i.e., good polishability and consistent surface finish), machinability, corrosion resistance, high level of dimensional stability, hot workability, and/or age hardenability as described below.
In an embodiment, a mold plate for plastic injection molding of articles such as panels and frames of electronic display screens is made from a low carbon stainless steel alloy which can be cast and subject to working to plate shapes having a martensitic microstructure with less than 10% ferrite phase and chemical composition as shown in Table I. The alloy is preferably electric furnace melted and further processed by AOD (argon oxygen decarburization), VOD or other processing suitable for producing low carbon stainless steels. The composition of the alloy is preferably adjusted to provide a low-sulfur content with the composition range is given below in Table I wherein all values are in weight %.
TABLE 1
element
C
Mn
P
S
Si
Cr
Ni
Cu
V
N
minimum
0.050
1.15
N/A
N/A
0.30
12.15
N/A
0.45
0.02
0.04
maximum
0.07
1.45
0.025
0.008
0.60
12.65
0.50
0.65
0.08
0.08
aim
0.06
1.30
LAP
LAP
0.45
12.40
LAP
0.55
0.05
0.06
In Table I, “N/A” means that there is none added and “LAP” means as low as possible. However, various additional elements can be present in the alloy as set forth in Table 2 wherein all values are in weight %.
TABLE 2
element
Mo
Cb
Ti
Co
Al
Sn
O
W
maximum
0.25
0.05
0.05
0.20
0.05
0.03
LAP
0.15
The balance of the alloy is 80% by weight or more Fe and those impurities and tramp elements which are inevitably included during the melting of the material. The function of each of the intentionally included elements in the analysis are as follows:
Carbon-0.07% Maximum
Carbon combines with chromium to precipitate as a carbide, depleting the effective level of chromium which negatively affects corrosion resistance. Carbon level dramatically controls hardness attainable. Maintaining the carbon level of the grade as low as possible while still achieving the designed hardness levels promotes improved corrosion resistance with addition of a minimum of chromium. Carbon content of 0.07% or less provides adequate hardenability without degrading the corrosion properties of the grade and so is thus specified. A preferred carbon content is about 0.06%.
Manganese: 1.15 to 1.45%
Manganese acts as a strengthening agent, a de-oxidizer and also, as an austenite stabilizer to prevent the formation of ferrite. The upper limit of 1.45% manganese is specified to control the embrittling effects of excess manganese. The specified range of 1.15 to 1.45% manganese produces all the desired effects without any negative impact on the grade's properties.
Phosphorus: 0.025% Maximum
Although phosphorous adds to the hardenability of steels, phosphorus is intentionally not added. However, phosphorous may be tolerated in amounts up to 0.025%.
Sulfur: 0.008% Maximum
While sulfur is the most widely used additive to steel to promote improved machinability, sulfur is minimized in the alloy to improve surface properties of the steel to thereby provide a desired surface finish of injection molded plastic parts made by the mold surface. Preferably, the sulfur is low enough to avoid detectable sulfides by ASTM E 45-05, Method A.
Chromium: 12.15 to 12.65%
Chromium acts to enhance hardenability, making possible a material which will readily transform to the desired martensitic structure in heavy cross sections with air cooling. Chromium content of 12.15% minimum is provided to give desired corrosion resistance in the grade. Increasing levels of chromium promote the formation of the undesirable ferrite phase, particularly in this grade with low carbon content. The chromium is therefore controlled to the range of 12.15% minimum to 12.65% maximum.
Silicon: 0.3 to 0.6%
Silicon acts as the primary de-oxidizer in the molten metal and is therefore necessary. Increasing levels of silicon however promote ferrite and undesirable slag inclusions. Adequate de-oxidizing action occurs with silicon present in the range of 0.3% minimum to 0.6% maximum and silicon is therefore limited to this content in the alloy.
Copper: 0.45 to 0.65%
Copper can be fully dissolved in the base metal matrix as a solid solution. The presence of copper improves the corrosion resistance and conductivity. Additionally, the copper allows the alloy to respond to a low temperature aging process which can be used to elevate the strength level of the material either prior to machining or after, with no apparent distortion or cracking problems. Lower levels of copper than specified diminish the desired effect and higher levels of copper can promote hot working problems. The range of 0.45 to 0.65% has been found to produce desired results with no detrimental effects and so is thus specified.
Nitrogen: 0.04 to 0.08%
Nitrogen contributes to the corrosion resistance of the material and also acts to stabilize the austenite phase, improving hardenability and diminishing the occurrence of ferrite formation. Nitrogen tends to form chromium rich nitride particles during aging and tempering. These particles reduce the effectiveness of the chromium from the standpoint of corrosion resistance. Therefore, the amount of nitrogen added is kept moderate within the 0.04 to 0.08% range specified.
Vanadium: 0.02 to 0.08%
Vanadium forms a stable carbide precipitate which is very effective in controlling grain growth, necessary to produce material without grain coarsening which would promote unacceptable low ductility. Due to its tendency to increase the formation of the ferrite phase and in light of the low carbon levels in the material, vanadium level is adequate and useful at the specified range of 0.02 to 0.08%.
Hardness
The stainless steel alloy can be cast, hot worked, air cooled and age hardened to provide a prehardened stainless steel having a Rockwell C hardness in the range of about 38 to 42 HRC. Compared to steels which must be heat treated by quench and tempering to increase hardness with consequent loss in ductility, toughness, flatness and machinability, the prehardened stainless steel can be provided in an air-cooled and age hardened condition after hot working with a desired hardness and thus avoid the need for additional processing steps such as normalizing, quenching, tempering heat treatment and flattening.
Surface Finish
It is desirable to reduce or eliminate sulfur in the steel to improve the surface finish of the mold surface used to shape articles such as injection molded panels or frames of electronic displays screens such as flat screen TVs. For mold surfaces used for such panels and frames, it is desirable to injection mold the panels or frames with a black or silver color and high glossy finish. To achieve such finish, the mold surface must be polished to a mirror finish. As such, minimizing formation of sulfides, oxide stringers, silicates and globular oxides is desirable.
The nonmetallic inclusion content of steels is commonly measured by standardized method ASTM E 45-05, Method A which uses the average of 50 fields of view. However, in order to provide desired polishability in every heat of the steel which is to be processed into mold parts having highly polished surfaces, the nonmetallic inclusion content is carefully controlled to meet the following limits in Table 3 following the rating system in ASTM E 45-05, Method A.
TABLE 3
Inclusion Type
sulphides
string oxides
silicates
globular oxides
Thin
1.5
2.0
1.0
1.5
Heavy
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
The inclusion sizes listed in Table 3 are the maximum which can be tolerated for any one sample from any plate of steel tested. Any one large slag inclusion is particularly detrimental as it may result in a visible pit mark on a highly polished mold surface.
In a preferred embodiment, the steel is processed to attain inclusion sizes with the maximum values listed in Table 4.
TABLE 4 Inclusion Type sulphides string oxides silicates globular oxides Thin 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Heavy 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Details of Manufacturing
A mold plate may be formed from the steel alloy in a process that is initiated with preparation of a material charge. The material charge may be prepared using the elements listed above and in the ranges specified for the chemical composition. The material charge may include additional amounts of certain elements to account for estimated melt losses as a result of oxidation during the production of the alloy steel.
Following its preparation, the material charge is preferably introduced into an electric furnace such as a conventional electric furnace of the type used in manufacturing ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Melting of the material charge may be achieved by supplying energy to a furnace interior. Electrical energy may be supplied to the furnace interior via graphite electrodes. Following melting of the material charge, the melted material may be refined by ladle refining. Such ladle refining acts to remove impurities and homogenize the melted material. In addition, ladle refining allows for relatively tight control over the chemical and mechanical properties of the final product through improved accuracy in the composition of the final product. In addition, ladle refining allows for relatively high levels of cleanliness due to control over inclusion morphology. Remelting such as by electroslag remelting (ESR), vacuum arc remelting (VAR) or the like can also be used to attain desired cleanliness and polishability.
During the ladle refining process, ladles are used to transfer melted or molten material from the electric furnace to a refining or pouring station. Ladle refining involves using ladles with a heating source to heat the melted material that is tapped from the electric furnace to a precise temperature. The ladle refining step provides an opportunity to refine the composition of the steel alloy to a desired chemical composition such that the elements are present in the ranges given above.
During the ladle refining step, chemicals may be added to the melted material in order to remove impurities. If desired, alloy elements may be added in order to enhance the mechanical properties of the steel alloy. In addition, the ladle refining may include a stirring action that may aid in homogenizing the temperature and composition of the melted material to achieve uniform characteristics or properties of the material Slag may additionally be removed from the melted material in the ladle refining process.
The melted material is preferably vacuum degassed in order to remove gases. During vacuum degassing, the melted material is disposed within a degasser vacuum chamber where it is subjected to a vacuum in order to reduce or remove residual levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide as well as nitrogen gas in the melted material. In addition, vacuum degassing causes hydrogen to diffuse and separate from the melted material so as to prevent hydrogen-induced defects in the finished steel alloy. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen containing gases are vented from the vacuum degasser as the steel is continuously circulated through the degasser vacuum chamber so as to improve the mechanical properties of the steel alloy.
Following vacuum degassing the melted material can be continuous cast or bottom poured into molds using an argon gas shield to form solid ingots (e.g., 5-16 metric ton ingots). During the pouring of the melted material, argon gases are used to shield the melted material from air contamination and create a non-oxidizing environment in which the melted material may be poured into the molds. Continuous casting is an economical process especially useful for lighter gauge plate such as 4 inch thick and thinner plate. The cast slabs or ingots are later reheated for hot working into a desired shape. Hot rolling and/or forging can be carried out at initial temperatures of 1700 to 2250° F. and finishing temperatures of 1560 to 1700° F. For example, the ingots can be hot rolled to plate of desired thickness and width on a Quatro (4 high) rolling mill and the material may be hot rolled to 90 mm or 120 mm gauges at 1525 mm widths. The 90 mm gauge plate can be hot rolled using a rolling reduction of 5:1 and the 120 mm gauge plate can be hot rolled using a 4:1 rolling reduction in a plate configuration from which the mold plate may ultimately be fabricated.
The plate is preferably hot leveled immediately after working in order to flatten the plate while still hot. The plate is preferably hot leveled while still on the hot rolling mill or hot forging mill. The hot worked plate is preferably maintained above 1500° F. when the hot leveling is performed. The excellent flatness of the material that results from the hot leveling minimizes the amount of material that must be removed from surfaces in order to produce flat and parallel machined surfaces. For example, the hot rolled plate can be leveled on a 4 over 5 leveler roller.
Directly following hot leveling, the plate is preferably free air cooled on rigid, level cooling tables such as steel cooling beds to below 600° F. prior to lifting or moving the hot leveled plate. The plate is air cooled until substantially complete transformation of the microstructure has occurred. Preferably, the air cooled plate is not mechanically flattened after the air cooling step. For example, the roller leveled plate can air cool on run out tables at the output of the leveler roller machine. The combination of hot leveling and free air cooling produces material that is naturally flat and free of waviness or wrinkles. In addition the hot leveling and air cooling eliminates the creation of residual bending stresses commonly associated with low temperature leveling and flattening operations typically applied to plate products.
Because the as-hot worked and air cooled steel may be slightly harder than required for the plastic injection mold, the hardness may be adjusted by stress relief heat treatment or tempering For example, a low temperature stress relieving treatment at 450 to 650° F. can improve ductility without changing the as-rolled hardness. Advantageously, such optional tempering does not require high temperatures (such as normalizing and quenching) that otherwise result in the formation of heavy scaling on the metal surfaces. Furthermore, the tempering step also relaxes or removes residual cooling stresses that may remain in the material from the original hot working process. If desired, the steel can be subjected to an aging treatment at 700 to 1025° F. or an overtempering treatment at 1200 to 1300° F. The thermal processing avoids the need for high temperature heating and quenching. The plate in its hot worked state is thus a non-quenched steel which can be provided with a hardness of about 38 to about 42 HRC with or without a stress relief (tempering) heat treatment after hot working (rolling and/or forging).
The steel alloy preferably has uniform hardness entirely across and through the hot worked plate which does not vary by more than 10%, more preferably the hardness does not vary by more than 5%. For example, if a plate of 40 HRC is desired, all portions of the hot worked and tempered plate will have a hardness of 38 to 42 HRC, preferably 39 to 41 HRC. Such uniform hardness avoids hard and soft spots which are detrimental to use of high tool speeds and/or high tool feeds during machining of the plates.
To ensure desired surface quality, the plates are visually inspected and ultrasonically tested to determine internal quality. Provided no surface or internal quality issues are found, plates can be saw cropped to remove top, bottom and side discard. The plates can be processed into mold plates with or without subjecting the plates to an age hardening treatment.
Referring to FIG. 1 , shown is an exemplary plastic injection mold 10 having mating mold plates 12 connected to the manifold 16 . As can be seen in FIG. 1 , each one of the mold plates 12 includes a cavity half 14 . When mated, the mold plates 12 form a mold cavity in the shape of a desired article such as a panel or frame of an electronic display such as a flat screen TV. In preparation for molding the plastic article, the mold plates 12 are mated and the manifold 16 is secured to mated ones of the mold plates 12 . Sprues 18 and runners 20 formed in the manifold 16 allow molten plastic to be injected into the mold cavity. During the mating of the mold plate 12 and securement of the manifold 16 to mated ones of the mold plates 12 as well as during use of the plastic injection mold 10 , it is essential that surfaces 22 do not become warped but remain parallel at all times. Advantageously, the above-described process for producing the mold plate from the steel alloy results in a mold plate that exhibits favorable dimensional stability such that warpage or distortion of the material is minimized, even after heavy material removal.
The chemical composition and method of producing the steel alloy results in a material that is capable of meeting ultrasonic inspection acceptance criteria. Such ultrasonic inspection may be used to detect surface and subsurface flaws in the steel alloy material. Such flaws may include cracks, shrinkage, cavities, flakes, pores, delaminations, and porosity. The steel alloy as described above is substantially capable of meeting ultrasonic inspection acceptance criteria for a 5/64″ flat-bottom hole.
In an exemplary processing regime, hot working conditions for the alloy include heating to 1700-2250° F., holding sufficiently long to “soak” through the cross section, and then rolling or forging. Rolling or forging is suspended when material temperature drops to 1700° F.
Plates of the alloy exhibit flatness as-rolled and hot leveled (this hot leveling is an in-line operation at the rolling mill, done within minutes of final reduction pass on the mill). Because the plates can go cold with no danger of cracking, they are left to cool until rigid before lifting (prevents sagging and bending) and exhibit flatness of better than ¼″ across 12 foot spans. The plates show little resistance to leveling at the hot mill leveler and waves and ripples can be removed effectively.
In a test to evaluate machinability, a full sized plate was machined using a standard CNC program and plate size to evaluate upon milling, pocket formation, hole drilling and tapping. The material machined satisfactorily and did not present any problems for standard tooling. In addition, a test block with 115 mm×115 mm cross section was ground, lapped and polished to evaluate material capability to achieve an SP1 A2 finish. The finish achieved was equal to or better than SP1 A2.
Mechanical testing was performed to determine hardness, tensile and impact properties of an exemplary alloy composition. The alloy preferably exhibits a 2% yield strength of at least 115 ksi, a tensile strength of at least 145 ksi, an elongation in two inches of at least 10% and a reduction in area of at least 30%. Results of mechanical testing of a plate having the composition set forth in Table 1 are set forth in Table 5 below.
TABLE 5
Impact
Strength
Tension Test
Longitudinal
Hardness
Tension Test
(Long
(Charpy V-
(HRC)
Tension Test
(Longitudinal)
Transverse)
Notch)
39/40
UTS (Ksi)
190
191
10 Ft-Lbs
2% Yield (Ksi)
120
125
9 Ft-Lbs
% Elongation
14
10
9 Ft-Lbs
(4D)
% Red. Of
32
15
Area
Thermal conductivity of the alloy is adequate for its intended applications.
The preferred embodiments are merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
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A mold plate having a mold cavity configured for plastic injection molding one or more articles such as a panel or frame of an electronic display screen such as a flat screen TV is formed from a low carbon martensitic stainless steel alloy comprising: about 0.05%-0.07% by weight C, about 1.15%-1.45% by weight Mn, a maximum of 0.025% by weight P, a maximum of 0.008% by weight S, about 0.3%-0.6% by weight Si, about 12.15%-12.65% by weight Cr, about 0%-0.5% by weight Ni, about 0.45%-0.65% by weight Cu, about 0.02%-0.08% by weight V, about 0.04%-0.08% by weight N, with the balance being Fe with trace amounts of ordinarily present elements.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/203,187 filed on Aug. 15, 2005, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/729,004 filed on Dec. 8, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,734 which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/102,700 filed on Mar. 22, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,113, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS
[0002] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending patents and/or applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention:
[0000] U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,428,133, 6,526,658, 6,795,215, 7,154,638 7,154,638.
[0003] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The following invention relates to a printhead module assembly for a printer.
[0005] More particularly, though not exclusively, the invention relates to a printhead module assembly for an A4 pagewidth drop on demand printer capable of printing up to 1600 dpi photographic quality at up to 160 pages per minute.
[0006] The overall design of a printer in which the printhead module assembly can be utilized revolves around the use of replaceable printhead modules in an array approximately 8½ inches (21 cm) long. An advantage of such a system is the ability to easily remove and replace any defective modules in a printhead array. This would eliminate having to scrap an entire printhead if only one chip is defective.
[0007] A printhead module in such a printer can be comprised of a “Memjet” chip, being a chip having mounted thereon a vast number of thermo-actuators in micro-mechanics and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Such actuators might be those as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,646 to the present applicant, however, might be other MEMS print chips.
[0008] In a typical embodiment, eleven “Memjet” tiles can butt together in a metal channel to form a complete 8½ inch printhead assembly.
[0009] The printhead, being the environment within which the printhead module assemblies of the present invention are to be situated, might typically have six ink chambers and be capable of printing four color process (CMYK) as well as infrared ink and fixative. An air pump would supply filtered air through a seventh chamber to the printhead, which could be used to keep foreign particles away from its ink nozzles.
[0010] Each printhead module receives ink via an elastomeric extrusion that transfers the ink. Typically, the printhead assembly is suitable for printing A4 paper without the need for scanning movement of the printhead across the paper width.
[0011] The printheads themselves are modular, so printhead arrays can be configured to form printheads of arbitrary width.
[0012] Additionally, a second printhead assembly can be mounted on the opposite side of a paper feed path to enable double-sided high-speed printing.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0013] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved printhead module assembly.
[0014] It is another object of the invention to provide a printhead assembly having improved modules therein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead assembly which comprises
[0016] an elongate support structure; and
[0017] at least one elongate printhead module positioned on the support structure, along a length of the support structure, the, or each, printhead module comprising
an elongate elastomeric feed member that is positioned on the support structure, the feed member defining a number of longitudinally extending flow passages that are connectable to at least an ink supply, and a plurality of outlet holes in a surface of the feed member in fluid communication with the flow passages; an ink distribution assembly that is positioned on the feed member, the ink distribution assembly defining a mounting formation to permit a printhead chip to be mounted on the ink delivery assembly, a plurality of ink inlets that are in fluid communication with the outlet holes of the feed member, a plurality of exit holes and tortuous ink flow paths from each ink inlet to a number of respective exit holes; and a printhead chip that is mounted on the ink distribution assembly so that the ink can be fed from the exit holes to the printhead chip.
[0021] A number of elongate printhead modules may be mounted, end-to-end, on the support structure.
[0022] Each feed member may be an extruded member having a generally rectangular cross section, with the ink flow paths extending from one end of the feed member to an opposite end. Each printhead module may include two closures that are engageable with respective ends of the feed member. The feed member may define a number of inlet openings in the surface of the ink feed member. Each inlet opening may be in fluid communication with a respective flow path to permit at least ink to be delivered to the flow paths.
[0023] A delivery structure may be mounted on each ink feed member. Each delivery structure may define a number of inlet conduits in fluid communication with respective delivery outlets. The delivery structure may be engageable with the feed member such that each delivery outlet is in fluid communication with a respective ink flow path, via one of the inlet openings of the feed member.
[0024] The delivery structure may include a connecting plate and a plurality of connectors that are arranged on the connecting plate. Each connector may define a respective delivery outlet and may be engageable with a respective conduit. The connectors may be configured to engage the feed member at respective inlet openings.
[0025] Each printhead module may include an end cap assembly which includes a fastening plate, one of the closures and the connecting plate. The closure may be interposed between and pivotally mounted to the connecting plate and the fastening plate. The connecting plate may be fastenable to the fastening plate so that an end portion of the feed member is sandwiched between the connecting and fastening plates.
[0026] The outlet holes and the inlet holes of each ink feed member may be the product of a laser ablation process carried out on the surface of the ink feed member.
[0027] According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead module for a printhead assembly incorporating a plurality of said modules positioned substantially across a pagewidth in a drop on demand ink jet printer, comprising:
[0028] an upper micro-molding locating a print chip having a plurality of ink jet nozzles, the upper micro-molding having ink channels delivering ink to said print chip,
[0029] a lower micro-molding having inlets through which ink is received from a source of ink, and
[0030] a mid-package film adhered between said upper and lower micro-moldings and having holes through which ink passes from the lower micro-molding to the upper micro-molding.
[0031] Preferably the mid-package film is made of an inert polymer.
[0032] Preferably the holes of the mid-package film are laser ablated.
[0033] Preferably the mid-package film has an adhesive layer on opposed faces thereof, providing adhesion between the upper micro-molding, the mid-package film and the lower micro-molding.
[0034] Preferably the upper micro-molding has an alignment pin passing through an aperture in the mid-package film and received within a recess in the lower micro-molding, the pin serving to align the upper micro-molding, the mid-package film and the lower micro-molding when they are bonded together.
[0035] Preferably the inlets of the lower micro-molding are formed on an underside thereof.
[0036] Preferably six said inlets are provided for individual inks.
[0037] Preferably the lower micro-molding also includes an air inlet.
[0038] Preferably the air inlet includes a slot extending across the lower micro-molding.
[0039] Preferably the upper micro-molding includes exit holes corresponding to inlets on a backing layer of the print chip.
[0040] Preferably the backing layer is made of silicon.
[0041] Preferably the printhead module further comprises an elastomeric pad on an edge of the lower micro-molding.
[0042] Preferably the upper and lower micro-moldings are made of Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP).
[0043] Preferably an upper surface of the upper micro-molding has a series of alternating air inlets and outlets cooperative with a capping device to redirect a flow of air through the upper micro-molding.
[0044] Preferably each printhead module has an elastomeric pad on an edge of its lower micro-molding, the elastomeric pads bearing against an inner surface of the channel to positively locate the printhead modules within the channel.
[0045] As used herein, the term “ink” is intended to mean any fluid which flows through the printhead to be delivered to print media. The fluid may be one of many different colored inks, infra-red ink, a fixative or the like.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0046] A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
[0047] FIG. 1 is a schematic overall view of a printhead;
[0048] FIG. 2 is a schematic exploded view of the printhead of FIG. 1 ;
[0049] FIG. 3 is a schematic exploded view of an ink jet module;
[0050] FIG. 3 a is a schematic exploded inverted illustration of the ink jet module of FIG. 3 ;
[0051] FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an assembled ink jet module;
[0052] FIG. 5 is a schematic inverted illustration of the module of FIG. 4 ;
[0053] FIG. 6 is a schematic close-up illustration of the module of FIG. 4 ;
[0054] FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a chip sub-assembly;
[0055] FIG. 8 a is a schematic side elevational view of the printhead of FIG. 1 ;
[0056] FIG. 8 b is a schematic plan view of the printhead of FIG. 8 a;
[0057] FIG. 8 c is a schematic side view (other side) of the printhead of FIG. 8 a;
[0058] FIG. 8 d is a schematic inverted plan view of the printhead of FIG. 8 b;
[0059] FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional end elevational view of the printhead of FIG. 1 ;
[0060] FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of the printhead of FIG. 1 in an uncapped configuration;
[0061] FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of the printhead of FIG. 10 in a capped configuration;
[0062] FIG. 12 a is a schematic illustration of a capping device;
[0063] FIG. 12 b is a schematic illustration of the capping device of FIG. 12 a , viewed from a different angle;
[0064] FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration showing the loading of an ink jet module into a printhead;
[0065] FIG. 14 is a schematic end elevational view of the printhead illustrating the printhead module loading method;
[0066] FIG. 15 is a schematic cut-away illustration of the printhead assembly of FIG. 1 ;
[0067] FIG. 16 is a schematic close-up illustration of a portion of the printhead of FIG. 15 showing greater detail in the area of the “Memjet” chip;
[0068] FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of the end portion of a metal channel and a printhead location molding;
[0069] FIG. 18 a is a schematic illustration of an end portion of an elastomeric ink delivery extrusion and a molded end cap; and
[0070] FIG. 18 b is a schematic illustration of the end cap of FIG. 18 a in an out-folded configuration.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0071] In FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings there is schematically depicted an overall view of a printhead assembly. FIG. 2 shows the core components of the assembly in an exploded configuration. The printhead assembly 10 of the preferred embodiment comprises eleven printhead modules 11 situated along a metal “Invar” channel 16 . At the heart of each printhead module 11 is a “Memjet” chip 23 ( FIG. 3 ). The particular chip chosen in the preferred embodiment being a six-color configuration.
[0072] The “Memjet” printhead modules 11 are comprised of the “Memjet” chip 23 , a fine pitch flex PCB 26 and two micro-moldings 28 and 34 sandwiching a mid-package film 35 . Each module 11 forms a sealed unit with independent ink chambers 63 ( FIG. 9 ) which feed the chip 23 . The modules 11 plug directly onto a flexible elastomeric extrusion 15 which carries air, ink and fixitive. The upper surface of the extrusion 15 has repeated patterns of holes 21 which align with ink inlets 32 ( FIG. 3 a ) on the underside of each module 11 . The extrusion 15 is bonded onto a flex PCB (flexible printed circuit board).
[0073] The fine pitch flex PCB 26 wraps down the side of each printhead module 11 and makes contact with the flex PCB 17 ( FIG. 9 ). The flex PCB 17 carries two busbars 19 (positive) and 20 (negative) for powering each module 11 , as well as all data connections. The flex PCB 17 is bonded onto the continuous metal “Invar” channel 16 . The metal channel 16 serves to hold the modules 11 in place and is designed to have a similar coefficient of thermal expansion to that of silicon used in the modules.
[0074] A capping device 12 is used to cover the “Memjet” chips 23 when not in use. The capping device is typically made of spring steel with an onsert molded elastomeric pad 47 ( FIG. 12 a ). The pad 47 serves to duct air into the “Memjet” chip 23 when uncapped and cut off air and cover a nozzle guard 24 ( FIG. 9 ) when capped. The capping device 12 is actuated by a camshaft 13 that typically rotates throughout 180°.
[0075] The overall thickness of the “Memjet” chip is typically 0.6 mm which includes a 150-micron inlet backing layer 27 and a nozzle guard 24 of 150-micron thickness. These elements are assembled at the wafer scale.
[0076] The nozzle guard 24 allows filtered air into an 80-micron cavity 64 ( FIG. 16 ) above the “Memjet” ink nozzles 62 . The pressurized air flows through microdroplet holes 45 in the nozzle guard 24 (with the ink during a printing operation) and serves to protect the delicate “Memjet” nozzles 62 by repelling foreign particles.
[0077] A silicon chip backing layer 27 ducts ink from the printhead module packaging directly into the rows of “Memjet” nozzles 62 . The “Memjet” chip 23 is wire bonded 25 from bond pads on the chip at 116 positions to the fine pitch flex PCB 26 . The wire bonds are on a 120-micron pitch and are cut as they are bonded onto the fine pitch flex PCB pads ( FIG. 3 ). The fine pitch flex PCB 26 carries data and power from the flex PCB 17 via a series of gold contact pads 69 along the edge of the flex PCB.
[0078] The wire bonding operation between chip and fine pitch flex PCB 26 may be done remotely, before transporting, placing and adhering the chip assembly into the printhead module assembly. Alternatively, the “Memjet” chips 23 can be adhered into the upper micro-molding 28 first and then the fine pitch flex PCB 26 can be adhered into place. The wire bonding operation could then take place in situ, with no danger of distorting the moldings 28 and 34 . The upper micro-molding 28 can be made of a Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) blend. Since the crystal structure of the upper micro-molding 28 is minute, the heat distortion temperature (180° C.-260° C.), the continuous usage temperature (200° C.-240° C.) and soldering heat durability (260° C. for 10 seconds to 310° C. for 10 seconds) are high, regardless of the relatively low melting point.
[0079] Each printhead module 11 includes an upper micro-molding 28 and a lower micro-molding 34 separated by a mid-package film layer 35 shown in FIG. 3 .
[0080] The mid-package film layer 35 can be an inert polymer such as polyimide, which has good chemical resistance and dimensional stability. The mid-package film layer 35 can have laser ablated holes 65 and can comprise a double-sided adhesive (ie. an adhesive layer on both faces) providing adhesion between the upper micro-molding, the mid-package film layer and the lower micro-molding.
[0081] The upper micro-molding 28 has a pair of alignment pins 29 passing through corresponding apertures in the mid-package film layer 35 to be received within corresponding recesses 66 in the lower micro-molding 34 . This serves to align the components when they are bonded together. Once bonded together, the upper and lower micro-moldings form a tortuous ink and air path in the complete “Memjet” printhead module 11 .
[0082] There are annular ink inlets 32 in the underside of the lower micro-molding 34 . In a preferred embodiment, there are six such inlets 32 for various inks (black, yellow, magenta, cyan, fixitive and infrared). There is also provided an air inlet slot 67 . The air inlet slot 67 extends across the lower micro-molding 34 to a secondary inlet which expels air through an exhaust hole 33 , through an aligned hole 68 in fine pitch flex PCB 26 . This serves to repel the print media from the printhead during printing. The ink inlets 32 continue in the undersurface of the upper micro-molding 28 as does a path from the air inlet slot 67 . The ink inlets lead to 200 micron exit holes also indicated at 32 in FIG. 3 . These holes correspond to the inlets on the silicon backing layer 27 of the “Memjet” chip 23 .
[0083] There is a pair of elastomeric pads 36 on an edge of the lower micro-molding 34 . These serve to take up tolerance and positively located the printhead modules 11 into the metal channel 16 when the modules are micro-placed during assembly.
[0084] A preferred material for the “Memjet” micro-moldings is a LCP. This has suitable flow characteristics for the fine detail in the moldings and has a relatively low coefficient of thermal expansion.
[0085] Robot picker details are included in the upper micro-molding 28 to enable accurate placement of the printhead modules 11 during assembly.
[0086] The upper surface of the upper micro-molding 28 as shown in FIG. 3 has a series of alternating air inlets and outlets 31 . These act in conjunction with the capping device 12 and are either sealed off or grouped into air inlet/outlet chambers, depending upon the position of the capping device 12 . They connect air diverted from the inlet slot 67 to the chip 23 depending upon whether the unit is capped or uncapped.
[0087] A capper cam detail 40 including a ramp for the capping device is shown at two locations in the upper surface of the upper micro-molding 28 . This facilitates a desirable movement of the capping device 12 to cap or uncap the chip and the air chambers. That is, as the capping device is caused to move laterally across the print chip during a capping or uncapping operation, the ramp of the capper cam detail 40 serves to elastically distort and capping device as it is moved by operation of the camshaft 13 so as to prevent scraping of the device against the nozzle guard 24 .
[0088] The “Memjet” chip assembly 23 is picked and bonded into the upper micro-molding 28 on the printhead module 11 . The fine pitch flex PCB 26 is bonded and wrapped around the side of the assembled printhead module 11 as shown in FIG. 4 . After this initial bonding operation, the chip 23 has more sealant or adhesive 46 applied to its long edges. This serves to “pot” the bond wires 25 ( FIG. 6 ), seal the “Memjet” chip 23 to the molding 28 and form a sealed gallery into which filtered air can flow and exhaust through the nozzle guard 24 .
[0089] The flex PCB 17 carries all data and power connections from the main PCB (not shown) to each “Memjet” printhead module 11 . The flex PCB 17 has a series of gold plated, domed contacts 69 ( FIG. 2 ) which interface with contact pads 41 , 42 and 43 on the fine pitch flex PCB 26 of each “Memjet” printhead module 11 .
[0090] Two copper busbar strips 19 and 20 , typically of 200 micron thickness, are jigged and soldered into place on the flex PCB 17 . The busbars 19 and 20 connect to a flex termination which also carries data The flex PCB 17 is approximately 340 mm in length and is formed from a 14 mm wide strip. It is bonded into the metal channel 16 during assembly and exits from one end of the printhead assembly only.
[0091] The metal U-channel 16 into which the main components are place is of a special alloy called “Invar 36”. It is a 36% nickel iron alloy possessing a coefficient of thermal expansion of 1/10 th that of carbon steel at temperatures up to 400° F. The Invar is annealed for optimal dimensional stability.
[0092] Additionally, the Invar is nickel plated to a 0.056% thickness of the wall section. This helps to further match it to the coefficient of thermal expansion of silicon which is 2×10 −6 per 0°C.
[0093] The Invar channel 16 functions to capture the “Memjet” printhead modules 11 in a precise alignment relative to each other and to impart enough force on the modules 11 so as to form a seal between the ink inlets 32 on each printhead module and the outlet holes 21 that are laser ablated into the elastomeric ink delivery extrusion 15 .
[0094] The similar coefficient of thermal expansion of the Invar channel to the silicon chips allows similar relative movement during temperature changes. The elastomeric pads 36 on one side of each printhead module 11 serve to “lubricate” them within the channel 16 to take up any further lateral coefficient of thermal expansion tolerances without losing alignment. The Invar channel is a cold rolled, annealed and nickel plated strip. Apart from two bends that are required in its formation, the channel has two square cut-outs 80 at each end. These mate with snap fittings 81 on the printhead location moldings 14 ( FIG. 17 ).
[0095] The elastomeric ink delivery extrusion 15 is a non-hydrophobic, precision component. Its function is to transport ink and air to the “Memjet” printhead modules 11 . The extrusion is bonded onto the top of the flex PCB 17 during assembly and it has two types of molded end caps. One of these end caps is shown at 70 in FIG. 18 a.
[0096] A series of patterned holes 21 are present on the upper surface of the extrusion 15 . These are laser ablated into the upper surface. To this end, a mask is made and placed on the surface of the extrusion, which then has focused laser light applied to it. The holes 21 are evaporated from the upper surface, but the laser does not cut into the lower surface of extrusion 15 due to the focal length of the laser light.
[0097] Eleven repeated patterns of the laser ablated holes 21 form the ink and air outlets 21 of the extrusion 15 . These interface with the annular ring inlets 32 on the underside of the “Memjet” printhead module lower micro-molding 34 . A different pattern of larger holes (not shown but concealed beneath the upper plate 71 of end cap 70 in FIG. 18 a ) is ablated into one end of the extrusion 15 . These mate with apertures 75 having annular ribs formed in the same way as those on the underside of each lower micro-molding 34 described earlier. Ink and air delivery hoses 78 are connected to respective connectors 76 that extend from the upper plate 71 . Due to the inherent flexibility of the extrusion 15 , it can contort into many ink connection mounting configurations without restricting ink and air flow. The molded end cap 70 has a spine 73 from which the upper and lower plates are integrally hinged. The spine 73 includes a row of plugs 74 that are received within the ends of the respective flow passages of the extrusion 15 .
[0098] The other end of the extrusion 15 is capped with simple plugs which block the channels in a similar way as the plugs 74 on spine 17 .
[0099] The end cap 70 clamps onto the ink extrusion 15 by way of snap engagement tabs 77 . Once assembled with the delivery hoses 78 , ink and air can be received from ink reservoirs and an air pump, possibly with filtration means. The end cap 70 can be connected to either end of the extrusion, ie. at either end of the printhead.
[0100] The plugs 74 are pushed into the channels of the extrusion 15 and the plates 71 and 72 are folded over. The snap engagement tabs 77 clamp the molding and prevent it from slipping off the extrusion. As the plates are snapped together, they form a sealed collar arrangement around the end of the extrusion. Instead of providing individual hoses 78 pushed onto the connectors 76 , the molding 70 might interface directly with an ink cartridge. A sealing pin arrangement can also be applied to this molding 70 . For example, a perforated, hollow metal pin with an elastomeric collar can be fitted to the top of the inlet connectors 76 . This would allow the inlets to automatically seal with an ink cartridge when the cartridge is inserted. The air inlet and hose might be smaller than the other inlets in order to avoid accidental charging of the airways with ink.
[0101] The capping device 12 for the “Memjet” printhead would typically be formed of stainless spring steel. An elastomeric seal or onsert molding 47 is attached to the capping device as shown in FIGS. 12 a and 12 b . The metal part from which the capping device is made is punched as a blank and then inserted into an injection molding tool ready for the elastomeric onsert to be shot onto its underside. Small holes 79 ( FIG. 13 b ) are present on the upper surface of the metal capping device 12 and can be formed as burst holes. They serve to key the onsert molding 47 to the metal. After the molding 47 is applied, the blank is inserted into a press tool, where additional bending operations and forming of integral springs 48 takes place.
[0102] The elastomeric onsert molding 47 has a series of rectangular recesses or air chambers 56 . These create chambers when uncapped. The chambers 56 are positioned over the air inlet and exhaust holes 30 of the upper micro-molding 28 in the “Memjet” printhead module 11 . These allow the air to flow from one inlet to the next outlet. When the capping device 12 is moved forward to the “home” capped position as depicted in FIG. 11 , these airways 32 are sealed off with a blank section of the onsert molding 47 cutting off airflow to the “Memjet” chip 23 . This prevents the filtered air from drying out and therefore blocking the delicate “Memjet” nozzles.
[0103] Another function of the onsert molding 47 is to cover and clamp against the nozzle guard 24 on the “Memjet” chip 23 . This protects against drying out, but primarily keeps foreign particles such as paper dust from entering the chip and damaging the nozzles. The chip is only exposed during a printing operation, when filtered air is also exiting along with the ink drops through the nozzle guard 24 . This positive air pressure repels foreign particles during the printing process and the capping device protects the chip in times of inactivity.
[0104] The integral springs 48 bias the capping device 12 away from the side of the metal channel 16 . The capping device 12 applies a compressive force to the top of the printhead module 11 and the underside of the metal channel 16 . The lateral capping motion of the capping device 12 is governed by an eccentric camshaft 13 mounted against the side of the capping device. It pushes the device 12 against the metal channel 16 . During this movement, the bosses 57 beneath the upper surface of the capping device 12 ride over the respective ramps 40 formed in the upper micro-molding 28 . This action flexes the capping device and raises its top surface to raise the onsert molding 47 as it is moved laterally into position onto the top of the nozzle guard 24 .
[0105] The camshaft 13 , which is reversible, is held in position by two printhead location moldings 14 . The camshaft 11 can have a flat surface built in one end or be otherwise provided with a spline or keyway to accept gear 22 or another type of motion controller. The “Memjet” chip and printhead module are assembled as follows:
1. The “Memjet” chip 23 is dry tested in flight by a pick and place robot, which also dices the wafer and transports individual chips to a fine pitch flex PCB bonding area. 2. When accepted, the “Memjet” chip 23 is placed 530 microns apart from the fine pitch flex PCB 26 and has wire bonds 25 applied between the bond pads on the chip and the conductive pads on the fine pitch flex PCB. This constitutes the “Memjet” chip assembly. 3. An alternative to step 2 is to apply adhesive to the internal walls of the chip cavity in the upper micro-molding 28 of the printhead module and bond the chip into place first. The fine pitch flex PCB 26 can then be applied to the upper surface of the micro-molding and wrapped over the side. Wire bonds 25 are then applied between the bond pads on the chip and the fine pitch flex PCB. 4. The “Memjet” chip assembly is vacuum transported to a bonding area where the printhead modules are stored. 5. Adhesive is applied to the lower internal walls of the chip cavity and to the area where the fine pitch flex PCB is going to be located in the upper micro-molding of the printhead module. 6 . The chip assembly (and fine pitch flex PCB) are bonded into place. The fine pitch flex PCB is carefully wrapped around the side of the upper micro-molding so as not to strain the wire bonds. This may be considered as a two step gluing operation if it is deemed that the fine pitch flex PCB might stress the wire bonds. A line of adhesive running parallel to the chip can be applied at the same time as the internal chip cavity walls are coated. This allows the chip assembly and fine pitch flex PCB to be seated into the chip cavity and the fine pitch flex PCB allowed to bond to the micro-molding without additional stress. After curing, a secondary gluing operation could apply adhesive to the short side wall of the upper micro-molding in the fine pitch flex PCB area. This allows the fine pitch flex PCB to be wrapped around the micro-molding and secured, while still being firmly bonded in place along on the top edge under the wire bonds.
[0112] 7. In the final bonding operation, the upper part of the nozzle guard is adhered to the upper micro-molding, forming a sealed air chamber. Adhesive is also applied to the opposite long edge of the “Memjet” chip, where the bond wires become ‘potted’ during the process.
8. The modules are ‘wet’ tested with pure water to ensure reliable performance and then dried out. 9. The modules are transported to a clean storage area, prior to inclusion into a printhead assembly, or packaged as individual units. This completes the assembly of the “Memjet” printhead module assembly. 10. The metal Invar channel 16 is picked and placed in a jig. 11. The flex PCB 17 is picked and primed with adhesive on the busbar side, positioned and bonded into place on the floor and one side of the metal channel. 12. The flexible ink extrusion 15 is picked and has adhesive applied to the underside. It is then positioned and bonded into place on top of the flex PCB 17 . One of the printhead location end caps is also fitted to the extrusion exit end. This constitutes the channel assembly.
The laser ablation process is as follows:
13. The channel assembly is transported to an eximir laser ablation area. 14. The assembly is put into a jig, the extrusion positioned, masked and laser ablated. This forms the ink holes in the upper surface. 15. The ink extrusion 15 has the ink and air connector molding 70 applied. Pressurized air or pure water is flushed through the extrusion to clear any debris. 16. The end cap molding 70 is applied to the extrusion 15 . It is then dried with hot air. 17. The channel assembly is transported to the printhead module area for immediate module assembly. Alternatively, a thin film can be applied over the ablated holes and the channel assembly can be stored until required.
The printhead module to channel is assembled as follows:
18. The channel assembly is picked, placed and clamped into place in a transverse stage in the printhead assembly area. 19. As shown in FIG. 14 , a robot tool 58 grips the sides of the metal channel and pivots at pivot point against the underside face to effectively flex the channel apart by 200 to 300 microns. The forces applied are shown generally as force vectors F in FIG. 14 . This allows the first “Memjet” printhead module to be robot picked and placed (relative to the first contact pads on the flex PCB 17 and ink extrusion holes) into the channel assembly. 20. The tool 58 is relaxed, the printhead module captured by the resilience of the Invar channel and the transverse stage moves the assembly forward by 19.81 mm. 21. The tool 58 grips the sides of the channel again and flexes it apart ready for the next printhead module. 22. A second printhead module 11 is picked and placed into the channel 50 microns from the previous module. 23. An adjustment actuator arm locates the end of the second printhead module. The arm is guided by the optical alignment of fiducials on each strip. As the adjustment arm pushes the printhead module over, the gap between the fiducials is closed until they reach an exact pitch of 19.812 mm. 24. The tool 58 is relaxed and the adjustment arm is removed, securing the second printhead module in place. 25. This process is repeated until the channel assembly has been fully loaded with printhead modules. The unit is removed from the transverse stage and transported to the capping assembly area. Alternatively, a thin film can be applied over the nozzle guards of the printhead modules to act as a cap and the unit can be stored as required.
The capping device is assembled as follows:
26. The printhead assembly is transported to a capping area. The capping device 12 is picked, flexed apart slightly and pushed over the first module 11 and the metal channel 16 in the printhead assembly. It automatically seats itself into the assembly by virtue of the bosses 57 in the steel locating in the recesses 83 in the upper micro-molding in which a respective ramp 40 is located. 27. Subsequent capping devices are applied to all the printhead modules. 28. When completed, the camshaft 13 is seated into the printhead location molding 14 of the assembly. It has the second printhead location molding seated onto the free end and this molding is snapped over the end of the metal channel, holding the camshaft and capping devices captive. 29. A molded gear 22 or other motion control device can be added to either end of the camshaft 13 at this point. 30. The capping assembly is mechanically tested.
Print charging is as follows:
31. The printhead assembly 10 is moved to the testing area. Inks are applied through the “Memjet” modular printhead under pressure. Air is expelled through the “Memjet” nozzles during priming. When charged, the printhead can be electrically connected and tested. 32. Electrical connections are made and tested as follows: 33. Power and data connections are made to the PCB. Final testing can commence, and when passed, the “Memjet” modular printhead is capped and has a plastic sealing film applied over the underside that protects the printhead until product installation.
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An ink-jet printing assembly includes an elongate U-channel member assembly. An elongate ink delivery member is positioned on a floor of the U-channel member assembly and defines longitudinally extending ink delivery channels and a series of holes in fluid communication with each respective ink delivery channel. A plurality of micro-electromechanical inkjet printing modules with ink inlets and printhead integrated circuits are mounted in the U-channel member assembly such that the ink inlets are in fluid communication with respective holes.
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SCOPE OF THE INVENTION
[0001] A method to obtain a paper with thermo sensitive surface characteristics is described, consisting of covering a sheet of paper having a high smoothness with a thermal material layer promoting the development of images in a wide range of thermal printers.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The object of the present invention is to obtain a thermal paper with which clear and defined prints can be obtained from the thermal printers, using papers with a high smoothness as a base. A lower production cost is obtained as a need for previous covering of the basic paper is eliminated, and the thermal paper's performance requirements for today's high speed thermal printers for high definition images for various uses is met, as prints that including bar codes must be legible for optical readers.
[0003] The present invention permits in the manufacturing process, a fresh thickness calibration of the thermo sensitive layer through the use of Coating Rods, which is a more economic process than others used in the state of the art. The formula described at the present invention permits the thermo sensitive layer to uniformly cover the basic paper and presents a uniform and smooth surface, different from the roughness in the form of grooves typical of the calibrated coatings with Coating Rods, as described in various patents related, allowing the thermo sensitive layer to process the adherence and stability required so as to not be detached during printing, writing, or handling of the print.
ANTECEDENTS
[0004] According to the state of the art, the material used in the thermal printers is a sheet of paper with a preliminary coating layer which diminishes roughness and increases the smoothness to which the layer of thermo sensitive color is applied. The thermo sensitive layer consists of a color former, a color developer and a sensitizer, besides the white pigments and lubricant additives.
[0005] In thermal paper production, pre-covered papers with pigments and adhesives as substrate that do not react with the thermo sensitive layer are normally used. Besides reducing the natural roughness of the paper, these pre-covering layers help to fix the thermo sensitive layer. This operation is mentioned in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,937 as of 26-12-2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,716 B2 as of 2-09-2003, WO2005084958 as of 15-09-2005. The use of pre-covered papers implies an additional step in the process and increases the cost of the production.
[0006] In the same way, if it is desired to utilize a paper without a pre-coating base, a sufficiently thick thermo sensitive layer must be applied to compensate for the roughness of the paper, and product cost would be considerably increased.
[0007] The base paper used according to the actual State of the art is one that bearing a previous layer to increase smoothness, over which a thermo sensitive layer is applied which, when receiving heat, generates a black or almost black color image. This active or thermo sensitive layer consists of a color former, a color developer and a sensitizer. It also has additives such as white pigments and lubricants. This type of product and component are described in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,161 U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,592 as of 21-04-1998, U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,937 as of 26-12-2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,562,755 B1 as of 13-05-2003, U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,716 B2 as of 02-09-2003, WO2005032838 as of 14-04-2005, WO2005084958 as of 15-09-2005.
[0008] Until now, before the present invention papers with a high smoothness have not been used because, even though these possess the required surface smoothness uniformity, this same characteristic has hindered fixation of the thermo sensitive layer in the manufacturing process, as well as in its applications.
[0009] Considering the actual state of art, the application of the thermo sensitive layer by aqueous dispersal is effected mainly through “controlled grooving” by very precise systems, requiring high machinery and equipment investments.
[0010] As mentioned in previous paragraphs, the thermo sensitive layer consists of several components: color former, color developer and sensitizer as described below:
[0011] Color formers made up of Diamino fluoran, Diarylmethane and Azaphtalides compounds. Among these color formers are some able to develop a blue coloring, such as the CVL (Caprolactam of Crystal Violet), reddish tones and a black tone.
[0012] Color formers include among others: Diarylmethanes as 4,4-bis (dimethylamine benzhydroxyl benzyl) ether, N-halophenyl leuco auramine, N-2,4,5-trichlorophenyl leuco auramine; Fluoran as 2-dibenzilamine-6-diethylamino fluoran, 2-fluoran, 3-methylaniline-6-diethylamino fluoran, 2-aniline-3-methyl-6-diethylamino fluorano, 2-aniline-3-methyl-6-(ethyl isopentylamine) fluoran, 3,6-dimethoxy fluoran, 7,7′-bis-(3-diethylamino fluoran); Spiro-pyrans as 3-methyl-spiro-dinaphtopyran, 3-ethyl-spiro-dinaphtopyran, 3-benzyl-spiro-dinaphtopyran, 3,3′-diclhoro-spiro-dinaphtopyran, 3-methylnaphto-(3-methoxybenzoato)-spiro-pyran; Azaphtalides as 3-(2-ethoxy-4-diethyl-aminophenil)-3-(octyl-2-methylindole-3-1)-4-azaphtalide, 3-(2-ethoxy-4-diethyl-aminaphenil)-3-(1-ethyl-2-methylindole-3-1)-4-azaphtalide and Indolphtalides 3-(p-dimethyl aminopheni1)-3-(1,2-dimethylindo1-3-1) phthalide, 3-(p-dimethylaminopheni1)-3-(2-methylindole-3-1) phthalide. Color developers which are fenolic compounds such as: Benzyl-4-hydroxybenzoate, Bis-(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) sulfone, 2,4-dihydroxydiphenil sulfone, 4-hydroxyphenyl-4-isopropoxyphenyl sulfone, p-hydroxybenzyl phenol, 4,4-disulfonyl phenol, 3-benzyl salicylic acid, 3-isopropyl salicylic acid, 4,4′-tiodiphenol phenol-formaldehyde resin novrolac, Alphanaphtol, Bisphenol-A, Bisphenol sulfone, 3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy benzoic acid, 4-4′-isopropyl diphenol and 3-3 ‘-dimethyl-4-4’-tiodiphenol.
[0013] Sensitizers can be compounds of fatty acids, such as acetamide, stearic acid amides and acid compounds parahydroxy benzoic, dimethyl terephthalate and dibenzyl terephthalate.
[0014] Another fundamental compound for the layer structure with good optical properties are the white pigments or loads such as, precipitated Calcium Carbonate, calcined kaolin, silica, calcined clay and/or plastic spheres.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The present invention refers to the use of a paper base having a high smoothness as substrate that is coated with a thermo sensitive layer to heat formed by a fine aqueous dispersal (emulsion) of color formers, color developers and sensitizers that are initially white or colorless but when thermal energy is applied they become mainly black or blue, producing the required images. In the formula for said emulsion object of the present invention it is understood the incorporation of a surfactant additive, defoamants, pigments or white loads and natural adhesives as modified starches and/r synthetic as low viscosity partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol and emulsion terpolymers, consisting on vinyl acetate, Veova (versatic acid vinyl ester), and from acrylic ester plasticizer free.
[0016] By the use of Paper with a High Smoothness as Base it is possible to eliminate the surface pre-coating, as the smoothness from the paper provides a suitable base over which the thermo sensitive layer containing color formers that give the paper a surface sensitive to heat able to reproduce the required images can be set.
[0017] In the present invention a formula is developed which permits the coating and calibration of the thickness mechanism of the thermo sensitive layer when freshly applied through the coating rods process. The rheological and superficial tension characteristics of this formula have the effect of eliminating the characteristic process trace while the emulsion is still fresh, and without leaving a trace on the dry surface. That way a uniformity and smoothness of the thermo sensitive layer is obtained which is more uniform than normally obtained with this type of rods. This calibration process is more economical than other alternative processes of coating such as the curtain or controlled high precision grooving process.
[0018] An additional characteristic of the present invention is that it ensures a good anchoring of the thermo sensitive layer to the high bright surface of the unprecoated paper, forcing the paper through a super calender in such a way that the smooth surface passes over steel rollers, which entirely close the surface, helping to obtain a highly smooth surface to receive the thermo sensitive layer.
[0019] Moreover, in this way the thermo sensitive layer is not detached from the base paper during the application of said layer, during its use in the printing equipment or afterwards in the handling of the print, retaining the quality of developed images and avoiding soiling the printing equipment.
[0020] In the present invention the color formation is based on an oxidation reaction that the color former suffers caused by acid substances and initiated by an external heat source. In this reaction the molecular ring of the color former is unfolded and opens forming a complex with the acid which is the color developer through a hydrogen bridge.
[0021] Within the reaction the effect of the sensitizers is important, since they work as promoting agents and form a eutectic composite controlling the melting point of the color formers and their developers. Its effect is also to contribute in obtaining a denser image.
[0022] For the present development a Diamino fluoran compound was selected as Black Color Former, with the following chemical description: 6′-(dibutylamino)-3′-methyl-2′-(phenilamine) Spiro (Isobenzofuran-1(3H),9-(9h)-xantheno)-3-one. The concentration of the color former in thermic ink was adjusted to provide the desired characteristics; concentration of the color developer takes place in the same way.
[0023] The color developers giving better results include, among phydroxybenzyl phenol, also available as Bis-(3 allyl-4-hydroxy phenyl) sulfone, benzyl butyl paraben, benzil4-hydroxybenzoate, 3,3-dimethyl-4-4 thiobiphenol. For the present development a no-phenolic developer such as a benzene sulfonamide derivative was chosen.
[0024] The most common sensitizers include Dibenzil Terephthalate, Dimethyl Terephthalate and Diarylether compounds. For the present development a Diarylether was chosen.
[0025] The pigments and white loads used in this development are: precipitated calcium carbonate, silica, titanium dioxide and calcined kaolin, with a particle size of 1.5 microns or less. White loads are selected by their surface area and particle shape. The calcium carbonates, calcined kaolin and silica are, among others, those providing combination possibilities. In order to increase the opacity of the recoated paper a mixture of Titanium Dioxide and synthetic pigments are used, although it is the property of absorption which determines a suitable combination of pigments. These pigments also help, among other things, to prevent a migration of the thermo sensitive layer to the thermal element.
[0026] The dispersals for fixing on the surface of the paper call for an adhesive, such as polyvinyl alcohol.
[0027] The present invention utilizes low viscosity partially hydrolized Polyvinyl Alcohols such as the product Elvanol 51-05 or kuraray 205 from 5 to 8 cps (centi Poises) and from 87-89% of hydrolysis, and incorporate specific starches as special adhesives for coating such as low viscosity hydroxyethyl and/or ethylates in the 100 to 300 cps range and terpolymer emulsions as binders, such as vinylacetate terpolymer, versatic acid vinylester (Veova) and plasticizer-free acrylic ester, for promoting an excellent moist or dry resistance.
[0028] Other necessary additives are surfactants, dispersants and defoamants in order to control the foam and for a suitable rheology in the formulations. The present invention has the novelty of adding an ideal mixture of surfactant liquid/air and defoamants to the formula. This addition has the double effect of softening the difference between peaks and valleys, typical of the coatings calibrated with the coating rod, and contributes with the adhesive in anchoring the thermo sensitive layer to the fiber of the high smoothness paper. In selecting the surfactant and defoamant, different kinds were evaluated and non-ionic types such as Surfynol 104 which develops multifunctional properties, and defoamants made from mineral oils and silica derivates, such as Drewplus 131, selected. With
[0029] Surfynol 104, on increasing molecular weight through a reaction which augments the number of ethylene oxide moles, a more hydrophilic surfactant is produced which moistens the substrate (high smoothness paper) under more dynamic conditions. The defoamants are added in strictly controlled proportions at a ratio of 1 to 1 and 1% with respect to the sensitizer, color former, and color developer.
[0030] In the present invention, the use of waxes or lubricant agents is considered as well as zinc stearate, in order to avoid the emission of dust or fines to the heat source.
[0031] In relation to other patents registered as described in patent WO2005084958 as of 15-09-2005, application of the thermo sensitive layer is normally done with high precision and rain control equipment, which implies utilizing equipment with a high investment cost. When the Coating Rod has been used to calibrate the freshly-applied thickness of the thermo sensitive layer, it drags the fresh emulsion and leaves a grooved surface which degrades the quality of the image to be generated by the thermal print. This technique is mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,716 B2 as of 02-09-2003.
[0032] The formula object of this invention possesses rheological and tension surface characteristics which allow an optimum terse and smooth surface to be obtained from the thermo sensitive coating, not presenting the roughness in the form of grooves which is typical or characteristic of coatings whose freshly-applied thickness is calibrated by the use of coating rods. Additionally, the tenacity of the fresh emulsion and its adherence to the substrate (high smoothness paper), avoid contact with the coating rod carrying the fresh emulsion. This way, the double effect is achieved of the coating being at the same time terse, with an optimal smooth surface which contributes to the obtaining of highly defined images, and a complete coverage (avoiding the presence of non-sensitized areas).
[0033] It was found that papers with a smooth face have an evenness value of 80 cm/min measured on the Bendsten scale. These smooth values as compared with those presented by pre-coated paper are described in the following table:
[0000]
TABLE No.1
Bendsten Smoothness
Paper Description
Base Weight G/M 2
cm 3 /min.
High Smoothness
65
80
Paper without pre-
coat
Pre-coated Paper
67
76
[0034] Table 1 shows the Smoothness values for the papers used as a base for the thermal papers. The smoothness quality of a high smoothness paper without pre-coating is practically the same as with paper with pre-coating.
[0035] Opacity, which is another requirement given by pre-coating, is compensated in other processes by the introduction of a pigment which provides opacity to the thermo sensitive layer formula. In the present development this was obtained with a mixture of 50 pts Calcined Kaolin, 44 pts Calcium Carbonate, 5 pts Titanium Dioxide and 1 part Silicon Dioxide.
[0036] Preparation of the thermo sensitive layer implies individual preparation of the following reagents:
1. Reagent incorporating the color former: This is the color former plus part of the sensitizer, and a proportional part of the adhesive. Dispersal aids, defoamant agents and additives to regulate viscosity are present. 2. The acid reagent carrying the color developer comprising the sensitizer complement and the necessary adhesive to fix the formula. Dispersal aids, defoamant agents, dispersers and additives to regulate the viscosity are present. 3. Properly dispersed white loads
Reagent preparation requires a milling process. The size of the particle should be close to 2 to 2.5 microns. The mills required for this operation should have a cooling jacket to prevent a rise in temperature during the process which results in a premature reaction.
[0040] A polyvinyl alcohol solution is prepared separately and combined with the components to be described later among the examples mentioned. Mixing begins in a moderate speed mixer and the percentage of solids controlled in accordance with the formula.
[0041] Following are 6 examples of the composition and preparation process of the Thermo Sensitive Layer suitable for High Smoothness Papers, as well as the results of each one following application over High Smoothness Paper.
Example No. 1
[0042] The reagent containing the Color Former (Diamino fluoran Compound) is prepared as follows:
[0043] A 20% alcohol Polyvinyl Alcohol solution is prepared in a recipient which can be either 5 to 6 cps Elvanol or kuraray with a hydrolysis of 87 to 89%. At the same time in an 1,750 RPM Cowles mixer, 3 parts of the color former compound Diamino fluoran is added to 3.5 parts of Diarylether together with the previously-prepared Polyvinyl Alcohol representing 5 parts of the dry base, with Drewplus I-131 defoamant (mineral oils and silica derivatives) in a percentage of 0.05% as compared with the color former used, also incorporating a mixture of surfactants such as Surfynol 420 and Surfynol 104 representing 0.05% of the total.
[0044] The dispersal is introduced into a Mill with a water-cooled grinding chamber, until a particle size of 2.0 to 2.5 micron is obtained.
[0045] The Complementary Reagent containing the color Developer (a non-phenolic derivative of benzene sulfonamide) is prepared as follows:
[0046] A solution of 20% Elvanol 51-05 of from 5 to 6 cps and 87-89% hydrolysis is prepared in a recipient. The color developer is prepared in the same way as the reagent containing the color former. 8.5 parts of Developer are mixed with 1.5 parts sensitizer and milling is controlled to a particle size of from 2.0 to 2.5 micron.
[0047] Once the dispersals of both reagents has been completed, they are mixed inside a Cowles type mixer and the polyvinyl alcohol 5 pts dry base solution is incorporated in addition to a dispersal of Zink Stearate 35%, 15 parts (dry base) and a 50% paste of 25 parts Calcined Kaolin (dry base).
[0048] The paste prepared in this way is adjusted at a viscosity of 15 seconds in Ford cup No. 6. In this phase a combination of dispersal agents and defoamants must be added in order to control the fluidity of the thermo sensitive layer.
[0049] Below is a table showing the composition of the mixture used in this first example:
[0000]
Description
Dry base amount
Diamino fluoran compound
3.0
Non-phenolic benzene sulfonamide
8.5
derivative developer
Diarylether sensitizer compound
5.0
Elvanol 51-05 5 to 6 cps 89-89%, 20%
10.0
hydrolysis in solution
Zinc Stearate at 30%
15
Calcined kaolin paste at 50%
25
Drewplus L191 defoamant
0.15
Surfactant Surfynol104 and 420 (2,4,7,9
0.15
Tetra methyl-5 decine-4,7 diol)
Example No. 2
[0050] Following the same form of preparation for both reagents as in EXAMPLE No. 1, the following mixture was prepared:
[0000]
Description
Dry Base amount
Diamino flouran compound
3.5
A non-phenolic developer derived from
8.5
benzene sulfonamide
Diarylether compound Sensitizer
5.0
46-66 WF hydroxyethyl starch at 20%
2.5
Elvanol 51-05 5 to 6 cps 87-89%
2.5
hydrolysis at 20% in solution
Dispersal of vinyl acetate terpolymer,
5.0
Veova, and acrylester
Zinc stearate at 30%
15
Calcium Carbonate paste at 30%
25
Drewplus L191 Defoamant
0.1
Surfactant Surfynol 104 and 420
0.1
(2,4,7,9 Tetra methyl .- 5 decine-4, 7
diol)
[0051] A proportion of chemically modified starch of the kind widely used as co-binders in water-based coatings was introduced in this example. This improves the adhesive power and the starch is plasticized in order to form a more flexible film with materials such as polyvinyl alcohol, as well as taking advantage of the property of the starch as a flow regulator. A terpolymer dispersal (of EVA, Veova (versatic acid vinyl ester) and of acryl ester was also introduced in order to balance coating characteristics, consisting of a combination of three monomer units which increase the adhesive force between paper fibers and the thermo sensitive color layer, without altering its image-reproducing properties.
Example No. 3
[0052] The same method of preparation is followed in this example as in the two previous cases:
[0000]
Description
Dry Base amount
Diamino fluoran compound
3.5
A non-phenolic developer derived from
8.5
benzene sulfonamide
Diarylether compound sensitizer
5.0
20% 46-66 WF hydroxyethyl starch
2.5
Elvanol 51-05 5 to 6 cps 87-89%
2.5
hydrolysis at 20%
Vinyl acetate terpolymer, Veova, and
5.0
acrylester dispersal
Pigment mixture at 50%
25
Zinc stearate at 30%
15
Drewplus L191 defoamant
0.1
Surfactant Surfynol 104 and 420 (2,4,7,9
0.1
Tetra methyl-5 decine-4, 7 diol).
[0053] In this formula the reactors, color Former and color Developer are prepared as described in example no. 1, and a pigment mixture is prepared independently to provide greater covering power, even though the weight of the thermo sensitive layer is less. This mixture consists of 50 pts calcined kaolin, 44 pts calcium carbonate, 5 pts Titanium Dioxide (Rutile grade), and 1 part Silicon dioxide, and is prepared by moisturizing components in diethyl glycol and Astropol 30 and subsequently passing through a roller mill.
[0054] Once the preparation has been completed it is applied over different papers, a high smoothness paper of 65 g/m2 and a pre-coated paper of 67 g/m 2 , as shown in Results table II.
[0055] The Coating Rods system and rod no. 6 are used to apply the thermo sensitive layer in order to deposit 4 to 6 g/m 2 .
Example No. 4
[0056] The following formula was used in this example:
[0000]
Description
Dry Base amount
Diamino fluoran compound
3.5
A non-phenolic developer derived
8.5
from benzene sulfonamide
Diarylether compound sensitizer
5.0
Ethyl starch at 20%
4.0
Elvanol 51-05 5 to 6 cps 87-89%
6.0
hydrolysis at 20%
Calcium Carbonate paste at 50%
25
Zinc stearate at 30%
10
Drewplus L191 defoamant
0.1
Mixim Antioxidant ao-30
0.1
Surfactant Surfynol 104 and 420
0.1
(2,4,7,9 Tetra methyl-5 decine-4,
7 diol)
[0057] The color former and color Developer reagents are prepared as described in example no. 1, where the pigment paste is based on Calcium carbonate prepared by moisturizing as described in example 3. The resulting paste is finished at 50% solids. In this example the purpose is to make the aging-resistant paper achieve a lasting image, which is developed through antioxidant papers which avoid yellowing and a loss of image. The final mixture comprising the thermo sensitive layer is deposited through the Coating Rod mechanism.
Example No. 5
[0058] The following formula was used in this example:
[0000]
Description
Dry Base Amount
Diamino fluoran compound
3.5
A non-phenolic developer derived
8.5
from benzene sulfonamide
Diarylether composed Sensitizer
5.0
Hydroxyethyl starch of 20%
4.0
Elvanol 51-05 5 to 6 cps 87-89%
6.0
hydrolysis at 20% in solution
Calcined kaolin paste at 50
25
Zinc stearate at 30%
15
Drewplus L131 defoamant
0.1
Surfactant Surfynol 104 and 420
0.1
(2,4,7,9 Tetra methyl-5 decine-4,
7 diol)
[0059] The preparation of the reagents color Former and color Developer are prepared as described in example no. 1, in this example the pigment paste is based on calcined kaolin, prepared by moisturizing as described in example 3.
[0060] This example shows the difference between papers presenting a resistance to aging as in the thermo sensitive layer of example 4.
Example No. 6
[0061] The following formula was used in this example:
[0000]
Description
Dry Base Amount
Diamino fluoran compound
3.5
A non-phenolic developer derived from
8.5
benzene sulfonamide
Diarylether composed Sensitizer
4.0
Elvanol 51-05 5 to 6 cps 87-89% hydrolysis
6.0
at 20%
Mixim antioxidant Ao-30
0.1
Pigment mix at 50%
25
Zinc stearate at 30%
10
Drewplus L191 defoamant
0.1
Surfactant Surfynol 104 and 420 (2,4,7,9
0.1
Tetra methyl-5 decine-4, 7 diol)
[0062] Each one of these examples was prepared according to example no. 1 utilizing the equipment described. The size of the particle should be between 2.0 and 2.5 microns. Thermal color preparations developed in this way, were applied on two types of paper using rod no. 6 to deposit an average of 4 to 6 g/m 2 . Viscosity was adjusted in every Results of these examples appear in the following table
[0000]
TABLE No. II
High Smoothness Paper 65
g/m 2
Pre-coated paper 67 g/m 2
IMAGE INTENSITY
IMAGE INTENSITY
Example 1
Better image definition
Defined image
Example 2
Better image definition
Defined image
Example 3
Better image definition
Defined image
Example 4
Better image definition
Defined image
Example 5
Better image definition
Defined image
Example 6
Better image definition
Defined image
[0063] A Zebra Atlantek thermal printer and a 1200 Macbeth
[0064] Densitometer were used to evaluate the IMAGE INTENSITY. Examples 1 to 6 were covered over two different types of paper, one pre-coated with a Kaolin Coat and Natural and Synthetic Adhesives such as Starch and Styrene Butadiene Latex, and a paper without coating but presenting HIGH SMOOTHNESS on one of the faces which, as mentioned elsewhere, occurs mainly because during the manufacturing process and while moist, it is placed in contact with a high bright metal surface and the composition of the pulp favors this HIGH BRIGHT effect. One can appreciate the Smoothness obtained from the results shown in TABLE I.
[0065] Text images were generated; logos with dark areas and bar codes were copied. Texts were put through a scanner and successfully processed in optic character recognition software. The solid color areas of the logo figures were satisfactory as regards density.
[0066] The best results were obtained when either hydroxyethylated or ethylated starch or terpolymer dispersal as in examples 3, 5 and 6, were added to the binder. In these examples, the presence of a combination of white pigments or loads also influences an improvement in the print. From these examples, the paper with more adhesiveness between the thermo sensitive layer and the base is example 3, due to the presence of a terpolymer in the formula as binder.
[0067] The Coating Rod mechanism is used to apply the thermo sensitive layer utilizing Rod no. 6, thus achieving a uniform distribution of the thermo sensitive layer weight of from 4 to 6 g/m 2 is obtained over the entire width of the paper tape, without the need for a system as complex as that used by the grooving system.
[0068] In comparing the intensity of images obtained using the foregoing process with others obtained employing sensitive papers utilized by other processes, it can be seen that those obtained from the present process are in some cases better, or at least the same.
[0069] Taking into consideration everything contained in existing Patents and the cost of the end product for placement on the market, a process was developed to provide an opportunity of competing in cost-price by lowering raw material and processing costs and thus of and process and thus providing an opportunity to deliver a product of similar quality at a lower price.
[0070] The first stage of the investigation was dedicated to finding a basic paper whose characteristics and specifications permitted one face to have the high smoothness and low absorption conditions claimed in producing a coated paper with a heat-sensitive coating, allow this layer to be received without its response being affected in heat-applied printing.
[0071] From this selective investigation it was found that the base paper which provided the smoothness and absorption properties required is a paper manufactured and dried over a dryer with a chromed surface allowing the paper surface to possess the smoothness required to receive coatings without surface problems. This type of paper is known as Monolucid.
[0072] To improve the Monolucid paper surface even more and decrease absorption, it had to be placed on a calender via iron rods and cotton, thus obtaining a paper able to receive the thermo sensitive layer and retaining a surface with the required smoothness and absorption.
[0073] Once the Paper serving as a base for the heat-sensitive material layer was obtained, the formula or formulas of this were developed for surface application in order to complete the product.
[0074] In developing composition of the thermo sensitive layer for application on the surface of the Monolucid paper to be used as a base, another specific condition required to utilize suitable coating equipment was found, this being utilization of the Coating Rod System as the sole economic solution. The sensitive layer would therefore have to be adjusted for suitable placement with this equipment only uses as being the only economic one, the composition of the sensitive layer would need to be adjusted in order to be suitably placed with this equipment, requiring specific formulas to provide the fluidity and mobility for use of the available equipment. Many formulas had to be tested for use without infringing on knowledge already protected under previous patents.
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A thermal paper is described for the formation of images in thermal printing equipment and their manufacturing process, using high smoothness paper as a base or substrate. The thermal paper object of this invention is more economical and has a fully-acceptable performance. The high smoothness non-coated base paper has a greater high smoothness superficial finish than uncoated paper, and this development had not previously been used industrially for this purpose, since on trying to use the state of art of the process coupled with uncoated paper characteristics, the result was a low quality product. Hence, until now base papers had to be used with a previous coating the preparation of which increased production costs due to finished product characteristics, such as heavier weight (weight by square meter) and also a higher caliber.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims priority to and incorporates by reference in its entirety U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/000,818 entitled “Compressed Coconut Coir Pith Granules and Methods for the Production and Use Thereof” to Marcus Bertin, et al. filed Oct. 29, 2007.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0002] The present disclosure relates to compressed coconut coir pith granules for use as growth media and to methods for producing such granules or flakes. More particularly, the compressed granules or flakes produced in accordance with the present invention exhibit enhanced size, density, flowability and abrasion resistance characteristics which render the granules highly desirable for use in seeding mulch, potting mix, garden soil and flower and vegetable furrow covering applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0003] Coconut coir pith is a by-product of the coconut husk fiber processing industry. Coir is the name given to the fibrous material that constitutes the thick mesocarp (middle layer) of the coconut fruit ( Cocos nucifera ). In processing, the long fibers of coir are extracted from the coconut husk for use in the manufacture of brushes, upholstery stuffing, filters, twine and like products. The short fibers (10 mm or less) and dust (collectively referred to herein as “pith”) traditionally have accumulated in large piles or “dumps” as a waste product resulting from the processing of coconut husks to obtain the industrially valuable long fibers.
[0004] It has been recognized that coconut coir pith material provides an excellent growing medium for plants and it has been suggested that coconut coir pith can provide an effective alternative to previously standard growing media such as peat moss. Coconut coir pith is very similar to sphagnum peat moss in appearance, having a light to dark brown color and consisting primarily of particles in the size range of 0.2-2.0 min (75-90%). Unlike sphagnum peat, however, there are no sticks or extraneous matter in the coconut coir pith. Furthermore, sphagnum peat moss has a density of about 7 lbs/cu ft when fluffed (30-50% moisture content) whereas coir pith is much denser (i.e., about 43 lbs/cu ft when compressed at a ratio of 5:1 on volume to volume basis and about 12 lbs/cu ft when fluffed and having a 50-55% moisture content).
[0005] Coir pith as an amendment has many benefits for all types of soil. It increases the organic matter content and due to its high lignin to cellulose ratio, it remains in the soil significantly longer than peat. It improves water-holding capacity of sandy soils. The drainage of clay soils is improved with its inclusion due to its air porosity and agglomeration with clay particles. However, the use of compressed coir pith bricks is cumbersome for use by consumers. The entire brick must first be expanded with water for a relatively long period of time. Then, the consumer must physically fluff and mix the coir pith for complete wetting and expansion. Only then can the wet, expanded coir pith be spread on and incorporated into the soil.
[0006] As employed herein the term “coconut coir pith” is intended to refer to both the coconut husk pith and the short coir fibers which are known to provide an excellent growing medium and to provide a suitable and sustainable substitute for soilless growing media such as peat moss (sphagnum, sedge, hypnum and the like) for growing plants. Coconut coir pith has many physical and horticultural characteristics that make it an ideal growing medium for plants. Coconut coir pith has a high water holding capacity, ideal porosity, high cation exchange capacity and high stability (slow rate of degradation due to high lignin to cellulose ratio which prevents oxidation).
[0007] However, coconuts are typically only grown in tropical and sub tropical regions, while demand for the substrate is in the United States and Europe, which entails significant shipping and handling costs.
[0008] Presently, the forms in which coconut coir pith is available for import into the United States and Europe are rather limited. Due to the low bulk density of loose coconut coir pith at moisture contents acceptable for shipping, coconut coir pith has been compressed into discs, bricks, or blocks at a compression ratio typically of about 5:1 to enable economical overseas shipping costs. It has been known that compressed coconut coir pith in this form must be mechanically out-turned or exposed to water for a lengthy period to decompress the coconut coir pith before use as such or for inclusion in a consumer product. This processing step is relatively slow and requires the entire disc, brick, or blocks to be out-turned at once. Also, coconut coir pith that is outturned is either dry and dusty or wet and heavy which contributes to further processing problems. Furthermore, coconut coir pith is not commonly baled in the manner of sphagnum peat because this form is less compressed and, therefore, less economical to ship.
[0009] Attempts have been made to compress and form coir pith into pellets using pellet mills or extruders as, for example, disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Application 2004/0025422. Those processes require use of high shear compaction methods which generate high levels of heat through friction. Such high temperature processing alters the physical properties of the coconut coir pith substrate. The pellets produced have been found to exhibit undesirable physical characteristics such as relatively slow expansion after compaction, and the coconut coir pith normally does not expand back to its pre-compacted volume after such compaction.
[0010] For example, the use of pellet mills or extruders for compaction of coir into small compressed particles has been suggested heretofore. However, pellet making processes use high pressure to extrude the material through small orifices. Unlike roll compaction, pelletizing is a high shear process that produces significant friction and heat in the material. The friction and heat from this process may produce a coir pith pellet with undesirable physical and horticultural properties. Although comparable compression ratios can be achieved, the expansion ratio after the addition of water, water holding capacity of the material, and the rate of expansion of the granules may be reduced.
[0011] Accordingly, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide more convenient forms of coconut coir pith for horticultural use which expand rapidly upon contact with moisture.
[0012] It is a further object to provide economically effective production methods for producing compacted granular coconut coir pith products which have the desired physical and horticultural properties necessary for final product application, for example, as growth media.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0013] Compacted granular coconut coir pith products produced in accordance with the disclosure are highly desirable for use in providing growing media in such applications as seeding mulch, potting mix garden soil, flower and vegetable furrow covering applications and the like. More particularly, the present disclosure is generally directed to methods for producing granular coconut coir pith products by subjecting raw coconut coir pith material to roll compaction under specified operating conditions as opposed to the prior art pellet mill compaction or extrusion processes. Roll compaction of the coconut coir pith is followed by subsequent granulation of the compacted granules to provide plant growth media which expand immediately upon exposure to moisture or water.
[0014] The compressed granular coconut coir pith products produced in accordance with the present disclosure may be composed of coconut coir pith only or may contain other horticulturally acceptable media such as fertilizers, micronutrients, pH adjusting agents, wetting agents, biostimulents, microbes and other bioactive materials. The granules produced in accordance with this invention have a bulk density in a range of between about 240 kg/m 3 and 600 kg/m 3 and expand rapidly when exposed to moisture.
[0015] The disclosure provides a method for preparing compressed coir granules that expand readily with exposure to water. The granules are formed by roll compaction and subsequent granulation (milling and screening). This process has been shown to produce compacted coir granules with superior characteristics to coir pellets that are manufactured with a pellet mill or extruder.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0016] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing steps in accordance with the methods of the present disclosure for producing compressed coconut coir pith granules.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Coconut coir pith has a unique microstructure composed of a relatively uniform pore structure. With application of high pressure, the pore structure can be compressed and the resulting compressed coconut coir pith product will expand back to its original volume upon exposure to moisture. However, we have found that it is critical to employ certain operating conditions to achieve compression of the coconut coir pith substrate to avoid excessive heat generation through friction that could denature the desired physical and horticultural characteristics of the material.
[0018] The compressed granules (including flakes, particles, pellets and the like) produced in accordance with this invention are formed from a variety of coconut coir pith substrate materials. It should be noted that as employed herein the term “granules” is intended to include of all granular forms and shapes including flakes, particles, pellets and the like. Typically, the substrate materials employed herein comprise mixtures of coir fiber and coir pith (with pith being the more desirable component of the mixture). However, the substrates may comprise other mixtures such as coconut coir pith and up to about 50% (by weight) of a horticulturally acceptable organic or non-organic media such as sphagnum peat, humus peat, sedge peat, bark fines, rice hulls and mixtures thereof or, in addition, any other material familiar to those skilled in horticulture.
[0019] The compressed granules formed in accordance with the present disclosure, may be randomly shaped and angular in surface appearance and may contain pieces of coir fiber. The compressed flakes may contain additives such as fertilizers, micronutrients, pH adjusting agents such as lime, and/or various wetting agents including horticulturally acceptable surfactants and other additives designed to enhance or protect the germination, development, and/or growth of seeds and plants implanted in a growth media formed from the compressed products. The additives also may be used to improve the physical and horticultural characteristics of the granules. The additives alternatively may comprise pesticides or herbicides.
[0020] Typically, the concentration of the additives in the compressed products should not exceed about 10% of the total weight of the product, but could comprise up to about 50% (by weight) of the flake.
[0021] In a preferred embodiment, the compressed coconut coir pith granules are formed by roll compaction and subsequent granulation as described in further detail below. Preconditioning of the coconut coir pith is an optional step with the major purpose of reducing the length of the coir fibers present in the coir pith whereby efficiency of compaction and subsequent granulation is increased. Most preferably, the coir pith contains less than about 10% by weight of coir fiber, but could contain up to about 50% by weight of coir fiber.
[0022] The compressed flakes formed by employing the methods of the present invention are useful for various horticultural applications when they are sized greater than about 32 mesh (US sieve size) and pass through about a 1½ inch screen. The particle size distribution may be adjusted within this range to accommodate specific product application requirements by changing the process conditions of the post-compaction granulation milling and screening loop.
[0023] The moisture content of loose coir pith in the coconut coir pith substrate may be less than about 25% water by weight for compaction of the substrate. Preferably, the range of moisture content should be between about 8 and about 15% water (by weight). The compaction itself may not significantly affect the moisture content of the coir pith; however, if desired, steps can be taken to adjust the moisture content during any preconditioning and/or blending stages prior to compaction.
[0024] Depending on the intended application of the compressed coconut coir pith produced by employing the methods of the present disclosure, the granules produced thereby should have sufficient physical integrity and abrasion or attrition resistance to satisfy the requirements of the intended use.
[0025] In order to quantify the abrasion or attrition resistance of compressed granules and the ability of the compressed granular products to withstand mechanical processing the following procedure may be employed wherein a limit screen size that retains 90% of a granular material is determined by particle size analysis prior to testing. Then, granular test samples are placed on the limit screen with stainless steel balls of a specific size. The screen may be placed in a RoTap®-style Sieve Shaker for a specified amount of time. The abrasion resistance may be expressed as a percent of material remaining on the limit screen. The abrasion resistance should be sufficient to maintain integrity throughout additional processing, typically blending with other components, and final consumer or professional packaging.
[0026] A distinction of the compressed coir pith granules produced by employing the methods of the present invention as compared with extrusion of compressed coir pith disks, bricks, and blocks, is that the extrusion method products are slow to expand when exposed to moisture whereas the roll compacted compressed granules (including flakes, particles, pellets and the like) produced in accordance with the present disclosure have been found to expand within seconds of exposure to moisture.
[0027] For example, a compressed single granule of this invention which is dropped in sufficient water to expand it fully may typically be substantially completely expanded within about 15 seconds. This quick expansion can be attributed to the method of compaction and the high surface to volume ratio of the products produced. Specifically, granules of less than ¼″ in diameter may be completely expanded within less than about 10 seconds while larger granules may require longer periods to fully expand than the smaller granules or flakes. The expanded granules may de-granulate or fall apart into smaller pieces readily after being submerged in water.
[0028] Bulk compressed granules of the present disclosure may have an apparent expansion ratio when exposed to moisture of between about 2:1 and about 5:1, with expansion ratios of about 3.5:1 and about 4:1 being typical for compressed granules containing 100% coir pith. Expansion ratios are measured by taking a known volume of compressed coir pith granules and mixing by hand while adding the minimum amount of water to expand the coir pith until no palpable granules remain. The volume of the expanded material is then compared to the original compressed material. Inclusion of high percentages of other growing media such as sphagnum peat or bark fines in the granular composition may result in lower expansion ratios.
[0029] The expanded coir particles formed from the compressed granules of this invention may have a high water holding capacity of up to about 8 times their weight. The compressed granules produced may have a bulk density that ranges from about 240 kg/m 3 to about 600 kg/m 3 .
[0030] In accordance with the present disclosure, the compressed coir pith granules can, for example, be blended with grass or other seeds or plant propagules and optionally nutrients and other commonly known horticulturally acceptable ingredients to produce a seeding mulch or a bare spot repair product for use in treating lawns and other areas requiring soil amendment or plant establishment. Fertilizer, pH adjustment agents such as lime, micronutrients, wetting agents (horticulturally acceptable surfactants), and other plant or biological growth enhancers may be included in the granules or the product mix. The resulting product mix may be a physical blend of compressed coir pith granules, seed or other plant propagules, and other additives (fertilizer, micronutrients, lime for pH adjustment, and other horticulturally acceptable ingredients). In addition, granules of acceptable size may be matched with other horticultural, agricultural, or garden seeds or plant propagules to enhance germination and establishment of lawns, gardens or other areas to be amended or vegetated.
[0031] The granules can range in size from less than about 1½″ to greater than about 32 mesh. The size of the granules can be adjusted based on application. For example, inclusion of the granules as mulch in a combination grass seed, fertilizer, and mulch product, the granule sizes would preferably be in the range of about less than about 4 mesh and to greater than about 18 mesh which would be relatively similar to the size of the seeds. The free flowing nature of the granules allows the user to sprinkle the product on a bare spot in a lawn with minimal effort. Once water contacts the granules either through overhead irrigation, rain, or moisture in the soil, the compressed granules expand and may help protect the seed from desiccation. Due to its high moisture holding capacity, the expanded coir pith may function as seed mulch that holds moisture near the seeds necessary for germination, early establishment, and healthy growth.
[0032] The coir pith's high water holding capacity may also help trap moisture in the root zone of the seedling by reducing evaporation from the soil. The nutrients in the product mix may be released directly into the soil and are less likely be adsorbed or tied up in the mulch layer. These unique properties enable the germinating grass to establish its roots directly in the soil and less so into the mulch, increasing the survival rate of seedlings introduced therein as compared to other known products. Results with trials using the products of the present invention have shown strong improvements over bare seed and currently available seeding mulches.
[0033] Coir pith in its raw form may not contain all the necessary nutrients for healthy plant growth. By including fertilizers and appropriate nutrients in the compaction process herein, a suitable potting mix may be made. The fertilizer chosen could be a slow release type fertilizer to provide plant nutrition for an extended period of time. Additions (fertilizers, lime for pH control, micronutrients, surfactants and biologically active ingredients) made prior to compaction of the coconut coir pith may result in production of homogeneous granules. The granules could range in size from less than about 1½″ to greater than about 18 mesh (US Sieve Series), however they would preferably be less than about ½″ to greater than about 6 mesh. The resulting products may have improved water-holding capacity over existing potting soils based on the natural properties of coir pith. Due to the high water-holding capacity, favorable air porosity, and correct nutrient additions, this product could result in improved results for consumers over ordinary potting soil. The compressed potting soil may be free flowing and may be easily poured from the package into a pot or container. When watered, the potting soil may rapidly expand to fill the container.
[0034] By using coir pith in the form of compressed granules produced in accordance with the methods of the present disclosure, the consumer would need to simply incorporate the granules into the soil. When the granules contact water, either through irrigation, rain, or available soil moisture, they may expand and improve the soil structure, water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity and other soil properties, such as tilth, depending on the nature of the soil being amended. The granules could range in size from less than about 1½″ to greater than about 18 mesh, preferably, less than about ¾″ to greater than about 6 mesh.
[0035] Additionally, the products of the present invention may be used as garden amendments such as for several vegetable species (radish, carrot, lettuce, etc.) which lend themselves to planting in a row or furrow followed by coverage of the seed with soil. Seedlings may be thinned over time. In this regard, it should be noted that by mixing the seed with an appropriate coir granule size fraction that matches the vegetable seed size, the seed and expandable soil mix can be effectively poured into the furrow or even onto the soil surface. Watering would then expand the coir and as a result the seed would be buried under a protective mulch cover that facilitates germination. Similar results could be obtained with flower seed.
[0036] Thus, it should be noted that the compressed coir pith granules of the present disclosure can be used more effectively and efficiently than previously known products in a variety of commercially and horticulturally significant applications including, for example, expandable potting mixes; garden soil amendments and flower and/or vegetable furrow coverings and the like.
[0037] A process in accordance with the present invention is provided in the flow diagram 100 shown in FIG. 1 . It should be noted that the preconditioning step 103 illustrated in the flow diagram is optional but may increase the efficiency of converting the compacted substrate into granules. In this preconditioning step 103 , loose coir pith may be treated using an air swept mill (such as a “Pulvicron” manufactured by Bepex, Minneapolis, Minn. or other similar mills known to those skilled in the art) to reduce the length of any fibers. The raw material to be preconditioned may be conveyed through the mill by an air stream; therefore, the moisture content of the coir can be reduced by controlling the humidity and temperature of the air stream.
[0038] The preconditioned coir pith which may be blended with additive materials may then be subjected to compaction into a large ribbon by means of a roll compactor, shown in step 105 . The roll compactor applies pressure to the material in the range of about 1500 to about 2500 psi, preferably, about 1800 psi to about 2200 psi. The roll compactor may form the material into a semi-continuous ribbon or sheet. The compacted ribbon may be broken into granules or flakes, typically less than about 2″ in diameter with a mixture of smaller pieces, by a flake-breaker or other means to improve the ability to convey the material to the milling and screening loop. Then, the granules or flakes may be fed through a conventional milling and screening loop, shown in step 107 , for granulation to a desired size range.
[0039] Once in the milling and screening loop, shown in step 107 , the screen may separate the pieces into three streams: oversized pieces, on-size granules, and undersized fines. The oversized material may be recycled in the milling and screening loop, step 107 , until it is reduced in size, and the fines are returned to the feed of the compactor of step 105 . The desired size distribution of the compressed granules can be controlled by process changes in the milling and screening loop. The compressed granules preferably have a bulk density of between about 400 kg/m 3 and 500 kg/m 3 , but could be anywhere in the range of 240 kg/m 3 and 600 kg/m 3 , but more ideally in the range of 300 kg/m 3 and 500 kg/m 3 . When exposed to water, the granules may quickly expand to about 3 to 4 times their compressed volume.
[0040] The density of the granules produced in accordance with the methods of the present disclosure and their free flowing physical properties may enable optimization of the filling of shipping containers resulting in economic savings compared to compressed disks, bricks and blocks. Furthermore, such compressed disks, bricks and blocks are typically stacked on pallets for shipment in cargo containers whereas the compressed granular products produced in accordance with the present invention can be bulk filled into containers to be dumped on arrival at their destination resulting in considerable cost and efficiency savings such as the cost of pallets.
Example 1
[0041] Coir pith bricks of Sri Lankan origin were obtained from Haymark (Spring, Tex.). The bricks were out turned using a pin mill and screened through ⅜″ screen. The loose coir had a moisture content of between 10 and 17% by weight. A horticulturally acceptable surfactant was obtained from BASF, Pluronic L-62 is the name of the proprietary non-ionic surfactant. The coir was blended with 1% by weigh solution of a 1:1 mixture of surfactant and water. The surfactant treated coir was then fed into a Chilsonator Model 1.5L×8D Roll Compactor manufactured by Fitzpatrick Co. The roll pressure (oil pressure) was operated at between 1200 and 1800 psi. The feed screw was turning at 70 rpms. The coir left the compactor as a mixture of fines and semi-continuous ribbons. The compacts were collected and screened using a Sweco vibratory screener to +¼″. The fines were recycled back to the compactor. After about 20 lbs of compacts larger than ¼″ were collected, the material was milled in a Fitzmill (Fitzpatrick Co.) with knives installed and a ¼″ perforated plate for classification. After milling the granules were screened to −¼″, +30 mesh. A sample of the granules was then expanded by adding water and mixing by hand until no palpable granules remained. The expansion volume ratio was measured to be 3.25:1 versus the original compressed granules.
Example 2
[0042] Coir pith bricks of Sri Lankan origin were obtained from Haymark (Spring, Tex.). The coir bricks were outturned using an Extructor Model RE-12 manufactured by Bepex (Minneapolis, Minn.). The coir was then milled using a Pulvicron, PC-20 (Bepex) in order to reduce the length of fibers present with the pith. The pulvicron is an air-swept mill with and internal classifier. Use of this mill is effective at reducing the fiber length and adjusting the moisture content of the coir pith by controlling the temperature and/or humidity of the air stream. Moisture content of the coir pith was typically between 10% and 15% by weight after milling. The pith was then batch blended in a ribbon blender with pulverized dolomite lime to adjust pH and 15-15-15 fertilizer (containing ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, diammonium phosphate, and potassium chloride). The blended coir was compacted into ribbons using a Model MS-75 Compactor (Bepex) with a medium compression feed screw and flat (smooth surfaced) rolls. The roll pressure was set at 2300 psi and 6 rpm, and the feed screw was running at 35 rpm. The result was a semi-continuous ribbon of compressed coir pith. The ribbon was fed into a Jacobsen Crusher (Carter Day, Minneapolis, Minn.) with a 1″ square grate which reduced the ribbon into smaller pieces to enable conveying via screw conveyors and bucket elevators. The compacted coir pieces were then conveyed to a milling and screening loop consisting of a 60″ Sweco Screener and a Bepex Disintegrator RD-8 as a granulation mill. The screener separated the compacted coir into three streams; oversized pieces, on-size granules, and fines. The oversized pieces were sent to the granulation mill and subsequently returned to the screen. The fines were returned to the compactor, and the on size material was collected. In this example the on-size material was −6 mesh, +12 mesh with a loose bulk density of 370 kg/m 3 (23 lbs/ft 3 ). The expansion ratio of the compacted material after wetting and fluffing by hand was 3.75:1.
[0043] Typical ranges of process conditions for the compaction and granulation for the equipment in Example 2 are listed below. The ranges listed below are not the only conditions under which compressed coir pith granules with useful properties can be produced, and are exemplary only.
[0000]
Description of Process Condition
Range
Pulvocron Mill RPM
2500 to 5500
Pulvocron Classifier RPM
0 to 1830
Compactor Feed Screw RPM
17 to 100
Compactor Roll RPM
5 to 15
Roll Pressure PSI
1600 to 2400
Screen Size
−1½″ to +12 mesh
[0044] The table below provides a comparison of expansion ratios and expansion times for coir pith pellets formed from a pellet mill, and coir granules formed from a roll compactor:
[0000]
Example of Expansion Results
water
Time
holding
Physical
Production
Expansion
allowed for
(g H 2 O/
result of
Description
Method
ratio
expansion
g coir)
expansion
⅜″ Coir
California
1.75:1
10
minutes
2
still
pellets
Pellet Mill
contains
palpable
pieces
− 5/16″, +6
Roll
3.5:1
<1
minute
8.5
fully
mesh Coir
compactor
expanded
Granules
[0045] Although the invention has been described in its preferred forms with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example only. Numerous changes in the details of the compositions and ingredients therein as well as the methods of preparation and use will be apparent without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as defined in the appended claims.
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Compressed coconut coir pith granules having unique physical and horticultural characteristics are provided along with methods for producing such compressed products by subjecting coconut coir pith to compaction utilizing a roll compactor and subsequently granulating the compacted material.
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RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/969,671 and claims the benefit of 35 U.S.C. 120.
SCOPE OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to a filing cabinet, and in particular, to a filing cabinet with a locking system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Filing cabinets are known having drawers that open forwardly to provide access to paper files and the like inside. One example of a filing cabinet structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,883 to Edwards issued Nov. 6, 1984 which is directed to an internal anti-tip blocking device that permits only one drawer of a stacked column of drawers to be opened at any one time.
[0004] Filing cabinets are known to have internal lock structures which are internal of the cabinet and prevents any of the drawers from being opened. For added security, it is also known to provide external locking devices with a metal bar which extends vertically across the height of a column of drawers and is secured at the top and bottom of the cabinet to prevent opening of any drawers. Such external bar has the disadvantage that it must be removed and stored when not in use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] To at least partially overcome the disadvantages of previously known devices, the present invention provides an external locking mechanism for a filing cabinet incorporating two hinged blocking plates at each side of the cabinet and a locking bar which is movable without removal from attachment to the cabinet to positions such that the blocking plates can be selectively prevented from being moved to unblocked positions or permitted to be moved to unblocked positions.
[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide an improved external locking system for a filing cabinet.
[0007] Another object of the present invention is to provide a filing cabinet with a locking system which is very simple to use, and also relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
[0008] In one aspect, the present invention provides a filing cabinet having a compartment with at least one drawer slidably mounted in the compartment between retracted and withdrawn positions. Blocking plates are hinged to each opposite side of the compartment rotatable on a vertical axis between: (i) a blocked position in the path of the drawer to prevent the drawer from withdrawal from the retracted position; and (ii) an unblocked position out of the path of the drawer to permit withdrawal to the withdrawn position. A locking bar is mounted to the cabinet movable between: (i) a locked position where at least a portion of the locking bar is in the path of both of the blocking plates and prevents each of the blocking plates from movement from the blocked position to the unblocked position; and (ii) unlocked positions where the locking bar is out of the path of the blocking plates and does not prevent the blocking plates from movement from the blocked position to the unblocked position.
[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the cabinet has a framework comprising by two opposite sidewalls, a back wall, a top wall, and a bottom wall which define a compartment therein containing sliding drawers and with an opening from the compartment from which the drawers are slidable through the opening.
[0010] The framework preferably includes a crossbeam which has ends that are secured to the opposite side walls of the framework preferably to extend horizontally between two drawers and with the locking bar mounted to the crossbeam, preferably for sliding or pivotal movement thereto.
[0011] The crossbeam preferably has a forward facing surface and the locking bar is mounted to the forward facing surface of the crossbeam. A locking bar is mounted to the crossbeam against removal from the crossbeam yet for movement such as sliding or pivoting relative thereto.
[0012] In one preferred embodiment, the two opposite side walls each have a forward facing surface. A continuous hinge is mounted to the forward facing surface of the side wall with one hinge plate of the continuous hinge forming or carrying blocking plate.
[0013] In another preferred embodiment, the two opposite side walls each have a forward facing gable surface and a continuous hinge is mounted to the gable panel with one hinge plate mounted flush with the gable surface and the other hinge plate of the piano hinge pivotable relative the fixed hinge plate and forming a blocking plate which extends inwardly in front of the drawers.
[0014] Preferably, the length of the locking bar is such that it does not extend past the two opposite side walls, regardless of the position of the locking bar.
[0015] In an alternative embodiment, the filing cabinet comprises two locking bars mounted at opposite sides of the compartment. Each of the two locking bars is movable between: (i) a locked position where at least a portion of the locking bar is in the path of one of the blocking plates and prevents the blocking plate from movement from the blocked position to the unblocked position; and (ii) an unlocked position where the locking bar is out of the path of the blocking plate and does not prevent the blocking plate from movement from the blocked position to the unblocked position.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] Further aspects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a front pictorial view of a filing cabinet in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention showing the drawers closed and locked;
[0018] FIGS. 2 to 5 are front pictorial views of a filing cabinet in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the drawers and associated slides have been removed;
[0019] FIGS. 6, 8 , 10 and 12 are partially cut-away top views of FIGS. 2 to 5 , respectively;
[0020] FIGS. 7, 9 , 11 , and 13 are partially cut-away front perspective views of FIGS. 2 to 5 , respectively;
[0021] FIG. 14 is a front view similar to FIG. 1 but unlocked and with one drawer open; and
[0022] FIGS. 15 and 16 are cross-sectional plan views along section lines D-D′ and E-E′ in FIG. 2 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0023] Reference is made to FIGS. 1 to 14 which illustrate a first embodiment of a filing cabinet in accordance with the present invention.
[0024] As seen in FIGS. 1 to 14 , the cabinet 10 has a framework comprising opposite side walls 12 and 13 , a back wall 52 , a top wall 54 and a bottom wall 56 . The framework defines a compartment therein. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 14 , three drawers 60 are mounted in the compartment for horizontal sliding between closed, retracted positions shown in FIG. 1 and open, extended positions. FIG. 14 shows a middle of the three vertically stacked drawers in an open, extended position. The drawers 60 are slidable on associated slides (not shown) mounted to the interior of the side walls 12 and 13 on each side of each drawer 60 . The framework of the filing cabinet 10 includes a horizontal crossbeam 20 . The crossbeam 20 has both of its ends permanently secured to the opposite side walls 12 and 13 . The crossbeam 20 extends horizontally between the sidewalls 12 and 13 vertically between two of the drawers 60 and presents a forward facing surface 62 best seen in FIG. 24 . Each of sidewalls 12 and 13 carry a forward facing gable surface 14 and 15 effectively forming a gable or post extending vertically beside each drawer 60 throughout the height of the cabinet.
[0025] FIGS. 2 to 13 illustrate the filing cabinet 10 of FIGS. 1 and 14 from which the drawers 60 and associated slides have been removed.
[0026] As seen in FIGS. 15 and 16 , two continuous hinges 80 and 81 also known as piano hinges are mounted to the forward facing gable surface 14 and 15 of each side wall 12 and 13 . Each hinge 80 and 81 has two hinge plates namely a base plate 82 , 83 , a blocking plate 16 , 17 joined by a hinge pin 84 , 85 with the base plate 82 , 83 and blocking plate 16 , 17 pivotable relative each other about the pin 84 , 85 . The base plate 82 , 83 is fixedly secured to the respective gable surface 14 and 15 of the side walls as by screws, nuts, welding or the like with the hinge pin 84 disposed to not extend laterally beyond the respective side wall 12 and 13 . Each blocking plate 16 , 17 is thus hinged to its relative side wall 12 , 13 for pivoting about the vertical hinge pin 84 , 85 .
[0027] The blocking plates 16 , 17 are adapted to be rotatable from: (i) a blocked position, as shown in FIGS. 2, 6 and 7 , in which the blocking plates 16 , 17 lie forward of the drawers 60 in the front plane of the front face of the cabinet 10 to (ii) an unblocked position, as shown in FIGS. 5, 12 and 13 , in which the blocking plates 16 , 17 are rotated to extend forwardly preferably perpendicular to the front face of the cabinet 10 and thus parallel to side walls 12 and 13 . FIGS. 15 and 16 show the blocking plates 16 , 17 in solid lines in an unblocked position and in dashed lines in a blocked position.
[0028] A locking bar 22 is slidably mounted to the forward facing surface 62 of the crossbeam 20 for sliding in the horizontal direction relative the crossbeam 20 . The locking bar 22 is mounted to the crossbeam 20 against removal from the crossbeam 20 . FIGS. 2, 6 and 7 show a middle locked position in which the locking bar 22 overlaps both of the blocking plates 16 , 17 and prevents opening of the drawers. As seen in FIG. 6 which is a top view of FIG. 2 , the left end 30 of the locking bar 22 is forward of the left blocking plate 16 and prevents its movement from the blocked position shown and the right end 31 of the locking bar 22 is forward of the right blocking plate 17 and prevents its movement from the blocked position.
[0029] The locking bar 22 is slidable from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the right to the position shown in FIGS. 3, 8 and 9 such as to be clear of the blocking plate 16 thus allowing the blocking plate 16 to be rotated between the blocked and the unblocked position. FIGS. 4, 10 and 11 show a position which after the locking bar 16 has been rotated to the unblocked position, the locking bar 22 has been slid to the left to a position shown in FIG. 4 such as to be clear of blocking plate 17 thus allowing the blocking plate 17 to be rotated between the unblocked position and a blocked position. FIGS. 5, 12 , 13 and 14 show a condition which from the position of FIG. 4 , the blocking plate 17 is pivoted to the unblocked position and the locking bar 22 is slid back to the middle position. As seen in FIG. 12 in a top view the hinged blocking plates 16 , 17 are in a position where they are out of the path of the drawers 60 and therefore, do not prevent the opening of the drawers 60 , as shown in FIG. 29 with one drawer open.
[0030] The length of locking bar 22 is such that when it is slid to the right, as shown in FIG. 3 , the left end 30 of the locking bar 22 is clear of the blocking plate 16 on the left side of the filing cabinet 10 , and the right end 31 of the locking bar 22 does not extend past the edge of side wall 13 . Similarly, when the locking bar 22 is slid to the left, as shown in FIG. 4 , the right end 31 of the locking bar 22 is clear of the blocking plate 17 on the right side of the filing cabinet 10 , and the left end 30 of the locking bar 22 does not extend past the edge of side wall 12 . Therefore, the locking bar 22 is designed such that it does not extend laterally past vertical planes of the side walls 12 and 13 of the filing cabinet 10 , and does not move into, for example, a wall adjacent the filing cabinet 10 or into the path of the drawers of any other filing cabinets which are adjacent to filing cabinet 10 .
[0031] In the middle locked position of FIGS. 2, 6 and 7 , the locking bar 22 is adapted to be fixed in the position to prevent movement of the locking bar 22 . In this regard as best seen in FIGS. 6 and 7 , a lock bracket 36 is secured to a central portion of the crossbeam 20 providing a horizontally extending flange with a vertical opening therethrough which is to align with vertical opening in the lock bar 22 such that a locking device such as a padlock may lock the locking bar 22 to the crossbeam 20 against movement. The locking bar 22 shown in FIGS. 1 to 13 has a L-shaped in cross-section with one flange vertical and the other flange horizontal. The horizontal flange carries the vertical opening to receive a padlock.
[0032] As seen, for example, in FIG. 14 , the locking bar 22 has a vertical extent which is not greater than the vertical extent of the crossbeam 20 such that with the locking bar 22 itself doe not interfere with movement of the drawers 60 on either side of the crossbeam 20 to an open extended position.
[0033] FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view along section line A-A of FIG. 22 showing a preferred configuration by which the locking bar 22 is pivotally mounted to the crossbeam 20 for pivoting about pivot axis 26 . The locking bar 22 is L-shaped is cross-section having vertical leg 40 and horizontal leg 41 . The crossbeam 20 has a vertical portion 61 presenting a forward face 62 . A top flange 63 and a bottom flange 64 extending rearwardly from the vertical portion 61 . At the location of pivot axis 26 , a strengthening plate 66 is secured to the rear of the vertical portion 61 . A screw 65 carrying washers 67 and 68 extends through an aperture the plate 66 and the vertical portion 61 and into a threaded nut 69 welded to a rear of the vertical leg 40 of the locking bar 22 . The screw 65 serves to secure the locking bar 22 to the crossbeam 20 against removal from the crossbeam 20 in normal use. This has the advantage that with the locking bar secured to the crossbeam 20 , the locking bar is always secured to the cabinet and cannot be removed or lost.
[0034] In all of the embodiments illustrated, the lock bar is preferably secured to the crossbeam 20 against removal from the crossbeam as is advantageous such that the crossbeam is always available and ready for use. The arrangement of the crossbeam of course permits movement of the crossbeam as by pivoting and/or sliding relative to the crossbeam 20 to provide for movement of the locking plates between the blocked and unblocked positions.
[0035] The figures show a filing cabinet with a crossbeam 20 which is preferred but not necessary. The sliding locking bar 22 of FIG. 1 could be mounted to one or both of the gable-like crossbeams 95 and 96 forward as part of and adjacent top wall 10 and bottom wall 56 .
[0036] The continuous hinges forming the blocking plates 16 , 17 are shown in each embodiment to extend the entire height of the cabinet 10 . This is not necessary but preferred. The hinges need to only extend adjacent a portion of each drawer 60 whose opening is to be blocked.
[0037] Although this disclosure has described and illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to these particular embodiments. Rather, the invention includes all embodiments that are functional or mechanical equivalents of the specific embodiments and features that have been described and illustrated herein. Many modifications and variations will now occur to those skilled in the art. For a definition of the invention, reference is made to the following claims.
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An external locking mechanism for a filing cabinet incorporating two hinged blocking plates at each side of the cabinet and a locking bar which is movable without removal from attachment to the cabinet to positions such that the blocking plates can be selectively prevented from being moved to unblocked positions or permitted to be moved to unblocked positions.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to computers and, more particularly, to high-availability computing. In this specification, related art labeled “prior art” is admitted prior art; related art not so labeled is not admitted prior art.
High-availability computers are used for applications where the normal amount of downtime suffered by a computer is unacceptable. High-availability computers use redundancy to provide backups for many components such as processors, memory, I/O (input/output) interfaces, power supplies, and disk storage. When one component fails, another similar component is available to take over its function. One approach is to operate identical components in parallel so that if one fails, data is preserved and there is little time lost in switching over from the failed component. Of course, there can be a performance penalty when two components are, in effect, doing the work of one.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention, as defined in the claims, provides for external state caching for a processor or set of processors. If a processor fails, its state is preserved so that the state can be resumed by another processor or by the original processor once the problem associated with the failure has been handled. Since the state has been preserved, it is not necessary to return to the beginning of a process to recreate the state. State preservation does not require a second processor, so the waste associated with running two processors in lock-step is avoided. These and other features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the description below with reference to the following drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of one of many possible systems provided for by the invention.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one of many possible methods in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
A computer system AP 1 in accordance with the present invention comprises a pair of processors 11 and 12 , a core electronics component (CEC) 13 , an external state cache 15 , system memory 17 , and I/O devices 19 , all coupled by a network fabric illustrated in FIG. 1 as a bus 21 . Connections 23 to bus 21 can be connected to other processor sets and other computer components. System memory 17 holds data 25 and programs 27 , including an operating system.
Processors 11 and 12 share external state cache 15 ; they are not run in lock-step. A variation of the illustrated embodiment permits processors sharing an external state cache to run alternatively in lock-step and non-lock-step modes. External state cache 15 is also coupled to CEC 13 for transferring state data to other processor sets. In other embodiments, an external state cache is coupled to only one processor, or to more than two processors.
In system AP 1 , external state cache 15 is coupled to both processors 11 and 12 at dedicated state-dump ports 31 and 32 respectively. The use of dedicated state-dump ports 31 and 32 that are independent of respective system interfaces 41 and 42 minimizes the performance impact of state dumps. Each processor writes its state data, e.g., cache contents, registers, program pointer, to a respective section of external state cache 15 . This writing can be periodic as directed by hardware, or in response to program instructions.
External state cache 15 has a first port 51 for receiving state dumps from processor 11 via its state-dump port 31 ; port 51 is coupled to state dump ports 31 and 32 of both processors 11 and 12 to provide access thereto to state data written by processor 11 . External state cache 15 has a second port 52 for receiving state dumps from processor 12 via its state-dump port 31 ; port 52 is coupled to state dump ports 31 and 32 of both processors 11 and 12 to provide access thereto to state data written by processor 11 . External state cache 15 has a further system port 53 so that CEC 13 can read from and write states to external state cache 15 . Thus, CEC 13 can transfer state data, e.g., from other processor sets, to either processor 11 or processor 12 via external state cache 15 . In alternative embodiments, a CEC can transfer state data directly to processors; in other embodiments, an external state cache is coupled to the incorporating system through a path not including a CEC.
Among the instructions included in programs 27 is a “CPU_dump_state” instruction. Processor 11 , when executing this instruction, writes its state to the respective section of external state cache 15 . Programs 27 also include “CPU_resume_state” and “CPU_assume_state” instructions. Processor 11 , when executing a “CPU_resume_state” instruction, reads and adopts a state stored in the respective section of external state cache 15 ; processor 11 , when executing a “CPU_assume_state” instruction, reads and adopts a state stored in the non-respective section of external state cache 15 (in other words, the processor adopts a state written by the other processor). Others instructions can be used to enable or disable automatic state dumps and set their frequency.
In the absence of an explicit instruction, state dumps are controlled by hardware. By default, state dumps occur at regular intervals. The regular interval can be increased or decreased based on a determination, in this case by CEC 13 , of a likelihood of failure, e.g., based on a number of detected correctable and uncorrectable errors, detected voltage rail droops, etc. The regular interval can be cut short upon prediction of an imminent failure. A state dump can also be omitted or delayed based on other demands on the processor. For example, a state dump can be omitted or delayed to avoid synchronization issues.
The need for omitting or delaying state dumps is minimized by the use of dedicated state-dump ports 31 and 32 dedicated to external state cache 15 . Since external state ports 31 and 32 are separate from the normal system interface ports 41 and 42 , they allow state dumping to proceed without significant performance issues because normal system bandwidth is not consumed.
The frequency of state dumps can be set, for example, as a function of factors relating generally to a tradeoff of need for high availability and performance or power. While using a dedicated state-dump port alleviates most of the performance overhead, there can still be some overhead associated with specific state dump instructions, so fewer state dumps can be called for when performance is critical. There can also be some synchronization overhead associated with a state dump so state dumps can be performed less frequently to ensure synchronicity. In addition, high power consumption can dictate a reduced frequency of state dumps. On the other hand, a processor performing work that requires high reliability can dump state more often.
In computer system AP 1 , independent power supplies are used for processor 11 , processor 12 , CEC 13 , and external state cache 15 . If one power supply fails, the respective component fails, but not the other components. In an alternative embodiment, an external state cache includes non-volatile memory so that the state data it holds is not lost even if its power supply fails temporarily. In another embodiment, the CEC and external state cache can be powered by either of the power supplies for the processors, so that if one power supply fails, its processor fails, but the remaining components remain operational.
A method M 1 practiced in the context of system AP 1 is flow charted in FIG. 2 . At step S 11 , processor 11 is executing a process conventionally. A step S 12 , processor 11 writes its state, including on-board (e.g., level 1 ) cache contents, register contents, and pointer values, to a respective section of external state cache 15 . This writing can be in response to an instruction or be in response to a hardware-generated trigger.
At method segment S 13 , a failure or a potential imminent failure of processor 11 is detected, e.g., by CEC 13 . A potential imminent failure can be detected when monitored processor health metrics indicate an unacceptable likelihood of a processor failure.
If processor 11 can be replaced (hot-swapped) or “repaired”, e.g., reinitialized, at method segment S 14 , CEC 13 can command processor 11 to read the last state it or its predecessor wrote at method segment S 15 , and resume processing at method segment S 16 . Alternatively, method M 1 can proceed to method segment S 24 . At method segment S 24 , CEC 13 determines that processor 12 has completed a process it was executing. At method segment S 25 , CEC 13 directs processor 12 to read the state last written by processor 11 . CEC 13 then causes processor 12 to resume the process processor 11 was executing at the time of failure at method segment S 26 .
In an alternative embodiment, there is one external state cache for one processor. The invention also provides for external state caches with more than one section per processor. A processor can write to its sections in alternation so that the presently written state does not overwrite the immediately preceding state. Thus, if a failure occurs during a state dump so that the dumped state data is corrupted, an intact preceding state is available for resuming a process. Alternatively, state cache sections can be filled on a round-robin basis by different processors so that previous states can be preserved without requiring multiple sections per processor. These and other variations upon and modifications to the illustrated embodiment are provided for by the present invention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims.
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A processor can write its state to an external state cache. Thus, in the event of a processor failure, the stored state can be read and assumed, either by the original processor or another processor. Thus, a process can be resumed from the stored state rather than reconstructed from initial conditions.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent application Serial No. 60/134,482 filed May 17, 1999.
This invention was made with government support under Grant CHE9818073 awarded from the NSF, and Grant GM-08205 awarded from the NIH.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to methods and measuring instruments or sensors for use in biological, biochemical, and chemical testing, and particularly to methods, instruments, and the use of instruments which utilize surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for detecting molecules or monitoring structural and electronic changes in the molecules with ultra-high resolution and ultra-fast response times.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is the oscillation of the plasma of free electrons which exists at a metal boundary. These oscillations are affected by the refractive index of the material adjacent the metal surface. It is this phenomenon that is used to detect minute changes in the refractive index of a surface and forms the basis of various sensor mechanisms. Surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful technique in recent years for detection and analysis of chemical and biological substances in many research areas and industrial applications, such as surface science, biotechnology, environment, drug and food monitoring, and medicine. In biological sensors, detection of antibodies and their reactions with antigens using SPR is of primary interest in biomedical diagnostics, where the presence of antibodies associated with a bacteria or virus is an important indication of infection. SPR has also been applied to gene probes where deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) binding to a defined sequence in target analytes can be employed. In addition, SPR has found applications in detecting trace amount of toxic agents in air or in water for environmental protection or for chemical/biological warfare alert. Finally, SPR-based sensors are promising in food industry for detecting chemical and biological contamination in food. In all these application, improving the resolution and time response of SPR detection is of vital importance.
Surface plasmon resonance may be achieved by using the evanescent wave which is generated when a p-polarized light beam is totally internally reflected at the boundary of a medium, e.g. a glass prism, which has a high dielectric constant. A paper describing the technique has been published under the title “Surface plasmon resonance for gas detection and biosensing” by Lieberg, Nylander and Lundstrom in Sensors and Actuators, Vol. 4, page 299. The widely used methods for detecting SPR are based on attenuated total reflection (ART) of a collimated laser beam is incident on a glass body, usually a prism, on which a thin metal film is coated. When the incident light reaches an appropriate angle the reflection decreases sharply to a minimum, corresponding to the excitation of surface plasmon waves in the film. The total internal reflection is detected with a photodetector as a function of incident angle which is varied by rotating the prism. The photo detector is also rotated in order to catch the reflected light. When the incident beam reaches an appropriate angle, the reflection decreases sharply to a minimum that appears as a dip in the reflectivity vs. incident angle plot. The angular resolution achieved by this rotating prism approach is typically 10 −2 -10 −3 deg (degrees), limited by errors in the angular position and noise in the intensity of the reflected light. For comparing different SPR detection techniques, the SPR resolution is often described in terms of the smallest detectable change in the refractive index for an analyte [refractive index units (RIU)]. The above angular resolution corresponds to 10 −5 -10 −6 RIU at a wavelength of 630 nm. For higher angular resolutions, a large distance between the prism and the photodetector is required which makes the setup not only bulky but also more susceptible to mechanical noise and thermal drift. The response time is slow because of the mechanical movements in the setup.
Mechanical movements can be avoided by fixing the photodetector at an angle near resonance and measuring the intensity change in their reflection due to SPR angular shift. A major advantage of this approach is that the response time is only limited by the photodetector and the associated electronics which can be as fast as nanoseconds. A drawback, however, is that the relationship between the intensity and the sensitivity of the resonance angle measurement is dependent on the angle at which the photodetector is fixed. Major limitations in the resolution of the method come from fluctuation in the intensity of the laser and from thermal and mechanical drift in the setup.
Another widely use ATR-based method also fixes the position of the prism and replaces the collimated incident light in the above setups with a fixed convergent beam that covers a range of incident angles. This method is generally disclosed in “The ATR method with focused light—application to guided waves on a grating” by E. Kretschmann, Vol. 26, number 1, Optics Communications, 1978, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,278 by Finaln et. al. The reflections from different incident angles are collected simultaneously with a linear diode array (LDA) or charge coupled device (CCD) detector. This method involves no mechanical movements, but simultaneous detection of many channels (e.g., 1024 in a typical LDA) slows down the response time. The typical angular resolution is 10 −2 -10 −3 deg or 10 −5 -10 −6 RIU. As in the method with a rotating prism, high angular resolution of this method requires a large distance between the prism and the photodetector.
The above setups involve reflection intensity versus incident angle (an angle-scan system); SPR has also been detected by modulating the wavelength of incident light as described by Caruso, F., et al. (J. Appl. Phys., 1998, 83, 1023). The wavelength modulation causes modulation in the reflection intensity which is monitored with a lock-in amplifier and provides an accurate measurement of the SPR dip position. Using an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), it was demonstrated that a wavelength change of 0.0005 nm, corresponding to 5×10 −7 RIU at a wavelength of 630 nm, can be detected. When applied to DNA-SH adsorption on gold, the signal to noise ratio of the AOTF SPR is six times better than that achieved by an angle-scan system.
As mentioned above, these methods suffer two major drawbacks: slow response time and limited angular resolution. The former one prevents the methods from detecting a fast process, such as the initial adsorption process of molecules onto surfaces, gas interactions, reactions between surface bound molecules and molecules in solution, and fast conformational changes in adsorbed proteins. The later one limits the sensitivity of SPR for detecting small amounts of molecules or small structural or conformational changes in molecules. In the first method, the response is slow because of mechanical movements involved in the method. The second method has no mechanical movements, but simultaneously detecting may channels (e.g., 1024 in a typical linear diode array) slows down the response time. For both methods, the angular resolution is typically poorer than 10 −3 degrees (typically on the order of 10 −2 ). For high angular resolution, both methods require a large distance between the sample and the detector, which makes the setups more susceptible to mechanical noise and thermal drift. Large distances, however, deteriorate the quality of the detected beam and makes to the SPR instruments bulky. For a given sample-detector distance, the resolution of the first method is limited by the precision of measuring the angular position of the prism. The resolution of the second method is limited by the number of channels (pixels) in the photo detector array and the noise level in the measured intensity in each channel. Improved resolution can be obtained using a software routine to fit the data collected by either the first or the second methods, however, this fitting procedure requires extra time and its reliability depends on the accuracy of each data point measured. The second method suffers an additional problem, in that the intensity of the beam is spread out over many channels, which decreases the signal to noise ratio, and therefore limits the resolution.
The present invention discloses a new SPR detection method that achieves an angular resolution in the order of 10 −5 deg (or 10 −8 RIU) and response times in the range of 1 μs. The method has several additional features which include simplicity, good linearity, compactness, and immunity to ambient light. The method uses a convergent beam focused onto a thin metal film, but the total internal reflection is collected by a differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device instead of a CCD or a LDA. The reflected light falling on the cell(s) of the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device is first balanced so that the SPR dip is located near the center of the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device. Because the differential signal is linearly proportional to the shift in the SPR angle and can be easily amplified without saturation problem, it provides an accurate detection of SPR. We note that a big-cell differential position sensitive photo-detecting device has been used by Alexander, S. Et al., (J. Appl. Phys. 1989, 65, 164) in the atomic force microscope (AM) in which the deflection of a laser beam due to bending of the AM cantilever is measured. In the present application it is the intensity distribution due to a SPR angular shift rather than physical movement of the laser beam that is measured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present method is carried out by focusing a diode laser through a prism onto a transparent plate coated with a thin metal film. The transparent plate is supported on an optical prism with index of refraction matching substance. The incident light and the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device are adjusted so that the SPR dip in the total internal reflection is located in the middle of the photo cells of the photodetecting system, corresponding to a zero differential signal from cell(s). On the metal film, a sample cell with necessary electrodes for controlling the electrochemical potential of the metal film is mounted into which molecules to be detected or studied or introduced. The presence of molecules or changes in the molecules on the metal film leads to a small shift in the SPR dip and results in a change in the differential signal of the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device that is easily amplified and detected.
One aspect of the present invention is to create a method of and sensor for detecting SPR for biological, biochemical, and chemical applications with a higher angular resolution and a faster response time. The angular resolution and speed of response is improved by being able to precisely position a differential position or intensity sensitive photodetecting device such that is centered on and detects the exact dip corresponding to surface plasmon resonance. Thus the detecting device can monitor changes with a response time of a few microseconds and angular resolutions on the order of 10 −5 degrees which is orders of magnitude better than previous methods.
An additional aspect of the present invention is to create a SPR sensor and detection method that is immune to ambient light, intensity fluctuations of the light source, and noise in the photo-detector and electronics.
A third aspect of the present invention is to modulate the SPR signal with the electrochemical potential of the metal film, for example using a lock-in technique, to improve the signal to noise ratio.
Another aspect of the present invention is to integrate electrochemical measurements, such as current, capacitance, and the like, into the SPR measurement, to provide important supplementary information about the detected molecules and improve specificity in the sensor and its applications. For example, since the ratio of the differential signal to the sum signal is proportional to the shift of the SPR angle, this method provides an accurate measurement of the SPR angle.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is to be able to miniaturize the SPR instruments and SPR-based sensors, which is important both for improving the thermal and mechanical stability of the instruments and sensor and for the convenience of using the instruments and sensors in a field environment. The SPR sensors based on the present invention are compact because they consist of only a focused light source, a prism and a photodetector, and high angular resolution is achieved without requiring a large sample-photodetector separation.
The above and other aspects, novel features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be better understood, several embodiments thereof will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional view of the SPR sensor in accordance with one example of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a intensity profile of the two cells of the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device before and after a shift in the SPR. The intensity of the two cells, A and B, is first balanced (area under the solid line). A shift in the SPR results in an intensity imbalance of the two cells (dashed lines) which is detected as the differential signal by the photodetector.
FIG. 3 is a theoretical simulation showing direct proportionality/a linear relationship between the ratio of the differential signal to the sum/total signal of the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device, (A−B)/(A+B), and the actual SPR dip position over a large angular range.
FIGS. 4-10 illustrate the performance of which an arrangement in accordance with the invention is capable. Specifically:
FIG. 4 is a experimental calibration of the SPR dip position of a gold film in phosphate buffer at various potentials measured by this method vs. the dip position of the same sample measured with a conventional diode array setup, showing excellent agreement between the two methods.
FIG. 5 is a typical SPR shift due to thermal drift and mechanical vibrations in a prototype setup based on the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a SPR dip shift of mercaptoproprionic acid (MPA)-coated gold electrode in 50 mM phosphate solution as the electrode potential is scanned between −0.2 V(vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode) and 0.3 V at a rate of 0/1 V/sec. The inset shows the simultaneously recorded cyclic voltammogram.
FIG. 7 is a SPR dip shift as a function of time before, during and after redox protein, cytochrome c, was introduced into the solution cell. The two arrows mark the moments when the cytochrome c was introduced and the cytochrome c solution was replaced with buffer, respectively.
FIG. 8 ( a ) is the cyclic voltammogram of cytochrome c immobilized on the surface of MPA coated gold electrode in 50 mM phosphate solution, as the electrode potential was scanned between −0.2 V and 0.3 V at a rate of 0.1 V/sec, where the arrows point to the oxidation and reduction of the protein, corresponding to the electron transfer reaction of the protein. FIG. 8 ( b ) is the corresponding dip shift in the SPR angle due to the oxidation and reduction.
FIG. 9 ( a ) is the absorption spectra of reduced (solid line) and oxidized (dashed line) cytochrome c. FIG. 9 ( b ) is the experimental SPR shift of cytochrome c (open and filled circles) as is switched from oxidized to reduced states. The kinks occur at absorption peaks, 550 nm and 520 nm. The shift in pure phosphate buffer (open squares). FIG. 9 ( c ) is the theoretical SPR shift based on the absorption peaks and the Kramers-Kronig relation.
FIG. 10 shows the kinetics of the electron transfer induced conformational change in cytochrome c immobilized on MPA-coated gold electrode in 50 mM phosphate buffer. The response of the SPR dip position was obtained when stepping the potential from 0.3 to −0.2 V and back to 0.3 V after staying at −0.2 V for 10 ms. The dashed lines are fittings with simple exponential functions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1 a , in one embodiment, the sensor comprises a collimated input beam 16 of electromagnetic radiation from a source 14 , which may conveniently comprise an ordinary light source, with suitable filters and collimators, or preferably, a diode laser, or the like. The frequency of the radiation must be such as to result in the generation of surface plasmon waves and in practice will be within or near the visible region, although other frequencies are possible. Suitable sources include a 5 mW diode laser (λ=635 nm) such as that manufactured Hitachi. When a laser is used, it is controlled by a suitable laser controller, 21 . The input beam, 16 , is focused through a hemicylindrical (right-angle, or equilateral) focusing lens 13 , made of a transparent material such as glass or quartz, with a focal length, f 1 . This beam may optionally pass through other devices which change the properties of the beam such as a polarizer, a slit, additional lenses, or the like. The focusing lens focuses the light onto a point 17 on an interface 18 between an optically transmissive component, generally shown as 1 and 3 , and a reflective layer in the form of a metal coating or film, 15 .
The optically transmissive/transparent component is, in this example, made up of a thin support plate or slide- 3 , having a first sur ace (upon which the reflective layer is grown or coated,) and a hemispherical lens or prism 1 having a second, curved, spherical surface with its center of curvature located at the point 17 . The optically transmissive component is usually made of glass. Any other geometry, shape, and size is possible for the optically transmissive component since any refraction which this component introduces can be ignored or compensated for. The arrangement is preferably such that all light rays in the convergent beam which emerges from lens 13 travel radially of the optically transmissive component 1 and 3 and thus undergo no refraction and are focused centrally on the point 17 . The optically transmissive component 1 and 3 is attached by a supporting frame 2 . The metal film material is commonly silver or gold, usually applied by evaporation. The film needs to be as uniform as possible in order to cater for minute movement in the point of incidence of the incoming beam. It is assumed that a structured metal film will give the best resonance and there are various ways well known in the art in which the optically transmissive component can be pretreated to improve the performance of the metal film and in particular to control the natural tendency of such films to form discontinuous islands. In the preferred embodiment the metal film 15 is eptaxially grown on the glass slide 3 which is placed onto the prism and optically coupled to the prism with a suitable index matching fluid or oil film, as shown at 19 , between the facing surfaces of plate 3 and prism 1 . In a practical realization of the invention, the metal layer 15 may be applied in any manner to the surface of the aforementioned slide 3 .
Light internally reflected from the metal film at point 17 passes out of the slide and travels as a divergent, planar, fan-shaped beam that is detected with a radiation sensitive differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device 12 . The differential detecting device may comprise a large or small area detector, an array of detectors, or the like, for example, a mono- or big-cell photo-sensitive detector, or the like. For reasons of expense, compactness, and rapid response times, the use of a big-cell photo-sensitive detector is preferred. The differential detector generates electrical output signals indicative of the variation of intensity of light with position across the beam 16 ; the SPR effect dictating that strong absorption will occur at a particular angle as determined by material in the sample being tested. These electrical signals are sampled and digitized and fed via associated circuitry (not necessarily shown) to a suitable analyzing arrangement (collectively, 22 ) which may include a microprocessor or larger computer.
In one embodiment, a cell 6 , made of a suitably inert material, for example Teflon, in which a sample of molecules is to be tested is placed is attached onto the metal film. A glass window 7 provides a view of the focused laser spot and also seals the solution from surrounding environment, which is important for air sensitive molecules. The cell has a port 5 for purging the solution with N 2 , and two ports for counter 9 and reference 11 electrodes, which are needed for electrochemical control of the metal surface. It has also two additional ports 4 , 10 of a size to allow the sample containing molecules to be tested to flow into the cell, contact the metal layer, and flow out of the cell, thus allowing the sample to be constantly replenished during the course of the test, which ensures maximum sensitivity. Other methods of feeding the sample are also possible. Any material whose refractive index may change may used as a sample, for example a molecule or molecules.
As the sample flows past the metal layer 15 the refractive index of layer 15 is altered/changes, which is monitored, optionally continuously, during the test. Provided that the angle of incidence at the point 17 is correct, the application of the light beam will result in the generation of a plasmon wave, thus extracting energy from the input beam and causing an attenuation or dip in the intensity of the output beam at a particular angle of incidence. The feedback circuitry monitoring the differential detecting device output enables the identification of the angle at which the reflectance dip can be obtained. This gives a highly sensitive output.
In one embodiment, the initial position or incident angle of the differential detecting device is adjusted via movable frame 20 , for example a precision translation or rotation stage. The initial position is set up such that the difference in the photo signals (A−B) received from the differential detecting device 12 , A−B is zero. This is usually the actual angle of the reflective dip which results before any sample is passed through the cell, or when some neutral, control, or buffer solution that the sample to be combined with is passed through the cell, or when the sample under test is passed through the cell, but before any reaction thereof has take place. Even as sample begins to flow past the metal layer, there is sufficient time to take a reading before the refractive index changes, which can be utilized to adjust and choose the correct position of the differential detecting device 12 . When A−B is adjusted to zero, the reflectance dip is located near the center of the differential detecting device. The position of the detector can be manipulated by a variety of methods, preferably a stepping motor, which can be a component of 22 . In another embodiment, the differential detection can be accomplished on a time basis rather than a positional or spatial basis.
In a further embodiment, the electrochemical potential of the metal film electrode is controlled and modulated with a potential control or modulator unit and/or potentiostat, 23 . The response of the differential signal or (A−B)/(A+B) to the AC modulation of the electrochemical potential is detected with a lock-in amplifier as part of 22 , which drastically improves the signal to noise ratio, therefore the angular resolution. While the amplitude information from the lock-in amplifier provides information on the SPR angle, the phase between the modulation and differential signal provides additional information about the response of the adsorbed molecules to the electrode potential. Both the DC and AC components of the corresponding current that flows between the metal film and a counter electrode are simultaneously measured with the SPR signal. The DC component provides the usual electrochemical characterization of molecules adsorbed onto the electrode. The AC component is used to extract interfacial capacitance, which provides supplementary information about the adsorbed molecules.
FIG. 3 is a theoretical simulation showing a linear relationship between the ratio of the differential signal to the sum signal of the photodetector, (A−B)/(A+B), and the actual SPR dip position over a large angular range. The simulation was performed using a matrix method (W. N. Hansen in Journal of Optical Society of America, 1969). The slope is about 1.5. Assuming that the reflectivity near the dip position over a small angular range is parabola, the ratio of the differential signal (A−B) to the total signal (A+B) expressed as (A−B)/A+B) is proportional to the shift of the SPR dip position with slope of 2 for an angular range of 3 degrees. The slope is somewhat greater than 1.5 because of the dip shape is not exactly a parabola
FIG. 4 . is a experimental calibration of the SPR dip position of a gold film in phosphate buffer at potentials between measured by the sensor of this invention by the method of this invention vs. the dip position of the same sample measured with a conventional diode array setup, showing excellent agreement between the two methods.
As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the response time of the sensor of this invention and the method of this invention is limited only by the characteristics of the differential detecting device and its associated sampling and computing circuits. A prototype setup has achieved response times in the range of a few μs, limited only by the bandwidth of a nonintegrated preamplifier. Commercially available integrated preamplifiers provide a response time in the range of a few picoseconds. These ultrafast response times enables initial transients and other shifts which may occur during the test or analysis to be monitored and allowed for and also permits rapid calibratory checks to be made. The present invention enables the desired reflectivity characteristic to be determined on a time scale so short that it is less than the time taken for chemical bonding to be achieved between the relevant constituent of the sample and the reflective layer.
The sensor of the present invention can be made very compact, which advantageously results in great reduction in noise due to thermal drift and mechanic vibrations. In contrast, high resolution in prior art sensors requires a large distance between the photodetector and the sample. A prototype setup that has an angular range of 1.8 degrees and a band width of 100 Hz has achieved an angular resolution on the order of 10 −5 degrees (FIG. 5 ). To achieve the same resolution with the diode array or CCD detector setup, the distance between sample and detector would have to be on the order of hundreds of meters. Since the resolution is inversely proportional to the angular range, higher resolutions can be achieved with a smaller angular range. Using a 3 mW laser and a commercial photodetector that has a noise equivalent power (NEP) of 10 −14 W/Hz 1/2 , the resolution would be expected to be in the range of 10 −8 degrees for a bandwidth of 100 Hz with an angular range of 3 degrees. The high resolution, fast response times, and compact design of the present invention allows for a wide variety of applications in the fields of biology, biochemistry, and chemistry.
In addition to high resolution, fast response time, and compact design, the differential detection method in this invention makes the system immune to the disturbing effects of extraneous light such as room light and also minimizes the problem due to unavoidable fluctuations in the intensity of the light source and other common noise. This avoids the expense and inconvenience of shrouding the entire or particular components of the arrangement, modulating the light source, or tuning the detectors and/or the processing circuits to a particular response.
The following examples are provided to further illustrate specific aspects and practices of this invention. These examples describe particular embodiments of the invention, but are not to be construed as limitations on the scope of the present invention or the appended claims.
EXAMPLE 1
SPR Setup 1
In one SPR setup, a BK7 plano-cylindrical lens (Melles Griot) was used as a prism. The prism is close to but not exactly hemicylindrical. On the prism, a 50 nm thick gold film evaporated on a BK7 glass slide in ultrahigh vacuum was placed with an index matching fluid. The gold film was annealed in a hydrogen flame briefly before each experiment in order to reduce surface contamination. A 5 mW diode laser (1=635 nm, Hitachi), driven with a homemade laser controller, was collimated and then focused by a 14 mm local-length lens through the prism onto the gold film. Light reflected from the gold film was detected with a bicell photodiode detector (Hamamatsu Corp., model S2721-02) which was mounted on a precision translation stage. The photocurrents from the two cells (A and B) were converted to voltages with a homemade circuit. The circuit also calculated the differential, A−B, and the sum, A+B, signals which were then sent to a PC computer equipped with a 16 bit data acquisition board (National Instrument). For fast kinetic studies, the differential and sum signals were sent to a 150 MHZ digital oscilloscope (Yokogawa, DL 1520L). Before each measurement the prism was rotated so that there was a dark line located at the center of the laser beam. The dark line is due to the adsorption of the light by the surface plasmon which occurs at the angle of resonance. The reflected light falling onto the two cells of the photodetector was then balanced by adjusting the photodetector position with the translation stage until A−B approached zero. Because of the high sensitivity of the method, drift in the A−B signal due to mechanical stress was clearly visible immediately after alignment but it settled down typically over a period of 15-30 min when all the screws were properly tightened. The ratio of the differential to sum signals, which is linearly proportional to the SPR angular shift was obtained numerically by dividing A−B with A+B.
On the gold film a Teflon sample cell was mounted to hold sample solutions. The cell has two ports for flowing sample solution in and out, and a port for purging O 2 out of the solution with N 2 , or another suitable inert gas, which is necessary for many experiments. To control the electrochemical potential of the gold film electrode, Pt and Ag wires were used as counter- and quasireference electrodes, respectively. The quasireference electrode was calibrated against a Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The electrochemical potential of the gold film was controlled with an EG&G model 283 potentiostat.
EXAMPLE 2
SPR Setup 2
An alternate SPR setup used a BK7 plano-cylindrical lens (Melles Griot) as a prism. On the prism, a BK7 glass slide, coated with a 45 nm thick silver or gold film by a sputtering coater, was placed with an index matching fluid. White light from a 150 W xenon lamp (Oriel) was sent to a monochromator. Monochromatic light with a bandwidth of ca. 0.5 nm from the monochromator was collimated and then focused by a 14 mm focal-length lens through the prism onto the silver film. Light reflected from the silver film was detected with a bi-cell photodiode detector (Hamamatsu Corp., model S2721-02), which was mounted on a precision translation stage. In each measurement the prism was rotated such that a dark line, corresponding to the SPR dip, was located at the center of the laser bean. The reflected light falling onto the two cells of the photodetector was then balanced by adjusting the photodetector position with the translation stage until the differential signal approached zero. The shift in SPR angle is proportional to the differential angle, which was precisely measured. The response of the differential signal to the modulation of the electrode potential as a function of 1 was recorded with a lock-in amplifier (Princeton Applied Research, Model 5110). The output form the lock-in amplifier normalized by the sum signal of the photodetector is proportional to Δθ(λ)/ΔV, which was used to calculate Stark spectrum Δε/ΔV, according to the Kramers-Kronig relation.
On the silver film a Teflon sample cell was mounted to hold sample solutions. In order to control the electrode potential, Pt and Ag wires were used as counter and quasireference electrodes, respectively, with a Potentiostat (Pine Instruments). The quasireference electrode was calibrated with respect to Ag/AgCl (in 3M KCl) reference electrode. The experiments were conducted with the electrode being held at 0.2 V with a ca. 10 mV modulation at 200 Hz was applied to the potential. The potential was chosen such that no electrochemical reactions take place on the silver film.
EXAMPLE 3
Effects of Electron Density on SPR
FIG. 6 shows the SPR dip position of a gold film (electrode) coated with an organic monolayer (mercaptopropionic acid or MPA) in 50 mM phosphate buffer as the electrode potential was varied linearly from −0.2 V to 0.3 V (v.s. Ag/AgCl). The dip position shifts about 0.0008 degrees per 100 mV which is too small to be easily detected with a conventional SPR setup. It has been recognized that electrode potential can change the SPR dip position via changing the electron density in the metal film. The shift observed here is much smaller than that for a bare gold electrode because the presence of MPA decreases the surface capacitance therefore the electron density change for a given potential change.
EXAMPLE 4
Protein Adsorption Onto Self-assembled Monolayers
FIG. 7 shows the adsorption process of cytochrome protein onto 3mercaptopropionic acid-coated gold electrode monitored by the SPR. The measurement was started with monitoring the SPR dip position in a buffer solution in which no protein was present. Then a 20 μL 27 μM horse heart cytochrome c (Cytc, purchased and used without further purification from Fluka) +50 mM phosphate (pH 6.4) was injected into the solution cell via the solution port in the cell and subsequent SPR dip position was monitored continuously. The dip position increased and reached a stable value in about 15 minutes. Replacing the Cytc solution with buffer solution, the dip position did not change back, showing at the adsorbed protein was rather stable on the surface.
EXAMPLE 5
Electron Transfer-induced Conformational Change in Redox Proteins
In the presence of adsorbed Cytc on the electrode surface, the change of the electrode potential can trigger an electron transfer between the electrode and the adsorbed protein via oxidation and reduction. This electron transfer is shown in the concurrently measured cyclic voltammogram as a pair of peaks (FIG. 8 a ). The measured SPR dip position shows a sigmoid increase when switching the protein from the oxidized to the reduced states (FIG. 8 b ). The change, which is about 0.006 to about 0.01 degrees, is reversible when switching the protein back to the oxidized state. Note that the error in the change is primarily from the uncertainty in determining the background SPR shift, rather than the SPR setup. The SPR shift can be attributed to a conformational change in the protein induced by the electron transfer reaction. This change can affect both the thickness and the index of refraction of the protein layer. According to Lorentz-Lorentz relation, the change in the index of refraction (Δn) of the protein layer is related to the thickness Δd by Δn/n=−(⅙)(1−1/n 2 )(2+n 2 )Δd/d, where n and d are the index of refraction and thickness of the protein layer, respectively. Using the relation, we have estimated that 0.006°-0.01° increases in the dip angle as Cytc transforms from oxidized to reduced states corresponds to ca. 0.3 A decreases in the thickness.
EXAMPLE 6
Multi-wavelength SPR.
The capabilities of absorption spectroscopy can be integrated into SPR with the use of multi-wavelength incident light. The working principle is base on the Kramers-Kronig relation that relates the refractive index of the molecules measured by SPR to absorption coefficient by absorption spectroscopy. Using the differential method disclosed here, multi-wavelength SPR can be applied to the electron transfer reaction of cytochrome c. The wavelengths between 500 nm and 700 nm were scanned because the reduced cytochrome c (solid line) has two pronounced absorption peaks at 520 nm and 550 nm, while the oxidized cytochrome c (dashed line) is relatively flat in the wavelength window (FIG. 9 a ). The measured shift in the resonant angle vs. wavelength is plotted in FIG. 9 b . Far away from the absorption peaks, the shift does not depend much on the wavelength and it measures a conformational change in the protein. However, when the wavelength is close to the absorption peaks, two interesting kinks centered at 520 nm and 550 nm appear, as expect from the Kramers-Kronig relation. Using the absorption spectra at inputs, we have calculated the SPR dip shift (FIG. 9 c ) using the KramersKronig relation and found a quantitative agreement between the theory and the experimental data (FIG. 9 b ).
EXAMPLE 7
The Kinetics of Conformational Change in Proteins
The kinetics of the above electron transfer induced-conformational change has been probed by taking advantage of the fast response time of the present SPR setup. FIG. 10 shows the response of the SPR dip position as the potential was suddenly stepped from 0.3 V, where the protein was in the oxidized state, to −0.2 V, where the protein transformed into the reduced state. The potential was held at −0.2 V for various time intervals before being stepped back to 0.3 V. The shortest time that could be studied was limited by the response time of the electrochemical cell rather than by the SPR setup. Over the time window shown in FIG. 10, the SPR response can be roughly fitted by an exponential function with a time constant of ca. 2.1 ms for reduction and ca. 2.5 ms for oxidation . The change due to reduction is faster than that of oxidation. This observation is consistent with the previous studies that Cytc in the reduced state is more stable than that in the oxidized state.
The above examples demonstrate the novelty and utility of the high-resolution SPR sensor and method of the present invention. Every reference cited herein is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The foregoing detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Variations of the invention as hereinbefore set forth can be made without departing from the scope thereof and, therefore, only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated by the appended claims.
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A device and method of detecting surface plasmon resonance for sensing molecules or conformational changes in molecules with high resolution and fast response time is disclosed. Light from a light source ( 14 ) is focused through a prism onto a metal thin film ( 15 ) on which sample molecules to be detected are adsorbed. The total internal reflection of the laser/incident light is collected with a differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device instead of a single cell or an array of photo-detectors ( 12 ) that are widely used in previous works. The ratio of the differential signal to the sum signal of the differential position or intensity sensitive photo-detecting device ( 12 ) provides an accurate measurement of the shift in the surface plasmon resonance angle caused by the adsorption of molecules onto the metal films ( 15 ) or by conformational changes in the adsorbed molecules. The present invention requires no numerical fitting to determine the resonant angle and the setup is compact and immune to background light, The methods and sensors of this invention can be used in numerous biological, biochemical, and chemical applications such as measuring subtle conformational changes in molecules and electron transfer reactions can be studied.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The typical home currently includes either a one- or two-car garage. In newer homes having two-car garages, the trend is for the garage to be proportioned to accommodate exactly two mid-size or even compact cars with little to no room left over for storage. This poses a problem for people with such bulky items as lawn tractors, motorcycles, jet skis and the like that cannot reasonably be stored indoors.
One solution is to build an outdoor storage barn or shed for the garage overflow items. While such a structure solves the problem of protecting the items from the elements, outdoor storage structures have several drawbacks. For example, outdoor storage structures are less secure than garages, and are more prone to break-ins and theft of the items stored therein. Another drawback is that since the storage structures are unconnected to the house, they are not be heated or cooled to the extent that a garage is and thus are less desirable for storage of items sensitive to temperature extremes. Further, many communities have ordinances or regulations that prohibit storage structures, therefore obviating this particular solution to the storage problem.
Another storage solution is the suspension of bulky vehicles from the garage ceiling. While this is a practical solution for lightweight items such as bicycles, it is impractical for heavier items such as lawn tractors and motorcycles.
Still another means for storing heavy and bulky items in a garage is through the use of a lift platform, such as the one discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,153 to Norris. Norris discloses a hydraulically actuated lifting platform that may be bolted to a garage floor and used to lift vehicles, such as motorcycles, off of the garage floor for storage. While useful, the Norris lift still suffers from the disadvantage of being non-portable, since it must be bolted down to the garage floor. The Norris lift also has the drawback of having a central support column extending upwardly at an angle of between 45 and 75 degrees, such that the Norris lift cannot be positioned flush against a garage wall but must instead extend inwardly into the already tight confines of the garage.
There therefore remains a need for a need for a portable storage mechanism that effectively occupies a minimum amount of viable storage space to effectively increase the storage capacity of a garage or like enclosure. The present invention addresses this need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a storage device for off-floor storage. The device includes a base for emplacement on a floor of a storage area, a substantially vertical support member extending from the base and defining a deployment axis, a platform movably connected to the vertical support member, and a lift actuator operationally connected to the platform. The lift actuator may be energized to move the platform into any one of a plurality of substantially parallel vertical positions oriented generally transversely to the deployment axis. The base is decoupled from the floor such that the device may be readily moved from time to time without the requirement of tools to disconnect it from the surface it rests upon and such that utilization of the device does not require permanent marring of that surface.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved storage lift apparatus. Related objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment portable lifting assembly of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the assembly of FIG. 1 with the platform in a lowered position.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the assembly of FIG. 4 loaded with a motorcycle and a lawn tool.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 loaded with a pair of motorcycles and having an automobile parked therebelow.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 loaded with tools, a lawn mower and a dog.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the base member of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 8A is a partial rear elevation view of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 8B is a partial rear perspective view of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 8C is a partial rear perspective view of FIG. 8B .
FIG. 9A is a perspective view of the platform of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 9B is a partial rear schematic view of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 9C is a perspective view of a sleeve portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the safety latch of the embodiment of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the motion actuator system of the embodiment of FIG. 1 .
FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the safety latch of FIG. 1 oriented to engage the support member.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention and presenting its currently understood best mode of operation, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, with such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
FIGS. 1–6 illustrate a first embodiment of the present invention, a freestanding or portable elevatable storage platform assembly 20 . The platform assembly 20 includes a base portion 22 , a support member 24 connected to and upwardly extending from the base portion 22 , a platform portion 26 movably connected to the support member 24 , and a lift or motion actuator 28 operationally coupled to the platform portion 26 and the support member 24 . The support member 24 is preferably rigidly connected to the base portion 22 (such as by fasteners such as bolts or by welding). The support member 24 also preferably extends substantially vertically upwardly from the base portion 22 , although the support member 24 may make a slight angle with the base portion 22 , with the preferred direction of the angle such that the support member leans slightly to extend over the base portion 22 . In other words, while the preferred orientation of the support member 24 is perpendicular to the base portion 22 , the support member 24 may deviate slightly from the perpendicular by a few degrees so as to extend away from or (preferably) over the base portion 22 .
FIG. 7 illustrates the base portion 22 in greater detail. The base portion 22 includes an elongated frame portion 32 that is preferably rectangular in shape, although the frame portion 32 may be of any convenient shape. The base portion 22 also preferably includes supporting cross members 34 connected to and extending at least partially across the frame portion 32 . The base portion 22 further includes a support column connecting portion 36 adapted to receive and mechanically connect to the support column 24 . In the preferred embodiment, the support column connecting portion 36 is a small framework sized and shaped to snugly receive the support column 24 . The support column 24 is preferably connected to the support column connecting portion 36 by mechanical fasteners (such as bolts or screws), or, alternately, by a more permanent means, such as by welding. Preferably, the base portion is made of a structural material, such as steel, aluminum or the like, and more preferably is made from a structural grade steel such as A36 or the like.
The base portion 22 further includes a plurality of leveling feet 37 extending between the base portion 22 and the ground (when the assembly is positioned for use.) The leveling feet 37 are of adjustable length insofar as the length between the base portion 22 and the ground are preferably may be increased or decreased by adjusting the leveling feet 37 . The leveling feet 37 are deployed to accommodate for inherent unlevelness of the surface upon which the assembly 20 is desired to be deployed and positioned for use, such as the ground, an unevenly poured and cured garage floor, or the like. It is greatly preferred that the base portion 22 be leveled relative to the horizontal before lifting a load on the platform portion 26 to maximize the stability of the assembly 20 . It is also important that any loads placed on the platform portion 26 be distributed as evenly as possible with regard to their mass. Accordingly, it is preferably that the base portion 22 be leveled and also configured to remain in place absent an intentional effort to reposition the assembly 20 . In other words, it is preferred that the base portion 22 be non-wheeled and enjoy a friction interface with the ground or supporting surface when the assembly is deployed and positioned for use.
FIGS. 8A–8D show the support member 24 in greater detail. The support member 24 includes an elongated support frame 40 that is preferably characterized by a π-shaped cross-section with one substantially open side. The support member 24 at least partially encloses a lifting member 42 . Preferably, as illustrated in this embodiment, lifting member 42 is a hydraulic cylinder. However, in other contemplated embodiments, lifting member 42 may be any convenient mechanical actuator such as a worm drive or the like. A pulley 44 is connected to the upper end of the lifting member 42 , and a chain 46 extends from a fixed connection to the base portion 22 or the support member 24 , over the pulley 44 , and back to the platform portion 26 . Extension of the lifting member 42 raises the pulley 44 , which puts tension on the chain 46 . The chain 46 in turn exerts a lifting force on the platform portion 26 , raising it along the support column 26 . Lowering the lifting member 42 has the opposite effect of lowering the pulley 44 and lowering the lifting platform 26 .
The support member 24 further includes a toothed member 48 positioned therein and oriented parallel with the major axis of the elongated support frame 40 .
FIGS. 9A–9C illustrate the lifting platform 26 in greater detail. The lifting platform 26 includes an uppermost substantially flat portion 60 upon which the items to be stored or lifting cargo (such as motor cycles, snow blowers, jet skis, lawn tractors, tools, or the like) may be placed. The lifting platform 26 further preferably includes a raised fence portion 62 extending upwardly from the periphery of the flat portion 60 and at least partially enclosing the flat portion 60 . Preferably, the fence portion 62 includes flexible members 64 , such as nylon straps or elastic cords attached thereto for securing lifting cargo to the lifting platform 26 . Preferably, the flat portion 60 is formed from flat structural pieces, such as wooden boards, metal plates, or the like and more preferably are formed from textured 6061 aluminum plating. However, any convenient structural material may be chosen. Even more preferably, the flat portion 60 is substantially solid, but may also be a mesh, a honeycomb, or even a substantially open grid. The fence portion 62 is preferably formed from a structural material, such as aluminum or steel, although any convenient structural material may be selected.
Preferably, the lifting platform portion 26 has an elongated rectangular shape, and more preferably at least partially encloses the lifting member near one end. Even more preferably, the end enclosing the lifting member 24 is opposite the end of the platform portion 26 onto which vehicular cargo, such as motorcycles, will be loaded and unloaded under their own power. Also preferably, the lifting platform portion 26 is positioned over the base portion 22 such that the two portions 22 , 26 substantially overlap one another. In other words, when lowered to the ground, the lifting platform portion 26 sits directly on top of and aligned with the base portion 22 .
The lifting platform 26 preferably includes a generally rectangular notch 66 formed therein and centrally positioned at the end adjacent the fence portion 62 . The notch 66 is sized and shaped to accommodate the support member 24 . The platform 26 further preferably includes a sleeve member 68 connected to the fence portion 62 and shaped and sized to slideably fit within the support member 24 . More preferably, the support member 24 includes at least one and preferably a pair of parallel rails 70 formed therein and the sleeve member 68 includes at least one and preferably a pair of rail-engaging portions 72 attached thereto and positioned interlockingly slideably engage the rails 70 when the sleeve 68 is disposed within the support member 24 .
In one preferred embodiment, the lifting platform 26 includes connection points, such as apertures formed therethrough, to which lightweight storage items may be connected for suspension from the exterior of the platform 26 . The items may be either directly connected to the platform 26 or indirectly connected, such as by suspension via a flexible connector.
The dimensions of one preferred embodiment storage platform assembly 20 are as follows. The overall height is preferably less than 9 feet (i.e., the ceiling height of the average garage), and is more preferably in the range of about 8 feet and six inches to about eight feet and eleven inches. The platform portion 26 is substantially rectangular and defined by the measurements of about eighty inches by about eighty-six inches. The base portion 22 is also generally rectangular, having the dimensions seventy-eight inches by forty inches (although the base further includes individual members of lengths in excess of forty inches extending along its otherwise shorter side.) Of course, the assembly 20 may be produced having any convenient dimensions, but is preferably sized to operate in a standard garage and is more preferably sized to provide enough room under a raised and motorcycle-laden platform portion 26 to accommodate the front portion of an automobile parked therebelow.
In operation, the platform portion 26 enjoys a sliding and cantilevered connection to the support column 24 , such that the platform portion 26 remains in a substantially perpendicular orientation to the support column 24 as the platform portion 26 is moved along support column 24 (see FIGS. 1–3 ). In other words, the platform portion 26 remains substantially horizontal as it is raised and lowered.
The storage platform assembly 20 further includes a safety mechanism 74 for preventing accidental lowering of the platform portion 26 after the platform portion 26 has been raised into a desired storage position. The safety mechanism 74 is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 10 and 12 . The safety mechanism 74 includes a latch member 75 pivotingly connected to the sleeve member 68 and disposed to pivotingly engage the toothed member 48 when the sleeve is positioned within the support member with the rail-engaging portions 72 interlockingly slideably engaging the rails 70 (as shown in FIG. 9B .) The latch member 75 includes an elongated tooth-engaging portion 76 . A biasing member 77 , such as a spring, extends between the latch member 75 and the sleeve 68 and is positioned to exert a biasing force on the tooth-engaging portion 76 , urging the tooth-engaging portion 76 to pivot into the toothed member 48 . The safety mechanism 74 further includes a flexible connector 78 , such as a steel cable, connected thereto and extending to some convenient point on the assembly 20 . The flexible connector 78 is positioned to exert a counter-biasing force on the tooth engaging portion, urging the tooth-engaging portion 76 to pivot away from the toothed member 48 . Preferably, the latch member 75 is balanced such that once the counter-biasing force is exerted to pivot the tooth-engaging portion 76 away from the toothed member 48 , the latch member 75 will remain disengaged from the toothed member 48 long enough for the platform portion 26 to be lowered to the ground. This may be achieved by selecting a damped biasing mechanism as biasing member 77 , including a reengaging portion extending from the latch member 75 to pivot the tooth engaging portion 76 towards the toothed member 48 when the platform is traveling upwardly, or by any like means known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
FIG. 11 illustrates the lift actuator 28 in greater detail. The lift actuator 28 includes a power source 80 in communication with a power transmission conduit 82 . The power transmission conduit 82 extends from the power source to the lifting member 42 , to which it is operationally connected such that energization of the power source 80 transmits power through the power transmission conduit 82 to the lifting member 42 , actuating the lifting member 42 to urge the platform 26 upwardly (or downwardly) along the elongated support member 24 . The lift actuator 28 preferably includes a control assembly 86 operationally connected to the power source 80 . More preferably, the control assembly 86 is adapted to be locked when not in use, such as by a secure code or a removable key, such that the probability of accidental movement of the platform portion 26 is minimized. Also preferably, the power transmission conduit 82 is adapted to be readily removed and reconnected from the power source 80 and/or the lifting member 42 to minimize accidental movement of the platform portion 26 . Even more preferably, the power source is adapted to provide a predetermined maximum amount of lift power as a load safety precaution.
In the preferred embodiment, the motion actuator 28 is hydraulic, i.e. the power source 80 is a hydraulic pump and the conduit 82 is a hydraulic hose. The lifting member 42 is a hydraulic cylinder. The pump 80 is preferably internally configured, such as by a safety valve, to provide a predetermined maximum lifting pressure, such as 2000 pounds. Also preferably, the hose 82 may be readily connected/disconnected to the pump 80 and/or the cylinder 42 to establish/break a hydraulic communication link between the pump 80 and the cylinder 42 to prevent undesired lowering of the platform portion 26 by unauthorized persons, such as young children or thieves. In other embodiments, the motion actuator may be pneumatic, electromechanical, or the like.
In operation, the portable elevatable storage platform assembly 20 may be used to store an item (such as a lawn tractor) in a storage area (such as a garage) as follows. The freestanding vertical storage platform assembly 20 is first positioned as desired in the storage area. Preferably, the assembly 20 is positioned against the far wall of the storage area, such that no storage space is wasted behind the assembly 20 . Next, the platform portion 26 is positioned adjacent the ground, i.e. adjacent the base portion 22 . The lawn tractor is loaded onto the platform, and then the platform is elevated to a desired distance from the base portion 22 . Once raised, the platform portion 26 is (preferably automatically) locked in place to prevent movement of the platform portion 26 toward the base portion 22 (i.e., accidental lowering of the platform portion 26 ). (See FIG. 12 ) When it is desired to retrieve the stored item from storage, the platform portion 26 is first unlocked. In the preferred embodiment detailed above, this is done by first actuating the motion actuator 28 to slightly raise the platform portion 26 , and then pulling the flexible member 78 to release the safety mechanism 74 by pivoting the tooth-engaging portion 76 away from the toothed member 48 . In this embodiment, it is necessary to slightly raise the platform portion 26 before disengaging the safety mechanism 74 , since the weight of the platform portion 26 and any loaded items at least partially rests upon the safety latch 74 , resulting in sufficiently great frictional forces generated between the safety latch 75 and the toothed member 48 that it is essentially impossible to release the safety latch 75 by pulling on the flexible member 78 without first raising the platform portion 26 to relieve the frictional forces.
Once the safety mechanism 74 is disengaged, the motion actuator 28 may be engaged to lower the platform portion 26 substantially to the ground, or at least far enough to facilitate unloading of the platform portion 26 . It is preferred that if the platform portion 26 is to be left in a raised position for any length of time, the motion actuator 28 be disabled (such as by key control, removal of the conduit 82 , or the like) to prevent accidental lowering of the platform portion 26 .
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 is understood that the embodiments have been shown and described in the foregoing specification in satisfaction of the best mode and enablement requirements. It is understood that one of ordinary skill in the art could readily make a nearly infinite number of insubstantial changes and modifications to the above-described embodiments and that it would be impractical to attempt to describe all such embodiment variations in the present specification. Accordingly, it is understood that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected.
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A storage device for off-floor storage, including a base for emplacement on a floor of a storage area, a substantially vertical support member extending from the base and defining a deployment axis, a platform movably connected to the vertical support member, and a lift actuator operationally connected to the platform. The lift actuator may be energized to move the platform into any one of a plurality of substantially parallel vertical positions oriented generally transversely to the deployment axis. The base is decoupled from the floor.
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[0001] This is a divisional application of the American patent application Ser. No. 13/808,596 filed on Jan. 6, 2013 and entitled “Method for Increasing the Efficiency of Inducing Pluripotent Stem Cells”.
[0002] The present application contains a Sequence Listing which has been submitted via EFS-Web and is hereby incorporated by reference in entirety. Said ASCII copy, created on 27 Aug. 2013, is named 130827_VM44503_PW12884-seqlisting-amended-JH, and is 20,874 bytes in size.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The present invention relates to a method for increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells, and more particularly, to a method for increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells by utilizing genes Jhdm1b and Jhdm1a that modify histone.
[0004] China is a populous country in the world and also has the highest number of organ losses, damages, failures, and functional disorders as a result of trauma, disease, aging, and heredity. Classical medical therapies based on drugs and surgeries have failed to satisfy the tremendous demand of clinical medicine. As a result, the research on the stem cells and the regenerative medicine attracts the attention of numerous research entities and all sectors of the society.
[0005] The cell transplantation therapy constitutes an important research direction of the regenerative medicine, and specific types of cell transplantations may be used to treat heart injury, nervous system degenerative diseases, spinal injury, renal failure, hematological system diseases, and so on. However, the cell transplantation therapy is facing many intricate problems such as allograft rejection and limited cell sources.
[0006] The stem cell is a type of cell capable of selfrenewal and can differentiate into various functional cells under certain conditions. Based on their development stage, the stem cells are divided into embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Based on their development potential, the stem cells are divided into three types: totipotent stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, and unipotent stem cells. The stem cell is a type of immature cell that is not fully differentiated and has a potential function to regenerate various tissues and organs and the human body, so it is called “universal cell” in the field of medicine.
[0007] In order to solve the problems encountered by the cell transplantation therapy, the transformation of cell fate attracts the attention of more and more scientists. Although the determination of cell differentiation and fate has always been considered as an irreversible and stable process in the development process, there are more and more in vitro evidences showing that this process is reversible.
[0008] The study on regulation of cell fate is just in a laboratory investigation state and is far from clinical trial. These transformed cells obtained through over-expression of transcription factors still have many application problems, for example, viral sequences integration, potential oncogenicity, the purity of the resultant transdifferentiated cells, and whether they can make up for normal cells which are damaged in certain conditions and play their due roles in the organism.
[0009] The induced pluripotent stem cell (i PS) is a type of cell that resembles with embryonic stem cell and has development totipotency. It acquires the properties of the stem cell by inducing the somatic cell through introducing specific ES enriched genes. In 2006, Japanese scientist Yamanaka introduced 24 candidate genes into mouse fibroblasts by using a retrovirus based vector, screened FBX15 positive cells by means of G418 resistance to isolate iPS clones similar to embryonic stem cells, and finally identified that 4 factors including Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 are sufficient to induce mouse FBX15-iPS cells; as compared with embryonic stem cells, these cells are similar with embryonic stem cells in the aspects of clone shape, proliferation capability and ability to form teratoma, but they are different from embryonic stem cells in terms of gene expression and genomic methylation profile and cannot obtain living chimeric mice. Afterwards, this group and other two groups changed the screening method, and they used Nanog as the standard and obtained iPSs that are similar to embryonic stem cells in many aspects and these iPSs can produce chimeric offspring. Recently, the three research groups independently confirmed, by tetraploid complementation test, that mouse iPS cells can develop into an individual and possess development totipotency.
[0010] Following the method of inducing mouse iPSs, in 2007, each of the two groups Yamanaka [8] and Yu Junying [9] successfully reprogrammed human somatic cells into iPS cells, wherein the former transduced Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 into human epidermal fibroblasts by using a retrovirus, while the latter incorporated Otc3/4, Sox2, Nanog, and Lin28 into foreskin cells by using a lentivirus. Both of the analysis on gene expression profiling and the analysis on the methylation of the promoter regions of genes Oct3/4 and Nanog showed that the human iPS cell line is very similar to the corresponding embryonic stem cell line, and all of the cells can develop into 3 germinal layers when they are injected into the body of a nude mouse. Furthermore, somatic cells can be successfully induced into iPSs in rat, swine, and monkey, in addition to mouse and human.
[0011] The cells that can be successfully reprogrammed are not only limited to fibroblasts, and many other types of adult cells can also be successfully induced into iPS cells, including pancreas beta cells, adult neural stem cells, hepatocytes, gastric cells, mature B cells, haematopoietic cells, meningocytes, adipose-derived stem cells, cord blood cells, peripheral blood CD34 positive cells, and keratinocytes. For cells at different differentiation stages, the difficulties in inducing and reprogramming them into iPSs are different. Take mouse haematopoietic cells as an example: the reprogramming efficiency of haematopoietic stem cells and haematopoietic progenitor cells may be up to 28% which is 300 times that of terminally differentiated T cells and B cells.
[0012] In inducing iPSs, it is often to incorporate an exogenous gene into cells by means of a retrovirus and a lentivirus, which provides very high gene transduction efficiency. However, integration of the viral sequence into the genome of the cell may result in gene insertional mutagenesis and even carcinogenicity, so this gene introduction method having potential risks is obviously unfavorable to application of the iPS technique in the field of regenerative medicine. Therefore, a different study group used non-integrating vectors to induce iPSs and succeeded. These vectors include an adenovirus vector, a common expression vector, a transposon, an episome vector, and a minicircle DNA vector.
[0013] Both of the combination of Sox2, Klf4, Oct3/4 and c-Myc and the combination of Sox2, Oct3/4, Nanog and Lin28 can successfully induce the generation of iPSs. Further studies found that c-Myc is not essential for reprogramming and the three transcription factors including Sox2, Klf4 and Oct3/4 are sufficient to drive the reprogramming of human and mouse somatic cells. Neural stem cells endogenously express high levels of Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, so it only needs to incorporate exogenous Oct3/4 in order to successfully induce iPSs. Among the transcription factors used in reprogramming, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc can all be replaced by other members of the same family, for example, Klf2 and Klf5 can replace Klf4; Sox1 and Sox3 can replace Sox2; N-Myc and L-Myc can replace c-Myc; but Oct1 and Oct6 cannot replace Oct4. Esrrb directly binds to Oct3/4 protein to regulate the self-regeneration and totipotency of stem cells, and in reprogramming, Esrrb can replace Klf4 to induce iPSs in combination with Sox 2 and Oct3/4. Oct3/4 is a very important transcription factor in reprogramming. Recent studies found that nuclear receptors LRH-1 (Nr5a2) and Nr5a1 can replace Oct3/4 and can induce mouse adult cells into iPSs in combination with Klf4 and Sox2.
[0014] However, so far, there are several different combinations of transcription factors capable of reprogramming, including Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, and c-Myc; Oct4, Nanog, Lin28, Sox2; Sox2, Klf4, and Lrh1; Oct4 and bmil, as well as reprogramming-related genes such as esrrb and tbx3. For the transcription factor combinations required by existing reprogramming methods, it needs to incorporate as many as 3 or 4 transcription factors and the induction efficiency is low. How to reduce the number of transcription factors while maintaining a high reprogramming efficiency is of great importance for reducing the accumulation of cell mutations in reprogramming and for improving the operability of the reprogramming technique. Furthermore, searching for genes that replace common transcription factors facilitates the study of the reprogramming mechanism and the improvement of the reprogramming technique.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] An objective of the present invention is to provide a method of reducing the number of transcription factors while maintaining a high reprogramming efficiency, reducing the accumulation of cell mutations in reprogramming, and improving the operability of the reprogramming technique.
[0016] To achieve this objective, the following technical solution is adopted to provide a method for increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells, comprising the following steps:
[0017] a. transferring a transcription factor and Jhdm1b into mammalian adult cells which are then cultured in an inducing medium to induce pluripotent stem cell clones, wherein the transcription factor is Oct4 alone, or a combination of Oct4, Klf4, and Sox2, or a combination of Oct4, Klf4, c-Myc, and Sox2;
[0018] b. culturing and expanding the induced pluripotent stem cell clones in a stem cell culture medium.
[0019] Another technical solution of the present invention is to provide a method for increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells, comprising the following steps:
[0020] a. transferring a transcription factor and Jhdm1b into mammalian adult cells which are then cultured in an inducing medium containing vitamin C to induce pluripotent stem cell clones, wherein the transcription factor is Oct4 alone, or a combination of Oct4 and Sox2, or a combination of Oct4 and Klf4, or a combination of Oct4, Klf4, and Sox2, or a combination of Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, and c-Myc;
[0021] b. culturing and expanding the induced pluripotent stem cell clones in a stem cell culture medium.
[0022] Preferably, the above steps are as follows:
[0023] a. transferring a transcription factor and Jhdm1b into mammalian adult cells which are then cultured in an inducing medium to induce pluripotent stem cell clones, wherein the transcription factor is Oct4 alone, or a combination of Oct4 and Sox2, or a combination of Oct4 and Klf4, or a combination of Oct4, Klf4, and Sox2;
[0024] b. culturing and expanding the induced pluripotent stem cell clones in a stem cell culture medium.
[0025] Preferably, the transcription factor and Jhdm1b are encoded or noncoding RNAs, proteins, or polypeptides capable of inducing pluripotent stem cells.
[0026] Preferably, the transferring of Jhdm1b into mammalian adult cells is achieved by incorporating a vector capable of expressing Jhdm1b into the cells.
[0027] Preferably, the vector is a viral vector, a plasmid vector, an external satellite vector, or an mRNA vector, or is chemically synthesized directly.
[0028] Preferably, the viral vector is a retrovirus which is a pMXs vector.
[0029] Preferably, the Jhdm1b is a polypeptide for demethylation modification, a functional variant thereof, and a functional fragment thereof.
[0030] Preferably, the mammalian adult cells are fibroblasts, neural cells, haematopoietic cells, and neuroglial cells.
[0031] Preferably, the mammalian adult cells are mouse embryonic fibroblasts.
[0032] Another technical solution is provided by the present invention to provide a method for increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells, comprising the following steps:
[0033] a. transferring a transcription factor, Jhdm1b, and Jhdm1a into mammalian adult cells which are then cultured in an inducing medium to induce pluripotent stem cell clones, wherein the transcription factor is Oct4 alone, or a combination of Oct4 and Sox2, or a combination of Oct4 and Klf4, or a combination of Oct4, Klf4, and Sox2;
[0034] b. culturing and expanding the induced pluripotent stem cell clones in a stem cell culture medium.
[0035] Preferably, the above method comprises the following steps:
[0036] a. transferring a transcription factor, Jhdm1b, and Jhdm1a into mammalian adult cells which are then cultured in an inducing medium containing vitamin C to induce pluripotent stem cell clones, wherein the transcription factor is Oct4;
[0037] b. culturing and expanding the induced pluripotent stem cell clones in a stem cell culture medium containing vitamin C.
[0038] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: by utilizing polypeptides Jhdm1b and Jhdm1a that modify histone, and a stem cell inducing factor, the present invention increases the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells and increases the quality of induced pluripotent stem cells. The present method achieves better effects by using less types of stem cell inducing factors as compared with the existing methods of inducing pluripotent stem cells. Preferably, the method of the present invention uses Oct4, Klf4 and Sox2, Oct4 and Klf4, Oct4 and Sox2, or Oct4 alone. The method of the present invention further comprises exposing the cells to vitamin C, which further increases the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells as compared with the case where no vitamin C is used. By using less stem cell reducing factors, the method of the present invention reduces the potential carcinogenicity, obtains a high inducing efficiency, and provides high-quality induced pluripotent stem cells capable of germ-line transmission.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0039] FIG. 1 shows data indicating that Jhdm1a or Jhdm1b increases the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells as mediated by SKO, wherein the control is a pMXs-FLAG empty vector where no gene sequence is inserted;
[0040] FIG. 2 shows data indicating that Jhdm1a or Jhdm1b promotes the efficiency of reprogramming mediated by SKOM;
[0041] FIG. 3 shows that in the presence of vitamin C, Jhdm1a and Jhdm1b act together to enable re-programming only using SO, KO, and Oct4;
[0042] In FIG. 4 , a and d are microphotographs of the induced pluripotent stem cells that are finally formed by using Oct4+Jhdm1b (briefed as OB); b and e are photographs of chimeric offspring that are developed after the induced pluripotent stem cells finally formed by using OB are injected into the blastula; and c and f are photographs of the offspring that are generated after the chimeras mated with wild type mice, wherein the chimeras are developed after the induced pluripotent stem cells finally formed by using OB are injected into the blastula);
[0043] FIG. 5 shows the results of PCR amplification of the genomic DNAs of the pluripotent stem cell clones, indicating that in the genomes of the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15 and C16, only Oct4 and Jhdm1b are integrated, wherein the control is the genomic DNAs extracted from cells infected with Sox2, Klf4, Oct4, c-Myc and Jhdm1b, and MEF indicates genomic DNAs extracted from mouse embryonic fibroblasts;
[0044] FIG. 6 shows the results of quantitative PCR, indicating that exogenous genes of the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15 and C16 are silently expressed, wherein the OB D4 control is a cDNA template obtained by reverse transcription of mRNAs extracted from the cells that have been infected with Oct4 and Jhdm1b and cultured for 4 days, and MEF is the mouse embryonic fibroblast;
[0045] FIG. 7 shows the results of real-time quantitative PCR, indicating that the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15 and C16 express embryonic stem cell specific genes, wherein R1 is the mouse embryonic stem cell line, and MEF is the mouse embryonic fibroblast;
[0046] FIG. 8 shows the results of immunofluorescence, indicating that the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clone C14 expresses embryonic stem cell specific gene Rex1 and embryonic stem cell specific surface marker SSEA-1, wherein Marker represents a stem cell specific marker molecule (i.e., Rex1 or SSEA-1);
[0047] FIG. 9 shows the analysis results of measured methylation of CpGs in a region of Oct4 adjacent to the promoter in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cells;
[0048] FIG. 10 shows the analysis results of measured methylation of CpGs in a region of Nanog adjacent to the promoter in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cells;
[0049] FIG. 11 shows the karyograms of Oct4 and Jhdm1b induced pluripotent stem cells;
[0050] FIG. 12 shows the efficiencies of inducing pluripotent stem cells by the various mutants of Jhdm1b. The Jmjc mutation involves mutating histidine at position 221, isoleucine at position 222, and aspartic acid at position 223 into alanine; the CxxC mutation involves mutating cysteine at positions 586, 589, and 592 into alanine;
[0051] FIG. 13 shows the spectrum of the pMXs-FLAG plasmid.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0052] All the technical terms used herein have the same meanings as understood by those of ordinary skills in the art. For the definitions and terms of the art, one killed may refer to, for example, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, edited by Ausubel, et al, John Wiley & Sons, 2009. The abbreviations of amino acid residues are the standard 3-letters and/or 1-letter codes that are used in the art to represent one of the 20 common L-amino acids.
[0053] In spite of the numerical ranges and parameter approximations shown in the broad scope of the present invention, the values shown in the specific embodiments shall be recorded as accurate as possible. However, any values must contain certain error by themselves inevitably, which are attributable to their standard deviations present in their respective measurements. In addition, all the ranges disclosed herein shall be construed as covering any and all sub-ranges thereof.
[0054] The terms “polypeptide” and “protein” used herein may be used interchangeably to indicate a string of at least two amino acid residues that are interconnected with one another via covalent bond (e.g., peptide bond), which may be recombinant polypeptides, natural polypeptides, or synthetic polypeptides. Particularly, the polypeptides described herein are human and/or mouse polypeptides.
[0055] The terms “variant”, “polypeptide variant” or “analogue” used herein indicates a polypeptide that is different from the original polypeptide in the amino acid sequence by one or more substitutions, deletions, insertions, fusions, truncations or any combinations thereof. The variant polypeptide may be fully functional or may lack one or more active functions. The term “functional variant” used herein only contains, for example, conservative changes or the changes in non-critical residues or non-critical regions, and retains the functions of the original polypeptide. The functional variant may further contain the substitution of similar amino acids, which results in unchanged functions or insignificant function changes. Amino acids that are important for the functions may be identified by methods known in the art, for example, site directed mutagenesis or glycine scanning mutagenesis (Cunningham, B. and Wells, J., Science, 244: 1081-1085, 1989). Sites that are crucial to polypeptide activity may be determined by, for example, structural analysis such as crystallization, nuclear magnetic resonance, or photoaffinity labeling (Smith, L. et al., J. Mol. Biol., 224: 899-904, 1992; de Vos, A. et al., Science, 255: 306-312, 1992).
[0056] In some embodiments of the present invention, the variants of Jhdm1a are selected from polypeptides comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least 70% (preferably 80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, and 99%) homologous to the amino acid sequence encoded by SEQ ID NO: 1. In other embodiments of the present invention, the variants of Jhdm1b are selected from polypeptides comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least 70% (preferably 80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, and 99%) homologous to the amino acid sequence encoded by SEQ ID NO: 2. The amino acid sequence encoded by Jhdm1a is SEQ ID NO: 7, and the amino acid sequence encoded by Jhdm1b is SEQ ID NO: 8.
[0057] The term “fragment” used herein refers to a molecule that is only a part of a full-length sequence. For example, a Jhdm1b polypeptide fragment is truncated Jhdm1b. The fragments may contain a sequence from any end of the full-length sequence or a sequence from the middle of the full-length sequence. The fragment may be a “functional fragment”, for example, a fragment that retains one or more functions of the full-length polypeptide. The term “functional fragment” used herein indicates that said fragment retains the functions of the full-length polypeptide, for example, inducing pluripotent stem cells or increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells.
[0058] Unless otherwise stated, when polypeptides, nucleic acids, or other molecules are mentioned herein, they include functional variants and functional fragments. For example, Jhdm1b and Jhdm1a further indicate the functional variants and functional fragments of natural Jhdm1b and Jhdm1a respectively.
[0059] The term “Jhdm1b” used herein may indicate a member of the family of JmjC-domain-containing histone demethylase (JHDM) that is evolutionarily conserved and widely expressed. It is also called Fbx110. In particular, said polypeptide is a human and/or mouse polypeptide.
[0060] The term “Jhdm1a” used herein may indicate another member of the family of JmjC-domain-containing histone demethylase (JHDM). It is also called Fbx111. In particular, said polypeptide is a human and/or mouse polypeptide.
[0061] The term “induced pluripotent stem cells” or “iPSs” used herein may be used interchangeably to indicate pluripotent stem cells obtained by artificially inducing non-pluripotent cells (such as somatic cells). Said inducing is generally achieved by forced expression of a specific gene, and this process is also called “inducing cells into pluripotent stem cells” herein.
[0062] The term “stem cell inducing factor” used herein indicates a factor that is capable of inducing cells into pluripotent stem cells by itself alone or in combination with other factors, such as proteins, polypeptides, and encoded or noncoding RNAs. Preferably, the stem cell inducing factor is a transcription factor, including Oct-3/4, the members of Sox family, the members of Klf family, the members of Myc family, Nanog, LIN28 and the like. Preferably, the stem cell inducing factor is selected from one or more of Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, and c-myc. More preferably, the stem cell inducing factor includes at least Oct4. In particular, the polypeptide is a human and/or mouse polypeptide.
[0063] The term “Oct4” used herein indicates a member of the family of octamer transcription factors. It plays a crucial role in maintaining the pluripotency of the cells. In the literatures, Oct4 was also called Oct3.
[0064] The term “Klf4” used herein indicates a member of the Krüppel-like family of transcription factors.
[0065] The term “Sox2” used herein indicates a member of the family of Sox transcription factors.
[0066] The term “c-myc” used herein indicates a transcription factor that is well known by those skilled in the art. It regulates the expression of many genes and recruits histone transacetylase. Its mutations are related to many cancers.
[0067] The term “histone modification” used herein indicates a variety of modifications to histone, such as acetylation, methylation, demethylation, phosphorylation, adenylation, ubiquitination, and ADP ribosylation. In particular, the histone modification includes the demethylation of histone.
[0068] The term “object” used herein refers to mammals, such as human being. Other animals may also be included, for example domestic animals (e.g., dog and cat), poultry (such as cattle, sheep, swine, and horse), or laboratory animals (such as monkey, rat, mouse, rabbit, and guinea pig).
[0069] The term “consistency”, “percent consistency”, “homology”, or “identity” used herein refers to the sequence identity between two amino acid sequences or nucleic acid sequences. The percent consistency may be determined by the alignment of two sequences, and it refers to the number of identical residues (i.e., amino acids or nucleotides) at positions common to the compared sequences. Sequence alignment and comparison may be carried out by the standard algorithms of the art (for example, Smith and Waterman, 1981, Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482; Needleman and Wunsch, 1970, J. Mol. Biol. 48:443; Pearson and Lipman, 1988, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 85:2444) or a computerized version of these algorithms (Wisconsin Genetics Software Package Release 7.0, Genetics Computer Group, 575 Science Drive, Madison, Wis.). The computerized version is publicly available as BLAST and FASTA. Additionally, the ENTREZ available from the National Institute of Health (Bethesda Md.) may be used for sequence comparison. When BLAST and gapped BLAST programs are used, the default parameters of the respective programs (such as BLASTN, which is available on the internet site of the National Center for Biotechnology Information) may be used. In one embodiment, GCG with a gap weight of 1 may be used to determine the percent identity between two sequences, such that each amino acid gap is given a weight as if it is a single amino acid mismatch between the two sequences. Alternatively, ALIGN program (version 2.0), which is a part of GCG (Accelrys, San Diego, Calif.) sequence alignment software package, may be used.
[0070] The term “vector” used herein is used in the meaning well known by those skilled in the art and may be an expression vector. The vector may include viruses (such as poxvirus, adenovirus, and baculovirus); yeast vectors, bacteriophages, chromosomes, artificial chromosomes, plasmids, cosmids, episome vectors, and mRNA vectors, or may be chemically synthesized directly. Preferably, the virus vector is a retrovirus and/or lentivirus vector. More preferably, the retrovirus is a pMXs vector.
[0071] The term “excessive” used herein indicates being significantly higher than the normal level, and particularly indicates that the expression of a polypeptide is statistically significantly higher that in normal cells. Preferably, it is higher by 20%, 50%, 100%, 200%, or even 5, 10, or 100 times.
[0072] The term “over-expression” used herein indicates that the expression level is significantly higher than the normal level, and particularly indicates that the expression of a polypeptide is statistically significantly higher that in normal cells. Preferably, it is higher by 20%, 50%, 100%, 200%, or even 5, 10, or 100 times.
[0073] The term “incorporation” used herein indicates a process to introduce exogenous substances (such as nucleic acids or proteins) into cells by, for example, calcium phosphate transfection, virus infection, liposome transfection, electroporation, gene gun or the like.
[0074] Herein, delivering an exogenous polypeptide into cells may be carried out by various methods, for example, by transporters or transport factors, and preferably, by liposome, bacterial polypeptide fragments or the like (refer to WO2002/079417, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference).
[0075] The cells that may be used in the method of the present invention are preferably mammalian cells, and more preferably human and mouse cells. In particular, the cells are somatic cells, such as epithelial cells, neural cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, myocytes, haematopoietic cells, immunocytes, and lymphocytes. More particularly, the cells are pancreatic beta cells, adult neural stem cells, hepatocytes, gastric cells, mature B cells, haematopoietic cells, meningocytes, adipose-derived stem cells, cord blood cells, peripheral blood CD34 positive cells, and keratinocytes.
Example 1
1. Construction of Vectors Comprising Jhdm1a and Jhdm1b Coding Regions:
[0076] a. Design of Primers for Cloning
[0077] The sequence data of cDNAs of Jhdm1a and Jhdm1b were obtained from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed, wherein the sequence of the cloning region of the Jhdm1a cDNA is SEQ ID NO: 1, and the sequence of the cloning region of the Jhdm1b cDNA is SEQ ID NO: 2. The coding sequences of Jhdm1a and Jhdm1b were amplified by designing specific primers.
[0078] The base sequence of Jhdm1a upstream primer is shown as SEQ ID NO: 3;
[0079] The base sequence of Jhdm1a downstream primer is shown as SEQ ID NO: 4;
[0080] The base sequence of Jhdm1b upstream primer is shown as SEQ ID NO: 5;
[0081] The base sequence of Jhdm1b downstream primer is shown as SEQ ID NO: 6;
[0082] b. Amplification of Coding Sequences by RT-PCR
[0083] Total mRNAs were extracted from isolated ICR mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and human H1 embryonic stem cells according to the following method: a culture medium was removed from a culture tray, cells were rinsed with 3-5 ml of normal saline (PBS) (Gibco), and the rinsing solution is discarded. Then, 1 ml of cell lysate Trizol (Takara) was added into the culture tray, and a pipet was used to draw the resulting mixture solution and gently blow the cells so that they were completely dissolved in the lysate. Next, they were transferred into a clear 1.5 ml centrifuge tube to be stored at −80° C. or immediately subjected to the following extraction step. Afterwards, 200 μl of trichloromethane was added thereto, and the mixture were well mixed by turning the tube up and down for about 30 seconds and then centrifuged at 4° C. at 12000 rpm for 5 minutes. The supernatant was carefully drawn and transferred into a clear 1.5 ml centrifuge tube and then an equal volume of isopropanol was added thereto. They were well mixed, allowed to stand at the room temperature for 5 minutes, and then centrifuged at 4° C. at 12000 rpm for 5 minutes, at which time a small white precipitate was found at the bottom of the tube. The supernatant was discarded carefully, and next, 500 μl of an 80% ethanol solution was added into the tube to rinse away residual isopropanol. The tube was centrifuged at 12000 rpm to remove the ethanol solution. The centrifugate was kept at the room temperature for 30 minutes so that the white total mRNAs at the bottom of the tube were fully dried. Next, 30-50 μl of double distilled water was added into the centrifuge tube to incubate at 55° C. for 30 minutes. Afterward, the tube was taken out and measured for the concentration of total mRNAs by a spectrophotometer. The extracted total mRNAs were stored at −80° C. or directly used for preparing cDNAs by reverse transcription for later use.
[0084] The specific process and method of reverse transcription are as follows. Generally, 1 μg of total mRNAs were taken for reverse transcription, to which oligodT (Takara), dNTP (Takara), RTace (Toyobo), RT buffer and RRI (RNAse inhibitor, Takara), and RNase/DNase-free water were added. The mixture reacted on a PCR instrument at 42° C. for 60 minutes, was incubated at 98° C. for 5 minutes, and was then cooled down to the room temperature. After the reverse transcription succeeded, 0.5 μl of the reaction was taken out to act as the template to amplify the target gene by PCR using the primers designed by the above method. The reagents used include high-fidelity polymerase KOD and its buffer (Toyobo), dNTPs (Takara), and primers. The following process was run on the PCR instrument: denaturation at 96° C. for 5 minutes, at 95° C. for 30 seconds, annealing at 60° C. for 25 seconds, and elongation at 68° C. for 3.5 minutes; the 2-4 steps were repeated for 32 times.
[0085] c. Plasmid Construction
[0086] Please refer to FIG. 13 . After the amplification was completed, the PCR product was subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis and PCR fragments were extracted using a gel extraction kit (TIANGEN, DP214-03). The pMXs vector (purchased from addgene, and inserted with multiple cloning sites and FLAG labeling sequences) was used. The modified pMXs vector is called pMXs-FLAG, the plasmid presentation of which is shown in FIG. 13 . The vector was cleaved with pmel and dephosphorylated with calf intestinal alkaline phosphatase (CIAP) so as to avoid its self-ligation. The treated vector was recovered using the gel extraction kit (TIANGEN, DP214-03) for later use. The pMX-FLAG vector and the gene fragments of Jhdm1a/Jhdm1b were ligated by a ligation kit (Takara, DNA Ligation Kit), and then the ligating product was used to transform competent E. Coli. The positive clones were selected, the plasmids were extracted and sequenced, and finally plasmids were prepared in a large scale.
2. Introducing the Coding Sequences of Jhdm1a/Jhdm1b and the Pluripotent Stem Cell Inducing Factor (Transcription Factor) into Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts
[0087] Unless specifically stated, the mouse based somatic cell reprogramming was carried out by the following manner in all cases.
[0088] Culture Medium
[0089] The culture medium for feeder layer cells, MEF cells, and PlatE cells consists of: high glucose basal medium DMEM (Gibco), plus 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS, PAA).
[0090] Inducing medium: the present invention used an inducing medium that is conventional in the laboratory, and the composition of a preferred inducing medium includes DMEM high glucose medium (Gibco), 15% fetal bovine serum (FBS, Gibco), 0.1 mM nonessential amino acid (NEAA, Gibco), 2 mML-glutamine (Glutamax, Gibco), 1 mM sodium pyruvate (Gibco), 55 μM β-mercaptoethanol (n-ME, Gibco), penicillin (50 U/mL) and streptomycin (50 μg/mL), leukemia inhibitory factor 1000 U/ml (LIF, Millipore), and as necessary, 50 μg/mL vitamin C (sigma).
[0091] Stem cell culture medium: the present invention used a stem cell culture medium that is conventional in the laboratory, and preferably the mES stem cell culture medium, the composition of which consists of: high glucose DMEM medium (Gibco) supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum, 0.1 mM nonessential amino acid (NEAA, Gibco), 2 mM L-glutamine (Glutamax, Gibco), 1 mM sodium pyruvate (Gibco), 55 μM β-mercaptoethanol (Gibco), penicillin (50 U/mL) and streptomycin (50 μg/mL), and leukemia inhibitory factor 1000 U/ml (LIF, Millipore). 50 μg/mL vitamin C (sigma) are incorporated as necessary.
[0092] KSR serum-free culture medium: KSR, the abbreviation of Knockout Serum Replace, is a commercialized serum replacing stem cell culture additive and is used as a complete KSR serum-free medium for culturing stem cells or iPS clones, the composition of which consists of: KNOCKOUT DMED (a basal medium with optimized osmotic pressure that is suitable for culturing stem cells), a 15% KSR additive, 0.1 mM nonessential amino acid (NEAA, Gibco), 2 mM L-glutamine (Glutamax, Gibco), 1 mM sodium pyruvate (Gibco), 55 μM β-mercaptoethanol (n-ME, Gibco), penicillin (50 U/mL) and streptomycin (50 μg/mL), leukemia inhibitory factor 1000 U/ml (LIF, Millipore). All the iPS processes and cloning culture media are supplemented with mouse leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF, millipore, trade name: ESGRO, a growth factor that inhibits the differentiation of mouse stem cells) at a final concentration of 1000 U/ml.
3. Cells for Reprogramming
[0093] All the somatic cells for reprogramming are OG2 mouse embryonic fibroblasts (homemade), the passage number of which does not exceed three. One property of the OG2 mouse is that there is a green fluorescence protein (GFP) under the control of the Oct4 promoter that is specifically expressed by the stem cells. In reprogramming, when the endogenous Oct4 of the OG2 mouse embryonic fibroblasts is activated, the green fluorescence protein is expressed concomitantly. As observed through a fluorescence microscope, the successfully reprogrammed cells or cloned cell aggregates are green, and it is easy to compare the reprogramming efficiencies at different conditions by directly adding up the number of reprogrammed clones, i.e., the number of green fluorescence clones, or by analyzing the proportion of green fluorescence cells through a flow cytometer.
[0094] The reprogrammed cells were prepared as follows. The cells were seeded in 12-well plates (Corning) at a density of 20000 cells per well, and after 6-18 hours, were infected with viruses with the mouse reprogramming factor based on the density and the state of the cells.
4. Preparation of Viruses
[0095] The transcription factors for reprogramming include the retrovirus vector pMXs for cDNAs of mouse Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc (from Addgene, numbered Plasmid 13366, Plasmid 13367, Plasmid 13370, and Plasmid 13375 respectively); Oct4, NCBI accession number: NM — 013663; Sox2, NCBI accession number: NM — 011443; Klf4, NCBI accession number: 010637; and c-Myc, NCBI accession number: NM — 001177353. The reprogramming factor plasmids on the pMX vector were transfected into the viral packaging cells (PlatE) by using a homemade calcium phosphate transfection reagent, and the specific process is: 7500000 PlatE cells were seeded in a 10-cm-diameter culture tray (Corning), and 12 hours later, the old culture medium was replaced by 7.5 ml of a culture medium free of penicillin/streptomycin, and then the cells were placed into an incubator. Next, the transfection mixture was prepared: 25 μg of the plasmids were taken and placed into a 15 ml centrifuge tube, and thereto 156.25 μl of a 2 M calcium chloride solution was added sequentially and an appropriate amount of water was additionally added so that the total volume thereof was 1.25 ml; they were well mixed, and 1.25 ml of an HBS solution was added thereto; the resulting mixture was mixed well immediately, allowed to standstill for 2 minutes, and then added dropwise into a PlatE culture tray and well mixed. 9-12 hours after the transfection, the old culture medium was replaced by 10 ml of a fresh culture solution; 48 hours after the transfection, the culture solution was collected and filtered with a 0.45 μm filter membrane to be used as the viral solution for first infection; thereto a fresh culture solution was added 24 hours later, and the culture solution was re-collected in this way to be used as the viral solution for second infection.
5. Infecting MEF Cells with the Virus
[0096] The infection was carried out in two rounds, wherein the inducing factors used infected the cells simultaneously, each well of the 12-well plates was infected with 1 ml of the virus, the second round of infection was carried out 24 hours after the first round of infection, and the viral solution was replaced with the mES culture medium (as described above) 24 hours after the second round of infection. The day of solution replacement was recorded as day 0 (DO); at different time points after infection, in the original wells, the number of GFP fluorescence clones was counted or the proportion of GFP fluorescence cells was analyzed using a flow cytometer as required by the experiment.
6. Culturing the Infected Cells Until Formation of Stem Cell Clones
[0097] Embryonic stem cell-like monoclones with a swollen shape and clear edges were picked out using glass needles and directly transferred into culture plates (Corning) laid with feeder layer cells (the feeder layer cells are ICR mouse fibroblasts treated with mitamycin) in advance to culture with the KSR culture medium. At day 2 after infection, the culture system was replaced with a fresh inducing medium, and afterward, the inducing medium was replaced everyday until the experiment was completed.
[0098] Based on the above method for producing stem cell clones, the experiments were carried out using different combinations of pluripotent stem cell inducing factors.
[0099] The combinations of pluripotent stem cell inducing factors are described as follows:
[0100] The combination of Klf4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Oct4 is abbreviated as SKOM.
[0101] The combination of Klf4, Sox2, and Oct4 is abbreviated as SKO.
[0102] The combination of Klf4 and Oct4 is abbreviated as KO.
[0103] The combination of Sox2 and Oct4 is abbreviated as SO.
[0104] The combination of Oct4 and Jhdm1b is abbreviated as OB.
[0105] C4, C14, C15, and C16 are the four clones picked out from the OB induced reprogrammed cells.
[0106] The results of the experiments using the combinations of stem cell inducing factors are as follows:
[0107] Referring to FIG. 1 , no matter whether vitamin C was present or not, Jhdm1a or Jhdm1b obviously improved the efficiency of reprogramming, and in the presence of vitamin C, the improvement was more significant. FIG. 1 shows the data that Jhdm1a or Jhdm1b improved the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells as mediated by SKO, wherein the control is a pMXs-FLAG empty vector with no gene sequence inserted therein;
[0108] Referring to FIG. 2 , no matter whether vitamin C was present or not, Jhdm1a or Jhdm1b obviously improved the efficiency of reprogramming, and in the presence of vitamin C, the improvement was more significant. FIG. 2 shows the data that Jhdm1a or Jhdm1b improved the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells as mediated by SKOM, wherein the control is a pMXs-FLAG empty vector with no gene sequence inserted therein;
[0109] Referring to FIG. 3 , in the presence of vitamin C, Jhdm1a and Jhdm1b acted together to enable the induction of pluripotent stem cells only in the availability of SO, KO, or Oct4, wherein mESC+Vc indicates that the culture medium used in the induction is stem cell culture medium mES supplemented with 50 μg/ml vitamin C, and the control is a pMXs-FLAG empty vector.
[0110] Therefore, the present invention reaches a conclusion that Jhdm1a and Jhdm1b can significantly improve the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells, greatly reduce the types of transcription factors required to be incorporated while maintaining a high reprogramming efficiency, which provides great benefits for reducing the accumulation of reprogrammed cell mutations and reducing their carcinogenecity. In addition, the method of the present invention also improves the operability of the reprogramming technique, reduces the operative difficulty, and facilitates subsequent medical applications.
Example 2
Identification of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from the Example 1
[0111] As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 to FIG. 10 , a series of identification experiments were carried out on pluripotent stem cell clones induced by Oct4 and Jhdm1b to verify whether they are iPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells). The identification experiments include: quantitative PCR, immunofluorescence assay of their surface markers, promoter methylation degree analysis, karyotype identification, chimera formation, and so on.
[0112] Quantitative PCR Experiments:
[0113] All the quantitative PCR experiments were conducted in a CFX-96 type quantitative PCR instrument from Biorad using a kit from Takara, and the reaction conditions were 95° C., 2 minutes, 95° C., 10 seconds, 60° C., 30 seconds, reading the fluorescence value, repeating for 40 cycles.
[0114] Analysis of Methylation of the Promoter Region
[0115] The analysis was carried out by sodium bisulphite sequencing. The genomic DNAs in the target cells were extracted (Promega, Wizard® Genomic DNA Purification Kit), the concentration was measured, approximately 2 μg of DNAs were placed into a 1.5 ml EP tube where they were diluted with ddH20 to 50 μl, thereto 5.5 μl of freshly prepared 3 M NaOH was added, and the resulting solution was treated in a water bath at 42° C. for 30 minutes; next, the solution was taken out, 30 μl of 10 mM hydroquinone (sigma) was added into the mixture solution after the water bath treatment, and then 520 μl of 3.6 M sodium bisulphite (Sigma, S9000) was additionally added into the solution after the water bath treatment; the EP tube was wrapped with aluminum foil paper outside to avoid light, and the solution was well mixed by gently turning the EP tube up and down; 200 μl of paraffin oil was added thereto so as to prevent evaporation of water and oxidization, and the solution was treated in a water bath at 50° C. in darkness for 16 hours.
[0116] Next, the tip of a pipet was put below the paraffin oil layer to draw the mixture solution into a clear 1.5 ml centrifuge tube, and the modified DNAs were recovered using a Promega Wizard Cleanup DNA purification and retraction system (Promega, A7280), and then stored at −20° C. or subjected to a further experiment. 50 ng of the above extracted DNAs were taken as the template to conduct the PCR reaction. Afterward, the PCR product was recovered by gel extraction (TIANGEN, DP214-03), and the PCR product and a T vector (Takara) were then ligated and transformed. The positive clones were selected and sent to a sequencing company for sequencing, and the results were compared to statistically analyze the methylation of the CpG islands.
[0117] Identification of Karyotype of iPS Cells
[0118] The identification of karyotype of iPS cells was conducted according to the following method: 2-3 hours before harvesting, to the cells to be analyzed for karyotype, 0.1 ml of 5 μg/ml colchicine (commercially available, with a final concentration of 0.1 μg/ml) was added. They were well mixed, further cultured for 2-3 hours, transferred into a 10 ml centrifuge tube, and then centrifuged at 1500-2000 rpm for 10 minutes. The supernatant was discarded, and an 8 ml of a hypotonic solution (0.075 M KCl, preheated at 37° C.) was added to the tube. The cell precipitate was blown homogenously and placed in an incubator at 37° C. for half an hour. Thereto, 1 ml of a freshly prepared stationary liquid (a mixture of methanol and glacial acetic acid at a volume ratio of 3:1, commercially available) was added. The resulting mixture was gently mixed and centrifuged at the same rotation speed for the same period of time as the above. The supernatant was drawn off. 8 mL of the stationary liquid was added thereto. The cells were adequately mixed, fixed at the room temperature for at least half an hour, and centrifuged again. The supernatant was discarded, and a fresh stationary liquid was added thereto to further fix the cells for at least half an hour (desirably overnight). To the cell precipitate obtained after centrifugation and removal of the supernatant, about 0.2 ml of a fresh stationary liquid was added, and the resulting mixture was well mixed. The resulting cell suspension was dropped onto pre-cooled slides (it is advisable to drop 3 drops of the cell suspension on each slide) which were then baked on an alcohol lamp. The cells were then cooled down and banded.
[0119] Blastula Chimera Test
[0120] In the blastula chimera test, iPS cells were injected into the blastocoele of donor mice, and then the injected blastulas were transplanted into the uteruses of pseudopregnant female mice to make chimeric mice. Whether the born mice produce chimera was determined based on their coat color.
[0121] Experiments were carried out according to the above method, and the results are analyzed as follows:
[0122] Referring to FIG. 5 , the PCR amplification results of the genomic DNAs of pluripotent stem cell clones show that, in the genomes of OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15, and C16, only Oct4 is integrated with Jhdm1b, wherein the control is genomic DNAs extracted from cells infected with Sox2, klf4, oct4, cMyc, and Jhdm1b, and MEF indicates genomic DNAs extracted from mouse embryonic fibroblasts;
[0123] Referring to FIG. 6 , the results of quantitative PCR show that exogenous genes of the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15, and C16 were silently expressed, wherein the OB D4 control is a cDNA template obtained by reverse transcription of mRNAs extracted from cells that have been infected with Oct4 and Jhdm1b and cultured for 4 days, and MEF is mouse embryonic fibroblast;
[0124] Refer to FIG. 7 . As shown in FIG. 7 , the results of real-time quantitative PCR show that the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15, and C16 expressed embryonic stem cell specific genes, wherein R1 is mouse embryonic stem cell line, and MEF is mouse embryonic fibroblast; the expression level of endogenous embryonic stem cell transcription factors in the stem cells obtained by using the combination of Oct4 with Jhdm1b was substantially consistent with that in the embryonic stem cells. This indicates that the OB-induced pluripotent stem cell clones C4, C14, C15, and C16 express embryonic stem cell specific genes, and thus indicates that the pluripotent stem cells induced by the method of the present invention have the characteristics of pluripotent stem cells.
[0125] Refer to FIG. 8 . As shown in FIG. 8 , the immunofluorescence results show that the pluripotent stem cells obtained through OB expressed SSEA-1 on the surface and expressed Rex1 as well.
[0126] Refer to FIG. 9 which shows the analysis of methylation of CpG islands in the Oct4 promoter region, wherein the CpG islands of the donor cells were methylated, while the CpG islands at the corresponding positions of the induced pluripotent stem cells were significantly demethylated.
[0127] Refer to FIG. 10 which shows the analysis of methylation of CpG islands in the Nanog promoter region, wherein OB-C14, OB-C15, and OB-C16 are three pluripotent stem cells induced by Oct4 and Jhdm1b. The black parts indicate methylation, and the white parts indicate absence of methylation. The CpG islands of the donor cells were methylated, while the CpG islands at the corresponding positions of the induced pluripotent stem cells were significantly demethylated; Nanog and Oct4 are genes that are specifically expressed by embryonic stem cells and their expression states are closely related to the cell fate. These results show that the cells obtained by using the OB group had changed fate, that is to say, they were induced into pluripotent stem cells.
[0128] Refer to FIG. 11 which shows that the stem cells obtained by the method of the present invention had normal karyotypes, wherein OB-14, OB-C15, and OB-C16 are three pluripotent stem cells induced by Oct4 and Jhdm1b and have normal karyotypes.
[0129] Refer to FIG. 4 . As shown in FIG. 4 , a and d are the microphotographs of the induced pluripotent stem cells finally formed by Oct4+Jhdm1b (abbreviated as OB); b and e are the photographs of chimeric offspring that are developed after the induced pluripotent stem cells finally formed by OB are injected into the blastula; c and f are photographs of the offspring that are generated after the chimeras mated with wild type mice, wherein the chimeras are developed after the induced pluripotent stem cells finally formed by using OB are injected into the blastula. This shows that the stem cells obtained by the method of the present invention can form chimera, wherein the donor cells are induced pluripotent stem cells originated from OG2/129 cells, while the pseudopregnant mice are ICR mice fed in the laboratory. The chimeras were capable of transmitting the original donor cells to the offspring through the germ line, indicating that such stem cells have good quality.
[0130] Determination of the Functionalities of Jhdm1b Variants:
[0131] Refer to FIG. 12 . As shown in FIG. 12 , the Jhdm1b variants that are mutated did not have the activity of improving the reprogramming efficiency, so the DNA binding domain (CXXC) and the catalytic domain (Jmic) of Jhdm1b are necessary for reprogramming and a lack of either of them will fail to promote the process of reprogramming. Furthermore, the combination of Oct4 with Jhdm1b can complete reprogramming in a common culture medium, and achieves more significant effects in the presence of vitamin C.
[0132] What are described above are the embodiments of the present invention and are not to limit the patent scope of the present invention thereto. All equivalent structures or equivalent process changes made by utilizing the description and the appended drawings of the present invention, or the direct or indirect applications thereof in other relevant technical fields, are within the patent scope of the present invention in the similar way.
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The present invention relates to a method for increasing the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells by utilizing genes Jhdm1a that modify histone. By utilizing Jhdm1a, and a stem cell inducing factor, the present invention increases the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells and increases the quality of induced pluripotent stem cells. The stem cell inducing factor is a combination of Oct4 and Klf4, or a combination of Sox2, Oct4, and Klf4, or a combination of Oct4 and Sox2, and Oct4 alone. The method further comprises exposing the cells to vitamin C, which further increases the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells as compared with the case where no vitamin C is used. By using less stem cell reducing factors, the method of the present invention reduces the potential carcinogenicity, obtains a high inducing efficiency, and provides high-quality induced pluripotent stem cells capable of germ-line transmission.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for firmly positioning an underground utility pipe in a trench and securing the pipe against movement while fill is added to the trench. The apparatus includes means for marking the utility pipe. More particularly, the present invention relates to an underground positioning and anti-movement apparatus in the form of an underground stake adapted to be driven into base fill in the bottom of a trench, that includes an integral preferably curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member which engages the outer surface of an underground pipe to secure the pipe in position above or against the base fill at the bottom of a trench while additional fill is added to the trench. The present invention also includes at least one integral receptacle located longitudinally on the stake body above the pipe engaging member which receives, supports and secures tracer wire, caution tape, or other marking means used to facilitate identification and location of the secured underground pipe and which allows placement of the marking means at a location above the pipe before the trench is filled so that the trench may be filled without disturbing the position of the marking means in relation to the secured pipe and without having to lay the pipe and marking means at different stages in the fill process. The current invention may also include an integral anti-removal member which extends from the bottom of the stake, compresses when pressed into the underlying supporting base fill, and expands and scoops up base fill to impede movement of the stake when upward force is applied to the stake body.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,455, to R. E. McLaughlin et al., teaches an underground pipe hanger that includes a steel spike that is removably mounted in a bed of particle material and which slidably carries a bracket plate, held in position relative to the stake by means of a setscrew, having a cutout portion capable of accommodating pipes of different diameters and a cable, removably attached to the bracket plate to support the lower circumference of the pipe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,012, to Waller, teaches an underground pipe hanger of a unitary structure that includes a lower stake portion with opposed, rigid upwardly diverging barbs which is driven into the solid, unexcavated ground below the fill dirt at the base of a trench. The upper stake portion carries a pair of laterally extending arms that are integrally formed with the stake to support a pipe of predetermined diameter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,111, to Ismert, teaches a pipe anchor with a spike portion used to secure a pipe to the ground prior to pouring concrete and a body portion with a bottom edge consisting of a plurality of relatively straight edge segments which provide a concave recess for fitting over and retaining pipes of different diameters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,768, to Waller, teaches a pipe anchoring structure that includes a stake portion with fixed laterally extending wing members on the anchor portion of the stake that is driven into undisturbed earth and which carries up to two adjustable clamping members capable of securing in position pipes of different diameters, which are attached to the stake portion by a securing means after the clamping members have been attached to the positioned pipe.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a stake for positioning and securing against movement an underground pipe and means for marking that pipe's location in a trench while fill dirt is added to the trench. Maintaining the pipe and its markers in desired positions in a trench while fill is added around and above the pipe and its markers has been problematic. This invention provides a convenient, fast and simple apparatus for securing the pipe in position in the trench. The use of a plurality of stakes of the invention in series solves the problem of positioning and maintaining the pipe and its spaced markers at the desired depth, level and position before and during backfilling of the trench.
When a pipe is buried in a trench it is useful to mark the location of the pipe within the trench in order to locate and avoid damaging the pipe during excavation. It is usual to mark the pipe location with one or more means, such as a tracer wire or a caution tape. A tracer wire may be buried in proximity to a pipe in order to aid in location of the pipe when excavation is required. The tracer wire is a metallic wire whose position can be located by a metal detector, which will aid an excavator in finding the approximate location of the pipe, lying below and parallel to the tracer wire. Marking tapes, such as caution tapes, can also be buried parallel to and above the pipe to aid in visual identification and location of the pipe for service and maintenance. The presence of the marking tape functions to visually warn excavators of the location of the underground pipe, which is lying below and parallel to the marking tape. Such tapes are colored and printed with identifying or warning information. A limitation of the prior art is that the underground pipe must be positioned and fill dirt added and leveled in the trench before the marking means can be positioned on top of the fill in the partially filled trench. The present invention allows placement of a one or more marking means at a location above and parallel to the pipe before the trench is filled so that the pipe and marking means may be placed in position at the same stage in the installation process. The trench is then filled with loose fill dirt without disturbing the position of the pipe and marking means in relation to the secured pipe during the fill process.
The present invention provides distinct advantages over the prior art structures, in that it provides a strong, rigid member and receptacles to securely hold below ground level in a predetermined position relative to the base of a trench, a pipe and one or more marking means for locating or identifying the buried pipe. In addition, the invention may contain an anti-removal member designed for insertion and stability in loose, level, base fill at the bottom of the trench.
Base fill at the bottom of a trench is often not uniformly level along the length of the trench, making level installation of the pipe against the base fill problematic. In the preferred embodiment, the stake includes an integral curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member which receives, engages, and supports the outer surface of an underground pipe to secure the pipe in position. One or more stakes are placed in position in the trench in an upright manner, and then the pipe is positioned and confined by and within each of the stake's pipe engaging members, at a level above the base fill. Two integral receptacles are located longitudinally on the stake body, the first being about six inches above the pipe engaging member and the second about six inches above the first. The first receptacle has a closed wall opening which receives and positions a tracer wire at a distance above the pipe engaging member. The tracer wire is threaded through the closed wall opening of the first receptacle of each stake. Alternatively, a slot can be employed so that the wire does not require threading. The second receptacle, which is “C” shaped with a slot for inserting caution tape, supports and secures the caution tape at a distance spaced above the first receptacle. The caution tape is inserted through the slot in the second receptacle of each stake, wherein the tape is secured and supported by the C shaped receptacle. An integral anti-removal member, consisting of a multiplicity of hinged three-sided plane members, extends from the bottom of the stake. The anti-removal member's planes fold on hinges, thereby compressing when inserted into the underlying supporting base fill at the trench base and expanding to scoop up base fill and thereby minimize movement of the stake if an upward force is applied to the stake body during completion of the fill process. Lips extend at an upward angle from the top of each hinged plane of the anti-removal member to aid in filling the member with dirt as the member expands. The shapes of the planes and the orientation on the shaft of the anti-removal member can be varied to provide adequate clearance for the underground pipes during installation. An integral flange extends laterally from the bottom end of the stake body above the anti-removal member. The flange can be grasped for leverage while positioning the stake in the base fill. The flange can also be stepped down upon to seat the pipe engaging member firmly around the pipe and to push the compressed anti-removal member firmly into the loose fill.
Where the base fill in the bottom of the trench is level, the stake may be used to restrict the movement of the pipe, rather than to support the pipe. An alternate embodiment of the stake has a pipe-engaging member which is installed over the pipe and confines it against the base fill. An additional embodiment of the stake is constructed to be installed into the side of a trench at a level above the trench bottom, which allows the pipe to be positioned and supported in the trench without the use of base fill and in conjunction with other utilities.
The present invention comprises a stake, comprising a longitudinal shaft having a top end and a bottom end; a pipe engaging member extending laterally from said shaft at a location toward said bottom end; and at least one receptacle extending from said shaft at a location toward said top end and spaced from said pipe engaging member.
Even more particularly, the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a longitudinal shaft having a top end and a bottom end; a curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member extending laterally from the shaft at a location toward the bottom end, with a first end having an arched shape, a second end having an inwardly arched shape, and a diameter which generally corresponds to a tube diameter of a tube shaped object restrained by said pipe engaging member; a first receptacle extending from the shaft at a location toward the top end and spaced from the pipe engaging member, where the first receptacle is a receiving member with a closed wall opening which extends from the shaft at a location between the pipe engaging member and a second receptacle; a second receptacle extending from the shaft, where the second receptacle is a roughly C shaped member with a slotted opening which extends from the shaft at a location above the pipe engaging member and the first receptacle; an anti-removal member extending at a location from the bottom end of the shaft, where the anti-removal member contains a multiplicity of hinged, three-sided, planes which have a bottom portion, a top side, a left side, and a right side, the bottom portion of the planes extending from the shaft, and the left side of each plane being hinged to the right side of another plane allowing the member to expand and contract in size upon movement of the hinged planes; an outwardly extending lip projecting from the top side of each plane of the anti-removal member at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees; and a flange extending laterally from the shaft at a location toward the bottom end.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective fragmentary view of a trench dug in hard ground containing a level sand fill base with a pipe laying on the surface of the sand fill base, the pipe being held in position by spaced stakes constructed in accordance with the present invention and installed in accordance with the present invention, and a tracer wire and a marking tape being supported and secured in position by said spaced stakes.
FIG. 2 is a side-elevational view of the stake disclosed in FIG. 1 .
FIG. 3 a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified form of the stake of the present invention, where an anti-removal member extends from the shaft of the stake.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional top view of the stake taken along the line of 4 — 4 of FIG. 3, where the anti-removal is in a closed position.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional top view of the stake taken along the line of 4 — 4 of FIG. 3, where the anti-remover is in an open position.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional top view of the stake and a modified form of the anti-removal member taken along the line of 4 — 4 of FIG. 3, where the anti-removal member is in a closed position as FIG. 4 .
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of the modified form of the anti-removal member taken along the line 7 — 7 of FIG. 6, where the anti-removal member is in a closed position.
FIG. 8 a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified form of the stake of the present invention where the pipe engaging member has a modified form designed to support and secure the pipe at a distance above the base fill.
FIG. 9 is a preferred embodiment and is a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified form of the stake disclosed in FIG. 8, where an anti-removal member extends from the shaft of the stake.
FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of another modified form of the stake where the shaft of the stake supports and secures the pipe at a distance above the base of the trench.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to the Figures, FIG. 1 shows a trench 2 dug in hard ground 7 containing a level sand fill base 6 with a pipe 4 laying on the surface of the sand fill base 6 , the pipe 4 , for example, a flexible polyethylene gas line, being held in position by pipe engaging members 40 which extend laterally from the shafts 20 of two spaced stakes 10 . A tracer wire 8 is supported and secured in position by first receptacles 50 , and a marking or “caution” tape 9 is supported and secured in position by second receptacles 60 , which extend laterally from the shafts 20 of the spaced stakes 10 .
As seen in FIG. 2, the stake 10 has a longitudinal shaft 20 which has a top end 22 , a bottom end 24 , and a tapered point 26 extending from the bottom end 24 . The tapered point 26 of the shaft 20 is designed to facilitate insertion of the bottom end 24 of the shaft 20 into the sand base fill 6 at the bottom of the trench 2 . A pipe engaging member 40 extends laterally from the shaft 20 towards the bottom end 24 of the shaft 20 forming a pipe hold down hook. The pipe engaging member 40 has a preferred diameter “d” of approximately six inches or less to accommodate pipes with a similar or smaller diameter. An integral flange 30 extends laterally from the shaft 20 near the bottom end 24 . The flange 30 can be grasped for leverage while positioning the stake 10 in the sand base fill 6 . The flange 30 can also be pushed, stepped down upon, or driven to aid in seating the pipe engaging member 40 firmly around the pipe 4 . A first receptacle 50 extends laterally from the shaft 20 near the top end 22 between the pipe engaging member 40 and a second receptacle 60 at a distance of approximately six inches from the pipe engaging member 40 . The first receptacle 50 , has a receiving member 52 with a closed wall opening 54 . The first receptacle 50 is designed to receive a tracer wire 8 through and within the closed wall opening 54 contained in the receiving member 52 . The tracer wire 8 aids in locating, before excavation, the pipe 4 lying below and parallel to the tracer wire 8 . The second receptacle 60 extends from the shaft 20 above both the pipe engaging member 40 and the first receptacle 50 , approximately six inches above the first receptacle 50 . The second receptacle 60 is a roughly C shaped member with a bottom 62 , a back 64 , a top 66 , a slotted opening 68 , a first arm 70 , and second arm 72 . The second receptacle 60 can receive a caution tape 9 through the slotted opening 68 . The bottom 62 , back 64 , top 66 , first arm 70 , and second arm 72 of the second receptacle 60 then support and secure the caution tape 9 at a distance spaced above the first receptacle 50 . The presence of the caution tape 9 serves as a visual warning to excavators that the pipe 4 is lying below and parallel to the tape 9 .
FIG. 3 demonstrates an alternate embodiment of the present invention. The stake 110 has a longitudinal shaft 120 which has a top end 22 and a bottom end 124 . A pipe engaging member 40 extends laterally from the shaft 120 towards the bottom end 124 of the shaft 120 . The pipe engaging member 40 has a diameter of approximately six inches or less to accommodate pipes 4 with a similar or smaller diameter. An integral flange 30 extends laterally from the shaft 120 near the bottom end 124 . A first receptacle 150 extends laterally from the shaft 120 near the top end 22 at a distance of approximately six inches from the pipe engaging member 40 . The first receptacle 150 has a receiving member 152 with an open wall opening 154 , which extends laterally from said shaft 120 between the pipe engaging member 40 and a second receptacle 60 . The first receptacle 150 is designed to receive a tracer wire 8 through and within the open wall opening 154 through slot 156 contained in the receiving member 152 . The second receptacle 60 extends laterally from the shaft 120 above the pipe engaging member 40 and the first receptacle 150 . The second receptacle 60 is a roughly C shaped member with a bottom 62 , a back 64 , a top 66 , a slotted opening 68 , a first arm 70 , and a second arm 72 . The second receptacle 60 can receive a caution tape 9 through the slotted opening 68 . The bottom 62 , back 64 , top 66 , first arm 70 , and second arm 72 of the second receptacle 60 then support and secure the caution tape 9 at a distance spaced above the first receptacle 50 . An integral anti-removal member 80 , as shown in FIGS. 3-5, extends from the bottom end 124 of the shaft 120 . The anti-removal member 80 contains a multiplicity of hinged, three-sided planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 , which each have a bottom portion 90 , a top side 89 , a left side 87 , and a right side 85 . The bottom portion 90 extends from the shaft 120 , and the left side 87 of each plane 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 is hinged to the right side 85 of another plane 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 . This design allows the anti-removal member 80 to expand and contract in size upon movement of the hinged planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 . The shapes of the planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 and the orientation of the anti-removal member 80 on the bottom end 124 of the shaft 120 can be varied to provide adequate clearance for the underground pipes 4 during installation.
FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional top view of the anti-removal member 80 with the planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 folded together in a closed position on their hinges.
FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional top view of anti-removal member 80 with the planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 in an open position on their hinges.
FIGS. 6-7 show another embodiment of the anti-removal member 80 . An outwardly extending lip 100 projects from the top side 89 of each said plane 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 at an angle of approximately forty-five degrees. The lip 100 facilitates the scooping of dirt into the anti-removal member 80 , thereby expanding the member 80 into the open position shown in FIG. 5 when the shaft 124 is moved in an upward direction.
FIG. 8 demonstrates another embodiment of the present invention. The stake 210 has a longitudinal shaft 20 which has a top end 22 , a bottom end 24 , and a tapered point 26 extending from the bottom end 24 . A curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member 140 extends laterally from the shaft 20 towards the bottom end 24 of the shaft 20 forming a pipe support hook. The curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member 140 has a first end 142 having an arched shape, a second end 144 having an inwardly arched shape, and a preferred diameter “d” of approximately six inches or less to accommodate pipes 4 with a similar diameter. This embodiment can be manufactured with varying diameters to accommodate pipes of different sizes. A pipe 4 is inserted into and received by the pipe engaging member 140 between the second end 144 of the pipe engaging member 140 and the bottom end 24 of the shaft 20 . The arched shape of the first end 142 of the pipe engaging member 140 embraces the pipe 4 and prevents upward and sideways movement of the pipe 4 . The inwardly arched shape of the second end 144 supports the pipe 4 and holds the pipe 4 suspended about the base fill 6 , whose surface may not be level at the time of installation of the pipe 4 in the stake 210 . An integral flange 30 extends laterally from the shaft 20 near the bottom end 24 . A first receptacle 50 extends laterally from the shaft 20 near the top end 22 between the pipe engaging member 140 and a second receptacle 60 at a distance of approximately six inches from the pipe engaging member 140 . The first receptacle 50 , has a receiving member 52 with a closed wall opening 54 . The first receptacle 50 is designed to receive a tracer wire 8 through and within the closed wall opening 54 contained in the receiving member 52 . The second receptacle 60 extends from the shaft 20 above both the pipe engaging member 140 and the first receptacle 50 , approximately six inches above the first receptacle 50 . The second receptacle 60 is a roughly C shaped member with a bottom 62 , a back 64 , a top 66 , a slotted opening 68 , a first arm 70 , and second arm 72 . The second receptacle 60 can receive a caution tape 9 through the slotted opening 68 . The bottom 62 , back 64 , top 66 , first arm 70 , and second arm 72 of the second receptacle 60 then support and secure the caution tape 9 at a distance spaced above the first receptacle 50 .
FIG. 9 demonstrates the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Base fill 6 at the bottom of a trench 2 is often not uniformly level along the length of the trench 2 , making installation of the pipe 4 difficult. The inventor prefers this embodiment because the pipe engaging member 140 is designed to receive, confine and support a pipe 4 above the base fill 6 , thereby eliminating the problems presented by uneven base fill 6 . Additional fill 6 can then be added below, around, and above the pipe 4 after the pipe 4 has been positioned and secured by the stake 310 . The stake 310 has a longitudinal shaft 120 which has a top end 22 , and a bottom end 124 . A curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member 140 extends laterally from the shaft 120 towards the bottom end 124 of the shaft 120 forming a pipe support hook. The curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member 140 has a first end 142 having an arched shape, a second end 144 having an inwardly arched shape, and a preferred diameter “d” of approximately six inches or less to accommodate pipes 4 with a similar diameter. This embodiment can be manufactured with varying diameters to accommodate pipes of different sizes. The arched shape of the first end 142 of the pipe engaging member 140 embraces the pipe 4 and prevents upward and sideways movement of the pipe 4 . The inwardly arched shape of the second end 144 supports the pipe 4 and holds the pipe 4 suspended about the base fill 6 . An integral flange 30 extends laterally from the shaft 120 near the bottom end 124 . A first receptacle 150 extends laterally from the shaft 120 near the top end 22 at a distance of approximately six inches from the pipe engaging member 140 . The first receptacle 150 has a receiving member 152 with an open wall opening 154 , which extends laterally from said shaft 120 between the pipe engaging member 140 and a second receptacle 60 . The first receptacle 150 is designed to receive a tracer wire 8 through and within the open wall opening 154 through slot 156 contained in the receiving member 152 . The second receptacle 60 extends laterally from the shaft 120 above the pipe engaging member 140 and the first receptacle 150 . The second receptacle 60 is a roughly C shaped member with a bottom 62 , a back 64 , a top 66 , a slotted opening 68 , a first arm 70 , and second arm 72 . The second receptacle 60 can receive a caution tape 9 through the slotted opening 68 . The bottom 62 , back 64 , top 66 , first arm 70 , and second arm 72 of the second receptacle 60 then support and secure the caution tape 9 at a distance spaced above the first receptacle 50 . An integral anti-removal member 80 , as also shown in FIGS. 3-5, extends from the bottom end 124 of the shaft 120 . The anti-removal member 80 contains a multiplicity of hinged, three-sided planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 , which have a bottom portion 90 , a top side 89 , a left side 87 , and a right side 85 . The bottom portion 90 extends from the shaft 120 , and the left side 87 of each plane 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 is hinged to the right side 85 of another plane 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 . This design allows the anti-removal member 80 to expand and contract in size upon movement of the hinged planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 . The shapes of the planes 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 92 , 94 , 96 , 98 and the orientation of the anti-removal member 80 on the bottom end 124 of the shaft 120 can be varied to provide adequate clearance for the underground pipes 4 during installation.
FIG. 10 demonstrates an additional embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment allows the stake 410 to be installed into the side of a trench 2 at a level above the bottom of the trench 2 . Installation of the stake 410 in the side of the trench 2 allows the pipe 4 to be positioned in the trench 2 without the need for base fill 6 to be placed in the trench 2 . Often, pipes or cables for other utilities, such as water or electric, may also be installed in the trench concurrently with the gas pipe 4 . Installation of the stake 410 in the side of the trench 2 allows the gas pipe 4 , tracer wire 8 , caution tape 9 , and additional utilities to all be placed in position before the trench 2 is filled. The stake 410 has a shaft 220 having a vertical leg 23 and a horizontal leg 25 . The vertical leg 23 has a top end 22 and a bottom end 27 , and the horizontal leg 25 has a first end 224 , a second end 28 , and a tapered point 26 extending from the first end 224 . The second end 28 of the horizontal leg 25 and the bottom end 27 of the vertical leg 23 are joined at an angle approximating ninety degrees. The tapered point 26 of the horizontal leg 25 is designed to facilitate insertion of the first end 224 of the horizontal leg 25 into the hard ground 7 in the side of the trench 2 . Pressure can be asserted at the bottom end 27 of the vertical leg 23 and along the vertical leg 23 to insert the first end 224 of the horizontal leg 25 into side of the trench 2 . A pipe engaging member 240 extends laterally from the shaft 220 towards the bottom end 27 of the vertical leg 23 . The pipe 4 is positioned above the second end 28 of the horizontal leg 25 , next to the bottom end 27 of the vertical leg 23 , and below the pipe engaging member 240 , which is only of a sufficient length and shape to restrict movement of the pipe 4 in an upward direction. A first receptacle 50 extends laterally from the shaft 220 near the top end 22 of the vertical leg 23 between the pipe engaging member 240 and a second receptacle 60 at a distance of approximately six inches from the pipe engaging member 240 . The first receptacle 50 has a receiving member 52 with a closed wall opening 54 . The first receptacle 50 is designed to receive a tracer wire 8 through and within the closed wall opening 54 contained in the receiving member 52 . The second receptacle 60 extends from the shaft 220 above both the pipe engaging member 240 and the first receptacle 50 , approximately six inches above the first receptacle 50 . The second receptacle 60 is a roughly C shaped member with a bottom 62 , a back 64 , a top 66 , a slotted opening 68 , a first arm 70 , and second arm 72 . The second receptacle 60 can receive a caution tape 9 through the slotted opening 68 . The bottom 62 , back 64 , top 66 , first arm 70 , and second arm 72 of the second receptacle 60 then support and secure the caution tape 9 at a distance spaced above the first receptacle 50 .
Ideally, the stakes 10 , 110 , 210 , 310 , 410 , should be made of a nonmetallic polymer such as polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride for convenience, low cost, lightweight and nonreactivity. It is preferable that the stakes 10 , 110 , 210 , 310 , 410 be composed of the same material as the pipe 4 to ensure nonreactivity between the stakes 10 , 110 , 210 , 310 , 410 and the pipe 4 .
The foregoing detailed description is given primarily for clearness of understanding and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom for modifications will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure and may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.
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An apparatus for firmly positioning in a trench and securing against movement, while fill is added to the trench, an underground utility pipe and means for marking the utility pipe. An underground positioning and anti-movement apparatus in the form of an underground stake adapted to be driven into a base fill, that includes an integral preferably curvilinear-shaped pipe engaging member which engages the outer surface of an underground pipe to secure the pipe in position above the base fill at the bottom of the trench while additional fill is added to the trench. Also, at least one integral receptacle is located longitudinally on the stake body above the pipe engaging member which receives, supports and secures tracer wire, caution tape, or other marking means used to facilitate identification and location of the secured underground pipe and which allows placement of the marking means at a location above the pipe before the trench is filled so that the trench may be filled without disturbing the position of the marking means in relation to the secured pipe and without having to lay the pipe and marking means at different stages in the fill process. The current invention may also include an integral anti-removal member which extends from the bottom of the stake, compresses when pressed into the underlying supporting base fill, and expands and scoops up base fill to impede movement of the stake when an upward force is applied to the stake body.
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BACKGROUND
[0001] The present invention concerns display of signals by testing devices and pertains particularly to markers used in the calculation and display of band functions.
[0002] When using a Spectrum analyzer, it is sometimes desirable to measure power or power density within a particular frequency range. This has been accomplished, for example, by using two separate markers to define each edge of the band of interest. Once a band is marked out, the power within the band can be calculated. See, for example, Measurement Guide and Programming Examples, Agilent Technologies PSA Series Spectrum Analyzers , May 2002, Manufacturing Part Number: E4440-90063, available from Agilent Technologies, Inc., www.agilent.com.
[0003] In addition to band power, it is also desirable to measure marker noise. In the past marker noise measurement has been done with a fixed width that is not indicated to a user nor under user control.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A user interface for an electronic instrument includes a display that displays a signal and a band marker. The band marker demarks a bandwidth of the signal by marking both a start frequency of the bandwidth and a stop frequency of the bandwidth. The electronic instrument performs a function on the bandwidth of the signal between the start frequency and the stop frequency.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] FIG. 1 shows a band marker in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0006] FIG. 2 shows a simplified view of a Spectrum Analyzer.
[0007] FIG. 3 , FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show screen displays with two band markers being used to select frequency bands of a displayed signal in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0008] FIG. 1 shows a band marker 10 . Band marker 10 is used to display and calculate band functions and their mathematical relationships.
[0009] A marker is a symbol placed at a particular data point in a frequency spectrum or time interval and used to accurately measure the amplitude of the data at that point in the spectrum or time interval.
[0010] A band marker has a width, allowing the band marker to easily demarcate a signal range, for example a frequency bandwidth. This allows for efficient demarcation of a range of a signal on which can be performed a mathematical operation. A mathematical operation performed on a bandwidth of a signal demarcated by a band marker is called a band function.
[0011] For example, as shown in FIG. 1 , band marker 10 has a band center, represented in FIG. 1 as a diamond 11 . A wing 14 and wing 15 are horizontal lines that extend out from either side of diamond 11 to indicate the width of band marker 10 . A foot 12 and a foot 13 are vertical lines at the end of wing 14 and wing 15 , respectively. Foot 12 demarcates the right edge of a signal band. Foot 13 demarcates the left edge of the signal band. A dot can optionally be placed in the center of diamond 11 to aid in locating the exact band center. In other embodiments other shapes can be used as band markers provided the edges of the signal band, and preferably the band center, are demarcated.
[0012] In various embodiments of the present invention, a user is allowed to control the placement of band center 11 and the width of band marker 10 through, for example, front panel keys of an instrument. Alternatively, the placement of band center 11 and the width of band marker 10 can be accomplished through a front panel knob, programming commands sent from a computer through a remote interface, or any other known user interface.
[0013] Band markers are useful for selecting a range of signals on which is performed mathematical operations (called band functions) such as band power and band power density. Band power represents the total amount of power of a signal within a selected frequency band. Band density represents the density of power of a signal within a selected frequency band.
[0014] Multiple band markers can be used to select multiple ranges of signals, allowing calculations to be made using multiple band functions. When relative mathematical calculations are made based on a ratio (difference on a decibel scale) of two band functions, the relative mathematical calculations are called delta band functions. Such use of multiple functions gives a user broad and extraordinary capability to define and execute sophisticated mathematical operations which are applicable to a wide range of measurement scenarios. For example, deltas can be calculated between normal markers, noise markers, band power markers and/or band density markers. In addition band functions can be placed on different traces and delta band functions can be calculated on band functions placed on different traces. Band functions can also be placed on stored traces.
[0015] FIG. 2 shows a simplified view of a spectrum analyzer 60 . Spectrum analyzer includes a display 62 and various buttons 64 used to receive input from a user. Spectrum analyzer 60 also includes an adjustment knob 63 and a column 61 of buttons used that correspond to softkeys shown on display 62 .
[0016] FIG. 3 shows a signal 23 being shown on display 62 . Also shown are a column 22 of seven softkeys. A user has used a band marker 1 to demark a first bandwidth of signal 23 and has used a band marker 2 to demark a second bandwidth of signal 23 . In this case, the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth are each a frequency range within signal 23 .
[0017] In FIG. 3 , band marker 1 has been selected along with the band power function. Since band marker 1 is selected, band marker 1 has been altered so that left foot 24 and right foot 25 extend the full height of the graticule on which signal 23 is displayed. Display 62 indicates that band marker 1 (Mkr 1 ) has a center point at 1.0144 gigahertz (GHz). The bandwidth demarked by band marker 1 has been adjusted to 7.350 megahertz (MHz). Display 62 also indicates that band power for the bandwidth of signal 23 demarked by band marker 1 is −13.92 decibels referred to 1 milliwatt (dBm). Various portions of display 62 can be highlighted in different colors for easy readability.
[0018] FIG. 4 again shows signal 23 being shown on display 62 . Also shown are column 22 of seven softkeys. Band marker 1 and band marker 2 are also shown at the same locations on signal 23 .
[0019] In FIG. 4 , band marker 2 has been selected along with the band power function. Since band marker 2 is selected, band marker 2 has been altered so that left foot 34 and right foot 35 extend the full height of the graticule on which signal 23 is displayed. Display 62 indicates that band marker 2 (Mkr 2 ) has a center point at 1.000 GHz. The bandwidth demarked by band marker 2 is at 11.95 MHz. Display 62 also indicates that band power for the bandwidth of signal 23 demarked by band marker 2 is 20.58 dBm.
[0020] FIG. 5 again shows signal 23 being shown on display 62 . Also shown are column 22 of seven softkeys. Band marker 1 (renamed 1 Δ 2 ) and band marker 2 are also shown at the same locations on signal 23 . “ 1 Δ 2 ” means “band marker 1 , delta marker to band marker 2 ”.
[0021] In FIG. 5 , the log difference function has been selected. Log difference is a ratio of band power for the bandwidth of signal 23 demarked by band marker 1 (renamed 1 Δ 2 ) to band power for the bandwidth of signal 23 demarked by band marker 2 . Since band marker 1 is selected and renamed 1 Δ 2 , this indicates that band marker 2 is the reference marker and the band power (20.58 dBm) for the bandwidth of signal 23 demarked by band marker 2 is subtracted from the band power (−13.92 dBm) for the bandwidth of signal 23 demarked by band marker 1 (renamed 1 Δ 2 ).
[0022] While band functions and delta band functions have been illustrated using band power, other band functions and delta band functions, such as band power density and delta band density operate in a similar manner. Band power density is calculated by normalizing the power over the bandwidth.
[0023] For example, power within a frequency, called the channel bandwidth, can be calculated as set out in Equation 1:
P ch = ( B s B n ) ( 1 N ) ∑ i = n1 n2 10 ( p i / 10 ) Equation 1
[0024] In Equation 1, P ch is the power in the channel, B s is the specified bandwidth (also known as the channel bandwidth), B n is the equivalent noise bandwidth of the resolution bandwidth (RBW) used, N is the number of data points in the summation, p i is the sample of the power in measurement cell i in dB units (if p i is in dBm, P ch is in milliwatts). n1 and n2 are the end points for the index i within the channel bandwidth, thus N=(n2−n1)+1. See Agilent Spectrum Analyzer Measurements and Noise Application Note 1303, part number 5966-4008E, Feb. 11, 2003, available from Agilent Technologies, Inc., www.agilent.com.
[0025] Table 1 below sets out code that draws a band marker position at an appropriate screen position.
TABLE 1 /** *@param horzXform conversion from x-axis units to pixels *param vertXform conversion from dBm to pixels * @param linear Scale * true if vertical scale is linear rather than logarithmic * @param p the painter which does the drawing */ void SADisplay::Marker::draw ( QwtDiMap& horzXform, QwtDiMap& vertXform, bool linearScale, Qpainter& p) { if (myType != off) { p.save( ); MarkerSymbol* m = 0; switch (selected) { case true: switch (myType) { case fixed: m = &selectedFixedMarker( ); break; default: m = &selectedMoveableMarker( ); break; } break; case false: switch(myType) { case fixed: m = &fixedMarker( ); break; default: m = &moveableMarker( ); break; } break; } // 5 is watts, 1 is dBm int myUnits = linearScale ? 5 : 1; double convertedY = AmplToInputUnits(myY, myUnits); int topLeftx = horzXform.transform(myX) − m → x; int topLefty = vertXform.transform(convertedY) − m → y; p.drawPixmap (topLeftx, topLefty, m → symbol); p.setPen(Qpen(Qt::white)); //now draw wings if a band function is on if(drawWings) { p.drawPixmap(topLeftx + m → width/2 − 1, topLefty + m → height/2 −1. markerCenterDot ( )); //now compute line position int leftEnd = horzXform.transform(myX − myWidth/2.0); int rightEnd = horzXform.transform(myX + myWidth/2.0); int vertPosition = topLefty + m → height/2; p.drawLine(leftEnd, vertPosition, rightEnd, vertPosition); //now vertical ends int top; int bottom; if (selected) { //from top to bottom of window top = 0; bottom = 800; //big enough } else { top = vertPosition − 3; bottom = vertPosition + 3; } p.drawLine(leftEnd, top, leftEnd, bottom); p.drawLine(rightEnd, top, rightEnd, bottom); } if(selected) { p.setBackgroundColor(Qt::black); p.setBackgroundMode(Qt::OpaqueMode); } p.drawText(topLeftx + m → width, topLefty + (myType == fixed ? m → height/2 + 10: m → myLabel.c_str( ))); p.restore ( ); } }
[0026] Table 2 below sets out code that computes the absolute y value of the band marker when the band marker represents a band function. When the band marker represents a delta band function the code calculates the y value relative to the absolute value of its reference band marker.
TABLE 2 /** * @param force If true, compute the value even if the marker is Fixed */ void Sanity::MarkerNode::computeY(bool force) { if(force ∥ myMode != off && myMode != fixed) { // create local struct Sanity::BandFunction::Results lclresults; lclresults = bandCalcYFunction→calcY(myTrace, bandStartPoint, bandStopPoint); yVal = lclresults.yVal; yValForSymbol = lclresults.ySymbol; isyDefined = lclresults.isYDefined; if(myMode == delta) { // displayed and output value is difference //between reference markers absolute result, and this //markers absolute result yValForUI = yVal − relToVc → getValue<double>(”Y-Value”); } else { yValForUI = yVal; } if(isyDefined) { results → set(”Y-Value”, yVal); results → set(”Y-ValueForUI”, yValForUI); results → set(”Y-ValueForSmbol”, yValForSymbol); } results → set (”isY-ValueDefined”, isyDefined); results → set (”isXFreq”, freqDomain); #ifdef MARKERSPEW std::cout << ”In MarkerNode::updateY( )” << ”new absolute y position for marker” <<myNum << ”is:” << yVal << std:: endl; if(myMode == delta) { std::cout << ”In MarkerNode::updateY( )” << ”new relative y position for marker ”<< myNum << ”is:” << yValForUI << std::endl; } #endif } }
[0027] The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplary methods and embodiments of the present invention. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
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A user interface for an electronic instrument includes a display that displays a signal and a band marker. The band marker demarks a bandwidth of the signal by marking both a start frequency of the bandwidth and a stop frequency of the bandwidth. The electronic instrument performs a function on the bandwidth of the signal between the start frequency and the stop frequency.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to bearings, and more particularly to pin bearings, such as are used in the pivotal connections in a piano action; that is, the centers on which the wooden action members pivot.
The pivotal connections in a piano action must be durable, low in friction yet firm, have with little side-play, and be quiet in operation. These connections are usually effected with a tongue-and-fork arrangement held together by means of a lateral or transverse pin, usually made of "nickel silver" to eliminate corrosion, and are manufactured to precise tolerances as to diameter, length, and concentricity. The pin is held firmly in the central or tongue member, and the fork member is provided with a bushing with a view toward achieving a noiseless, efficient and durable action.
For many years the bearings, or bushings, for these centers have been formed from a woven wool cloth, a special all-wool felted fabric especially designed and manufactured for the purpose (known in the art as bushing cloth) by a number of manual operations. The cloth is first dipped in water to allow it to shrink and after drying is severed into strips of a width somewhat less than the circumference of the bushing holes. The strips thus formed are then pulled through the holes of the bearing-containing parts, such as the bifurcated fork element having axially aligned bearing holes in its bifurcations, the cloth becoming circumferential in the bearing holes. Glue is then applied to the cloth along one outboard side of the bifurcated member, and the member then pulled over the glue-wetted portion. The member is then cut away from the cloth strip at the outer faces of its bifurcations, and the length of the strip between the bifurcations is also cut away and discarded; thus, only a small portion of the bushing cloth is used.
The wool felted fabric has sufficient resiliency and softness to substantially eliminate noises, but to be durable and firm, the bearing must be dense. Furthermore, the bushing holes in the bearings must be aligned for low friction operation of the shaft or center pin placed therein. Heretofore, the problems of durability and smooth operation have been addressed by employing a wool felt which is initially much thicker than its ultimate dimension in the bearing, and then carrying out the further manual operations upon the cloth glued in the member as described above. To provide openings for the center pin, the tight cylinders of bushing cloth in a bearing member, after the glue holding them therein has hardened, are opened preliminarily along the axis of the bearing formation. Following this a metal pin of the diameter of the center pin is driven with a forward motion into the preliminary opening, radially compressing the cloth cylinders to a considerably denser condition. With the rod inserted, the assembly is then dipped in water for a short time to permit the wool cloth cylinders to absorb moisture, and the assembly is allowed to dry before removing the pin. Wool of course absorbs water appreciably and if unopposed will swell with moisture absorption. However, under the described confined condition the wool cylinders are substantially prevented from altering their dimensions due to moisture absorption, and are, therefore, forced to a denser condition and upon drying are "set" to this condition. Finally, upon removal of the metal pin the assembly is ready for use in a bearing combination, with center pin holes in the wool cylinders formed to a size adapted to a particular metal center pin and in alignment brought about by the straight compression pin.
Although bearings fabricated as described have proven to have resilience and softness sufficient to eliminate noises, and appropriate density to be durable and firm under the impacts imposed in the playing of a piano, under continued use in certain atmospheric conditions the bearing tends to deteriorate, with attendant loss of its desirable properties. The felted wool being hygroscopic, it tends to swell in moist atmospheric conditions and to shrink in dry conditions. Consequently, under moist conditions the center may become so tight as to interfere with the functioning of the pivotal connection, and the corresponding piano key either loses all speed and sensitivity of action or fails to function entirely. A common "fix" for malfunctions due to tightening of the center because of high humidity is the application of a drop of a solvent such as benzene, or an alcohol and water mix, which usually relieves the pivot only temporarily in that it tends to tighten up again with continued exposure to moist conditions. Conversely, with dry conditions the centers occasionally become too loose, resulting in rattles in the action and inaccuracy in the alignment of parts, with consequent loss of power and control in the so-called "touch qualities" of the action.
Over the years there have been many attempts to improve the bearings of piano actions, either by use of materials other than felted wool for the bushing or by simplifying and reducing the cost of the labor-intense fabrication of the centers. For example, Knoblaugh U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,580,436, 2,580,437 and 2,580,438 describe bearing assemblies in which the bushing is in the form of a braided tubular sleeve comprised of many braid elements in the form of cords, tight yarns, or thread which may be textile material such as wool or silk, but preferably nylon thread. A braided sleeve of appropriate size is placed under tension and coated with a material of a type which dries and hardens to a suitable tensile strength, such as a nitrocellulose lacquer cement applied in an amount such that upon drying the completed tube has an outside diameter such that tube fits snugly in a bearing hole in the bifurcated bearing member. Thus, the prepared bearing material comprises a stiff tube which may be pushed into a bearing hole, and as part of the assembly operation a cement is applied to the external surface for attaching the bearing material to the wood bifurcated member of the action.
Another approach, which has been used by applicant's assignee for several years, was to eliminate the use of bushing cloth altogether and replace it with a one-piece bushing formed of a suitable plastic or elastomeric material, such as Teflon. The bushing has an intergral annular flange at one end which bears against the internal or tongue side of each arm of the bifurcated member, and is inserted from the inside into a bushing hole of correct size to afford a light push fit, so as to eliminate any possible distortion of internal diameters. An initial version of this type of bushing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,240,095, and a refinement thereof wherein the exterior surface of the bushing has a "barrel shape" to provide self-alignment of the bushing with the bearing pin regardless of misalignment of the bushing holes in the respective fork arms, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,403. Although the performance of piano actions with this type of bushing has been sufficiently good to have been used in preference to bushing cloth for some twenty years by applicant's assignee, this long-term experience has demonstrated that it is not without fault, and lacks some of the desirable properties of wool felt. For example, in spite of observance of usual care in the fabrication of the wooden parts of the piano action, the drilled holes in the two fork arms may not be perfectly aligned, or may be misaligned with the drilled pin-receiving hole in the tongue part, with the consequence that the internal bores of the two bushings, when inserted with a push fit in the drilled holes in the fork arms, are likewise misaligned with the bearing pin, thus causing the pin to bind in the bushing and not rotate with the desired ease. This problem is compounded by the sizing of the bushing relative to the size of the holes in the fork arms to afford a light push fit, so as to eliminate any possible distortion of the internal diameter of the bushing and to increase the effective length of the contact between the bearing pin and the internal bore of the bushing. Also, it has been found difficult to maintain the clearance between mating wood parts to tolerances sufficient to allow the center to work freely when the wood parts are distorted by extreme conditions of moisture and/or temperature; under certain conditions there is an excess of freedom which causes the action to be noisy, and under other conditions the pin tends to bind in the bushing and does not rotate with the desired ease. In short, although the one-piece bushing reduces the labor cost of manufacture of the piano action and under favorable operating conditions provides acceptable performance, under other conditions it lacks the desirable qualities of the long-used wool bushing cloth.
Other piano manufacturers have continued to use felt bushings in their piano actions, modified in various ways to obviate some of the problems discussed earlier. For example, the surface of the felt ring has been coated with silicone or impregnated with suds or soapy water to reduce friction between the bushing and bearing pin; however, a bearing assembly of this construction has the drawback that it will lose lubricity during long use. U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,963 proposes as a solution to this problem the use of a bushing cloth consisting of a fabric woven from mixed spun yarns of wool fibers and carbon fibers which are napped on the surface of the fabric to provide high and long-term lubricity.
In view of the virtues of wool felt as a bushing in a piano action, as demonstrated by its use over a very extended period, albeit not without the weaknesses and shortcomings outlined above, the present invention seeks to provide bearings utilizing wool felt which in some respects simplifies their fabrication as compared to the existing practices outlined above and which has considerably improved bearing qualitities which are maintained during long use and exposure to a wide range of atmospheric conditions. Accordingly, the object of this invention is to provide a construction and method of fabricating the same for supporting the rotatable parts of a piano action mechanism which retains the desirable qualities of wool felt as a bushing material during long use, which is minimally affected by changes in atmospheric conditions, and which retains a desired lubricity during long use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In general, the piano action mechanism according to the invention comprises a bifurcated support member having a pair of parallel fork arms provided with mutually facing bushing holes, and defining a hollow space therebetween; a rotatable tongue member disposed in the hollow space of the fork member and provided with a shaft pin passing through the bushing holes in the fork member; and fabric bushings in the bushing holes, preferably formed of felted wool cloth with at least its working surface incorporating particles of a fluorocarbon polymer, such as Teflon.
According to one aspect of the fabrication method, one surface of a sheet of felted wool bushing cloth is thinly coated with a heat-sensitive glue of a type that dries and remains dry (i.e., is not tacky) until heated. The pre-glued sheet is severed into strips of a width somewhat less than the circumference of the bushing holes, and a strip thus formed is pulled into the shaft holes in the fork member; as it is pulled in, the cloth becomes circumferential in the bushing holes with the glued surface engaging the wall surface of the holes. The felt is initially much thicker than its ultimate dimension in the bearing. The assembly is then heated sufficiently to melt the glue and cause it to adhere to the shaft hole surfaces. The fork member is then cut away from the cloth strip at the inner and outer faces of its arms. Pre-application of heat-sensitive glue to the felt simplifies the assembly process and results in uniform adhesion of the felt cylinder to the wall of the shaft hole.
According to another aspect of the bearing construction and its fabrication, the tight cylinders of bushing cloth in the arms of the fork are opened by a metal pin of approximately the diameter of the center pin to be used with the bearing, radially compressing the cloth cylinders to considerably denser condition. With the pin inserted, the assembly is dipped in water for a short time to permit the wool cloth cylinders to absorb moisture, and the assembly is thereafter allowed to dry. Because of the appreciable absorption of water by the wool cloth, and the confined condition imposed by the pin and the fork arm hole diameters of finite size, the cylinders are prevented from altering their dimensions with moisture absorption, and upon drying are set to this condition. Thereafter, with the pin still in place, the assembly is dipped in a fast-drying solution of resin bonded fluorocarbon solids for a short time, to permit the fluorocarbon solids to penetrate the wool cloth cylinders, mainly through the exposed ends thereof. The assembly is thereafter allowed to dry, after which the pin is removed; the wool felt cylinders remain "set" to the denser condition resulting from soaking in water and the resin bonded fluorocarbon particles, which impregnate an appreciable portion of the body of the felt cylinders, provide a high degree of lubricity and also forms a shell around the exterior surfaces of the wool cylinders which is substantially insensitive to changes in temperature and humidity.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further objects, features and advantages of the improved bearing and method of fabricating the same will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary section of the front portion of a grand piano showing one key and its hammer action in side elevation to illustrate the hinge points at which the improved bearing is utilized;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view on a larger scale of the forked end of the hammer shank and its flange connected by the improved bearing of this invention;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the forked end of the hammer shank, illustrating the insertion of bushing cloth in the shaft holes thereof;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the hammer shank with the bushings in place in the shaft holes; and
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating the joining of the hammer shank and its flange by a pivotal connection.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The piano construction shown in FIG. 1 is conventional, consisting of a key-frame 10, key 12, hammer 14, hammer shank 16, hammer flange 18, flange rail 20, pivotal connection 22 between the hammer shank and hammer flange, support 24, support flange pivot 26, fly and tender 28, pivot 30 between support and fly, balancier lever 32 and pivot 34 between support and balancier lever. The improved bearing of this invention is usable to advantage in all of the pivotal connections 22, 26, 30 and 34, which are representative of such connections in actions of both upright and grand pianos. Since the bearings at all of these pivotal connections have the same construction, only the bearing 22 is illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5.
As seen in FIG. 2, the bearing 22 comprises a cylindrical metal pin 36, usually formed of "nickel silver", having a tight or driven fit with a hole extending laterally through the tongue portion 38 of the wooden hammer flange 18, both ends of the pin projecting beyond the sides of the tongues to form trunnions. Typically, the bearing pin has a diameter of 0.048±0.0002 inch. These trunnions are surrounded by cylindrical bushings 40a and 40b fabricated of bushing or fabric cloth and retained, as by glueing, in bushing holes formed, as by drilling, in the arms 41 and 42 of the bifurcated or forked end of the wooden hammer shank 16, which holes for the indicated bearing pin diameter have a typical diameter of 0.1065±0.001 inch. Thus, the hammer shank is pivoted to the tongue portion 38 of the hammer flange 18, the trunnion ends of the bearing pin 36 turning in the bushings 40a and 40b. The present invention simplifies the fabrication of and improves the performance and durability of such pivotal connections.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the hammer shank 16, taken as an example of the various flanges for supporting the rotatable parts shown in FIG. 1, is seen to have a pair of parallel leg portions 41 and 42 formed at one end which together define a hollow space 43 therebetween. The leg portions 41 and 42 are bored at the center with bushing holes 45 and 46 facing each other across the hollow space 43. Into these bushing holes is pulled a strip of bushing fabric or cloth 40, preferably felted wool bushing cloth, having a width somewhat less than the circumference of the bushing holes so that the cloth becomes circumferential in the bushing holes. The bushing felt is sufficiently thick that when rolled up into a cylinder during insertion, the resulting ill-defined axial opening herethrough is much smaller than the diameter of the bearing pin 36 to be used in the action.
An important aspect of the invention, which not only facilitates the step of inserting the felt strip into the bushing holes, but also contributes to the durability of the bearing over long periods of use, is that the surface of the bushing felt which constitutes the outer surface of the felt cylinder is pre-coated with a thin layer of heat-sensitive glue 45 of a type that is dry (i.e., is not tacky) until subjected to heat. In practice, a relatively large roll of bushing cloth is thinly coated with this type of glue, for example the #3424 Felt Heat Seal commercially available from T. H. Glennon Co., Inc., Lawrence, MA 01840, a water based glue containing 45% solids by weight. The glue is spread onto the bushing cloth, for example, with a doctor blade, in a film sufficiently thin that the natural nap of the fabric prevents complete glue coverage of the fabric. A sheet of the bushing cloth having a thus applied dried film of glue on one surface thereof is then severed into strips as described above, and the glue being dry, the cloth is readily drawn through the bushing holes in the arms 41 and 42; at the same time the somewhat unsatisfactory previously used step of applying liquid glue to the bushing cloth as it is drawn through the bushing holes is eliminated. Although FIG. 3 illustrates the strip being inserted into a single hammer shank, in commercial practice a multiplicity of shanks are supported side by side and a relatively long strip of pre-glued felt is pulled through the aligned bushing holes of all of the shanks in one continuous operation. The assembly (or assemblies) is then heated to a temperature of approximately 160° F. for a time sufficient to melt the glue and cause the outer cylindrical surface of the cloth to strongly adhere to the surface of the bushing hole. By virtue of the pre-application of the film of glue, there is uniform bonding of the cloth to the bushing hole surfaces, thereby to provide a more dependable adherence of the bushing cloth to the wooden arms than has been achievable by previously employed glueing methods. After the glue is firmly set, those parts of the bushing cloth not located within the shaft holes 45 and 46 are then cut off, so that bushings 40a and 40b are disposed in the bushing holes as shown in FIG. 4.
As has been previously noted, the thickness of the bushing cloth is such that upon becoming circumferential upon insertion in the bushing holes, the cylinders 40a and 40b comprise tight cylinders without any appreciable opening for the center pin. To provide space for the center pin, and to compress the bushing cloth to a denser condition, after the glue uniting these cylinders to the wall of the bushing openings has hardened, a metal "wetting" pin 48 having a diameter approximately equal to that of the center pin to be used with the bearing and a length approximately 1/8" greater than the width of shank 16, is inserted along the axis of the bearing, radially compressing the cloth cylinders to a considerably denser condition. With the wetting pin in place, the assembly is dipped in water for a short time to permit the very absorptive wool cloth to absorb moisture, and is thereafter allowed to dry. Because of the confined condition imposed by the rod and the finite sized bushing holes, the cloth cylinders are prevented from altering their dimensions with moisture absorption, and upon drying are set to this condition. Thereafter, with the wetting pin still inserted, the assembly is dipped for a second time, for approximately three seconds, to a depth of at least the length of arms 41 and 42, in a fast-drying solution of resin bonded fluorocarbon solids, such as EMRALON 329 commercially available from Acheson Colloids Company, Port Huron, Mich. 48060, which is supplied as a concentrate of a thermoplastic resin dissolved in a solvent which, preparatory to use, is diluted in a ratio of 3:1 to 1:1 (product:diluent) with Acheson Thermoplastic Resin Extender, a selected blend of solvents also available from Acheson Colloids Company. In spite of the presence of the wetting pin, the fluorocarbon solids penetrate into perhaps 90% of the body of the now relatively dense wool cloth cylinders, mainly through their exposed end surfaces; indeed, the presence of the pin helps retain the integrity of the fibrous material (e.g., a large part of its natural nap) along the bore of the completed bushing. The assembly is thereafter allowed to dry, after which the wetting pin is removed; the wool cloth cylinders remain in the denser condition, to which they were "set" upon drying after immersion in water, and the resin bonded fluorocarbon particles from a shell around the cylinders which are then substantially insensitive to changes in temperature and humidity; that is, the shell tends to limit drying and shrinkage of the wool cloth under dry atmospheric conditions and at the same time substantially eliminates hygroscopic absorption of moisture when the bearing is subjected to moist environments. Additionally, the coating provides a high degree of lubricity and enhances the durability of the bearing. Although the integrity of the fibrous material along the bore of the bearings is retained by virtue of the wetting pin being in place during dipping in the fluorocarbon solution, it has been found that due, it is believed, to plastic flow of the EMRALON, the EMRALON at least partially coats the bore of the bearings to provide lubricity while still maintaining the fibrous character of the felted wool cloth. Piano action centers as completed have a desired firmness but yet are free with moderate radial force between the center pins and their bearing assemblies. The bearing assembly does not tighten up as do those with untreated wool felt bushings when the piano is played hard for extended periods.
FIG. 5 shows the joining of two piano action parts by a pivotal connection to form the complete assembly illustrated in FIG. 2. The smooth metal center pin 36, typically formed of "nickel silver" are pre-cut to proper length and tumbled to slightly round their ends, is driven--as indicated by the arrow--first into the bushing 40b in the arm 41 of the shank 16, then into a hole in the end of the interposed hammer flange 18 in which the pin fits tightly, and then into bushing 40a in the arm 42. In a complete grand piano about 600 pivotal connections or centers such as have been described would be employed, with a lesser number in an upright piano.
Although a bearing assembly having a center pin of a specific diameter has been described, it will be understood that this is by way of example only and that the advantages of the invention can be realized with bearing pins of other diameters. Also, while a particular heat-sensitive glue has been described, it is to be understood that this type of glue with acceptable characteristics may be available from other vendors. Likewise, although the described fast-drying solution of resin bonded fluorocarbon particles has proven to be eminently satisfactory, other solutions possessing the same or similar qualities may be used. It will be understood, therefore, that this and other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the following claims.
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A piano action mechanism wherein a shaft pin for rotatably supporting a rotatable member on a flange is carried in bearings formed of bushing cloth glued to the surface of bushing holes in the rotatable member. With a pin inserted through the cylinders of bushing cloth, the assembly is dipped in water, dried, dipped in a solution of resin bonded fluorocarbon solids, again dried and the pin removed, to provide a durable and stable bearing having a low coefficient of friction and which is essentially noise-free and insensitive to changes in temperature and humidity.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0028481 filed Mar. 9, 2016, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to an automatic transmission for a vehicle. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle.
BACKGROUND
[0003] The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
[0004] Generally, an automatic transmission achieving more speed stages has been developed to enhance fuel economy and optimize drivability.
[0005] Such an automatic transmission achieving more speed stages is preferred to maximize power performance and driving efficiency according to downsizing of an engine. Particularly, we have discovered that a high efficiency multiple-speeds transmission having excellent linearity of step ratios can be used as an index closely related to drivability such as acceleration before and after shift and rhythmical engine speed in order to secure competitiveness in the automatic transmission field.
[0006] However, in the automatic transmission, as the number of speed stages increase, the number of internal components increase, and as a result, mountability, cost, weight, transmission efficiency, and the like may still deteriorate.
[0007] Accordingly, development of a planetary gear train which may achieve maximum efficiency with a small number of components can increase a fuel efficiency enhancement effect through the multiple-speeds.
[0008] In this aspect, in recent years, 8-speed automatic transmissions tend to be implemented and the research and development of a planetary gear train capable of implementing more speed stages has also been actively conducted.
[0009] However, since a conventional 8-speed automatic transmission has gear ratio span of 6.5-7.5 (gear ratio span is an important factor for securing linearity of step ratios), improvement of power performance and fuel economy may not be very good.
[0010] In addition, if an 8-speed automatic transmission has gear ratio span larger than 9.0, it is hard to secure linearity of step ratios. Therefore, driving efficiency of an engine and drivability of a vehicle may be deteriorated.
[0011] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
SUMMARY
[0012] The present disclosure has been made in an effort to provide a planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle having advantages of improving power delivery performance and fuel economy by achieving at least eleven forward speed stages and one reverse speed stage, and widening gear ratio span and of securing linearity of step ratios.
[0013] A planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include: an input shaft receiving torque of an engine; an output shaft outputting torque; a first planetary gear set including first, second, and third rotation elements; a second planetary gear set including fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements; a third planetary gear set including seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements; a fourth planetary gear set including tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rotation elements; a first shaft connecting the first rotation element, the fifth rotation element, the ninth rotation element and the tenth rotation element with each other; a second shaft connected to the second rotation element and directly connected to the input shaft; a third shaft connecting the third rotation element with the fourth rotation element; a fourth shaft connected to the sixth rotation element; a fifth shaft connected to the seventh rotation element and selectively connected to the input shaft; a sixth shaft connected to the eighth rotation element and selectively connected to the second shaft; a seventh shaft connected to the eleventh rotation element; and an eighth shaft connected to the twelfth rotation element.
[0014] The fifth shaft may be selectively connected to a transmission housing in a state of being disconnected from the input shaft, the sixth shaft may be selectively connected to the fourth shaft and may be selectively connected to the transmission housing in a state of being disconnected from the second shaft, the seventh shaft may be selectively connected to the third shaft and may be directly connected to the output shaft, and the eighth shaft may be selectively connected to the transmission housing.
[0015] The first, second, and third rotation elements of the first planetary gear set may be a first sun gear, a first planet carrier, and a first ring gear, the fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements of the second planetary gear set may be a second sun gear, a second planet carrier, and a second ring gear, the seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements of the third planetary gear set may be a third sun gear, a third planet carrier, and a third ring gear, and the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rotation elements of the fourth planetary gear set may be a fourth sun gear, a fourth planet carrier, and a fourth ring gear, respectively.
[0016] The first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear sets may be disposed in a sequence of the third planetary gear set, the first planetary gear set, the second planetary gear set, and the fourth planetary gear set from the engine.
[0017] The planetary gear train may further include: a first clutch selectively connecting the third shaft with the seventh shaft; a second clutch selectively connecting the input shaft with the fifth shaft; a third clutch selectively connecting the second shaft with the sixth shaft; a fourth clutch selectively connecting the fourth shaft with the sixth shaft; a first brake selectively connecting the fifth shaft with the transmission housing; a second brake selectively connecting the sixth shaft with the transmission housing; and a third brake selectively connecting the eighth shaft with the transmission housing.
[0018] A planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle according to another embodiment of the present disclosure may include: an input shaft receiving torque of an engine; an output shaft outputting torque; a first planetary gear set including first, second, and third rotation elements; a second planetary gear set including fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements; a third planetary gear set including seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements; and a fourth planetary gear set including tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rotation elements, wherein the input shaft is directly connected to the second rotation element, the output shaft is directly connected to the eleventh rotation element, the first rotation element is directly connected to the fifth rotation element, the ninth rotation element and the tenth rotation element, the third rotation element is directly connected to the fourth rotation element, the seventh rotation element is selectively connected to a transmission housing, the eighth rotation element is selectively connected to the transmission housing, and the twelfth rotation element is selectively connected to the transmission housing.
[0019] The third rotation element may be selectively connected to the output shaft, the sixth rotation element may be selectively connected to the eighth rotation element, the seventh rotation element may be selectively connected to the input shaft in a state of being disconnected from the transmission housing, and the eighth rotation element may be selectively connected to the second rotation element in a state of being disconnected from the transmission housing.
[0020] The first, second, and third rotation elements of the first planetary gear set may be a first sun gear, a first planet carrier, and a first ring gear, the fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements of the second planetary gear set may be a second sun gear, a second planet carrier, and a second ring gear, the seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements of the third planetary gear set may be a third sun gear, a third planet carrier, and a third ring gear, and the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rotation elements of the fourth planetary gear set may be a fourth sun gear, a fourth planet carrier, and a fourth ring gear, respectively.
[0021] The first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear sets may be disposed in a sequence of the third planetary gear set, the first planetary gear set, the second planetary gear set, and the fourth planetary gear set from the engine.
[0022] The planetary gear train may further include: a first clutch selectively connecting the fourth rotation element with the output shaft; a second clutch selectively connecting the seventh rotation element with the input shaft; a third clutch selectively connecting the second rotation element with the eighth rotation element; a fourth clutch selectively connecting the sixth rotation element with the eighth rotation element; a first brake selectively connecting the seventh rotation element with the transmission housing; a second brake selectively connecting the eighth rotation element with the transmission housing; and a third brake selectively connecting the twelfth rotation element with the transmission housing.
[0023] An embodiment of the present disclosure may achieve at least eleven forward speed stages and one reverse speed stage by combining four planetary gear sets being simple planetary gear sets with seven control elements.
[0024] In addition, since gear ratio span greater than 11.5 is secured, driving efficiency of the engine may be maximized. In addition, since linearity of step ratios can be secured due to multiple speed stages, drivability such as acceleration before and after shift, rhythmical engine speed, and the like may be improved.
DRAWINGS
[0025] In order that the disclosure may be well understood, there will now be described various forms thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a planetary gear train according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0027] FIG. 2 is an operation chart of control elements at each speed stage in the planetary gear train according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0028] The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS
[0029] B 1 , B 2 , B 3 : first, second, and third brakes
[0030] C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , C 4 : first, second, third, and fourth clutches
[0031] PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , PG 4 : first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear sets
[0032] S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4 : first, second, third, and fourth sun gears
[0033] PC 1 , PC 2 , PC 3 , PC 4 : first, second, third, and fourth planet carriers
[0034] R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 : first, second, third, and fourth ring gears
[0035] IS: input shaft OS: output
[0036] TM 1 , TM 2 , TM 3 , TM 4 , TM 5 , TM 6 , TM 7 , TM 8 : first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth shafts
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0037] The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
[0038] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0039] However, parts which are not related with the description are omitted for clearly describing the embodiments of the present disclosure and like reference numerals refer to like or similar elements throughout the specification.
[0040] In the following description, dividing names of components into first, second, and the like is to divide the names because the names of the components are the same as each other and an order thereof is not particularly limited. As used herein, “connect” and its variants includes connection for transmission of force such as torque, e.g., a first component connected to a second component for rotation therewith, or a first component connected to a second component for fixation of the components, e.g. braking or resisting movement.
[0041] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a planetary gear train according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0042] Referring to FIG. 1 , a planetary gear train according to first embodiment of the present disclosure includes first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 disposed on the same axis, an input shaft IS, an output shaft OS, eight shafts TM 1 to TM 8 connected to at least one of rotation elements of the first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 , four clutches C 1 to C 4 and three brakes B 1 to B 3 that are control elements, and a transmission housing H.
[0043] Torque input from the input shaft IS is changed by cooperation of the first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 , and the changed torque is output through the output shaft OS.
[0044] Herein, the planetary gear sets are disposed in a sequence of the third, first, second, and fourth planetary gear sets PG 3 , PG 1 , PG 2 , and PG 4 from an engine.
[0045] The input shaft IS is an input member and torque from a crankshaft of the engine is torque-converted through a torque converter to be input into the input shaft IS.
[0046] The output shaft OS is an output member, is disposed in parallel with the input shaft IS, and transmits driving torque to a driving wheel through a differential apparatus.
[0047] The first planetary gear set PG 1 is a single pinion planetary gear set and includes a first sun gear S 1 , a first planet carrier PC 1 rotatably supporting a first pinion P 1 that is externally meshed with the first sun gear S 1 , and a first ring gear R 1 that is internally meshed with the first pinion P 1 respectively as first, second, and third rotation elements N 1 , N 2 , and N 3 .
[0048] The second planetary gear set PG 2 is a single pinion planetary gear set and includes a second sun gear S 2 , a second planet carrier PC 2 rotatably supporting a second pinion P 2 that is externally meshed with the second sun gear S 2 , and a second ring gear R 2 that is internally meshed with the second pinion P 2 respectively as fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements N 4 , N 5 , and N 6 .
[0049] The third planetary gear set PG 3 is a single pinion planetary gear set and includes a third sun gear S 3 , a third planet carrier PC 3 rotatably supporting a third pinion P 3 that is externally meshed with the third sun gear S 3 , and a third ring gear R 3 that is internally meshed with the third pinion P 3 respectively as seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements N 7 , N 8 , and N 9 .
[0050] The fourth planetary gear set PG 4 is a single pinion planetary gear set and includes a fourth sun gear S 4 , a fourth planet carrier PC 4 rotatably supporting a fourth pinion P 4 that is externally meshed with the fourth sun gear S 4 , and a fourth ring gear R 4 that is internally meshed with the fourth pinion P 4 respectively as tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rotation elements N 10 , N 11 , and N 12 .
[0051] The first rotation element N 1 , the fifth rotation element N 5 , the ninth rotation element N 9 and the tenth rotation element N 10 are directly connected with each other, and the third rotation element N 3 is directly connected to the fourth rotation element N 4 by two shafts among the eight shafts TM 1 to TM 8 .
[0052] The eight shafts TM 1 to TM 8 will be described in further detail.
[0053] The eight shafts TM 1 to TM 8 directly connect a plurality of rotation elements among the rotation elements of the planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 , and are rotation members that are directly connected to any one rotation element of the planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 and rotate with the any one rotation element to transmit torque, or are fixed members that directly connect any one rotation element (or more) of the planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 to the transmission housing H to fix the any one rotation element.
[0054] The first shaft TM 1 directly connects the first rotation element N 1 (first sun gear S 1 ), the fifth rotation element N 5 (second planet carrier PC 2 ), the ninth rotation element N 9 (third ring gear R 3 ) and the tenth rotation element N 10 (fourth sun gear S 4 ) with each other.
[0055] The second shaft TM 2 is connected to the second rotation element N 2 (first planet carrier PC 1 ) and is directly connected to the input shaft IS.
[0056] The third shaft TM 3 directly connects the third rotation element N 3 (first ring gear R 1 ) with the fourth rotation element N 4 (second sun gear S 2 ).
[0057] The fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth rotation element N 6 (second ring gear R 2 ).
[0058] The fifth shaft TM 5 is connected to the seventh rotation element N 7 (third sun gear S 3 ) and is selectively connected to the input shaft IS or the transmission housing H.
[0059] The sixth shaft TM 6 is connected to the eighth rotation element N 8 (third planet carrier PC 3 ) and is selectively connected to the second shaft TM 2 that is directly connected to the input shaft IS, or the transmission housing H. In addition, the sixth shaft TM 6 is selectively connected to the fourth shaft TM 4 .
[0060] The seventh shaft TM 7 directly connects the eleventh rotation element N 11 (fourth planet carrier PC 4 ), is selectively connected to the third shaft TM 3 , and is directly connected to the output shaft OS.
[0061] The eighth shaft TM 8 is connected to the twelfth rotation element N 12 (fourth ring gear R 4 ) and is selectively connected to the transmission housing H.
[0062] In addition, four clutches C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , and C 4 are disposed at portions at which any two shafts among the eight shafts TM 1 to TM 8 including the input shaft IS and the output shaft OS are selectively connected to each other.
[0063] In addition, three brakes B 1 , B 2 , and B 3 are disposed at portions at which any one shaft among the eight shafts TM 1 to TM 8 is selectively connected to the transmission housing H.
[0064] Arrangements of the four clutches C 1 to C 4 and the three brakes B 1 to B 3 are described in detail.
[0065] The first clutch C 1 is disposed between the third shaft TM 3 and the seventh shaft TM 7 or the output shaft OS, and selectively connects the third shaft TM 3 with the seventh shaft TM 7 or the output shaft OS.
[0066] The second clutch C 2 is disposed between the fifth shaft TM 5 and the input shaft IS and selectively connects the fifth shaft TM 5 with the input shaft IS.
[0067] The third clutch C 3 is disposed between the second shaft TM 2 and the sixth shaft TM 6 and selectively connects the second shaft TM 2 with the sixth shaft TM 6 .
[0068] The fourth clutch C 4 is disposed between the fourth shaft TM 4 and the sixth shaft TM 6 and selectively connects the fourth shaft TM 4 with the sixth shaft TM 6 .
[0069] The first brake B 1 is disposed between the fifth shaft TM 5 and the transmission housing H and selectively connects the fifth shaft TM 5 with the transmission housing H.
[0070] The second brake B 2 is disposed between the sixth shaft TM 6 and the transmission housing H and selectively connects the sixth shaft TM 6 with the transmission housing H.
[0071] The third brake B 3 is disposed between the eighth shaft TM 8 and the transmission housing H and selectively connects the eighth shaft TM 8 with the transmission housing H.
[0072] The control elements including the first, second, third, and fourth clutches C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , and C 4 and the first, second, and third brakes B 1 , B 2 , and B 3 may be multi-plates friction elements of wet type that are operated by hydraulic pressure, although other types of clutches or brakes may also be employed.
[0073] FIG. 2 is an operation chart of control elements at each speed stage in the planetary gear train according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0074] Referring to FIG. 2 , three control elements among the first, second, third, and fourth clutches C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , and C 4 and the first, second, and third brakes B 1 , B 2 , and B 3 that are control elements are operated at each speed stage in the planetary gear train according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiments of the present disclosure can achieve one reverse speed stage and eleven forward speed stages.
[0075] The second and third brakes B 2 and B 3 and the fourth clutch C 4 are simultaneously operated at a first forward speed stage D 1 .
[0076] In a state that the fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the fourth clutch C 4 , torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 . In addition, the sixth shaft TM 6 and the eighth shaft TM 8 are operated as the fixed elements by operation of the second and third brakes B 2 and B 3 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the first forward speed stage, and the first forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0077] The first and third brakes B 1 and B 3 and the fourth clutch C 4 are simultaneously operated at a second forward speed stage D 2 .
[0078] In a state that the fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the fourth clutch C 4 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 . In addition, the fifth shaft TM 5 and the eighth shaft TM 8 are operated as the fixed elements by operation of the first and third brakes B 1 and B 3 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the second forward speed stage, and the second forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0079] The third brake B 3 and the third and fourth clutches C 3 and C 4 are simultaneously operated at a third forward speed stage D 3 .
[0080] In a state that the second shaft TM 2 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the third clutch C 3 and the fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the fourth clutch C 4 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 and the sixth shaft TM 6 . In addition, the eighth shaft TM 8 is operated as the fixed element by operation of the third brake B 3 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the third forward speed stage, and the third forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0081] The first and third brakes B 1 and B 3 and the third clutch C 3 are simultaneously operated at a fourth forward speed stage D 4 .
[0082] In a state that the second shaft TM 2 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the third clutch C 3 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 and the sixth shaft TM 6 . In addition, the fifth shaft TM 5 and the eighth shaft TM 8 are operated as the fixed elements by operation of the first and third brakes B 1 and B 3 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the fourth forward speed stage, and the fourth forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0083] The first and third brakes B 1 and B 3 and the first clutch C 1 are simultaneously operated at a fifth forward speed stage D 5 .
[0084] In a state that the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 . In addition, the fifth shaft TM 5 and the eighth shaft TM 8 are operated as the fixed elements by operation of the first and third brakes B 1 and B 3 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the fifth forward speed stage, and the fifth forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0085] The first brake B 1 and the first and third clutches C 1 and C 3 are simultaneously operated at a sixth forward speed stage D 6 .
[0086] In a state that the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 and the second shaft TM 2 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the third clutch C 3 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 and the sixth shaft TM 6 . In addition, the fifth shaft TM 5 is operated as the fixed element by operation of the first brake B 1 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the sixth forward speed stage, and the sixth forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0087] The first, third, and fourth clutches C 1 , C 3 , and C 4 are simultaneously operated at a seventh forward speed stage D 7 .
[0088] Since the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 , the second shaft TM 2 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the third clutch C 3 , and the fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the fourth clutch C 4 , all the planetary gear sets become lock-up states. In this state, the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 and the sixth shaft TM 6 and the seventh forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 . Rotation speed that is the same as rotation speed of the input shaft IS is output at the seventh forward speed stage.
[0089] The first brake B 1 and the first and fourth clutches C 1 and C 4 are simultaneously operated at an eighth forward speed stage D 8 .
[0090] In a state that the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 and the fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the fourth clutch C 4 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 . In addition, the fifth shaft TM 5 is operated as the fixed element by operation of the first brake B 1 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the eighth forward speed stage, and the eighth forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0091] The second brake B 2 and the first and fourth clutches C 1 and C 4 are simultaneously operated at a ninth forward speed stage D 9 .
[0092] In a state that the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 and the fourth shaft TM 4 is connected to the sixth shaft TM 6 by operation of the fourth clutch C 4 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 . In addition, the sixth shaft TM 6 is operated as the fixed element by operation of the second brake B 2 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the ninth forward speed stage, and the ninth forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0093] The first and second brakes B 1 and B 2 and the first clutch C 1 are simultaneously operated at a tenth forward speed stage D 10 .
[0094] In a state that the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 . In addition, the fifth shaft TM 5 and the sixth shaft TM 6 are operated as the fixed elements by operation of the first and second brakes B 1 and B 2 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the tenth forward speed stage, and the tenth forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0095] The second brake B 2 and the first and second clutches C 1 and C 2 are simultaneously operated at an eleven forward speed stage D 11 .
[0096] In a state that the third shaft TM 3 is connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 by operation of the first clutch C 1 and the fifth shaft TM 5 is connected to the input shaft IS by operation of the second clutch C 2 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 and the fifth shaft TM 5 . In addition, the sixth shaft TM 6 is operated as the fixed element by operation of the second brake B 2 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the eleven forward speed stage, and the eleven forward speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0097] The second and third brakes B 2 and B 3 and the second clutch C 2 are simultaneously operated at a reverse speed stage REV.
[0098] In a state that the fifth shaft TM 5 is connected to the input shaft IS by operation of the second clutch C 2 , the torque of the input shaft IS is input to the second shaft TM 2 and the fifth shaft TM 5 . In addition, the sixth shaft TM 5 and the eighth shaft TM 8 are operated as the fixed elements by operation of the second and third brakes B 2 and B 3 . Therefore, the torque of the input shaft IS is shifted into the reverse speed stage, and the reverse speed stage is output to the output shaft OS connected to the seventh shaft TM 7 .
[0099] The planetary gear train according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may achieve at least eleven forward speed stage and one reverse speed stage by combining four planetary gear sets PG 1 , PG 2 , PG 3 , and PG 4 with the four clutches C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , and C 4 and the three brakes B 1 , B 2 , and B 3 .
[0100] In addition, since a gear ratio span greater than 11.5 is secured, driving efficiency of the engine may be maximized.
[0101] In addition, since linearity of step ratios can be secured due to multiple speed stages, drivability such as acceleration before and after shift, rhythmical engine speed, and so on may be improved.
[0102] While this disclosure has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
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The present disclosure provides a planetary gear train of an automatic transmission for a vehicle. The planetary gear train may include: an input shaft receiving torque of an engine; an output shaft outputting changed torque; a first planetary gear set including first, second, and third rotation elements; a second planetary gear set including fourth, fifth, and sixth rotation elements; a third planetary gear set including seventh, eighth, and ninth rotation elements; a fourth planetary gear set including tenth, eleventh, and twelfth rotation elements.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to enhanced oil recovery processes, whereby aqueous polymer solutions are used to drive oil to a producing well. Stabilization of the viscosity of the polymer solutions is a problem which has plagued such flooding efforts. This invention relates to such stabilization efforts.
2. Description of Related Art
Crude oils are accumulated into geologic traps in the earth, wherein the pores of the rock contain crude oil and connate water. Wells drilled into the geologic traps recover the crude oil by a variety of processes. In what are called "primary" production processes, oil flows to the wellhead at the surface driven by natural pressure or the oil is lifted to the surface by artificial means, such as pumps. In "secondary" production processes, fluids are injected into the oil reservoir through some wells to increase pressure in the oil reservoir or to assist in driving or displacing oil to wells where it can be produced to the surface through other wells. At times, even after a secondary process has been practiced, a "tertiary" recovery process will be employed by further injection of a fluid to increase the amount of oil produced. The fluid injected in either a secondary or tertiary process is often water, aqueous solutions or steam. The crude oils produced vary from oils with a viscosity less than water to oils that are very viscous, even tar-like at ambient temperatures.
Even if the oil is low in viscosity, this process of water displacement of oil leaves large quantities of oil trapped by capillary forces in the pores of the rock. It is well-known in the art to add chemicals such as surface active materials to the water that is injected into oil reservoirs to decrease the capillary forces and to allow more of the oil to be produced. When surface active chemicals are used, there is often a need to drive the chemicals through the reservoir with a following water solution that is made more viscous by the presence of polymers. The polymer solution, or polymer bank as it is often called, is also driven by a fluid, often brine from the very reservoir being produced. It is known in the art that a greater volume of oil-containing rock is contacted by the chemical solutions when they are driven by more viscous driving fluids and, thereby, larger amounts of oil are recovered. A problem arises in many instances, however, because the viscosity of the polymer solution degrades during the time it is in contact with the reservoir rock, particularly rock having acidic sites which react with the polymers. The problem increases in severity as the natural temperature of the reservoir increases.
In oil reservoirs where the crude oil present is highly viscous in its natural state, when water is injected to drive the crude oil to producing wells, the water tends to channel through the viscous oil and leave a large volume of the oil in the rock. Water production will often reach uneconomic amounts before a significant amount of the viscous oil is displaced. Three approaches to increasing the amount of viscous oil produced are well-known in the art: (1) decreasing the viscosity cf the oil by heating it, (2) increasing the viscosity of the water by adding polymers to it, or (3) using a combination of (1) and (2). When the oil in a reservoir is heated, for example, by injection of steam, it is known in the art that injection of viscous water solutions following the steam will often produce additional oil. The reservoir temperature is higher after steam injection and thus the aqueous solutions of polymers are exposed to abnormally high temperatures. The higher temperatures cause the polymers to degrade more rapidly. There is a critical need for methods to allow the polymers employed to maintain their structure and move through the rock, particularly acid rock, with the injected water, so that their benefits are realized in displacing more of the crude oil in the reservoir.
Several types of water-soluble polymers are known in the art to increase the viscosity of aqueous solutions and are used to drive chemicals through a reservoir or to displace viscous oils from a reservoir. Many water-soluble polymers are extremely expensive, which makes their use in a reservoir to recover oil prohibitive unless the price of crude oil at the wellhead is also very high. Attempts to use less expensive water-soluble polymers are thwarted by the problem of rapid degradation of the polymers in the oil reservoir due to contact with the formation rock, with the resultant loss of viscosity. This is particularly true in the reservoir in the Kern River Field in California.
Some of the desirable and relatively inexpensive water-soluble polymers include polyacrylamides, polyacrylates and polymers which are produced by living organisms, called biopolymers, such as polysaccharides, particularly xanthum gum and scleroglucan. Even though effective for a short time, the viscosity of these solutions diminishes and the solutions become ineffective when in contact with reservoir rock for periods of time necessary for their use. Efforts to stabilize them have been wanting. Various attempts have been made to treat reservoir rock so that the viscosity of polymers will not be degraded at high temperatures. Particularly, sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide have been used, but they have not been proven economically effective. It is an advantage of this invention that a cheap material, urea, will, at relatively low concentrations, tend to neutralize the acidity in the rock and reduce the degradation of polymers in the reservoir.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an advantage of this invention that inexpensive polymer materials may be used for polymer floods in tertiary oil production by pretreating the rock in the formation with an aqueous solution of urea.
The method of this invention is practiced by injecting into a petroleum-bearing reservoir an aqueous solution of urea, either immediately before a polymer recovery solution is injected, along with the polymer solution, or both. The result of introducing urea into an oil reservoir is to stabilize the polymer solution against loss of viscosity. The mechanism by which the urea accomplishes this result is not known completely, but it is believed related to a neutralization of acidic sites on the surface of the rock by the urea. The solution will contain an effective amount of urea, generally from about 0.1 to about 2% by weight. Urea is a widely available, inexpensive chemical and its use in the practice of this invention allows the less expensive polymers to be used in the polymer flood.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In the practice of this invention in accomplishing secondary or tertiary recovery of oil from oil-bearing reservoirs, the reservoir is normally penetrated by injection wells and producing wells in fluid communication through such reservoir. The reservoirs have often been depleted somewhat through the primary production techniques well known to those skilled in the art. Certain formations made up of acidic rock such as sandstone, make tertiary recovery through polymer floods difficult, since such acidic sites on the rock tend to degrade the polymers introduced into the flood liquid, normally a brine, causing the viscosity to become reduced as the polymer itself degrades. The degradation due to the presence of the acidic sites in the rock is even more prevalent with less expensive (more diverse mixtures) of polymers such as, for example, polyacrylamides, polyacrylates or polysaccharides.
I have discovered that a urea solution containing an amount of urea effective for at least partially neutralizing such acidic sites on the rock in the formation improves the stability of the viscosity of the aqueous polymer solution being used to drive the oil to the producing wells.
An effective amount of urea can easily be determined in laboratory experiments using tubes packed with a representative reservoir sand. In any case, the amount is generally from 0.1 to about 2 wt % urea in a brine or aqueous solution. Greater amounts can be used but normally such would not be necessary, and would only waste urea. Preferred amounts are from 0.75 wt % to about 1.5 wt % urea in the aqueous brine solution. For example, a 1 wt % urea solution has been found to result in a pH of 8.2 in a natural brine from the Kern River Field.
As is normally the case in secondary and tertiary recovery, surfactants are often used to treat the formation at one stage in the recovery and the practice of this invention is such that the urea can be incorporated into the surfactant solution itself. The urea can also be used as a flood solution prior to the insertion of the polymer bank into the formation, or, in fact, it can be incorporated into the first part of the polymer bank being pumped into the reservoir for the production of the oil.
In the practice of this invention from almost 15% to about 50% of pore volume of the urea solution is injected. It is preferred to introduce into the formation a volume of urea solution equal to from about 20% to 40% of the pore volume of the rock in the reservoir. The urea solution contains an effective amount of the urea, as stated above, for the neutralization of the acid sites on the rock in order to inhibit degradation of the polymers which will follow the solution. When used with the polymer solution itself, a portion, say 15% to about 25% pore volume, can be introduced into the formation ahead of the polymer solution in a brine solution in order to pretreat the rock and to move ahead of the polymer bank. About 5% to 15% pore volume of the first part of the polymer solution would then contain the remaining amount of urea.
In following the pre-flush or pre-treatment of the rock or the formation using the urea solution, the well-known amounts and methods of polymer flooding with an aqueous polymer drive solution are used.
The practice of this invention works particularly well in connection with oil recovery from the Kern River sand, which includes enormous quantities of viscous petroleum. The pre-flush with the urea solution at a 1 wt % concentration of urea has been found to result in a pH of about 8.2 in Kern River produced brine. Thus, this solution neutralizes acidic sites on rock and, when followed by a polymer injection, the flood results in stabilized viscosity and increased oil recovery through a producing well.
The above-described invention is further shown by the following examples which are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the invention and should not be considered as limiting on said claimed invention.
EXAMPLE 1 (COMPARATIVE)
A laboratory experiment illustrates the lack of stability of polymers in a simulated reservoir rock. A sample of unconsolidated rock from the Kern River Field of California was packed into a tube and the system brought to a temperature of 120° C. About 4 or 5 pore volumes of de-oxygenated, 2.5% sodium chloride in Kern River produced brine, degassed under nitrogen to about 2 ppb oxygen, was put through the tube to condition the sand. Then an aqueous solution of 1500 ppm of a polyacrylamide (Cyanotrol 740, American Cyanamid Company), was flowed through the sand-pack. Effluent viscosities of polymer solution were measured as a function of pore volumes injected. The effluent viscosity reached only 80% of injected viscosity after 3 pore volumes of polymer solution had been injected. After polymer solution had been left in the packed tube for three days, maintaining the temperature at 120° C., a sample was displaced and its viscosity had decreased to only about 20% of its injected value. These flow tests revealed that the polymer had degraded significantly in only three days. This amount of degradation would render a polymer solution useless in increasing oil recovery from a reservoir.
EXAMPLE 2
A tube packed with Kern River sand was prepared as described in Example 1. The sand was then flushed with a solution of 1% urea in the de-oxygenated brine. Then a solution of 1500 ppm Cyanotrol 740 was injected and the viscosity of the effluent solution was monitored. After only 2.5 pore volumes of polymer solution injection, the viscosity had reached about 95% of the injected viscosity. At this time, the flow was stopped and the polymer solution allowed to remain in the packed tube at 120° C. for 3 days. Then the solution was displaced and its viscosity determined. The viscosity remained at about 95% of injected viscosity, showing little or no degradation over this time at high temperature and in contact with the rock.
Table 1 compares the results of this experiment to the experiment when no urea flush was use1 ahead of polymer injection.
TABLE 1______________________________________Effect of Urea Pre-Flush on Viscosity Degradation of Polymer120° C. - Cyanotrol 740 Polyacrylamide - 1500 ppm Pore Volumes % Injected Viscosity Injected Initial After 3 days______________________________________Without Urea Pre-flush 3.0 80 20With Urea Pre-flush 2.5 95 95______________________________________
The stabilizing effect of the urea pre-flush is very significant and surprising.
EXAMPLE 3
In an oil reservoir containing highly viscous oil, steam is first injected to heat the reservoir and lower the viscosity of the oil. Steam is injected until breakthrough of heated water occurs in some of the production wells. At this point average oil content of the reservoir has been reduced from 70% pore volume of the productive rock to 60% pore volume. Then a water solution of urea is injected at a concentration of 1 wt % in the brine used for water flooding the reservoir. Tests are performed in the laboratory using samples of rock from the reservoir, which tests are known by one skilled in the art, to determine the total amount of urea effective to treat the reservoir rock so that it does not rapidly degrade the polymer. After these tests, it is determined that a 1 wt % urea solution in an amount equal to 20% of the total pore volume of the rock between injection and production wells is injected. Following injection of the urea solution, a solution of 1500 ppm of the polyacrylamide polymer (Cyanatrol 740), is injected as a polymer flood. The polymer solution is effective in driving additional oil to the production wells.
EXAMPLE 4
In another area of the same reservoir as described in Example 3, it is desired that the water injection phase be reduced below 20% of pore volume. To supply urea to the reservoir and stabilize the polymer, 10% pore volume of 1 wt % urea solution in brine is injected before polymer injection is begun, and 1 wt % urea is added to the first 10% pore volume of polymer solution injected. The same benefits from the urea are realized, since the urea ahead of the polymer injection conditions the rock for the first part of the bank of polymer solution injected and the additional urea added to the polymer solution conditions the rock for the last part of the polymer bank.
EXAMPLE 5
In an oil reservoir containing low viscosity oil, a water flood reduces average oil content of the reservoir from 70% of the pore volume of productive rock to 50% of the pore volume of the productive rock. Then a volume of a solution of surface active chemical in water is injected to reduce capillary forces trapping oil in the rock. The 1 wt % urea solution is then added to the last 20% pore volume of the solution containing the surface active chemical. Immediately following the injection of surface active chemical and urea, a volume equal to 50% pore volume of a solution of 1500 ppm polyacrylamide (Cyanatrol 740) is injected. Then brine produced from wells in the field is injected following the polymer solution. The polymer solution increases the amount of rock contacted by the surface active chemical and is effective in increasing the amount of oil recovered from the reservoir. The urea injected in the solution ahead of the polymer prevents degradation of the polymer solution as it moves through the reservoir at natural reservoir temperature.
The methods of the present invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that many changes may be made in the procedures thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the forms hereinbefore described being merely preferred or exemplary embodiments.
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Petroleum is extracted from a subterranean reservoir by injecting into injection wells an aqueous polymer solution wherein the polymer is stabilized against viscosity deterioration by treating the reservoir with an effective amount of urea in an aqueous solution.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/211,543, filed on Aug. 28, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Steam condensers are fundamental components of about 85% of electricity generation plants, and about 50% of the desalination plants installed globally. As a consequence, finding routes that even moderately improve efficiency of the condensation process could lead to considerable economic savings as well as environmental and societal benefits.
[0003] Since the 1930s, the hydrophobization of metal surfaces has been known to increase heat transfer during water condensation by up to an order of magnitude. This surface modification switches the condensation mode from filmwise (FWC) to dropwise (DWC). However, the use of hydrophobic coatings required to promote DWC introduces an additional resistance to heat flow. Thus, in simplified terms, to increase the total heat transfer rate, thermal resistance introduced by the hydrophobic coating must be significantly smaller than that posed by the water film during condensation.
[0004] While there are many techniques to render surfaces hydrophobic to promote DWC, most conventional coatings suffer from longevity issues. Moreover, in addition to their limited durability, most hydrophobic surface modifiers have a low thermal conductivity, preventing the widespread industrial adoption of the condensation mode. For example, to withstand the steam environment within a power plant condenser during the projected lifetime of the power station (about 40 years), it is estimated that a Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film must be about 20 to 30 μm thick, where the thermal resistance added by this thickness of the polymeric film negates any heat transfer enhancement attained by promoting DWC, (see for example J. W. Rose, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., A 2002, 216, 115.)
[0005] Recently, several alternative durable hydrophobic materials have been proposed including rare earth oxides, grafted polymers, and lubricant impregnated surfaces (LIS). Nevertheless, applying these materials as thin films makes them susceptible to variety of degradation issues including polymer oxidation at defect sites, ceramic film delamination due to thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between the film and underlying metal, and, for LIS, slow lubricant drainage with departing water drops.
[0006] Metal matrix composites with hydrophobic particles have been proposed as a durable alternative to thin film hydrophobic surface coatings. In particular, polished copper-graphite microparticle composites have been shown to have a macroscopic water drop contact angle of about 87° (see for example M. Nosonovsky, V. Hejazi, A. E. Nyong, P. K. Rohatgi, Langmuir 2011, 27, 14419.) The surface of this composite has heterogeneous wetting properties consisting of microscale hydrophobic patches on a hydrophilic background. Condensation and wetting on surfaces with microscale chemical and topological heterogeneities has been studied extensively, and surfaces comparable to those of the composites with microscale hydrophobic features have been demonstrated to flood during condensation. This mismatch between macroscale wetting properties and condensation mode stems from the multiscale nature of the phase change process. In practical terms, flooding of surfaces with microscale hydrophobic features occurs because microdroplets smaller than the features nucleate, grow, and coalesce into a film on the hydrophilic background surface surrounding the hydrophobic phase.
[0007] The flooding of composite surfaces during condensation can be prevented by engineering the materials on length scale greater than that of drop nuclei but significantly smaller than the average separation distance between microdroplet centers prior to onset of the coalescence dominated growth stage of about 5 to 10 μm.
SUMMARY
[0008] Some embodiments of the invention include a method of forming a metal matrix composite comprising introducing a plurality of nanoparticles into a flow of metal material, and mixing of at least a partial portion of the flow of metal material with at least some of the plurality of nanoparticles to form a mixture of the metal material and at least some of the nanoparticles. The method further includes forming a metal matrix composite from the mixture, where the metal matrix composite includes a bulk region and an outer surface including a plurality of hydrophobic regions dispersed within a hydrophilic surface region. Further, the plurality of hydrophobic regions is formed or derived from at least a portion of the plurality of nanoparticles, and the plurality of hydrophobic regions has a first diameter, and an average spacing between the hydrophobic regions is a second diameter, where the first and second diameters are about 100 nm to 400 nm.
[0009] In some embodiments, the flow is a molten metal flow, and the metal matrix composite is formed by cooling the molten metal flow below the melting point of the metal. In some further embodiments, the flow is a flow of a dispersion of the metal material, and the metal matrix composite is formed by coalescence of the metal material.
[0010] In some embodiments of the invention, the forming of the metal matrix composite includes a film or coating growth. In some embodiments, the flow of metal material comprises an electro-deposition flow, the metal material comprises metal ions, and the metal matrix composite is formed as a film or coating by growth or deposition of a metal of the metal material between and around the plurality of nanoparticles.
[0011] In some embodiments, the electro-deposition flow comprises a co-electro-deposition flow and the plurality of nanoparticles are electro-deposited. In some further embodiments, the flow of metal material comprises a vapor-deposition flow, the metal material comprises metal ions or metal atoms, and the metal matrix composite is formed as a film or coating by growth or deposition of a metal of the metal material between and around the plurality of nanoparticles.
[0012] In some embodiments, the metal material comprises copper. In other embodiments, the metal further includes aluminum alloyed with the copper. In some embodiments, the metal material includes a transition metal. In some embodiments, the metal is selected from nickel, iridium, zinc, titanium, gold, silver, beryllium, cobalt, iron, carbon steel, magnesium, molybdenum, platinum.
[0013] In some embodiments, the plurality of nanoparticles comprises ceramic or ceramic oxide nanoparticles. In some embodiments, the plurality of nanoparticles includes polymer nanoparticles. In some embodiments, the plurality of nanoparticles comprises ceria oxide nanoparticles.
[0014] In some embodiments of the invention, the metal matrix composite is formed as a film or coating. In other embodiments, the metal matrix composite is formed as a bulk material. In some embodiments, the bulk material is machining to an article of manufacture using at least one of subtractive manufacturing process including drilling, milling, turning, boring, sawing, and planing, extrusion, and cold-rolling.
[0015] In some embodiments, the metal matrix composite is formed using at least one of stir casting, pressure infiltration, squeeze casting, spray deposition, reactive processing, powder blending and consolidation, web-coating, and three-dimensional (in-situ casting), or any combination of these processes.
[0016] Some embodiments include the metal matrix composite formed into at least one of a block, rod, plank, tube, cube, or sphere. Some other embodiments further comprise machining the metal matrix composite to a an article of manufacture using at least one of subtractive manufacturing process including drilling, milling, turning, boring, sawing, and planing, extrusion, and cold-rolling.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1A is an illustration of water film formation on a hydrophilic (metal) surface.
[0018] FIG. 1B provides an illustration of the use of traditional hydrophobic coating on a hydrophilic (metal) surface.
[0019] FIG. 1C is an illustration of metal matrix-hydrophobic nanoparticle with condensation.
[0020] FIG. 1D is an illustration of length scales relevant to the four dropwise condensation stages including nucleation, individual droplet growth, drop coalescence dominated growth, and departure from surface via gravity assisted shedding in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0021] FIG. 2A shows an illustration of unit cell of spherical particles on a cubic lattice distributed on the surface in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0022] FIG. 2B shows plots of the effective composite contact angle as a function of the filler particle pitch to diameter ratio for different θ Ms with θ Hs of about 100°, the ratio of effective thermal conductivity to that of the matrix material, and the volumetric fraction of the hydrophobic phase as a function of the filler particle pitch to diameter ratio (P/d).
[0023] FIG. 3A is schematic of a mimicked composite fabrication procedure showing corresponding static water contact angles in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0024] FIG. 3B shows SEM images of PTFE nanosphere arrays fabricated using hard mask gratings in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0025] FIG. 4A shows static contact angles of mimicked composites with PTFE nanospheres arrays fabricated with gratings with different line spacing (ls) on silane modified silicon wafer with Cu-like (θ Ms about 65°) and Al-like (θ MS about 77°) wetting properties in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0026] FIG. 4B shows contact angle hysteresis (CAH) of mimicked composites with PTFE nanospheres arrays fabricated with gratings with different line spacing (ls) on silane modified silicon wafer with Cu-like (θ Ms about 65°) and Al-like (θ Ms about 77°) wetting properties in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0027] FIG. 5 shows a sequence of optical images illustrating microscale droplet dynamics during water condensation on plasma cleaned silicon (shown as set (a)), PTFE coated silicon (shown as set (b)), and mimicked composites with PTFE nanospheres arrays fabricated with gratings with 830 nm and 280 nm line spacing (ls) on silane modified silicon wafer with Cu-like (where θ Ms is about 65°) and Al-like (where θ Ms , is about 77°) wetting properties (shown as (c) to (f)) properties in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0028] FIG. 6A illustrates drop departure radius for mimicked composites PTFE nanospheres arrays fabricated with gratings with varied line spacing on silane modified silicon wafer with Cu-like (where θ Ms is about 65°) and Al-like (where θ Ms is about 77°) wetting properties in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0029] FIG. 6B illustrates departure radius for silane and PTFE modified wafers in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0030] FIG. 7A shows effective thermal conductivity of a metal matrix material scaled by matrix metal conductivity as a function of different volume fractions of hydrophobic PTFE nanoparticles where volume fractions corresponding to different nanosphere line spacing (ls) of the mimicked composites are indicated in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
[0031] FIG. 7B shows modeled heat transfer coefficient for different thickness hydrophobic coatings consisting of PTFE film, ceria film, and different composition Al-PTFE nanoparticle or Cu-PTFE nanoparticle composites with volume fraction between 0.03 to 0.45 (3 to 45%). For reference, heat transfer coefficient for filmwise condensation occurring on bare copper is also shown, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0032] Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention 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 following drawings. The invention 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. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “supported,” and “coupled” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass both direct and indirect mountings, connections, supports, and couplings. Further, “connected” and “coupled” are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.
[0033] The following discussion is presented to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use embodiments of the invention. Various modifications to the illustrated embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles herein can be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from embodiments of the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not intended to be limited to embodiments shown, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein. The following detailed description is to be read with reference to the figures, in which like elements in different figures have like reference numerals. The figures, which are not necessarily to scale, depict selected embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the invention. Skilled artisans will recognize the examples provided herein have many useful alternatives and fall within the scope of embodiments of the invention.
[0034] FIG. 1A is an illustration of water film formation on a hydrophilic (metal) surface, and is indicative of promoting a surface modification that switches the condensation mode from filmwise (FWC) to dropwise (DWC). This condensation mode improves the heat transfer rate by preventing formation of a thermally insulating water film. FIG. 1B provides an illustration of the use of traditional hydrophobic coating on a hydrophilic (metal) surface. In this example, the use of hydrophobic coatings required to promote DWC introduces an additional resistance to heat flow.
[0035] Some embodiments of the invention can include materials suitable for hydrophobic surface coatings including metal matrix composites with hydrophobic particles. In some embodiments of the invention, the dispersion of hydrophobic nanoparticles with diameters, d, much lower than I co (i.e. d below about 500 nm) within the hydrophilic metal matrix can significantly disrupt individual droplet growth prior to as well as during onset of microdroplet coalescence. For example, FIG. 1C is an illustration of metal matrix-hydrophobic nanoparticle with condensation demonstrated for embodiments of the invention, where representative resistive heat transfer networks are also indicated with T c , T s , T v , R film , R coat , R cond , R comp , and R cond corresponding to bulk condenser, surface, and vapor temperatures and water film, hydrophobic coating, composite, and condensation thermal resistances, respectively. Examples of the surface of this type of composite can include heterogeneous wetting properties consisting of microscale hydrophobic patches on a hydrophilic background (see for example M. Nosonovsky, V. Hejazi, A. E. Nyong, P. K. Rohatgi, Langmuir 2011, 27, 14419, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference) Further, FIG. 1D is an illustration 75 of length scales relevant to the four dropwise condensation stages including nucleation, individual droplet growth, drop coalescence dominated growth, and departure from surface via gravity assisted shedding in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, the composite 100 can comprise matrix 105 , with a distribution of hydrophobic particles 110 , and where droplet 101 behavior on the composite 100 is further shown as individual growth droplet 101 a , coalescence dominated with droplet 101 b , and with shedding droplet 101 c . As shown, the droplet nucleation (ln) is about 1 to 100 nm, and coalescence (lc) is about 5 μm to 3 mm, and drop shedding (ls) is about 3 mm.
[0036] The Cassie-Baxter equation can be used to predict the apparent contact angle of water droplets, sitting on structured and chemically heterogeneous surfaces with features much smaller than drop diameter (see for example A. B. D. Cassie, S. Baxter, Trans. Farad. Soc. 1944, 40, 546; b) P.-G. de Gennes, F. Brochard-Wyart, D. Quere, Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves, Springer, 2003, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference). In particular, the cos θ c =Σ i=1 lmax f i cos θ i where f i and θ i , are the liquid-solid interfacial area per unit plane base area and the water contact angle of individual phases present on the surface. In some embodiments, assumptions can include spherical hydrophobic particles (with static contact angle θ Hs ) with diameter (d) distributed uniformly within the volume of the matrix (with static contact angle θ Ms ) on corners of a cubic lattice (i.e. hemispheres on a square grid on the surface as shown in FIG. 2A with an illustration of unit cell of spherical particles 110 on a cubic lattice distributed on the surface of the matrix 105 ) with a center-to-center pitch (P). Further, the liquid-solid fractions of the matrix (f M ) and the hydrophobic phase (f n ) per unit base area can be expressed as a function of the P/d ratio: f M =1−0.25π(d/P) 2 and f H =0.5π(d/P) 2 (for flat PTFE circles the f M =1−0.25π(d/P) 2 and f H =0.25π(d/P) 2 ). In some embodiments, by substituting these expressions into the Cassie-Baxter equation, a P/d ratio that would render the composite material hydrophobic (θ os >90°) can be predicted. Subscript s, a, and r represent static, advancing, and receding contact angles respectively, and H and M represent hydrophobic and matrix phases respectively.
[0037] FIG. 2B shows graph 200 with plots of the effective composite contact angle as a function of the filler particle pitch to diameter ratio for different θ Ms with θ Hs about 100°, the ratio of effective thermal conductivity to that of the matrix material, and the volumetric fraction of the hydrophobic phase as a function of the filler particle pitch to diameter ratio (P/d). As illustrated, for a hydrophobic particles with static contact angle about 100° such as PTFE or ceria, a hydrophobic composite is achieved with a P/d (nanoparticle volume fraction) of 1.03 (0.5), 1.06 (0.45), 1.15 (0.34), and 1.35 (0.2), for matrix material with static contact angle (θ Ms ) of 10°, 40°, 60°, and 80°, respectively. The corresponding effective thermal conductivity of the composite (k eff ) can be calculated based on the volume fraction (φ H ) of the hydrophobic reinforcement as well as the thermal conductivity of the two components (k M and k H ) using Maxwell's or Rayleight's formula.
[0038] For the case of a metal matrix (e.g. copper with k M =400 W/mK) and a polymeric or ceramic reinforcement (e.g. PTFE or ceria with k H of 0.25 or 17 W/mK) with k M >>k H , the two formulas can be expressed as function of only and converge on k eff /k M =(2−2φ)/(2+φ). The graph in FIG. 2B shows that for P/d (volume fraction) of 1.03 (0.5), 1.06 (0.45), 1.15 (0.34), and 1.35 (0.2), k eff /k M is 0.4, 0.44, 0.56, and 0.71, respectively. In other terms, for copper and aluminum matrices with θ Ms of about 60° to 80° (with contact angle measurements using cleaned mirror polished metal surfaces), about 45% to 30% reduction in the total thermal conductivity can be expected from the addition of enough nanoparticles to make the composite hydrophobic. For copper, this reduction would correspond to k eff ˜180 W/mK, which is higher than that of PTFE (about 0.25 W/mK) or ceria (about 17 W/mK), and comparable to pure aluminum (about 200 W/mK). Thus, metal matrix hydrophobic nanoparticle composites (hereinafter MMHNPCs) can provide the highly desired high thermal conductivity hydrophobic materials for improved condensation. However, the non-dimensional thermodynamic modeling of composite surface's static contact angle often does not correspond to condensation behavior, and prior studies have suggested that low contact angle hysteresis (hereafter “CAH”) and not necessarily the hydrophobicity of surface (θ os >90°) is a better criterion for predicting whether a material is suitable to promote DWC. Consequently, the volume fraction of hydrophobic nanoparticles within metal matrix required to reduce the CAH sufficiently to promote DWC might be different from the values predicted using static contact angle calculations.
[0039] Some embodiments of the invention include compositions and methods of synthesis of metal matrix hydrophobic nanoparticle composites that comprise high thermal conductivity hydrophobic materials suitable for improved condensation and wetting performance. Some embodiments include a material surface or coating comprising an MMHNPC condenser including hydrophobic nanoparticles emerging out of a hydrophilic metal base. Further, some embodiments include methods for fabricating bulk materials or surfaces with ordered arrays of nanoscale hydrophobic heterogeneities on hydrophilic background with varied wetting properties. For example, some embodiments include metal matrix composites comprising Cu and Al with dispersed distributions of hydrophobic nanoparticles. In general, metals and/or metal alloys useful in forming the metal matrix hydrophobic nanoparticle composites include any metal with high thermal conductivity. For example, in some embodiments, metals and/or metal alloys useful in forming the metal matrix hydrophobic nanoparticle composites include nickel, iridium, zinc, titanium, gold, silver, beryllium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, molybdenum, platinum, and alloys of the above. Some further embodiments can include a metal matrix comprising brass, bronze, or carbon steel.
[0040] In some embodiments, the metal matrix composites can prepared as coatings, bulk materials, or a combination of two. Embodiments of the invention can utilize various conventional formation methods including, but not limited to co-electro-deposition, stir casting, pressure infiltration, squeeze casting, spray deposition, reactive processing, powder blending and consolidation, web-coating, three-dimensional (in-situ casting), or any combination of these processes. In some further embodiments, bulk composites can be fabricated (e.g., such as into a block, rod, plank, tube, cube sphere, etc.), that are then fabricated into functional parts. For example, in some embodiments, a block of the composite material can be fabricated through one of the above methods, and formed into functional parts through any standard machining and processing methods including, but not limited to, any conventional subtractive manufacturing process including drilling, milling, turning, boring, sawing, and planing, extrusion, and cold-rolling.
[0041] Embodiments of the invention can include hydrophobic nanoparticle comprising one or more hydrophobic polymers, copolymers (e.g., block copolymers), polymer blends, and mixtures thereof. Some embodiments of the invention can include polytetrafluoethylene and/or other conventional fluorinated polymers. Further, hydrophobic polymers useful for forming embodiments of the invention described herein include polymers listed at http://www.sigmaaldfich.com/materials-science/material-science products.html?TablePage=16372120, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference.
[0042] In some further embodiments, the hydrophobic nanoparticle can comprise hydrophobic ceramics, lanthanide oxide series, including hydrophobic ceramics described in “Hydrophobicity of rare-earth oxide ceramics” by Gisele Azimi, Rajeev Dhiman, Hyuk-Min Kwon, Adam T. Paxson, and Kripa K. Varanasi, Nature Materials 12, 315-320 (2013) (found at http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v12/n4/abs/nmat3545.html), the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference. In other embodiments, the hydrophobic nanoparticle can comprise two-material particles (e.g. fumed silica).
[0043] In some embodiments, the surfaces of the metal matrix hydrophobic nanoparticle composites were mimicked by fabricating ordered arrays of PTFE nanospheres on silicon substrates using modification of the method described by Park et al. (see for example, H. Park, T. P. Russell, S. Park, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2010, 348, 416, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference). The method included oxygen plasma treatment and silanization processes. In some embodiments, in order to mimic different volumetric fractions of the hydrophobic nanoparticles, PTFE nanosphere arrays with varied pitch were fabricated by tuning the geometry of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) soft stamps. In particular, in some embodiments, stamps were fabricated with parallel nano-grooves with line spacing (ls) of about 280 nm, about 420 nm, about 550 nm and about 830 nm by spin-coating uncured elastomer on optical gratings. In some embodiments, two types of specimens were made to mimic the composites having Cu-like and Al-like wetting properties with static contact angles of about 65° and about 77°, respectively.
[0044] The fabrication of nanospheres included directed dewetting of liquid PTFE precursor using soft lithography and thermal annealing. For example, FIG. 3A is schematic 300 of a mimicked composite fabrication procedure with inset images showing corresponding static water contact angles (inset in iii shows example AFM image of a soft stamp surface) in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, using a spin-coater (e.g., using an SCK model a Instras Scientific spin coater), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) soft patterns with parallel grooves of different pitches (about 280 nm, about 440 nm, about 550 nm and about 830 nm) were made by spin-coating a mixed and degassed mixture of PDMS elastomer base and curing agent (e.g., such as Sylguard® 184, Dow Corning®) (10:1 by mass) on glass gratings (from Thorlabs Inc.) having a corresponding groove pattern. In some embodiments, after spin coating, the PDMS was allowed to settle and de-aerate for about 20 minutes. In some embodiments, this procedure was followed by thermal curing on a hotplate at 85° C. for 115 minutes. The stamps were subsequently removed from the glass gratings and used in the further fabrication process. Dow Corning® and Sylgard® are registered trademarks of Dow Corning Corporation.
[0045] Using the method outlined in the steps of the schematic 300 of FIG. 3A , heterogeneous surfaces of composites were prepared by fabricating ordered arrays of PTFE nanospheres on silicon substrates using the PDMS stamps. For example, in some embodiments, a 1 cm×1 cm silicon wafer pieces were washed using water and ethanol, and cleaned using an oxygen plasma in a plasma reactor (e.g., using a Blue Lantern from Integrated Surface Technologies, Inc.) for one minute at pressure of about 250 mTorr and power of about 150 W. In some embodiments, a PTFE precursor solution (e.g., such as AF1600, from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company) was diluted in Fluorinert® FC-40 in the ratio of 1:4.25 by mass. In some embodiments, the solution was mixed in an ultrasonicator for about 10 seconds and heated at about 75° C. for a short period (for about 1-3 seconds). In some embodiments, the mixture was spin-coated on cleaned silicon substrate at 4500±60 RPM for about 1 minute. In some embodiments, immediately after spin-coating, the PDMS soft patterns (e.g., the PDMS stamps prepared as described above) were brought into contact with the PTFE solution covered silicon substrate and pressed using a 200 g weight (shown as step ii). In some embodiments, the assembly was thermally cured on a hotplate at a temperature of about 120° C. for about one hour. After completion of the curing process, the weight and PDMS patterns were removed from the substrate. In some embodiments, as fabricated, the samples with PTFE nanospheres had static contact angles above 100°, indicating the presence of a residual PTFE film. Fluorinert® is a registered trademark of 3M Company.
[0046] In some embodiments, residual PTFE thin film was removed using oxygen plasma etching (shown as step iv). In some embodiments, samples fabricated using the procedure described above were subjected to oxygen plasma at about 250 mTorr and about 150 W for three subsequent about 10 min intervals with about 1 min breaks. In some embodiments, following post plasma etching, the static water contact angles of the samples were found to be about 30° (thus confirming that the residual PTFE film in-between the spheres was removed.)
[0047] In some embodiments of the invention, the wetting property of the silicon background was modified using vapor phase silanization (shown as step v). For example, in some embodiments, the etched specimens along with a beaker containing silane solution (e.g., Chloro(dimethyl)octylsilane, Sigma Aldrich Corporation) were transferred to a desiccator and placed in an environmental chamber (e.g., model 5518, ETS Inc.) set at about 25° C. and about 15% relative humidity. The total silane exposure duration and the amount of silane used could be used to tune the resulting contact angle of the modified silicon wafer with PTFE nanospheres. In some embodiments, the desiccator was subsequently evacuated for about 15 min using a roughing vacuum pump (e.g., an Edwards Corporation model RX-5). In some embodiments, to produce Al-like samples, the etched specimens were exposed to about 100 μL of silane solution for about 4 h. In turn, the Cu-like samples were produced by exposure of the etched specimens to about 10 μL silane solution for about 30 minutes.
[0048] In some embodiments, the static contact angles of the bare silicon treated with the processes described above were found to be about 77°±1° and about 65°±4°, respectively. Control experiments were used to ensure that the silane was preferentially deposited on the exposed silicon, and not the PTFE nanospheres. In particular, a fully PTFE-coated wafer was exposed to the silane using the described procedure, and it was confirmed that the static contact angle of this sample was unaltered by the silane exposure. Additionally, an experiment was conducted to investigate if the directionality of the PTFE nanosphere rows had any impact on the CAH. In particular, the CAH was measured twice at the same sample location but at a 90° rotation relative to its previous orientation. It was found that the orientation did not affect the CAH value significantly (17°±1° vs. 15°±4°).
[0049] FIG. 3B shows SEM images 400 of PTFE nanosphere arrays fabricated using hard mask gratings with indicated line spacing (morphology of the grounding metal thin film required for high quality imaging is also visible in-between spheres) in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. The images of static water contact angle corresponding to different fabrication steps clearly illustrate the alteration of effective wetting properties of the composites induced by changes of the contact angle of the background surface (e.g., from θ Ms of about 100° for PTFE to θ Ms of less than 10° for clean Si to θ Ms of about 60° to 80° for different silanes). In some embodiments, the silane deposition procedure can be modified to achieve background (i.e. measured on flat silane modified wafer without nanospheres) static water contact angles of 65°±4° and 77°±3° so as to fabricate samples that mimic surfaces of composites with “Cu-like” surfaces (θ Ms about 60°) and “Al-like” surfaces (θ Ms about 80°), respectively.
[0050] The images 400 shown in FIG. 3B represent typical PTFE nanosphere arrays resulting from thermal curing of spin-coated liquid PTFE precursor pressed by these four types of parallel groove PDMS stamps. The fabricated PTFE nanospheres have diameters in the range of about 120 to about 190 nm and are not arranged on a perfectly square grid. Table 1 below shows the geometrical parameters of PTFE nanosphere array fabricated with soft stamps made from gratings with indicated line spacing (ls), where ‘a-b’, d, A fc and A fm stand for the average values of rectangular grid sides, PTFE nanosphere diameter, and area calculated and measured area fractions respectively.
[0000]
TABLE 1
ls [nm]
830
560
420
280
parameter
a
b
d
a
b
d
a
b
d
a
b
d
328 ±
664 ± 42
135 ± 53
420 ± 108
603 ± 35
190 ± 31
209 ± 61
451 ± 41
120 ± 13
258 ± 72
319 ± 28
158 ± 27
129
A fc
0.065 ± 0.058
0.11 ± 0.047
0.12 ± 0.045
0.24 ± 0.11
A fm
0.088
0.12
0.13
0.17
[0051] As shown, all average grid dimension values presented in Table 1 are about 650 nm. Based on direct image analysis of SEM and AFM data, the samples fabricated with about 280 nm, about 420 nm, about 550 nm and about 830 nm line spacing gratings had PTFE area fractions of about 0.09, about 0.12, about 0.13, and about 0.17, respectively. As shown in Table 1, the area fractions calculated based on average diameters and grid dimensions (rectangle with side dimensions a and b) are in close agreement with the directly measured area fractions. Using AFM analysis, it was determined that in some embodiments, the oxygen plasma treatment flattened the nanospheres to a thickness of about 20 to 50 nm. Furthermore, the PTFE particle arrays uniformly covered entire about 1 cm 2 sample area and could be reproduced with high repeatability.
[0052] In some embodiments, the presence of the nanosphere arrays having different area densities on the silane modified samples did not appreciably alter the static contact angle of water drops, but had a major effect on their contact angle hysteresis. Specifically, the plot 500 in FIG. 4A shows that for all mimicked Cu-like and Al-like composites the measured static contact angles were within about 5° of about 65° and about 80°, respectively. This observation is not surprising if we take into account the area fraction of the PTFE nanospheres is at most 0.2. Referring to FIG. 2B and Table 51, the Cassie-Baxter equation predicts a static contact angle increase below 5° for θ Ms equal or greater than about 40°.
[0000]
TABLE S1
Cassie-Baxter equation predictions of advancing and receding
contact angles and contact angle hysteresis (CAH) using
per contact line and per base area interfacial contact factors for surfaces
with static contact angle of θ Ms = 65° (CAH of 30°) and
θ Ms = 77° (CAH of 24°).
grating spacing (nm)
890
550
440
280
geometrical
P average =
496
512
330
288
parameters
(a + b)/2 (nm)
fl H =
0.27
0.37
0.36
0.55
d/P average
(d/P average ) 2
0.07
0.14
0.13
0.30
f H =
0.06
0.11
0.10
0.23
0.25(d/P average ) 2
Per-line CB
θ 2
103.0
105.2
105.0
109.2
prediction
θ 1
83.4
87.1
86.8
93.6
θ Ms = 77°
CAH
19.6
18.1
18.2
15.6
Per-line CB
θ 2
99.3
102.0
101.8
106.8
prediction
θ 1
75.8
80.7
80.3
89.0
θ Ms = 65°
CAH
23.4
21.3
21.5
17.8
Per-area CB
θ 2
98.3
99.4
99.3
102.2
prediction
θ 1
75.2
77.2
77.0
82.0
θ Ms = 77°
CAH
23.0
22.2
22.3
20.2
Per-area CB
θ 2
93.5
94.9
94.8
98.3
prediction
θ 1
65.1
67.7
67.4
74.0
θ Ms = 65°
CAH
28.5
27.2
27.3
24.3
[0053] On the contrary to the static contact angles, the CAH was found to decrease significantly with increasing density of the hydrophobic phase. The plot 450 in FIG. 4B shows that the CAH was reduced by about 10° (about 33% to 42% reduction) with addition of the highest density of PTFE particles (fabricated with grating with line spacing of 280 nm corresponding to A f about 0.2) to the bare silane modified wafer. In particular, the CAH is reduced from about 25° to about 15° for θ Ms of about 77°, and from about 30° to about 20° for θ Ms about 65°. This decrease is more substantial than predicted by area fraction based Cassie-Baxter arguments (below 5°, see Table S1), however it can be explained by considering the effect of the hydrophobic phase on motion of the solid-liquid-air contact line around the perimeter of the drops. The contribution of the hydrophobic phase in Cassie-Baxter equation is evaluated per unit length of the drop perimeter not per unit base area. For the disc-like PTFE patches, the fraction of the total length of three phase contact line over hydrophobic phase as fl H ˜d/P can be quantified. Further, the expression for fl H neglects any possible effects of bending of the contact line and effects of three dimensional drop surface distortions. Because the per base area arguments scale with f h ˜0.25π(d/P) 2 , the hydrophobic phase contribution is much more substantial when dynamic contact angles are evaluated using per contact line arguments. For example, by taking P˜(a+b)/2, we get d/P vs. 025π(d/P) of 0.27 vs. 0.06, 0.37 vs. 0.11, 0.36 vs. 0.10, and 0.55 vs. 0.23 for samples made with grating line spacing of 830 nm, 560 nm, 420 nm, and 280 nm, respectively. Substituting the f H and fl H and advancing and receding contact angle values for PTFE and silanes into Cassie-Baxter relation, a CAH change can be estimated, obtained from adding the densest distribution of PTFE discs (280 nm line spacing) to the silane modified substrate. Using the per base area and per contact line arguments a CAH decrease can be estimated of about 4° to about 5° and about 9° to about 12°, respectively (see Table 51 for all values). Consequently, a small addition of about 0.2 area fraction of nanoscale hydrophobic patches onto a hydrophilic matrix can substantially reduce the CAH of macroscale water drops by altering the contact line motion dynamics.
[0054] FIG. 5 shows a sequence of optical images 600 illustrating microscale droplet dynamics on composite samples prepared by the methods as described herein during water condensation on plasma cleaned silicon (shown as set (a)), PTFE coated silicon (shown as set (b)), and mimicked composites with PTFE nanospheres arrays fabricated with gratings with 830 nm and 280 nm line spacing (ls) on silane modified silicon wafer with Cu-like (about 65°) and Al-like (about 77°) wetting properties (shown as (c) to (f)), in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, the droplet dynamics illustrate the bounding cases of rapid DWC-to-FWC mode and sustained DWC mode. In particular, the sequence of images in 600 a and 600 b columns of FIG. 5 contrast coalescence dynamics on bare plasma cleaned and PTFE coated silicon wafers. Because the first sample has a receding contact angle below 5°, the outer part of the water droplets' contact line does not move after a coalescence event. This leads to rapid formation of highly distorted film (perimeter circularity, p c <<1) that eventually merge into a continuous film. In contrast, microdrops formed by coalescence on the PTFE coated silicon recoil into equilibrium spherical cap shape with circular perimeter within about 0.1 ms (p c about 0.9). On a macroscale, this sample has a high receding contact angle (about 110°) and very low CAH (about 10°).
[0055] The other images (columns 600 c through 600 f ) show that on both Cu-like and Al-like samples increasing contact line fraction (fl H ˜d/P) of the PTFE nanospheres from 0.27 to 0.55 (fabricated with gratings with line spacing of 830 nm to 280 nm) significantly reduces contact line pinning. Specifically, images in 600 c and 600 e of FIG. 5 show that after merging, drops on the composites with fl Z ˜0.27 are highly deformed and essentially cover the outline of pre-coalescence drops (the compound drops in bottom images of 600 c and 600 e have p c about 0.6 to 0.7). In contrast, the sets of images 600 d and 600 f of FIG. 5 show that within 0.4 ms after the droplets merge on composites with fl H ˜0.55, the contact line retracts to form drops with high circularity (p c about 0.8 to 0.9). Thus, by increasing the amount of nanoscale hydrophobic patches on the composite samples, there is a decrease in macroscopic CAH, and an amendment of microdroplet coalescence dynamics to nearly resemble those occurring during sustained DWC mode on the fully PTFE coated sample. In this mode, the microdroplets continue to grow primarily via coalescence until they are pulled-off the surface by gravity.
[0056] The heat transfer rate during sustained DWC increases with decreasing drop departure radius (see for example J. W. Rose, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. A 2002, 216, 115.) The impact of surface configuration of mimicked composites on the drop departure radius can be shown using steady state condensation experiments on vertically mounted specimens. Using an environmental chamber with air at temperature of 298 K±1 K and relative humidity of 92%±3%, microscale condensation behavior of composite samples was measured using a surface mounted K-type thermocouple, and adjusted manually by varying the Peltier element input current to achieve sub-cooling of about 20 to about 25 K. The images 700 of FIG. 6A illustrate drop departure radius for mimicked composites PTFE nanospheres arrays fabricated with gratings with varied line spacing on silane modified silicon wafer with Cu-like (about 65°) and Al-like (about 77°) wetting properties in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. The images 700 were captured during about an hour of continuous condensation, and analyzed to determine average drop departure radius. The graph 750 of FIG. 6B illustrates departure radius for silane and PTFE modified wafers in accordance with some embodiments of the invention, where there is an average of at least 6 departing drops. As for CAH, the drop departure radius decreases with increasing PTFE fraction on the surface, and the specimen fully coated by PTFE had the smallest drop departure radius of about 1 mm, while the silane coated samples had the largest drop departure radii of about 1.6 to 1.7 mm. The addition of the densest PTFE nanosphere array (made with grating with line spacing of 280 nm) reduced the drop departure radii to about 1.3 mm and about 1.45 mm for the Al-like and Cu-like composites, respectively. This change corresponds to about 40% of possible reduction towards the minimum reference departure radius set by drops shedding from the continuous PTFE coating. Further, the PTFE nanosphere array made from a grating with a line spacing of about 440 nm had less pronounced effect, while presence of coarse arrays (grating with line spacing of 550 nm and above) did not alter the departure radius. Furthermore, the increase of hydrophobic phase density can lead to lower departure radius on the composite with higher static contact angle such as θ Ms of about 77°. This observation is in agreement with the absolute CAH of the Al-like composite being lower than that of the Cu-like composite. Further, despite the lack of any hydrophobic phase, the solely silane modified silicon wafers can promote sustained DWC where ‘non-filmwise-mode’ condensation can be attributed to the flat topography of the silicon wafer.
[0057] The condensation heat transfer coefficient for different composites can be shown by substituting experimentally observed contact angles and departure drop radii into a DWC model.
[0058] The model predicts heat transfer through a drop with radius r and contact angle θ:
[0000]
q
d
=
Δ
T
π
r
2
(
1
-
r
c
r
)
(
δ
sin
2
θ
k
coat
+
r
θ
4
k
w
sin
θ
+
1
2
h
i
(
1
-
cos
θ
)
)
(
Eq
.
1
)
[0059] where ΔT, r o , h i , δ, k coat , k w , and are the surface subcooling, critical nucleation radius, interfacial liquid-vapor heat transfer coefficient, thickness of the coating, and thermal conductivities of the coating and liquid water, respectively. The overall heat transfer rate per unit area for different surface subcooling was obtained by integrating the product of q d and drop size distribution, π(r), from r c to the departure radius of curvature r d =r base / stn θ :
[0000] q r =Σq d n ( r ) dr (Eq.2)
[0060] The total condensation heat transfer coefficient, h, can be obtained through a linear fit of the calculated heat transfer rate per unit area for modeled surface sub-cooling range. The effect of the hydrophobic nanoparticle filler on the overall heat transfer can be incorporated using equivalent thermal conductivity of the composites calculated using the Maxwell model (δ and k coat .). The volumetric fraction of spherical PTFE nanoparticles corresponding to the PTFE nanosphere arrays on mimicked composites can be estimated by assuming a cuboid lattice with sides a and b (e.g., see Table 1) and height of (a+b)/2, and the upper bound of the highest estimated volume fraction (grating with line spacing of 280 nm) is only 0.15. Further, the volume fraction of hydrophobic nanoparticles required to promote DWC on MMHNPC can be substantially smaller than the theoretically estimated volume fraction of nanoparticles required to render the composite surface hydrophobic (see for example FIG. 2B ).
[0061] The graph 800 of FIG. 7A shows effective thermal conductivity of a metal matrix material scaled by matrix metal conductivity as a function of different volume fractions of hydrophobic PTFE nanoparticles where volume fractions corresponding to different nanosphere line spacing (ls) of the mimicked composites are indicated in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. The data indicates that a 0.15 volumetric fraction of PTFE nanoparticles can cause a minor (about 0.2) reduction in k eff /k M . However, as described earlier, metal samples can comprise a roughness higher than that of the nearly perfectly smooth silicon wafers. Consequently, a larger volumetric fraction of hydrophobic particles may be needed to promote DWC using these composites. To account for this possibility, heat transfer can be modeled on composites with volumetric fraction of hydrophobic particles three times higher than the upper bound set by our experiments (i.e. 0 . 45 ).
[0062] The calculated heat transfer coefficients for different thicknesses of aluminum as well as copper matrix composites with PTFE nanoparticle filler with volume fraction between 0.03 and 0.45 are shown in the graph 850 of FIG. 7B . The heat transfer coefficients for DWC occurring on a PTFE and ceria films (departure radius of about 1.35 mm) with different thicknesses are shown, and for reference, the heat transfer coefficient for filmwise condensation of water occurring in same conditions (calculated using the Nusselt model) is also shown. This theoretical analysis predicts that benefits of enhancing DWC using a low thermal conductivity polymer such as PTFE are annulled when the film is thicker than about 6 μm. In turn, a 6-fold and a 3-fold heat transfer enhancement over FWC can be achieved by using higher thermal conductivity ceria film even with a thickness of about 10 μm and about 100 μm, respectively. However, the mismatch of the thermomechanical properties of metals commonly used in condensers and ceria can lead to delamination of the ceramic film, and might be avoided with use of MMHPCs prepared as described herein. Further, the heat transfer analysis suggests that the 5-fold heat transfer enhancement over FWC achieved by using these materials can be sustained even with composite thicknesses of 100 to 200 μm. Furthermore, about a 2-fold heat transfer enhancement can be obtained with essentially bulk-like composite with thickness of 1 mm. Most importantly, the condensation heat transfer enhancement achieved by use of the composites with thicknesses below about 1 mm is nearly independent of the volume fraction of hydrophobic nanoparticles (within the modelled 0.03 to 0.45 range). This result highlights the benefit of using metal matrices with high thermal conductivity. Even when reduced by half of the matrix material's conductivity by presence of hydrophobic nanoparticles, Cu and Al based composites have thermal conductivities much greater than that of ceria and PTFE (k Cu0.45PTFE about 177 W/mK and k Al0.45P11 ±, about 105 W/mK vs. k ceria about 17 W/mK for ceria). Consequently, even if it turns out that a higher content of hydrophobic nanoparticles than projected by our experiments is required to promote DWC on metal matrices with industrial surface finish (i.e. not perfectly flat), this is unlikely to significantly reduce achieved heat transfer enhancement.
[0063] In some embodiments, the heat transfer modeling results can also be used to roughly quantify a threshold thermal resistance posed by DWC promoter coating, R ë about L/k, that negates the advantages of DWC and reduces the net heat transfer rate to level attained by FWC without any coating (i.e. when in the modelled saturation conditions h DWC /h FWC about 1). Specifically, for both PTFE and ceria R; about 2.5×10 −5 K/W (R {umlaut over (t)} about 6×10 −6 /0.25 about 4.8×10 −4 /17 about 2.5×10 −5 K/W). For a promoter material with given thermal conductivity, this value of threshold thermal resistance can be used to quickly estimate threshold thickness of the coating (L t about R {umlaut over (t)} k) when h DWC /h FWC is about 1. From the industrial point of view, it can be assumed that at least a two-fold heat transfer enhancement should be attained by promoting DWC (h DWC /h FWC about 2) in order to justify cost of the DWC promoter coating. For both PTFE and ceria films, h DWC /h FWC about 2 is attained when L about L t /3 (i.e. R{umlaut over ( )}˜R {umlaut over (t)} /3). Using these simple arguments, it can be estimated that copper and aluminum matrix composites fully loaded with PTFE nanoparticles (experimental limit of about 0.64 [23] ) can be used to promote DWC and at least double heat transfer rate over FWC if they are thinner than 800 μm and 500 μm, respectively.
[0064] In summary, using the materials and methods described herein, composites and surfaces can be processed to alter the droplet condensation mode from FWC to DWC using hydrophobic nanoparticles with diameters and spacing much smaller than the coalescence onset length scale of about 5 μm (e.g. diameters of about 100 to 400 nm). Further, to promote DWC of water, surfaces do not need a static contact angle greater than 90° (i.e. be hydrophobic), and need to have a low CAH. Low CAH can be attained with significantly lower hydrophobic nanoparticle density than that required to make the surface hydrophobic, where the hydrophobic phase on the surface facilitates movement of the drop contact line during coalescing and gravity assisted shedding.
[0065] Further, the materials and methods described herein can provide heat transfer enhancement (two fold and higher). For example, copper and aluminum matrix composites fully loaded with PTFE nanoparticles (maximum volume fraction about 0.64) can be used to promote DWC if their thickness is below about 0.5 mm. The maximum volumetric fraction is four times higher than the upper bound of volumetric fraction needed to facilitate droplet shedding. The use of a higher nanoparticle density can be used to reduce the CAH of rough surface composites (in contrast to flat silicon wafer used as base for our mimicked composites), and will not annul the heat transfer enhancement attained via DWC. In contrast to hydrophobic polymers, the described composites can promote DWC even when applied as bulk (thicker than 1 mm materials). This increases their durability as well as enables different processing and machining approaches such as extrusion, drilling, and polishing. Furthermore, any conventional method for forming bulk metal and metal matrix composite thick films and layers can be used.
[0066] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that while the invention has been described above in connection with particular embodiments and examples, the invention is not necessarily so limited, and that numerous other embodiments, examples, uses, modifications and departures from the embodiments, examples and uses are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto. The entire disclosure of each patent and publication cited herein is incorporated by reference, as if each such patent or publication were individually incorporated by reference herein. Various features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following claims.
|
Embodiments of the invention provide a method of forming a metal matrix composite including introducing a plurality of nanoparticles into a flow of metal material, and mixing of at least a partial portion of the flow of metal material with at least some of the plurality of nanoparticles to form a mixture of the metal material and at least some of the nanoparticles. The method further includes forming a metal matrix composite from the mixture, where the metal matrix composite includes a bulk region and an outer surface including a plurality of hydrophobic regions dispersed within a hydrophilic surface region. Further, the plurality of hydrophobic regions is formed or derived from the plurality of nanoparticles, and the hydrophobic regions have a first diameter, and an average spacing between the hydrophobic regions is a second diameter, where the first and second diameters are about 100 nm to 400 nm.
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[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 10/324,835 filed Dec. 20, 2002.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention is in the field of artificial golf surfaces otherwise known as artificial golf turf.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] It is desired to have an artificial golf surface which simulates actual golf course turf. Golf has become a popular sport which is played in all 12 months of the year in some locations. In northern climates it is necessary to practice golf indoors for obvious reasons. It is desirable, therefore, to play indoors with conditions which simulate actual golf.
[0004] Further, for outdoor golf practice ranges with heavy traffic it is difficult to keep the grass in good shape. Too many players taking too many divots results in practice ranges with little or no turf left. It is, therefore, desirable to practice golf on artificial golf turf surfaces at practice ranges or warm-up areas which are outdoors. It is desirable, therefore, to have artificial golf turf outdoors for practice ranges or warm-up areas which emulates actual golf surfaces, namely, fairway surfaces, rough surfaces, putting surfaces and tees.
[0005] When playing golf on an outdoor course, natural grass and grass roots and dirt beneath the roots succumb to the force of a golf club and a divot is taken. A divot is the grass and root system of the grass which is sliced away or cutaway by a golf “iron.” When using an iron a divot is sometimes intentionally taken so as to impart a certain spin on the golf ball which will affect its flight and/or its response when it comes down to the golf course.
[0006] The difference between a properly hit iron shot and a poorly hit iron shot is sometimes expressed by whether or not the golf ball is hit first and then a divot is taken beneath the ball and/or beneath the grass immediately in front of the golf ball. If the divot is taken too far behind the golf ball then the shot will be a poor one and the shot is said to have been hit “fat.”
[0007] When a player hits behind the golf ball it is known as hitting the ball “fat.” When a golf ball is hit fat it usually doesn't go too far because the golf club first contacts the grass too far behind the golf ball followed by the roots of the grass and dirt and/or whatever material lies beneath the grass at that particular point on the course or practice range. A fat golf shot can sometimes result in the grass being compressed between the golf club and the golf ball.
[0008] In any event it is quite common to hit down into the ball properly and/or to hit the ball fat. Missing a ball by striking it too high on the ball results in the ball being driven down into the grass and the material beneath the grass. This is known as topping the golf ball. Actual golf surfaces such as the fairway or rough are grass surfaces with material underneath which provide some relief or cushion when a ball is driven into it.
[0009] There is a need for an artificial golf surface which approximates the actual conditions of golf, namely, a grass like surface which has the ability to cushion a golf club which necessarily must engage the surface. There is a need for artificial golf turf which approximates actual golf turf. It is necessary for golfers to hit down into a golf ball and into the turf in proximity to the golf ball.
[0010] In certain circumstances a golfer may desire to “pick” the golf ball from the playing turf so as to generate a particular flight or action on the golf ball. By “pick” it is meant that the club does not hit the grass beneath the ball or that the club does not hit much into the grass. For instance, shots employing woods or long irons may require that the golfer pick them from the turf.
[0011] Therefore, it is desirable that the golf ball be supported by the artificial golf turf so that it may be “picked” from the surface with the appropriate golf club or with the appropriate technique of the golfer. It is desirable that artificial golf turf be capable of allowing the golfer to make the kind of shot that s/he wishes and to approximate the look and feel of real golf turf.
[0012] Related Art patents are now discussed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,931 to Perrine issued Dec. 5, 2000 discloses a golf swing practice mat for placement on an underlying base to aid a golfer in improving the golfer's swing. The golf swing practice mat comprises a low friction, flexible and resilient top sheet that is contacted by the golf club. The top sheet has a rigidity of 40 pounds per square inch or less and has an underlying supporting pad for supporting the top sheet and for providing space for the top sheet to move under force of the club. The support pad is compressible to 50% of its resting height in any area near its center line by an applied pressure of 8 psi or less. A bottom sheet is used underneath the support pad.
[0013] U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,443 to Reynolds issued Oct. 31, 2000 and discloses a turf-simulating surface. The device is made of components which simulate the layers of natural soil according to the patent. One component is a composite mat having an integral pile section having tufted strands that simulate grass and a plastic foam layer. A lateral-strength fabric is used with the pile section which has loops which interact with the lateral-strength fabric. The plastic foam layer is bonded to the lateral-strength fabric and the looped regions of the pile section. A rimmed base is integrally formed around a composite core.
[0014] U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,168 to Bair issued Mar. 23, 1999 and discloses mats which are plastic brush mats with plastic tufts embedded in a plastic base. The mats have regions or panels of different pile depth and density for simulating different types of playing surfaces.
[0015] A better understanding of the invention will be had when reference is made to the Summary of the Invention, Brief Description of the Drawings, Description of the Invention and Claims which follow hereinbelow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0016] Golf turf comprising a substrate and a plurality of brush elements retained by said substrate is disclosed and claimed. Each of the brush elements are spaced apart from one another and oriented parallel to each other. Each of the brush elements include filaments, a metal housing and wire for retaining said filaments. The filaments extend outside the metal housings and they flare as they extend outside the metal housing. Preferably the filaments are crimped which increases the degree of the flare.
[0017] The filaments of each brush interengage the filaments of the adjacent brush. Each of the filaments has a diameter in the range of 0.006 to 0.020 inches. Preferably the filaments are 0.006 inches in diameter and are crimped in a general sinusoid having a frequency of 3 cycles per inch. Alternatively, the filaments may be crimped in a general sinusoid having a frequency considerably higher than 3 cycles per inch. Further, it is specifically contemplated by this invention that crimping patterns other sinusoids may be employed.
[0018] A process for making golf turf comprising the steps of: forming brush strips from crimped filaments; inserting the brush strips in a substrate; and, locking the brush strips in the substrate is disclosed and claimed. The step of forming the brush strip includes the steps of laying a flat piece of metal on a surface; placing synthetic resinous filaments on the flat piece of metal; placing a wire on top of the filaments; and, deforming the flat piece of metal into a housing so as to entrap the filaments and wire within the housing.
[0019] Preferably the brush strips are mounted in a relatively heavy substrate which can be made of plastic or some metal which has been treated so as to not corrode. The brush strips are preferably oriented parallel to one another although other arrangements are specifically contemplated by this disclosure. The spacing between the parallel brush strips is important because the strips support each other when deformed under the influence of a golf club. Further proper spacing between the parallel strips is important because the crimped filaments of the brush strips flare as a function of the filament used together with the amount of compression applied by the metal housing of the brush strip. Still further the spacing of the brush strips is important as drainage of water is permitted on the lands of the substrate between the parallel brush strips.
[0020] Golf clubs which strike the golf turf disclosed herein do not experience the shock of typical golf mats made from Astroturf® and the like, lessening fatigue and preventing injury to the elbow and wrist. Southwest Recreational Industries, Inc. 701 Leander Drive Leander, Tex. is the owner of the trademark registration Astroturf®.
[0021] It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial golf turf which simulates actual golf turf.
[0022] It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial golf turf which enables the golfer to use an iron which deforms the turf and provides a cushioning effect when the golf club passes through the turf.
[0023] It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial golf turf which is resilient and does not permanently deform.
[0024] It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial golf turf which gives the appearance and feel of actual golf turf.
[0025] It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial golf turf which has a homogeneous surface.
[0026] It is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial golf turf which is durable and long-lasting.
[0027] It is an object of the present invention to provide artificial golf turf which is formed by rows of brush elements placed into a liquified plastic substrate which is allowed to cool securing the brush elements to the substrate. Alternatively, a portion of the brushes may be welded together such that the welded portion of the brushes is then placed into a liquified plastic substrate which is allowed to cool securing the brush elements to the substrate.
[0028] Further objects of the present invention will be understood when reference is made to the Brief Description of the Drawings, Description of the Invention and Claims which follow hereinbelow.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0029] [0029]FIG. 1 is an enlarged schematic top view of one of the brush elements.
[0030] [0030]FIG. 1A is enlarged portion of FIG. 1.
[0031] [0031]FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic front view of the brush element of FIG. 1 illustrating a portion of the crimped filaments of the brush.
[0032] [0032]FIG. 3 is a schematic end view of the end of the brush element of FIG. 1 illustrating a portion of the crimped filaments of the brush.
[0033] [0033]FIG. 4A is a schematic front view of a stack of straight filaments.
[0034] [0034]FIG. 4B is a schematic end view of a brush element having straight filaments in a substrate.
[0035] [0035]FIG. 4C is a schematic front view of a stack of crimped filaments.
[0036] [0036]FIG. 4D is a schematic end view of a brush element having crimped filaments.
[0037] [0037]FIG. 4E is a schematic end view of two brush elements having straight filaments.
[0038] [0038]FIG. 5 is a top view of the substrate in which a plurality of brush elements reside.
[0039] [0039]FIG. 5A is a front view of the substrate of FIG. 5.
[0040] [0040]FIG. 5B is an end view of the substrate of FIG. 5.
[0041] [0041]FIG. 5C is an end view of an end latch.
[0042] [0042]FIG. 5D is a front view of the substrate of FIG. 5 with the end latch.
[0043] [0043]FIG. 5E is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5 taken along the lines 5 E- 5 E.
[0044] [0044]FIG. 5F is a top view of the substrate similar to FIG. 5 except having closed slots in which a plurality of brush elements reside.
[0045] [0045]FIG. 5G is a front view of the substrate of FIG. 5 illustrating the end latches, a brush element and tee.
[0046] [0046]FIG. 5H is a front view of the substrate similar to that of FIG. 5G with a taller brush element illustrated.
[0047] [0047]FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a stack of crimped filaments resting on a metal housing and a wire placed on the stack of crimped filaments prior to bending and deforming the metal housing.
[0048] [0048]FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the crimped filaments together with the deformed metal housing and wire of FIG. 6.
[0049] [0049]FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of the substrate together with the brush elements in place.
[0050] [0050]FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 9 A- 9 A of FIG. 8 illustrating the brush elements forming a homogeneous surface.
[0051] [0051]FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 9A with a tee extending beneath the substrate.
[0052] [0052]FIG. 9C is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 9A illustrating a tee without a bushing in the substrate.
[0053] [0053]FIG. 9D is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 9B illustrating a tee without a bushing.
[0054] [0054]FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment illustrating the brush elements directly secured into a plastic substrate.
[0055] [0055]FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment illustrating brush elements fused (welded) together.
[0056] [0056]FIG. 11A is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment illustrating the brush elements of FIG. 11 fused in the substrate.
[0057] The drawings will be best understood when reference is made to the following Description of the Invention and Claims which follow hereinbelow.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0058] [0058]FIG. 1 is an enlarged schematic top view of one of the brush elements 100 . Individual crimped filaments 101 are illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. In reality a top view of a brush element is opaque because the individual filaments are spaced very closely together and form a homogeneous surface which resembles grass when the filaments are colored green. See FIG. 5G, a front view 500 G of the substrate of FIG. 5 illustrating the end latches 516 , a brush element 100 which is illustrated as solid black and a tee 902 . FIG. 1A is enlarged portion 100 A of FIG. 1 illustrating individual filaments 101 .
[0059] [0059]FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic front view 200 of the brush element 100 of FIG. 1 illustrating a portion of the crimped filaments 101 of the brush. Metal brush housing 201 is a non-corrosive deformable metal which secures as will be explained hereinbelow the individual crimped filaments 101 of the brush elements 100 . At the ends of the brush element or strip 100 , crimped elements 204 show the periodicity of the crimped filaments. Metal housing 201 includes deformed end portions 202 , 203 . Preferably the brush elements 100 are approximately two (2) feet long but other lengths are specifically contemplated by the disclosure herein. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that different lengths may be employed such that artificial surfaces 10 feet long or longer may be constructed. Further, since the structure described herein provides a homogeneous artificial turf surface, sections thereof may be employed so that the extent of the artificial surface is virtually unlimited. It is necessary to understand in connection with FIG. 2 that it is a schematic only for describing the invention such that it will be understood. The nature of the crimped filaments is represented by reference numeral 204 . In reality, a side view of a brush element and filaments thereof would be opaque as viewed in FIG. 5G.
[0060] [0060]FIG. 3 is a schematic end view 300 of the end of the brush element 100 of FIG. 1 illustrating a portion of the crimped filaments of the brush. By portion it is meant that the crimped nature of the individual filaments 101 is illustrated otherwise the end view of the brush element would be opaque because the crimped filaments 101 are spaced very closely together. A slight opening or crack 301 is illustrated in FIG. 3 which is a result of the forming process for metal housing 201 .
[0061] The crimped filaments 101 are a synthetic resinous material such as nylon or polyester and are available from Specialty Filaments, Inc. located in Vermont. Preferably, the diameter of the crimped filaments are 0.006 inches and are nominally crimped with a frequency of 3 cycles per inch or 3 waves per inch. The amplitude of the crimped filaments 101 may be nominally 0.012 inches. Different filaments having different amplitudes may be used. Different diameter filaments may be used in the range of 0.006 inches to 0.020 inches. As the diameter of the filament increases the amplitude of the waves also increases for a given crimp frequency. The disclosure set forth herein is given by way of example only and those skilled in the art will readily recognize that different crimped filaments may be used having different features (including different diameters, amplitudes and crimped frequencies) without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
[0062] [0062]FIG. 4A is a schematic front view 400 A of a stack of straight filaments 401 . Although straight filaments may be used they do not provide as much flare as crimped filaments provide as will be discussed hereinbelow. A stack of straight filaments renders a height as represented by reference numeral 408 . The straight filaments 401 will compact together well because of their uniformity. It is this uniformity, however, which reduces the flare 410 in FIG. 4B which is a schematic end view 400 B of a brush element having straight filaments 401 in a substrate 402 . Again, as with the other drawing figures, FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate only a portion of the filaments so as to depict their relationship to each other and their nature. Reference numeral 403 illustrates the channel in the substrate 402 and reference numeral 404 represents the engagement of the metal housing of the brush element with the channel 403 in the substrate 402 .
[0063] [0063]FIG. 4C is a schematic front view 400 C of a stack of crimped filaments 405 / 406 . These filaments are arranged like crooked logs such that for the same number of straight filaments a larger height 409 is realized. Using crimped filaments results in a larger flare 411 as illustrated in FIG. 4D which is a schematic end view of a brush element having crimped fibers.
[0064] The amount of crimping pressure on housing 201 will influence the flare 411 of the crimped filaments as illustrated in FIG. 4D. The larger the crimping pressure the larger the flare within the limits as dictated by spatial restraints of the filaments. The filaments cannot be over stressed during crimping to form the metal housing 201 or the filaments will be broken. Again, drawing FIGS. 4C and 4D are schematics so as to depict the interrelationship of the filaments as discussed above in connection with the other drawing figures.
[0065] [0065]FIG. 4E is a schematic end view 400 E of two brush elements having straight filaments arranged side by side in a substrate. Although not preferred because of their limited ability to flare, straight filaments are specifically contemplated by the disclosure and claims herein.
[0066] [0066]FIG. 5 is a top view 500 of the substrate 510 in which a plurality of brush elements reside. FIG. 5 illustrates just the substrate 510 and not the brush elements in the substrate 510 . Slots 501 engage the metal housings 201 as illustrated in FIG. 9A and secures them in place so that they may not be extracted therefrom. Although a plurality of slots 501 are used in the substrate 510 it is specifically contemplated by this invention that other ways of securing the strip brushes or elements 100 to a substrate of sufficient mass be used. For instance, the brush elements might be tack welded or secured with adhesive to the substrate.
[0067] Referring to FIG. 5, reference numeral 508 represents lands or raised flat spaces which reside between slots 501 . Ends 505 and 506 of the substrate 510 have flat portions 502 proximate ends 505 and 506 of substrate 500 . Lands 503 are raised for guiding end latches 516 as can be best viewed in FIG. 5B, an end view of the substrate of FIG. 5. Flat portions 504 proximate lands 508 guide end latch 516 as can be viewed in FIG. 5A. Bushing 507 for holding or assisting in holding a tee is also illustrated in FIG. 5.
[0068] [0068]FIG. 5A is a front view 500 A of the substrate of FIG. 5 and illustrates the ends 505 , 506 of the substrate together with knobs 512 , 513 on lands 503 . Also illustrated in FIG. 5A are the guiding surfaces 502 and 504 for the end latches 516 . FIG. 5B is an end view 500 B of one end 505 of the substrate 510 of FIG. 5 illustrating slots 501 , lands 508 intermediate slots 501 , end guide 502 and guide lands 503 .
[0069] [0069]FIG. 5C is an end view 500 C of an end latch 516 illustrating legs 517 and 518 which interengage reciprocal knobs or protrusions 512 , 513 of the substrate 510 . FIG. 5D is a front view 500 D of the substrate of FIG. 5 with the end latches 516 secured to each end 505 , 506 of the substrate 510 . End latches when secured in place as illustrated in FIG. 5G prevent the brush elements from being extracted from the substrate 510 .
[0070] [0070]FIG. 5E is a cross-sectional view 500 E of FIG. 5 taken along the lines 5 E- 5 E which illustrates slots 501 having lips 530 which prevent the metal housings of the brush elements from escaping out of the top of the slots. Also shown in FIG. 5E are the lands 508 intermediate the brush elements and the bushing 507 having top circumferential end portion 511 .
[0071] [0071]FIG. 5F is a top view 500 F of the substrate 510 similar to FIG. 5 except having closed slots 501 at one end thereof in which a plurality of brush elements reside. FIG. 5G is a front view 500 G of the substrate of FIG. 5 illustrating the end latches 516 , a brush element 100 and tee 902 . FIG. 5H is a front view 500 H of the substrate similar to that of FIG. 5G will a taller brush element illustrated. The brush elements are comprised of filaments as set forth above. The characteristics of the filaments are selected so as to emulate actual turf. For instance, a stiffer and shorter filament may be used to emulate a putting surface because putting surfaces usually have grass which is mown to a very short height. Longer and thicker filaments may be used to emulate the rough on a golf course.
[0072] Fairway turf is emulated by the brush elements 100 depicted herein which have a height of approximately 0.75 inches above the surface of the substrate 510 . Rows of brush elements are arranged in parallel in slots that are approximately 0.50 inches from center of the slot to the center of the slot
[0073] [0073]FIG. 6 is a schematic view 600 of a stack of crimped filaments 405 , 406 resting on a metal housing 201 and a wire 601 placed on the stack of crimped filaments prior to bending and deforming the metal housing 201 . It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the wire 601 runs the length of the brush element as illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view 700 of the crimped filaments 101 together with the deformed metal housing 201 and wire 601 of FIG. 6.
[0074] [0074]FIG. 8 is a schematic top view 800 of the substrate 510 together with a plurality of brush elements 100 secured thereto. Surface 801 is a homogeneous surface as the filaments 1 0 1 of one brush element 100 mesh with the filaments 10 1 of the adjacent brush element 100 . Latch 516 is also depicted at one end of the substrate for securing the brush elements in place. The brush elements may be removed and replaced by simply removing the latch 516 . Other forms of securement may be used, for instance, a rod may be used to secure the metal housings to the substrate by drilling a hole through the substrate and metal housings in the middle of the substrate.
[0075] Ths substrate as depicted in FIG. 8 may be in any practical dimension. Groups of substrates may be linked together to form a putting surface or a large fairway surface.
[0076] [0076]FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view 900 A taken along the lines 9 A- 9 A of FIG. 8 illustrating the brush elements 100 forming a homogeneous surface 801 . Lands 508 between the slots 501 are clearly shown. Spaces 901 , which are approximately triangular, exist between the brush elements and permit the temporary deformation of one brush element or a group of brush elements when struck by a golf club head. As illustrated in FIG. 9A, the brush elements are approximately 0.50 inches from center line to center line apart and the filaments extend approximately 0.75 inches above lands 508 . The geometry of embodiment of FIG. 9A has been found to emulate fairway golf turf well and to provide a homogeneous surface 801 which does not permanently deform after repeated use. The geometry of the embodiment of FIG. 9A enable use with an iron and specifically enables the head of the golf club to penetrate the surface without shock to the user's hands, arms and body. Other geometric configurations may be used.
[0077] Still referring to FIG. 9A, spaces 901 permit the flow of water along the lands 508 and out the ends 505 , 506 of the substrate 510 . FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view 900 B similar to FIG. 9A with a tee 902 extending beneath the substrate. The tee may assist in orienting the substrate and preventing it from slipping under the force of a swinging golf club head if a small substrate is being used. However, a plastic substrate which is two feet long, one foot wide, and 0.25 inches high together with the weight of 25 brush elements has been found to have enough inertia such that it will not move when struck by a golf club head.
[0078] When using the device, the golf club head may penetrate the homogeneous surface formed by the brush elements without substantially uncovering the lands 508 due to the interaction of the filaments.
[0079] [0079]FIG. 9C is a cross-sectional view 900 C similar to FIG. 9A illustrating a tee 902 without a bushing in the substrate. FIG. 9D is a cross-sectional view 900 D similar to FIG. 9 B illustrating a tee without a bushing.
[0080] [0080]FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view 1000 of another embodiment illustrating the brush elements 1003 directly secured into a plastic substrate 1002 . Reference numeral 1001 indicates the interface between the brush elements 1003 and the substrate 1002 . Interface 1001 is the point where the individual filaments are bonded (molded) to the substrate 1002 . As viewed in FIG. 10, rows of brush elements are inserted in the substrate while the substrate is in a liquified plastic state and the substrate is allowed to cool trapping the brush elements in the substrate thus producing a brush-filled substrate 1002 having a uniform surface 1004 . The substrate may be any polymeric substrate.
[0081] The embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 10 - 11 A utilize periodically crimped brush elements as disclosed and described previously hereinabove.
[0082] [0082]FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view 1100 of another embodiment illustrating the bottom portion of the filaments 405 , 406 of the brush elements fused (welded) together. In this embodiment, the bottom portion of the filaments 405 , 406 of the brush elements are fused together by heat welding, ultrasonic welding, electromagnetic welding, microwave welding, or induction welding. Once fused (welded), rows of the partially welded (fused) brush elements are inserted in the substrate while it is in a liquified plastic state and the plastic is allowed to cool producing a brush-filled substrate having a uniform surface.
[0083] [0083]FIG. 11A is a cross-sectional view 1100 A illustrating the partially fused filaments which comprise the brush elements of FIG. 11 fused in the substrate 1102 . With rows of fused brush elements running parallel to each other as, for example, illustrated in FIG. 9, a brush-filled substrate 1102 having a uniform surface 1004 is made and formed.
[0084] The invention has been described with particularity by way of example as set forth above. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that changes may be made to the invention as described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims which follow herein below.
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Golf turf is disclosed and claimed herein which simulates fairway, rough or putting green surfaces. Golf clubs which strike the golf turf disclosed herein do not experience the shock of typical golf mats made from Astroturf® and the like, lessening fatigue and preventing injury to the elbow and wrist. Crimped filaments made of synthetic resinous fibers are used to make strip brushes having flared end portions which form a homogeneous surface. Receiving slots in a substrate retain a plurality of strip brushes spaced apart and parallel to each other. The strip brushes are configured to simulate homogeneous surfaces which approximate actual golf surfaces. Alternatively, the brushes may be inserted into a liquified plastic substrate and then the substrate is allowed to cool securing the brushes within the substrate. Still alternatively, the brushes may welded and then inserted into the liquified plastic substrate which is then allowed to cool securing the brushes within the substrate.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/196,094, filed Aug. 21, 2008, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/957,665, filed Aug. 23, 2007 of Jonathan Robert Taylor, Ryan Stephen Campbell, R J Auburn, Alex. S. Agranovsky and Robbie A. Green, which applications are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to telecommunication and a networked computer telephony system including the Internet and the Public Switched Telephone System, and more particularly to improved call processing that is dependent on call-progress analysis.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Two major telecommunication networks have evolved worldwide. The first is a network of telephone systems in the form of the Public Switched Telephone System (PSTN). This network was initially designed to carry voice communication, but later also adapted to transport data. The second is a network of computer systems in the form of the Internet. The Internet has been designed to carry data but also increasingly being used to transport voice and multimedia information. Computers implementing telephony applications have been integrated into both of these telecommunication networks to provide enhanced communication services. For example on the PSTN, computer telephony integration has provided more functions and control to the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Services). On the Internet, computers are themselves terminal equipment for voice communication as well as serving as intelligent routers and controllers for a host of terminal equipment.
[0004] The Internet is a worldwide network of IP networks communicating under TCP/IP. Specifically, voice and other multimedia information are transported on the Internet under the VoIP (Voice-over-IP) protocol, and under the H.323 standard that has been put forward for interoperability. Another important implementation of VOIP protocol is SIP (“Session Initiation Protocol”.)
[0005] The integration of the PSTN and the IP networks allows for greater facility in automation of voice applications by leveraging the inherent routing flexibility and computing accessibility in the IP networks.
[0006] Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) is a technology that automates interaction with telephone callers. Enterprises are increasingly turning to IVR to reduce the cost of common sales, service, collections, inquiry and support calls to and from their company.
[0007] Historically, IVR solutions have used pre-recorded voice prompts and menus to present information and options to callers, and touch-tone telephone keypad entry to gather responses. Modern IVR solutions also enable input and responses to be gathered via spoken words with voice recognition.
[0008] IVR solutions enable users to retrieve information including bank balances, flight schedules, product details, order status, movie show times, and more from any telephone. Additionally, IVR solutions are increasingly used to place outbound calls to deliver or gather information for appointments, past due bills, and other time critical events and activities.
[0009] One issue that arises from an IVR making an outbound call is to determine the type of receiver who might pick up the call. For example, the receiver may be human or a voice mailbox or an answering machine. Each type of receiver may require a different type of interactive exchange.
[0010] This type of issue is commonly tackled by the implementation of call progress analysis (“CPA”). For example, a call progress analysis module initially analyzes the media stream of the call to determine the nature of the receiver. The analysis is performed by analyzing a number of attributes such as the absence or presence of certain analog tones, and their duration and cadence and also the stage the call is in. In this case, an answering machine at the receiving end may be identified by its signature beep before it started recording.
[0011] However, even if a conventional CPA is able to distinguish between the different types of receivers, there are still timing issues associated with human interface. Usually it takes some time to identify an answering machine by its signature beep. The machine will play a series of identifying messages and voice prompts before signifying with a beep to being recording a voice message. If the receiver is human, the wait for the IVR to identify a possible beep may be too long. The human receiver will become impatient or think there is something wrong with the connection and hang up the line. On the other hand, if the receiver is inaccurately identified as human so that the IVR interacts promptly, it will be a problem later when the receiver actually turns out to be an answering message machine. In this ease, the IVR application may have already played a portion or even the entire message by the time the answering machine is ready to record it.
[0012] There is a need to improve the interaction with the recipient of an IVR call.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0013] A telephony application such as an interactive voice response (“IVR”) needs to identify quickly the nature of the call (e.g., whether it is a person or machine answering a call) in order to initiate an appropriate voice application. Conventionally, the call stream is sent to a call-progress analyzer (“CPA”) for analysis. Once a result is reached, the call stream is redirected to a call processing unit running the IVR according to the analyzed result.
[0014] The present scheme feeds the call stream simultaneous to both the CPA and the IVR. The CPA is allowed to continue analyzing and outputting a series of analysis results until a predetermined result appears. In the meantime, the IVR can dynamically adapt itself to the latest analysis results and interact with the call with a minimum of delay.
[0015] In a preferred embodiment, a call control module directs the media stream of the call to the CPA to obtain a series of analysis results over time. Concurrently, the call control module relates the analysis results and the media stream to a call processing module running an IVR. The IVR is constantly adapting to the latest analysis result received in order to process the call appropriately and with a minimum of delay.
[0016] In one embodiment, the latest analysis result may result in a new session of voice application being initialized to replace an existing one.
[0017] In another embodiment, the latest analysis result may result in the operating parameters of an existing session of voice application being adjusted.
[0018] Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following description of its preferred embodiments, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred network configuration including the PSTN and the Internet for practicing the invention.
[0020] FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a conventional implementation of call progress analysis.
[0021] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the convention call progress analysis and processing of FIG. 2 .
[0022] FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred voice application gateway center for performing call progress analysis and call processing.
[0023] FIG. 5 illustrates the implementation of an interactive voice response application (“IVR”) by the call processing module shown in FIG. 4 .
[0024] FIG. 6 illustrates schematically an improved scheme for call progress Analysis in cooperation with call processing, according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0025] FIG. 7 illustrates schematically an improved scheme for call progress analysis in cooperation with call processing, according to another preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0026] FIG. 8 illustrates schematically an improved scheme for call progress analysis in cooperation with call processing, according to another preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0027] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating schematically an improved scheme for call progress analysis and call processing, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0028] FIG. 10 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the STEP 540 and STEP 550 shown in FIG. 9 .
[0029] FIG. 11 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the STEP 540 and STEP 550 shown in FIG. 9 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0030] FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred network configuration including the PSTN and the Internet for practicing the invention, The PSTN 10 is a network of telephones connectable by switched circuits and the Internet 30 is a network of IP devices and resources communicating by IP packets.
[0031] A plurality of voice applications scripted in vXML 110 - 1 to 110 - m is hosted by corresponding web servers 112 - 1 to 112 - m and is accessible on the Internet. These applications are coded in XML scripts that also contain custom telephony XML tags. The vXML scripts allow complete telephony applications to be coded.
[0032] A plurality of voice application gateway centers (“vAGC’) 100 - 1 , 100 - n (also referred to as “voice centers”) is deployed on the Internet. Each vAGC 100 essentially serves as a “browser” for one of the vXML voice applications and processes a received call by executing an appropriate vXML script.
[0033] Each Application Gateway Center (vAGC) 100 is a call-processing center on the Internet 30 for intercepting and processing calls to any one of a set of designated telephone call numbers. The calls may originate or terminate on any number of interconnected telecommunication networks including the Internet 30 , the PSTN 10 , and others (not shown) such as wireless networks.
[0034] One or more access servers 14 route calls between the PSTN and the Internet. The access servers are able to route a call to a destination vAGC on the Internet/IP network after a directory lookup. In the preferred embodiment, a group of vAGC routing proxy 50 such as SIP registrar servers are employed to perform the routing on the Internet/IP network. In that case, the access server relates the call to one of the vAGC routing proxy servers. As different LECs may set up access servers with varying amount of features and capabilities, it preferable for voice centers to rely on the group of vAGC routing proxy servers with guaranteed specification and capabilities to do the final routing.
[0035] Each vAGC 100 processes a call according to the telephony application (vAPP) associated with the called number. When a call is directed to the Internet, the access server 14 looks up the address of a destination vAGC in a directory, DIR 0 60 , and routes the call to the destination vAGC.
[0036] The directory DIR 0 enables a list of vAGC to be looked up by dialed number. When a call to one of the designated dialed numbers is made from the PSTN, it is switched to the access server 12 and a lookup of the directory DIR 0 allows the call to be routed to vAGC 100 for processing. Similarly, if the call originates from one of the terminal equipment (e.g., a PC 40 or a VOIP phone 42 ) on the Internet, a directory lookup of DIR 0 provides the pointer for routing the call to one of the vAGCs.
[0037] Once the vAGC has received the call, it looks up another directory, DIRT 70 for the URL of the vXML application associated with the called or dialed number. Thus, the plurality of telephony applications vAPP 110 - 1 , . . . , 110 - m , each associated with at least one designated call number, is accessible by the vAGC from the Internet. After the particular vXML is retrieved by the looked up URL, the vAGC then executes the vXML script to process the call.
[0038] The directory DIR 1 provides the network address of the various applications. When a vAGC 100 receives a call, it uses the call number (or dialed number “DN”) to look up DIR 1 for the location/address (whether a URL or an IP address or some other location method) of the vAPP associated with the DN. The vAGC 100 then retrieves the vXML web application and executes the call according to the vXML scripts.
[0039] A similar networked computer telephony system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,922,411, the entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
[0040] In operation, when a call is made to a dialed number (DN) registered as one of the numbers handled by the vAGC, it is routed to a vAGC such as vAGC 100 after a lookup from DIR 0 . The vAGC 100 initiates a new session for the call and looks up DIR 1 for the net address of the telephony application vAPP 110 associated with the DN. The vAGC 100 retrieves vAPP 110 and proceeds to process the vXML scripts of vAPP 110 .
[0041] For example, the vXML scripts may dictate that the new call is to be effectively routed back to the PSTN to a telephone 13 on another local exchange. In another example, the vXML scripts may dictate that the call is to be effectively routed to a VoIP phone 15 on the Internet. In practice, when connecting between two nodes, the vAGC creates separate sessions for the two nodes and then bridges or conferences them together. This general scheme allows conferencing between multiple parties. In yet another example, the vXML scripts allows the call to interact with other HTML applications or other backend databases to perform on-line transactions.
[0042] Thus, the present system allows very powerful yet simple telephony applications to be built and deployed on the Internet. Many of these telephony or voice applications fall into the category of interactive voice response (“IVR”) applications. The following are some examples of voice applications.
[0043] A “Follow me, find me” application sequentially calls a series of telephone numbers as specified by a user until one of the numbers answers and then connects the call. Otherwise, it does something else such as takes a message or sends e-mail or sends the call to a call center, etc.
[0044] In another example, a Telephonic Polling application looks up from a database the telephone numbers of a population to be polled. It then calls the numbers in parallel, limited only by the maximum number of concurrent sessions supported, and plays a series of interactive voice prompts/messages in response to the called party's responses and records the result in a database, etc.
[0045] In another example, a Help Desk application plays a series of interactive voice prompts/messages in response to the called party's responses and possibly connects the call to a live agent as one option, etc. In yet another example, a Stock or Bank Transactions application plays a series of interactive voice prompts/messages in response to the called party's responses and conducts appropriate transactions with a backend database or web application, etc.
[0046] Another example is for an IVR to make outbound calls. Many companies have a need to notify customers by telephone. One such example is for an airline to notify passengers of changed flight schedules. An IVR application can be used to automatically dial the passengers listed in a database and play a message to notify the changed flight schedule. In such an application, after connection is made to the receiver, an issue arises that the message played may need to be dependent on who or what picks up the phone. If the receiver is human, a set of interactive messages appropriate for human is played. If the receiver is a voicemail or an answering machine another set of message is played
[0047] FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a conventional implementation of call progress analysis. A call control module 180 serves to control a call and a call progress analysis module 190 is used to perform call progress analysis. A particular interactive voice response application IVR 192 is used to perform call processing.
[0048] In STEP 1 , a call would come to the call control module establishing a signaling connection. The call control module would then establish a CPA event connection the CPA module 182 and route the media stream from the call to the CPA module to be analyzed. The CPA module returns a result of the analysis every time it recognizes a predefined pattern in the media stream. In this way, possibly a series of analysis results is returned to the call control module 180 .
[0049] In STEP 2 , when the call control module receives a predefined result within a predetermined time period, it will consider the analysis to be completed and the result final. Basic on the final result, the call control module will initiate a voice application appropriate for the final analysis result. It closes the CPA module and reroutes the media stream from the CPA 180 to the IVR 192 to process the call there.
[0050] As can be seen, the conventional implementation of call progress analysis and call processing is piecemeal. CPA is performed until a definite result occurs to identify the appropriate voice application. The identified voice application is then used to process the call. Once this happens, the event interface to the CPA engine and the media connection is no longer in place so no further analysis can be performed.
[0051] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the convention call progress analysis and processing of FIG. 2 .
[0052] STEP 410 : Providing a call progress analysis “CPA” module for analyzing over a period of time a call having a media stream and signals.
[0053] STEP 420 : Directing the media stream to the CPA module for analysis to obtain a series of analysis results over time.
[0054] STEP 430 : Currently, is there a new analysis result? If there is no new analysis result, proceeding to STEP 420 , otherwise proceeding to STEP 440 .
[0055] STEP 440 : Is the result final? If the result is not final, proceeding to STEP 420 , otherwise proceeding in parallel to both STEP 450 and STEP 460 .
[0056] STEP 450 : Initiating a new session of voice processing application based on the final analysis result
[0057] STEP 460 : Close CPA module
[0058] STEP 470 : Redirecting media stream from the CPA module to the new session for the call to be processed.
[0059] Conventional CPA/call control implementations cannot recover from an inaccurate analysis result. For example the receiver may sound human as after some analysis results, the call control module 180 concludes that it is a human answering the call. It then sets up a voice application appropriate for human interaction. Later, the receiver may turn out to be an answering machine after all, as confirmed by the beep prompt just prior to recording. However, there is no way for the call control module to know this as the CPA 180 is already closed out. Thus, in such a scenario, the voice interaction is undesirable as the answering machine is only able to record a portion of some messages from an inappropriate voice application.
[0060] FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred voice application gateway center for performing call progress analysis and call processing. As described in connection with FIG. 1 , the voice application gateway center vAGC 100 is responsible for accepting calls, retrieving the vAPP associated with the dialed number and executing the vXML scripts of the vAPP.
[0061] Each call is treated as a separate session and the vAGS is responsible for processing all user events and system actions that occur in multiple simultaneous sessions. The vAGS is also responsible for all call routing in all sessions.
[0062] In the preferred embodiment, the vAGS 100 is a set software modules running on a Windows NT or UNIX server. For example, the vAGS is implemented as a Windows machine on a card, and multiple cards are installed on a caged backplane to form a high scalable system.
[0063] The vAGS 100 includes a call control module 200 , a call progress analysis module 210 a call processing module 220 and a session manager 230 .
[0064] The call control module 200 includes a CCXML driven engine 202 to perform call control functions. CCXML is the “Call Control eXtensible Markup Language” put out as a standard by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. It is an XML based language that can control the setup, monitoring, and tear down of phone calls.
[0065] The call progress analysis module 210 is to monitor call progress by examining the media stream and signaling of the call. It is controlled by the call control module 200 . It analyzes the media stream of a call and reports back a series of estimated results to the call control module. Typically, at some point in time, the call control module deems a latest result to be sufficiently conclusive that it can close out the call progress analysis module.
[0066] The call processing module 230 includes a vXML driven engine 232 to process calls. VoiceXML (vXML) is also put out as a standard by the W3C. It is a standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. It allows voice applications to be developed and deployed in an analogous way to HTML for visual applications. The call processing module serves as a “voice browser” to render the vXML script.
[0067] The session manager 230 is responsible for creating new sessions, deleting terminated sessions, routing all actions and events to the appropriate modules and maintaining modularity between each session. It responds to I/O and vXML requests and other additional events.
[0068] In the preferred embodiment, a media server 240 co-operates with the vAGS 100 to serve and process media associated with calls and voice applications.
[0069] FIG. 5 illustrates the implementation of an interactive voice response application (“IVR”) by the call processing module shown in FIG. 4 . The IVR is implemented by the call processing module 230 driven by an associated vXML script that was retrieved from a web server 112 on the IP network 30 (see also FIG. 1 .)
[0070] FIG. 6 illustrates schematically an improved scheme for call progress Analysis in cooperation with call processing, according to one preferred embodiment of the invention. The call control module 200 (CCXML) serves to control a call and a call progress analysis module 210 is used to perform call progress analysis. A given interactive voice response application IVR 234 is used to perform call processing. In this scheme the call sends the media stream to both the CPA engine and the IVR platform in parallel, allowing the CPA to perform analysis while the IVR functions are going on. For example, an access server 14 (see FIG. 1 ) is able to send the media streams in parallel. This allows CCXML to direct the IVR based on updated CPA events which are a series of estimated results of the analysis. For example, the CPA may start off by sending a “human” result and the CCXML application directs the IVR application to play the human message to the receiver of the call. Later on the CPA detects a “beep” event indicating that the recipient should be a “machine”, the CCXML on receiving such a result can direct the IVR component to start over and instead play the answering machine message to the receiver.
[0071] One preferred implementation is to initially err towards identifying human voice over machine voice. In this way the IVR will initially invoke a vXML application appropriate for human. If the recipient is actually a human, he or she will not be subjected to long delays while the CPA is busying analyzing. If further analysis indicates that the recipient was really a machine, the IVR can restart by invoke a vXML application intended for machines.
[0072] In the preferred embodiment, a user can call any phone at any time by issuing an HTTP-based call request to the vAGC. This is a token-initiated call and can be used to deliver from an IVR hosting facility important notification calls, provide outbound customer surveys, collect consumer payments, and implement outbound call center service such as predictive dialers.
[0073] FIG. 7 illustrates schematically an improved scheme for call progress analysis in cooperation with call processing, according to another preferred embodiment of the invention. This embodiment has a similar configuration as that of FIG. 6 except the media stream is fed though a media splitter 300 which in turn splits into two parallel media streams, one to the CPA 210 and the other to the IVR 234 . For example, referring to FIG. 4 , the media server 240 is able to act as the media splitter.
[0074] FIG. 8 illustrates schematically an improved scheme for call progress analysis in cooperation with call processing, according to another preferred embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment the call sends the media stream to the CPA engine 210 but allows the IVR 234 to receive a copy of the media stream. In this way the CPA can perform analysis while the IVR functions are going on. This allows CCXML 200 to direct the IVR based on updated CPA events which are a series of estimated results of the analysis as in all embodiments described earlier.
[0075] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating schematically an improved scheme for call progress analysis and call processing, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0076] STEP 510 : Providing a call progress analysis “CPA” module for analyzing over a period of time a call having a media stream and signals.
[0077] STEP 520 : Directing the media stream to the CPA module for analysis to obtain a series of analysis results over time.
[0078] STEP 530 : Currently, is there a new analysis result? If there is no new analysis result, proceeding to STEP 520 , otherwise proceeding in parallel to both STEP 540 and STEP 560 .
[0079] STEP 540 : Initiating a new session of voice processing application based on the new analysis result to replace any existing voice processing application based on a previous analysis result.
[0080] STEP 550 : Directing the media stream in parallel to the new session for the call to be processed.
[0081] STEP 560 : Is the result final? If the result is not final, proceeding to STEP 520 , otherwise proceeding to STEP 570 .
[0082] STEP 570 : Closing the CPA module.
[0083] FIG. 10 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the STEP 540 and STEP 550 shown in FIG. 9 .
[0084] STEP 540 ′: If new analysis result is one of a first predefined set, incorporating the new analysis result as parameter(s) into an existing session.
[0085] STEP 550 ′: Directing the media stream in parallel to the existing session for the call to be processed.
[0086] FIG. 11 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the STEP 540 and STEP 550 shown in FIG. 9 .
[0087] STEP 540 ″: If new analysis result is one of a second predefined set, initiating a new session of voice processing application based on the new analyzed result.
[0088] STEP 550 ″: Directing the media stream in parallel to the new session for the call to, be processed.
[0089] The improved scheme of call-progress analysis and processing essentially allows parallel operations of the CPA and the IVR. This provides the ability to estimate dynamically if calls are answered by people, answering machines, or voicemail boxes and adaptively respond to the dynamically estimated results with appropriate voice applications in the IVR platform. The preferred embodiments have been described in the context of VOIP in the IP network. However, the invention is equally applicable to transport schemes other that in packet mode such as time-division multiplexing (“TDM”) common in the PSTN network.
[0090] While the embodiments of this invention that have been described are the preferred implementations, those skilled in the art will understand that variations thereof may also be possible. Therefore, the invention is entitled to protection within the full scope of the appended claims.
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A telephony application such as an interactive voice response (“IVR”) needs to identify quickly the nature of the call (e.g., whether it is a person or machine answering a call) in order to initiate an appropriate voice application. Conventionally, the call stream is sent to a call-progress analyzer (“CPA”) for analysis. Once a result is reached, the call stream is redirected to a call processing unit running the IVR according to the analyzed result. The present scheme feeds the call stream simultaneous to both the CPA and the IVR. The CPA is allowed to continue analyzing and outputting a series of analysis results until a predetermined result appears. In the meantime, the IVR can dynamically adapt itself to the latest analysis results and interact with the call with a minimum of delay.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/658,702, filed Oct. 8, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,193,196, issued on Jun. 5, 2012, which in turn is filed under 35 U.S.C. §371 as the U.S. national application of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2006/001755, filed Feb. 27, 2006, which in turn claims priority to the European Patent Application No. EP 05004695.2, filed Mar. 3, 2005, the entire disclosure of all of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, including the drawings.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The rifaximin (INN; see The Merck Index, XIII Ed., 8304) is an antibiotic pertaining to the rifamycin class, exactly it is a pyrido-imidazo rifamycin described and claimed in the Italian Patent IT 1154655, while the European Patent EP 0161534 describes and claims a process for its production starting from the rifamycin O (The Merck Index, XIII Ed., 8301).
Both these patents describe the purification of the rifaximin in a generic way saying that the crystallization can be carried out in suitable solvents or solvent systems and summarily showing in some examples that the product coming from the reaction can be crystallized from the 7:3 mixture of ethyl alcohol/water and can be dried both under atmospheric pressure and under vacuum without saying in any way neither the experimental conditions of crystallization and drying, nor any distinctive crystallographic characteristic of the obtained product.
The presence of different polymorphs had not been just noticed and therefore the experimental conditions described in both patents had been developed with the goal to get a homogeneous product having a suitable purity from the chemical point of view, apart from the crystallographic aspects of the product itself.
It has now be found, unexpectedly, that some polymorphous forms exist whose formation, in addition to the solvent, depends on the conditions of time and temperature at which both the crystallization and the drying are carried out.
These orderly polymorphous forms will be, later on, conventionally identified as rifaximin δ ( FIG. 1 ) and rifaximin ε ( FIG. 2 ) on the basis of their respective specific diffractograms reported in the present application.
The polymorphous forms of the rifaximin have been characterized through the technique of the powder X-ray diffraction.
The identification and characterization of these polymorphous forms and, contemporarily, the definition of the experimental conditions for obtaining them is very important for a compound endowed with pharmacological activity which, like the rifaximin, is marketed as medicinal preparation, both for human and veterinary use. In fact it is known that the polymorphism of a compound that can be used as active principle contained in a medicinal preparation can influence the pharmaco-toxicologic properties of the drug. Different polymorphous forms of an active principle administered as drug under oral or topical form can modify many properties thereof like bioavailability, solubility, stability, color, compressibility, flowability and workability with consequent modification of the profiles of toxicological safety, clinical effectiveness and productive efficiency.
What above mentioned is confirmed with authority by the fact that the authorities that regulate the grant of the authorization for the admission of the drugs on the market require that the manufacturing methods of the active principles are standardized and controlled in such a way that they give homogeneous and sound results in terms of polymorphism of the production batches (CPMP/QWP/96, 2003—Note for Guidance on Chemistry of new Active Substance; CPMP/ICH/367/96—Note for guidance specifications: test procedures and acceptance criteria for new drug substances and new drug products: chemical substances; Date for coming into operation: May 2000).
The need of the above-mentioned standardization has further been strengthened just in the field of the rifamycin antibiotics from Henwood S. Q., de Villiers M. M., Liebenberg W. and Lotter A. P., Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 26 (4), 403-408, (2000), who have ascertained that different production batches of the rifampicin (INN) made from different manufacturers differ among them because they show different polymorphous characteristics, and as a consequence they show different profiles of dissolution together with consequent alteration of the respective pharmacological properties.
By applying the processes of crystallization and drying generically disclosed in the previous patents IT 1154655 and EP 0161534 it has been found that under some experimental conditions the poorly crystalline form of the rifaximin is obtained while under other experimental conditions the other crystalline polymorphous forms of the rifaximin are obtained. Moreover it has been found that some parameters, absolutely not disclosed in the above-mentioned patents, like for instance the conditions of preservation and the relative humidity of the ambient, have the surprising effect to determine the form of the polymorph.
The polymorphous forms of the rifaximin object of the present patent application were never seen or hypothesized, while thinking that a sole homogeneous product would always have been obtained whichever method would have been chosen within the range of the described conditions, irrespective of the conditions used for crystallizing, drying and preserving.
It has now been found that the formation of the δ and ε forms depends on the presence of water within the crystallization solvent, on the temperature at which the product is crystallized and on the amount of water present into the product at the end of the drying phase.
The form δ and the form ε of the rifaximin have then been synthesized and they are the object of the invention.
In particular the form δ is characterized by the residual content of water in the dried solid material in the range from 2.5% and 6% (w/w), more preferably from 3% and 4.5%, while the form ε is the result of a polymorphic transition under controlled temperature moving from the form δ.
These results have a remarkable importance as they determine the conditions of industrial manufacturing of some steps of working which could not be considered critical for the determination of the polymorphism of a product, like for instance the maintaining to a crystallized product a quantity of water in a stringent range of values, or the process of drying the final product, in which a form, namely form δ, has to be obtained prior to continuing the drying to obtain the form δ, or the conditions of preservation of the end product, or the characteristics of the container in which the product is preserved.
Rifaximin exerts its broad antibacterial activity in the gastrointestinal tract against localized gastrointestinal bacteria that cause infectious diarrhea including anaerobic strains. It has been reported that rifaximin is characterized by a negligible systemic absorption, due to its chemical and physical characteristics (Descombe J. J. et al. Pharmacokinetic study of rifaximin after oral administration in healthy volunteers. Int J. Clin. Pharmacol. Res., 14 (2), 51-56, (1994))
Now we have found that it is possible on the basis of the two identified polymorphic forms of rifaximin to modulate its level of systemic adsorption, and this is part of the present invention, by administering distinct polymorphous forms of rifaximin, namely rifaximin δ and rifaximin ε. It is possible to have a difference in the adsorption of almost 100 folds in the range from 0.001 to 0.3 μg/ml in blood.
The evidenced difference in the bioavailability is important because it can differentiate the pharmacological and toxicological behavior of the two polymorphous of rifaximins δ and ε.
As a matter of fact, rifaximin ε is negligibly absorbed through the oral route while rifaximin δ shows a mild absorption.
Rifaximin ε is practically not absorbed, might act only through a topical action, including the case of the gastro-intestinal tract, with the advantage of very low toxicity.
On the other way, rifaximin δ, which is mildly absorbed, can find an advantageous use against systemic microorganisms, able to hide themselves and to partially elude the action of the topic antibiotics.
In respect of possible adverse events coupled to the therapeutic use of rifaximin of particular relevance is the induction of bacterial resistance to the antibiotics. Generally speaking, it is always possible in the therapeutic practice with antibiotics to induce bacterial resistance to the same or to other antibiotic through selection of resistant strains.
In case of rifaximin, this aspect is particularly relevant, since rifaximin belongs to the rifamycin family, a member of which, the rifampicin, is largely used in tuberculosis therapy. The current short course treatment of tuberculosis is a combination therapy involving four active pharmaceutical ingredients: rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambutol and pyrazinamide and among them rifampicin plays a pivotal role. Therefore, any drug which jeopardized the efficacy of the therapy by selecting for resistance to rifampicin would be harmful. (Kremer L. et al. “Re-emergence of tuberculosis: strategies and treatment”, Expert Opin. Investig. Drugs, 11 (2), 153-157, (2002)).
In principle, looking at the structural similarity between rifaximin and rifampicin, it might be possible by using rifaximin to select resistant strains of M. tuberculosis and to induce cross-resistance to rifampicin. In order to avoid this negative event it is crucial to have a control of quantity of rifaximin systemically absorbed.
Under this point of view, the difference found in the systemic absorption of the δ and ε forms of the rifaximin is significant, since also at sub-inhibitory concentration of rifaximin, such as in the range of from 0.1 to 1 μg/ml, selection of resistant mutants has been demonstrated to be possible (Marchese A. et al. In vitro activity of rifaximin, metronidazole and vancomycin against clostridium difficile and the rate of selection of spontaneously resistant mutants against representative anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, including ammonia-producing species. Chemotherapy, 46(4), 253-266, (2000)).
According to what above said, the importance of the present invention, which has led to the knowledge of the existence of the above mentioned rifaximin polymorphous forms and to various industrial routes for manufacturing pure single forms having different pharmacological properties, is clearly strengthened.
The above-mentioned δ and ε forms can be advantageously used as pure and homogeneous products in the manufacture of medicinal preparations containing rifaximin.
As already said, the process for manufacturing rifaximin from rifamycin O disclosed and claimed in EP 0161534 is deficient from the point of view of the purification and identification of the product obtained; it shows some limits also from the synthetic point of view as regards, for instance, the very long reaction times, from 16 to 72 hours, very little suitable for an industrial use and moreover because it does not provide for the in situ reduction of the rifaximin oxidized that may be formed within the reaction mixture.
Therefore, a further object of the present invention is an improved process for the industrial manufacturing of the δ and ε forms of the rifaximin, herein claimed as products and usable as defined and homogeneous active principles in the manufacture of the medicinal preparations containing such active principle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a powder X-ray diffractogram of rifaximin δ.
FIG. 2 is a powder X-ray diffractogram of rifaximin ε.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As already said, the form δ and the form ε of the antibiotic known as rifaximin (INN), processes for their production and the use thereof in the manufacture of medicinal preparations for oral or topical route, are object of the present invention.
A process object of the present invention comprises reacting one molar equivalent of rifamycin O with an excess of 2-amino-4-methylpyridine, preferably from 2.0 to 3.5 molar equivalents, in a solvent mixture made of water and ethyl alcohol in volumetric ratios between 1:1 and 2:1, for a period of time between 2 and 8 hours at a temperature between 40° C. and 60° C.
At the end of the reaction the reaction mass is cooled to room temperature and is added with a solution of ascorbic acid in a mixture of water, ethyl alcohol and aqueous concentrated hydrochloric acid, under strong stirring, in order to reduce the small amount of oxidized rifaximin that forms during the reaction and finally the pH is brought to about 2.0 by means of a further addition of concentrated aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid, in order to better remove the excess of 2-amino-4-methylpyridine used in the reaction. The suspension is filtered and the obtained solid is washed with the same solvent mixture water/ethyl alcohol used in the reaction. Such semi finished product is called “raw rifaximin”.
The raw rifaximin can be directly submitted to the subsequent step of purification. Alternately, in case long times of preservation of the semi finished product are expected, the raw rifaximin can be dried under vacuum at a temperature lower than 65° C. for a period of time between 6 and 24 hours, such semi finished product is called “dried raw rifaximin”.
The so obtained raw rifaximin and/or dried raw rifaximin are purified by dissolving them in ethyl alcohol at a temperature between 45° C. and 65° C. and by crystallizing them by addition of water, preferably in weight amounts between 15% and 70% in respect of the amount by weight of the ethyl alcohol used for the dissolution, and by keeping the obtained suspension at a temperature between 50° C. and 0° C. under stifling during a period of time between 4 and 36 hours.
The suspension is filtered and the obtained solid is washed with water and dried under vacuum or under normal pressure, with or without a drying agent, at a temperature between the room temperature and 105° C. for a period of time between 2 and 72 hours.
The achievement of the δ and ε forms depends on the conditions chosen for the crystallization. In particular, the composition of the solvent mixture from which the crystallization is carried out, the temperature at which the reaction mixture is kept after the crystallization and the period of time at which that temperature is kept, have proven to be critical.
More precisely, the δ and ε rifaximins are obtained when the temperature is first brought to a value between 28° C. and 32° C. in order to cause the beginning of the crystallization, then the suspension is brought to a temperature between 40° C. and 50° C. and kept at this value for a period of time between 6 and 24 hours, then the suspension is quickly cooled to 0° C., in a period of time between 15 minutes and one hour, is filtered, the solid is washed with water and then is dried.
The step of drying has an important part in obtaining the δ and ε polymorphous forms of the rifaximin and has to be checked by means of a suitable method fit for the water dosage, like for instance the Karl Fisher method, in order to check the amount of remaining water present in the product under drying.
The obtaining of the rifaximin δ during the drying in fact depends on the end remaining amount of water which should be comprised from 2.5% (w/w) and 6% (w/w), more preferably between—3% and 4.5%, and not from the experimental conditions of pressure and temperature at which this critical limit of water percent is achieved.
In order to obtain the poorly adsorbed ε form it has to start from the δ form and it has to be continued the drying under vacuum or at atmospheric pressure, at room temperature or at high temperatures, in the presence or in the absence of drying agents, provided that the drying is prolonged for the time necessary so that the conversion in form E is achieved.
Both the forms δ and ε of the rifaximin are hygroscopic, they absorb water in a reversible way during the time in the presence of suitable conditions of pressure and humidity in the ambient and are susceptible of transformation to other forms.
The transitions from one form to another result to be very important in the ambit of the invention, because they can be an alternative manufacturing method for obtaining the form desired for the production of the medicinal preparations. Therefore, the process that allows to turn the rifaximin δ into rifaximin ε in a valid industrial manner is important part of the invention.
The process concerning the transformation of the rifaximin δ into rifaximin ε comprises drying the rifaximin δ under vacuum or at atmospheric pressure, at room temperature or at high temperatures, in the presence or in the absence of drying agents, and keeping it for a period of time until the conversion is obtained, usually between 6 and 36 hours.
From what above said, it results that during the phase of preservation of the product a particular care has to be taken so that the ambient conditions do not change the water content of the product, by preserving the product in ambient having controlled humidity or in closed containers that do not allow in a significant way the exchange of water with the exterior ambient.
The polymorph called rifaximin δ is characterized from a content of water in the range between 2.5% and 6%, preferably between 3.0% and 4.5% and from a powder X-ray diffractogram (reported in FIG. 1 ) which shows peaks at the values of the diffraction angles 2θ of 5.70°±0.2, 6.7°±0.2, 7.1°±0.2, 8.0°±0.2, 8.7°±0.2, 10.4°±0.2, 10.8°±0.2, 11.3°±0.2, 12.1°±0.2, 17.0°±0.2, 17.3°±0.2, 17.5°±0.2, 18.5°±0.2, 18.8°±0.2, 19.1°±0.2, 21.0°±0.2, 21.5°±0.2. The polymorph called rifaximin E is characterized from a powder X-ray diffractogram (reported in FIG. 2 ) which shows peaks at the values of the diffraction angles 2θ of 7.0°±0.2, 7.3°±0.2, 8.2°±0.2, 8.7°±0.2, 10.3°±0.2, 11.1°±0.2, 11.7°±0.2, 12.4°±0.2, 14.5°±0.2, 16.3°±0.2, 17.2°±0.2, 18.0°±0.2, 19.4°±0.2.
The diffractograms have been carried out by means of the Philips X'Pert instrument endowed with Bragg-Brentano geometry and under the following working conditions:
X-ray tube: Copper
Radiation used: K (α1), K (α2)
Tension and current of the generator: KV 40, mA 40
Monochromator: Graphite
Step size: 0.02
Time per step: 1.25 seconds
Starting and final angular 2θ value: 3.0°/30.0°
The evaluation of the content of water present in the analysed samples has always been carried out by means of the Karl Fisher method.
Rifaximin δ and rifaximin ε differ each from other also because they show significant differences as regards bioavailability.
A bioavailability study of the two polymorphs has been carried out on Beagle female dogs, treated them by oral route with a dose of 100 mg/kg in capsule of one of the polymorphs, collecting blood samples from the jugular vein of each animal before each dosing and 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours after each dosing, transferring the samples into tubes containing heparin and separating the plasma by centrifugation.
The plasma has been assayed for rifaximin on the validated LC-MS/MS method and the maximum observed plasma concentration (Cmax), the time to reach the Cmax (Tmax), and the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) have been calculated.
The experimental data reported in the following table 1 clearly show that rifaximin ε is negligibly absorbed, while rifaximin δ is absorbed at a value (Cmax=0.308 μg/ml) comprised in the range of from 0.1 to 1.0 μg/ml.
TABLE 1
Pharmacokinetic parameters for rifaximin polymorphs following
single oral administration of 100 mg/kg by capsules to female dogs
Cmax
AUC0-24
ng/ml
Tmax h
ng · h/ml
Mean
Mean
Mean
Polymorph δ
308.31
2
801
Polymorph ε
6.86
4
42
The above experimental results further point out the differences existing among the two rifaximin polymorphs.
The forms δ and ε can be advantageously used in the production of medicinal preparations having antibiotic activity, containing rifaximin, for both oral and topical use. The medicinal preparations for oral use contain the rifaximin δ and ε together with the usual excipients as diluting agents like mannitol, lactose and sorbitol; binding agents like starches, gelatins, sugars, cellulose derivatives, natural gums and polyvinylpyrrolidone; lubricating agents like talc, stearates, hydrogenated vegetable oils, polyethylenglycol and colloidal silicon dioxide; disintegrating agents like starches, celluloses, alginates, gums and reticulated polymers; coloring, flavoring and sweetening agents.
All the solid preparations administrable by oral route can be used in the ambit of the present invention, for instance coated and uncoated tablets, capsules made of soft and hard gelatin, sugar-coated pills, lozenges, wafer sheets, pellets and powders in sealed packets.
The medicinal preparations for topical use contain the rifaximin δ and ε together with the usual excipients like white petrolatum, white wax, lanoline and derivatives thereof, stearylic alcohol, propylenglycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, ethers of the fatty polyoxyethylene alcohols, esters of the fatty polyoxyethylene acids, sorbitan monostearate, glyceryl monostearate, propylene glycol monostearate, polyethylene glycols, methylcellulose, hydroxymethylpropylcellulose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, colloidal aluminum and magnesium silicate, sodium alginate.
All the topical preparations can be used in the ambit of the present invention, for instance the ointments, the pomades, the creams, the gels and the lotions.
The invention is herein below illustrated from some examples that do not have to be taken as a limitation of the invention: from what described results in fact evident that the forms δ and ε can be obtained by suitably combining between them the above mentioned conditions of crystallization and drying.
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation of Raw Rifaximin and of Dried Raw Rifaximin
In a three-necked flask equipped with mechanic stirrer, thermometer and reflux condenser, 120 ml of demineralized water, 96 ml of ethyl alcohol, 63.5 g of rifamycin O and 27.2 g of 2-amino-4-methylpyridine are loaded in succession at room temperature. After the loading, the mass is heated at 47±3° C., is kept under stirring at this temperature for 5 hours, then is cooled to 20±3° C. and, during 30 minutes, is added with a mixture, prepared separately, made of 9 ml of demineralized water, 12.6 ml of ethyl alcohol, 1.68 g of ascorbic acid and 9.28 g of aqueous concentrated hydrochloric acid. At the end of the addition, the mass is kept under stirring for 30 minutes at an interior temperature of 20±3° C. and then, at the same temperature, 7.72 g of concentrated hydrochloric acid are dripped until a pH equal to 2.0.
At the end of the addition, the mass is kept under stifling, always at an interior temperature equal to 20° C., for 30 minutes, then the precipitate is filtered and washed by means of a mixture made of 32 ml of demineralized water and of 25 ml of ethyl alcohol. The so obtained “raw rifaximin” (89.2 g) is dried under vacuum at room temperature for 12 hours obtaining 64.4 g of “dried raw rifaximin” which shows a water content equal to 5.6%. The product by further drying under vacuum until the weight of 62.2 g of dried raw rifaximin having a water content equal to 3.3%, whose diffractogram corresponds to the polymorphous form δ characterized from a powder X-ray diffractogram showing peaks at values of angles 2θ of 5.7°±0.2, 6.7°±0.2, 7.1°±0.2, 8.0°±0.2, 8.7°±0.2, 10.4°±0.2, 10.8°±0.2, 11.3°±0.2, 12.1°±0.2, 17.0°±0.2, 17.3°±0.2, 17.5°±0.2, 18.5°±0.2, 18.8°±0.2, 19.1°±0.2, 21.0°±0.2, 21.5°±0.2. The product is hygroscopic.
EXAMPLE 2
Preparation of Rifaximin ε
Example 1 is repeated and after having obtained the δ form, the solid powder is further dried under vacuum for 24 hours at the temperature of 65° C. The product obtained is rifaximin s characterized from a powder X-ray diffractogram showing peaks at values of angles 2θ of 7.0°±0.2, 7.3°±0.2, 8.2°±0.2, 8.7°±0.2, 10.3°±0.2, 11.1°±0.2, 11.7°±0.2, 12.4°±0.2, 14.5°±0.2, 16.3°±0.2, 17.2°±0.2, 18.0°±0.2, 19.4°±0.2.
EXAMPLE 3
Bioavailability in Dogs by Oral Route
Eight pure-bred Beagle females dogs having 20 weeks of age and weighing between 5.0 and 7.5 kg have been divided into two groups of four.
The first of these group has been treated with rifaximin δ, the second with rifaximin ε according to the following procedure.
To each dog have been administered by the oral route 100 mg/kg of one of the rifaximin polymorphs into gelatin capsules and blood samples of 2 ml each have been collected from the jugular vein of each animal before each dispensing and 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours after the administration.
Each sample has been transferred into a tube containing heparin as anticoagulant and has been centrifuged; the plasma has been divided into two aliquots, each of 500 μl and has been frozen at −20° C.
The rifaximin contained in the plasma has been assayed by means of the validated LC-MS/MS method and the following parameters have been calculated according to standard non-compartmental analysis:
Cmax=maximum observed plasma concentration of rifaximin in the plasma;
Tmax=time at which the Cmax is reached;
AUC=area under the concentration-time curve calculated through the linear trapezoidal rule.
The results reported in the table 1 clearly show how the rifaximin δ is much more absorbed, more than 40 times, in respect of rifaximin ε, which is practically not absorbed.
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Crystalline polymorphous forms of the rifaximin (INN) antibiotic named rifaximin δ and rifaximin ε useful in the production of medicinal preparations containing rifaximin for oral and topical use and obtained by means of a crystallization process carried out by hot-dissolving the raw rifaximin in ethyl alcohol and by causing the crystallization of the product by addition of water at a determinate temperature and for a determinate period of time, followed by a drying carried out under controlled conditions until reaching a settled water content in the end product, are the object of the invention.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The field of art to which this invention pertains may be generally located in the class of devices relating to mops. Class 15 Subclass 147R, Mop Holders, United States Patent Office classifications, appears to be the applicable general area of art to which the subject matter similar to this invention has been classified in the past.
2. Background Information
It is known in the flat mopping art to provide different length mop holders which are pre-sized to hold different widths of mopping material, such as wet mopping material, dust mop material, and the like. Some users of mops desire for example an eighteen inch long mop holder while others desire longer mop holders. Because of the desire of users to employ mops of various widths, the distributors of mops must maintain an inventory of various sizes or lengths of mop holders. This situation creates an inventory problem which involves the investment of large funds to maintain a stock of various size mop holders.
The problem solved by the present invention is the elimination of the need for a plurality of pre-sized mop holders by the provision of a mop holder which can be extended lengthwise to provide any desired length mop holder, within the range of mop holders available and on the present market. The present invention provides a modular mop holder which is made to an initial length, but which can be quickly and easily extended lengthwise by adding on modular parts. The modular mop holder of the present invention eliminates the need for maintaining an expensive inventory of a plurality of different length mop holders. The distributors of mops now have available forty foot rolls of pre-treated dust mop material, launderable mop material, and hospital mop material, which eliminates the need for stocking various sizes of mop material. With the rolled mop material the distributors merely cut off the material to the proper size, and by providing a modular mop holder of the present invention, which may be extended and enlarged end-wise, the distributors of mops can further reduce the amount of mop holders which they must stock. The modular mop holder of the present invention thus permits distributors to not only reduce the amount of money invested in mop holder stock, but the present invention also eliminates the need for a large storage space for the different sized mop holders.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a modular mop holder which can be selectively increased in length to hold flat mops of any desired practical length. The modular mop holder includes an elongated mop holder basic section which is provided on each end thereof with connection means for releasably attaching to each end of the basic section additional add-on extension sections for increasing the length of the mop holder. The basic section is provided with means for attaching the mop holder to a mop handle. The ends of the mop holder basic section may be enclosed by an end section which has on its inner side a mating connection means and which is enclosed on its outer side. The modular mop holder may be increased in length by releasably attaching at least one or more extension sections to each end of the basic section and then mounting an end section on the outermost one of the extension sections. The connection means on each end of the mop holder basic section comprises a first type, shaped connection means. The first type, shaped connection means on one end of the basic section is a mirror image of the first type, shaped connection means on the other end thereof. The connection means on the inner side of each end section comprises a second type, shaped connection means which is complementary with the first type, shaped connection means. The extension sections are each provided on one end thereof with a connection means of the first type, shaped connection means and on the other end thereof with a connection means of the second type, shaped connection means.
The modular mop holder of the present invention provides a stable mop holder for flat mopping which can be quickly and easily extended in length to carry flat mops, either wet or dry, of various lengths. The connection means employed for releasably connecting the extension sections and end sections to the mop holder basic section hold the first mentioned sections to the basic section in an immovable relationship to provide a stable mop holder.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a modular mop holder, made in accordance with the principles of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front side elevation view of the modular mop holder illustrated in FIG. 1, taken along the line 2--2 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
FIG. 3 is a left end elevation view of the modular mop holder illustrated in FIG. 1, taken along the line 3--3 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the modular mop holder illustrated in FIG. 2, taken along the line 4--4 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, top perspective view of one end of a modular mop holder, made in accordance with the principles of the present invention and showing one of the end sections separated from one end of the center or basic section of the mop holder.
FIG. 6 is an elevation view of the right end of the center or basic section illustrated partially in FIG. 5, taken along the line 6--6 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
FIG. 7 is a left or inner side elevation view of the end section illustrated in FIG. 5, taken along the line 7--7 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
FIG. 8 is a top plan view of an extended modular mop holder, which was made longer than the mop holder of FIG. 1 by the insertion of a plurality of modular add-on or extension sections.
FIG. 9 is a top plan view of a modular extension section employed in the invention.
FIG. 10 is a left end elevation view of the modular extension section illustrated in FIG. 9, taken along the line 10--10 thereof, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing the same connection structure as FIG. 6.
FIG. 11 is a right end elevation view of the modular extension section illustrated in FIG. 9, taken along the line 11--11 thereof, looking in the direction of the arrows, and showing the same connection structure as FIG. 7.
FIG. 12 is a front elevation view of the modular extension section illustrated in FIG. 9, taken along the line 12--12 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
FIG. 13 is a bottom plan view of the modular extension section illustrated in FIG. 12, taken along the line 13--13 thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1, the numeral 10 generally designates the basic section of the modular mop holder of the present invention. The basic section 10 may also be termed the center section. The numeral 11 generally designates each one of a pair of end sections which are detachably mounted on the ends of the basic section 10, for enclosing and slightly extending the length of the mop holder basic section 10 a small amount as for example a 1/4 inch, and also to provide a smooth end surface on each end of the basic section 10. However, it will be understood that the basic section 10 could be used by itself as a mop holder for a predetermined width of mop, depending on the length of the basic section 10.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the basic section 10 of the modular mop holder is substantially rectangular in overall plan form, and it is provided with a bottom wall 12 and a pair of integral side walls 13. The side walls 13 form a recess on the upper side of the bottom wall 12 which is bounded by a pair of end walls 14.
As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the basic section 10 of the modular mop holder is provided with a longitudinally and centrally disposed mop handle attachment bar 17 for attaching the mop holder to a conventional mop handle. The attachment bar 17 is mounted in a position parallel to the bottom wall 12, and in an upwardly spaced apart position. The ends of the attachment bar 17 are fixedly secured in a pair of support posts 18 which extend upwardly from the bottom wall 12. The basic section 10 of the mop holder is provided with a pair of centrally and longitudinally disposed, integral strength ribs 19 which extend between the outer sides of the posts 18 and the end walls 14. The last described posts 18 and strength ribs 19 are integrally formed with the aforedescribed other portions of the basic section 10, and the attachment bar 17 is preferably a metal bar. The basic section 10 and the end sections 11 may be made from any suitable material, as for example they may be molded from a suitable plastic.
As shown in FIG. 4, the basic section 10 of the mop holder and the end sections 11 are provided with a plurality of laterally spaced apart, longitudinal grooves 20, on the bottoms thereof, which are adapted to have seated therein and adhered thereto, strips of attachment material such as "VELCRO" or other suitable attachment material, for attaching mop material to the bottom surface of the modular mop holder. It will be understood that the modular mop holder of the present invention may also be used for other types of mops, as for example, a mop which may have an attachment sleeve on the top side thereof, into which the modular mop holder would be inserted.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the basic section 10 of the modular mop holder is provided on each of its ends with what may be termed a first type, shaped connection means for complementary engagement with what may be termed a second type, shaped connection means on each of the end sections 11. The first type, shaped connection means on one end of the basic section 10 is a mirror image of the first type, shaped connection means on the other end thereof. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, a second type, shaped connection means is formed on the end section 11, and it includes a central, T-shaped male connection member, generally indicated by the numeral 23, and a pair of transversely spaced apart side outer male connection members 24 and 25. As viewed along line 7--7, of FIG. 5 the connection member 24 is substantially L-shaped in cross section and the connection member 25 is substantially reversed L-shaped in cross section.
As best seen in FIG. 7, the male connection member 23 is T-shaped in cross section and includes an upper horizontal portion 30 and a lower and narrower horizontal portion 31 which coacts with the integral upper portion 30 to form the T-shaped connection member 23. A transverse roll pin hole 32 is formed through the T-shaped connection member 23.
As viewed along the line 7--7 in FIG. 5, and as shown in FIG. 7, the male connection member 24 is substantially L-shaped in cross section and includes a vertical leg portion 33 and an integral horizontal foot portion 34. A roll pin hole 35 is formed transversely therethrough in alignment with the roll pin hole 32 in the male T-shaped connection member 23.
As shown in FIG. 7, the male connection member 25 is reverse L-shaped in cross section and includes a vertical leg portion 38 and an integral horizontal foot portion 39. The male connection member 25 is provided with a transverse roll pin hole 40 which is formed therethrough and is positioned in alignment with the roll pin holes 32 and 35 in the connection members 23 and 24.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, a Z-shaped female recess 26 is formed between the male connection members 23 and 24. A reverse Z-shaped female recess 27 is formed between the male connection members 23 and 25.
As viewed in FIG. 5, along the line 6--6, and as shown in FIG. 6, the first type, shaped connection means on each end of the basic section 10 includes a pair of male connection members 43 and 44, which are spaced apart by a T-shaped recess 45, and which are each bounded on the outer sides thereof by a reverse L-shaped reces 46 and a L-shaped recess 47, respectively. As shown in FIG. 6, the reverse Z-shaped male connection member 43 includes an upper horizontal portion 48 and a lower integral, horizontal, laterally offset, inwardly extended portion 49. The reverse Z-shaped male connection member 43 is provided with a transverse roll pin hole 50. The Z-shaped male connection member 44 includes an upper, horizontal portion 53 and an integral, lower and offset inwardly, horizontal foot portion 54. The Z-shaped male connection 44 is provided with a transverse roll pin hole 55 which is axially aligned with the roll pin hole 50 in the male connection member 43.
In assembling the end sections 11 onto their respective ends of the basic section 10 they are moved towared the basic section 10 and slid into position thereon, with the various aforedescribed male connection members meshing with each other and seating in the aforedescribed female recesses. When the end sections 11 are slid into the positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the roll pins 58 are moved into the aforementioned roll pin holes through the various male connection parts to hold the end sections 11 against endwise movement relative to the basic section 10. It will be understood that the various overlapping portions of the male connection members are seated against each other in the assembled position shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, so that the end sections 11 are securely held onto the basic section 10 against movement in the sidewise directions, and in the upward and downward directions, and against an inward endwise direction. The roll pins 58 prevent the end sections 11 from sliding outwardly, in a lengthwise or endwise direction from the basic section 10.
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 13, each of the add-on or extension sections 60 is provided with a transverse recess 61 on the top side thereof. The add-on or extension sections 60 are identically formed and they can be mounted on either end of the basic section 10. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 13, each of the extension sections 60 has formed on one side thereof, a first type, shaped connection means comprising connection members which are the same as the first type, shaped connection members on the ends of the basic section 10. Accordingly, the last mentioned connection members on the extension section shown in FIGS. 9 and 13 have been marked with the same reference numerals as used on the basic section 10, followed by the small letter "a". The other end of each of the extension sections 60 are provided with a second type, shaped connection means which includes connection members identical to the second type, shaped connection means formed on each of the end members 11, and the same reference numerals have been used on said other end of the extension section 60, followed by the small letter "a". Because the shapes of the first and second type, shaped connection means employed on the basic section 10, the end section 11, and the extension section 60 are the same, it will be seen that the FIGS. 6 and 10 both represent the same type of connection means, namely, the first type, shaped connection means, and FIGS. 7 and 11 represent the second type, shaped connection means. However, the reference numerals on the last two mentioned FIGS. 6 and 10, and 7 and 11, have been marked only with the reference numerals employed in FIG. 5.
The extension sections 60 are made from the same material as employed in the making of the basic section 10 and the end sections 11, that is, any suitable material, such as a suitable plastic.
It will be understood that the basic section 10, the end sections 11, and the extension sections 60 may each be made to any desired length. In one embodiment the basic section 10 together with a pair of end sections 11 comprised a mop holder which was twelve inches in length. The extension sections 60 were each made to a length of three inches. In accordance with said one embodiment dimensions, the last mentioned dimensions for each of the sections in the mop holder illustrated in FIG. 8 would provide a mop holder having an overall length of thirty inches. It will also be understood that a shorter length mop holder could be made by eliminating tthe extension sections and the end sections 11.
It will be understood that the basic section 10 could be used by itself as a mop holder, with or without the two end sections 11. It will also be understood that the basic section 10 may be used with one or more of the extension sections 60, together with or without the end sections 11.
It will also be understood that although the term mop holder has been employed hereinbefore throughout this specification that the terms head or frame could also be used and they are synonymous with the term holder. It will also be understood that other configurations may be employed for the complementary first and second type, shaped connection members illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification of this application.
The complementary connection means employed in the invention provides a stable, modular mop holder wherein modular extension sections are held immovable relative to each other and provide an even mop surface for flat mopping purposes. The modular mop holder of the present invention can be easily and quickly extended from a basic section length of 12 inches to any desired length, as for example 24 inches, 36 inches, 48 inches, 72 inches, and so forth. The modular mop holder of the present invention eliminates the need to buy a plurality of unitary mop holders of different usable lengths.
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A modular mop holder for flat mops including a basic section adapted to be attached to a mop handle, and wherein the basic sections length can be selectively increased by releasably connected extension sections.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to suspended ceilings and more specifically relates to wall brackets and clips used to construct a ceiling for handling seismic events
BACKGROUND
Suspended ceiling grids are widely used in commercial and even some residential buildings as they allow ready access to services such as air conditioning, wiring and plumbing that are located in the ceiling space. They are particularly advantageous in multi-story buildings as they allow access whilst minimizing ceiling depth.
If seismic movement was not an issue a ceiling grid could be constructed using only fixed wall angles with main tees and cross runners being fixedly attached by simple means such as fixed angle brackets, to either side of the grid extent in any building area.
To allow for some movement of opposing walls a grid can be made with the tees and cross runners attached at one end only with the free end resting upon a wall angle. In high earthquake areas a 50×50 mm wall angle is typically used to facilitate necessary grid movement. These wall angles are unsightly and traditionally unacceptable architecturally. The free end of the runners resting upon the angle produces an uneven ceiling surface that provides a harbour for dirt and bacteria. Such an arrangement is clearly unsuitable for use in clean rooms or medical facilities where a high degree of cleanliness and hygiene is required.
To maintain structural integrity during seismic events suspended ceilings incorporate 5 way bracing support at very regular intervals i.e. 4 m.times.4 m or 3.6.times.3.6 m. The braces attach the joints between cross members to the ceiling proper and in doing so significantly congest the ceiling cavity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a wall bracket that allows for seismic movement whilst providing an even ceiling surface and to provide a clip for joining tee members of a suspended ceiling system with high strength whilst minimizing intrusion of ceiling space.
In a first aspect the invention provides a wall bracket system for movably securing a suspended ceiling, comprising a fixed member for attaching to a wall including a horizontal flange and ramp portion and a floating member including a horizontal flange and ramp portion, wherein the floating member ramp portion sits atop the fixed member ramp portion and the floating member is fixedly attached to a slide which is slidably attached to a tee member of the suspended ceiling.
Preferably the floating member is movable between a first floating position in which the floating member horizontal flange is coplanar with the fixed member horizontal flange and a second floating position in which the floating member horizontal flange sits atop the fixed member ramp section.
Preferably the slide allows the tee member to slidably move between a first tee position adjacent to the movable member to a second tee position spaced apart from the movable member. Preferably the tee member comprises a flange which forms a contiguous flat surface with the floating member horizontal flange when the tee member is in the first tee position.
Preferably the slide is attached to the tee member by an elastically deformable member which biases the floating member towards the tee member.
Preferably the floating member includes a hook which engages a hook of the fixed member to prevent movement of the floating member from the first floating position when the tee member move from the first tee position to the second tee position.
In a second aspect the invention provides clip for joining tee members of a suspended ceiling, comprising first and second elongate arms, wherein a first end of the first arm is attached to the first end of the second arm and the second end of the first and second arms includes means for attaching to the tee members.
Preferably the attachment means comprises a hook.
Preferably the clip is made from an elastically deformable material.
It should be noted that any one of the aspects mentioned above may include any of the features of any of the other aspects mentioned above and may include any of the features of any of the embodiments described below as appropriate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The Detailed Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows.
Reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1A shows a suspended ceiling grid incorporating a wall bracket and clip according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1B shows a close up portion of the grid of FIG. 1A detailing the wall bracket and its attachment to a tee member of the grid and a clip holding tee members together
FIGS. 2A and 2B show the engagement of the fixed and floating portions of the wall bracket in perspective and side views.
FIGS. 2C and 2D show the fixed portion of the floating wall angle in perspective and side views.
FIGS. 2E and 2F show the floating portion of the floating wall angle in perspective and side views.
FIG. 3 shows details of a cross runner.
FIG. 4 shows a floating clip base.
FIG. 5 shows a floating clip base attached to a cross runner
FIG. 6 shows a floating clip slide.
FIG. 7 shows a floating clip slide engaging a sliding clip base.
FIGS. 8A to 8C shows a floating clip slide engaging with the wall bracket.
FIG. 9 details a wall bracket and clip in a neutral position.
FIG. 10 details a wall bracket and clip during a seismic event wherein the walls are moving apart.
FIG. 11 details a wall bracket and clip during a seismic event wherein the walls are moving together.
FIG. 12A shows a first perspective view of a clip for joining tee members.
FIG. 12B shows a second perspective view of the clip.
FIG. 13A shows tee members and a clip coming together to be joined.
FIG. 13B shows details of tee members joined by a clip.
DRAWING LABELS
The drawings include items labeled as follows:
10 Suspended ceiling grid 20 Fixed wall angle 22 Fixed angle bracket 30 Main Tee 33 Main Tee strengthening bulb 36 Main Tee attachment hole 40 Cross runner (Cross Tee) 41 Cross runner web 42 Cross runner horizontal flange 43 Cross runner strengthening bulb 44 Cross runner attachment finger 45 Cross runner attachment spring 46 Cross runner clip hole 47 Cross Tees mounting holes 50 Floating wall angle 60 Floating angle fixed member 61 Wall member vertical flange 62 Wall member horizontal flange 63 Wall member ramp 64 Wall member hook 65 Wall member locating groove 70 Floating angle floating member 71 Floating member vertical flange 72 Floating member horizontal flange 73 Floating member ramp 74 Floating member hook 75 Floating member locating ridge 76 Floating member clip cavity 80 Floating clip 82 Floating clip base 83 Floating clip base attachment holes 84 Floating clip base retaining tee 85 Rivets 90 Floating clip slide 91 Floating clip slide mounting slot 92 Floating clip slide sliding slot 93 Floating clip slide band anchor 94 Floating clip slide attachment tee 95 Floating clip elastic band 100 Tee clip 101 Tee clip arms 102 Tee clip hooks 200 Movement apart 201 Gap 300 Movement together
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts. As used herein, any usage of terms that suggest an absolute orientation (e.g. “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “back”, “horizontal”, etc.) are for illustrative convenience and refer to the orientation shown in a particular figure. However, such terms are not to be construed in a limiting sense as it is contemplated that various components may in practice be utilized in orientations that are the same as, or different than those, described or shown. Dimensions of certain parts shown in the drawings may have been modified and/or exaggerated for the purposes of clarity or illustration. In particular the present invention relates to a ceiling system which inherently includes long elements with relatively small features. Such elements have been shown shortened to aid clarity.
The present invention provides a wall bracket system that can withstand seismic events and presents a contiguous flat ceiling surface wherein no component rests on top of another component and provides a clip for joining tee members of a suspended ceiling system together with high strength whilst minimizing intrusion into the ceiling space above.
FIG. 1A shows a suspended ceiling grid 10 incorporating the present invention, comprising an outer frame made of wall angles 20 and 50 , main tees 30 spanning opposing wall angles and cross runners (cross tees) 40 spanning adjacent main tees and/or wall angles. Such an arrangement is similar to prior art grids and provides a regular grid for supporting ceiling tiles. In a first aspect the present invention differs from the prior art in the particulars of the wall angles 50 , the clips 80 used to attach the wall angles to the tees and runners. In a second aspect the present invention differs from the prior art in the clips 100 used to secure the runners 40 to the main tees 30 .
First of all it will be explained how the ceiling grid is attached to allow movement whilst still presenting a contiguous surface. The main tees 30 and cross runners 40 are fixedly secured at a first end to the wall angles 20 by means of wall angle brackets 22 , and movably secured at a second end to floating wall angles 50 by means of floating clip 80 . This arrangement allows the walls to which the angles 20 and 50 are attached to move with respect to each other during a seismic event whilst still maintaining the structural integrity of the ceiling grid. The integrity of the grid is further maintained by clips 100 which secure the cross runners 40 to the main tees 30 .
FIG. 1B shows a close up portion of the grid 10 in which can be seen that the floating wall angle 50 comprises a fixed member 60 and a floating member 70 , and the clip 80 comprises a base portion 82 and sliding portion 90 .
The floating wall angle 50 is shown in detail in FIGS. 2A to 2F with FIGS. 2A and 2B showing the fixed member 60 and floating member 70 fitted together in perspective and side views; FIGS. 2C and 2D show the fixed member 60 and FIGS. 2E and 2F show the floating member 70 .
The fixed member 60 comprises vertical flange 61 , horizontal flange 62 , ramp 63 and hook 64 . The ramp 63 is at an acute angle to the flange 62 thereby allowing a floating member 70 to slide over the fixed member and towards the vertical flange 61 , whilst hook 65 restrains the floating member from moving away from the vertical flange.
The floating member 70 comprises vertical flange 71 , horizontal flange 72 , ramp 73 , hook 74 and cavity 76 . The ramp 73 is at an obtuse angle to the flange 71 to allow the ramp 73 to slide over the ramp 63 of the fixed member 60 . The ramp 73 and hook 74 complement the ramp 63 and hook 64 of the fixed member, allowing movement in a first direction, but restricting it in a second. The cavity 76 provides a means of engaging the slide 90 of the clip 80 .
The fixed member 60 and floating member 70 nominally fit together in a neutral position as shown in FIG. 2A and 2B wherein the respective horizontal flanges 62 and 72 align to form a contiguous flat surface. Alignment groove 65 of the fixed member and alignment ridge 75 of the floating member aid in aligning the two members in such a neutral position.
FIGS. 3 to 7 show details of a floating clip 90 and how it is attached to the end of a cross runner 40 . The clip 90 may be attached to the end of a main tee 30 in a similar manner.
As seen in FIG. 3 a cross runner 40 comprises a vertical web 41 with a strengthening bulb 43 atop, opposed horizontal flanges 42 (of which only one can be seen in FIG. 3 ) and attachment finger 44 with attachment spring 45 for securing the cross runner to a main tee. The clip hole 46 is used for engaging a clip to secure adjacent cross runners together and to a main tee. The cross runner shown has only one attachment finger at a first end as the second end is to have a floating clip attached via mounting holes 47 . Where a cross runner is to be located between two main tees it would instead have a further attachment finger 44 , spring 45 and clip hole 46 .
FIG. 4 shows a floating clip base 82 which provides retaining tees 84 for slidably attaching and retaining a floating clip slide 90 . The base includes attachment holes 83 to facilitate attaching the clip to a cross runner by riveting. The base is shown attached to a cross runner in FIG. 5 .
FIG. 6 shows a floating clip slide 90 comprising a body with mounting slots 91 , sliding slots 92 , rubber band anchor 93 and attachment tee 94 for attaching the slide to a wall angle. To fit the slide 90 to a base 82 the retaining tees 84 of the base are passed through the mounting slots 91 . The slide is then able to slide back and forth on the base to the extent of the sliding slot 92 . As shown in FIG. 7 , a rubber band 95 is fitted between the attachment tee 94 of the slide and retaining tee 84 of the base and acts to keep the slide in a neutral position as also seen in FIG. 9 .
The clip may take the form of several different embodiments. In one further embodiment the clip base is integrally formed with the cross runner or main tee. In another embodiment the rubber band is replaced with a spring. In other embodiments the retaining tee is replaced with a stud. Other embodiments are readily envisaged, all however must provide a means for fixedly attaching the clip to a wall angle and slidably attaching to a main tee or cross runner and further provide a spring means to return the clip and any attached wall angle to a neutral position following movement.
A clip slide 90 can be attached to a floating wall angle as show in FIGS. 8A to 8C . The slide may be attached either before or after fitting to a slide base. The slide is first rotated such that its attachment tee 94 may enter the floating member clip cavity 76 and then rotated so that the attachment tee engages the cavity thus firmly attaching the two elements.
Movement of the components during a seismic event can be appreciated with the aid of FIGS. 9 to 11 . Before a seismic event the components provide a contiguous ceiling surface. This surface is disturbed during the event, but is restored afterwards.
FIG. 9 shows the components in a neutral position as would be the case when a ceiling grid is installed. The fixed member 60 and floating member 70 sit fit together in a neutral position in which they are maximally separated, and the slide 90 of the floating clip 80 is retracted by the elastic band 95 . The respective horizontal flanges 62 and 72 of the fixed and floating member align to form a contiguous flat surface together with the horizontal flange 34 of the main tee 30 . This contiguous surface is advantageous in being aesthetically pleasing as well as physically isolating a ceiling space from the room below. This is particularly desirable when in clean room situations such as hospitals.
In FIG. 10 the main tee 30 has been pulled away from the fixed member 60 as indicated by arrow 200 as would happen in a seismic event when the walls to which the main tee and fixed member move apart. The clip base 82 moves in tandem with the main tee away from the clip slide 90 which remains attached to the floating member 70 . The floating member remains fixed in its neutral position as its hook 74 is engaged with the hook 64 of the fixed member 60 . The elastic band 81 spanning the clip base 82 and slide 90 stretches and a gap 201 opens up between the main tee flange 34 and the floating member horizontal flange 72 . When the tee returns to original position as in FIG. 9 , the elastic band will act to keep the floating member in the neutral position and the gap 201 will close.
In FIG. 11 the main tee 30 has been pushed towards the fixed member 60 as indicated by arrow 300 as would happen in a seismic event when the walls to which the main tee and fixed member move towards each other. The clip base 82 moves in tandem with the main tee and as the base retaining tee 84 is at the right hand extremity of the clip sliding slot 92 the clip slide 90 also moves towards the fixed member. As the floating member 70 is attached to the clip it also moves, with its ramp 73 riding up the ramp 63 of the fixed member. When the tee returns to original position as in FIG. 9 , the elastic band will act to pull the floating member back to the neutral position.
Whilst the above embodiment describes the attachment of the bracket to a wall it may equally well be attached to a post or other structure and is not intended to limit the invention to this particular embodiment.
The reader will appreciate the first aspect of the present invention which provides a seismic ceiling system that can withstand seismic events and presents a contiguous flat ceiling surface wherein no component rests on top of another component. This feature is critical in hygiene critical environments such as hospitals.
Now to focus on the second aspect of the invention, the clip that is used to hold the tee members together. Details of a clip 100 are shown in two different perspective views in FIGS. 12A and 12B . The clip 100 comprises arms 101 disposed at approximately 120 degrees to each other and attachment means in the form of small hooks 102 at the end of each arm. The clip 100 is made of an elastically deformable material such as mild steel.
FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate the joining of two cross runners 40 to a main tee 30 . As is the prior art the main tee includes an attachment hole 36 into which the attachment fingers 44 of the cross runners are placed. Once in the hole, attachment springs 45 return to their resting position and lock the cross runners in place. Such a joining mechanism provides limited strength and is only capable of withstanding low force seismic events. Prior art systems often supplement such joins with extensive 5 way bracing and hence occupy a large volume of ceiling space. In the present invention clip 100 is placed on top of the strengthening bulb 33 of the main tee 30 and held in place by the clip hooks 102 engaging the clip holes 46 of the cross runner. The resulting joint is strong enough to withstand severe seismic events. The location of the holes 46 and dimensions of the clip 100 are chosen such that the clip must be flexed slightly to be fitted. The clip 100 thus acts as a spring against the top of the main tee 30 and the sides of the holes 46 holding the various components tightly together.
In further embodiments the clip attachment means can take other forms, for example a loop which can either be fixed to a cross runner by a screw or the like or simply placed over a protruding member of the cross runner such as a stud.
The reader will appreciate the second aspect of the present invention which provides a clip for joining main tees and cross runner that produces joints capable of withstanding severe seismic events whilst minimizing intrusion of ceiling space. An increased strength of 30% or more in comparison to prior art systems has been demonstrated in practical testing.
Together the brackets and the clip provide a ceiling system that is strong and flexible for handling seismic events whilst presenting a smooth ceiling and not intruding into the ceiling space.
Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus. Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in this field.
In the present specification and claims (if any), the word “comprising” and its derivatives including “comprises” and “comprise” include each of the stated integers but does not exclude the inclusion of one or more further integers.
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Components for a suspended ceiling subjected to seismic events including a fixed bracket and a movable bracket presenting a contiguous flat ceiling surface under normal conditions. The movable bracket is able to slide up onto the fixed bracket during a seismic event and is returned to a neutral position with the aid of a sliding clip elastically attached to a main tee or cross runner of the ceiling. A clip for joining tee members of a suspended ceiling is provided comprising two joined arms with hooks at the end of each arm. The join of the arms sits atop a main tee member and the hooks of each arm engage cross members thus securing the members together.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lifting equipment and, more particularly, to a fixture for lifting equipment for use with heavy, unusually shaped parts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the heavy equipment field, such as track-type vehicles for earthmoving and the like, it is necessary to remove the crankcase guard or the transmission guard, or the like, to perform certain types of service on the vehicle. The guards and accumulated gravel and debris can weigh up to 4,000 pounds and are located beneath the vehicle in a relatively small work space which makes it difficult and dangerous to disconnect and remove same. Conventional floor jacks are either of insufficient capacity or are too unstable to handle the heavy, irregularly shaped guards or parts. Current linkage-type jacks are not able to adjust for a sloping part or to accommodate for the different load concentrations and, therefore, are subject to tipping or dumping the load.
Another prior art lift arrangement that has, of necessity, been used is a crane and cable sling. Unfortunately, cranes are not always available, cannot be tied up too long holding the part and are difficult and complicated to use even when available.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Hydraulically or electrically actuated lift or jack assemblies are commercially available and operate on a linkage principle such as to provide a large lifting capacity along a longitudinally oriented lift head supported on a stable platform. To the lift head of these assemblies is attached my novel fixture which includes a transverse box beam carried by one end portion of the lift head with outwardly adjustable members which support at the outer ends thereof vertically disposed coupling members. The lift head has a vertically adjustable slope accommodating member located at the end portion thereof remote from the box beam. The spaced coupling members and the remote vertically adjustable slope accommodating member form a three point support for a part to be supported on the lift assembly.
The spaced coupling members are horizontally and vertically adjustable so that a hook element and clamping bolt of each coupling member can be engaged with the part to hold and stabilize one end of the part. The slope adjusting member is moved into engagement with the other end of the part to support the part at a predetermined slope and orientation.
The part can now be disconnected, lowered and moved out of the way so repair or maintenance can be performed on the vehicle upon which the part had been installed. At the appropriate time, the lift assembly, with the part carried thereon, can be moved back into position so that upon actuating the lift, the lift head and fixture will raise the part and, with minor maneuvering, the part can be aligned with and reassembled to the member.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The details of construction and operation of the invention are more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a crawler tractor, shown somewhat in phantom, with the improved jack or lift assembly in one position beneath said tractor;
FIG. 2 is an isometric view showing structural details of the jack or lift assembly with the fixture and slope accommodating means thereon;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the lift fixture with parts broken away and in section; and,
FIG. 4 is an end or front view of the lift fixture as viewed looking in the direction of the lines IV--IV of FIG. 3 with parts broken away or in section.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings and, in particular, to FIGS. 1 and 2, a crawler tractor or track-type vehicle 10 is shown somewhat in phantom as viewed looking up from below with the track assemblies 12, 14 supporting a main frame 16 through a transversely extending front equalizer bar 18. Protecting the engine crankcase, the transmission, and the like, from damage during use are heavy-duty guards 20 which are bolted or otherwise secured to the main frame 16. In order to provide service to the crankcase, to the transmission, or the like, it is necessary to unbolt and remove the guards 20. After the service has been completed, the guards 20 must be replaced and rebolted in place. Each guard 20 and the accumulated gravel and other debris can weigh up to 4,000 pounds at the time of removal and, since the height of the space where the guard is located is low and the shape of the guard is irregular or unusual, it is almost impossible to use conventional jacks to remove and to lower the guard.
A low profile jack 22 is provided with an improved guard securing, quick attaching coupling means or fixture 24 and slope adjusting screw 26 for engaging the guard 20 as it is unbolted and lowered from the main frame 16. The low profile jack 22 is similar to a commercially available jack described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,366, dated Aug. 10, 1971 and assigned to the Milwaukee Hydraulic Products Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The jack 22 is mounted on a base 28 which has a pair of parallel spaced apart U-shaped channels 30,32 which form the two sides of the base and which are held apart by the spaced cross bars 34,36. A box-shaped container 38 is attached to the front end portions of the U-shaped channels 30,32. A pair of large diameter, fixed rollers 40 are attached by means of brackets 42 to the rear lower end portions of the angle irons with a pair of rollers 44 attached by swivel brackets 46 to the front end portions of the channels 30,32. When desired, the front rollers 44 may be locked in place using any one of the well-known wheel locking arrangements.
Three vertically extending, equally spaced apart plates 48, 50, 52 are anchored to the cross bars 34,36 between the U-shaped channels 30,32. Pivoted between the plates 48 and 50 is the lower end of a cylinder 54 which has a piston (not shown) therein for driving a piston rod 56 outwardly from the end of the cylinder. A similar cylinder 58 is pivotally mounted between the plates 50 and 52 at a position spaced from the pivotal connection of the first cylinder 54, which cylinder 58, likewise, has a piston (not shown) connected to a piston rod 60 for driving said rod outwardly from the cylinder 58. A lift head 62 extends parallel to the plates 48,50,52 in the base 28 and has the end of the rod 56 of the cylinder 54 pivotally attached to the front end thereof with the end of the rod 60 of the other cylinder 58 pivotally connected thereto at a point spaced rearward thereof. A pump 64 is carried by the base 28 and has a handle 66 for use in moving the jack from place-to-place. The handle 66 is also connected to the pump, to serve as an actuator for the pump. The container 38 serves as a fluid reservoir for the hydraulic fluid for the pump 64. Pumping the handle 66 will actuate the pump 64, pumping fluid into the cylinders 54 and 58 for moving the piston rods 56,60 outward from the cylinders. A valve (not shown) on the pump 64 will serve, when actuated, to permit the fluid in the cylinders 54,58 to return to the box-shaped container or reservoir 38 thereby lowering the lift head 62 to a collapsed position on the base 28.
Pivotally connected to the plate 48 are the spaced apart ends of the parallel links 68 which have their other ends pivotally connected to a cross bar 70 and to the lower ends of a second pair of parallel links 72. The other ends of of links 72 are pivotally connected to the flange on the side of the lift head 62. Likewise, one end of the parallel links 74 are pivotally connected to the plate 52 with the other ends pivotally connected to the cross bar 76 and to the lower ends of the parallel links 78 which links in turn have the other ends pivotally connected to the opposite flange of the lift head 62. The lower sets of links form parallel linkages on each side of the pair of cylinders 54,58. Likewise, the upper links form parallel linkages which are connected to the lift head. With the valve on the pump 64 in the open position, the lift head 62 and the parallel linkage arrangements and cylinders, will all be collapsed and will form a low profile arrangement with respect to the base 28. Essentially, the structure just described with respect to the parallel linkages, the cylinders 54,58 and the ability of the lift head 62 to be collapsed into a low profile arrangement with respect to the base, is all as described in the above referred to U.S. Pat. 3,596,366. The orientation of the lift head 62 with respect to the base 28 in the present device provides for the lift head to be parallel to the lengthwise main channels 30,32 of the base 28 so that the lift head 62 extends longitudinally with respect to the base instead of at right angles thereto as provided for in the above referred to patent.
As best shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, attached to the forward part of the lift head 62 is the improved, quick attaching coupling means or fixture 24 which comprises a box channel 80 welded or otherwise secured at its midportion to the forward end portion of said lift head 62 so that the axis of the box channel is at right angles to the axis of the lift head 62. A vertical partition 82 extends longitudinally of the box channel to divide the channel into two, substantially identical, rectangular-shaped chambers 84,86. A pair of oppositely extending support bars 88,90, each having a rectangular shape in cross section, are slidably disposed in the rectangular chambers 84,86, respectively, in the box channel. One support bar 88 extends out of the one end of the box channel 80 with the other support bar 90 extending out the other end of the support channel.
The outer end portion of each support bar 88,90 has a vertically disposed opening 92 therethrough in which is adjustably positioned a vertically extending telescopic coupling member 94,96, respectively. Each coupling member 94,96 has a tubular-shaped sleeve 98 which has a plurality of axially spaced apart openings 100 formed therethrough. An opening 102 is formed through the walls of the opening 92 in the ends of each support bar 88,90 so that a pin 104 can be inserted through the opening 102 in the bar 88 or 90 and through the aligned openings 100 in the sleeve 98 so as to hold the sleeve 98 in a fixed position with respect to the support bar. By removing the pin 104, the sleeve can be raised or lowered and the pin reinserted in the appropriate aligned openings. Slidably disposed in each tubular-shaped sleeve 98 is a telescopic rod 106 which has aligned openings 108 therethrough. A pin 110 is passed through the openings 100 in the tubular sleeve 98 and through the openings 108 in the rod 106 so as to position the end of the rod 106 with respect to the support bar.
Welded, or otherwise secured, to the top end of the rod 106 is a horizontally disposed rectangularly-shaped block member 112 which has one end portion 114 projecting in overhanging relationship with respect to the support bar 88 or 90. The end portion 114 of the block 112 has a threaded opening 116 through which is threaded a clamp bolt 118. The exposed end of the bolt 118 projects above the block. A lock nut 120 is provided on the bolt for locking the bolt in a fixed position with respect to the block 112. An L-shaped hook element 122 is secured to the block and has one leg 124 extending above and parallel to the block with the outer end portion in substantial alignment with the exposed end of the clamp bolt 118. Each support bar 88,90 has a vertically extending telescopic coupling member 94,96 with the hook element 122 and block 112 arrangement with the clamp bolt 118 threaded through the block so as to grip the edge of a guard 20 between the bolt 118 and the leg 124 of the hook element 122.
Since the support bars 88,90 are axially slidable relative to the box channel 80, any position of the coupling members 94,96 relative to each other can be easily obtained. The height of the coupling portions of the coupling members 94,96 with respect to the lift head 63 can be effected by removal of either or both of the pins 104,110 whereupon the sleeve 98 and/or the rod 106 of the coupling member can be extended or retracted prior to repinning at the desired height.
The opposite end portion or remote end portion 125 of the lift head 62 has several axially spaced apart threaded openings 126,128,130 extending therethrough. Although three openings are shown, it is contemplated that more or less openings can be provided depending on the type and style of loads to be worked upon with the lift. The threaded slope adjusting screw 26 is threaded through one of the openings 126,128,130 so that the projecting end of said screw 26 projects the desired distance above the plane of the lift head 62. A handle 134 is provided on the screw 26 to assist in turning the screw. A lock nut may be provided on the screw so as to lock the screw in any desired extended position. The adjusting screw 26 can be threaded through any one of the several openings in the lift head so as to provide the third point of a three point support for the guard, or the like, being lifted and supported by the jack or lift arrangement. The slope adjusting screw 26 is adapted to engage the remote end of the element being lifted, such as a guard 20, so that the guard is held on the jack at the same angle that it would normally have with respect to the main frame of the track-type vehicle. Maintaining the slope of the guard will assist in removing the guard from the frame and aligning the guard with the studs or bolt holes during reassembly.
In operation, the retaining bolts for the guard are loosened sufficiently to allow the hook elements 122 of the coupling members 94,96 to pass between the upper surface of the guard and the lower surface of the main frame of the vehicle. The jack is positioned below the guard and by actuating the pump, the jack is raised until the lift had 62 and box channel 80 are in general alignment with the guard. The coupling members 94,96 are adjusted axially outward with respect to the lift head 62 and are raised and pinned in the position with the hook elements 122 above the lip of the guard and with the blocks 112 and clamp bolts 118 below the lip of the guard. Each clamp bolt 118 can be threaded so as to grip the edge of the guard between the bolt 118 and the hook element 122. In some cases, the end of the threaded bolt may be extended into one of the bolt holes in the lip of the guard so as to further stabilize the guard relative to the lift. The slope adjusting screw 26 is placed in the proper opening 126,128 or 130 so as to align with the rear end portion of the guard whereupon the screw is turned until the end of the screw 26 contacts the bottom of the guard so as to provide the third point of a three point support for the guard. The guard is now positioned at an angle or level depending upon its normal position of assembly with the main frame. At this point, the remaining bolts can be removed from the guard and the main frame so as to release the guard completely from the main frame.
The valve on the pump 64 is then released so as to permit the jack or lift to lower the guard from the main frame. The jack and the guard can then be wheeled from beneath the vehicle while the appropriate service is performed on the vehicle. The guard can be cleaned and serviced in a conventional manner. At the appropriate time, the jack with the guard 20 mounted thereon is repositioned below the main frame and by actuating the pump such as by pumping the handle 66, the guard is raised into position relative to the main frame. By maneuvering the jack, the guard is aligned with the proper position relative to the main frame and then by inserting bolts through the openings in the lip of the guard, the guard is loosely reassembled on the main frame. With the guard supported by the bolts, but spaced from the frame at least the distance equal to the diameter of the hook element 122, the coupling members 94,96 are removed, the jack is lowered and then the appropriate arrangements are made to completely secure the guard 20 in position on the vehicle.
The horizontal and vertical adjustment of the coupling members 94,96 on the fixture on the lift head 62 makes it possible to adjust the clamping means thereon for ready attachment to the edges of the guards or other elements on the vehicle that are to be lowered or raised. By adjusting the slope adjusting screw 26 in the appropriate opening, the slope of the guard can be accommodated for so that in the raising and lowering of the guard, it is maintained in the proper orientation with respect to the main frame of the vehicle which assists in assembling and disassembling the guard from the vehicle.
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A jack or lift with a special fixture is provided for raising or lowering heavy and unusually shaped parts, such as crankcase and transmission guards for heavy-duty vehicles, such as track-type vehicles. The fixture on the jack engages the guard with a novel gripping or coupling arrangement for positively engaging the guard at two points. The gripping or coupling arrangement is vertically and horizontally adjustable to accommodate for different sized parts. A slope adjusting member is provided on the lift remote from the fixture to provide the third point of a three point support.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates in general to control of an actuator and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for accurately controlling the velocity of an actuator member by monitoring the back electromotive force (“EMF”) of an actuator coil, and driving the coil with a voltage.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Conventional actuators, sometimes referred to as “motors”, have a movably supported member, and a coil. When a current is passed through the coil, a motive force is exerted on the member. A control circuit is coupled to the coil in order to controllably supply current to the coil. One example of such an arrangement is found in a hard disk drive, where the movable member of the actuator supports a read/write head adjacent a rotating magnetic disk for approximately radial movement of the head relative to the disk. There are situations in which it is desirable to move the member to one end of its path of travel at a predetermined velocity which is less than its maximum velocity. An example of such a situation is a power failure. In such a situation, it is desirable to move the member to a parking location, where it is held against potentially damaging movement which could occur if the member were not so parked. The movement of the member to the parking location is commonly referred to as a retract of the member.
[0003] When a current is applied to the coil of the actuator, the member is subjected to a force tending to accelerate the member at a rate defined by the magnitude of the current, and in a direction defined by the polarity of the current. Consequently, in order to accelerate or decelerate the member until it is moving at a desired velocity and in a desired direction, it is important to know the actual direction and velocity of the member. In this regard, it is known that the back-EMF voltage on the coil of the actuator is representative of the velocity and direction of movement of the member. Specifically, the following relationship applies to actuators:
V M =1 M *R M +K e ω
where:
V M =voltage across actuator (motor),
I M =current through actuator,
R M =internal resistance of actuator,
K e =torque constant of actuator, and
ω=velocity of actuator.
The term, K e ω, represents the back-EMF of the actuator coil.
[0004] Apparatus have been provided that control such actuators by providing a drive current to the coil of the actuator in response to the provision of a target speed voltage signal having a voltage corresponding to the target speed of the moveable member. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,671, entitled “CONSTANT VELOCITY CONTROL FOR AN ACTUATOR USING SAMPLED BACK EMF CONTROL,” and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,645 entitled “VOLTAGE MODE DRIVE FOR CONTROL CIRCUIT FOR AN ACTUATOR USING SAMPLED BACK EMF CONTROL” discloses such an apparatus. However, such apparatus does not lend itself readily to providing such control in cases where forces can accelerate the actuator in the same direction driven by the control system.
[0005] There is desired a control for an actuator when there is any force accelerating the actuator in any direction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention achieves technical advantages as a controller providing increased control with lesser final error for an actuator when there is a force accelerating the actuator, such as at the end of travel during a retract operation. An extension of the integrator may be provided for implementing a second direction to integrate a final error. One embodiment of the invention may comprise a counter and an analog multiplexer controlling the attenuation of the command voltage.
[0007] These and other features of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention, taken together with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical prior art actuator control system;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a prior art control unit for the system of FIG. 1 ;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a timing diagram for signals appearing in FIG. 2 ;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
[0012] FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0013] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a typical prior art system including an actuator 10 under control of a control circuit 12 . The particular system shown is that of a hard disk drive, in which the actuator 10 controls the movement of a member 20 on which a read/write head 34 is mounted. The control circuit 12 applies drive signals DRV+ on line 14 and DRV− on line 16 in response to a move command voltage signal V C on line 18 . The drive signals DRV+ and DRV− cause motion in a member 20 of actuator 10 by setting up a force field in a coil 22 on the member 20 . The force field thus set up in coil 22 interacts with the magnetic field of a permanent magnet 24 disposed nearby. Member 20 is constrained to move about a shaft 26 , resulting in pivoting motion as shown by arrow 28 . The member is constrained in its movement between a first stop 30 and a second stop 32 . The result is that a magnetic head 34 is caused to move about a magnetic disk (not shown in this figure) in conjunction with the reading and writing of data from and to the magnetic disk in a hard drive system.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram of a prior art control unit and the actuator it controls, such as is used in the system shown in FIG. 1 . A control circuit 90 receives a move command signal VC on line 92 and provides drive current DRV+ and DRV− to an actuator. In FIG. 2 the actuator shown is an idealized model 65 of an actuator. It will be appreciated that the control circuit 90 would be unable to “see” a significant difference between the actuator model 65 and an actual actuator, were an actual actuator connected to control circuit 90 .
[0015] The actuator model 65 includes an ideal current sensor 66 , an inductance 68 , a resistance 70 and an ideal voltage-controlled voltage source 72 , all coupled in series between the two terminals 94 , 96 of the actuator model 65 . The output 67 of the ideal current sensor 66 is a signal representing the current flowing through the actuator. This signal 67 is coupled to an input of an amplifier 74 , which has a gain K t that represents a torque constant of the moveable member 20 ( FIG. 1 ). The output of the amplifier 74 is coupled to the input of a junction 76 , which adjusts the amplifier output using a signal representing a load torque. The output of junction 76 is coupled to the input of a circuit 78 , which makes an adjustment representative of the inertia J, of the member 20 .
[0016] The output 80 of the circuit 78 is a signal which represents an acceleration of the member 20 . The signal 80 is integrated at 82 , in order to obtain a signal 84 which represents the velocity of the member 20 . The signal 84 is applied to the input of an amplifier 86 having a gain K e that represents an electrical constant for the back-electromotive force (EMF) of the actuator. The output 88 of the amplifier 86 is a voltage V be which represents the back-EMF voltage of the actuator. This voltage is applied to an input of the ideal voltage-controlled voltage source 72 , which reproduces this same voltage V be across its output terminals. Since the voltage source 72 is ideal, it produces the output voltage regardless of whether there is any current flowing through source 72 .
[0017] Since the signal 84 represents the actual velocity of the member 20 , and since the back-EMV voltage V be present at 88 and across source 72 is proportional to the magnitude of signal 84 , it will be appreciated at the magnitude of the back-EMF voltage V be across source 72 is an accurate representation of the actual velocity of the member 20 . However, when a current is flowing through the actuator model 65 , the resistance 70 produces a voltage which is added to the voltage V be across the voltage source 72 . Consequently, so long as current is flowing through the actuator model 65 , it is not possible to accurately measure the voltage V be alone, in order to accurately determine the actual velocity of the movable member.
[0018] Therefore, the system of FIG. 2 independently measures the back-EMF voltage V be , and thus determines the actual velocity of the member 20 . It does this by interrupting the current flow through the actuator coil 68 so that the voltage across the resistance 70 goes substantially to zero, after which the back-EMF voltage V be is measured across the two terminals 94 , 96 , of the actuator model 65 . It is a characteristic of the actuator that the back-EMF voltage V be does not change rapidly after the current flow through the actuator model 65 is decreased to zero, once short term transient effects have died down.
[0019] The control circuit 90 includes the following components. A junction 98 receives the retract command voltage signal V C on line 92 that corresponds to a target velocity for the actuator member 20 . The output of junction 98 is provided to a proportional compensation unit 100 that provides a proportional amplification to the input provided thereto. Thus, the output of unit 100 is some multiple of the input, i.e., unit 100 is substantially a linear amplifier. Of course, the proportional factor in unit 100 may be one, in which case the output would be the same as the input.
[0020] The output of terminal 98 is also provided to an integral compensation unit 102 , which provides a mathematical integration operation on its input to derive its output. The output of unit 100 provided to one input of terminal 104 , while the output of unit 102 is provided to another input of terminal 104 . The output of units 100 and 102 are added in terminal 104 , and the output, which is a voltage the level of which represents a commanded current level, I CMD , is provided on line 106 to a transconductance linear amplifier 108 . The outputs of amplifier 108 are the differential drive currents DRV+ and DRV− which are provided on lines 110 and 112 , respectively. The DRV+ signal is synchronous with a DRIVE control signal described below. Lines 110 and 112 are provided to input terminals 94 and 96 , respectively, of the actuator model 65 . Lines 110 and 112 are also connected to the differential inputs of a voltage sense unit 116 . The output of the voltage sense unit 116 is provided to a sampler unit 118 . A timer 120 generates two timing signals, a FLOAT timing signal which is applied to transconductance amplifier 108 and a SAMPLE timing signal which is applied to sampler unit 118 . The output of sampler unit 118 , on line 122 is provided to a second input to terminal 98 . The signal on line 122 is subtracted from the signal on line 92 in terminal 98 .
[0021] The operation of the control circuit 90 of FIG. 2 may be better understood by reference to the signal timing diagram shown in FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 shows the FLOAT timing signal, the SAMPLE timing signal, and the DRIVE drive signal, all mentioned above. These three signals are presented along a common horizontal time axis, and so their relative timings may be easily seen. As can be seen in FIG. 3 , the FLOAT signal is a regularly recurring rectangular pulse. Looking now at one set of pulse signals, at timing 130 the FLOAT signal begins. This causes amplifier 108 ( FIG. 2 ) to turn off the drive signals, as can be seen by looking at the signal DRIVE in FIG. 3 . After sufficient time for the transient effects in inductor 68 ( FIG. 2 ) of the actuator to die down, at timing 132 , a SAMPLE pulse begins. A SAMPLE pulse is provided for a sufficiently long period of time to enable the sampler unit 118 ( FIG. 2 ) to sense the voltage at the output of amplifier 116 . At time 134 the SAMPLE pulse ceases. After a small delay, at time 136 , the FLOAT signal ends. A short time thereafter, at time 138 , the drive signals resume. The sequence thus described repeats regularly. Details of the timings of these signals are provided below, in connection with the description of FIG. 5 .
[0022] Thus, in operation, the command voltage V C is provided on line 92 to terminal 98 . There, it is combined with a voltage on line 122 , which is described in detail below. The output of terminal 98 is provided to the proportional compensation unit 100 and integral compensation unit 102 , the outputs of which are combined in terminal 104 to yield the current command signal I CMD . The current command signal I CMD is converted into actual drive currents by the transconductance amplifier 108 , to yield the drive currents DRV+ and DRV− which are applied to the terminals 94 and 96 , respectively, on the actuator model 65 . At the same time, the voltage across terminals 94 and 96 is sensed by voltage sense unit 116 . The timer unit 120 applies the FLOAT signal to amplifier 108 , thus interrupting the drive current, a short time after which the SAMPLE signal is provided to sampler unit 118 , which samples and stores the voltage output from voltage sense unit 116 , thus the back-EMF voltage, undisturbed by voltage effects produced by the application of the drive currents, is sensed and stored in the sampler unit 118 on a regularly occurring basis. This sampled and held voltage is provided on line 122 to the terminal 98 where it is subtracted from the command voltage V CMD to yield a feedback-corrected control voltage.
[0023] The feedback-corrected command voltage is then applied to the proportional compensation unit 100 and the integral compensation unit 102 . As mentioned above, the proportional compensation unit 100 provides an output that is some multiple of its input. This multiple may be unity. The purpose of the proportional compensation unit 100 is to shape I CMD so as to enable the control circuit 90 to respond better to large errors in the actual velocity, as compared with the desired, commanded velocity, while ensuring stability in the control circuit 90 . This is desired because, for example, in a retract operation, the situation in which the retract is initiated may be in the middle of a hard drive “hard seek” operation. In a hard seek the actuator coil is driven to the point of maximum velocity so as to rapidly move the head to a desired track on the hard drive. The voltage corresponding to this velocity might be, say, 7 Volts. By contrast, an exemplary voltage corresponding to a desired retract operation speed may be, say, one volt. The proportional compensation unit 100 allows the control circuit 90 to immediately respond to this wide disparity between actual speed and desired speed, without destabilizing the system. In selecting a suitable value for the proportional amplification factor, the practitioner should keep stability foremost, and set a bandwidth that is significantly less than the frequency of the SAMPLE signal pulses, while allowing relatively quick control of the actuator.
[0024] The integral compensation unit 102 , as mentioned above, provides a mathematical integration operation on its input to derive its output. Thus, its response is slower than the proportional compensation unit 100 , and is unsuitable for reliance to respond to large errors in velocity, such as described above. This is why the proportional compensation unit 100 is provided. However, the proportional compensation unit 100 is not optimal for response to large changes in the torque load the actuator member may encounter. In such situations, the proportional compensation unit 100 is inadequate to maintain the desired relatively constant velocity. By contrast, the integral compensation unit 102 does respond well to even large and abrupt changes in torque load. When such a large torque load change is encountered, the integral compensation unit 102 gradually integrates the change in resultant velocity that the torque load change is inducing, and steadily increases the compensating current command to maintain the velocity constant. The result is adequate magnitude compensating current command, without destabilization of the control circuit 90 .
[0025] However, while capable of providing good actuator control, the system described above in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3 uses current mode output, which requires some form of current feedback. Current feedback may be difficult to obtain when the MOSFETs used to drive the actuator are external to the control IC. The preferred embodiment of the present invention improves upon the system of FIG. 2 , and provides excellent control in systems where the drive transistors for the actuator are power MOSFETs external to the IC containing the control circuitry. The preferred embodiment provides such control without excessive expense, and is capable of operation in conditions of low voltage operation.
[0026] FIG. 4 is a high level block diagram of a control unit 140 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The control circuit 140 receives a move command signal V C on line 142 and provides drive voltages V DRV + and V DRV − to an actuator 65 . The command signal V C on line 142 is provided to a junction 144 and to an inverse proportional compensation unit 146 . The output of junction 144 is provided to a proportional compensation unit 148 that provides a proportional amplification to the input provided thereto, and provides an output that is some multiple of the input. Thus, proportional compensation unit 148 may be a linear amplifier.
[0027] The output of junction 144 is also provided to an integral compensation unit 150 that provides a mathematical integration operation on its input to derive its output. The output of unit 146 is provided to one input of a terminal 152 , while the output of unit 148 is provided to anther input of terminal 152 , and the output of unit 150 is provided to still another input of terminal 152 . The outputs of all three units 146 , 148 and 150 , are added in terminal 152 , and the output, which is a voltage the level of which represents a command voltage, V CMD , is provided on line 154 to a linear amplifier 156 having a gain of K DRV . The outputs of amplifier 156 are the differential drive voltages V DRV + and V DRV − which are provided on lines 158 and 160 , respectively, to actuator 65 . The drive signal V DRV + is synchronous with a DRIVE control signal in a similar manner to the way in which the drive signal DRV+ in FIG. 2 is synchronous with a DRIVE control signal in that configuration. Lines 158 and 160 are provided to the input terminals of the actuator 65 , and are also connected to the differential inputs of a voltage sense unit 162 . The output of the voltage sense unit 162 is provided to a sampler unit 164 . A timer 166 generates two timing signals, a FLOAT timing signal which is applied to linear amplifier 156 and a SAMPLE timing signal which is applied to sampler unit 164 . The output of sampler unit 164 , on line 168 is provided to a second input to terminal 144 . The signal on line 168 is subtracted from the signal on line 142 in terminal 144 .
[0028] Some aspects of the operation of the control circuit 140 are similar to those of control circuit 90 of FIG. 2 . In particular, the voltage sense unit 162 , sampler unit 164 , and timer 166 operate in a similar manner to corresponding voltage sense unit 116 , sampler unit 118 , and timer 120 , described above. Thus, the signals shown in FIG. 3 are generated in essentially the same manner in the control circuit 140 of FIG. 4 , and their function and relative timings are also essentially the same. However, it will be appreciated that the DRIVE and FLOAT signals in FIG. 2 control the generation of the DRV+ and DRV− signals, while the corresponding DRIVE and FLOAT signals in FIG. 4 control the generation of the V DRV + and V DRV − signals. Bearing that in mind, the timings of the signals used the control circuit 140 of FIG. 4 may be readily understood from the description of the relative timings of signals described above in connection with FIG. 3 , and such discussion will not be repeated here, in the interest of brevity.
[0029] The function and operation of the proportional compensation unit 148 and of the integral compensation unit 150 are, likewise, similar to that of the proportional compensation unit 100 and of the integral compensation unit 102 of FIG. 2 . However, it will be appreciated that in the control circuit 90 of FIG. 2 , the compensation performed is for the purpose of ultimately generating a pair of control currents, the DRV+ and DRV− signals, while in the control circuit 140 of FIG. 4 , the compensation performed is for the purpose of ultimately generating a pair of control voltages, the V DRV + and V DRV − signals. Otherwise, the compensation is the same.
[0030] However, note that additional compensation unit 146 is provided. This unit provides inverse proportional compensation in the form of amplification by an inverse factor, specifically, the inverse of the amplification factor of amplifier 156 . Amplifier 156 has an amplification factor of K DRV , and so the amplification factor of unit 146 is 1/K DRV . The compensation provided by unit 146 is not on the output of terminal 144 . Rather, it is provided directly to the input command signal V C on line 142 . The compensated output of unit 146 is then provided to terminal 152 , where it is combined with the outputs of compensation units 148 and 150 .
[0031] A benefit of the novel compensation provided by unit 146 is to provide a net drive signal when the actuator is moving at a velocity substantially equal to that represented by the command signal V C , without requiring the integral compensation unit 150 to use a significant portion of its range. Since the control circuit 140 is a voltage drive system, when the back-EMF voltage is the same as the voltage of the command signal V C , in the absence of this novel compensation the output of the terminal 152 would be zero, and so the drive signals V DRV + and V DRV − would be zero, as well. It is generally desirable that the linear compensation factor K P be small, to provide a relatively broad dynamic range for the linear compensation. However, because of the small K P , the integral compensation would end up generating the necessary signal to generate a drive signal to keep the actuator moving, were it not for the novel inverse proportional compensation. However, by providing the 1/K DRV compensation to the command signal V C itself, in steady state, where the actuator is moving at a velocity substantially equal to that represented by the command signal V C , the signal output by compensation unit 146 is V C /K DRV . After amplification by the amplifier 156 , this is provided as a drive signal V DRV + at a voltage of V C . In the absence of any substantial load this will be the correct voltage to hold the actuator in motion at the desired velocity. As a result, in such steady state no range need be used up by either the proportional compensation unit 148 or the integral compensation unit 150 . These compensation units are, therefore, fully available to compensate for their intended function.
[0032] The system shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented in circuitry or, alternatively in part or in whole in software. FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The control circuit 200 shown in FIG. 5 incorporates the features discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 4 , and provides drive signals for an actuator (not shown in this figure). First, the components making up control circuit 200 will be described. Then, the principles of operation will be described.
[0033] Two output lines 250 and 252 provide drive voltages V DRV + and V DRV −, respectively. Output line 250 is connected to one port of a resistor 254 , having a value of R, where R is a resistance value of, for example, 1k Ω. Resistor 254 is connected in series with a resistor 256 , having a value of R, to ground. The common connection node of resistor 254 and resistor 256 is connected to a plus input of a comparator 258 .
[0034] Output line 252 is connected to one port of a resistor 260 , having a value of R. Resistor 260 is connected to one port of a resistor 262 , having a value of R, the other port of which is connected to a plus side of a voltage source 264 of a magnitude V C , being the same V C as in FIG. 4 . In hard disk drive actuator retract circuitry, the value of V C may be, e.g., 250 millivolts, which is small enough so that it may be maintained for the entire duration of a retract after a power failure, as the system voltage is decaying to zero. A conventional low voltage regulator circuit may be used to establish this, and other reference voltages described below.
[0035] The negative side of voltage source 264 is connected to ground. Thus, resistor 260 , resistor 262 and voltage source 264 are connected in series between line 252 and ground. The common connection node of resistor 260 and resistor 262 is connected to a minus input of comparator 258 . Resistors 260 and 262 form a 1:1 voltage “divider,” as do resistors 254 and 256 , and are provided as such because there is no attenuation of the feedback signal. The practitioner of ordinary skill in this art will understand that there may be instances in which it is desired to provide some attenuation in the feedback signal, in which case a correspondingly different ratio in the voltage divider will be appropriate. The voltage V C is, as mentioned above, the desired back-EMF voltage for the commanded retract speed. Thus, at the input of comparator 258 a comparison is performed to determine whether the voltage V DRV + at line 250 , relative to the voltage V DRV − at line 252 , is above, or below, the desired back-EMF voltage, that is, V C . If it is above, then the output of comparator 258 will be driven high; if it is below, then the output of comparator 258 will be driven low.
[0036] The output of comparator 258 is connected to the D input of a latch 266 . The output state of comparator 258 is captured periodically in latch 266 , in response to a SAMPLE signal provided at input 268 to latch 266 . The captured state is provided as Q and {overscore (Q)} outputs of latch 266 . These outputs are provided as inputs to a four bit up/down counter 270 , with the Q output of latch 266 providing the DOWN input to counter 270 , and the {overscore (Q)} output of latch 266 providing the UP input to counter 270 . Thus, counter 270 counts either up or down under control of the state captured in latch 266 . Also the Q output of latch 266 providing the UP input to counter 271 , and the {overscore (Q)} output of latch 266 providing the DN input to counter 271 . Thus, counter 271 counts either up or down under control of the state captured in latch 266 . The counter 271 will count up if counter 270 is at (0) Zero and the counter 270 will count up if counter 271 is at (0) Zero. Thus the counters 270 and 271 count in opposite directions, but never at the same time.
[0037] The SAMPLE signal on input 268 is delayed by the DELAY circuit 272 , and the delayed SAMPLE signal is provided to the rising-edge-triggered count input of 4-bit counter 270 , thus causing counts of counter 270 at the delayed rising edges of the SAMPLE signal pulses. The delayed SAMPLE signal is also provided to the rising edge-triggered count input of 2-bit counter 271 , thus causing counts of counter 271 at the delayed rising edges of the SAMPLE signal pulses.
[0038] The four bit output 274 of counter 270 is provided to the four bit input of a four bit digital-to-analog converter (“DAC”) 276 . The DAC 276 converts the digitized value at its four bit input to an analog voltage, in this case a voltage V INT representing a mathematical integral of the difference of the voltage on line 250 , with respect to the voltage on line 252 , as is described in more detail below. The DAC 276 receives a regulated voltage V REG and a reference current I on line 278 . The output of the DAC 276 , provided on line 282 , is a voltage at V c ×(1+1/A) provided by voltage source 280 via a 4-bit analog MUX 273 . MUX 273 is controlled by 4-bit control line 275 provided by counter 271 . It will be noted that the factor 1/A effects the 1/K DRV compensation provided by inverse proportional compensation unit 146 discussed above in connection with FIG. 4 , the factor A being K DRV . The factor A is selected to provide adequate responsiveness, while ensuring stability, according to conventional principles for selection of the gain factor for a drive amplifier for an actuator of the type being considered herein. An exemplary value is 6, but the particular value for the factor A is not limiting insofar as the scope of the instant invention is concerned.
[0039] Advantageously, the counter 270 and counter 271 are coupled in phase with each other and are both responsive to delay circuit 272 . The 4-bit MUX 273 is selectively controlled by counter 271 via line 275 such that voltage source 280 is selectively a controlled and attenuated before being provided to DAC 276 , thereby providing a controlled output at 282 when a force is accelerating the actuator at the end of the travel during a retract operation, for instance if the forces keep pushing the actuator in the same direction that it is moving the integrator counter 270 will count down all the way to zero. At that point, the counter 271 is enabled and starts counting up and controlling the 4-bit MUX 273 via line 275 to attenuate the command voltage at the voltage source 280 . This will reduce the voltage at 282 that will eventually lower the outputs V DRV +250 and V DRV −252 to reduce the velocity of the actuator.
[0040] The four bit up/down counter 270 has conventional logic circuitry included with it to permit it to detect when it has a count value of zero and it is in DOWN count mode. When such a condition occurs counter 270 provides an output signal on line 284 , which is provided to the D input of latch 286 . The value of the signal on line 284 is captured in latch 286 by the rising edge of the FLOAT signal (the falling edge of the {overscore (FLOAT)} signal), provided on input line 288 . The Q output of latch 286 is a PLUS signal, and is provided on line 290 , while the {overscore (Q)} output of latch 286 is a MINUS signal, and is provided on line 292 . The PLUS and MINUS signals are used in a manner described below.
[0041] The value of the voltage difference between lines 250 and 252 is also sampled, by a capacitor 294 . The capacitor 294 is connected at one port to the common port of a switch 296 and at the other port to the common port of a switch 298 . Both switches 296 , 298 , are single-pole-double-throw, and switch in unison from a DRIVE position to a SAMPLE position, in response to the SAMPLE signal, and return to the DRIVE position when the SAMPLE signal is removed. Both switches 296 , 298 , are shown in the DRIVE position in the figure. All other switches in FIG. 5 are also single-pole-double-throw, except for switch 318 , described below, which is a three-position-single-pole switch. All switches may be implemented as a pair of FETs, with the signal identifying the switch position in FIG. 5 being provided to the gate of the respective FET for enablement of that switch position. Note that switch 318 is also a pair of FETs, with the third, OFF “position” being the consequence of the fact that the SAMPLE and DRIVE signals do not completely overlap, as shown in FIG. 3 .
[0042] The SAMPLE position port of switch 296 is connected to the V DRV + output line 250 . The SAMPLE position port of switch 298 is connected to the V DRV − output line 252 . Thus, the voltage difference between lines 250 and 252 is sampled at the same level as the voltage comparison is made at the input of comparator 258 .
[0043] The DRIVE position port of switch 298 is connected to the common port of a switch 308 . A MINUS position port of switch 308 is connected to ground, while a FLOAT OR PLUS position port is connected to a MINUS port of a switch 312 and to the input of a buffer amplifier (gain=1) 314 . The other switch position port of switch 312 , a FLOAT OR PLUS position port, is connected to ground. The common port of switch 312 is connected to one port of a capacitor 316 . The other port of capacitor 316 is connected to the common port of a switch 318 . A DRIVE port of switch 318 is connected to a DRIVE port of switch 296 . A SAMPLE port of switch 318 is connected to the output of DAC 276 , i.e., to line 282 . An intermediate, OFF position of switch 318 floats.
[0044] Thus, when the switches are in the DRIVE and FLOAT OR PLUS positions, the compensated command voltage from DAC 276 ,
V c x ( 1 + 1 a ) + v INT ,
[0045] stored on capacitor 316 , minus the back-EMF voltage sampled and stored on capacitor 294 , is provided as V CMD to the input of buffer amplifier 314 . However, when the switches are in the DRIVE and MINUS positions, the inverse of that is provided as V CMD to the input of buffer amplifier 314 , that is, the inverse of the compensated command voltage from DAC 276 ,
V c x ( 1 + 1 a ) + v INT ,
[0046] stored on capacitor 316 , minus the back-EMF voltage sampled and stored on capacitor 294 , due to the reversal of switch positions.
[0047] The output of buffer amplifier 314 is connected to one port of a resistor 320 having a resistance of R. The other port of resistor 320 is connected to the non-inverting input of a differential amplifier 322 and to one port of a resistor 324 having a resistance of AR. The other port of resistor 324 is connected to the common port of a switch 326 . A resistor 328 having a resistance of AR is connected between a voltage source V M and the inverting input of differential amplifier 322 . The inverting input of differential amplifier 322 is also connected to one port of a resistor 330 having a resistance of R, the other port of which is connected to ground. The output of differential amplifier 322 is connected to the common port of a switch 332 .
[0048] A MINUS port of switch 326 is connected to the drain of an NFET device 334 , while a MINUS port of switch 332 is connected to the gate of NFET device 334 . The source of NFET device 334 is connected to ground. A PLUS port of switch 326 is connected to the drain of an NFET device 336 , while a PLUS port of switch 332 is connected to the gate of NFET device 336 . The source of NFET device 336 is connected to ground.
[0049] The differential amplifier 322 , in conjunction with resistors 320 , 324 , 328 and 330 , performs an amplification of the compensated command signal V CMD by the factor A, again, being the factor K DRV described above in conjunction with FIG. 4 .
[0050] The drain of NFET device 334 is also connected to the V DRV + output line 250 , and to the source of a large current NFET 338 , one of two “high side drivers.” The drain of NFET device 338 is connected to the actuator voltage supply V M . The gate of NFET device 338 is connected to the output of an AND gate 340 . One input of AND gate 340 is connected to the PLUS signal line 290 , while the other input of AND gate 340 is connected to the {overscore (FLOAT)} signal line 288 .
[0051] The drain of NFET device 336 is also connected to the V DRV − output line 252 , and to the source of a high current NFET 342 , the other of the two “high side drivers.” The drain of NFET device 342 is connected to the actuator voltage supply V M . The gate of NFET device 342 is connected to the output of an AND gate 344 . One input of AND gate 344 is connected to the MINUS signal line 292 , while the other input of AND gate 344 is connected to the {overscore (FLOAT)} signal line 288 . It will be appreciated that the NFET devices 338 , 342 , 334 and 336 , may be either off chip or on chip.
[0052] The power supply for AND gate 340 and AND gate 344 is the power supply V DD . The voltage level of this supply may be some voltage greater than V M , for example 2×V M . This voltage may be stored on an external hold capacitor (not shown), if desired. This voltage ensures that the output signals of AND gate 340 and AND gate 344 are sufficiently high to drive their associated NFET devices 338 and 342 , respectively, to a fully saturated ON state, even as the system supply voltage decays after a power failure.
[0053] A retract enable signal enables gates 340 and 344 through negative logic. Thus, {overscore (RETEN)} is applied on line 346 to an inverting enable port of AND gate 340 and AND gate 344 .
[0054] In operation, the control circuit 200 provides the active drive voltage through either line 250 or 252 , as the case may be, as either device 338 is on and device 342 is off, or device 342 is on and device 338 is off. When device 338 is on, a closed path is formed from the actuator voltage supply V M , through the actuator and device 336 , to ground. When device 342 is on, a closed path is formed from the actuator voltage supply V M , through the actuator and device 334 , to ground. This provides two selectable drive directions to the actuator member.
[0055] Thus, this invention allows for voltage mode control of the velocity of an actuator. The approach described herein allows the use of either internal or external MOS transistors. In cases where external MOS transistors are required it eliminates the need for additional current sensing circuitry that would be required for current mode control. Therefore, in such instances where external MOS transistors are required, this approach is simpler and less expensive to implement.
[0056] Though the invention has been described with respect to a specific preferred embodiment, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the present application. It is therefore the intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the prior art to include all such variations and modifications.
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A controller providing increased control with lesser final error for an actuator when there is a force accelerating the actuator, such as at the end of travel during a retract operation. An extension of the integrator may be provided for implementing a second direction to integrate a final error. One embodiment of the invention may comprise a counter and an analog multiplexer controlling the attenuation of the command voltage.
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[0001] The present application claims priority to U.S. Ser. No. 60/891,471, filed Feb. 23, 2007 and U.S. Ser. No. 60/910,781, filed Apr. 9, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The invention generally relates to metalwood golf clubs including drivers, fairway woods, hybrid irons, irons, wedges, putters and utility clubs. More particularly, this invention relates to the design, manufacturing and construction of metalwood golf club heads, hybrid iron heads, iron heads, wedge heads and putter heads and the components that make the heads, using nanostructured materials in a composite design to improve performance and durability. The invention also relates to golf iron heads having face inserts and in particular to the face inserts having nano crystalline materials as one component of a multi-material component system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
[0003] Due to the competitive nature of many sports, designers and manufacturers often seek ways to improve the performance of sports equipment by utilizing new advanced materials and construction methods. As can be appreciated, finding a suitable combination of materials and designs to meet a set of performance criteria is a challenging task.
[0004] Drivers have evolved from various materials of construction over the past four centuries. For most of that time, wood, especially a variety known as persimmon was the predominant material of choice for heads of golf clubs known collectively, as “woods” including the driver and fairway woods. In the late 20 th century, wood was replaced by various metals including steel and titanium alloys allowing the club heads to grow larger at the same weight, thus producing a higher moment of inertia, larger club face and expanded sweet spot all of which improved the launch conditions and accuracy of shots. One particular improvement that relates especially to metal woods is the use of lighter and stronger metals, such as titanium. A significant number of the premium metal woods, especially drivers, are now constructed primarily using titanium. The use of titanium and other lightweight, strong metals has made it possible to create metal woods of ever increasing sizes. The size of metal woods, especially drivers, is often referred to in terms of volume. For instance, current drivers may have a volume of up to 460 cubic centimeters (cc). Oversized metal woods generally provide a larger sweet spot and a higher inertia, which provides greater forgiveness than a golf club having a conventional head size. One advantage derived from the use of lighter and stronger metals is the ability to make thinner walls, including the striking face and all other walls of the metal wood club. This allows designers more leeway in the positioning of weights. For instance, to promote forgiveness, designers may move the weight to the periphery of the metal wood head and backwards from the face. As mentioned above, such weighting generally results in a higher inertia, which results in less twisting due to off-center hits.
[0005] Generally-speaking, the performance of driver heads for game improvement models can be improved by reducing the overall mass of the structure and re-positioning the mass at appropriate locations in the club head to change the launch conditions at impact. A reduced mass in the crown for example, allows the designer to re-position center-of-gravity (c.g.) of the head. One limitation to minimizing the overall head weight is the current strength-to-weight ratio and achievable wall thickness of metals common to club construction including steel and titanium alloys. In general, titanium materials have reached a minimum thickness that can be repeatedly manufactured with high quality and certainty of material properties due to the process limitations of traditional investment casting and forging techniques, and the subsequent heat-treatments required to produce acceptable mechanical properties. Composite construction utilizing various fiber-reinforced materials in the face, crown, skirt and in some cases the entire head, also allowed for forgiving club head designs. At the beginning of the 21 st century, golf club designers and manufacturers have since continuously experimented with and launched commercially clubs with combinations of metal and fiber-reinforced composite materials to produce clubs with enhanced coefficient of restitution (C.O.R.), reduced stinging vibration, larger moments of inertia (MOI) and unique sounds at impact to differentiate one club from another. This is generally achieved by making the body of the metalwood as light as possible and moving the mass to locations that result in most favorable flight for the golf ball. Various patents have tried to address this issue as indicated below.
[0006] Helmstetter, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,565,452, disclose a multiple material golf club head having a body made from composite materials.
[0007] Beach, et al., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,558,271 and 6,991,558, disclose a golf head with skeletal support structure.
[0008] Hocknell, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,604, disclose a golf head with a body made of composite material or a thermoplastic material.
[0009] Okumoto, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,811, disclose a wood type head body made mainly of synthetic resin and metal sole plate. The metal sole plate has on its surface for bonding with the head body integrally formed members comprising a hosel on the heel side, weights on the toe and rear sides and a beam connecting weights and hosel.
[0010] In U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,107 to Okumoto et al., a golf head with injected foamable material is disclosed. The foamable material expands inside the head cavity to hold the weight members in place.
[0011] Sun, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,685, discloses a wood type golf club head wherein a female unit is mated with a male unit to form a unitary golf club head. The female unit comprises of the upper portion of the golf club head and is preferably composed of plastic, alloy or wood.
[0012] Palumbo, et al., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/300,579 entitled “Article Comprising A Fine-Grained Metallic Material And A Polymeric Material” filed on Dec. 15, 2005, disclose a process for at least partially coating a lightweight polymeric material with fine grained metallic material having grain size in the range of 2 nm and 5000 nm; the nano-metal layer having a thickness between 25 μm to 5 cm.
[0013] Other aspects of the present invention relate specifically to the golf clubs called irons. Irons are typically used to strike the golf ball off the ground without the use of a tee. The objective of the shot with irons is to place the golf ball as close to the hole as possible. Landing the golf ball as far as possible is not the primary objective of a shot played with an iron. Since the irons are mostly played off the ground or the turf, interaction of the iron with the turf plays a significant role in determining the final location of the golf ball. Additionally, the golf ball may not always rest on a perfectly flat plane resulting in what is termed as an uphill or a downhill lie. The purpose of making an iron golf club head with a face insert is primarily to reduce the weight in the face and move that weight to the perimeter of the iron head so as to increase the moment of inertia of the head. Making a head with higher moment-of-inertia allows a player to mis-hit the ball and still end up with a favorable result. This is described as making the club more forgiving. Thus it is desired by a player to have very forgiving irons, so that the differences in lies and mis-hits result in a favorable location of the golf ball for the next shot. Use of multi-materials in golf iron club heads have allowed the heads to be more forgiving.
[0014] Anderson, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,024,437, 5,094,383, 5,255,918, 5,261,663 and 5,261,664, has disclosed a club head body made from cast metal material while the face insert was made from hot forged metal material.
[0015] Viste, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,624, discloses a club head made from cast metal body and forged steel face insert with grooves on the exterior surface and the interior surface of the face insert and having a thickness of 3 mm.
[0016] Rogers, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,236, discloses an iron club head with a formed metal face plate insert fusion bonded to a cast iron body.
[0017] Okumoto, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,694, discloses an iron club head having a stainless steel sole and hosel, a core made from a bulk molding compound or the like, a weight composed of a tungsten and polyamide resin, and an outer-shell made of a fiber-reinforced resin.
[0018] Nagasaki et. al., disclose, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,792,139, 4,798,383, 4,792,139 an 4,884,812, a golf iron club having a stainless steel head with a fiber reinforced plastic back plate to allow for weight adjustment and ideal inertia moment adjustment.
[0019] Fujimura, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,747, discloses a metal iron club head with a carbon fiber reinforced plastic back plate to increase the sweet spot. A ring is used to fix the position of the back plate.
[0020] Nakanishi, et. al., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,928,972 and 4,964,640, disclose an stainless steel iron club head with a fiber reinforcement in a rear recess to provide a dampening means for shock and vibrations, a means for increasing the inertial moment, a means for adjusting the center of gravity and a means for reinforcing the back plate.
[0021] Take, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,290, discloses an iron club head with a metal body, a filling member composed of a light weight material such as a plastic, and a fiber-reinforced resin molded on the metal body and the filling member.
[0022] Oku, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,264, discloses a metal body with a backwardly extended flange and an elastic fiber face plate in order to increase the moment of inertia and minimize head vibrations.
[0023] Aizawa, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,201, discloses an iron club head with a body made from stainless steel, a face member composed of a fiber reinforced resin and protective layer composed of a metal, in order to provide a deep center of gravity and reduce shocks.
[0024] Meyer, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,106, discloses an iron golf club head with a metal blade portion and hosel composed of a lightweight material such as a fiber reinforced resin.
[0025] Aizawa, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,383, to discloses a metal core covered with multiple layers of a reinforced synthetic resin club head to provide greater ball hitting distance.
[0026] Yoneyama, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,963, discloses an iron golf club head with a metal sole and a filling member composed of a fiber reinforced resins material in order to provide greater hitting distance.
[0027] The earliest patents for making nano crystalline metals using electrodeposition processes are U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,266 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,797 to Erb et al. These patents discloses a process for producing nano crystalline nickel iron alloy having a grain size of less than 11 nanometers.
[0028] Schulz et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,046 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,170, disclose nano crystalline nickel based alloys having grain size less than 100 nanometers.
[0029] Hui, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,450, discloses a method for electrodepositing a nickel-iron-tungsten phosphorous alloy to promote wear resistance.
[0030] Taylor et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,504, disclose a method for forming nano crystalline metals on a substrate.
[0031] Gonsalves, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,011, disclose a steel powder having a grain size in the nanometer range, specifically in the 50 nanometer size, and the steel powder is an alloy composed of iron, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium and carbon.
[0032] Gonsalves, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,996, discloses nanostructured steel, aluminum, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, and other metals having crystallite size ranging from 45 nanometers to 75 nanometers.
[0033] Gonsalves, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,624, discloses a chemical synthesis method for producing nanostructured metals, metal carbides and metal alloys.
[0034] Ezaki et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,667, disclose an iron with nickel plated copper or a copper alloy striking face.
[0035] Saeki, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,427, discloses an iron with a non-electrolytic nickel-boron plating and a chromate film, and a method for manufacturing such an iron.
[0036] Nagamoto, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,004, discloses an iron composed of a soft-iron material with a carbonized surface layer.
[0037] Harada et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,986, disclose a method for manufacturing a golf club head by electrolytic deposition of nickel based alloys.
[0038] Sasamoto et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,614, discloses as golf club head with a face portion that is arranged to have its crystal grains of the material of the face portion oriented in a vertical direction. This patent also discloses nickel-plating of the face portion.
[0039] Buettner, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,444, discloses a wear resistant titanium nitride coated iron composed of a ferrous material.
[0040] Winrow et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,158, disclose a golf club head with a coating formed by a high velocity thermal spray process.
[0041] Byrne et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 7,087,268, discloses a method of plating a golf club head composed of magnesium, magnesium alloys, aluminum, or aluminum alloys.
[0042] Reyes et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,628, disclose a golf club head having a magnesium portion that is plated with a nickel or nickel alloy based material.
[0043] Deshmukh, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,214,143 and 7,318,781, discloses face inserts with nano-crystalline metals, where the nano-crystalline metals were deposited on metallic and non-metallic substrates without an intermediate layer.
[0044] Palumbo et al., in U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0135281, disclose golf shafts or golf club heads including face plates that are plated with course-grained or fine-grained metallic materials.
[0045] Hocknell et al., in U.S. Patent Publication 2007/0293348, disclose a nanocrystalline face insert where the nanocrystalline layer is disposed on the substrate without any activation of the substrate.
[0046] While these and other patents attempt to address some of the deficiencies of the current metalwoods and face inserts, there is a need for use of a nanostructured material in the composition of a metalwood and face insert to overcome these deficiencies.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0047] Manufacturers and designers who have used carbon-fiber reinforced plastics, commonly known as “carbon composites” for the crown or body of metalwoods have since explored the concept of using just thermoplastic or thermoset polymers without fiber reinforcement, due to their low density and moldability into complex shapes at a relatively low cost. However, the structural strength, fatigue life and maximum deflection limits of these plastic crowns have not been within acceptable performance and durability limits. In particular, the strength of neat plastics alone does not allow for the replacement of the thin-walled titanium and steel crowns common to many designs available on the market today. However, by adding a thin structural layer of nanostructured metal onto the surface of certain polymers in a metalwood crown or body design, or fully encapsulating these polymers, the resulting density of the nanostructured metal+polymer composite structure can be reduced from 4.5 g/cc for titanium alloys to less than 1.5 g/cc. This allows for the designer to shift center-of-gravity (c.g.) down toward the sole and back, improving the MOI and even COR characteristics of the entire head. These new mass properties and flex characteristics have positive effects on the performance, sound, and durability of metalwoods for the golfer.
[0048] Driver heads made with fiber-reinforced or neat resin polymer crowns, skirts, and bodies, also suffer from a low or poor-dampening response after impact with the golf ball, thus producing a less pronounced sound at impact which is less pleasing to the golfer. Low modulus polymers and/or thermoset polymer systems can reduce the performance of a club due to energy loss in the system at impact with golf ball. Titanium and steel metalwoods with their larger cavities and thinner walls produce a different and often times louder or higher-pitched sound at impact that many golfers prefer. By combining a polymer substrate with a nanostructured metal, the overall strength, strength-to weight, and sound at impact of metalwoods are improved.
[0049] In one aspect, the invention relates to a variety of golf club heads including drivers, fairway woods, hybrid and utility clubs, herein called “metalwoods.” The metalwoods with nanostructured metals fused to polymers can be any designed for a variety of players with different skill levels from the beginner to the amateur and even the professional.
[0050] In one embodiment, the metalwoods include a portion that includes a nanostructured material. The nanostructured material includes a metal, and the nanostructured material has an average grain size that is in the range of 2 nm to 100 nm, a yield strength that is in the range of 600 MegaPascal (“MPa”) to 2,750 MPa, and a hardness that is in the range of 460 Vickers to 2,000 Vickers.
[0051] In another embodiment, the metalwoods include an electro-deposited or electro-formed fine-grained metal or metal alloy coating having a thickness between 10 micrometers (“μm”) and 5 millimeters (“mm”). The coating exhibits resilience of at least 0.25 MPa and up to 25 MPa, and an elastic strain limit of at least 0.75% and up to 2.00%.
[0052] In another embodiment, the metalwoods include a neat resin of thermoplastic or thermoset polymer material as the crown, skirt, or body component or the like incorporating a metallic coating representing at least 0.5%, such as more than 10% or more than 20%, and up to 75%, 85%, or 95% of a total weight on a polymer substrate optionally containing graphite/carbon or other fibers including chopped fiber or other strength-enhancing particulates. A lateral or bending stiffness per unit weight of the metalwoods containing the metallic coating is improved by at least about 5% when compared to a lateral or bending stiffness of a similar metalwood crown, skirt or body component not containing the metallic coating or encapsulation.
[0053] In another embodiment, the metalwoods include a graphite fiber-reinforced composite crown, skirt, or body component or the like incorporating a metallic coating representing at least 0.5%, such as more than 10% or more than 20%, and up to 75%, 85%, or 95% of a total weight on a polymer substrate optionally containing graphite/carbon or other fibers including chopped fiber or other strength-enhancing particulates. A lateral or bending stiffness per unit weight of the metalwood containing the metallic coating is improved by at least about 5% when compared to a lateral or bending stiffness of a similar metalwood crown, skirt or body component not containing the metallic coating or encapsulation.
[0054] In another embodiment, the metalwood includes a portion that includes a first layer and a second layer adjacent to the first layer. At least one of the first layer and the second layer includes a nanostructured material that has a grain size in the submicron range, such as in the nanometer range. Nanostructured materials can be formed as outlined in the patent application of Palumbo et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/305,842, entitled “Sports Article Formed Using Nanostructured Materials” and filed on Dec. 9, 2004, and the patent application of Palumbo et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/516,300, entitled “Process for Electro-plating Metallic and Metal Matrix Composite Foils, Coatings and Microcomponents” and filed on Dec. 9, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
[0055] An improved process can be employed to create high strength, equiaxed coatings on metallic components or on non-conductive components that have been metallized to render them suitable for electro-plating. In an alternative embodiment, the process can be used to electro-form a stand-alone article on a mandrel or other suitable substrate and, after reaching a desired plating thickness, to remove the free-standing electro-formed article from the temporary substrate.
[0056] In another aspect, the invention relates to an improved process for producing metalwoods. In one embodiment, the process includes: (a) positioning a metallic or metallized work piece or a reusable mandrel/temporary substrate to be plated in a plating tank containing a suitable electrolyte; (b) providing electrical connections to the work piece and to one or several anodes; and (c) forming and electrodepositing a metallic material with an average grain size of less than 100 nanometers (nm) on at least part of the surface of the work piece using a suitable DC electro-deposition process.
[0057] In the process of an embodiment of the invention, an electro-deposited metallic coating optionally contains at least 2.5% by volume particulate, such as at least 5%, and up to 75% by volume particulate. The particulate can be selected from the group of metal powders, metal alloy powders, and metal oxide powders of Al, Co, Cu, In, Mg, Ni, Si, Sn, V, and Zn; nitrides of Al, B and Si; carbides of B, Cr, Si, Ti, V, Zr, Mo, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Nb, W, Hf and Ta; borides of Ti, V, Zr, W, Hf, Ta, Si, Mo, Nb, Cr, and Fe; MoS 2 ; and organic materials such as PTFE and other polymeric materials. The particulate average particle size is typically below 10,000 nm (or 10 μm), such as below 5,000 nm (or 5 μm), below 1,000 nm (or 1 μm), or below 500 nm.
[0058] An embodiment of the invention provides for electro-deposited fine-grained layers, having a thickness of at least 0.030 mm, such as more than 0.05 mm or more than 0.1 mm, on surfaces of appropriate articles, including entire golf club heads, face inserts for golf club heads, crowns of golf club heads, skirts of golf club heads, bodies of golf club heads, sole plates of golf club heads, and suitable sub-components thereof.
[0059] According to an embodiment of the invention, patches or sections of nanostructured materials can be formed on selected areas, such as on golf crowns, bodies, skirts, soles or sections of metalwood head without the need to coat an entire article.
[0060] According to an embodiment of the invention, patches, sleeves or structural shells of nanostructured materials, which need not be uniform in thickness, can be electro-deposited in order to form a thicker structural shell on selected sections or sections particularly prone to heavy use or impact, such as the crown of a metalwood; along the skirt or middle section of a metalwood where it may bang against the ground during play, other clubs in the bag, or even be damaged during transport; and/or on sole of a metalwood body that may be subject to impact forces that might otherwise produce scratches, denting and the like.
[0061] In one embodiment a metallic alloy core or substrate in lieu of a polymer substrate may be completely encapsulated by nano-structured material including nanocrystalline metals. The encapsulation increases the stiffness of the structure, and prevents the possibility of corrosion of the metallic alloy substrate.
[0062] In some embodiments the metallic alloy core or substrate need not be encapsulated symmetrically. The location of the substrate can be chosen depending on the particular application. The encapsulation along the perimeter can be controlled during the deposition process or could be later machined to the design requirement. In some exemplary embodiments the encapsulation can vary from 0 to 1.0 mm.
[0063] In some embodiments metalwood may be coated with a nanostructured material to improve performance.
[0064] In some embodiments, metalwood, including drivers, fairway woods, hybrid and utility clubs may be coated in whole or part with a nanostructured material. In one exemplary embodiment a nanostructured material may be applied to approximately the entire surface of the crown, to improve the deflection at impact allowing for a higher C.O.R. of the metalwood head structure and durability of the crown in particular after repeated golf ball impacts where the load is transferred to the crown at the joint interface.
[0065] In another exemplary embodiment a nanostructured material may completely encapsulate a polymer crown, allowing for improved performance, durability and sound at weight similar to steel or titanium crowns.
[0066] In yet another exemplary embodiment a nanostructured material may be applied to the crown and skirt elements of a metalwood body either fully encapsulating or partially, to improve the mechanical stiffness, overall durability, sound production and vibrational feel of the metalwood head during impact with golf balls.
[0067] Other aspects and embodiments of the invention are also contemplated. For example, another aspect of the invention relates to a method of forming metalwood components including crowns, skirts, sole plates, body elements, shaft hosels, and striking faces including a nanostructured material coating with a substrate or as a free-standing electro-formed article that can be subsequently joined using traditional or novel methods.
[0068] The foregoing summary and the following detailed description are not meant to restrict the invention to any particular embodiment, but are merely meant to describe some embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0069] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to an embodiment of the invention, with nanostructured material providing a structural shell or coating.
[0070] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to another embodiment of the invention, with a nanostructured material over a substrate in a sandwich construction.
[0071] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to yet another embodiment of the invention, with a nanostructured material in a sandwich construction with a variable thickness laminate.
[0072] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to yet another embodiment of the invention, with a nanostructured material and a substrate of variable thickness.
[0073] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to yet another embodiment of the invention with a nanostructured material in a sandwich construction and a substrate of variable thickness.
[0074] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to yet another embodiment of the invention, with a nanostructured material in a sandwich construction with different nanostructured materials and a substrate of variable thickness.
[0075] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a sports article, such as a portion of a metalwood, according to yet another embodiment of the invention, with nanostructured materials fully encapsulating a substrate of variable thickness.
[0076] FIG. 8 is an exploded schematic view of a metalwood golf club.
[0077] FIG. 9 is a front elevational view of a face of the metalwood golf club head of FIG. 8 having electro-deposited nanostructured material along different sections thereof.
[0078] FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the face of FIG. 8 .
[0079] FIG. 11 is an orthotropic projection exploded schematic view of the metalwood of FIG. 8 .
[0080] FIG. 12 is cross-sectional schematic view of a metalwood lap joint with deposited nanostructured material adhered to a face.
[0081] FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a metalwood trap joint with deposited nanostructured material adhered to a face.
[0082] FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional schematic view of a metalwood with deposited nanostructured material adhered to a face and having a combination trap joint with a crown and a lap joint with a sole plate.
[0083] FIG. 15 illustrates a metalwood crown with deposited nanostructured material.
[0084] FIG. 16 illustrates assembled golf clubs with deposited nanostructured material.
FIG. 17 illustrates an gold club iron insert with deposited nanostructured material.
[0085] FIG. 18 illustrates the insert of FIG. 17 secured to a head of a golf club iron.
[0086] FIG. 19 illustrated a head of a golf club iron with deposited nanostructured material.
[0087] FIG. 20 illustrated a head of a metalwood with deposited nanostructured material.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0088] Overview
[0089] The present invention generally relates to golf club head design and construction. Metalwoods in accordance with various embodiments of the invention can be formed with a variety of polymer or metallic substrates fused with nanostructured materials having desirable mechanical and vibro-acoustic properties. In particular, the nanostructured materials can exhibit characteristics such as high yield strength, high strength-to-weight ratio, high resilience, high fracture toughness, high elasticity, low or high vibration-damping, high hardness, high ductility, high wear resistance, high corrosion resistance. In such a manner, the metalwoods can have improved performance characteristics while being formed in a cost-effective manner. Examples of the metalwood heads in this invention include drivers, fairway woods, hybrid and utility golf clubs.
[0090] Definitions
[0091] The following definitions apply to some of the features described with respect to some embodiments of the invention. These definitions may likewise be expanded upon herein.
[0092] As used herein, the singular terms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to an object can include multiple objects unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
[0093] As used herein, the term “set” refers to a collection of one or more items. Thus, for example, a set of objects can include a single object or multiple objects. Items included in a set can also be referred to as members of the set. Items included in a set can be the same or different. In some instances, items included in a set can share one or more common characteristics.
[0094] As used herein, the term “adjacent” refers to being near or adjoining. Objects that are adjacent can be spaced apart from one another or can be in actual or direct contact with one another. In some instances, objects that are adjacent can be coupled to one another or can be formed integrally with one another.
[0095] As used herein, the terms “integral” and “integrally” refer to a non-discrete portion of an object. Thus, for example, a golf club head including a skirt that is formed integrally with the sole plate portion can refer to an implementation of the golf club head in which the skirt portion and the sole portion are formed as a monolithic unit. An integrally formed portion of an object can differ from one that is coupled to the object, since the integrally formed portion of the object typically does not form an interface with a remaining portion of the object.
[0096] As used herein, the term “submicron range” refers to a range of dimensions less than about 1,000 nm, such as from about 2 nm to about 900 nm, from about 2 nm to about 750 nm, from about 2 nm to about 500 nm, from about 2 nm to about 300 nm, from about 2 nm to about 100 nm, from about 10 nm to about 50 nm, or from about 10 nm to about 25 nm.
[0097] As used herein, the term “nanometer range” or “nm range” refers to a range of dimensions from about 1 nm to about 100 nm, such as from about 2 nm to about 100 nm, from about 10 nm to about 50 nm, or from about 10 nm to about 25 nm.
[0098] As used herein, the term “size” refers to a characteristic dimension of an object. Thus, for example, a size of an object that is a spherical can refer to a diameter of the object. In the case of an object that is non-spherical, a size of the object can refer to an average of various dimensions of the object. Thus, for example, a size of an object that is a spheroidal can refer to an average of a major axis and a minor axis of the object. When referring to a set of objects as having a specific size, it is contemplated that the objects can have a distribution of sizes around the specific size. Thus, as used herein, a size of a set of objects can refer to a typical size of a distribution of sizes, such as an average size, a median size, or a peak size.
[0099] As used herein, the term “grain size” refers to a size of a set of constituents or components included in a material, such as a nanostructured material. When referring to a material as being “fine-grained,” it is contemplated that the material can have an average grain size in the submicron range, such as in the nm range.
[0100] As used herein, the term “microstructure” refers to a microscopic configuration of a material. An example of a microstructure is one that is quasi-isotropic in which a set of crystals are relatively uniform in shape and size and exhibit a relatively uniform grain boundary orientation. Another example of a microstructure is one that is anisotropic in which a set of crystals exhibit relatively large deviations in terms of shape, size, grain boundary orientation, texture, or a combination thereof.
[0101] As used herein, the term “metalwood” refers to a range of golf club heads known as the driver, fairway wood, hybrid iron, hybrid club, hybrid wood, utility club, utility iron, iron-wood, and other specific names and embodiments used by the golf industry and golfing consumers to describe club heads meant to be attached to a shaft and used to play the game of golf. Alternatively, “metalwood” also refers to portions of a golf club head including the face, hosel, crown, skirt, soleplate or body, collectively known as a golf cub head.
[0102] As used herein the term “golf iron” refers to a range of golf club heads known irons, long irons, short irons, wedges, lob wedges, approach wedges and other specific names and embodiments used by the golf industry and golfing consumers to describe club heads meant to be attached to a shaft and used to play the game of golf. Alternatively, “golf iron” also refers to portions of a golf club head including the face insert, the body cavity, hosel, collectively known as a golf club head.
[0103] Nanostructured Materials
[0104] Certain embodiments of the invention relate to nanostructured materials that can be used for metalwood golf club heads. A microstructure and resulting characteristics of nanostructured materials can be engineered to meet performance criteria for a variety of metalwoods. In some instances, engineering of nanostructured materials can involve enhancing or optimizing a set of characteristics, such as strength, strength-to-weight ratio, resilience, fracture toughness, vibration damping, hardness, ductility, and wear resistance. In other instances, engineering of nanostructured materials can involve trade-offs between different characteristics.
[0105] According to some embodiments of the invention, a nanostructured material has a relatively high density of grain boundaries as compared with other types of materials. This high density of grain boundaries can translate into a relatively large percentage of atoms that are adjacent to grain boundaries. In some instances, up to about 50 percent or more of the atoms can be adjacent to grain boundaries. Without wishing to be bound by a particular theory, it is believed that this high density of grain boundaries promotes a number of desirable characteristics in accordance with the Hall-Petch Effect. In order to achieve this high density of grain boundaries, the nanostructured material is typically formed with a relatively small grain size. Thus, for example, the nanostructured material can be formed with a grain size in the submicron range, such as in the nm range. As the grain size is reduced, a number of characteristics of the nanostructured material can be enhanced. For example, in the case of nickel, its hardness can increase from about 140 Vickers for a grain size greater than about 5 μm to about 300 Vickers for a grain size of about 100 nm and ultimately to about 600 Vickers for a grain size of about 10 nm. Similarly, ultimate tensile strength of nickel can increase from about 400 MPa for a grain size greater than about 5 μm to 670 MPa for a grain size of about 100 nm and ultimately to over 900 MPa for a grain size of about 10 nm.
[0106] According to some embodiments of the invention, a nanostructured material includes a set of crystals that have a size in the nm range and, thus, can be referred to as a nanocrystalline material. However, as described herein, nanostructured materials having desirable characteristics can also be formed with larger grain sizes, such as in the submicron range. A microstructure of the nanostructured material can be engineered to cover a wide range of microstructure types, including one that is quasi-isotropic, one that is slightly-anisotropic, and one that is anisotropic and highly textured. Within this range of microstructure types, a reduction in size of the set of crystals can be used to promote a number of desirable characteristics.
[0107] Particularly useful nanostructured materials include those that exhibit a set of desirable characteristics, such as high strength, high strength-to-weight ratio, high resilience (e.g., defined as R=σ 2 /2E), high fracture toughness, high elasticity, high vibration damping, high hardness, high ductility, high wear resistance, and low friction. For example, in terms of strength, particularly useful nanostructured materials include those having a yield strength that is at least about 600 MPa, at least about 1,000 MPa, or at least about 1,500 MPa, and up to about 2,750 MPa, such as up to about 2,500 MPa. In terms of resilience, particularly useful nanostructured materials include those having a modulus of resilience that is at least about 0.15 MPa, such as at least about 1 MPa, at least about 2 MPa, at least about 5 MPa, or at least about 7 MPa, and up to about 25 MPa, such as up to about 12 MPa. In terms of elasticity, particularly useful nanostructured materials include those having an elastic limit that is at least about 0.75 percent, such as at least about 1 percent or at least about 1.5 percent, and up to about 2 percent. In terms of hardness, particularly useful nanostructured materials include those having a hardness that is at least about 300 Vickers, at least about 400 Vickers, or at least about 500 Vickers, and up to about 2,000 Vickers, such as up to about 1,000 Vickers, up to about 800 Vickers, or up to about 600 Vickers. In terms of ductility, particularly useful nanostructured materials include those having a tensile strain-to-failure that is at least about 1 percent, such as at least about 3 percent or at least about 5 percent, and up to about 15 percent, such as up to about 10 percent or up to about 7 percent.
[0108] Nanostructured materials can be formed as outlined in the patent application of Palumbo et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/013,456, entitled “Strong, Lightweight Article Containing a Fine-Grained Metallic Layer” and filed on Dec. 17, 2004, and the patent application of Palumbo et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/516,300, entitled “Process for Electro-plating Metallic and Metal Matrix Composite Foils, Coatings and Microcomponents” and filed on Dec. 9, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
[0109] In some instances, a nanostructured material can be formed as a metal matrix composite in which a metal or a metal alloy forms a matrix within which a set of additives are dispersed. A variety of additives can be used, and the selection of a specific additive can be dependent upon a variety of considerations, such as its ability to facilitate formation of the nanostructured material and its ability to enhance characteristics of the nanostructured material. Particularly useful additives include particulate additives formed of: (1) metals selected from the group of Al, Co, Cu, In, Mg, Ni, Sn, V, and Zn; (2) metal alloys formed of these metals; (3) metal oxides formed of these metals; (4) nitrides of Al, B, and Si; (5) C, such as in the form of graphite, diamond, nanotubes, and Buckminster Fullerenes; (6) carbides of B, Cr, Si, Ti, V, Zr, Mo, Cr, Ni, Co, Nb, Ta, Hf and W; borides of Ti, V, Zr, W, Si, Mo, Nb, Cr, and Fe; (7) self-lubricating materials, such as MoS 2 ; and (8) polymers, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”). During formation of a nanostructured material, a set of particulate additives can be added in the form of powders, fibers, or flakes that have a size in the submicron range, such as in the nm range. Depending on specific characteristics that are desired, the resulting nanostructured material can include an amount of particulate additives that is at least about 2.5 percent by volume, such as at least about 5 percent by volume, and up to about 75 percent by volume.
[0110] Table 1 below provides examples of classes of nanostructured materials that can be used to form metalwoods described herein.
[0000]
TABLE 1
Nanostructured Materials
Characteristics
n-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P
high strength, high fracture toughness, high
degree of hardness and wear resistance
[0111] The foregoing provides a general overview of some embodiments of the invention.
[0112] Metalwoods—Implementations of Metalwoods
[0113] With reference to FIG. 1 , a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion 100 of a sports article, such as a metalwood, according to an embodiment of the invention, is illustrated. The portion 100 is implemented in accordance with a multi-layered design and includes a first layer 102 and a second layer 104 that is adjacent to the first layer 102 . The second layer 104 can be formed adjacent to the first layer 102 via electro-deposition. However, it is contemplated that the second layer 104 can be formed using any other suitable manufacturing technique.
[0114] The first layer 102 is implemented as a substrate and is formed of any suitable material, such as a fibrous material, a foam, a ceramic, a metal, a metal alloy, a polymer, or a composite. Thus, for example, the first layer 102 can be formed of wood; an aluminum alloy, such as a 6000-series aluminum alloy or a 7000-series aluminum alloy; a steel alloy; a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer, polyetherimide (PEI), a copolymer of acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene (ABS); a fiber-reinforced epoxy composite (FRP), such as a graphite fiber/epoxy composite (CFRP); a fiberglass/epoxy composite (GFRP); a poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide fiber/epoxy composite, such as a Kevlar® brand fiber/epoxy composite, where Kevlar brand fibers are available from E.I. du Pont & Nemours, Inc., Wilmington, Del.; or Nylon® or Zytel® or Minion® families of polymers such as available from du Pont, Inc., or a polyethylene fiber/epoxy composite, such as a Spectra® brand fiber/epoxy composite, where Spectra brand fibers are available from Honeywell International Inc., Morristown, N.J. The selection of a material forming the first layer 102 can be dependent upon a variety of considerations, such as its ability to facilitate formation of the second layer 104 , its ability to be molded or shaped into a desired form, and desired characteristics of the portion 100 .
[0115] While not illustrated in FIG. 1 , it is contemplated that the first layer 102 can be formed so as to include two or more sub-layers, which can be formed of the same material or different materials. For certain implementations, at least one of the sub-layers can be formed of a conductive material, such as in the form of a coating of a metal. As can be appreciated, such implementation of the first layer 102 can be referred to as a “metallized” form of the first layer 102 . The conductive material can be deposited using any suitable manufacturing technique, such as metallization in an organic or inorganic bath, aerosol spraying, electro-less deposition, chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, or any other suitable coating or printing technique. Such metallized form can be desirable, since the conductive material can facilitate formation of the second layer 104 as well as provide enhanced durability and strength to the portion 100 .
[0116] The second layer 104 is implemented as a coating and is formed of a nanostructured material. Thus, for example, the second layer 104 can be formed of n-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P. The selection of the nanostructured material can be dependent upon a variety of considerations, such as desired characteristics of the portion 100 .
[0117] During use, the second layer 104 can be positioned so that it is exposed to an outside environment, thus serving as an outer-coating. It is also contemplated that the second layer 104 can be positioned so that it is adjacent to an internal compartment, thus serving as an inner-coating. Referring to FIG. 1 , in some embodiments the second layer 104 at least partly covers a surface 106 of the first layer 102 . Depending on characteristics of the first layer 102 or a specific manufacturing technique used, the second layer 104 can extend below the surface 106 and at least partly permeate the first layer 102 . While two layers are illustrated in FIG. 1 , it is contemplated that the portion 100 can include more or less layers for other implementations. In particular, it is contemplated that the portion 100 can include a third layer (not illustrated in FIG. 1 ) that is formed of the same or a different nanostructured material. It is also contemplated that the portion 100 can be implemented in accordance with an electro-formed design, such that the first layer 102 serves as a temporary substrate during formation of the second layer 104 . Subsequent to the formation of the second layer 104 , the first layer 102 can be separated using any suitable manufacturing technique.
[0118] Depending upon specific characteristics desired for the portion 100 , the second layer 104 can cover from about 1 to about 100 percent of the surface 106 of the first layer 102 . Thus, for example, the second layer 104 can cover from about 20 to about 100 percent, from about 50 to about 100 percent, or from about 80 to about 100 percent of the surface 106 . When mechanical characteristics of the portion 100 are a controlling consideration, the second layer 104 can cover a larger percentage of the surface 106 . On the other hand, when other characteristics of the portion 100 are a controlling consideration, the second layer 104 can cover a smaller percentage of the surface 106 . Alternatively, or in conjunction, when balancing mechanical and other characteristics of the portion 100 , it can be desirable to adjust a thickness of the second layer 104 .
[0119] Layer thicknesses may vary. In some embodiments, the second layer 104 can have a thickness can have a thickness that is in the range from about 10 μm to about 5 mm. Thus, for example, the second layer 104 can have a thickness that is at least about 10 μm, such as at least about 25 μm or at least about 30 μm, and up to about 5 mm, such as up to about 400 μm or up to about 100 μm.
[0120] When mechanical characteristics of the portion 100 are a controlling consideration, the second layer 104 can have a greater thickness or a larger thickness to grain size ratio. On the other hand, when other characteristics of the portion 100 are a controlling consideration, the second layer 104 can have a smaller thickness or a smaller thickness to grain size ratio. Alternatively, or in conjunction, when balancing mechanical and other characteristics of the portion 100 , it can be desirable to adjust a percentage of the surface 106 that is covered by the second layer 104 .
[0121] For certain implementations, the second layer 104 can represent from about 1 to about 100 percent of a total weight of the portion 100 . Thus, for example, the second layer 104 can represent at least about 5 percent of the total weight, such as at least about 10 percent or at least about 20 percent, and up to about 95 percent of the total weight, such as up to about 85 percent or up to about 75 percent. When mechanical characteristics of the portion 100 are a controlling consideration, the second layer 104 can represent a larger weight percentage of the portion 100 . On the other hand, when other characteristics of the portion 100 are a controlling consideration, the second layer 104 can represent a lower weight percentage of the portion 100 . Alternatively, or in conjunction, when balancing mechanical and other characteristics of the portion 100 , it can be desirable to adjust a thickness of the second layer 104 or a percentage of the surface 106 that is covered by the second layer 104 .
[0122] In some instances, the second layer 104 can be formed so as to provide substantially uniform characteristics across the surface 106 of the first layer 102 . Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 1 , the nanostructured material is substantially uniformly distributed across the surface 106 . Such uniformity in distribution can serve to reduce or prevent the occurrence of a weak spot at or near a section of the portion 100 that includes a lesser amount of the nanostructured material than another section. However, depending upon specific characteristics desired for the portion 100 , the distribution of the nanostructured material can be varied from that illustrated in FIG. 1 . Thus, for example, the nanostructured material can be distributed non-linearly across the surface 106 to match a stress profile of the first layer 102 under service loads or meet a set of mass characteristics requirements, such as center-of-gravity (c.g.), balance point, moment of inertia (MOI), swing weight, or total mass.
[0123] With reference to FIG. 2 , a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion 200 of a sports article, such as metalwood, according to another embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The portion 200 is implemented in accordance with a multi-layered design and includes a first layer 202 , a second layer 204 that is adjacent to the first layer 202 , and a third layer 206 that is adjacent to the second layer 204 . In particular, the portion 200 includes a laminate structure that is formed via a lay-up of the layers 202 , 204 , and 206 , and at least one of the layers 202 , 204 , and 206 is formed of a nanostructured material. While three layers are illustrated in FIG. 2 , it is contemplated that the portion 200 can include more or less layers for other implementations.
[0124] The first layer 202 and the third layer 206 are formed of any suitable materials, such as fibrous materials, foams, ceramics, metals, metal alloys, polymers, or composites. Thus, for example, at least one of the first layer 202 and the third layer 206 can be formed of a graphite fiber/epoxy composite. As can be appreciated, a graphite fiber/epoxy composite can have any of a variety of forms, such as uniaxial, biaxial, woven, pre-impregnated, filament wound, tape-layered, or a combination thereof. The selection of materials forming the first layer 202 and the third layer 206 can be dependent upon a variety of considerations, such as their ability to facilitate formation of the second layer 204 , their ability to be molded or shaped into a desired form, and desired characteristics of the portion 200 .
[0125] The second layer 204 is formed of a nanostructured material, such as n-Ni, n-Ni Co, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P, or a composite thereof. The selection of the nanostructured material can be dependent upon a variety of considerations, such as its ability to be molded or shaped into a desired form and desired characteristics of the portion 200 . In the illustrated embodiment, the second layer 204 is formed as a foil, a sheet, or a plate via electro-deposition. In particular, the second layer 204 is deposited on a temporary substrate using similar electro-deposition settings as previously described with reference to FIG. 1 . It is also contemplated that the second layer 204 can be formed using any other suitable manufacturing technique. The resulting second layer 204 formed of the nanostructured material can have characteristics that are similar to those previously described with reference to FIG. 1 .
[0126] During formation of the portion 200 , the first layer 202 serves as an inner ply to which the second layer 204 and the third layer 206 are sequentially added as a middle ply and an outer ply, respectively. Once properly positioned with respect to one another, the layers 202 , 204 , and 206 are coupled to one another using any suitable fastening mechanism, such as through inter-laminar shear strength of epoxy, an additional chemical adhesive paste, or an adhesive thin film added before a standard cure cycle that can optionally involve vacuum pressure. The portion 200 can be formed with a variety of shapes using hand lay-up, tape-layering, filament winding, bladder-molding, or any other suitable manufacturing technique.
[0127] With reference to FIG. 3 , a cross-sectional schematic view of a portion 300 of a sports article, such as a metalwood, according to a further embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The portion 300 is implemented in accordance with a multi-layered design and includes a first layer 302 , a second layer 304 that is adjacent to the first layer 302 , and a third layer 306 that is adjacent to the second layer 304 . In particular, the portion 300 includes a laminate structure that is formed via a lay-up of the layers 302 , 304 , and 306 , and at least one of the layers 302 , 304 , and 306 is formed of a nanostructured material. While three layers are illustrated in FIG. 3 , it is contemplated that the portion 300 can include more or less layers for other implementations.
[0128] The first layer 302 and the third layer 306 are formed of the same nanostructured material or different nanostructured materials. The selection of the nanostructured materials can be dependent upon a variety of considerations, such as their ability to be molded or shaped into a desired form and desired characteristics of the portion 300 . In the illustrated embodiment, the first layer 302 and the third layer 306 are formed as foils, sheets, or plates using similar electro-deposition settings as previously described with reference to FIG. 1 . It is also contemplated that the layers 302 and 306 can be formed using any other suitable manufacturing technique. The resulting layers 302 and 306 can have characteristics that are similar to those previously described with reference to FIG. 1 .
[0129] The second layer 304 can be formed of a visco-elastic material that exhibits high vibration damping. The selection of the visco-elastic material can be dependent upon a variety of other considerations, such as its ability to be molded or shaped into a desired form. An example of the visco-elastic material is a visco-elastic polymer that is based on polyether and polyurethane, such as Sorbothane® brand polymers that are available from Sorbothane, Inc., Kent, Ohio. Advantageously, the use of the visco-elastic material allows the second layer 304 to serve as a constrained, vibration damping layer, thus reducing vibrations and providing a desired feel during impacts of metalwoods with golf balls.
[0130] During formation of the portion 300 , the first layer 302 serves as an inner ply to which the second layer 304 and the third layer 306 are sequentially added as a middle ply and an outer ply, respectively. Once properly positioned with respect to one another, the layers 302 , 304 , and 306 are coupled to one another using any suitable fastening mechanism, such as though inter-laminar shear strength of epoxy, an additional chemical adhesive paste, or an adhesive thin film added before a standard cure cycle that can optionally involve vacuum pressure. The portion 300 can be formed with a variety of shapes using hand lay-up, tape-layering, filament winding, bladder-molding, or any other suitable manufacturing technique.
[0131] Metalwood and Face Insert Applications
[0132] According to an aspect of the present invention, patches, sleeves or sections of nanostructured materials can be electro-deposited on selected areas, such as on metalwood crowns, skirts, sole plates, faces, hosels and body sections, without the need to cover an entire article. In addition, patches, sleeves or sections of nanostructured materials, which need not be uniform in thickness, can be electro-deposited in order to, for example, form a thicker coating on selected sections or sections particularly prone to heavy use, bending, and impact.
[0133] Another aspect of the invention relates to a nanostructured material layer performing as the impact surface. A nanostructured layer with higher hardness will wear significantly less and show greater resistance to impact damage, cracking, cuts, nicks and abrasion, as compared to common materials used in metalwood manufacture such as FRP composites. Metalwoods with nanostructured metal applied to the outside of the fiber-reinforced composite (FRP) substrates have several advantages. The impact strength of the FRP composite with a nanostructured coating will be superior to metalwood head component, such as a driver or fairway wood crown, made from only FRP composite or neat plastic resin such as ABS or PEI. This protection can prevent the onset of fatigue cracks that would otherwise cause failure of the product. Thus the performance will be maintained throughout the product life due to the presence of the nanostructured material as a protective layer or impact surface. This is particularly important when considering the transmission of the impact loads from the face to the crown and body when golf balls are struck, or from impacts with other clubs when the metalwoods are thrown back into a golf bag, or normal wear and tear during transport as the thin-walled crown and body components are subjected to impact forces that would otherwise dent, deform or scratch the metalwood bodies themselves. Second, the nanostructured material can be applied in a controlled manner on selected areas and in variable thicknesses profiles, allowing for a wide variety of structural compliance. This produces the ability to better control the C.O.R. of the finished metalwood head by using the nanostructured material stiffness to govern the flex of the crown, and the overall frequency response function, in particular the “breathing mode shape” of the head during impacts with golf balls. Third, the strength-to-weight ratio is improved due to the presence of nanostructured material which adds structural rigidity to the FRP substrate due to the much higher Young's Modulus, E. Fourth, the application of a very and high strength nanostructured material to a metalwood component reduces the dampening of the FRP system, and improves the pitch and amplitude of the sound generated by the club head during golf ball impacts. Other advantages are also anticipated as optimal designs evolve for each metalwood category: drivers, fairway woods, hybrid and utility clubs.
[0134] In one embodiment, a metalwood crown, skirt or body component having a sandwich or layered construction with a polymer substrate where one or more layer of the sandwich is a nanostructured material as shown in FIGS. 1 thru 7 inclusive, and where the nanostructured material is used to improve the performance and durability of the metalwood as whole. The improved performance is achieved through the optimized stiffness in the design of the metalwood head which also improves the durability of the golf club by adding a wear resistant surface and provides better feel due to the vibration attenuation inherent in a multi-layered design.
[0135] In one embodiment, a metallic alloy substrate may be partially or completely encapsulated by nanostructured material. The encapsulation increases the stiffness and strength of the structure. In addition, complete encapsulation prevents the possibility of corrosion of the metallic alloys substrate. Illustrations of several embodiments are shown in FIGS. 4 , 5 and 6 . A schematic cross section of a metallic alloy substrate completely encapsulated by the nanostructured material is shown in FIG. 7
[0136] It should be appreciated that the metallic alloy substrate or polymer substrate need not be encapsulated symmetrically. The location of the substrate in the insert can be chosen depending on the particular application. The encapsulation width along the perimeter, i.e. the material covering the perimeter of the substrate, can be controlled during the electro-deposition process and could be later machined to the design requirement. In some exemplary embodiments the encapsulation width or thickness can vary from 0 to 1 mm or more.
[0137] In one embodiment, in order to make a bimetallic sandwich, a component of the sandwich structure may be an any aluminum alloy including the 1XXX pure Al, 2XXX Al—Cu, 3XXX Al—Mn, 4XXX Al—Si, 5XXX Al—Mg, 6XXX Al—Mg—Si, 7XXX Al—Zn, 8XXX series, Al—Li alloys or Sc-containing Al alloys. It is preferred that the aluminum alloy chosen is in its highest strength temper to make it an effective component. For the heat treatable alloys such as the 7XXX, 6XXX and the 2XXX series it is usually the T6 temper that is the highest strength. For non heat-treatable alloys such as 5XXX, the component material should be used in the H temper for the highest strength.
[0138] Prior to nanostructured material deposition, the substrate may be subjected to an activation process. This process prepares the aluminum alloy or magnesium alloy surface to be more amenable for adhesion to the electro-deposited nanostructured material. The activation process may consist of a series of steps aimed at removing the oxide surface on aluminum alloys or magnesium alloys. Processes such as this are well-established and practiced commercially by companies such as MacDermid. A final step of the activation process can be a copper strike to promote a smoother surface and provide a conductive and readily electro-platable surface. In this final step a thin layer of copper is deposited using standard electrochemical methods. One example of such a copper strike is the “acid copper.”
[0139] Metalwood components, such as faces, crowns, skirts, bodies, soles and hosels, can be fabricated either individually or as in large plates or shells with the product cut out using any suitable method. The substrate is first subjected to an activation process which is highly dependent on the substrate. Next, the activated substrate may be placed in an electro-chemical cell and the nanostructured material deposited selectively in specific areas to improve performance such as localized stiffness or impact resistance using the electro-deposition process described in previous examples. The process may be run until the required thickness of deposited material has been reached. Under controlled process conditions, equal amounts of material can deposited on each side of the substrate, as shown schematically in FIG. 5 .
[0140] In another embodiment of the invention, the nanostructured material may only be electro-deposited on one side as shown schematically in FIG. 1 . In this case, one side of the substrate may be masked off and made electrically non-conductive. This can be achieved by wrapping a tape, painting with a lacquer, or any other suitable method. The electro-deposition process is then run until the required thickness of the nanostructured material layer is achieved.
[0141] In some embodiments, different amounts of nanostructured material electro-deposition may be required. If the design of the metalwood, for example, requires that different amounts of nanostructured material be deposited on the two sides of the substrate, then the following modifications to the process may be done.
[0142] In one embodiment, the nanostructured material is deposited on one side of the substrate to begin with, the other side being masked off with electrically non-conducting material. The process is run for a sufficient length of time to allow the required build up of the nanostructured material. Next, the mask may be removed and applied to the side on which nanostructured material is previously deposited. The substrate is run again for the time necessary to achieve different deposition thickness.
[0143] In another embodiment of the invention, the nanostructured material is deposited on both sides of the substrate simultaneously by placing a separate anode on each side. The thickness on each side can be controlled by applying different currents to different sides of the substrate.
[0144] In another embodiment, the nanostructured material is deposited on both sides of the substrates using two separate circuits as described before. The fabrication process begins with deposition from both sides. After the required thickness for one side is reached, that circuit is interrupted and a shield is dropped very close to the nanostructured metal surface to prevent any further deposition on that side.
[0145] In another embodiment, the electro-deposition process is carried out in two stages. In the first stage a nanostructured material having composition A is deposited. In the second stage of the process, nanostructured material having composition B is deposited. The choice of the alloy composition will depend on the exact design requirement. For example, in some embodiments it is suggested that the alloy compositions be chosen such that the strength of alloy B is greater than alloy A. In another embodiment it is suggested that alloy B have higher fracture toughness than alloy A. In another embodiment it is suggested that alloy A have higher hardness as compared to alloy B. It should be pointed out that whether alloy A or alloy B is used as a strike/impact surface will depend on the properties of the individual compositions.
[0146] In addition to the embodiments described above, it is suggested that when very precise thickness of nanostructured material is required, the nanostructured layers in the sandwich be machined or finished using operations such as surface grinding, blanchard grinding, double-disc grinding, lapping, and milling.
[0147] In one exemplary embodiment of the invention for the face insert, the substrate consists of aluminum alloys 7075, 7178 and 7001 in T6 temper. The nanostructured metal consists of a nickel-iron alloy with iron content in the range of 0-50% by weight. The thickness of aluminum substrate is in the range 0.1 mm to 4.00 mm range. The front layer of nanostructured metal is in the range 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm, and the back layer of nanostructured metal is in the range 0 mm to 1.0 mm.
[0148] The various components of a typical metalwood head 400 are shown schematically in FIGS. 8 and 11 . The metalwood components generally include a crown 402 , a skirt 404 , a sole or soleplate 406 , a face/face plate/face insert 408 , a hosel 410 and a body or body section 412 . It should be noted that each of these components can be fabricated using nanostructured materials as outlined in FIGS. 1-7 inclusive. Each of these components can be fabricated having uniform thickness or with a variable thickness. As an example, refer to FIGS. 9 and 10 , which shows a face plate or face insert 408 having variable thickness. The components can joined using adhesives or epoxies in a lap joint configuration 420 or a trap joint configuration 430 as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 . An example of a fully assembled head is shown schematically in FIG. 14 .
[0149] In the event a large plate of aluminum is used as a substrate, the individual metalwood crown, face, skirt or soleplate may be cut from the sheet using processes such as water jet, laser, electro-discharge machining, CNC milling, high speed diamond saw cutting and so forth. In one exemplary embodiment, water jet is used for cutting the driver and metalwood crowns and faces from the large sheet to be assembled by standard mechanical processes such as press-fits and bolts with or without additional chemical and thin film adhesive bonding layers.
Examples
[0150] The following examples describe specific features of some embodiments of the invention to illustrate and provide a description for those of ordinary skill in the art. The examples should not be construed as limiting the invention, as the examples merely provide specific methodology useful in understanding and practicing some embodiments of the invention.
Example 1
[0151] A metalwood head made from stainless steel was used as a substrate. The metalwood head was cleaned thoroughly to remove any oils and greases from the surface. Next the metalwood head was activated using a Wood's nickel bath. This process allowed a very thin layer of nickel to be deposited on the surface of the metalwood. Following this treatment, the head was immediately immersed in the nano-nickel bath. A nano-nickel layer was built up to a thickness of 100 microns. The metal wood head was assembled into a club and was field tested.
Example 2
[0152] A crown for a metalwood was fabricated from a polyamide resin using injection molding process. The surface of polyamide resin crown was activated to make the surface amenable for electro deposition. The activated polyamide crown was connected to an electrical circuit and nano-nickel was deposited to a thickness of 50 microns. The nano-nickel deposited crown was subjected to an endurance and sound test. The endurance test consists of dropping a sharp dart on the crown from a pre-determined height. After the dart impacts the surface is examined for dents and other damage. A crown is considered to have passed the test if the dart drop height is more than 24 inches. The nano-nickel coated crown passed the endurance test while the non-coated crown failed the test. Additionally, the nano-nickel coated crown was judged to sound better or more metal like while the sound from a non-metal coated crown was judged poor.
[0153] Golf iron face inserts can be fabricated either individually or as in large plates or shells with the product cut out using any suitable method. Whether starting with an individual aluminum, magnesium, or plastic substrate or a sheet of said materials, the substrate may be first subjected to an activation process. Next, the activated substrate may be placed in an electrochemical cell and the nanostructured material deposited selectively in specific areas to improve performance such as localized stiffness or impact resistance using the electro-deposition process described in previous examples. The process may be run until the required thickness of deposited material has been reached. Under controlled process conditions, equal amounts of material can deposited on each side of the substrate, as shown schematically in FIG. 5 .
[0154] In another embodiment of the invention, the nanostructured material may only be electro-deposited on one side as shown in FIG. 1 . In this case, one side of the substrate may be masked off and made electrically non-conductive. This can be achieved by wrapping a tape, painting with a lacquer, or any other suitable method. The electro-deposition process is then run until the required thickness of the nanostructured material layer is achieved.
[0155] In some embodiments different amounts of nanostructured material electro-deposition may be required. If the design of the metalwood, for example, requires that different amounts of nanostructured material be deposited on the two sides of the substrate, then the following modifications to the process may be done.
[0156] In one embodiment, the nanostructured material is deposited on one side of the substrate to begin with, the other side being masked off with electrically non-conducting material. The process is run for a sufficient length of time to allow the required build up of the nanostructured material. Next, the mask may be removed and applied to the side on which nanostructured material is previously deposited. The substrate is run again for the time necessary to achieve different deposition thickness.
[0157] In another embodiment of the invention, the nanostructured material is deposited on both sides of the substrate simultaneously by placing a separate anode on each side. The thickness on each side can be controlled by applying different currents to different sides of the substrate.
[0158] In another embodiment, the nanostructured material is deposited on both sides of the substrate using two separate circuits as described before. The fabrication process begins with deposition from both sides. After the required thickness for one side is reached, that circuit is interrupted and a shield is dropped very close to the nanostructured metal surface to prevent any further deposition on that side.
[0159] In another embodiment, the electro-deposition process is carried out in two stages. In the first stage a nanostructured material having composition A is deposited. In the second stage of the process, nanostructured material having composition B is deposited. The choice of the alloy composition will depend on the exact design requirement. For example, in some embodiments it is suggested that the alloy compositions be chosen such that the strength of alloy B is greater than alloy A. In another embodiment it is suggested that alloy B have a higher fracture toughness than alloy A. In another embodiment it is suggested that alloy A have a higher hardness as compared to alloy B. It should be pointed out that whether alloy A or alloy B is used as a strike/impact surface will depend on the properties of the individual compositions.
[0160] In addition to the embodiments described above, it is possible to electro-deposit nanostructured material equally on each side of the substrate. The exact thickness of the individual nanostructured layers in the sandwich can then be achieved by machining or finishing operations such as surface grinding, Blanchard grinding, double-disc grinding, lapping, and milling to remove excess material.
[0161] In one exemplary embodiment of the invention the substrate consists of aluminum alloys 7075, 7178 and 7001 in a T6 temper. The nanostructured metal consists of a nickel-iron alloy with iron content in the range of 0-50% by weight. The thickness of aluminum substrate is in the range 0.1 mm to 4.00 mm range. The front layer of nanostructured metal in the range 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm range, and the back layer of nanostructured metal in the range 0 mm to 1.0 mm range.
[0162] In the event a large plate of aluminum is used as a substrate, the individual face insert may be cut from the sheet using processes such as water jet, laser, electro-discharge machining, CNC milling, high speed diamond saw cutting and so forth. In one exemplary embodiment, water jet is used for cutting the face inserts from the large sheet to be assembled by standard mechanical processes such as swaging, press-fits and bolts with or without additional chemical and thin film adhesive bonding layers.
Example 3
[0163] A 12″×12″×0.060″ thick 7075-T6 aluminum plate was used as a substrate for making iron face inserts. The aluminum plate was activated prior to electro-depositing nano crystalline nickel metal. The purpose of activation is to make the aluminum surface amenable to plating. Without the activation layer the nano metal will not adhere to the aluminum surface and consequently would be rendered useless in application. The activation step consisted of cleaning, followed by double zincate followed by a nickel strike and finished with a copper strike. The copper strike protects the aluminum from corrosion and other environmental degradation. The activated aluminum plate was hooked up to an electrical circuit and nano crystalline nickel was deposited on both sides of the plate. Prior to electrodeposition of the nano-crystalline metal the copper was activated by dipping it in a suitable activator solution. Exact shapes corresponding to the face insert geometry were cut out from the plate using water jet. The face inserts were next swaged into the head cavity. Additional adhesion was provided by epoxy bonding the back side of the insert to the cavity. Excess metal after swaging was milled off and grooves were machined on the impact side of the face. The finished head was joined to a suitable shaft and the resulting club was found to be superior in feel when tested by players.
[0164] The photographs of aforementioned examples reduced to practice are shown in FIGS. 15 through 20 of this document.
[0165] A practitioner of ordinary skill in the art requires no additional explanation in developing the embodiments described herein but may nevertheless find some helpful guidance regarding characteristics and formation of nanostructured materials by examining the patent application of Palumbo et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/013,456, entitled “Strong, Lightweight Article Containing a Fine-Grained Metallic Layer” and filed on Dec. 17, 2004, and the patent application of Palumbo et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/516,300, entitled “Process for Electro-plating Metallic and Metal Matrix Composite Foils, Coatings and Microcomponents” filed on Dec. 9, 2004, and the patent application of Palumbo, et al., U.S. application Ser. No. 11/305,842, entitled “Sports Articles Formed Using Nanostructured Materials” filed on Dec. 16, 2005, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
[0166] As is evident from the foregoing, one or more embodiments of the present invention may comprise nanostructured material electro-deposited on some portion of a driver head, a fairway wood head, a hybrid iron club head, a hybrid wood club head, a utility club head, a utility iron club head, a utility wood club head, an iron-wood head and a rescue-style club head. The nanostructured material can be electro-deposited on some portion, including the inside, outside or both of a driver head with a loft between 7 and 14 degrees. The nanostructured material can be electro-deposited on some portion, including the inside, outside or both of a fairway wood head with a loft between 10 and 25 degrees. The nanostructured material can be electro-deposited on some portion, including the inside, outside or both of an iron club head with a loft between 18 and 50 degrees. The nanostructured material can be electro-deposited on some portion, including the inside, outside or both of a wedge head with a loft between 45 and 64 degrees. Further, the electro-deposited coating of nanostructured material can be different on the inside versus the outside of a component.
[0167] A golf club head defined herein can be a range of golf club heads known as “putters” used for the game golf including all the variations of putter heads, such as mallet, half-mallet, over-sized, blade, long hosel, short hosel, bent hosel, center-shafted, alignment, including others permutations not mentioned herein which are found to be conforming to the Rules of Golf as established by the U.S.G.A. of Far Hills, N.J., U.S.A, and/or the R&A of St. Andrew's Scotland, UK. The nanostructured material can be electro-deposited on some portion, including the inside, outside or both of a putter head with a loft between 0 and 7 degrees.
[0168] The performance (e.g., the vibro-acoustic performance, durability and strength) of the metalwood is improved by electro-depositing various thicknesses of nanostructured material onto more than one of the sub-components of a metalwood: the face, the hosel, the crown, the skirt, the sole plate, and the body.
[0169] While the invention has been described with reference to the specific embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended Claims. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation, material, composition of matter, method, operation or operations, to the objective, spirit and scope of the invention. All such modifications are intended to be within the scope of the Claims appended hereto, and their equivalents. In particular, while certain methods may have been described with reference to particular operations performed in a particular order, it will be understood that these operations may be combined, sub-divided, or re-ordered to form an equivalent method without departing from the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, unless specifically indicated herein, the order and grouping of the operations is not a limitation of the invention.
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A metalwood coated at least partially with a nanostructure material offer improved performance over existing golf club heads made from a combination of steel and titanium alloys or composite club heads made in part or wholly from fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) and metallic sub-components. The components of the metalwood may be coated with variable thicknesses of electro-deposited nanostructure metals and alloys.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The term C-076 is used to describe a series of compounds isolated from the fermentation broth of a C-076 producing strain of Streptomyces avermitilis. The morphological characteristics of the culture are completely described in copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 772,601 filed Feb. 28, 1977 and now abandoned. The C-076 compounds are a series of structurally related macrolides, with one or more hydroxy substituents which are capable of being substituted with a sugar molecule. With respect to the C-076 compounds which have more than one hydroxy group, procedures have been developed for the selective glycosylation at the various position.
In addition, derivatives of the C-076 compounds have been prepared and such derivatives have been glycosylated by the presence of this invention. The glycosylated compounds thus prepared have profound; anthelmintic, insecticidal, ectoparasiticidal and acaricidal activity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is concerned with the glycosylation products of the C-076 compounds and derivatives of C-076 compounds. The glycosylated products are very active antiparasitic agents. Thus, it is an object of this invention to describe such glycosylated products. It is a further object of this invention to describe the processes employed in the preparation of such glycosylated products. A still further object of this invention is to describe the use of such compounds as antiparasitic agents. Additional objects will become apparent from a reading of the following description.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The C-076 series of compounds have the following structure: ##STR1## wherein R is the α-L-oleandrosyl-α-L-oleandrosyl group of the structure: ##STR2## and wherein the broken line between C 22 and C 23 indicates a single or a double bond; R 1 is hydroxy and is present only when said broken line indicates a single bond;
R 2 is n-propyl or sec-butyl; and
R 3 is methoxy or hydroxy.
There are eight different C-076 compounds and they are given the designation A1a, A1b, A2a, A2b, B1a, B1b, B2a, B2b based upon the structure of the individual compounds.
In the foregoing structural formula, the individual C-076 compounds are as set forth below.
______________________________________R.sub.1 R.sub.2 R.sub.3______________________________________A1a Double bond sec-butyl --OCH.sub.3A1b Double bond iso-propyl --OCH.sub.3A2a --OH sec-butyl --OCH.sub.3A2b --OH iso-propyl --OCH.sub.3B1a Double bond sec-butyl --OHB1b Double bond iso-propyl --OHB2a --OH sec-butyl --OHB2b --OH iso-propyl --OH______________________________________
As is readily seen, all of the C-076 compounds have hydroxy group at the 7-position and the 4"-position of the carbohydrate side chain. Thus all of the compounds have at least two hydroxy groups capable of being glycosylated. In addition, the A2 and B1 series of compounds have a third hydroxy group and the B2 series of compounds has a fourth hydroxy group which may be glycosylated.
The carbohydrate side chain may also be hydrolyzed to remove one or both of the α-L-oleandrose groups. In this case there would remain a hydroxy group at the 4' or 13-position with the removal of a single α-L-oleandrose (monosaccharide) or both α-L-oleandrose (agylcone) respectively. These hydroxy groups may readily be glycosylated.
The monosaccharide and aglycone derivatives are prepared by the treatment of the parent C-076 compound with acid. The outer α-L-oleandrose group is more easily removed than the α-L-oleandrose group directly bonded to the C-076 substrate thus facilitating the separate preparation of the monosaccharide and aglycone without contamination with the other reaction product.
The process employed for the removal of the C-076 carbohydrate group or groups is to put the C-076 starting material in solution in a mixture of from 0.01 to 10% acid in a non-nucleophilic water miscible solvent such as dioxane, tetrahydrofuran, dimethoxyethane, dimethylformamide, bis-2-methoxyethyl ether and the like, and from 0.1 to 20% water. The mixture is stirred for from 6 to 24 hours at room temperature to complete the reaction. Acids such as sulfuric, hydrochloric, hydrobromic, phosphoric, trifluoroacetic and trifluorosulfonic are acceptable. Sulfuric acid is preferred.
When lower acid concentrations such as from 0.01 to 0.1% are employed, the monosaccharide is predominantly prepared. When higher concentrations of acid are employed, such as in the range of 1 to 10%, the aglycone is predominantly prepared. Intermediate concentrations of acid will tend to prepare mixtures of monosaccharide and aglycone which are generally separable using chromatographic techniques.
The monosaccharide may also be prepared by stirring the C-076 precursor for from 6 to 24 hours at room temperature in 1% sulfuric acid in isopropanol. In addition the aglycone can be prepared by stirring the C-076 precursor for from 6 to 24 hours at room temperature in 1% sulfuric acid in methanol. The other acids listed above may also be employed in this process. This process is preferred for us with the 2- series of C-076 compounds since some addition may be observed to the 22,23 double bond of the series of C-076 compounds with a 22,23 unsaturation. The desired monosaccharide or aglycone are isolated and purified using techniques known to those skilled in the art.
The glycosyl compounds of this invention are best realized in the following structural formula: ##STR3## wherein the broken line indicates a single or a double bond;
R 1 is hydroxy, loweralkanoyloxy or glycosyloxy and is present only when the broken line indicates a single bond;
R 2 is iso-propyl or sec-butyl;
R 3 is hydrogen, methyl, loweralkanoyl or glycosyl; and
R is hydrogen, loweralkanoyl, glycosyl, ##STR4## wherein R 4 is hydrogen, loweralkanoyl or glycosyl;
provided that at least one of R, R 1 , R 3 or R 4 must contain a glycosyl group, however if only R contains a glycosyl group, such glycosyl group should be other than α-L-oleandrosyl or α-L-oleandrosyl-α-L-oleandrosyl. Said glycosyl groups are polyhydroxy 5 or 6 membered cyclic acetals which are optionally substituted with loweralkyl and in which the hydroxy groups may be optionally substituted with loweralkyl or loweralkanoyl and the monounsaturated derivatives thereof.
In the instant application the term "loweralkanoyl" is intended to include those alkanoyl groups of from 2 to 10 carbon atoms such as acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, pentanoyl, hexanoyl, pivaloyl, octanoyl, decanoyl, and the like.
The nature of the sugar moiety in the above glycosyl groups is not critical and any sugar may be substituted onto the C-076 substrate using the procedures described below. The preferred sugar moieties are glucopyranosyl, galactopyranosyl, mannopyranosyl, maltosyl, arabinopyranosyl, lyxopyranosyl, xylopyranosyl, ribopyranosyl, oleandrosyl, rhamnopyranosyl, fucopyranosyl, lactosyl, ribofuranosyl, mannofuranosyl, glucofuranosyl, arabinofuranosyl, mycarosyl, cladinosyl, desosaminosyl, daunosaminosyl, mycaminosyl, cymarosyl, olivosyl and the like.
The foregoing sugars are available generally in the D or L configuration. The instant invention includes both the possible configurations for attachment to the C-076 substrate.
The above carbohydrate or sugar groups may be substituted on the C-076 compounds as mono, di or tri- saccharides wherein one of the above sugar groups is further substituted with another of the same or different sugar. In addition, where there is more than one hydroxy group available for substitution, the sugar groups may be present on only one or on more than one of such hydroxy groups, and the substitution may be with identical or different sugar moieties.
The preferred sugar substituents are mono- or disaccharide substitution with glucopyranosyl, rhamnopyranosyl, oleandrosyl or olivosyl groups. The most preferred groups are glucopyranosyl and oleandrosyl.
The processes for the substitution of the carbohydrate groups onto the hydroxy groups of the substrate molecule the Koenigs-Knorr process, the silver triflate process the orthoester process, or the glycol addition process.
The carbohydrate starting materials employed for the Koenigs-Knorr, the Helferich modification thereof and the silver triflate processes are protected by acylating all of the free hydroxy groups. The preferred protecting group is the acetyl group, however, other groups such as the benzoate may be employed. The processes for the blocking of the hydroxy groups are well known to those skilled in the art. The acetyl blocking groups are also easily removed at the completion of the reaction by catalytic hydrolysis, preferably base-catalyzed hydrolysis such as with an alcoholic ammonia solution
The Koenigs-Knorr and silver triflate processes use as starting materials the acetohalosugars preferably the acetobromo sugars such as the appropriate acetobromohexoses and acetobromopentoses of the sugar groups listed above. The bromine atom is substituted on a carbon atom adjacent to an acetyl group and the sugar moiety become bonded to the substrate at the carbon atom to which the halogen was attached.
In the Koenigs-Knorr reaction the C-076 compound is dissolved under anhydrous conditions in an aprotic solvent. Ether is the preferred solvent, however, methylene chloride, acetonitrile, nitromethane, dimethoxy ethane and the like may also be employed. To the substrate solution is added the acetohalosugar and silver oxide. A single molar equivalent of the sugar is required for the reaction, however, an additional 10 to 15 moles occasionally aids the reactions. Additional molar excesses beyond 15 may be employed in difficult reactions, however, such very large excesses tend to make the isolation of the product more difficult. It has been found preferable to employ freshly prepared silver oxide for the reaction, since the material tends to lose some of its catalytic efficiency upon standing for prolonged periods. The silver oxide is prepared from silver nitrate using known procedures. The reaction may be carried out at from 10°-15° C., however, reaction at room temperature is preferred. The reaction generally requires from 2 to 10 days for completion. Reaction progress is monitored by taking aliquots from the reaction mixture and examing them with thin layer chromatographic techniques. Possible side reactions are avoided by carrying out the reaction in the dark, and this method is preferred. The product is isolated using techniques known to those skilled in the art.
In one modification of the Koenigs-Knorr reaction, known as the Helferich modification thereof, a mercuric halide, such as mercuric chloride or bromide, alone or in combination with mercuric oxide or mercuric cyanide is substituted for the silvoxide. The above described reaction conditions be employed except that nitromethane and benare the preferred solvents and reflux temperature is the preferred reaction temperature.
The silver triflate reaction uses the reagent silver triflate (silver trifluoromethyl sulfonate) and the acetohalosugar in the same solvents listed above, with ether being preferred. The silver triflate is best if highly purified and freshly prepared just prior to its use. Methods for the preparation of silver triflate are well known to those skilled in the art. All of the reactants are combined in the solvent and the reaction conducted at from 10° to 50° C. for from 2 to 48 hours. Generally, however, the reaction is complete in about 24 hours at room temperature. The progress of the reaction may be followed by thin layer chromatography techniques. Again the reaction is preferably carried out in the dark, and with absolutely dry reactants and equipment.
A single mole of the sugar is required, however, a single molar excess is often used to aid in the course of the reaction.
During the course of the reaction a mole of triflic acid (trifluoromethanesulfonic acid) is liberated. This is a very strong acid and a molar equivalent of a base is required to neutralize the acid. Preferred bases are non-nucleophilic bases such as tertiary amines, preferably triethylamine, diisopropylethylamine, diazabicycloundecane, diazabicyclononane and the like. Since triflic acid is such a stron acid, if the base used is not a strong enough base to neutralize all of the acid, the residual acid will adversely affect the course of the reaction and of the isolation of the product. The product is isolated using techniques known to those skilled in the art.
The orthoester process prepares sugar derivatives of the C-076 compounds from orthoesters of a lower alkanol and of the above sugars at the hydroxy function of said C-076 compounds. The ortho-esters are prepared from the acetohalosugars using a loweralkanol and procedures which are well known to those skilled in the art. The reaction is carried out in an aprotic solvent such as dichloroethane, nitromethane, methylene chloride, dimethoxy ether, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran and the like. Dichloroethane, nitromethane, dimethoxy ethane and tetrahydrofuran are preferred. The reaction is preferably carried out at the reflux temperature of the reaction mixture and is generally complete in from about 4 to 24 hours. Catalytic amounts of mercuric bromide or mercuric chloride are added to aid in the reaction. During the course of the reaction one mole of the alcohol used to make the orthoester is liberated. Thus, the preferred method is to azeotropically distill off the solvent to remove the alcohol and to force the reaction to completion. To prevent any volume reduction, fresh solvent is added as the distillation proceeds to maintain a constant volume. To isolate the product, the solvent is generally removed and the residue washed with a reagent to remove the mercury salts, such as aqueous potassium iodide. The product is then isolated using known techniques.
Another glycosylation procedure has been developed which employs glycal starting materials. Glycals are 1,2-unsaturated cyclic sugars where the ring is a 6 membered ring. The reaction provides for the substitution of the glycosyl moiety onto the C-076 substrate in two ways, depending on the substitution at the 3-position of the sugar ring. Where the 3-position is substituted with a leaving group, such as a loweralkanoyloxy, such as acetate, substituted phenylsulfonate, such as a tosylate, the leaving group is eliminated and the double bond shifts to the 2,3-position and the 3-position in the resultant product is unsubstituted.
If the 3-position group is not a leaving group, such as loweralkoxy, preferably methoxy, the group is not eliminated and the 3-position remains intact. The reaction produces an addition across the double bond, and the resultant saturated product is attached to the C-076 substrate at the 1-position.
The reaction is carried out in an aprotic, non-polar solvent or, since the glycal starting materials are often liquids at room temperature, the reaction may be carried out neat. Preferred solvents are halogenated hydrocarbons such as methylene chloride, chloroform and the like, acetonitrile, benzene, toluene, ether and the like. In addition, the reaction may contain a catalytic amount of a Lewis Acid such as boron trifluoride, tin chloride (SnCl 2 ) titanium, tetrachloride, zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ) and the like or other acid catalyst (β-toluenesulfonic acid, pyridinium β-toluenesulfonate). The reaction is carried out at from room temperature to the reflux temperature of the reaction mixture, however usually maximum temperatures of 75° C. are adequate. The reaction is complete in from 1/2 to 24 hours and the product is isolated using known techniques.
With respect to the foregoing glycosylation reactions, it is noted that the B-series of compounds are preferably glycosylated using the Koenigs-Knorr or glycal addition reaction. This is because the B-compounds are somewhat sensitive to the mercury compounds used in the Helferich modification.
Because of the different reactivities of the various hydroxy groups, and with the use of certain protecting techniques, all possible combinations of glycosylated C-076 compounds can be prepared. The hydroxy groups at the 5 and 23 positions are much more reactive to glycosylation than the 4", 4' or 13 positions. Thus, where the 5 or 23 glycosylated products are desired, no protection is necessary for the 4", 4' or 13 positions.
The C-076 Al compounds have only the 4", 4' or 13 positions available for glycosylation, thus no reaction is possible at the 5 or 23 positions.
The C-076 A2 compounds have only the 23-hydroxy group available for glycosylation, in addition to the 4", 4' or 13 positions. Thus, the 23 glycosyl compound can be prepared with no protection reactions necessary. The 4", 4' or 13 positions can be glycosylated by protecting the 23-position following the procedure described below.
The C-076 B1 compounds have only the 5-position available in addition to the 4", 4' or 13 positions. If the 5-glycosyl compounds are desired, the reaction is carried out without the protection of the 4", 4' or 13 positions. If the 4", 4' or 13 glycosyl compounds are desired, protection of the 5-position following the procedure described below is required.
The C-076 B2 compounds have both the 5 and 23 positions available for glycosylation in addition to the 4", 4' or 13 positions. The reactivity of the 5- and 23-position hydroxy groups are about equal. If glycosylation at the 5 and 23 positions is desired, the reaction is carried out as above described. If glycosylation at the 4", 4' or 13 positions is desired, protection of both of the 5 and 23 hydroxy groups is necessary. If glycosylation of only one of the 5- or 23-positions is desired, the reaction is carried out as above described using minimal times and temperatures within the ranges given, thus resulting in a mixture of 5- and 23-glycosyl compounds. Such a mixture is readily separated, usually with chromatographic techniques such as column, high pressure, liquid chromatography and thin layer or preparative layer chromatography. The technique of thin layer chromatography is usually employed to follow the course of the reaction in order to maximize the formation of the individual 5- and 23-substituted compounds and to avoid the formation of the 5,23-disubstituted compounds.
The protection of the 5 and 23 positions is carried out in two ways; one applicable to the 5 and 23 positions, and the other applicable to the 5-position only.
The 5 and/or the 23 positions may be readily protected by acylating, preferably acetylating. The C-076 compound to be protected is dissolved in an aprotic, non polar solvent, such as one of such solvents described above preferably ether and an acyl halide, preferably acetyl chloride, is added dropwise substantially at room temperature but up to a 10°-40° C. range. The reaction mixture is stirred for from 2 to 6 hours. A catalytic amount of silver oxide (Ag 2 O) is added to the reaction. The acylated compound is isolated using known techniques.
The acyl protecting group may be removed by base catalyzed hydrolysis, such as with an alkali metal alkoxide, preferably sodium methoxide, in the corresponding alcohol, preferably methanol.
In addition, the 5-position alcohol may be oxidized to the ketone using manganese dioxide (MnO 2 ) in ether. The reaction is completed in about 10 to 30 hours at about room temperature.
The ketone is then readily converted back to the hydroxy group using borohydride reduction, preferably sodium borohydride. The reaction is complete in about 5 minutes to 1 hour with stirring substantially at room temperature.
This oxidation-reduction reaction sequence is seen to aid in the preparation of C-076 B2 compounds with only one of the 5- or 23-positions glycosylated. By protecting the 5-position with the preparation of the 5-ketone the 23-glycosyl compound may readily be prepared. Or the 23-acyl-5-ketone compound can be prepared, the 5-position reduced to the hydroxy group, and the 5-glycosyl compound prepared.
It is noted that the acyl derivatives are included within the ambit of this invention, thus, if desired the acyl protecting groups need not be removed at the end of a reaction sequence. In addition, once the glycosyl compounds are prepared, at the desired position or positions, any remaining hydroxy groups may be acylated. The foregoing procedure may be employed to acylate the 5- and 23-positions. Where glycosylation has occurred or is planned for the 5- and/or 23-positions the 4", 4' or 13 position may be acylated by dissolving the compound in a suitable solvent, preferably pyridine, and adding the acylating reagent, preferably a loweralkanoyl halide, such as acetyl chloride, dropwise. The reaction is maintained at from 0° C. to room temperature for from 4 to 24 hours. The product is isolated using known techniques.
The novel glycosylated compounds of this invention have significant parasiticidal activity as anthelmintics, insecticides, ectoparasiticides and acaricides, in human and animal health and in agriculture.
The disease or group of diseases described generally as helminthiasis is due to infection of an animal host with parasitic worms known as helminths. Helminthiasis is a prevalent and serious economic problem in domesticated animals such as swine, sheep, horses, cattle, goats, dogs, cats and poultry. Among the helminths, the group of worms described as nematodes causes widespread and often times serious infection in various species of animals. The most common genera of nematodes infecting the animals referred to above are Haemonchus, Trichostronglylus, Ostertagia, Nematodiurs, Cooperia, Ascaris, Bunostomum, Oesophagostomum, Chabertia Trichuris, Stronglylus, Trichonema, Dictyocaulus, Capillaria, Heterakis, Toxocara, Ascaridia, Oxyuris, Ancylostoma, Uncinaria, Toxascaris and Parascaris. Certain of these, such as Nematodirus, Cooperia, and Oesophagostomum attack primarily the intestinal tract while others, such as Haemonchus and Ostertagia, are more prevalent in the stomach while still others such as Dictyocaulus are found in the lungs. Still other parasites may be located in other tissues and organs of the body such as the heart and blood vessels, subcutaneous and lymphatic tissue and the like. The parasitic infections known as helminthiases lead to anemia, malnutrition, weakness, weight loss, severe damage to the walls of the intestinal tract and other tissues and organs and, if left untreated, may result in death of the infected host. The glycosylated C-076 compounds of this invention have unexpectedly high activity against these parasites, and in addition are also active against Dirofilaria in dogs, Nematospiroides, Syphacia, Aspiculuris in rodents, arthropod ectoparasites of animals and birds such as ticks, mites, lice, fleas, blowfly, in sheep Lucilia sp., biting insects and such migrating dipterous larvae as Hypoderma sp. in cattle, Gastrophilus in horses, and Cuterebra sp. in rodents.
The instant compounds are also useful against parasites which infect humans. The most common genera of parasites of the gastro-intestinal tract of man are Ancylostoma, Necator, Ascaris, Strongyloides, Trichinella, Capillaria, Trichuris, and Enterobius. Other medically important genera of parasites which are found in the blood or other tissues and organs outside the gastrointestinal tract are the filiarial worms such as Wuchereria, Brugia, Onchocerca and Loa, Dracunculus and extra intestinal stages of the intestinal worms Strongyloides and Trichinella. The compounds are also of value against arthropods parasitizing man, biting insects and other dipterous pests causing annoyance to man.
The compounds are also active against household pests such as the cockroach, Blatella sp., clothes moth, Tineola sp., carpet beetle, Attagenus sp. and the housefly Musca domestica.
The compounds are also useful against insect pests of stored grains such as Tribolium sp., Tenebrio sp. and of agricultural plants such as spider mites, (Tetranychus sp.), aphids, (Acyrthiosiphon sp.); against migratory orthopterans such as locusts and immature stages of insects living on plant tissue. The compounds are useful as a nematocide for the control of soil nematodes and plant parasites such as Meloidogyne spp. which may be of importance in agriculture.
These compounds may be administered orally in a unit dosage form such as a capsule, bolus or tablet, or as a liquid drench where used as an anthelmintic in mammals. The drench is normally a solution, suspension or dispersion of the active ingredient usually in water together with a suspending agent such as bentonite and a wetting agent or like excipient. Generally, the drenches also contain an antifoaming agent. Drench formulations generally contains from about 0.001 to 0.5% by weight of the active compound. Preferred drench formulations may contain from 0.01 to 0.1% by weight. The capsules and boluses comprise the active ingredient admixed with a carrier vehicle such as starch, talc, magnesium stearate, or di-calcium phosphate.
Where it is desired to administer the C-076 compounds in a dry, solid unit dosage form, capsules, boluses or tablets containing the desired amount of active compound usually are employed. These dosage forms are prepared by intimately and uniformly mixing the active ingredient with suitable finely divided diluents, fillers, disintegrating agents and/or binders such as starch, lactose, talc, magnesium stearate, vegetable gums and the like. Such unit dosage formulations may be varied widely with respect to their total weight and Content of the antiparasitic agent depending upon factors such as the type of host animal to be treated, the severity and type of infection and the weight of the host.
When the active compound is to be administered via an animal feedstuff, it is intimately dispersed in the feed or used as a top dressing or in the form of pellets which may then be added to the finished feed or optionally fed separately. Alternatively, the antiparasitic compounds of our invention may be administered to animals parenterally, for example, by intraruminal, intramuscular, intratracheal, or subcutaneous injection in which event the active ingredient is dissolved or dispersed in a liquid carrier vehicle. For parenteral administration, the active material is suitably admixed with an acceptable vehicle, preferably of the vegetable oil variety such as peanut oil, cotton seed oil and the like. Other parenteral vehicles such as organic preparations using solketal, glycerol-formal and aqueous parenteral formulations are also used. The active acylated C-076 compound or compounds are dissolved or suspended in the parenteral formulation for administration; such formulations generally contain from 0.005 to 5% by weight of the active compound.
Although the antiparasitic agents of this invention find their primary use in the treatment and/or prevention of helminthiasis, they are also useful in the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by other parasites, for example, arthropod parasites such as ticks, lice, fleas, mites and other biting and sucking insects in domesticated animals and poultry. They are also effective in treatment of parasitic diseases that occur in other aimals including humans. The optimum amount to be employed for best results will, of course, depend upon the particular compound employed, the species of animal to be treated and the type and severity of parasitic infection or infestation. Generally, good results are obtained with our novel compounds by the oral administration of from about 0.001 to 10 mg. per kg. of animal body weight, such total dose being given at one time or in divided doses over a relatively short period of time such as 1-5 days. With the preferred compounds of the invention, excellent control of such parasites is obtained in animals by administering from about 0.025 to 0.5 mg. per kg. of body weight in a single dose. Repeat treatments are given as required to combat reinfections and are dependent upon the species of parasite and the husbandry techniques being employed. The techniques for administering these materials to animals are known to those skilled in the veterinary field. The compounds may also be administered in combination with other antiparasitic compounds or compounds with other biological activities to provide for a single treatment with a broadened spectrum of activity.
When the compounds described herein are administered as a component of the feed of the animals, or dissolved or suspended in the drinking water, compositions are provided in which the active compound or compounds are intimately dispersed in an inert carrier or diluent. By inert carrier is meant one that will not react with the antiparasitic agent and one that may be administered safely to animals. Preferably, a carrier for feed administration is one that is, or may be, an ingredient of the animal ration.
Suitable compositions include feed premixes or supplements in which the active ingredient is present in relatively large amounts and which are suitable for direct feeding to the animal or for addition to the feed either directly or after an intermediate dilution or blending step. Typical carriers or diluents suitable for such compositions include, for example, distillers' dried grains, corn meal, citrus meal, fermentation residues, ground oyster shells, wheat shorts, molasses solubles, corn cob meal, edible bean mill feed, soya grits, crushed limestone and the like. The active glycosylated C-076 compounds are intimately dispersed throughout the carrier by methods such as grinding, stirring, milling or tumbling. Compositions containing from about 0.005 to 2.0% by weight of the active compound are particularly suitable as feed premixes. Feed supplements, which are fed directly to the animal, contain from about 0.0002 to 0.3% by weight of the active compounds.
Such supplements are added to the animal feed in an amount to give the finished feed the concentration of active compound desired for the treatment and control of parasitic diseases. Although the desired concentration of active compound will vary depending upon the factors previously mentioned as well as upon the particular glycosylated C-076 compound employed, the compounds of this invention are usually fed at concentrations of between 0.00001 to 0.002% in the feed in order to achieve the desired antiparasitic result.
In using the compounds of this invention, the individual glycosylated C-076 components may be prepared and used in that form. Alternatively, mixtures of two or more of the individual glycosylated C-076 compounds may be used.
In the isolation of the C-076 compounds, which serve as starting materials for the instant processes, from the fermentation broth, the various C-076 compounds will be found to have been prepared in unequal amounts. In particular an "a" series compound will be prepared in a higher proportion than the corresponding "b" series compound. The weight ratio of "a" series to the corresponding "b" series is about 85:15 to 99:1. The differences between the "a" series and "b" series is constant throughout the C-076 compounds and consists of a butyl group and a propyl group respectively at the 25 position. This difference, of course, does not interfere with any of the instant reactions. In particular, it may not be necessary to separate the "b" components from the related "a" component. Separation of these closely related compounds is generally not practiced since the "b" compound is present only in a very small percent by weight, and the structural difference has negligible effects on the reaction processes and biological activities.
The C-076 compounds of this invention are also useful in combatting agricultural pests that inflict damage upon crops while they are growing or while in storage. The compounds are applied using known techniques as sprays, dusts, emulsions and the like, to the growing or stored crops to effect protection from such agricultural pests.
The following examples are provided in order that the invention might be more fully understood; they are not to be construed as limitations of the invention.
The C-076 glycosyl derivatives prepared in the following examples are generally isolated as amorphous solids and not as crystalline solids. They are thus characterized analytically using techniques such as mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonances and the like. Being amorphous, the compounds are not characterized by sharp melting points, however the chromatographic and analytical methods employed indicate that the compounds are pure.
EXAMPLE 1
4'-Q-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a monosaccharide
A 3-necked flask is charged with C-076 A 2a monosaccharide (50 mg.), 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-1,2-O-(ethylorthoacetyl)-X-D-glucopyranose (50 mg.), mercuric bromide (2 mg.) and dichloroethane (20 ml.). The flask is fitted into a dropping funnel containing fresh, dry solvent and a Dean-Stark Trap. The mixture is heated at reflux under nitrogen and as the solvent is slowly distilled from the reaction mixture, it is replaced with fresh solvent from the dropping funnel. After 24 hours of refluxing, thin layer chromatographic monitoring indicates no further reaction progress and the mixture is cooled, filtered (discarding all solids), and the filtrate evaporated to dryness in vacuo. Chromatographic resolution of the mixture on preparative layer chromatography [silica gel, multiple development with benzene/2-propanol (19:1)] affords a large amount of starting material, some minor side products and 16 mg. of 4'-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a monosaccharide, which is lyophlized from benzene. The structure is consistent with mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance analysis.
EXAMPLE 2
4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a
A 3-necked flask is charged with C-076 B 1a (50 mg.), 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-1,2-O-(ethylorthoacetyl)-α-D-glucopyranose (35 mg.), mercuric bromide (2 mg.) and dichloroethane (20 ml.). The reaction mixture is refluxed following the procedure of Example 1. After 12 hours of refluxing, a product forms which is isolated by cooling the reaction mixture, filtering and discarding all solids and evaporating the filtrate in vacuo. Chromatographic resolution of the mixture on preparative layer chromatography [silica gel, multiple development with 19:1 (benzene 12-propanol)] affords a large amount of starting material, small amounts of presumably isomeric glycosides and 3 mg. of 4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl C-076 B 1a . The structure proposed is consistent with mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance analysis.
EXAMPLE 3
23-O-(2,2',3,3',4',6,6'-hepta-O-acetyl-β-maltosyl)C-076 A 2a
To C-076 A 2a (20 mg.) in anhydrous ether (50 ml.) is added freshly prepared silver oxide (60 mg.) and 2,2',3,3',4',6,6'-hepta-O-acetyl-a-acetyl-α-maltosyl bromide (51 mg.). The sealed flask is stirred magnetically in the dark. After 24 hours, another 20 mg. of 2,2',3,3',4',6,6'-hepta-O-acetyl-β-maltosyl bromide is added. After a total of five days, the reaction progress is judged to have stopped, the solids are filtered, washed with ether and discarded. The filtrate is evaporated under a stream of nitrogen and fractionated using preparative layer chromatography on silica gel using multiple development with 2-propanol/benzene (1:19). In addition, to some starting material and other by-products there is obtained 21 mg. of 23-O-(2,2',3,3',4',6,6'-hepta-O-acetyl-β-maltosyl C-076 A 2a (lyophilized from benzene) which is judged to be homogeneous by nuclear magnetic resonance and thin layer chromatography. Mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance data are consistent with the product structure.
EXAMPLE 4
13-O-(4-O-acetyl-α-L-erythro-2-hexenopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a Aglycon
C-076 A 2a aglycon (50 mg.) and 3,4-di-O-acetyl-L-rhamnal (50 mg.) are dissolved in benzene (20 ml.), a trace of p-toluenesulfonic acid is added and the mixture is stirred at 80° C. After 4 days the reaction is complete (no more starting material is present by thin layer chromatography). The solvent is evaporated in vacuo and chromatographic resolution of the products [preparative layer chromatography, silica gel using benzene 2-propanol (19:1) multiple development affords one major band which is subsequently resolved into 2 components (using the same separation procedure). By mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance analysis the two products are identified as 13-O-(4-O-acetyl-α-L-erythro-2-hexenopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a aglycon (19 mg.) and 13,23-bis-(4-O-acetyl-α-L-erythro-2-hexenopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a aglycon (11 mg.).
EXAMPLE 5
23-O-acetyl-4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a
To 23-O-acetyl-C-076 A 2a (20 mg.) in anhydrous ether (20 ml.) is added 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-glucopyranosyl bromide (70 mg.) and freshly prepared silver oxide (200 mg.). The sealed flask is stirred magnetically in the dark. After four days thin layer chromatography monitoring fails to show any further change in the reaction mixture composition and the solids are filtered, washed with ether and discarded. The filtrate is evaporated under a stream of nitrogen and fractionated with preparative layer chromatography (silica gel) with multiple development using 19:1 (benzene/2-propanol). 23-O-acetyl-4"O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a (6 mg.) is isolated after lyophilization from benzene in addition to other minor products and a considerable amount of starting material. Mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of the product are consistent with the structure.
EXAMPLE 6
5-O-acetyl-4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a
To C-076 B 1a (20 mg.) in anhydrous ether (8 ml.) is added freshly prepared silver oxide (23 mg.) and acetyl chloride (9.5 mg.). The reaction vessel is stirred magnetically under nitrogen in the dark until monoacetylation (at the 5-position) is complete (3-4 hours). Solid powdered sodium bicarbonate is added and the mixture is stirred for an additional hour. The solids are centrifuged and the supernatent containing 5-O-acetyl C-076 B 1a with traces of C-076 B 1a and 5,4"-di-O-acetyl C-076 B 1a (by thin layer chromatography) is poured onto 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-glucopyranosyl bromide (25 mg.) and freshly prepared silver oxide (25 mg.). After several days no further reaction progress is noted by thin layer chromatography [two subsequent additions of halogenose and silver oxide (25 mg. each) are made] after 24 and 48 hours of reaction. The solids are filtered, washed with ether and discarded. The filtrate evaporated under a stream of nitrogen and resolved into macrolide components and sugar decomposition products on a short overloaded silica gel column eluting with dichloromethane/methanol (19:1). The macrolide components are resolved on silica gel preparative layer chromatography using multiple development with benzene/isopropanol (95:5). The product is isolated by lyophilization from benzene. Mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance data are consistent with the structure of 5-O-acetyl-4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a .
EXAMPLE 7
13-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) A 2a aglycone
A 3-necked flask is charged with C-076 A 2a aglycone (30 mg.), 3,4,6-tri-O-acetyl-1,2-O-(ethylorthoacetyl)-α-D-glucopyranose (50 mg.), dichloroethane (50 ml.) and mercuric bromide (1 mg.). The flask is fitted with a dropping funnel containing fresh solvent and a Dean-Stark Trap. The mixture is heated at reflux under nitrogen as in Example 1. After 40 hours of refluxing, monitoring by thin layer chromatography indicates no further reaction progress and the mixture is evaporated in vacuo. Resolution on preparative layer chromatography [silica gel, multiple development with benzene (2-propanol (19:1)] affords a large amount of starting merial (31 mg.) and a slower moving band (6 mg.) which is shown by mass spectrometry and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance to be 13-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) A 2a aglycone.
EXAMPLE 8
5-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-galactopyranosyl)-C-076 B 1a
C-076 B 1a (250 mg.), freshly prepared silver oxide (750 mg.) and 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-galactopyransyl bromide (150 mg.) are added to dry ether (100 ml.) in a magnetically-stirred round bottom flask and stirred under nitrogen in the dark for four days. Every 24 hours another 150 mg. of silver oxide and 100 mg. of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-galactopyranosyl-C-076 B 1a are added (total: 1150 mg. of silver oxide and 350 mg. of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-galactopyranosyl C-076 B 1a . The solids are then filtered and washed with ether. The filtrate is evaporated in vacuo and the residual gum is chromatographed on silica gel (200 gm.) using dichloromethane/methanol (99:1) as eluant. Starting material (C-076 B 1a , 170 mg.) is recovered as well as an additional product-containing band which is further purified by preparative layer chromatography [multiple development with benzene/2-propanol (19:1)] to furnish the desired product. The product is lyophilized from benzene; spectral analysis is consistent with 5-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-galactopyranosyl)-C-076 B 1a .
EXAMPLE 9
4'-O-(3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-di-deoxy-L-arabinohexopyranosyl)-C-076 A 2a Monosaccharide
A 110 ml. round-bottomed flask is charged with C-076 A 2a monosaccharide (40 mg.), 3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-α-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl chloride (diacetyl-olivosyl chloride, 91 mg.), mercuric bromide (216 mg.), mercuric cyanide (250 mg., and dry ether (50 ml). The stoppered flask is stirred in the dark under nitrogen until the reaction appears to make no further progress (by thin layer chromatography; 6 days). Additional quantities of the 3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-di-deoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl)chloride (2×63 mg.) are added after 24 and 48 hours. There are seven product bands in addition to a small amount of recovered starting material. Four of the product bands are fluorescent glycosides which have high Rf's in benzene/2-propanol (19:1). The major product is purified to homogeneity by two separate preparative layer chromatography procedures employing multiple developments in the above-named solvent system. The product (24 mg.) is a fluffy white solid after lyophilization from benzene. Mass spectral and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance data are consistent with the structure of 4'-O-(3,4 -di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl)-C-076 A 2a monosaccharide.
EXAMPLE 10
4'-O-(2,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabinohexopyranosyl C-076 B 1a monosaccharide-5-one
A 100 ml. round-bottomed flask is charged with C-076 B 1a monosaccharide-5-one (30 mg.), 3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl chloride (diacetyl-olivosyl chloride, 30 mg.), freshly prepared silver oxide (400 mg.) and dry ether (25 ml.). The stoppered reaction vessel is stirred in the dark under nitrogen at ambient temperature for 7 days when, by thin layer chromatography [benzene/2-propanol (19:1)], the reaction appears to make no further progress. Four additional 25 mg. quantities of 3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl chloride are added at 24 hour intervals. During the reaction, the solids are filtered, washed with ether, and discarded. The filtrate is evaporated in vacuo and the colorless gum is resolved by preparative layer chromatography (above system, multiple development) into two major bands: starting material and a slightly faster band, which is chromatographically homogeneous and by spectral analysis consistent with the 4'-O-(2,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl C-076 B 1a monosaccharide-5-one.
EXAMPLE 11
4"-O-benzoyl C-076 B 1a (from C-076 B 1a monosaccharide)
C-076 B 1a monosaccharide (35 mg.) is dissolved in dry ether and active manganese dioxide (100 mg.) is added. The mixture is stirred magnetically for 18 hours at room temperature. The reaction mixture is filtered and the solids are washed with ether. The filtrate contains only one spot by thin layer chromatography [tetrahydrofuran/chloroform (9:1)] and the solvent is evaporated in vacuo to afford B 1a monosaccharide-5-one as a colorless glass. Ether (25 ml.), 1,5-anhydro-4-O-benzoyl-2,6-dideoxy-3-O-methyl-L-arabino-hex-1-enitol (10 mg.) and pyridinium p-toluenesulfonate (1 mg.) are added and the stoppered vessel is stirred at ambient temperature for an additional 24 hour period. The volatiles are removed in vacuo and methanol (10 ml.) and sodium borohydride (20 mg.) are added to the residual gum. A yellow color developed rapidly which faded within 15 minutes. After stirring for 2 hours under nitrogen, 3 ml. of acetone are added and stirring is continued for an additional hour. The solvents are evaporated in vacuo and the residue resolved on preparative layer chromatography [benzene/2-propanol (19:1)] to furnish the desired compound as the major product. Mass spectral and 300 Mhz nuclear magnetic resonance data are consistent with the structure of 4"-O-benzoyl C-076 B 1a .
EXAMPLE 12
4'-O-D-glucopyranosyl C-076 A 2a monosaccharide
(Deprotection using methanolic ammonia)
4'-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A 2a monosaccharide (10 mg.) is covered with 10 ml. of methanol which had previously been saturated with anhydrous ammonia at 0° C. The flask is stoppered tightly and stored at ambient temperature for three days. Thin layer chromatography monitoring [trichloromethane/methanol (9:1)] shows no remaining peracetylated materials. The solvent is evaporated under a stream of nitrogen and the product is purified from minor contaminants by preparative layer chromatography on silica gel with the above solvent system as the eluent. The homogeneous product is then lyophilized from benzene affording pure 4'-O-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)C-076 A 2a monosaccharide.
EXAMPLE 13
5-O-glucopyranosyl C-076 B 1a
(Deprotection using catalytic methoxide)
5-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a (5 mg.) is dissolved in anhydrous methanol (10 ml.) in a small flask that has been flamed and cooled under nitrogen. A small amount of sodium methoxide powder (3-5 mg.) is added and the stoppered flask is stored at ambient temperature overnight. A chunk of dry ice is added to the reaction mixture before it was evaporated under a stream of nitrogen. The product is separated from minor impurities by preparative layer chromatography on silica gel using dichloromethane/methanol (9:1) as the eluent. 5-O-glucopyranosyl C-076 B 1a is obtained in excellent yield as a lyophilized foam (from benzene).
EXAMPLE 14
Following the Koenigs-Knorr Method of Examples 3 or 8 using the appropriate starting materials, the following compounds are prepared:
5-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 B 1a
5-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 B 1a monosaccharide
5-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 B 1a
23-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 B 2a
5-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 B 2a
5-O-peracetyl-L-arabinopyranosyl C-076 B 1a monosaccharide
23-O-peracetyl-L-arabinopyranosyl C-076 B 2a monosaccharide
5-O-peracetyl-L-arabinopyranosyl C-076 B 2a monosaccharide
5-O-peracetyl-L-lyxopyranosyl C-076 B 1a
23-O-peracetyl-L-lyxopyranoxyl C-076 A 2a monosaccharide
23-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 A 2a
5-O-peracetyl-D-glucopyranosyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a
5-O-peracetyl-D-galactopyranosyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a
23-O-peracetyl-D-arabinopyranosyl C-076 A 2a
23-O-peracetyl-D-glucosaminyl C-076 A 2a
23-O-peracetyl-D-glucuronyl C-076 A 2a
5-O-peracetyl-D-glucuronyl C-076 B 1a
23-O-peracetyl-D-mannopyranosyl C-076 A 2a
EXAMPLE 15
Following the Koenigs-Knorr Method of Example 10, using the appropriate protected starting materials, and reducing the product therefrom by the borohydride reduction method of Example 11, the following products are prepared:
13-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 B 1a aglycone
13-O-peracetyl-D-maltosyl C-076 A 1a aglycone
13-O-peracetyl-D-glucosaminyl C-076 B 1a aglycone
13-O-peracetyl-D-glucuronyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a aglycone
4'-O-peracetyl-L-lyxopyranosyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a monosaccharide
EXAMPLE 16
Following the orthoester method of Examples 1,2 or 7, using the appropriate starting materials, the following products are obtained.
4"-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 A 2a
4"-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 A 1a
4"-O-peracetyl-D-galactopyranosyl C-076 A 2a
4"-O-peracetyl-D-glucopyranosyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a
4'-O-peracetyl-L-lyxopyranosyl C-076 B 1a monosaccharide
4'-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 B 1a monosaccharide
4'-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a monosaccharide
EXAMPLE 17
Following the Helferich modification of Example 9, using the appropriate starting materials, the following products are obtained:
4'-O-peracetyl-L-rhamnopyranosyl C-076 A 2a monosaccharide
4'-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 A 2a monosaccharide
13-O-peracetyl-L-lyxopyranosyl C-076 A 2a aglycone
23-O-peracetyl-L-lyxopyranosyl C-076 A 2a aglycone
13-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 A 2a aglycone
23-O-peracetyl-L-olivosyl C-076 A 2a aglycone
13-O-peracetyl-L-arabinopyranosyl C-076 A 2a aglycone
4'-O-peracetyl-L-oleandrosyl-22,23-dihydro C-076 A 1a monosaccharide
EXAMPLE 18
Following the glycal method of Example 4, using the appropriate protecte starting materials, and reducing the product therefrom by the borohydride method of Example 11, the following products are obtained:
4'-O(peracetyl-2-deoxy-D-arabino-hexopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a monosaccharide and 4'-O-(peracetyl-2,3-dideoxy-D-enythro-hex-2-enopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a monosaccharide-from D-glucal
4'-O-(peracetyl-2-deoxy-L-threo-pentopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a monosaccharide and 4'-O-(peracetyl-23-dideoxy-L-glycero-pent-2-enopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a monosaccharide-from L-arabinal
4'-O-(peracetyl-2-deoxy-L-erythro-pentopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a monosaccharide and 4'-O-(peracetyl-23-dideoxy-L-glycero-pent-2-enopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a monosaccharide-from L-xylal
13-O-(peracetyl-2-deoxy-D-lyxo-hexopyranosyl) C-076 B 1 aglycone and 13-O-(peracetyl-2,3-dideoxy-D-threo-hex-2-enopyranosyl) C-076 B 1a aglycone-from D-galactal
4"-O-isovaleryl-22,23-dihydro C-076 B 1a and 4"-O-isovaleryl-3"-deoxy-2,"3"-didehydro C-076 B 1a from 4-O-valeryl-L-oleandral
EXAMPLE 19__________________________________________________________________________CHROMATOGRAPHIC MOBILITIES OF PROTECTED C-076MACROLIDE GLYCOSIDES RELATED TO A.sub.2aON 5 × 20 CM. SILICA GEL THIN LAYERCHROMATOGRAPHY PLATES (DOUBLE DEVELOPMENT)COMPOUND NAME BENZENE/2-PROPANOL(19:1)__________________________________________________________________________C-076 A.sub.2a (reference) 0.2323-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl)C-076 A.sub.2a 0.2423-O-(2,2'3,3',4',6,6'-hepta-O-acetyl-maltosyl) C-076 A.sub.2a 0.304"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A.sub.2a 0.4123-O-acetyl-4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl)C-076 A.sub.2a 0.40A.sub.2a monosaccharide (reference) 0.344'-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A.sub.2amonosaccharide 0.4523-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A.sub.2amonosaccharide 0.334'-O-(3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl)C-076 A.sub.2a -monosaccharide (olivosyl) 0.44C-076 A.sub.2a aglycone (reference) 0.3823-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A.sub.2a 0.37cone13-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 A.sub.2a 0.26cone13-O-(4-D-acetyl-2,3,6-trideoxy-α-L-erythro-Hex-2-enopyranosyl)c-076 A.sub.2a aglycone 0.4813,23-Bis-O-(4-O-acetyl-2,3,6-trideoxy-α-L-erythro-hex-2-eno-pyranosyl) C-076 A.sub.2a aglycone 0.55__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________EXAMPLE 20 -CHROMATOGRAPHIC MOBILITIES OF DEPROTECTEDC-076 MACROLIDE GLYCOSIDES5 × 20 CM. SILICA GEL THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHYPLATES (SINGLE DEVELOPMENT)COMPOUND NAME DICHLOROMETHANE/METHANOL(9:1)__________________________________________________________________________C-076 A.sub.2 (reference) 0.584"-O-D-glucopyranosyl C-076 A.sub.2 0.554'-O-D-glucopyranosyl C-076 A.sub.2a monosaccharide 0.57C-076 B.sub.2 (reference) 0.4623-O-maltosyl C-076 B.sub.2a 0.4223-O-D-glucopyranosyl C-076 B.sub.2a monosaccharide 0.47__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________EXAMPLE 21 -CHROMATOGRAPHIC MOBILITIES OF PROTECTEDC-076 MACROLIDE GLYCOSIDESRELATED TO B.sub.1a OR B.sub.2a 5 × 20 SILICA GEL THINLAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY PLATES (DOUBLE DEVELOPMENT)COMPOUND NAME BENZENE/2-PROPANOL(19:1)__________________________________________________________________________C-076 B.sub.1a (reference) 0.185-O-acetyl-4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl)C-076 B.sub.1a 0.335-O-acetyl-4"-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-acetyl-D-gluco-pyranosyl C-076 B.sub.1a 0.325-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-galactopyranosyl) C-076 B.sub.1a 0.264'-O-(3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino hexopyranosyl)-C-076 B.sub.1a monosaccharide-5-one (olivosyl) 0.415-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 B.sub.1amonosaccharide 0.21C-076 B.sub.2a (reference) 0.1523-O-(2,2',3,3',4',6,6'-hepta-O-acetyl-maltosyl) C-076 B.sub.2a 0.1823-O-(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyl) C-076 B.sub.2a 0.20__________________________________________________________________________
PREPARATION 1
Glycal synthesis 4-O=benzoyl-L-oleandral
A mixture of 40% sodium hydroxide (75 ml.) diethyl ether (200 ml.) are stirred in an ice bath, while 16.0 g. of nitrosomethylurea is added in portions over a period of 20 min. The mixture is stirred for an additional hour in the ice bath and the ether solution then decanted and dried over sodium hydroxide pellets.
To a solution of L-rhamnal (Methods in Carbohydrate Chemistry, Vol. II, p. 407-8), 2.1 g. in diethyl ether (200 ml.), is added stannous chloride dihydrate (200 mg.) in 20 ml. of ether followed by about one third of the diazomethane solution. The reaction mixture remains at room temperature (23° C.) and after 30 min. another 200 mg. of the diazomethane solution. The reaction is stirred overnight (18 hrs.) and silica gel t/c (dichloromethane/methanol, 19:1) shows the reaction to be essentially complete. Acetic acid is added to dispose the yellow color and the mixture is filtered through Supercel. The filtrate is washed with 10% sodium bicarbonate solution and then with saturated salt solution. The solution is dried and evaporated to a residue, which is then purified to the homogeneity by silica gel chromatography (dichloromethane/rhamnal) as a colorless syrup (77%).
The methylation product (2.23 g) is dissolved in pyridine (20 ml.) and stirred with cooling while 2.25 ml. of benzoyl chloride is added. The temperature rises slightly and a light precipitate forms. The cooling bath is removed after two hours and stirring maintained for 48 hrs. Water is then added (15 drops) and after 45 min., 200 ml. of dichloromethane. The mixture is washed with 1 N HCl until the extracts are acidic and then with sodium bicarbonate solution and finally saturated salt solution. The organic phase is dried and the solvent removed in vacuo to furnish a colorless syrup, which could be purified further by silica gel chromatography using (99:1) dichloromethane/tetrahydrofuran as the eluant to furnish 3.6 g of protected glycal.
The product contains a small amount of the 4-O-methyl isomer, which could be resolved by silica gel high performance liquid chromatography using 7.5% ethyl acetate in n-hexane as eluant.
PREPARATION 2
Of glycosylhalide synthesis
L-olivosyl chloride
(2,6-dideoxy-3,4-di-O-acetyl-L-arabinohexopyranosyl chloride
Dry hydrogen chloride gas is bubbled slowly into a benzene solution of 3,4-di-O-acetyl-L-rhamnal (7.5 g. in 50 ml. benzene). The solution is cooled in an ice salt bath. When the solution is saturated (about 20 min.), the addition of hydrogen chloride is discontinued and the mixture allowed to stand at 0° C. for one hour. The solvent is then removed under vacuum and toluene (50 ml.) added and removed in vacuo (high vacuum) three times. The residual oil is dissolved in ether at 0° C. and petroleum ether (30°-60° C.) added to induce crystallization. The colorless crystals are filtered under nitrogen washed with petroleum ether and dried on the funnel under a stream of nitrogen before storage at -5° C. (6.8 g.).
PREPARATION 3
C-076 A1a Aglycone
100 Mg. of C-076 A1a is dissolved in 5 ml. of dioxane, stirred and added at room temperature to a mixture of 0.1 ml. of concentrated sulfuric acid, 1.9 ml. of methanol and 3.0 ml. of dioxane. The reaction mixture is stirred overnight at room temperature. 473 Mg. of solid sodium bicarbonate is added and the mixture stirred for 20 minutes. 3 Ml. of water is added and stirred for an additional 10 minutes. The reaction mixture is concentrated and 40 ml. of chloroform is added and shaken. The aqueous layer is separated and extracted with 5 ml. of chloroform. The organic layers are combined and washed once with dilute sodium chloride solution, dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness in vacuo. 1/2 of the residue is placed on 5 preparative layer chromatography silica gel plates and eluted with 2% methanol in chloroform affording 4 bands of material. The remainder of the material is run on 2 preparative layer chromatography plates eluting with 2% methanol in chloroform affording 4 band similar to the first series. The second fastest bands are removed from each of the plates combined, extracted and evaporated to dryness in vacuo, and rechromatographed on a preparative layer chromatography silica gel plate eluting with 3% tetrahydrofuran and chloroform affording 9.4 mg. of a fluffy white solid which is identified by mass spectrometry as C-076 A1a aglycone.
PREPARATION 4
C-076 A2a Aglycone
2 G. of C-076 A2a is combined with 40 ml. of a 1% (volume/volume) solution of concentrated sulfuric acid in methanol. The reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 17 hours and diluted with 300 ml. of chloroform. The mixture is washed once with 30 ml. of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution, once with 30 ml. saturated sodium chloride solution, dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness in vacuo. 5 Ml. of methanol is added to the residue and allowed to stand at room temperature overnight. Cooling of the mixture in ice causes the slow precipitation of crystals. A supernatant is removed and the solid crystals washed twice with 1 ml. of cold methanol affording 340 mg. of a white solid. The mother liquor and washings are evaporated down to a volume of about 2 ml. and allowed to stand affording an additional crop to crystals. 630 Mg. of a white solid is obtained which is combined with the first batch of crystals and 8 ml. of methanol and evaporated to a volume of 2.5 ml. and allowed to stand for several hours. 910 Mg. of an off white solid is obtained which mass spectrometry identifies as C-076 A2a aglycone.
PREPARATION 5
C-076 A2a Monosaccharide
500 Mg. of C-076 A2a is dissolved in 10 ml. of a solution of 0.1 ml. of concentrated sulfuric acid and 9.9 ml. of isopropanol. The reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature overnight. 125 Ml. of chloroform is added and the mixture washed once with 10 ml. of saturated sodium bicarbonate and once with 10 ml. of water. The organic layer is dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness in vacuo affording a pale yellow solid material which is dissolved in chloroform and placed on 5 preparative layer chromatography silica gel plates and eluted twice with 2% benzene in ethylacetate. The slower moving major fraction contains 367 mg. of a white powder after lyophilization from benzene which mass spectrometry and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance indicates is C-076 A2a monosaccharide.
PREPARATION 6
C-076 B1a Monosaccharide and C-076 B1a Aglycone
2.5 Ml. of a solution consisting of 0.5 ml. of water 0.5 ml. concentrated sulfuric acid and 9.0 ml. of dioxane is added and the reaction mixture stirred at room temperature for 17 hours. 50 Ml. of ether is added followed by 25 ml. of saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate solution. The two layer mixture is shaken, the aqueous layer separated and the organic layer washed with water, dried and evaporated to dryness in vacuo. Benzene is added to the residue and the benzene layer is dried and lyophilized affording 60 mg. of yellow material. The material is placed on a preparative layer chromatography silica gel plate and eluted with chloroform-tetrahydrofuran in the volume ratio of 9:1 and 2 bands are observed with an Rf of 0.15 and 0.35. 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance identifies the two spots as C-076 B1a monosaccharide and C-076 B1a aglycone respectively. 16 Mg. of each fraction is obtained.
PREPARATION 7
C-076 B1a Monosaccharide
100 Mg. of C-076 B1a is dissolved in 5.0 ml. of tetrahydrofuran and stirred at room temperature while 5.0 ml. of a cold aqueous solution of 10% sulfuric acid (volume/volume) is added dropwise with stirring. The reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 18 hours. 75 Ml. of methylene chloride and 25 ml. of saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate is added and the layers shaken and separated. The organic layer is washed with aqueous sodium chloride solution and an equal volume of water. The organic layer is dried and evaporated to dryness in vacuo affording 70 mg. of a colorless oil. High pressure liquid identifies the residual oil as C-076 B1a monosaccharide.
PREPARATION 8
C-076 B2a Aglycone
2 G. of C-076 B2a is combined with 40 ml. of a 1% solution of concentrated sulfuric acid in methanol (volume/volume). The reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 17 hours. 300 Ml. of chloroform is added followed by 30 ml. of an aqueous saturated sodium bicarbonate solution. The layers are separated and the organic layer washed with 30 ml. of saturated sodium chloride solution, dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness in vacuo. 5 Ml. of methanol is added to dissolve the residue and the mixture allowed to stand at room temperature and then cooled in an ice bath, whereupon crystallization occurs. The supernatant is removed and the residue washed twice with 1 ml. portions of cold methanol and the solid crystals dried overnight and then in vacuo at 35° C. affording 1.0 g. of white crystals. A second crop is obtained by evaporating the mother liquors to a volume of 2 ml. and allowing to stand overnight at room temperature. 2 Ml. of methanol is added and the mixture aged in an ice bath affording 140 mg. of a yellow solid. The two solid fractions are combined and dissolved in boiling methanol, about 30 ml. of methanol is required. The solution is filtered hot and concentrated to a volume of about 20 ml. in vacuo whereupon solids begin to precipitate. The solution is filtered hot and the solid materials washed with methanol affording 340 mg. of a white solid. The filtrates are boiled down to a volume of about 8 ml. and set aside to crystallize at room temperature affording 433 mg. of a white solid. Mass spectrometry shows the two fractions to be identical and to be identified as C-076 B2a aglycone.
PREPARATION 9
C-076 B2a Monosaccharide and C-076 B2a Aglycone
20 Mg. of C-076 B2a is combined with 4 ml. of a solution prepared by combining 0.1 ml. of concentrated sulfuric acid and 9.9 ml. of isopropanol. The reaction mixture is stirred at room temperature for 16 hours, 189 mg. of sodium bicarbonate is added followed by a few drops of water. The volume is reduced to about 1/2 and 30 ml. of chloroform and 3 ml. of water is added and the mixture shaken. The layers are separated and the aqueous layer extracted with an additional 5 ml. of chloroform. The organic layers are combined, washed once with dilute sodium chloride solution, dried over sodium sulfate and magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness in vacuo. The residue is placed on two preparative layer silica gel chromatography plates and eluted twice with 5% tetrahydrofuran in chloroform. 4 Bands of material are observed and individually removed from the preparative chromatography plates. The slowest band affords 7.3 mg. of a white solid which is identified by mass spectrometry as C-076 B2a monosaccharide. The next slowest band affords 1.3 mg. of a white solid and it is identified by mass spectrometry as C-076 B2a aglycone.
PREPARATION 10
22,23-Dihydro C-076 A1a
51.0 Mg. of C-076 A1a and 14.4 mg. of tris (triphenylphosphine)rhodium (I) chloride are combined in 3.5 ml. of benzene and hydrogenated for 20 hours at room temperature under atmospheric pressure. The crude reaction mixture is chromatographed on a preparative layer chromatography plate eluting twice with 10% tetrahydrofuran in chloroform. The product is removed from the support using ethyl acetate which is evaporated to dryness and the residue analyzed with 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy indicating the preparation of 22,23-dihydro C-076 A1a.
PREPARATION 11
22,23-Dihydro C-076 B1a
A solution of 1.007 g. of C-076 B1a, 314 mg. of tris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium(I)chloride and 33 ml. of benzene is hydrogenated for 21 hours at room temperature under 1 atmosphere of hydrogen pressure. The solvent is removed in vacuo and the residue dissolved in a 1:1 mixture of methylene chloride and ethyl acetate and filtered. The filtrate is placed on a column of 60 g. of silica gel eluting with a 1:1 mixture of methylene chloride and ethyl acetate taking 10 ml. fractions. Fractions 14-65 are combined and evaporated to dryness affording 1.118 g. of a solid material which is indicated by high pressure liquid chromatography to be a 60/40 mixture of the hydrogenated product and starting material. The mixture is rehydrogenated in 55 ml. of benzene adding 310 mg. of tris (triphenylphosphine) rhodium (I) chloride and stirring for 21 hours at room temperature under 1 atmosphere of hydrogen pressure. The solvent is removed in vacuo and the residue chromatographed on 80 g. of silica gel using 40:60 mixture of ethyl acetate and methylene chloride as eluant. 10 Ml. fractions are taken and the product appears in fractions 26-80. These fractions are combined and evaporated to dryness in vacuo affording a yellow oil. The oil is dissolved in benzene and lyophilized affording a pale yellow powder which is identified as 22,23-dihydro C-076 B1a by mass spectrometry and 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance. 0.976 G. of product is obtained.
PREPARATION 12
22,23-Dihydro C-076 B1a Monosaccharide
395 Mg. of 22,23-dihydro C-076 B1a is added to a stirred solution of 50 ml. of 1% sulfuric acid in isopropanol and the solution is stirred for 14 hours at room temperature. The reaction mixture is treated as in Example 4 affording 0.404 g. of a foam after lyophilization from benzene. The foam is chromatographed on 6 preparative layer silica gel chromatography plates eluting twice with 4% tetrahydrofuran in chloroform. The monosaccharide with a Rf 0.15 is collected and washed from the silica gel with a total of 650 ml. of ethyl acetate. The combined washings are evaporated to dryness and the residue lyophilized from benzene to afford 0.2038 g. of 22,23-dihydro C-076 B1a monosaccharide which high pressure liquid chromatography indicates to be essentially pure.
PREPARATION 13
22,23-Dihydro C-076 B1a Aglycone
0.486 G. of 22,23-dihydro C-076 B1a is added to a stirred solution of 50 ml. of 1% sulfuric acid in methanol and the reaction mixture stirred for 13 hours at room temperature. The reaction mixture is diluted with 250 ml. of methylene chloride and washed with 50 ml. of saturated aqueous potassium bicarbonate and 50 ml. of water. The aqueous layer is washed twice with 20 ml. portions of methylene chloride and the combined organic phases are dried with saturated brine and sodium sulfate and evaporated to dryness in vacuo affording 0.480 g. of a pale yellow foam. The foam is dissolved in 4 ml. of methylene chloride and placed on 4 preparative layer chromatography silica gel plates and eluted 4 times with 4% tetrahydrofuran and chloroform. The product is recovered from the silica gel plates affording an oily residue which is lyophilized from benzene affording 255.8 mg. of a white solid. Traces of methyl oleandroside are indicated to be present in the solid material. The white solid is then lyophilized again from benzene and placed under high vacuum for 20 hours to remove the impurity affording 22,23-dihydro C-076 B1a aglycone.
PREPARATION 14
A. C-076 A1a 4"-O-Acetate
A solution of 27 mg. of 4-dimethylaminopyridine in 1 ml. of methylene chloride is prepared and a separate solution of 0.208 ml. of acetic anhydride in 10 ml. of methylene chloride is prepared. 0.5 Ml. of each solution is added to 10 mg. of C-076 A1a, mixed well and allowed to stand at room temperature overnight. The reaction mixture is diluted to 4 ml. with methylene chloride and 0.5 ml. of water is added and shaken. The layers are separated and the organic layer is dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness under a stream of nitrogen. Benzene is added and the solution is lyophilized affording 10 mg. of an off-white fluffy solid. Preparative layer chromatography on silica gel eluting with 10% tetrahydrofuran in chloroform affords 8.2 mg. of a fluffy, off-white solid, which nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrographic analysis reveals to be C-076 A1a 4"-O-acetate.
B. C-076 A2a 4"-O-Acetate
Following the above procedure 5 mg. of C-076 A2a is acetylated affording 4.4 mg. of a product which is demonstrated by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance to be C-076 A2a 4"-O-acetate.
C. C-076 A2a 4",23-di-O-acetate
10 Mg. of C-076 A2a is acetylated in 0.5 ml. of pyridine and 0.25 ml. acetic anhydride at 100° C. for 2 hours. The reaction mixture is worked up using preparative layer chromatography on silica gel as previously described affording 5.9 mg. of a fluffy white solid which mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance reveal to be C-076 A2a 4",23-O-acetate.
PREPARATION 15
C-076 A2a 4" O-Propionate
25 Mg. of C-076 A2a is combined with 15 drops of dry pyridine and cooled in ice while 5 drops of propionic anhydride is added. The reaction mixture is stoppered, mixed well and allowed to stand in an ice bath overnight. The reaction mixture is diluted with ether and benzene and shaken with some ice water. The layers are separated and the organic layer is dried over magnesium sulfate. The solvent is evaporated under a stream of nitrogen, benzene is added and the solution is lyophilized affording 20 mg. of a white solid. Preparative layer chromatography on silica gel eluting with 5% tetrahydrofuran in chloroform affords 16.6 mg. of a white solid which is analysed by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry as C-076 A2a 4"-O-propionate.
PREPARATION 16
C-076 B1a 4",5-di-O-acetate
Following the procedure of Preparation 14, 5.2 mg. of C-076 B1a is acetylated with 10 drops of pyridine and 6 drops of acetic anhydride affording, after preparative layer chromatography on silica gel and lyophilization, 5.2 mg. of a white fluffy solid which mass spectrometry indicates is C-076 Bla 4",5-di-O-acetate.
PREPARATION 17
C-076 B1a 4",O-Acetate and C-076 B1a 4",5-Di-O-Acetate
20 Mg. of C-076 B1a is dissolved in 12 drops of pyridine, cooled in an ice bath and combined with 4 drops of acetic anhydride. The reaction mixture is maintained in an ice bath for 21/2 hours, chilled benzene is added, the reaction mixture freeze dried and the solid material chromatographed on silica gel plates eluting with 10% isopropanol in benzene. The product with the highest Rf is identified by mass spectrometry as C-076 B1a 4", 5-di-O-acetate, 4.7 mg. is obtained. The next most advanced spot is identified by mass spectrometry as C-076 B1a 4",O-acetate; 9.3 mg. is obtained.
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Derivatives of C-076, a series of macrolides, are described in which the substituents are sugar or saccharide groups. The sugar groups are substituted on any of the available hydroxy groups of the C-076 molecule. The compounds thus produced have profound anthelmintic, insecticidal, ectoparasiticidal and acaracidal activity and compositions for such uses are also disclosed.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to computers and more particularly to a method and apparatus for human interaction with data to analyze and extract important hidden attributes in the data.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
Data, such as telecommunication billing records of a large corporation, can be so overwhelming that it can defy meaningful examination unless powerful statistical systems and applications are brought in to deal with the task. The cost for an individual company to develop and operate a statistics analysis system to analyze such data historically has been repressively high. There is a need therefore to have analysis tools that would assist a human decision maker visually analyze such data in order to find significant data items and trends with a data base. Such a tool could be used to analyze any data base problems, but especially to analyze cost anomalies in telecommunications and high telecommunications usage areas for possible discount negotiations.
Known data analysis and visualization systems and tools with even a small degree of data base capability have be popular with personal computer users. Lotus 1-2-3® and Microsoft EXCEL® are widely used because of their respective analysis and graphing, i.e. simple visualization, capabilities. However, to carefully analyze a large data base, one or more better tools are needed to assist the user in interacting with the data to reveal hidden characteristics buried therein. One tool that has helped users interact with data is the slider control. Typically a slider control provides some type of adjustment over a range. The slider control, which is present on most graphical user interfaces (GUIs), is a metaphor for a volume control on some of the modern audio equipment that has a slidable wiper. With a slider control, variations can be made within the entire slider range, i.e. 0% to 100% of maximum. Such known slider controls have been used in GUIs by B. Shneiderman in the Dynamic Home Finder; and by R. Spence et al. in Visualization for Functional Design. Further, a slider control of R. Spence et al. helps analysis a little bit more by allowing the user to interactively set a range within a larger range over which functional calculations will be performed by the associated computer or workstation to obtain a range of results, which in that case is a set of numbers representing circuit operating characteristics.
While these known GUI sliders represent steps in the right direction, it is still desirable to have GUI slider controls that provide the user with even greater manipulation/adjustment flexibility and enhanced visualization of features of the data in the data base.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for a user to interactively adjust ranges of interest of a displayed characteristic of a data base and to immediately observe the results of adjustment.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for a user to interactively select data subsets of the database for closer observation of characteristics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly stated, the aforementioned objects are achieved by providing an system for interactively transforming data according to manipulation by a human operator. The system includes a computer having a pointing device and a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface has a data display region for displaying data according to a predetermined parameter and a slider control. The slider control has a first range which is mapped to the length of the slider control. The slider control also has two adjustable limits within the first range which together define a second range. Each of these adjustable limits is individually adjustable through the use of the pointing device. The second range maps the predetermined parameter to a second parameter. This second range is movable within the first range by selecting and dragging the second range along the first range, and the movement of the second range changes the transform characteristics of the predetermined parameter into the second parameter. Such changes in the transform characteristics allows the user to observe characteristics of the data from many perspectives in substantially real time.
In another aspect of the invention, the aforementioned objects are achieved by providing a method for a piecewise linear mapping of data which has a first parameter to data which has a second parameter using a slider control. This method includes setting an upper limit with a first thumb of the slider control and mapping all values of the first parameter that are greater than the upper limit to an upper attribute of the second parameter. A lower limit is also set with a second thumb of said slider control and all values of the first parameter less than the lower limit are mapped to a lower attribute of the second parameter. All values of the first parameter between upper limit and the lower limit are mapped according to a transform function to a range of attributes of the second parameter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for displaying a GUI according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates a GUI that is useful for explaining the invention of an extensible event-action system.
FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the slider control portion of FIG. 2 a preferred embodiment;
FIG. 4 illustrates the effect on FIG. 2 if the lower threshold of the color slider control is increased while the upper threshold is maintained.
FIG. 5 illustrates the effect on FIG. 2 if the upper threshold of the color slider control is increased while the lower threshold is maintained.
FIG. 6 is a graph showing a mapping of a range of numeric parameters to a range of visual parameters, in this case color.
FIG. 7 illustrates the effect of the size slider control on a geographic region display.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to FIG. 1, a system 100 is shown. System 100 should be at least a high powered personal computer or a work station of at least equivalent capabilities. System 100 has a processor 102 which processes data according to procedural instructions. Processor 102 is connected to memory 104 and to mass storage unit 106. Mass storage unit 106 and memory 104 store programs that provide the procedural instructions followed by the processor 102 and store data that is processed according to those programs. One such program is a graphical user interface (GUI) shown in FIG. 2 and discussed below. Processor 102 is also connected to display 110, which preferably is a color display having a resolution of at least 640 pixels by 400 pixels. The GUI program operates with a cursor program which moves a cursor 112. Cursor 112 is directed to various locations on the screen 114 of the display 110 by pointing device 116, such as a mouse, trackball or joystick. Pointing device 116 has buttons 117 and 118 which are clickable by a user in order to interact and select interactive regions of the GUI. The system 100 also has a keyboard 120 which may be used by a user to input alpha-numeric and other keyboard enterable information.
Referring now to FIG. 2, a display 200 of a GUI application entitled SeeBill is shown. Those in the art will appreciate that the displayed portion of any GUI application is only part of the user interface. The coordination of the cursor (cursor 112 in FIG. 1) with the pointing device (pointing device 116 in FIG. 1) and the interactive regions of the GUI display 200 are another part. A geographic window 210 has geographic regions shown therein. The geographic regions, for example, each state, the country of Canada and the country of Mexico, are interactive regions of the GUI display 200. In FIG. 2, California has been selected as indicated by a lightened color around its border. The name California is given on the data bar 220, which is immediately beneath the geographic window 210. Below the data bar 220 is the details window 230. Details window 230 provides more detailed information on the region currently highlighted by the geographic window 210. This detailed information includes summary information on the inbound and out-bound calls which terminated or originated within the region. The top line of numbers show the total calls made in the region, while the bottom row shows the calls of the currently selected user types. In addition, the user may press pointing device button 117 within one of the four details (inbound originating and terminating, outbound originating and terminating) to select it as the call data being displayed by the geographic window 210.
Display 200 also has range controls 250 and 270 located along the right side of thereof. First ends 251, 271 and second ends 252, 272 which represent the maximum and minimum values of the range of sliders 250 and 270 respectively. These controls 250, 270 are a special type of slider controls. A standard slider has two end points or limits and a thumb which is moveable between the two end points to provide a value that is proportional according to some scale to the location of the thumb between the two end points. The scroll bar, which is common in text/word processing applications, is an example of a linear scale slider. Manipulation of the thumb one third from the end point representing the beginning of a document moves the text that is one third of the way down from the beginning onto the display of such an application (not shown). Sliders simulating linear volume controls on audio equipment are another common usage of sliders in GUIs, the difference here being that for audio applications a logarithmic scale is sometimes used.
Controls 250, 270 are special in that each control has two thumbs 253, 254 and 273, 274 respectively. The two thumbs 253, 254 and 273, 274 may be moved/manipulated by means of the pointing device 116 toward or apart from each other along the range of controls 250, 270 respectively. The pairs of thumbs 253, 254 and 273, 274 provide two break points within the range of their respective control 250, 270. The two break points for each control are set by the user with pointing device 116. The two break points define three sub-ranges where the transform function from one parameter of the data to another parameter, such as a visual attribute, may be defined differently.
The controls 250, 270 do provide for finer control over the data being displayed by interaction with the interactive regions of the geographic window 210. By adjusting the upper thumbs 253, 273 and the bottom thumbs 254, 274, the scale of the geographic regions' sizes (control 250) and colors (control 270) are selected, respectively.
FIG. 3 shows a close-up of the size control 250 and the color control 270. On the right side of each of the controls 250, 270 is a scale which is scaled logarithmically to the data values being displayed. Gradation ticks are provided along the right side of each control 250, 270 in order to indicate the approximate color and size ranges represented by the display in the geographic window 210. When adjusted as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, color control 270 maps a range of numerical values (in this example the number of calls to a state) to a color range or spectrum. The color range varies from dark green for the numerical range of 1 to 5, to light green for the numerical range 5 to 28. At the numerical value of 28, the color begins to shift to blue-green and becomes more blue than green until around the numerical value of 30 the color becomes totally blue. For the numerical values 30 to 79 the color ranges from light blue to deeper blue and from 79 to 290 the color ranges from dark violet to a light orchid. From the numerical values of 290 to 5,378 the color varies from red to pink, and from 5,378 to 12,092 the colors vary from pink to light pink to a very light champagne (essentially light beige). Thus, the states in FIG. 2 are colored by the color that represents the number of calls billed to a customer in that state during the period that the numerical data was gathered. In FIG. 2 the colors of the states are as described in Table 1.
TABLE 1______________________________________ FIG. 2 FIG. 4 FIG. 5______________________________________Alabama orchid lt. green lt champagneArkansas orchid lt. green lt champagneArizona pink lt. blue orangeCalifornia light champagne lt. champagne lt.champagneColorado orange pink lt champagneConnecticut pink blue lt champagneDelaware blue lt. green orangeFlorida light orange lt. pink lt champagneGeorgia pink violet lt champagneIdaho blue dk green orangeIllinois orange orchid lt champagneIndiana dark green dark green dark greenIowa violet dk green orangeKansas pink lt green lt champagneKentucky violet lt green lt champagneLouisiana orange blue lt champagneMaine violet lt green lt pinkMaryland pink blue lt champagneMassachusetts orange pink lt champagneMichigan light orange pink lt champagneMinnesota pink blue-green lt champagneMississippi blue dk green orangeMissouri pink lt green lt champagneMontana blue-green dk green pinkNebraska violet blue-green lt champagneNew Hampshire blue-violet dk green orangeNew Jersey orange pink lt champagneNew Mexico blue dk green orangeNew York champagne champagne lt champagneNevada orange violet lt champagneNorth Carolina pink blue lt champagneNorth Dakota dark green dk green blueOhio pink orchid lt champagneOklahoma orchid lt green lt champagneOregon pink blue lt champagnePennsylvania pink blue lt champagneRhode Island blue green lt champagneSouth Carolina orchid lt green lt champagneSouth Dakota light green dk green orchidTennessee violet lt green lt champagneTexas champagne champagne lt champagneUtah pink blue lt champagneVermont blue-green dk green pinkVirginia pink orchid lt champagneWashington orange orchid lt champagneWest Virginia blue dk green orangeWisconsin orchid green lt champagneWyoming blue dk green orange______________________________________
For a national company , it is not surprising that the most populous states, California, Texas, and New York would be the states to which the most calls are billed. Less populous states such as North Dakota and South Dakota would be expected to have a low number of calls billed. Indiana is a medium sized state, so the company whose data is being shown must not have an office in Indiana to bill. Other color spectrum could be used, such as the rainbow spectrum of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red.
Manipulation of upper thumb 273 and/or lower thumb 274 changes the mapping from one parameter of the data, i.e. numerical value, to another parameter of the data, i.e. the colors of the geographic regions. This technique is used where transforming from a data (e.g. numerical quantity) attribute to a graphic attribute is useful to the user. To illustrate the visual effect that this has, please refer now to FIG. 4.
In FIG. 4, lower thumb 274 has been moved toward upper thumb 273 and the upper thumb 273 has remained its previous position. The effect of this manipulation is to extend the mapping of numerical values 1-53 to dark green and map the rest of the green-champagne spectrum for numerical values 53-12,092. The colors of many of the states in geographic window 210 change in FIG. 4. The changes to the colors is given in the second column of Table 1. With this particular mapping of colors to numerical call volume, it would be very easy to locate which states had call volumes lower than the numeric value of 52 for the data base period because those states would be colored dark green in FIG. 4 with this manipulation of lower thumb 274.
In FIG. 5, it is the upper slider 273 that has been moved toward the lower slider 274 and slider 274 has remained in its position shown in FIG. 3. The effect of this manipulation is to extend the mapping of numerical values 225-12,092 to light champagne color and map the rest of the green-champagne spectrum for numerical values 1-225. The colors of a number of states in geographic window 210 have changed in FIG. 5. The changes of the colors of the states is given in the third column of Table 1. With the mapping of colors to numerical values of FIG. 5, it would be very easy to visually locate all states that had a call volume of at least 225 calls for the time period of the data base because those states would be light champagne colored in FIG. 5 with this manipulation of upper thumb 273.
Although not illustrated, movement of both thumbs 273, 274 away from their extreme positions can be accomplished. This can be done by setting the upper thumb 273 to a desired value and the lower thumb 274 to a desired value (or thumb 274 first then thumb 273 next) by use of the pointing device 116. Alternatively, one of the thumbs 273, 274 could be manipulated toward the other thumb to define a desired set range for the color spectrum of choice, and then the entire set range moved as a unit to a position where the upper thumb 273 and the lower thumb 274 have the desired values (although some fine manipulation may be needed to get the exact upper and lower value settings desired). Movement of the set range as a unit is accomplished by clicking button 117 of the pointing device 116 while the cursor 112 is located between thumbs 273, 274 within the control 270 and dragging the set range to the desired location along the range of control 270 between ends 271 and 272. As any set range is moved as a unit, the colors of the geographic regions in geographic window 210 may change in essentially real time. Thus, this is another visualization technique that a user may use to analyze numerical values from a data base.
FIG. 6 is a graph of a set range and how it maps colors to a set of numerical values, which may be telecommunication calls, costs, minutes or some other data parameters unrelated to telecommunications.
Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 7, size control 250 will be described. Size control 250 has upper and lower ends 251, 252 and upper and lower thumbs 253, 254 which correspond very closely to the components of color control 270. The manipulation of the upper and lower thumbs 253, 254 to define a set range and the ability to move a set range as a unit are essentially the same as manipulation of corresponding components of color control 270. However, as its name implies, the size control 250 controls the size of geographic regions under analysis in geographic window 210. It should be noted that the operation of size control 250 was turned off in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5 above, although similar displays could be achieved by moving thumbs 253 and 254 to their extreme upper locations.
As shown in FIG. 7, a geographic region which is selected for analysis by the user, has an underlying geographical map of the region which is a uniform gray color except for boundaries, such as state and regional lines, which are black. Colored shapes referred to as glyphs overlay the gray map. The color of these glyphs is determined by the mapping associated with color control 270. The shape of these glyphs corresponds to the shape of the geographic region of interest. Further, each colored glyph is centered in the geographic region it over lays. The size of the glyphs are determined by the range set by upper and lower thumbs 253, 254. Thus, in FIG. 7 for the State of California, regions 710, 712 and 714 have no glyphs at all, which means they are at or below the minimum value of lower thumb 253, while glyphs 720 and 722 fill their entire regions showing that they are at or above the value of upper thumb 254. Various other regions are somewhere in between, so their glyphs only partially fill their respective regions, for example region 730. This mapping technique also gives the user visual indications of numerical values within a data base, in this case call volume by region for a specific period. To "turn off" the effect of size control 250, the user simply moves both upper and lower thumbs 253, 254 together at the upper extreme for a full size color mapped display and together at the lower extreme for no color.
Thus, it will be now be understood that there has been disclosed a method and apparatus for displaying and analyzing data of a data base . While the invention has been particularly illustrated and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form, details, and applications may be made therein. It is accordingly intended that the appended claims shall cover all such changes in form, details and applications which do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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A system that has a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user to readily define and manipulate a transform function from one attribute, such as numerical value, to another attribute that is more understandable by by the user such as color, size or location. Special two thumb slider controls provide the transform functions. The two thumbs define break points for piecewise linear transform ranges. Further, the center transform range can be manipulated as a unit to show the user what happens if the range is maintained essentially constant but the break points are varied. The aid to visualizing characteristics otherwise hidden in large data sets, such as a monthly telephone bill of a large corporation, is very beneficial.
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FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to suture loop constructions and, more particularly, to a locking suture loop construction and a method of its construction.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
[0003] It is commonplace in arthroscopic procedures to employ sutures and anchors to secure soft tissues to bone. Despite their widespread use, several improvements in the use of sutures and suture anchors can be made. For example, the procedure of tying knots can be very time consuming, thereby increasing the cost of the procedure and limiting the capacity of the surgeon. Furthermore, the strength of the repair may be limited by the strength of the knot. This latter drawback may be of particular significance if the knot is tied improperly as the strength of the knot in such situations can be significantly lower than the tensile strength of the suture material.
[0004] To overcome this problem, sutures having a single preformed loop have been provided. FIG. 1 represents a prior art suture construction. As shown, one end of the suture is passed through a passage defined in the suture itself. The application of tension to the ends of the suture pulls a portion of the suture through the passage, causing a loop formed in the suture to close. Unfortunately, relaxation of the system can allow a portion of the suture to translate back through the passage, thus relieving the desired tension.
[0005] It is an object of the present teachings to provide an alternative device for anchoring sutures to bone and soft tissue. The device, which is relatively simple in design and structure, is highly effective for its intended purpose.
SUMMARY
[0006] To overcome the aforementioned deficiencies, a method for configuring a braided tubular suture and a suture configuration are disclosed. The method includes passing a first end of the suture through a first aperture into a passage defined by the suture and out a second aperture defined by the suture so as to place the first end outside of the passage. A second end of the suture is passed through the second aperture into the passage and out the first aperture so as to place the second end outside of the passage.
[0007] In another embodiment, a method for configuring a braided suture is disclosed. The method includes passing a first end of the suture through the first aperture defined between the pair of fibers defining the suture and into a longitudinal passage defined by the suture. The first end of the suture is then passed through a second aperture defined between a second pair of fibers so as to place the first end outside of the longitudinal passage. A second end of the suture is passed through a third aperture defined between a third pair of fibers and into the longitudinal passage. The second end is passed through an aperture defined by a fourth pair of fibers so as to place the second end outside of the longitudinal passage.
[0008] In another embodiment, a suture anchor construction is provided comprising a suture and a suture anchor defining a bore. The suture has first and second ends and defines an interior longitudinal passage portion, and first and second depending apertures disposed between the first and second ends. The first end is placed through the first and second apertures so as to place a first portion within the longitudinal passage portion, and the second end is placed through the second and first aperture so as to place a second portion within a first portion of the longitudinal passage portion. The first portion is at least partially disposed with the bore. The suture anchor can be one of a screw, a plate, and a cannulated member.
[0009] In another embodiment, a suture construction is provided having a suture with first and second ends and an enlarged central portion defining an interior longitudinal passage. First and second passage depending apertures are disposed between the first and second ends. The first end being placed through the first and second apertures so as to place a first portion of the suture within the longitudinal passage. The second end being placed through the second and first aperture so as to place a second portion of the suture within the longitudinal passage.
[0010] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
DRAWINGS
[0011] The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
[0012] FIG. 1 represents a prior art suture configuration;
[0013] FIGS. 2A and 2B represent suture constructions according to the teachings;
[0014] FIG. 3 represents the formation of the suture configuration shown in FIG. 2A ;
[0015] FIGS. 4A and 4B represent alternate suture configurations;
[0016] FIGS. 5-7 represent further alternate suture configurations;
[0017] FIG. 8 represents the suture construction according to FIG. 5 coupled to a bone engaging fastener;
[0018] FIGS. 9, 10, 11A, and 11B represent the coupling of the suture construction according to FIG. 5 to a bone screw;
[0019] FIGS. 12A-12E represent the coupling of a soft tissue to an ACL replacement in a femoral/humeral reconstruction; and
[0020] FIGS. 13A-13D represent a close-up view of the suture shown in FIGS. 1-11C .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
[0022] FIG. 2A represents a suture construction 20 according to the present teachings. Shown is a suture 22 having a first end 24 and a second end 26 . The suture 22 is formed of a braided body 28 that defines a longitudinally formed hollow passage 30 therein. First and second apertures 32 and 34 are defined in the braided body 28 at first and second locations of the longitudinally formed passage 30 .
[0023] Briefly referring to FIG. 3 , a first end 24 of the suture 22 is passed through the first aperture 32 and through longitudinal passage 30 formed by a passage portion, and out the second aperture 34 . The second end 26 is passed through the second aperture 34 , through the passage 30 and out the first aperture 32 . This forms two loops 46 and 46 ′. As seen in FIG. 28 , the relationship of the first and second apertures 32 and 34 with respect to the first and second ends 24 and 26 can be modified so as to allow a bow-tie suture construction 36 . As described below, the longitudinal and parallel placement of first and second suture portions 38 and 40 of the suture 22 within the longitudinal passage 30 resists the reverse relative movement of the first and second portions 38 and 40 of the suture once it is tightened.
[0024] The first and second apertures are formed during the braiding process as loose portions between pairs of fibers defining the suture. As further described below, the first and second ends 24 and 26 can be passed through the longitudinal passage 30 multiple times. It is envisioned that either a single or multiple apertures can be formed at the ends of the longitudinally formed passage.
[0025] As best seen in FIGS. 4A and 4B , a portion of the braided body 28 of the suture defining the longitudinal passage 30 can be braided so as to have a diameter larger than the diameter of the first and second ends 24 and 26 . Additionally shown are first through fourth apertures 32 , 34 , 42 , and 44 . These apertures can be formed in the braiding process or can be formed during the construction process. In this regard, the apertures 32 , 34 , 42 , and 44 are defined between adjacent fibers in the braided body 28 . As shown in FIG. 4B , and described below, it is envisioned the sutures can be passed through other biomedically compatible structures.
[0026] FIGS. 5-7 represent alternate constructions wherein a plurality of loops 46 a - d are formed by passing the first and second ends 24 and 26 through the longitudinal passage 30 multiple times. The first and second ends 24 and 26 can be passed through multiple or single apertures defined at the ends of the longitudinal passage 30 . The tensioning of the ends 24 and 26 cause relative translation of the sides of the suture with respect to each other.
[0027] Upon applying tension to the first and second ends 24 and 26 of the suture 22 , the size of the loops 46 a - d is reduced to a desired size or load. At this point, additional tension causes the body of the suture defining the longitudinal passage 30 to constrict about the parallel portions of the suture within the longitudinal passage 30 . This constriction reduces the diameter of the longitudinal passage 30 , thus forming a mechanical interface between the exterior surfaces of the first and second parallel portions as well as the interior surface of the longitudinal passage 30 .
[0028] As seen in FIGS. 8-11 , the suture construction can be coupled to various biocompatible hardware. In this regard, the suture construction 20 can be coupled to an aperture 52 of the bone engaging fastener 54 . Additionally, it is envisioned that soft tissue or bone engaging members 56 can be fastened to one or two loops 46 . After fixing the bone engaging fastener 54 , the members 56 can be used to repair, for instance, a meniscal tear. The first and second ends 24 , 26 are then pulled, setting the tension on the loops 46 , thus pulling the meniscus into place. Additionally, upon application of tension, the longitudinal passage 30 is constricted, thus preventing the relaxation of the tension caused by relative movement of the first and second parallel portions 38 , 40 , within the longitudinal passage 30 .
[0029] As seen in FIGS. 9-11B , the loops 46 can be used to fasten the suture construction 20 to multiple types of prosthetic devices. As described further below, the suture 22 can further be used to repair and couple soft tissues in an anatomically desired position. Further, retraction of the first and second ends allows a physician to adjust the tension on the loops between the prosthetic devices.
[0030] FIG. 11 b represents the coupling of the suture construction according to FIG. 28 with a bone fastening member. Coupled to a pair of loops 46 and 46 ′ are tissue fastening members 56 . The application of tension to either the first or second end 24 or 26 will tighten the loops 46 or 46 ′ separately.
[0031] FIGS. 12A-12E represent potential uses of the suture constructions 20 in FIGS. 2A-7 in an ACL repair. As can be seen in FIG. 12A , the longitudinal passage portion 30 of suture construction 20 can be first coupled to a fixation member 60 . The member 60 can have a first profile which allows insertion of the member 60 through the tunnel and a second profile which allows engagement with a positive locking surface upon rotation. The longitudinal passage portion 30 of the suture construction 20 , member 60 , loops 46 and ends 24 , 26 can then be passed through a femoral and tibial tunnel 62 . The fixation member 60 is positioned or coupled to the femur. At this point, a natural or artificial ACL 64 can be passed through a loop or loops 46 formed in the suture construction 20 . Tensioning of the first and second ends 24 and 26 applies tension to the loops 46 , thus pulling the ACL 64 into the tunnel. In this regard, the first and second ends are pulled through the femoral and tibial tunnel, thus constricting the loops 46 about the ACL 64 (see FIG. 12B ).
[0032] As shown, the suture construction 20 allows for the application of force along an axis 61 defining the femoral tunnel. Specifically, the orientation of the suture construction 20 and, more specifically, the orientation of the longitudinal passage portion 30 , the loops 46 , and ends 24 , 26 allow for tension to be applied to the construction 20 without applying non-seating forces to the fixation member 60 . As an example, should the loops 24 , 26 be positioned at the member 60 , application of forces to the ends 24 , 26 may reduce the seating force applied by the member 60 onto the bone.
[0033] As best seen in FIG. 12C , the body portion 28 and parallel portions 38 , 40 of the suture construction 20 remain disposed within to the fixation member 60 . Further tension of the first ends draws the ACL 64 up through the tibial component into the femoral component. In this way, suture ends can be used to apply appropriate tension onto the ACL 64 component. The ACL 64 is then fixed to the tibial component using a plug or screw as is known.
[0034] After feeding the ACL 64 through the loops 46 , tensioning of the ends allows engagement of the ACL with bearing surfaces defined on the loops. The tensioning pulls the ACL 64 through a femoral and tibial tunnel. The ACL 64 could be further coupled to the femur using a transverse pin or plug. As shown in FIG. 12E , once the ACL is fastened to the tibia, further tensioning can be applied to the first and second ends 24 , 26 placing a desired predetermined load on the ACL. This tension can be measured using a force gauge. This load is maintained by the suture configuration. It is equally envisioned that the fixation member 60 can be placed on the tibial component 66 and the ACL pulled into the tunnel through the femur. Further, it is envisioned that bone cement or biological materials may be inserted into the tunnel 62 .
[0035] FIGS. 13A-13D represent a close-up of a portion of the suture 20 . As can be seen, the portion of the suture defining the longitudinal passage 30 has a diameter d 1 which is larger than the diameter d 2 of the ends 24 and 26 . The first aperture 32 is formed between a pair of fiber members. As can be seen, the apertures 32 , 34 can be formed between two adjacent fiber pairs 68 , 70 . Further, various shapes can be braided onto a surface of the longitudinal passage 30 .
[0036] The sutures are typically braided of from 8 to 16 fibers. These fibers are made of nylon or other biocompatible material. It is envisioned that the suture 22 can be formed of multiple type of biocompatible fibers having multiple coefficients of friction or size. Further, the braiding can be accomplished so that different portions of the exterior surface of the suture can have different coefficients of friction or mechanical properties. The placement of a carrier fiber having a particular surface property can be modified along the length of the suture so as to place it at varying locations within the braided constructions.
[0037] The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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A suture construction and method for forming a suture construction is disclosed. The construction utilizes a suture having an enlarged central body portion defining a longitudinal passage. First and second ends of the suture are passed through first and second apertures associated with the longitudinal passage to form a pair of loops. Portions of the suture lay parallel to each other within the suture. Application of tension onto the suture construction causes constriction of the longitudinal passage, thus preventing relative motions of the captured portions of the suture.
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REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional application, serial No. 60/258,309, entitled Biological Agent Detection Technology in High Density Agriculture Operations, filed Dec. 28, 2000.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The invention relates to apparatus and methods for monitoring environmental biological and chemical contaminants in a defined area. In particular, the invention relates to such apparatus and methods for use in agricultural operations.
[0004] 2. Description of the Background
[0005] In high density farming animals live almost on top of each other in minimal space with integrated and coordinated support systems such as waste disposal, air circulation and feeding. A vast array of pharmaceuticals, mostly antibiotics, are used to reduce the prevalence and severity of disease, and concomitantly increase yield. However, this practice has of late been coming under fire for a variety of reasons. The use of prophylactic pharmaceuticals (PP) has multiple problems.
[0006] The use of PP has been a contributing factor to the development and emergence of drug resistant pathogens. The environment in which they are used is almost perfect for forced evolution of pathogens. There is concern that these PP remain in the food, even after processing, and are therefore entering human systems with unknown end results. The added costs of procurement and dissemination of these PP is high, and adds to the bottom line costs of production. This cost is not merely the that of acquisition but also maintenance of records, compliance with regulatory and oversight bodies and logistics, transport and processing of wastes.
[0007] The PP used are broad spectrum and seldom targeted to a particular disease and, consequently may not be optimized for the particular situation in which they are utilized. Consequently, costs and efficacy are sub optimized. Of principal concern, however, is public perception of use of broad band antibiotics as a growth media. This perception has already resulted in the banning of this practice in Australia and several parts of Europe, and is currently under consideration in the US. Should this occur, cost of production, and hence end product will almost certainly increase and lead to increased consumer costs. This will result from decreased yields caused by smaller animals, a greater incidence of disease, smaller commercial yields per animal or crop, increased waste, etc.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages associated with current strategies and designs and provides effective methods and systems for monitoring for the presence of chemical or biological agents in agricultural operations. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and systems to monitor and prevent or at least minimize harm to the agricultural operation.
[0009] One embodiment of the invention is directed to methods of monitoring agricultural operations in defined geographical areas, which comprises dispersing a plurality of sensors within the geographical area wherein each sensor can detect a chemical or biological agent that may pose a threat to the operation; and monitoring the plurality of sensors for the presence of one or more of the chemical or biological agents. Appropriate sensors are commercially available or can be designed to meet the needs of the specific agricultural operation.
[0010] Another embodiment of the invention is directed to methods of monitoring agricultural operations in a geographical area comprising dispersing a plurality of sensors within the area wherein each sensor can detect a chemical or biological agent that may pose a threat to the agricultural operation; monitoring the plurality of sensors for the presence of one or more of the chemical or biological agents; and taking action to protect the agricultural operation upon detection of a chemical or biological agent by one or more of the sensors.
[0011] Another embodiment of the invention is directed to systems designed to detect potentially harmful chemical or biological agents that enter agricultural operations. Such systems comprise a plurality of sensors designed to detect a chemical or biological agent, wherein the sensors are dispersed throughout the agricultural operation; and a control station connected to each sensor which provides information to a user on the activity of the plurality of sensors. The invention may further comprise a means to segregate a portion of the agricultural operation from the entirety of the operation. Preferably the means is operably connected to the control station and the control station is a computer.
[0012] Other embodiments and advantages of the invention are set forth, in part, in the following description including the figures, and, also in part, will be obvious from this description, or may be learned from the practice of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] As embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention is directed to effective methods and systems for monitoring for the presence of chemical or biological agents in agricultural operations. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and systems to monitor and prevent or at least minimize harm to the agricultural operation.
[0014] Considerable resources are being spent to develop environmental sensors and systems to support the early detection and reaction against potential biological warfare agents and terrorism threats. It has been surprisingly discovered that similar sensors and systems can be modified to have a non-military function, specifically, to monitor crops and animals in agricultural operations for harmful chemical and/or biological agents. The ability to respond immediately to the site of a potential outbreak and isolate or eradicate the outbreak, can wipe out a problem before it becomes massive and uncontrollable. As measures already exist to wipe out the infection, what remains is the ability to provide early detection that is as accurate as it is prompt.
[0015] Conventional sensing and identifying involves the detection of unknown agents nearly in uncontrolled areas, such as open air around cities and in buildings, for a wide array of chemicals and pathogens. These sensors must take into account the hugely varying backgrounds associated with changes in seasons as well as various outbreaks of relatively innocuous diseases (e.g. influenza, rhinovirus), while still being able to identify emerging or anomalous disease signatures. This technology can be applied to agricultural situations such as high-density farming for a similar service, to provide early warning of threats to crops or animal populations. In such operations, typically there is a fixed population under tight control and scrutiny with very little geographic displacement or movement. There also exists a tightly controlled food, air, water, waste and effluent streams, with, in normal operations, a limited number of pathogens of interest, or at least an ability to set sensors to maximize detection for those pathogens that are of greatest concern.
[0016] Accordingly, one embodiment of the invention is directed to methods of monitoring an agricultural operation in a geographical area comprising dispersing a plurality of sensors within the geographical area wherein each sensor can detect a chemical or biological agent that may pose a threat to the agricultural operation; and monitoring the plurality of sensors for the presence of one or more of the chemical or biological agents.
[0017] Chemical agents that can be detected include solids and fluids such as gasses, vapors or liquids. Specific agents that can be detected, include, but are not limited to, benzene, chlorine, chloroform, fluorine, harmful aromatics and hydrocarbons, metals such as lead and sodium, methane, ozone, any of a variety of petroleum-based materials, propane, sulfur dioxide and any of a variety of industrial or other pollutants, and weaponized substances such as serin gas. Biological agents that can be detected include, for example, whole or parts of various pathogenic or otherwise harmful microorganisms such as bacteria (e.g. gram negative and gram positive, aerobic and anaerobic), fungi, parasites (e.g. Ameba, Leishmania, Nematodes, Protozoa), spores (e.g. anthrax), and viruses (e.g. pox virus, hepatitis, rabies, rhinovirus), or whole or parts of multi-celled organisms such as beetles, fleas, fungus, insects, mites, ticks and other pests. Specific examples include, but are not limited to species of Escherichia, Bacillis, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Vibrio. Disease organisms that can be detected include, but are not limited to, botulism, cholera, diphtheria, dysentery, and salmonella.
[0018] Many sensors which may be used are commercially available or can be designed to the specific agricultural operation. For example, appropriate sensors may detect changes in pH, temperature, RedOx potential, combustibility, ozone concentration, ion or free radical content, the presence of absence of radiation including, but not limited to, visible light, bioluminescence, fluorescence, infrared, ultraviolet and radio waves, changes in absorbency, transmission, or scattering, and the presence of absence of specific chemical or biological materials. Biological materials that can be detected include infections and infectious agents, enzyme activities and levels, characteristic waste materials or substances, gaseous substances, and combinations thereof. Sensors that can be used in the methods and systems of the invention are generally commercially available and many are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,596,697; 4,824,206; 4,892,383; 4,935,207; 4,948,722; 5,004,914; 5,028,395; 5,047,213; 5,055,268; 5,078,855; 5,109,442; 5,10,393; 5,205,292; 5,284,146; 5,294,402; 5,310,526; 5,362,975; 5,393,401; 5,418,058; 5,443,354; 5,496,522; 5,569,838, 5,593,854; 5,597,534; 5,618,493; 5,686,300; 5,719,033; 5,741,634; 5,796,097; 5,822,473; 5,827,748; 5,880,352; 5,910,286; 5,958,340; 5,972,638; 6,035,705; 6,201,980; 6,269,703; and 6,303,386. However, sensors can also be specifically designed to detect one or a plurality of chemical and/or biological agents as most useful for the particular agricultural operation. Sensors can provide simple detection information, concentration information and also trend information in situations where absolute amounts of biological or chemical substances and not as important as changes and rate of changes.
[0019] The agricultural operation may comprise raising plants or animals, or any other operation (e.g. high-density agricultural operation), conducted in a predetermined geographical area (e.g. caves, farms, fenced in areas, fields, vineyards, or any confined or partially confined areas). Plants that are raised on an agricultural operation include, but are not limited to, fruits, fungi, grains, soybeans, trees, vegetables, and combinations thereof. Preferred plants include corn, mushrooms, rice, soybeans, and wheat. Preferred animals include cattle, chickens, ducks, horses, pigs, and sheep. Also preferably, sensors are placed at the points where materials enter or exit the agricultural operation. Those materials include, but are not limited to, air, bedding materials, biological waste materials, effluent, feed, fertilizer, soil, and water, and even within the animals or crops that make up the operation. Agricultural areas include, but are not limited to, any defined geographical area, such as a pen, a corral, a yard, a fenced-in area, a barn, an acreage, or area of planted crops. The sensors, which comprise as many as needed for the particular geographical area and operational design, may comprise as few as three, at least five, at least twenty five, at least fifty, or more as needed. Many types of chemical sensors are commercially available that are designed to detect agents such as, but not limited to, carcinogens, contaminants, poisons, pollutants, toxins, and combinations thereof. Biological sensors are also commercially available that can detect bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, and combinations thereof.
[0020] The invention is also directed to the placement of said sensors in breeding, growing, and raising crops and animals and also in monitoring the populations. Preferably, sensors are placed at locations where water and food or fertilizer enter the geographic area, up-wind of the prevailing winds for air-borne detection, where waste such as liquid run off and solids such as bio-waste or manure, leave the area, and bedding or other common areas. With constant, nearly constant or periodic monitoring, when an indication of a disease appears, immediate, often optimal, therapy can be provided. As treatment is provided when most useful, the control and eradication of the harm or disease is mostly assured. Periods may be seconds, minutes, hours, days, moths or even longer. Determination on length of the period lies with the requirement for action upon detection of harmful agents. Sensors may periodically or constantly monitor these controlled environments and provide information, not only on outbreak but potentially on the overall health of the population, or that portion of the population, thereby allowing for real-time, closed-loop control of the production process.
[0021] Another embodiment of the invention is directed to methods of monitoring an agricultural operation in a geographical area comprising dispersing a plurality of sensors within the area wherein each sensor can detect a chemical or biological agent that may pose a threat to the agricultural operation; monitoring the plurality of sensors for the presence of one or more of the chemical or biological agents; and taking action to protect the agricultural operation upon detection of a chemical or biological agent by one or more of the plurality of sensors. The action taken is designed to protect the operation from harm or at least limit that harm from the rest of the operation and from nearby operations. When a sensor detects a potentially harmful agent, the action that may be taken includes, but is not limited to, treating the animals or plants of the agricultural operation with an agent that inactivates the chemical or biological agent detected; treating all or a portion of the agricultural operation with a prophylactic that prevents harm from the chemical or biological agent detected; destroying all or selected portions of the agricultural operation; or any combination thereof.
[0022] Another embodiment of the invention is directed to systems designed to detect potentially harmful chemical or biological agents that enter an agricultural operation. Such systems comprise a plurality of sensors designed to detect a chemical or biological agent, wherein the plurality is dispersed throughout the agricultural operation; and a control station connected to each sensor which provides information to a user on the activity of the plurality of sensors. The control station may be a computer that monitors the sensors. When a sensor detects a potentially harmful chemical or biological agent, an alarm can be sounded to alert the operator. The operator can take immediate action to protect the non-exposed portions of the operation and treat the exposed portion as necessary.
[0023] The invention may further comprise a means to segregate a portion of the agricultural operation from the entirety of the operation. Preferably the means is operably connected to the control station and can be operated by the user. An aspect of this embodiment is that control over all operations associated with detection of a potentially harmful agent can be centralized to one location and even one person. This maximizes efficiency and control over the operation and allows one individual or group to control multiple operations. Thus, another embodiment of the invention is a business model whereby monitoring and remedial action necessary to protect unexposed operations and treat exposed operations can be directed from a central facility by experienced professionals.
[0024] Additional embodiments of the invention include coupling sensor nets of the invention to other detection systems such as weather stations that monitor wind speed or direction and general weather patterns. In this way, contaminants that enter the agricultural operation can be tracked and their original location discovered. Further, multiple systems of the invention can be incorporated into broader systems that are larger in scope and encompass large geographical areas such as counties, regions, states and countries. Such systems of the invention can monitor and rapidly detect and identify biological and/or chemical agents that pose significant concern to more than one agricultural operation.
[0025] The following examples are offered to illustrate embodiments of the invention, but are not to be viewed as limiting the scope of the invention.
EXAMPLES
General System Designs of the Invention
[0026] One system of the invention is designed to monitor the health of a herd of dairy cattle. Sensors to detect agents of biological warfare such as cowpox are placed in a plurality of locations such as in the cattle's feed, water supply, and waste removal area, and in the general area to which the cattle are confined. Sensors can be designed to detect surface proteins of the virus, infected cells, or certain metabolic products. Upon detection of cowpox, the computer monitor notifies the user and the user immediately takes action. That action may be to segregate infected from non-infected cattle or to immediately begin treatment and/or prophylaxis (i.e. vaccination) of the herd.
[0027] Another system of the invention is designed to detect nerve toxins deliberately or accidentally administered to water supplies containing fish. Sensors are placed in a plurality of locations including the water intake areas, water exit areas, the bodies of the fish, in the soil at the bottom of the water, and in the water in general. Upon detection of the specific nerve toxin, the water supply and/or the fish are immediately treated with chemicals to neutralize or destroy the toxin.
[0028] Another system of the invention is designed for detection of ozone concentrations harmful to wheat. Ozone sensors are placed at key locations up wind of the crops. Upon detection of increased ozone levels, a gas is immediately releases into the area of the crops that destroy or otherwise complex the ozone preventing harm to the wheat. An alternative system can also be designed for the detection of harmful levels of radiation. Upon detection, shields are placed over the crop to prevent harmful exposure.
[0029] Another system of the invention can be designed to detect anthrax in the environment of a heard of sheep. Sensors that detect pathogenic anthrax spores are placed in a plurality of locations such as in the soil, water, food and air supply provided to the herd. Upon detection of anthrax spores, the herd can be sequestered to another location and treated before an infection can take hold that would require the animals to be destroyed.
[0030] Other embodiments and uses of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. All references cited herein for any reason, including all U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications, are specifically and entirely incorporated by reference. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention indicated by the following claims.
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Billions of dollars are being spent in the development and deployment of technologies for monitoring environmental biological and chemical contaminants to support early detection and reaction to potential biological warfare and terrorism. To date, little commercial value has been seen in these technologies. However, direct application of these technologies for monitoring, in real time, the growth environment found in high density farming applications (i.e. poultry, pigs, veal, etc.) offers the potential for considerable improvement in yields, reduced use of antibiotics and other prophylactic pharmaceuticals and reduced potential for outbreaks of drug resistant disease.
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/122,057, which was converted from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/069,045, filed Apr. 29, 1998, pursuant to a petition filed under 37 C.F.R. 1.53(c)(2)(i).
This invention concerns a series of novel heteroaryl-β-hydroxypropylamines which are effective pharmaceuticals for the treatment of conditions related to or are affected by the reuptake of serotonin. The compounds are particularly useful for the treatment of depression, anxiety, drug withdrawal, eating and sexual disorders and other conditions for which serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
In their article “4-(Indolyl-3)-1-(benzimidazolonylalkyl)-piperidines, a Novel Group of Potential Antiallergy Compounds”, Arzneim.-Forsch, 35 (1), 272-276 (1985), Freter et al. disclose compounds of the formula:
as anti-allergy agents by virtue of their histamine H1-blocking actions in addition to weak mast cell stabilizing properties.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Depression is a psychiatric condition thought to be associated with decreased serotonin release. Most antidepressant agents (e.g. fluoxetine) potentiate the effects of serotonin by blocking the termination of its activity through reuptake into nerve terminals. The present invention provides a series of novel indolyl derivatives which inhibit the reuptake of serotonin, to processes for their preparation, to pharmaceutical compositions containing them and to their use in therapy for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, particularly depression.
Compounds of the present invention are represented by the general formula (1):
wherein:
R 1 and R 2 each independently represent hydrogen, hydroxy, F, Cl, Br, I, CN, 1 to 6 carbon alkyl, 1 to 6 carbon alkoxy, nitro, CF 3 and phenyloxy or benzyloxy, in which the aromatic ring can be optionally substituted by from 1 to 3 groups selected from C 1 -C 6 alkoxy (preferably OMe), F, Cl, Br, I, and CF 3 ;
R 3 and R 4 are each independently a hydrogen, a 1 to 6 carbon alkyl or a CH 2 Ph in which the phenyl ring can be optionally substituted by from 1 to 3 groups selected from C 1 -C 6 alkoxy (preferably OMe), F, Cl, Br, I, and CF 3 ;
Y is selected from CH 2 or CH and,
X is selected from a group represented by N, CR 3 , CHR 3 , CHCH;
or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
A preferred group of compounds of this invention are those in which X is N and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 and Y are as defined above. Another preferred group herein comprises compounds wherein X is CR 3 , CHR 3 or CHCH and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 and Y are as defined above.
The pharmaceutically acceptable salts are the acid addition salts which can be formed from a compound of the above general formula and a pharmaceutically acceptable inorganic acid such as phosphoric, sulfuric, hydrochloric, hydrobromic, citric, maleic, fumaric, acetic, lactic or methanesulfonic acid.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Compounds of the present invention may be prepared using conventional methods. For example, treatment of the indole or benzimidazole derivative (2) with glycidyl tosylate affords the epoxide (3). Reaction of the epoxide with the piperidine or tetrahydropyridine derivatives (4) and (5) affords the respective products (1).
The preparation of the appropriately substituted 3-(4-piperidinyl)indoles and 3-(4-tetrahydro pyridinyl) indoles can be achieved by known and conventional methods. For example, the reaction of an optionally substituted indole with 4-piperidone affords the 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (5). This can be reduced using standard catalytic hydrogenation methodology to afford a 3-(4-piperidinyl)indole (4). Such methodology is described in C. Gueremy et al., J. Med. Chem., 1980, 23, 1306-1310, J-L. Malleron et al., J. Med. Chem., 1993, 36, 1194-1202 and J. Bergman, J. Heterocyclic. Chem., 1970, 1071-1076.
The present invention provides methods for inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin in mammals, preferably in humans. Compounds of the present invention inhibit with very high affinity the binding of paroxetine to the serotonin transporter, and consequently, they are useful for the treatment of central nervous system disorders such as depression, anxiety, including generalized anxiety disorder, sleep disorders, sexual dysfunction, obsessive-compulsive disorders, obesity, bulimia nervosa, migraine, chronic fatigue syndrome, pain, particularly neuropathic pain, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, late luteal phase dysphoric disorder (also referred to a premenstrual syndrome), Tourette's syndrome, alcohol and cocaine addiction, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and for cognition enhancement such as in Alzheimer's disease.
It is understood that the therapeutically effective dosage to be used in the treatment of a specific psychosis must be subjectively determined by the attending physician. Variables involved include the specific psychosis or state of anxiety and the size, age and response pattern of the patient. The novel method of the invention for treating conditions related to or are affected by the reuptake of serotonin comprise administering to warm-blooded animals, including humans, an effective amount of at least one compound of this invention or a non-toxic, pharmaceutically acceptable addition salt thereof. The compounds may be administered orally, rectally, parenterally, or topically to the skin and mucosa. The usual daily dose is depending on the specific compound, method of treatment and condition treated. An effective dose of 0.01-1000 mg/Kg may be used for oral application, preferably 0.5-500 mg/Kg, and an effective amount of 0.1-100 mg/Kg may be used for parenteral application, preferably 0.5-50 mg/Kg. The therapeutically effective dosage to be used in the treatment of a specific psychosis must be subjectively determined by the attending physician. The variables involved include the specific malady or disorder and the size, age and response pattern of the patient.
The present invention also includes pharmaceutical compositions containing a compound of this invention, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers or excipients. Applicable solid carriers or excipients can include one or more substances which may also act as flavoring agents, lubricants, solubilizers, suspending agents, fillers, glidants, compression aids, binders or tablet-disintegrating agents or an encapsulating material. In powders, the carrier is a finely divided solid which is in admixture with the finely divided active ingredient. In tablets, the active ingredient is mixed with a carrier having the necessary compression properties in suitable proportions and compacted in the shape and size desired. The powders and tablets preferably contain up to 99% of the active ingredient. Suitable solid carriers include, for example, calcium phosphate, magnesium stearate, talc, sugars, lactose, dextrin, starch, gelatin, cellulose, methyl cellulose, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidine, low melting waxes and ion exchange resins. Liquid carriers may be used in preparing solutions, suspensions, emulsions, syrups and elixirs. The active ingredient of this invention can be dissolved or suspended in a pharmaceutically acceptable liquid carrier such as water, an organic solvent, a mixture of both or pharmaceutically acceptable oils or fat. The liquid carrier can contain other suitable pharmaceutical additives such as solubilizers, emulsifiers, buffers, preservatives, sweeteners, flavoring agents, suspending agents, thickening agents, colors, viscosity regulators, stabilizers or osmo-regulators. Suitable examples of liquid carriers for oral and parenteral administration include water (particularly containing additives as above e.g. cellulose derivatives, preferably sodium carboxymethyl cellulose solution), alcohols (including monohydric alcohols and polyhydric alcohols e.g. glycols) and their derivatives, and oils (e.g. fractionated coconut oil and arachis oil). For parenteral administration the carrier can also be an oily ester such as ethyl oleate and isopropyl myristate. Sterile liquid carriers are used in sterile liquid form compositions for parenteral administration. Liquid pharmaceutical compositions which are sterile solutions or suspensions can be utilized by, for example, intramuscular, intraperitoneal or subcutaneous injection. Sterile solutions can also be administered intravenously. Oral administration may be either liquid or solid composition form.
Preferably the pharmaceutical composition is in unit dosage form, e.g. as tablets or capsules. In such form, the composition is sub-divided in unit dose containing appropriate quantities of the active ingredient; the unit dosage forms can be packaged compositions, for example packeted powders, vials, ampoules, prefilled syringes or sachets containing liquids. The unit dosage form can be, for example, a capsule or tablet itself, or it can be the appropriate number of any such compositions in package form.
The affinity of drugs for the serotonin transporter was determined by assessing the ability of agents to displace specifically bound 3H-paroxetine binding from rat cortical membranes. This procedure is a modification of that used by Cheetham et al., 1993 (Neuropharmacol. 32: 737-743, 1993). Nonspecific binding was determined using fluoxetine. Using this assay, the following Ki's were determined for a series of standard serotonin uptake inhibitors.
3 H-Paroxetine Binding to Assess Affinity of Drugs for the Serotonin Transporter
A protocol similar to that used by Cheetham et al. (Neuropharmacol. 32: 737, 1993) was used to determine the affinity of compounds for the serotonin transporter. Briefly, frontal cortical membranes prepared from male S.D. rats were incubated with 3 H-paroxetine (0.1 nM) for 60 min at 25° C. All tubes also contained either vehicle, test compound (one to eight concentrations), or a saturating concentration of fluoxetine (10 μM) to define specific binding. All reactions are terminated by the addition of ice cold Tris buffer followed by rapid filtration using a Tom Tech filtration device to separate bound from free 3 H-paroxetine. Bound radioactivity was quantitated using a Wallac 1205 Beta Plate® counter. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to determine IC 50 values which were converted to Ki values using the method of Cheng and Prusoff (Biochem. Pharmacol. 22: 3099, 1973); Ki=IC50/((Radioligand conc.)/(1+KD)).
Inhibition of [3H]-Paroxetine binding
Compound
Ki (nM)
Clomipramine
0.18
Fluoxetine
4.42
Imipramine
17.6
Zimelidine
76.7
The results for a number of examples of compounds of formula (1) in this standard experimental test procedure were as follows:
Inhibition of [3H]-Paroxetine binding
Compound
Ki (nM)
Example 8
1.4
Example 10
0.01
Example 11
0.04
Example 12
1.7
Example 13
0.4
Example 14
0.03
Example 15
0.3
The following non-limiting specific examples are included to illustrate the synthetic procedures used for preparing compounds of the formula (1). In these examples, all chemicals and intermediates are either commercially available or can be prepared by standard procedures found in the literature or are known to those skilled in the art of organic synthesis.
EXAMPLE 1
1-N-Glycidyl-5-fluoro-indole
Epibromohydrin (1.4 ml, 16.5 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of 5-fluoroindole (2.0 g, 15 mmole) and sodium hydride (0.66 g, 16.5 mmole) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for 15 hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×35 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a viscous yellow colored oil (2.7 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (30% ethyl acetate in hexane) to afford the titled product as a viscous oil (2.5 g, 89% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C11H10FNO Calculated: C, 69.10; H, 5.27; N, 7.33 Found: C, 69.24; H, 5.67; N, 7.36
EXAMPLE 2
1-N-Glycidyl-4-methoxy-indole
Epibromohydrin (0.64 ml, 7.5 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of 4-methoxyindole (1.0 g, 6.8 mmole) and sodium hydride (0.3 g, 7.8 mmole) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for two hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×25 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a yellow colored oil (1.5 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (30% ethyl acetate in hexane) to afford the titled product as a light oil (1.27 g, 92% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C12H13NO2 Calculated: C, 70.92; H, 6.45; N, 6.89 Found: C, 71.05; H, 6.57; N, 6.96
EXAMPLE 3
1-N-Glycidyl-4-fluoro-indole
Epibromohydrin (0.64 ml, 7.5 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of 4-fluoroindole (1.0 g, 7.4 mmole) and sodium hydride (0.32 g, 8.1 mmole) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for 15 hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×25 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a yellow colored oil (1.34 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (30% ethyl acetate in hexane) to afford the titled product as a light oil (1.27 g, 90% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C11H10FNO Calculated: C, 69.10; H, 5.27; N, 7.33 Found: C, 69.24; H, 5.37; N, 7.46
EXAMPLE 4
1-N-Glycidyl-indole
Epibromohydrin (0.73 ml, 8.5 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of indole (1.0 g, 8.5 mmole) and sodium hydride (0.34 g, 8.5 mmole) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for two hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×25 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a light yellow colored oil (1.45 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (30% ethyl acetate in hexane) to afford the titled product as a light oil (1.37 g, 93% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C11H11NO Calculated: C, 76.27; H, 6.40; N, 8.09 Found: C, 76.24; H, 6.37; N, 8.06
EXAMPLE 5
1-N-(S)-Glycidyl-4-methoxyindole
(2S)-(+)-Glycidyl tosylate (1.55 g, 6.8 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of 4-methoxyindole (1.0 g, 6.8 mmole), sodium hydride (0.3 g, 7.5 mmole) and 18-crown-6 (10 mg) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for five hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×25 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a light yellow colored oil (1.15 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (30% ethyl acetate in hexane) to afford the titled product as a light oil (0.65 g, 47% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C12H13NO2 Calculated: C, 70.92; H, 6.45; N, 6.89 Found: C, 71.11; H, 6.59; N, 6.99
EXAMPLE 6
1-N-(S)-Glycidyl-4-fluoroindole
(2S)-(+)-Glycidyl tosylate (1.7 g, 7.4 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of 4-fluoroindole (1.0 g, 7.4 mmole), sodium hydride (0.33 g, 8.1 mmole) and 18-crown-6 (10 mg) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for five hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×25 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a light yellow colored oil (1.15 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (30% ethyl acetate in hexane) to afford the titled product as a light oil (0.4 g, 28% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C11H10FNO Calculated: C, 69.10; H, 5.27; N, 7.33 Found: C, 69.27; H, 5.40; N, 7.43
EXAMPLE 7
1-N-Glycidyl-2-methylbenzimidazole
Epibromohydrin (1.0 g, 7.6 mmole) was added to a stirred solution of 2-methylbenzimidazole (1.0 g, 7.6 mmole) and sodium hydride (0.3 g, 7.6 mmole) in anhydrous DMF (20 ml), and the mixture was heated at 60° C. under nitrogen for 0.5 hours. Water (100 ml) was added and the product extracted into CH2Cl2 (3×25 ml). The combined organics were washed with water (25 ml), brine (25 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Filtration and concentration in vacuo gave the crude product as a light yellow colored oil (1.4 g). This was purified by flash silica gel chromatography (10% methanol in CH2Cl2) to afford the titled product as a light oil (0.64 g, 45% yield).
Elemental Analysis for: C11H12N2O Calculated: C, 70.19; H, 6.43; N, 14.88 Found: C, 70.24; H, 6.47; N, 14.98
EXAMPLE 8
1-(5-Fluoro-indol-1-yl)-3-[4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-glycidyl-5-fluoroindole (0.52 g, 3.0 mmole) from example 1 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.59 g, 3.0 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 15 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a light yellow colored solid (0.91 g, 78% yield). Treatment with a 0.25 M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required salt as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 206-207° C.
Elemental Analysis for: C24H24FN3O 0.5C4H4O4 Calculated: C, 69.78; H, 5.86; N, 9.39 Found: C, 69.46; H, 5.71; N, 9.21
EXAMPLE 9
1-(5-Fluoro-indol-1-yl)-3-[4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-piperidin-1-yl]-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-glycidyl-5-fluoroindole (0.52 g, 3.0 mmole) from example 1 and 3-(4-piperidinyl)indole (0.6 g, 3.0 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 15 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as an oil (0.599 g, 50% yield). Treatment with a 0.25 M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a white solid. The product was recrystallized twice from ethanol.
mp 215-216° C. Elemental Analysis for: C24H26FN3O 0.5C4H4O4 0.8CH2Cl2 Calculated: C, 68.65; H, 6.22; N, 9.21 Found: C, 68.44; H, 6.36; N, 9.14
EXAMPLE 10
1-(4-Fluoro-indol-1-yl)-3-[4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-glycidyl-4-fluoroindole (0.52 g, 3.0 mmole) from example 3 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.59 g, 3.0 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 15 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a pale yellow colored solid (0.61 g, 53% yield). Treatment with a 0.25M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 136-137° C. Elemental Analysis for: C24H24FN3O 0.5C4H4O4 0.12H2O 0.3EtOH Calculated: C, 68.93; H, 6.10; N, 9.07 Found: C, 68.58; H, 6.17; N, 8.82
EXAMPLE 11
1-[4-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-3-(4-methoxy-indol-1-yl)-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-glycidyl-4-methoxyindole (0.6 g, 3.0 mmole) from example 2 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.59 g, 3.0 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 15 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a yellow colored solid (0.73 g, 60% yield). Treatment with a 0.25M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 140-143° C. Elemental Analysis for: C25H27N3O2 0.5C4H4O4 0.17H2O Calculated: C, 70.10; H, 6.39; N, 9.08 Found: C, 69.70; H, 6.27; N, 8.93
EXAMPLE 12
1-Indol-1-yl-3-[4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-glycidylindole (0.52 g, 3.0 mmole) from example 4 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.59 g, 3.0 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 24 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a yellow colored solid (0.53 g, 47% yield). Treatment with a 0.25M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 209-210° C. Elemental Analysis for: C24H25N3O2 0.5C4H4O4 Calculated: C, 72.71; H, 6.34; N, 9.78 Found: C, 72.72; H, 6.49; N, 9.62
EXAMPLE 13
1-[4-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-3-(2-methyl-benzoimidazol-1-yl)-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-glycidyl-2-methylbenzimidazole (0.64 g, 3.4 mmole) from example 7 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.67 g, 3.4 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 24 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (10% methanol in ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a pale yellow colored solid (0.11 g, 9% yield). Treatment with a 0.25M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 206-208° C. Elemental Analysis for: C24H26N4O 0.5C4H4O4 1.5H2O Calculated: C, 66.22; H, 6.63; N, 11.88 Found: C, 66.29; H, 6.20; N, 11.73
EXAMPLE 14
(2S)-1-[4-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-3-(4-methoxy-indol-1-yl)-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-(S)-glycidyl-4-methoxyindole (0.65 g, 3.2 mmole) from example 5 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.63 g, 3.2 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 24 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (10% hexane in ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a pale yellow colored solid (0.6 g, 47% yield). Treatment with a 0.25M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 155-158° C. Elemental Analysis for: C25H27N3O2 0.5C4H4O4 1H2O Calculated: C, 67.91; H, 6.54; N, 8.80 Found: C, 67.81; H, 6.31; N, 8.50
EXAMPLE 15
(2S)-1-(4-Fluoro-indol-1-yl)-3-[4-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3,6-dihydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl]-propan-2-ol
A methanolic solution of 1-N-(S)-glycidyl-4-fluoroindole (0.396 g, 2.3 mmole) from example 6 and 3-(4-tetrahydropyridinyl)indole (0.46 g, 2.3 mmole) was refluxed under nitrogen for 24 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated in vacuo and the product purified by flash silica gel chromatography (10% hexane in ethyl acetate) to afford the titled compound as a pale yellow colored solid (0.44 g, 48% yield). Treatment with a 0.25M ethanolic solution of fumaric acid (0.5 equivalents) gave the required product as a yellow colored solid. The product was recrystallized from ethanol.
mp 135-136° C. Elemental Analysis for: C24H24FN3O 0.5C4H4O4 0.5H2O 0.32EtOH Calculated: C, 67.90; H, 6.19; N, 8.92 Found: C, 68.08; H, 6.10; N, 8.76
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The present invention provides compounds of the formula (1):
wherein
R 1 and R 2 each independently represent hydrogen, hydroxy, F, Cl, Br, I, CN, 1 to 6 carbon alkyl, 1 to 6 carbon alkoxy, nitro, CF 3 and phenyloxy or benzyloxy, in which the aromatic ring can be optionally substituted by from 1 to 3 groups selected from C 1 -C 6 alkoxy (preferably OMe), F, Cl, Br, I, and CF 3 ;
R 3 and R 4 are each independently a hydrogen, a 1 to 6 carbon alkyl or a CH 2 Ph in which the phenyl ring can be optionally substituted by from 1 to 3 groups selected from C 1 -C 6 alkoxy (preferably OMe), F, Cl, Br, I, and CF 3 ;
Y is selected from CH 2 or CH and,
X is selected from a group represented by N, CR 3 , CHR 3 , CHCH;
or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, as well as pharmaceutical compositions and methods of using the compounds to treat central nervous system disorders, such as depression, anxiety, drug withdrawal, eating and sexual disorders and other conditions for which serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crisp, delicious kimchi-like food which is more pleasant to the palate than kimchi that is daily served as pickles in Korea, and which employs dried stalks of sanzo-sai, a high class Chinese vegetable (Chinese name: kosai), as its raw material, and moreover, which may be served together with meat dishes, cooked rice, noodles and almost all other foods. The invention further relates to a method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Kimchi, conventionally produced and daily favored in Korea and recently appreciated in Japan also, are pickles of vegetables comprising about 80% by weight of such ordinarily grown, commercially available vegetables as Chinese cabbage, cucumber, radish and Nozawa-na (a turnip), and about 20% comprising garlic, such fruits as pears and mandarin oranges, and such ingredients as ginger, fermented marine products like fermented and salted cuttlefish viscera, red pepper and seasonings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above-mentioned conventional kimchi, as it is so called, is no more than Korean pickles that are made by blending common vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, cucumber and radish with garlic, fruits, ginger, fermented marine products, table salt, pepper and various seasonings. As a result, its taste is neither more nor less than that of ordinary pickles. There has been a demand for improving kimchi so as to be appreciated by Japanese people, from the perspective of both industry and consumers.
The present invention has been accomplished to meet the above demand after thorough studies by the inventors. Its primary object is therefore to provide a crisp, pleasant to the palate, and delicious kimchi-like food which has been improved so as to taste good to Japanese people when eaten not only by itself but also together with various other foods, by choosing as its raw material dried stalks of sanzo-sai, a high-class vegetable in China, as described before, blending various seasoning additives as described later, and finishing by controlling the process of its production, and further to provide a method for producing the same.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In the present invention, as the raw material, dried stalks of sanzo-sai are primarily used as the main ingredient. They are processed successively by soaking in warm water, washing with water, cleaning, cutting into convenient sizes, pickling with salt, and removing harsh-tasting components. Then, garlic, fruits such as pear and mandarin orange, ginger, fermented and salted cuttlefish viscera or the like, table salt, pepper and seasonings, all of which have conventionally been used in making ordinary kimchi, are added, and, in addition in this invention, acidifying agents, soy sauce, preservatives and other additives are further added. The mixture is stored in a refrigerator at about 2°-6° C. for 12 hours or longer to perform the primary aging. Then pH is adjusted to about 4.5-4.8 by adding an acidifying agent if required and the salt concentration is adjusted to about 1.3-1.8% by weight by further adding table salt if required. The mixture is vacuum-packaged and thereafter stored in a refrigerator at about 2°-6° C. for about 1-10 days to perform the secondary aging. Subsequently, the vacuum-packaged product is sterilized in hot water at about 80° C. for 10 minutes, 176° C. thus obtaining the final product. Cooling should be done rapidly with running water, and the product is preferably stored temporarily in a refrigerator.
EXAMPLE 1
Dried stalks of sanzo-sai (2 kg) were put in an adequate container and soaked in hot water at 70° C. for about 20 minutes. The stalks were then cut into 2-3 cm long pieces and their roots and leaves were removed, thus providing the stalk pieces alone. The leaves should be removed because they, if mixed in the product food, would cause the food to be discolored to black, impairing its appearance as food and disturbing their characteristic crispness. Then, mixed with about 10% by weight of table salt in proportion to the whole sanzo-sai, the stalk pieces were pickled for 3 days or longer with a weight thereon. The crude pickle thus obtained was washed with water until its weight increased by about 5-7 times, followed by removal of the harsh taste. Since sanzo-sai contains harsh taste components, they must be removed completely by repeating the washing-with-water and removal-of-harsh-taste process two or more times. After this was accomplished, about 20 kg of pickles were placed into a cask with a weight applied thereon to remove moisture. Subsequently, appropriate amounts of garlic, fruits, ginger, fermented fish viscera, table salt and red pepper were added to the pickle bulks, and, in addition, specified amounts of seasoning, sour agent, preservative, pale soy sauce and other ingredients were also added. The seasoning employed was sodium glutamate and the acidifying agent was acetic acid, citric acid, malic acid or any other organic acid that is ordinarily used for food processing. Potassium sorbate was used as a preservative. An ordinary, commercially available pale soy sauce is sufficient as the pale soy sauce in this use. The whole mixture was stored at a refrigerator temperature (about 2°-6° C.) for 12 hours or longer to perform the primary aging. Then pH was adjusted to about 4.5-4.8 by adding an acidifying agent, if required, and the salt concentration was adjusted to 1.3-1.8% by weight by adding table salt, if required, through measurement. The pickled product was then vacuum-packaged and the foam was removed. The packages were stored at a refrigerator temperature for 1-10 days for the secondary aging. Thereafter the product was sterilized by dipping it in 80° C. hot water for 10 minutes, and then cooled (rapid cooling with running water), thus obtaining the finished product. The product is preferably stored in a refrigerator.
The effects of the present invention may be summarized as follows:
(1) Because the food produced according to this invention uses only stalks of a high-class vegetable "sanzo-sai" grown in China, it is so crisp, pleasant to the palate and delicious that it nicely matches foods eaten while drinking alcoholic liquors, meat dishes, cooked rice and noodles when taken together;
(2) Using seasonings, soy sauce, preservatives and other additives in addition to those conventionally used in kimchi, it is produced by the primary and secondary aging with the results that it has a full flavor, is sour and holds it characteristic flavor, which altogether will appeal to the Japanese palate, with the additional benefit that it withstands long storage and maintains its characteristic flavor and taste for a long time; and
(3) Produced through many steps of processing, it is endowed with unchangeable flavor and taste which are characteristic of a high-class food, by adjusting the pH value and measuring the salt concentration.
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A kimchi-like food produced by combining dried stalks of sanzo-sai, conventional kimchi additives, and improved kimchi additives, and processing the combination according to a new process which includes a two-step aging process. The resulting kimchi-like food is crisp, full-flavored, and sour, and maintains these qualities through long-term storage.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to communications systems, communications control apparatuses and methods, and computer programs therefor for enabling a plurality of wireless stations to intercommunicate with one another, and more particularly relates to a communications system, a communications control apparatus and method, and a computer program therefor for configuring a network under the control of a specific control station.
[0003] More particularly, the present invention relates to a communications system for enabling a plurality of wireless networks to coexist with one another and to a communications control apparatus and method and a computer program therefor for controlling a communications operation in each wireless network under a communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks are in contention with one another. More specifically, the present invention relates to a communications system for enabling a plurality of wireless networks that are in contention with one another in the same frequency band to coexist with one another and to a communications control apparatus and method and a computer program therefor for controlling a communications operation in each communications network under a communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks are in contention with one another in the same frequency band (“the same frequency band” includes the Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless communications for performing data transmission and reception by spreading the data over a very wide frequency band).
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] A plurality of computers is connected with one another to configure a local area network (LAN) to share information such as files and data, to share peripheral devices such as printers, and to exchange information by transferring email and data content.
[0006] Known LANs are configured by establishing wired connections using optical fibers, coaxial cables, or twisted-pair cables. In this case, a circuit laying construction is necessary, which makes it difficult to configure the network. Also, the cable laying is complicated. After the LAN has been configured, the movable range of each apparatus is restricted by the cable length, which is inconvenient. A system that liberates the user from the wiring in such a known wired LAN is a wireless LAN, which has drawn public attention. According to this type of wireless LAN, most of the wiring or cables can be omitted in work space such as an office. A communications terminal such as a personal computer (PC) can thus be moved relatively easily.
[0007] Due to an increase in the speed and a decrease in the cost of the recent wireless LAN systems, the demand therefor has been tremendously growing. In particular, recently introduction of a personal area network (PAN) has been studied in order to perform information communications by configuring a small wireless network among a plurality of personal electronic apparatuses. For example, different wireless communications systems are defined using the frequency band, such as the 2.4 GHz band or the 2.5 GHz band, which does not require a license from the competent authorities.
[0008] For example, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.15.3 Working Group has been conducting standardization activities of high-rate wireless personal area networks (WPANs) exceeding 20 Mbps. The corresponding section recommends the standardization in compliance with a physical (PHY) layer that mainly uses signals in the 2.4 GHz band.
[0009] In this type of wireless personal network, one wireless communications apparatus operates as a control station referred to as a “coordinator”, and a PAN is configured around the coordinator within a range of approximately 10 m. The coordinator cyclically transmits a beacon signal in a predetermined period. A period bounded by transmission of consecutive beacon signals is defined as a transmission frame period. In each transmission frame period, time slots to be used by wireless communications apparatuses are allocated.
[0010] As the time slot allocation method, for example, “guaranteed time slot” (GTS) and “dynamic time division multiple access (TDMA)” methods are adopted. Such communications methods dynamically allocate transmission bands while ensuring a predetermined transmission capacity.
[0011] For example, a contention access period (CAP) and a contention free period (CFP) are provided for a MAC (Media Access Control) layer to be standardized by IEEE 802.15.3. In the case of asynchronous communications, CFP is used to exchange short data or command information. In contrast, stream communications is performed by a mechanism involving dynamically allocating a GTS to perform channel-allocated transmission.
[0012] The MAC layer to be standardized by IEEE 802.15.3 is defined to accommodate standard specifications for PHY layers other than the PHY layer that uses signals in the 2.4 GHz band. Also, standardization activities for using, as the PHY layer to be standardized by IEEE 802.15.3, a PHY layer other than that using signals in the 2.4 GHz band have been gradually started.
[0013] Recently, wireless LAN systems using spread spectrum (SS) have been put into practice. In addition, UWB transmission using SS, which is targeting applications such as PAN, has been proposed.
[0014] In direct-sequence spread spectrum (DS-SS), which is one type of SS, an information signal at the transmitter side is multiplied by a random code sequence, which is referred to as a pseudo noise (PN) code, thereby spreading the information signal over a wider bandwidth, and the information signal is transmitted. At the receiver side, the received spectrum-spread information signal is multiplied by the PN code to de-spread and read the information signal. In UWB transmission, the spreading ratio applied to the information signal is increased to a maximum. High-rate data transmission is realized by performing transmission and reception by spreading data over, for example, a very wide frequency band of 2 GHz to 6 GHz.
[0015] UWB uses a signal sequence of extremely short duration (approximately 100 pico seconds) impulses to configure an information signal, and the signal sequence is transmitted/received. The occupied bandwidth is the band in the order of GHz, where the occupied bandwidth divided by its center frequency (for example, 1 GHz to 10 GHz) is approximately one. The occupied bandwidth is much wider than the bandwidth that is generally used by a wireless LAN using the so-called W-CDMA, cdma 2000, SS, or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM).
[0016] [0016]FIG. 13 illustrates an example of data transmission using UWB. Input information 901 is spread by a spread code 902 . Multiplication of the input information 901 by the spread code 902 may be omitted depending on the type of system using UWB.
[0017] Spectrum-spread information signal 903 is modulated using a UWB impulse signal (wavelet pulses) to generate a signal 905 . The possible modulation schemes include pulse position modulation (PPM), biphase modulation, amplitude modulation (AM), and the like.
[0018] Since the UWB impulse signal consists of extremely narrow pulses, in terms of frequency spectrum, a very wide band is used. The power of the input information signal thus becomes less than or equal to the noise level in each frequency area.
[0019] Although the received signal 905 is lost in noise, the received signal 905 is detectable by computing a correlation value between the received signal 905 and the impulse signal. Since signals are spread in many systems, many impulse signals are transmitted with respect to one bit of transmitted information. A reception correlation value 907 of the impulse signal can be further integrated with respect to the length of the spread code 902 to generate an integrated signal 908 . Accordingly, the transmitted signal is detected more easily.
[0020] The spread signal generated by the UWB transmission scheme only has a power less than or equal to the noise level in each frequency area. For this reason, a UWB-transmission-based communications system can coexist with other types of communications systems in a relatively easy manner.
[0021] A communications environment will now be considered that includes many apparatuses in the office due to the widespread use of information apparatuses such as PCs, the apparatuses being linked with one another by wireless networks. Two or more wireless networks may reside in the small work environment. In such a case, the plural wireless networks coexist with one another in the same frequency band. The “same frequency band” includes the UWB wireless communications for performing data transmission and reception by spreading the data over a very wide frequency band.
[0022] The specification for the PHY layer using signals in the 2.4 GHz band, which is to be standardized by the above-described IEEE 802.15.3, must take into consideration the coexistence with other wireless communications systems that operate in the same frequency band.
[0023] One known method,for enabling wireless networks to coexist with one another is a “Child Piconet” method described in the IEEE P802.15.3 Draft 0.9. The “Child Piconet” method allows a communications apparatus included in a network serving as a parent to generate a child network under the control of a control station for the parent network and to operate the child network. Specifically, a portion of a frame period used by the parent network is allocated as a frame period used by the child network.
[0024] Another method for enabling wireless networks to coexist with one another is a method for configuring a “Neighbor Piconet”, which is described in the IEEE P802.15.3 Draft 0.9. According to this method, control stations for two independent wireless networks each allocate a band to use in the other wireless network within a frame period.
[0025] Since the “Child Piconet” method for enabling a plurality of wireless networks to coexist with one another uses the parent-child network relationship on a time-sharing multiplexing basis, the child network must once be included in the parent network. This involves a network joining operation (hereinafter referred to as “association”), which makes the operation complicated.
[0026] If the child network cannot communicate with the control station for the parent network, the wireless networks cannot build the parent-child relationship.
[0027] According to the latter wireless-network coexisting method, the processing for allocating a band to use in the other wireless network in the frame period is necessary.
[0028] In other words, one wireless network must join the other wireless network, undergo a predetermined procedure, and then allocate the band to use in the other wireless network. Control thus becomes complicated.
[0029] In contrast, in the case of the UWB wireless communications network, data transmission/reception is performed by spreading the data over a very wide band. This makes impossible to employ a method for providing a plurality of channels in the frequency domain. In other words, a technique for multiplexing a network by using different frequency channels for corresponding wireless networks, as in the known wireless LAN, cannot be applied. It thus becomes difficult for a plurality of UWB wireless communications systems to coexist with one another in the same space.
[0030] Since the impulse signal sequence used by the UWB wireless communications scheme has no specific frequency carrier, carrier sense is difficult to perform. Therefore, for example, when the UWB wireless communications scheme is applied to the PHY layer of IEEE 802.15.3, access control using carrier sense standardized by the corresponding section cannot be performed since there is no specific carrier signal. The only possible choice is to use access control on a time-sharing multiplexing basis involving a plurality of channels in the time domain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0031] In view of the foregoing technical problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent communications system for enabling a plurality of wireless networks that are in contention with one another to coexist with one another and to provide an excellent communications control apparatus and method and a computer program therefor for appropriately controlling a communications operation in each wireless network under a communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks are in contention with one another.
[0032] Another object of the present invention is to provide an excellent communications system for enabling a plurality of wireless networks that are in contention with one another in the same frequency band to coexist with one another and to provide an excellent communications control apparatus and method and a computer program therefor for appropriately controlling a communications operation in each wireless network under a communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks are in contention with one another in the same frequency band.
[0033] A further object of the present invention is to provide an excellent wireless communications system, a wireless communications apparatus and method, and a computer program therefor for realizing the coexistence of a plurality of wireless networks that are in contention with one another without a complicated procedure involving association of one wireless network with another wireless network.
[0034] In order to achieve the foregoing objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, a communications system for allowing coexistence of a plurality of networks operated by time division multiple access (TDMA) in the same space is provided. The communications system sets a network that is repeatedly usable by a plurality of wireless networks and prepares in advance a plurality of channel slots for use by each of the wireless networks in the network frame. Accordingly, each of the wireless networks residing in the same space shares an unused channel slot.
[0035] The word “system” refers to a logical set of apparatuses (or functional modules for realizing specific functions). The apparatuses or functional modules need not be contained in a single casing.
[0036] According to the communications system as set forth in the first aspect of the present invention, a network frame that can be repeatedly used by a plurality of wireless networks is set in a predetermined time period. In the network frame, a plurality of channel slots for use by each of the wireless networks is prepared in advance.
[0037] Each coordinator operating a PAN activates its PAN in an area of a channel slot that is not used by other coordinator(s). In other words, since each wireless network detects an unused channel slot in the network frame and uses the unused channel slot, the communications system association procedure involving activating a new network is greatly simplified.
[0038] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a communications control apparatus or method for operating a network by TDMA under a communications environment that allows coexistence of a plurality of networks in the same space is provided. Under the communications environment, a network frame including a plurality of channel slots is set. The communications control apparatus or method includes a network operating unit or step for operating its network using at least one channel slot.
[0039] The communications control apparatus or method according to the second aspect of the present invention may further include a network frame detecting unit or step for detecting whether or not a network frame is set in the same space. For example, the communications control apparatus operating the network broadcasts a beacon signal that describes the network topology state in synchronization with the network frame. Whether or not a network frame exists is determined by performing a receive operation for a period greater than or equal to the network frame period and determining whether or not a transmission signal is detected. Detection of a network frame refers to detection of a state in which communications is performed using a channel slot in the network frame period by at least one network in the same space.
[0040] In response to detection of no network frame, the network operating unit or step may actively set a network frame period including a plurality of channel slots, operate its network using at least one channel slot, and leave at least some of the channel slots unused.
[0041] In response to detection of an existing network frame, the network operating unit or step may detect an unused channel slot in the network frame by decoding a beacon signal from another station and operate its network using the unused channel slot.
[0042] The operating state of each channel slot in the network frame obtained by decoding the beacon signal from another station may be managed.
[0043] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a computer program written in a computer-readable format to perform on a computer system a process for operating a network by TDMA under a communications environment that allows coexistence of a plurality of networks in the same space is provided. The computer program includes a network frame detecting step of detecting whether or not a network frame is set in the same space; a network frame setting step of actively setting a network frame including a plurality of channel slots in response to detection of no network frame; a first operating slot setting step of operating its network using at least one channel slot while leaving at least some of the channel slots unused; and a second operating slot setting step of operating, in response to detection of an existing network frame, its network using an unused channel slot in the network frame.
[0044] The computer program according to the third aspect of the present invention defines a computer program written in a computer-readable format to realize a predetermined process on a computer system. In other words, installing the computer program according to the third aspect of the present invention into a computer system exhibits a cooperative operation on the computer system, thereby achieving advantages similar to those of the communications control apparatus or method according to the second aspect of the present invention.
[0045] According to the present invention, an excellent communications system, a communications apparatus and method, and a computer program therefor are provided that are capable of realizing coexistence of a plurality of wireless networks that are in contention with one another without performing a complicated procedure for associating one wireless network with another wireless network.
[0046] According to the present invention, a plurality of channel slots that can be repeatedly used is prepared in advance in a predetermined time period. When one of the channel slots is sequentially used by networks defined by the wireless communications system, the channel slot is multiplexed in the time domain, allowing a plurality of wireless networks to coexist with one another.
[0047] In other words, a case in which a communications control apparatus operates a wireless network is considered. When the communications control apparatus performs reception for a time period including all channel slots that are prepared in advance, if channel slots have already been set by another wireless network, the communications control apparatus uses an unused channel slot of the set channel slots to operate its wireless network. If no channel slot has been set by another wireless network, the communications control apparatus actively sets channel slots and configures a wireless network. Accordingly, a plurality of channels is prepared in UWB wireless communications that has difficulty in preparing a plurality of wireless channels in the frequency domain.
[0048] According to the present invention, a channel slot(s), the number of which corresponds to the necessary wireless transmission quantity, is allocated to each wireless network. Therefore, each wireless network can be operated in a suitable manner.
[0049] A wireless network that has prepared in advance a plurality of channel slots leaves at least some of the channel slots unused so that another wireless network can use the unused channel slot(s). Therefore, an environment that enables a plurality of wireless networks to coexist with one another in the same space can be configured.
[0050] According to the present invention, a wireless transmission link is used on a time-sharing multiplexing basis by a plurality of wireless networks. As in the known LAN system that prepares a plurality of frequency channels, this makes it possible for a plurality of wireless networks to coexist with one another in the same space.
[0051] According to the present invention, detection of a predetermined beacon signal at the beginning of each channel slot automatically initiates channel scanning of the other frequency channels. Searching for another wireless network is thus simplified.
[0052] According to the present invention, as in “Neighbor Piconet” to be standardized by IEEE 802.15.3, a new wireless network is allowed to obtain a channel slot. In other words, since a new wireless network need not undergo the association process to join a network serving as a parent, a plurality of networks can start to coexist with one another in a short period of time by a simple procedure.
[0053] According to the present invention, if no channel slot has been set by another wireless network, a wireless communications apparatus serving as a control station for a wireless network actively sets channel slots and configures a wireless network. Accordingly, the wireless network that is most suitable for a PAN is actively configured.
[0054] According to the present invention, a wireless communications apparatus serving as a control station for a wireless network has a function for actively setting channel slots. A control station for another wireless network residing in the same space subsequently uses an unused channel slot of the set channel slots to configure a wireless network. Accordingly, the wireless networks can coexist with each other.
[0055] According to the present invention, a wireless communications apparatus in a wireless network has a function for performing a receive operation across all channel slots in a network frame. The wireless communications apparatus can thus easily determine the presence of a surrounding wireless network.
[0056] Further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0057] [0057]FIG. 1 is an illustration of a state in which a plurality of networks reside in the same space;
[0058] [0058]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a transmission frame period for use in a wireless communications system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0059] [0059]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a network frame including channel slots that are used by corresponding different wireless networks;
[0060] [0060]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a modification of the network frame shown in FIG. 3;
[0061] [0061]FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modification of the network frame shown in FIG. 3;
[0062] [0062]FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a modification of the network frame shown in FIG. 3;
[0063] [0063]FIG. 7 is an illustration of an example of the structure of a beacon signal for use in the wireless communications system according to the embodiment of the present invention;
[0064] [0064]FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram schematically showing a wireless communications apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;
[0065] [0065]FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an operation sequence performed between control stations under a wireless communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space;
[0066] [0066]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an operation sequence performed by a general communications terminal under the wireless communications environment in which the plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space;
[0067] [0067]FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of enabling the wireless communications apparatus of this embodiment to operate as a control station under the wireless communications environment in which the plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space;
[0068] [0068]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process of enabling the wireless communications apparatus of this embodiment to operate as a general communications station under the wireless communications environment in which the plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space; and
[0069] [0069]FIG. 13 is a chart showing an example of data transmission using UWB.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0070] With reference to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.
[0071] [0071]FIG. 1 shows a state in which a plurality of networks reside in the same space.
[0072] In the example shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of communications apparatuses 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , and 15 configure a first UWB wireless network 10 having a communications apparatus 16 serving as a control station. At the same time, a plurality of communications apparatuses 21 , 22 , 23 , and 24 configure a second UWB wireless network 20 having a communications apparatus 25 serving as a control station.
[0073] Referring to FIG. 1, each control station's radio-wave reachable range (corresponding to the broken-line circle) is assumed to be the range of the corresponding wireless network.
[0074] In this state, the communications apparatuses 13 and 21 residing in both networks can receive a plurality of beacon signals.
[0075] Also, the communications apparatuses 16 and 25 , which serve as the control stations for the corresponding networks, can receive a beacon signal from the other network.
[0076] [0076]FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the structure of a transmission frame period for use in a wireless communications system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0077] In the example shown in FIG. 2, a predetermined time period is defined as a “network frame period”.
[0078] The network frame shown in FIG. 2 consists of four channel slots, namely, a channel slot 1 , a channel slot 2 , a channel slot 3 , and a channel slot 4 . Subsequent to the channel slot 4 , a channel slot 1 is again arranged. The channel slots are repeatedly set by a series of network frames that are continuous in the time domain.
[0079] In the example shown in FIG. 2, one network frame consists of four channel slots in order to simplify the description. Alternatively, one network frame may consist of any number of channel slots other than four.
[0080] Each of the channel slots is set as, as will be described later, a frame period for use by wireless networks coexisting in the same space. In other words, a beacon signal that is periodically transmitted from a communications apparatus serving as a control station for a wireless network determines the allocation of a frame period to be used by the wireless network. The wireless network is configured by incorporating wireless communications apparatuses that can communicate with the control station for the corresponding wireless network.
[0081] In the wireless network of this embodiment, each channel slot includes, subsequent to the beacon signal that defines the frame period, a contention access period (CAP) during which each communications apparatus performs asynchronous transmission using random access and a contention free period (CFP) that can only be used between specific wireless communications apparatuses.
[0082] In the CFP, a slot referred to as a guaranteed time slot (GTS) is appropriately allocated every time transmission is performed by an arbitrary communications apparatus, and wireless communications is performed. In the channel slot 1 shown in FIG. 2, three GTSs, namely, GTS- 1 , GTS- 2 , and GTS- 3 , are set to the CFP.
[0083] [0083]FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a network frame including channel slots that are used by corresponding different wireless networks.
[0084] In the example shown in FIG. 3, as in the example shown in FIG. 2, repetitive use of a wireless communications link in the time domain is made possible by four channel slots included in a network frame. Referring to FIG. 3, the channel slots are allocated to the corresponding wireless networks to enable a plurality of wireless networks to operate in a coexisting manner.
[0085] A first wireless network operates using the channel slot 1 . A second wireless network operates using the channel slot 2 . A third wireless network operates using the channel slot 3 . A fourth wireless network operates using the channel slot 4 .
[0086] The channel slot 1 again arrives, and the first wireless network starts operating. Such a structure is repeated.
[0087] Even if there are no second to fourth wireless networks, the first wireless network can operate using the channel slot 1 .
[0088] [0088]FIG. 4 shows a modification of the network frame shown in FIG. 3. In the modification, a plurality of channel slots is used by one wireless network.
[0089] In the modification shown in FIG. 4, the first wireless network uses the channel slots 1 and 2 . In such a case, the other wireless networks can operate using the channel slots 3 and 4 . Specifically, the second wireless network and the third wireless network are configured. When the channel slot 1 again arrives, the first wireless network starts operating. Such a frame structure is repeated.
[0090] [0090]FIG. 5 shows another modification of the network frame shown in FIG. 3. In this modification, a plurality of channel slots is used by one wireless network.
[0091] In this case, a plurality of channel slots is used by one wireless network. In the modification shown in FIG. 5, the channel slots 1 and 2 are used by the first wireless network. The remaining channel slots 3 and 4 are used by the second wireless network.
[0092] As discussed above, a subsequently-configured wireless network can operate using a plurality of channel slots.
[0093] [0093]FIG. 6 is another modification of the network frame shown in FIG. 3. In this modification, a plurality of channel slots is used by one wireless network.
[0094] In this case, a plurality of channel slots is used by one wireless network. In the modification shown in FIG. 6, the channel slots 1 , 2 , and 3 are used by the first wireless network. The remaining channel slot 4 is used by the second wireless network.
[0095] As discussed above, the first wireless network operates while leaving at least one channel slot of the network frame unused. This leaves place for a wireless network to be configured subsequently in the same space.
[0096] [0096]FIG. 7 shows an example of the structure of a beacon signal for use in the wireless communications system of this embodiment. The beacon signal is to be transmitted using the same signaling system to different wireless networks residing in the same wireless communications system.
[0097] As shown in FIG. 7, the beacon signal includes a beacon identifier for identifying that the signal is a beacon, an apparatus identifier for identifying the apparatus serving as the control station, a network synchronization parameter describing a parameter for synchronizing with the network, GTS allocation information describing the GTS allocation state, operating channel slot information describing information on a channel slot used by the wireless network, and other slot information indicating that another channel. slot is used by a different wireless network.
[0098] If necessary, the parameters illustrated in FIG. 7 may be eliminated from the beacon signal, or additional parameters may be included in the beacon signal.
[0099] [0099]FIG. 8 schematically shows the functional configuration of a wireless communications apparatus 100 of this embodiment. The wireless communications apparatus 100 operates as a control station or a terminal operating under the control of a control station under a wireless communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space.
[0100] As shown in FIG. 8, the wireless communications apparatus 100 includes an interface 101 , a memory buffer 102 , a UWB wireless transmitter 103 , an antenna 104 , an information storage unit 105 , a central control unit 106 , a frame management unit 107 , and a UWB wireless receiver 108 .
[0101] A series of operations performed in the wireless communications apparatus 100 is activated on the basis of an instruction from the central control unit 106 . The central control unit 106 operates in accordance with the timing of a transmission frame period. The central control unit 106 operates in accordance with operation procedure commands (program) stored in the information storage unit 105 .
[0102] A personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or another type of information apparatus (not shown) is connected to the interface 101 . If information is supplied from the connected apparatus via the interface 101 , the central control unit 106 temporarily stores the information in the memory buffer 102 and instructs the UWB wireless transmitter 103 to perform wireless transmission. The UWB wireless transmitter 103 performs D/A conversion and up-conversion of the transmission data in the memory buffer 102 and, when predetermined transmission time arrives, transmits the converted data as a UWB wireless transmission signal from the antenna 104 .
[0103] In order that the wireless communications apparatus 100 performs information reception, in response to the arrival of predetermined reception time, the UWB wireless receiver 108 is activated to perform down-conversion and A/D conversion of the signal from the antenna 104 , and the signal is received. The obtained information is written into the memory buffer 102 . The central control unit 106 reconstructs the received information in the memory buffer 102 and transfers the information to the connected apparatus via the interface 101 .
[0104] In order that the wireless communications apparatus 100 operates as a control station for a network, if a wireless network need be configured, it is determined whether or not another wireless network already resides in the same space. In this case, the UWB wireless receiver 108 tries in advance to receive a beacon signal from another wireless network for a period greater than or equal to the network frame period by decoding signals received via the antenna 104 .
[0105] When it is determined that there is no beacon signal, the central control unit 106 actively sets channel slots (see FIG. 3) and stores the settings in the frame management unit 107 . The central control unit 106 generates a beacon signal (see FIG. 7) on the basis of the channel slots that have been actively set by the central control unit 106 and stores the beacon signal in the memory buffer 102 . The UWB wireless transmitter 103 transmits the beacon signal from the antenna 104 in a predetermined network frame period. The network frame period consists of a plurality of channel slots. A subsequently-configured wireless network in the same space is permitted to use some of the channel slots.
[0106] In contrast, when it is determined by the central control unit 106 that there is a beacon signal, the central control unit 106 sets existing channel slots on the basis of the beacon signal and stores the settings in the frame management unit 107 . The central control unit 106 generates a beacon signal for controlling its network and temporarily stores the beacon signal in the memory buffer 102 . Using an unused channel slot in the network frame period, the beacon signal is transmitted from the antenna 104 .
[0107] When the wireless communications apparatus 100 operates not as a control station but as a general communications terminal, signals received by the UWB wireless receiver 108 via the antenna 104 for a period greater than or equal to the network frame period are decoded to perform a receive operation of a beacon signal transmitted from a communications apparatus serving as the control station. The received beacon signal information is supplied to the central control unit 106 to determine the type of wireless network.
[0108] The configuration of the wireless communications apparatus 100 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 8. Some or all of the functional modules shown in FIG. 8 may be replaced by other components if the same functions or operation characteristics can be realized.
[0109] [0109]FIG. 9 shows an operation sequence performed between control stations under a wireless communications environment in which a plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space. In the example shown in FIG. 9, a first control station actively sets a network frame under the circumstances in which no network frame has been set. A second control station operates its network using an unused channel slot of an existing network frame that has already been set.
[0110] After being turned on, the first control station performs a receive operation for a time period greater than or equal to the network frame. When no signal is received during the time period, the first control station sets a network frame and its channel slots and transmits (broadcasts) a beacon signal from a first network, which describes the settings of the network frame and channel slots. As a result, the first control station starts operating its network (first network).
[0111] In this example, one network frame consists of four channel slots. Referring to FIG. 9, the shaded square represents a channel slot used by the first network.
[0112] After being turned on, the second control station performs a receive operation for a time period greater than or equal to the network frame. During this time period, the second control station receives the beacon signal from the first network to detect that the network frame has already been set. Detection of the network frame refers to detection of a state in which communications is performed using a channel slot in the network frame period by at least one network in the same space.
[0113] In such a case, the second control station transmits a beacon signal from a second network using an unused channel slot in the existing network frame, thus starting operating its network (second network). Referring to FIG. 9, the shaded square represents a channel slot used by the second network.
[0114] When third and fourth control stations reside in the same space, the operation similar to that of the second control station is performed.
[0115] [0115]FIG. 10 shows an operation sequence performed by a general communications terminal under the wireless communications environment in which the plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space. This corresponds to an operation sequence of a communications apparatus that has no function for operating as a control station.
[0116] In the example shown in FIG. 10, a communications terminal resides at a place where the communications terminal can receive beacon signals from both the first and second control stations. Referring to FIG. 10, the square represents a channel slot used by a network.
[0117] After being turned on, the communications terminal performs a receive operation for a time period greater than or equal to the network frame. During the time period, the communications terminal tries to receive a beacon signal from a control station for an arbitrary network.
[0118] On the basis of information described in the received beacon signal, the communications terminal determines which network to join and, using a channel slot that is used by the desired network, transmits an association request to a control station for the desired network.
[0119] In the operation sequence shown in FIG. 10, the communications terminal transmits an association request and receives an association permission response in the channel slot used by the first network in order to join the first network.
[0120] Subsequent to reception of the association permission response from the control station for the first network, the communications terminal enters a state in which the communications terminal can operate in the first network.
[0121] [0121]FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of enabling the wireless communications apparatus 100 of this embodiment to operate as a control station under the wireless communications environment in which the plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space. The process is realized by executing, by the central control unit 106 , the program stored in the information storage unit 105 . Hereinafter with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11, the operation of the wireless communications apparatus 100 serving as the control station will now be described in detail.
[0122] After being turned on, the wireless communications apparatus 100 that has been set to operate as the control station for the network consecutively performs receive operations for a time period greater than or equal to the network frame period (step S 1 ). The wireless communications apparatus 100 determines whether or not a beacon signal is received (step S 2 ).
[0123] If a beacon signal is received, another wireless network resides at the place. The wireless communications apparatus 100 obtains a parameter of the channel slot being used. At this time, the network frame is set according to the existing wireless network.
[0124] It is determined whether or not there is any unused channel slot in the network frame (step S 4 ). If there is/are an unused channel slot(s), the wireless communications apparatus 100 sets a channel slot to be used by its wireless network (step S 5 ).
[0125] In contrast, if it is determined in step S 4 that there is no unused channel slot, the process returns to step S 1 , and activation is consecutively performed.
[0126] If no beacon is received in step S 2 , the process skips to step S 5 , and the channel slot to be used by its wireless network is set.
[0127] The wireless communications apparatus 100 waits for the arrival of the channel slot to be used by its network (step S 6 ). Every time the corresponding channel slot arrives, a beacon signal is repeatedly transmitted (step S 7 ), and the wireless network is thus operated.
[0128] Other than a time at which a beacon signal is transmitted, the wireless communications apparatus 100 tries to receive a beacon signal from another wireless network using a channel slot other than that used by its network (step S 8 ). If a beacon signal from another wireless network is received, the fact that the channel slot specified by the received beacon signal is busy may be registered in an internal memory (step S 9 ).
[0129] [0129]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process of enabling the wireless communications apparatus 100 of this embodiment to operate as a general communications station under the environment in which the plurality of wireless networks coexist with one another in the same space. The process is actually realized by executing, by the central control unit 106 , the program stored in the information storage unit 105 . With reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 12, the operation of the wireless communications apparatus 100 serving as the communications station will now be described in detail.
[0130] After being turned on, the wireless communications apparatus 100 that has been set not to operate as a control station for a network performs consecutive receive operations for a time period greater than or equal to the network frame period (step S 11 ). The wireless communications apparatus 100 determines whether or not a beacon is received from a control station for a network (step S 12 ).
[0131] When a beacon signal is received from the control station, it is determined that a wireless network resides at this place, and a parameter for a channel slot used by the wireless network and the network identifier information are obtained (step S 13 ). If there is a plurality of wireless networks residing at this place, parameters for the corresponding wireless networks are retained.
[0132] The wireless communications apparatus 100 determines whether or not there is a wireless network for its wireless communications apparatus to join (step S 14 ). If there is a wireless network to join, a channel slot to be used by its wireless network is set (step S 15 ), and a predetermined association signal is transmitted to a control station for the wireless network (step S 16 ).
[0133] The wireless communications apparatus 100 waits for a response from the control station (step S 17 ). In response to reception of a response from the control station, the wireless communications apparatus 100 starts operating as a communications terminal in the wireless network under the control of the control station (step S 18 ).
[0134] It is determined whether or not a beacon signal corresponding to a wireless network can be-received. The wireless communications apparatus 100 repeats a receive operation of the beacon signal (step S 19 ). Every time the beacon signal is received, the process returns to step S 18 , and the wireless communications apparatus 100 continues operating as a communications apparatus for the wireless network.
[0135] In contrast, when no beacon signal is received, the process returns to step S 11 , and channel scanning for searching for a wireless network is again started.
[0136] If the association with a wireless network in step S 17 is not completed, if it is determined in step S 14 that there is no wireless network to join, or if no beacon signal is received in step S 12 , the process returns to step S 1 , and channel scanning to search for a wireless network is again started.
[0137] While the present invention has been described in detail with reference to what are presently considered to be the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood to those skilled in the art that various modifications and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In other words, the present invention has been described using the embodiments only for illustration purposes and should not be interpreted in a limited manner. The scope of the present invention is to be determined solely by the appended claims.
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A communications system sets a network frame period that can be repeatedly used by a plurality of wireless networks in a predetermined time period. A plurality of channel slots for use by each of the wireless networks is prepared in advance in the network frame. A coordinator operating a PAN activates its PAN in an area of a channel slot that is not used by the other coordinator(s). Since each of the wireless networks detects an unused channel slot in the network frame and uses the unused channel slot, the association process is greatly simplified.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is a Continuation Application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/616,218 filed Jul. 8, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,673, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for treating femoral fractures, and specifically to apparatus for coupling bone portions across a fracture.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Intramedullary (IM) nails are implantable devices used to stabilize fractures and allow for bone healing. IM nails are inserted into the medullary canal of the long bones of the extremities, e.g., the femur or tibia. Currently-used IM nails have a head region that generally includes at least one hole, transverse to the longitudinal axis of the nail, for receiving anchoring means, such as a screw, to secure the nail within the medullary canal of the bone. Some such anchoring means include at least one sleeve, which passes through the transverse hole, and through which a screw assembly typically passes freely. A proximal end of the head region protrudes from the proximal end of the bone, to facilitate post-implantation access to the IM nail, if desired. The proximal end of the head region, which protrudes from the bone, is a continuous extension of the head region, not structurally or visually distinct from the more distal portion of the head region that includes the holes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,917 to Brumfield, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM system including a screw and an intramedullary rod. The screw has a threaded portion and a smooth portion, and the rod has a head, stem and a longitudinal bore. There is at least one pair of coaxial holes through the stem, transverse to the longitudinal axis of the rod, for receiving first anchoring means, such as a nail, screw or bolt, to secure the rod within the marrow canal of the femur. There are at least a proximal pair of coaxial holes and a distal pair of coaxial holes in the head of the rod in an angled direction toward the femoral head relative to the longitudinal axis of the rod. The distal pair of head holes is adapted to slidingly receive the screw so as to permit the threaded portion of the screw, in use, to engage the femoral head and to allow sliding compression of a femoral neck or intertrochanteric fracture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,125 to Durham et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM hip screw that includes an IM rod, a lag screw and a sleeve for slidably receiving the lag screw. The sleeve is received in a passage in the IM rod having an axis positioned at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the IM rod such that the axis of the sleeve is directed toward the head of the femur. The IM hip screw is described as permitting sliding compression of selected fractures, particularly intertrochanteric fractures and fractures of the femoral neck.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,031 to Hodgeman et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM system that includes an IM rod, a lag screw, and a lag screw collar. The rod has a proximal end with a transverse bore extending therethrough. The lag screw has a distal end with coarse bone engaging thread elements and a proximal end with screw threads. When in use, the lag screw is substantially axially aligned with the transverse bore of the rod. The lag screw collar has an outer diameter sized to rotatably fit within the transverse bore of the rod. The collar also has an inner diameter and internal screw threads adapted to cooperate with the screw threads of the proximal end of the lag screw. The lag screw collar may have an increased outer diameter at one end thereof which is at least slightly larger than a diameter of the transverse bore of the rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,954 to Bramlet et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM system that includes a lag screw assembly extending through a radial bore in an IM nail. The lag screw is inserted into one portion of a bone and deployed to fix the leading end. The IM nail is placed in the IM canal of a portion of the bone and the trailing end of the lag screw assembly is adjustably fixed in the radial bore to provide compression between the lag screw assembly and the IM nail. The IM nail has a cap screw in the proximal end holding the lag screw assembly and a tang in the distal end. The tang has legs extending through the nail to fix the distal end in the IM canal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,889 to Bramlet et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM system that includes an IM nail for insertion in the femur. The nail has an axial bore and an intersecting transverse bore. A lag screw is inserted through the transverse bore and turned into the head of the femur. A slotted sleeve is inserted over the lag screw and through the transverse bore with the slots aligned with the axial bore. A sleeve lock is inserted into the axial bore, and has a locking tab which engages the slots in the sleeve preventing rotational movement between the sleeve and the nail and longitudinal movement of the sleeve relative to the nail. A compression screw is turned into the trailing end of the lag screw and engages the encircling sleeve to provide longitudinal translation between the lag screw and sleeve to apply compressive force across a fracture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,719 to Sohngen et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM nail having a modular configuration, including a nail member having a chamber formed on the proximal end thereof. An insert having at least one opening therein for receiving a bone screw or fastener is disposed within the chamber and is secured therein by a locking ring. Various inserts are described for use to achieve selected bone screw or fastener configurations.
European Patent Application Publication EP 0 521 600 to Lawes, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an IM system that includes an IM rod having an angulated opening to receive a femoral neck screw having a threaded portion at its distal end, and locking means acting between the neck screw and the wall of the angulated opening to prevent relative rotation between the screw and the rod.
PCT Publication WO 02/083015 to Ferrante et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an orthopedic screw having a screw head, a screw body with a distal tip, a shank with an enlarged diameter at the trailing end and a thread extending radially outward from the shank, and an internal capture surface. The screw is used with an orthopedic implant system, which includes an orthopedic implant and a driver capable of engaging the internal capture of the screw.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In some embodiments of the present invention, an intramedullary (IM) system for implantation in a medullary canal of a femur of a subject, comprises an IM nail having a head and a stem. The head of the IM nail defines at least one hole, which is oriented in an angled direction toward the femoral head relative to the longitudinal axis of the IM nail. The head hole is adapted to receive a sleeve, which is adapted to slidably receive a screw, so as to permit a threaded portion of the screw to engage a femoral head of the subject and to allow sliding compression of a femoral neck or intertrochanteric fracture. The sleeve comprises a locking mechanism, which engages the head hole, preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the head hole. The locking mechanism typically comprises a depressible male coupling element, such as a tab, configured so that when the sleeve is inserted into the head hole and properly aligned, the tab engages a female coupling element, such as a notch, located on the inner surface of the head hole, thereby locking the sleeve to the head hole.
In some embodiments of the present invention, an IM system comprises an IM nail having a head and a stem. The head of the IM nail comprises a distal portion, which typically includes at least one head hole, and a proximal portion, having a diameter less than a diameter of the distal portion. For some applications, the diameter of the proximal portion is less than about 50% of the diameter of the distal portion. Such a narrower proximal portion typically allows greater regrowth and healing of the neck of the femur towards the area of the greater trochanter, than generally occurs upon implantation of conventional IM nail heads. At the same time, because a proximal end of the narrower proximal portion generally remains easily locatable on the external surface of the femur in the area of the tip of the greater trochanter or the piriformis, a surgeon typically can readily locate the IM nail if post-operative access to the implant becomes necessary. For some applications, the IM system further comprises the sleeve locking mechanism described hereinabove.
In some embodiments of the present invention, an IM locating tool is provided for locating an IM nail, a proximal portion of which does not extend to the surface of the femur. Without the use of this IM locating tool, it is sometimes difficult for a surgeon to locate such an IM nail if post-operative access to the implant becomes necessary. To use the locating tool, the surgeon temporarily couples one or more connecting elements of the locating tool to respective head holes of the IM nail. As a result, a proximal end of the locating tool is positioned directly over the site on the surface of the femur at which the surgeon should drill.
It is noted that use of the term “head” with respect to the IM nail is intended to distinguish at least a portion of the proximal end of the nail from the stem of the nail. In some embodiments, the head is separated by a neck region from the stem, while in other embodiments, the head and stem are generally continuous.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including:
an intramedullary (IM) nail, adapted to be inserted in a medullary canal of the bone of the subject, and including a proximal head that defines at least one hole therethrough; and
a sleeve, including a locking mechanism, which locking mechanism is adapted to engage the hole when the sleeve is inserted in the hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the hole.
In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a screw, and the sleeve is adapted to slidably receive the screw.
In an embodiment, the proximal head is shaped so as to define a female coupling element located on a surface of the hole, and the locking mechanism includes a depressible male coupling element, configured to engage the female coupling element so as to prevent the rotational and longitudinal movement. For some applications, the female coupling element is shaped to define a notch. For some applications, the male coupling element includes a tab. For some applications, the depressible male coupling element is adapted to engage the female coupling element when the sleeve is inserted in the hole to a fixed depth and then rotated until the depressible male coupling element engages the female coupling element.
There is also provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including an intramedullary (IM) nail, adapted to be inserted in a medullary canal of the bone of the subject, the IM nail including a proximal head having a distal portion and a proximal portion, the distal portion having a distal diameter, and the proximal portion having a proximal diameter less than or equal to about 80% of the distal diameter.
For some applications, the proximal diameter is less than or equal to about 50% of the distal diameter. For some applications, the proximal diameter is equal to between about 5 mm and about 10 mm and the distal diameter is equal to between about 11 mm and about 17 mm. For some applications, a length of the proximal portion is equal to between about 10% and about 50% of a length of the distal portion.
In an embodiment, the distal portion defines at least one hole therethrough, and including a sleeve, which includes a locking mechanism, which locking mechanism is adapted to engage the hole when the sleeve is inserted in the hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the hole.
There is further provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including an intramedullary (IM) nail, adapted to be implanted in the bone, such that no portion of the IM nail extends to an external surface of the bone.
In an embodiment, the IM nail includes a proximal head that defines one or more proximal head holes therethrough, and including a locating device, which includes:
one or more connecting elements, fixed to a distal end of the locating device, the connecting elements adapted to be temporarily coupled to respective ones of the proximal head holes; and
a location indicating element, fixed to a proximal end of the locating device, the location indicating element adapted to indicate, when the connecting elements are coupled to the holes, a location on the external surface of the bone substantially directly over a location of a proximal end of the proximal head.
For some applications, the one or more connecting elements include exactly one connecting element.
For some applications, each of the one or more connecting elements includes a locking mechanism, adapted to engage one of the proximal head holes when the connecting element is inserted in the proximal head hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the connecting element and the proximal head hole.
In an embodiment, the apparatus includes one or more sleeves, adapted to be coupled to respective ones of the proximal head holes, and the one or more connecting elements are adapted to be coupled to the respective ones of the proximal head holes by being coupled to respective ones of the sleeves when the one or more sleeves are coupled to the respective ones of the proximal head holes. For some applications, each of the one or more sleeves includes a locking mechanism, adapted to engage one of the holes when the sleeve is inserted in the hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the hole.
In an embodiment, the IM nail includes a proximal head having a proximal end, the proximal head defining at least one hole therethrough, and defining a longitudinal channel, open to the hole and to the proximal end, and the apparatus includes a bendable, resilient elongated element, which includes a sharp tip, the element adapted to be inserted (a) into the hole, (b) through at least a portion of the channel, (c) through the proximal end of the proximal portion, and (d) through the bone, so as to indicate a location on the external surface of the bone substantially directly over the proximal end of the proximal head. For some applications, the tip includes a screw thread. Alternatively, the tip includes a drill bit.
There is yet further provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for locating an intramedullary (IM) nail implanted in a bone of subject, the IM nail having a proximal head that defines one or more holes therethrough, the apparatus including:
one or more connecting elements, adapted to be disposed at a distal end of the apparatus, the connecting elements adapted to be temporarily coupled to respective ones of the holes; and
a location indicating element, fixed to a proximal end of the apparatus, the location indicating element adapted to indicate, when the connecting elements are coupled to the holes, a location on an external surface of the bone substantially directly over a location of a proximal end of the proximal head, when no portion of the IM nail extends to the external surface of the bone.
For some applications, the one or more connecting elements include exactly one connecting element.
In an embodiment, each of the one or more connecting elements includes a locking mechanism, adapted to engage one of the holes when the locking mechanism is inserted in the hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the connecting element and the hole.
In an embodiment, the apparatus includes one or more sleeves, adapted to be coupled to respective ones of the holes, and the one or more connecting elements are adapted to be coupled to the respective ones of the holes by being coupled to respective ones of the sleeves when the one or more sleeves are coupled to the respective ones of the holes. For some applications, each of the one or more sleeves includes a locking mechanism, adapted to engage one of the holes when the sleeve is inserted in the hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the hole.
There is still further provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including an intramedullary (IM) nail, adapted to be inserted in a medullary canal of the bone of the subject, the IM nail including a proximal head having a distal portion and a proximal portion, the proximal portion visually discrete from the distal portion, the proximal portion adapted to aid in locating the IM nail, and the distal portion adapted to be coupled to at least one element.
For some applications, the distal portion is adapted to be coupled to the at least one element, the at least one element being selected from the list consisting of: a nail, a screw, a pin, and a sleeve.
In an embodiment, the distal portion defines at least one hole therethrough, and including a sleeve, which includes a locking mechanism, which locking mechanism is adapted to engage the hole when the sleeve is inserted in the hole, such engagement preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the hole.
There is additionally provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including:
inserting, in a medullary canal of the bone of the subject, an intramedullary (IM) nail having a proximal head that defines at least one hole therethrough;
inserting a sleeve in the hole; and
locking the sleeve to the hole by moving the sleeve within the hole, so as to prevent rotational and longitudinal movement between the sleeve and the hole.
There yet additionally provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including inserting, in a medullary canal of the bone of the subject, an intramedullary (IM) nail having a proximal head having a distal portion and a proximal portion, the distal portion having a distal diameter, and the proximal portion having a proximal diameter less than or equal to about 80% of the distal diameter.
There is still additionally provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including implanting an intramedullary (IM) nail in the bone, such that no portion of the IM nail extends to an external surface of the bone.
There is also provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for locating an intramedullary (IM) nail implanted in a bone of subject, the IM nail having a proximal head that defines one or more holes therethrough, the method including temporarily coupling one or more connecting elements to respective ones of the holes, in a manner that brings a location indicating element to a position from which the location indicating element indicates a location on an external surface of the bone substantially directly over a location of a proximal end of the proximal head, when no portion of the IM nail extends to the external surface of the bone.
For some applications, the method includes coupling the connecting elements to the location indicating element.
There is further provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for locating an intramedullary (IM) nail implanted in a bone of a subject, the IM nail having a proximal head that has a proximal end, the proximal head defining at least one hole therethrough, the method including inserting a bendable, resilient elongated element, having a sharp tip,
(a) into the hole,
(b) through at least a portion of a longitudinal channel defined by the proximal head, the channel open to the hole and to the proximal end,
(c) through the proximal end of the proximal portion, and
(d) through the bone,
so as to indicate a location on an external surface of the bone substantially directly over the proximal end of the proximal head, when no portion of the IM nail extends to the external surface of the bone.
There is yet further provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including:
inserting, in a medullary canal of the bone of the subject, an intramedullary (IM) nail having a proximal head having a distal portion and a proximal portion, the proximal portion visually discrete from the distal portion;
positioning the proximal portion to aid in locating the IM nail; and
coupling at least one element to the distal portion.
There is still further provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for use with an intramedullary (IM) nail implanted in a bone of subject, the IM nail having a proximal portion and a distal portion that defines one or more holes therethrough, the apparatus including:
a support, adapted to be coupled to the proximal portion;
a pin, adapted to be inserted through, at any given time, one of the holes and into the bone in a vicinity of a fracture of the bone; and
a multi-axial control element, adapted to be coupled to the support and to the pin, and to move the pin translationally and rotationally, so as to reduce and align the fracture, respectively.
Typically, the multi-axial control element includes a biaxial control element, which is adapted to move the pin in a cephalad direction and rotationally, so as to reduce and align the fracture, respectively.
In an embodiment, the biaxial control element includes a first member and a second member, both coupled to the support, the first and second members including a first set screw and a second set screw, respectively, the first and second set screws adapted to:
move the pin in the cephalad direction when both of the first and second set screws are rotated substantially simultaneously, and
move the pin rotationally when exactly one of the first and second set screws is rotated.
For some applications, the biaxial control element includes a shaped element coupled to at least one of the set screws, such that rotation of the at least one of the set screws in a first direction induces movement of the pin in the cephalad direction, and such that rotation of the at least one of the set screws in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, induces movement of the pin in the caudal direction.
The holes are typically elongated in parallel with a longitudinal axis of the IM nail.
There is also provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, including:
an intramedullary (IM) nail, adapted to be implanted in an intramedullary canal of the bone, the IM nail including a proximal portion and a distal portion that defines one or more holes therethrough; and
an introducer, including:
a support, adapted to be coupled to the proximal portion;
a pin, adapted to be inserted through, at any given time, one of the holes and into the bone in a vicinity of the fracture; and
a multi-axial control element, adapted to be coupled to the support and to the pin, and to move the pin translationally and rotationally, so as to reduce and align the fracture, respectively.
There is additionally provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, apparatus for use with an intramedullary (IM) nail implanted in a bone of subject, the IM nail having a proximal portion and a distal portion that defines one or more holes therethrough, the apparatus including:
a support, includes means for coupling the support to the proximal portion;
a pin, adapted to be inserted through, at any given time, one of the holes and into the bone in a vicinity of a fracture of the bone; and
means for moving the pin translationally and rotationally, so as to reduce and align the fracture, respectively.
In an embodiment, the means for moving the pin include means for moving the pin in a cephalad direction and rotationally, so as to reduce and align the fracture, respectively.
There is still additionally provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject, the method including:
inserting an intramedullary (IM) nail in an intramedullary canal of the bone, the IM nail having a proximal portion and a distal portion that defines one or more holes therethrough;
inserting a pin through one of the holes and into the bone in a vicinity of the fracture;
temporarily coupling, via at least one intermediary element, a portion of the pin external to a body of the subject to the proximal portion of the IM nail; and
moving the pin translationally and rotationally, so as to reduce and align the fracture, respectively.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of embodiments thereof, taken together with the drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an intramedullary (IM) system in place in a femur, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration of a head of the IM nail of FIG. 1 , and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional illustration of the head through the line 2 B- 2 B of FIG. 2A , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a sleeve for use with the IM system of FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 4A and 4B are cross-sectional illustrations of a head with one of the holes of FIG. 2A through the line 4 A- 4 A of FIG. 2A , in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;
FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic illustrations of a head of an IM nail, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an IM locating tool, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of another IM locating tool, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of an introducer applied to a femur, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8A is an enlarged view of the circled portion in FIG. 8 ; and
FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic illustrations of motion of a pin of the introducer of FIG. 8 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an intramedullary (IM) system 10 in place in a femur 20 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The IM system comprises an IM nail 30 , having a proximal head 32 and a stem 34 ; at least one screw 40 for securing the IM nail at the head within a femoral head 23 of femur 20 ; and at least one sleeve 50 . Alternatively, another anchoring element, such as a nail or bolt is used, instead of screw 40 . IM system 10 typically further comprises at least one distal anchoring element 60 , such as a screw, nail, or bolt, to secure IM nail 30 at stem 34 within a canal 22 of femur 20 . For some applications, head 32 and/or stem 34 define a longitudinal bore (not shown).
FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration of head 32 of IM nail 30 , and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional illustration of head 32 through the line 2 B- 2 B of FIG. 2A , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Head 32 defines at least one hole 36 , typically two holes, as shown in the figures. Holes 36 are typically oriented in an angled direction toward a femoral head 23 ( FIG. 1 ) relative to a longitudinal axis of IM nail 30 .
Reference is again made to FIG. 1 . In an embodiment of the present invention, head holes 36 are adapted to receive respective sleeves 50 , which in turn are adapted to slidably receive screws 40 , so as to permit a threaded portion of the screws to engage femoral head 23 and to allow sliding compression of a femoral neck 24 , an intertrochanteric fracture 25 , and/or a subtrochanteric fracture 26 .
FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of sleeve 50 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Sleeve 50 comprises a locking mechanism 51 , which engages head hole 36 , preventing rotational and longitudinal movement between sleeve 50 and head hole 36 . The locking mechanism typically comprises a male coupling element, such as a tab 52 fixed to the outer surface of a depressible tongue 54 , which is adapted to flex inwards toward the center of the sleeve when pressure is applied thereto. When the pressure is removed, tab 52 engages female coupling element, such as a notch 72 of hole 36 , as described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 4A . It is noted that in embodiments of the present invention, prevention of rotational and longitudinal movement between sleeve 50 and head hole 36 is not obtained by simply pressure-fitting the sleeve in the hole, or by simply screwing the sleeve in the hole, either of which generally would result in gradual loosening of the sleeve over time. In addition, sleeve 50 typically is shaped to define at least one cutout 56 to receive a screwdriver used by the surgeon to align the tab with the notch, as described hereinbelow with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B .
FIGS. 4A and 4B are cross-sectional illustrations of one of holes 36 of head 32 through the line 4 A- 4 A of FIG. 2A , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. An inner grooved surface 70 of hole 36 is shaped to define a notch 72 , which tab 52 engages when sleeve 50 is inserted into hole 36 and properly aligned, thereby locking sleeve 50 to hole 36 . In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4A , the radius R 1 of grooved inner surface 70 adjacent to notch 72 is less than the maximum radius R 2 of inner surface 70 in a region further away from notch 72 . To insert sleeve 50 into hole 36 and engage locking mechanism 51 , the surgeon typically first rotationally orients the sleeve so that tab 52 is aligned with a region of hole 36 having maximum radius R 2 , for example at the upper portion of hole 36 . The surgeon then inserts the sleeve in the hole until tab 52 of sleeve 50 meets the upper portion of hole 36 , which blocks further insertion of the sleeve. The surgeon then rotates the sleeve so that tab 52 approaches notch 72 . As tab 52 approaches notch 72 , tab 52 (and tongue 54 ) is gradually depressed by inner surface 70 , until the tab reaches the notch and the tongue springs back into its original position, forcing the tab into the notch, and locking it therein. Such a locking mechanism is generally impervious to loosening under cyclical loading, even over the course of many years. By contrast, two pieces which are attached without a locking mechanism (e.g., by being screwed together or wedged together) are susceptible to gradual loosening over time.
In the alternate embodiment shown in FIG. 4B , the radius R 3 of inner surface 70 adjacent to notch 72 is substantially equal to the maximum radius R 2 of inner surface 70 . Hole 36 in this alternate embodiment is typically flared, such that the tab is depressed during insertion of sleeve 50 into hole 36 . Insertion of sleeve 50 into hole 36 in this alternate embodiment does not necessarily include rotation of sleeve 50 (as is described with reference to FIG. 4A ).
FIG. 5A is a schematic illustration of a head 132 of IM nail 30 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, head 132 of IM nail 30 comprises a distal portion 180 , which includes one or more head holes 136 , and a proximal portion 182 . Proximal portion 182 is adapted to aid in locating IM nail 30 , while distal portion 180 is adapted to be coupled to at least one element, such as a nail, screw, or a sleeve. Proximal portion 182 is visually and structurally distinct from distal portion 180 . Alternatively or additionally, proximal portion 182 has a diameter D 1 that is less than a diameter D 2 of distal portion 180 adjacent to proximal portion 182 . For some applications, diameter D 1 is between 50% and about 80% of diameter D 2 , or is less than about 50% of diameter D 2 . For some applications, diameter D 1 is between about 25% and about 50% of diameter D 2 . Typically, for IM nails intended for use in adults, diameter D 1 is between about 5 mm and about 10 mm, and diameter D 2 is between about 11 mm and about 17 mm. A length L 1 of proximal portion 182 is typically equal to between about 10% and about 50% of a length L 2 of head 132 . For example, length L 1 may be between about 10 mm and about 35 mm, and length L 2 may be between about 40 mm and about 60 mm, in IM nails intended for use in adults. Although head 132 is shown in the figures as narrowing suddenly, for some applications the diameter of the head decreases gradually from D 2 to D 1 . For some applications, such as for use in conjunction with the techniques described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 6 or 7 , (a) proximal portion 182 is removable, in which case the surgeon typically removes the proximal portion after implanting IM nail 30 , or (b) head 132 does not comprise proximal portion 182 , so that head 132 does not extend to the surface of femur 20 .
FIG. 5B is a schematic illustration of head 132 of IM nail 30 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a longitudinal axis of proximal portion 182 is oriented at an angle β with respect to a longitudinal axis of distal portion 180 . Angle β is typically between about 4 and about 40 degrees, in this embodiment. Optionally, a proximal surface 190 of distal portion 180 is oriented at an angle α with respect to the longitudinal axis of distal portion 180 . Angle α is typically between about 4 and about 40.
During an implantation procedure, IM nail 30 is typically inserted into femur 20 so that a proximal end 184 of proximal portion 182 is generally flush with or slightly protrudes from a surface region 27 of femur 20 in a vicinity of the greater trochanter or the piriformis ( FIG. 1 ). As a result, a surgeon generally can readily locate the IM nail if post-operative access to the implant becomes necessary. In addition, such a narrower proximal portion typically allows greater regrowth and healing of the neck of the femur towards the area of the greater trochanter, than generally occurs upon implantation of conventional IM nail heads.
For some applications, IM nail 30 comprises both narrower proximal portion 182 and locking mechanism 51 , as described hereinabove. For other application, the IM nail comprises only one of these features, but is generally otherwise conventional.
FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an IM locating tool 200 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, proximal portion 32 of IM nail 30 does not extend to surface region 27 of femur 20 . Without the use of IM locating tool 200 , it is sometimes difficult for the surgeon to locate proximal portion 32 of IM nail 30 if post-operative access to the implant becomes necessary. A distal end 220 of the locating tool comprises or is removably coupled to one or more connecting elements 240 , which typically comprise a locking mechanism similar to locking mechanism 51 , for locking to IM nail 30 , as described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 3 . Alternatively, connecting elements 240 comprise another locking mechanism, such as protrusions, clips, or pegs.
To use the locating tool, the surgeon temporarily couples connecting elements 240 to respective head holes 36 of IM nail 30 . For some applications, the surgeon performs this coupling by removing any sleeves or screws present in holes 36 , and inserting a sleeve (not shown), which may be similar to sleeve 50 described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 3 , into each hole 36 . The surgeon then couples each connecting element 240 to one of the sleeves. Alternatively, connecting elements 240 are directly coupled to head holes 36 . In either case, after the connecting elements are in a fixed position with respect to IM nail 30 , tool 200 is typically placed or slid onto the connecting elements, so as to assume a known, rigid position with respect thereto. (In embodiments in which connecting elements 240 are an integral part of tool 200 , this step is not necessary.) The use of at least two connecting elements 240 provides for a known, fixed orientation of IM locating tool 200 with respect to IM nail 30 . For applications that use only a single connecting element 240 , means are provided for ensuring a fixed rotational angle between connecting element 240 and hole 36 , thereby providing a known, fixed orientation of IM locating tool 200 with respect to IM nail 30 . For example, such means may include a slot in hole 36 .
Typically, coupling IM locating tool 200 to IM nail 30 automatically positions a proximal end 230 of the locating tool so as to indicate a site 228 of surface region 27 substantially directly over proximal portion 32 of the IM nail. The surgeon typically uses knowledge of the location of site 228 in order to determine an appropriate location at which to drill. For some applications, proximal end 230 comprises means for guiding a marking device 250 or drill, such as a hole through which the marking device or drill is inserted.
FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of an IM locating tool 300 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. An IM nail 302 comprises a proximal portion 304 which does not extend to a surface region 306 of a femur 308 . The proximal portion defines one or more head holes 310 , and a longitudinal channel 312 open to at least one of the head holes and to a proximal end 314 of proximal portion 304 . Without the use of IM locating tool 300 , it is sometimes difficult for the surgeon to locate proximal portion 304 of IM nail 302 if post-operative access to the implant becomes necessary.
IM locating tool 300 comprises an elongated element that is both bendable and resilient, i.e., is able to bend while maintaining longitudinal strength. A tip 316 of tool 300 is sufficiently sharp to pass through femur 308 . In order to locate a site 318 of surface region 306 substantially directly over proximal portion 304 of the IM nail, the surgeon inserts tool 300 , sharp end first, into one of head holes 310 . The surgeon guides the tool through channel 312 , so that the tool bends to conform with the channel. After pushing the tool so that tip 316 reaches the end of channel 312 at proximal end 314 , the surgeon continues to push with sufficient force so that tip 316 punches through femur 308 and emerges from surface region 306 at site 318 , thereby externally indicating the location of the site. Alternatively, tip 316 is threaded, and the surgeon rotates tool 300 so as to screw tip 316 through femur 308 . Further alternatively, tool 300 comprises a flexible drill bit, and the surgeon drills the tool through femur 308 . The surgeon typically uses knowledge of the location of site 318 attained through use of tool 300 in order to determine an appropriate location at which to drill during post-operative access to the IM nail.
Reference is now made to FIGS. 8 and 8A , which are schematic illustrations of an introducer 400 applied to a femur 402 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Introducer 400 is adapted to actively reduce and align a fracture 404 of femur 402 , such as a subtrochanteric fracture, while generally minimizing the required size of an incision in the vicinity of the fracture. Introducer 400 comprises a support 406 , a coupling element 408 , and a multi-axial control element, such as a biaxial control element 410 . Coupling element 408 is adapted to couple introducer 400 to an IM nail 412 , which is inserted into a medullary canal 414 of femur 402 . For example, coupling element 408 may comprise a male element adapted to be inserted into a hole defined by a proximal end of a proximal head 416 of IM nail 412 . Other coupling mechanisms used by conventional introducers may also be used. One or more neck screws 420 secure the IM nail at the head within a femoral head 422 of femur 402 . Introducer 400 is typically shaped so as to define one or more holes (not shown) for guiding respective neck screws 420 during their insertion into femoral head 422 .
Introducer 400 is shaped to facilitate use with a pin 424 . During a procedure (which is generally performed using real-time imaging, such as fluoroscopy), pin 424 is inserted through femur 402 and through an elliptical or otherwise elongated hole 426 , defined by a distal region 428 of IM nail 412 in a vicinity of fracture 404 , such that the fracture is between the pin and coupling element 408 . For some applications, pin 424 is threaded in a vicinity of a bone-penetrating tip 430 thereof and/or in a vicinity of one or both regions 432 thereof that pass through femur 402 . Pin 424 typically has a diameter of between about 3 and about 6 mm, typically between about 4 and about 5 mm.
Reference is now made to FIGS. 9A and 9B , which are schematic illustrations of motion of pin 424 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Biaxial control element 410 is adapted to move pin 424 along two axes, as follows:
translationally, for example, in a cephalad (anterior) direction toward support 406 (i.e., in the direction generally indicated by arrow 434 ). In this manner, bone-penetrating tip 430 and a physician-manipulated end 436 of pin 424 generally move equal distances ( FIG. 9A ). Such cephalad movement serves to reduce fracture 404 ; and rotationally, such that bone-penetrating tip 430 and physician-manipulated end 436 move in opposite directions, i.e., tip 430 moves closer to or further away from support 406 in one of the directions generally indicated by arrow 438 , while end 436 moves in the opposite direction ( FIG. 9B ). Such rotational movement serves to properly align fragments 440 and 442 of femur 402 with one another ( FIG. 8 ).
Elongated hole 426 typically has a length of about 10 mm to about 12 mm. Pin 424 is typically inserted through elongated hole 426 near a distal end thereof, which allows substantial rotation and cephalad motion of the pin before the pin comes in contact with a proximal end of the hole, e.g., about 10 mm of motion. ( FIG. 8 shows the pin already at the proximal end of hole 426 .)
Reference is again made to FIGS. 8 and 8A . After fracture 404 has been reduced and aligned, a screw (not shown) is typically screwed through a hole 444 , defined by distal region 428 of IM nail 412 , into fragment 440 , in order to fix IM nail 412 to fragment 440 . Hole 444 is typically circular and positioned distally to elongated hole 426 (as shown), or proximal thereto (configuration not shown). Pin 424 is then removed from elongated hole 426 . Optionally, a second screw (not shown) is screwed through elongated hole 426 into fragment 440 to further fix the IM nail to the fragment.
In an embodiment of the present invention, distal region 428 of IM nail 412 defines a secondary elliptical or otherwise elongated hole 446 , in a distal vicinity of elongated hole 426 . In this embodiment, after removal of pin 424 from elongated hole 426 , the pin is inserted through secondary hole 446 . Biaxial control element 410 further moves pin 424 in the cephalad direction towards support 406 , in order to further reduce fracture 404 . Typically, about 10 mm of reduction is performed using elongated hole 426 , and up to about an additional 10 mm of reduction is performed using secondary elongated hole 446 , for a total reduction of up to about 20 mm. It has been the inventor's experience that fractures rarely require reduction of more than about 20 mm, after initial reduction with a fracture table.
In an embodiment of the present invention, biaxial control element 410 comprises a first member such as a first leg 448 , and a second member such as a second leg 450 , the first and second members comprising set screws 452 and 468 , respectively. The first and second legs each define one or more elliptical or otherwise elongated holes 464 and 458 , respectively. When inserted into elongated hole 426 of IM nail 412 , pin 424 passes through one of holes 464 and one of holes 458 . The pin is initially positioned near respective distal ends of the holes. Tightening set screw 452 pushes the pin towards a proximal end of the one of the holes 464 , while tightening set screw 454 pushes the pin towards a proximal end of the one of the holes 458 . Therefore:
tightening both set screws to the same extent and substantially simultaneously moves pin 424 in the cephalad direction towards support 406 ; tightening only set screw 452 rotates pin 424 clockwise, in order to align fragments 440 and 442 ; and tightening only set screw 468 rotates pin 424 counterclockwise, in order to align fragments 440 and 442 .
Typically, a combination of such tightening motions is performed in order to reduce and align fracture 440 . It is noted that for some configurations (such as that shown in FIG. 8 ), tightening one of the set screws also induces some net cephalad motion of the center of pin 424 . For some applications, one or both of legs 448 or 450 are removably coupled to support 406 by coupling elements 460 or 462 , respectively (e.g., comprising screws or clips). For example, leg 450 may be removably coupled to support 406 , in which case leg 448 and support 406 are used to insert IM nail 412 into intramedullary canal 414 . The absence of leg 450 during this insertion generally makes introducer 400 easier to manipulate. After insertion of the IM nail, leg 450 is coupled to support 406 .
In an embodiment, biaxial control element 410 comprises an optional shaped element, such as shaped element 454 , coupled within biaxial control element 410 so as to provide means for pulling pin 424 (or otherwise inducing motion of pin 424 ) in the caudal direction. Shaped element 454 is coupled via a joint 456 to the proximal tip of set screw 452 . (Alternatively or additionally, a shaped element is coupled to set screw 452 .) Pin 424 passes through a hole in shaped element 454 , such that joint 456 allows set screw 452 to rotate while shaped element 454 substantially does not rotate. In addition, joint 456 couples shaped element 454 and set screw 452 such that movement of either one along the proximal/distal axis induces movement of the other one in the same direction. In particular, distal (caudal) motion of set screw 452 causes corresponding caudal motion of pin 424 . (By contrast, in embodiments not having shaped element 454 or equivalents thereof, proximal motion of set screw 452 causes cephalad motion of pin 424 , while distal motion of set screw 452 does not induce any substantial motion of pin 424 .) It is noted that the configuration and shape of shaped element 454 shown in FIG. 8 is by way of illustration and not limitation. A person of ordinary skill in the art of mechanical design, having read the disclosure of the present patent application, would be able to develop other substantially equivalent means for providing cephalad and caudal motion of pin 424 .
In an embodiment of the present invention, introducer 400 is used in conjunction with a surgical plate having one or more elliptical or otherwise elongated holes through which pin 424 is inserted (configuration not shown). The plate is secured to the outside of femur 402 in a position suitable for reducing fracture 404 and for aligning fragments 440 and 442 . For this embodiment, techniques described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 8 , 9 A, and 9 B are adaptable for use with the surgical plate, in a manner which would be readily ascertainable by one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains.
It will be appreciated that although some embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein for use in a femur, these embodiments may be adapted for use in other long bones of the extremities, such as the tibia and humerus, in a manner which would be readily ascertainable by one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains. It will also be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove, as well as variations and modifications thereof that are not in the prior art, which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.
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Apparatus for treating a fracture of a bone of a subject including an intramedullary (IM) nail insertable into a medullary canal of the bone of the subject. The IM nail has a proximal head that defines at least one hole therethrough. A sleeve, which includes a locking mechanism, is engaged with the hole when the sleeve is inserted in the hole. This engagement prevents rotational movement between the sleeve and the nail and inward and outward longitudinal movement of the sleeve relative to the nail.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to methods for determining flow properties of blood vessels, and in particular image based methods.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Currently, the methods used for assessing the quality of bypass operations may be seen as insufficient to correctly detect weaknesses of the bypass graft. Current methods may be based on simply using tactile senses, i.e. fingertips, for assessing whether the bypass vessel is properly attached. One problem that may arise is that the attached bypass vessel limits the flow of blood too much due to a narrowing at the joint between the vessel and the bypass vessel.
[0003] To avoid complications it would be desirable to be able to quickly and accurately determine the quality of the bypass vessel, e.g. to determine if the lumen of the bypass vessel is sufficiently large.
[0004] The paper “Intraoperative evaluation of coronary artery bypass graft anastomoses with high-frequency epicardial echocardiography: experimental validation and initial patient studies, L F Hiratzka, D D McPherson, W C Lamberth, Jr, B Brandt, 3d, M L Armstrong, E Schroder, M Hunt, R Kieso, M D Megan and P K Tompkins, in Circulation 1986; 73; 1199-1205, © 1986 American Heart Association. ISSN: 0009-7322” discloses a method where a high-frequency epicardial echocardiography performed intraoperatively could assess coronary artery bypass graft anastomoses by providing on-line short-axis (cross-sectional) and longitudinal two-dimensional images of the vessels. To validate measurements of anastomoses with high-frequency epicardial echocardiography, luminal diameter determined by high-frequency epicardial echocardiography was compared with that determined histologically after perfusion fixation in 12 dogs studied after coronary artery bypass grafting.
[0005] Whereas the above paper discusses evaluation of vessels and bypass graft anastomoses, the paper does not satisfactorily provide a method which is applicable to clinical use in a hospital environment. Therefore inventor of the present invention has appreciated that an improved method for evaluating flow properties of vessels is of benefit, and has in consequence devised the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It would be desirable to enable to provide a system capable of analyzing the flow properties of blood vessels and capable of providing qualitative analysis results of the flow properties. Accordingly, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a method and a system that meet such objectives and that solves the above mentioned problems, as well as similar and other problems of the prior art.
[0007] To better address one or more of these concerns, in a first aspect of the invention a system for determining flow properties of a blood vessel is presented, where the system comprises a processing unit for analyzing medical images of cross-sectional views of the blood vessel (where different views are obtained at different location along the vessel), where the images are obtained from a medical imaging device, and where the processing unit includes electronic hardware and/or a processor for executing computer program code, the hardware and/or the computer program being configured for analyzing the images by performing steps:
[0008] a) determining a point or a collection of points encircled or surrounded by a wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel of an image,
[0009] b) using the encircled point to obtain a closed vessel contour which models the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel by locating an adaptable closed circular contour so that it surrounds the encircled point and deforming the adaptable closed contour towards the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel, for a plurality of the images, where at least some of the the plurality of images originate from different locations along a length of the blood vessel, and further configured for analyzing the images by performing steps:
[0010] selecting a reference image and determine a reference area or reference radius of the closed vessel contour, where the reference image originate from a reference location of the vessel,
[0011] for at least some of the plurality images analysed according to steps a) and b) determine an area or radius of the closed vessel contour, and
[0012] comparing the reference area or reference radius with an area or radius of one of the plurality of images so as to obtain information about the flow property of the blood vessel.
[0013] The reference image may originate from the plurality of analysed images or from an other initial image obtained from an initial reference imaging procedure. E.g. the reference image may be taken as the first of the plurality of analysed images, or the reference image may originate from a separate imaging process where the operator of the imaging device locates the imaging device at a specific location of a vessel located some distance from the portion of the vessel to be analysed.
[0014] The wall of the vessel is identifiable in the image as one or more connected or unconnected segments of the vessel. The encircled point may be determined manually by enabling the user to indicate a point on a display (showing the image) which should be used as the encircled point. Alternatively, the encircled point may be determined by automatic methods as described in the detailed description.
[0015] The closed vessel contour models the wall of the vessel. For example, the vessel contour may approximate the inner edge of the vessel, i.e. the inner edge which forms the boundary between the vessel tissue and the lumen of the vessel. Alternatively, the vessel contour may approximate any other closed contour of the vessel, for example the outer edge of the vessel or a contour located between the inner and outer edge.
[0016] The deforming of the adaptable closed contour towards the wall of the cross sectional view may be performed by expanding sections of the flexible contour until the contour section makes contact with the wall of the vessel or otherwise approximates the location of the vessel wall or wall boundary. A test for contact or specific locations of the contour relative to the wall of the vessel may be set by energy formations of the wall and adaptable contour, or other formulations which quantifies the location of sections of the deformable contour relative to the wall of the vessel.
[0017] The specific expansion state of the vessel and, thereby, the selection of an image from the plurality of images may be performed by analyzing and EKG signal which has been measured simultaneously with obtaining images so that the signal and images are synchronized. By analyzing the EKG signal, then e.g. the largest expansion of the vessel may be determined. Alternatively, the specific expansion state such as the largest expansion may be directly determined by calculating the area or radius of the lumen of the vessel.
[0018] In case the specific expansion state of the vessel is determined by EKG analysis or other indirect methods, the image having the specific expansion state, e.g. largest lumen, may be determined prior to determining the encircled point and determining closed vessel contour which models the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel. In case the specific expansion state of the vessel is determined by calculating the area of the lumen, the image having the specific expansion state, may preferably be determined subsequent to determining the encircled point and closed vessel contour. In case an indirect method, such as EKG analysis is used for selecting a specific image showing a specific expansion state of the vessel, then only one of images need to be analyzed in order to determine the vessel contour which models the wall of the cross sectional (for calculation of lumen area). In case the specific image is selected by direct calculation of the lumen area, preferably a plurality of the images are analyzed for determining the vessel contour (in order to enable selection of the image showing e.g. the largest vessel expansion).
[0019] It is understood that the flow property of the blood vessel is characterized by the area of the vessel, i.e. the approximate area of the lumen of the vessel.
[0020] The area may be determined by for example by overlaying the closed vessel contour with a grid and calculating the area of the grid elements which are encircled by the vessel contour. The radius may be found by a similar grid based method, possibly the radius may be a mean radius obtained by averaging different radii of the vessel contour.
[0021] The processing unit may be a computer or an electronic circuit comprising an image processor. The computer or the image processor may be configured to run a computer program code stored on a tangible media such as a DVD or a read only memory (ROM) contained within the processing unit, where the computer program contains algorithms or code capable of performing one or more of the steps according to the first aspect and other embodiments of the invention.
[0022] In an embodiment, the invention relates to a system where determining a point encircled by the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel comprises determining a best fit between the wall and a predefined circle, or comprises determining which circle or circles of a selection of circles having radii within a preselected interval of radii (rmin, rmax) provides a best fit of the wall, where the center of the circle provides an estimate of the point encircled by edges of the cross-sectional view of the blood vessel.
[0023] Accordingly the determination of a best fit may be based on a single predefined circle or a selection of circles.
[0024] In an embodiment determining the encircled point comprises
[0025] determining edges in the medical image, where at least some of the edges are edges of walls of the cross sectional view of the vessel, and
[0026] determining the encircled point as a point encircled by the edges of the cross sectional view of the vessel.
[0027] Further, the method according to this embodiment of determining the encircled point as a point encircled by the edges of the cross sectional view of the vessel may comprise:
[0028] generating test circles having different radii within a preselected interval of radii, where a plurality of test circles with different radii are centered at a plurality of edge points along the edges,
[0029] counting the number of intersections of the test circles at different locations within an area encircled by the edges,
[0030] selecting a location encircled by the edges which has the largest number of intersecting test circles and using the selected location as encircled point.
[0031] Further, according to this embodiment an intersection of a test circle (with a radius from a preselected interval) is only considered if an intersecting test circle (with a radius from the same preselected interval) exists at a substantially diagonally located edge point of one of the vessel segments.
[0032] In an embodiment deforming the adaptable closed contour towards the edges of the cross sectional view of the vessel is based on energy method comprising
[0033] defining an energy function for the elasticity and bending stiffness of the adaptable contour,
[0034] defining an energy function for the wall of the vessel based on an intensity function of the image, where the energy function defines a minimum energy at an edge of the wall,
[0035] defining an energy function that makes the adaptable contour expand, and
[0036] determining parameters of the closed contour which parameters defines the shape of the closed contour, by determining the parameters so that sum of energy functions is minimized.
[0037] In an embodiment the imaging device comprises a structure shaped to accommodate a part of the blood vessel, and the medical images show structural features of the structure, and analyzing the medical images comprises identifying imaged structural features in at least one of the plurality of images, where the imaged structural features defines a part of the image which contains the cross-sectional view of the blood vessel.
[0038] By utilizing that certain structures of the imaging device is visible in the medical image and that a relevant part of the image, i.e. a part showing the vessel, is distinct from other parts of the image showing structures of the imaging device, the relevant part can be extracted from the image. Thereby, the processing of the image may become more effecting since part that are not relevant need not be processed.
[0039] In an embodiment determining edges in the medical image comprises,
[0040] determining gradient magnitudes from horizontal and vertical gradients, and gradient directions, for each pixel of the image,
[0041] determining groups of pixels having the same gradient direction,
[0042] from the pixels having the same gradient direction, determining the pixel which has the largest gradient magnitude.
[0043] The determination of edges may be used as a preprocessing step which result, i.e. the edges, are used for determining a point encircled by the wall of the vessel.
[0044] In an embodiment the system is configured for determining flow properties of a bypass blood vessel branching off an existing blood vessel. Use of the system may be particularly useful for assessing the quality of a bypass blood vessel, since a bypass vessel preferably should provide the same flow property as compared to a normal vessel.
[0045] In an embodiment the processing unit is configured for determining at least one of
[0046] an image representing a cross-section where the bypass blood vessel and the existing blood vessel constitute separate passageways,
[0047] an image representing a cross-section where the bypass blood vessel and the existing blood vessel constitute a common passageway, and
[0048] an image representing a cross-section where the existing blood vessel is the sole passageway,
[0049] where the selection is performed by selecting images by analyzing the shapes and/or number of closed vessel contours.
[0050] A second aspect of the invention relates to a method for determining flow properties of a blood vessel, by analyzing medical images of cross-sectional views of the blood vessel, the method comprises:
[0051] a) determining a point encircled by a wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel of an image,
[0052] b) using the encircled point to obtain a closed vessel contour which models the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel by locating an adaptable closed circular contour so that it surrounds the encircled point and deforming the adaptable closed contour towards the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel, for a plurality of the images, where at least some of the the plurality of images originate from different locations along a length of the blood vessel, and the method further comprises
[0053] selecting a reference image and determine a reference area or reference radius of the closed vessel contour, where the reference image originate from a reference location of the vessel,
[0054] for at least some of the plurality images analysed according to steps a) and b) determine an area or radius of the closed vessel contour, and
[0055] comparing the reference area or reference radius with an area or radius of one of the plurality of images so as to obtain information about the flow property of the blood vessel.
[0056] In an embodiment the method is for determining flow properties of a bypass blood vessel branching off an existing blood vessel. Thus, the method may be particularly beneficial for use in connection by surgery related to insertion of bypass vessels.
[0057] An alternative aspect of the invention relates to a system for determining flow properties of a blood vessel, where the system comprises a processing unit for analyzing medical images of a cross-sectional view of the blood vessel, where the images are obtained from an medical imaging device, and where the processing unit includes electronic hardware and/or a processor for executing computer program code, the hardware and/or the computer program being configured for analyzing the images by performing steps:
[0058] determining a point encircled by a wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel,
[0059] using the encircled point to obtain a closed vessel contour which models the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel by centering an adaptable closed circular contour at the encircled point and deforming the adaptable closed contour towards the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel, for one or more of the images, and by performing steps:
[0060] selecting an image from the plurality of images based on determining a specific expansion state of the vessel, and
[0061] determining an area or radius of the closed vessel contour of the selected image so as to obtain information about the flow property of the blood vessel.
[0062] In general the various aspects and embodiments of the invention may be combined and coupled in any way possible within the scope of the invention. These and other aspects, features and/or advantages of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.
[0063] In summary the invention relates to a method for providing quantitative measures of the flow property of a blood vessel. The method is based on analyzing cross-sectional images of a vessel by estimating the area of the lumen of the vessel. The method comprises steps of determining a point contained within the walls of the vessel, determining a closed path which approximates the inner circumference of the wall of the vessel, and determining the area of the closed path when the vessel is most expanding in order to get a measurement of the maximum lumen. This method may enable the clinical personnel to quickly evaluate the flow property e.g. of an inserted bypass vessel and, thereby, conclude if the surgical intervention is successful or if adjustments are required.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0064] Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which
[0065] FIG. 1 illustrates longitudinal and perpendicular cross-sectional views of a joint between a blood vessel and a bypass vessel,
[0066] FIG. 2 shows images of cross sectional views at different locations,
[0067] FIG. 3 shows edges (picture C) determined from picture A,
[0068] FIG. 4 illustrates a method for determining a point encircled by the wall of a vessel,
[0069] FIG. 5 illustrates a method for deforming an adaptable contour towards the wall edges of a vessel,
[0070] FIG. 6 shows a structural device used together with a scanning probe, where the structural device is shaped to accommodate a section vessel,
[0071] FIG. 7 shows how features of the structural device is imaged together with the vessel,
[0072] FIG. 8 illustrates a system according to an embodiment of the invention, and
[0073] FIG. 9 illustrates a method according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0074] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a blood vessel, e.g. a coronary artery 101 and a bypass vessel or bypass graft 102 joined to the artery by a clinical bypass operation.
[0075] To ensure that the bypass graft works optimally it is required that the flow properties of the bypass graft 102 corresponds to the flow properties of the artery 101 . Thus, the flow resistance generated by the bypass graft should not be larger than the flow resistance generated by a corresponding section of the artery. During insertion of the bypass graft 102 it may happen than that the graft is not inserted optimally so that free passage at the joint between the graft and the artery is too small.
[0076] An embodiment of the invention provides a method for determining the flow properties of be graft by determining areas of the free passage of the joint. The areas may be determined at different longitudinal locations, such as locations 103 - 105 indicated in FIG. 1 . Cross-sectional views A, B and C of the joint referred to as heel, center and toe views are illustrated as images 113 , 114 , and 115 , respectively. The selection of images from different longitudinal locations may be performed manually or automatically, e.g. by analyzing shapes of the cross sectional views of the vessel or vessels.
[0077] Images from different locations along the blood vessel may be selected manually by recording a plurality of images by use of a medical imaging device configured to be displaced along the vessel. Thus, while the medical imaging device is displaced along the length of the vessel a plurality of images are obtained which show cross sectional views of the vessel at different locations along the vessel.
[0078] The heel, center and toe views may be used to characterize the flow properties of the graft at three locations along the joint. In order to determine if the flow property of the graft is satisfactory, the areas of the lumen defined by the wall of the vessel at the heel, center and toe views may be compared with corresponding areas of reference cross sectional views 106 , 107 located at both sides of the joint.
[0079] As an example, a reference image may be selected when the medical imaging device is placed at a reference location 106 or location 107 . The reference location 106 , 107 should be selected so that the flow properties at the reference location is unaffected, e.g. by a joint between the artery and an inserted graft or other objects which possibly increases flow resistance in a section of the blood vessel.
[0080] Thus, in order to obtain information about the flow property of the blood vessel for evaluating if the flow property of the vessel is satisfactory a reference area or reference radius of a reference image is compared with an areas or radii of a plurality of images originating from different locations along a length of the blood vessel.
[0081] The reference image is selected so that it originates from a reference location and a reference area or reference radius of the closed vessel contour 510 of the reference image is determined. The reference image may be manually obtained e.g. by activating a button which initiates the imaging of the blood vessel, or the reference image may be selected as the first image of the plurality of images which are recording during displacing the medical imaging device. Thus, the operator of the medical imaging device should initially place the imaging device so that the first image is recorded at a location which is unaffected by the modification of the vessel structure performed for improving flow properties.
[0082] The plurality of images are selected so that they originate from different locations along a length of the blood vessel and area or radius values of the closed vessel contour 510 of each or a selection of the plurality of images are determined.
[0083] Thus, the surgeon may place the medical imaging device at a suitable reference location 106 , activate the imaging button to record the reference image, start moving the imaging device along the blood vessel—over the length where the flow property should be evaluated—to obtain a plurality of images. The areas or radii of the reference image and the plurality of images at different locations may be compared continuously as the imaging device is moved or the area/radius data may be compared after the images have been recorded.
[0084] Since variations of the area of the lumen of the blood vessel due to the “heart contractions” are within 10-20 percent relative to the maximum area, the comparison provides a result which is sufficiently accurate for evaluating the flow properties, i.e. for evaluating if the graft of other vessel modification negatively effect the flow property relative to the reference area or radius.
[0085] FIG. 2 shows images of cross sectional views at the heel, center and toe locations obtained by ultrasonic imaging. In order to be able to determine e.g. the area of the lumen of the vessel it is necessary to determine an inner edge of the wall of the vessel.
[0086] The edge of the wall may be determined generally by determining gradients of the image intensity, where the image pixels having the largest gradients constitute an edge pixel. The image intensity may be described by an intensity function I (x,y) as a function of the pixel locations in the image.
[0087] For example the known Canny method may be used for determining edges in an image, where the Canny method comprises the steps:
[0088] Step 1: The image is blurred by use of a smoothing filter in order to reduce image noise. For example the Gaussian smoothing filter
[0000]
G
(
x
,
y
)
=
L
2
π
σ
2
-
x
2
+
y
2
2
σ
2
[0000] may used where σ is the standard deviation of the Gaussian distribution determining the amount of detail preserved in the image. The parameters x and y are pixel coordinates and the sum of squares of the coordinates is the squared distance from the origin of a pixel being smoothed.
[0089] Step 2: Detecting of horizontal and vertical gradients, from which the gradient magnitudes are calculated as: |G|=|Gx|+|Gy|. The direction of the edge is calculated as:
[0000]
Θ
=
atan
2
(
Gy
Gx
)
.
[0090] Step 3: Relating the edges to the nearest traceable direction in the image. As an image is composed of equally sized pixels all surrounding pixels to any point can only be located in four directions: 0, 45, 90 and 135 degrees. Thus any gradient direction detected in the range of e.g. 22.5 to 67.5 degrees is set to 45 degrees and so on.
[0091] Step 4. A non maximum suppression converting blurred edges to sharp edges. In this process all pixels with the same gradient direction are compared with the local pixels located in that direction. For each pixel the maximum is preserved while everything else is set to zero. This results in a thin edge with a thickness represented by one pixel.
[0092] Step 5. A double threshold dividing the intensity of each pixel into three groups: strong, week and suppressed edges. The strong edges are considered certain edges and the a week edge is only included if it is connected to a strong edge. This process cleans the image to only contain the most dominant edges.
[0093] Step 6. An edge tracking filtering out any blob of the remaining edges not containing a strong edge.
[0094] Thus, the Canny method basically includes the steps of
[0095] determining gradient magnitudes from horizontal and vertical gradients, and gradient directions, for each pixel of the image,
[0096] determining groups of pixels having the same gradient direction, and
[0097] from the pixels having the same gradient direction, determining the pixel which has the largest gradient magnitude.
[0098] FIG. 3 shows the result of determining edges of an image, where the original image is indicated with an A and the edge converted image is indicated with a C. The original image shows a segment of the wall 301 of the vessel, the lumen 303 and the inner edge of the wall of the vessel 303 . Since the imaging of the vessel may not be perfect, the cross-sectional view may not show a closed wall of the vessel but often only a segment or some unconnected segments. The edge converted image shows the identified inner edge 304 of the vessel as well as other edges 305 . Since the cross sectional view in image A also show additional tissue, edges of such additional tissue is also determined. However, at least some of the edges in image C are inner edges of segments of the cross sectional view of the wall of the vessel. Depending on the algorithm used for detecting edges, alternatively or additionally an outer edge or an intermediate edge of the wall may be determined. Whereas the description refers to the inner edge 304 of the vessel, this edge 304 may equivalently refer to other edges of the vessel, such as an intermediate edge located between the actual inner and outer edges.
[0099] A step according to an embodiment of the invention comprises determining a point encircled, i.e. surrounded, by edges of the cross sectional view of the vessel or encircled by the wall 301 of the vessel.
[0100] It is understood that the point need not be an exact point defined by two coordinates in a 2D image but could also be a collection of points, such as points of an an identifyable image portion which is typically surrounded by the wall 301 of the vessel, points of a geometrical object such as a polygon defined by parts of the wall 301 , or points obtained from a pointing device, e.g. a touch sensitive screen, which enables a user to indicate a point surrounded by the wall 301 of the vessel.
[0101] For example, the encircled point may be the center of a circle which provides a best fit to the inner edge 304 of the edge converted image. Since the inner edge 304 defines the lumen of the vessel, a method for determining a circle which fits to the inner edge 304 comprises comparing a plurality of circles with the inner edge 304 until a best fit is found, e.g. by use of a minimization method where a sum of a plurality of radial distances between the candidate circle and the vessel edge is minimized. The circle center is given by the determined circle.
[0102] Alternatively, a point encircled by edges of the cross sectional view of the vessel may be found by determining the best correlation between a test circle with a predetermined fixed radius and the edges 304 , 305 of the image. The best correlation typically results in a location of the test circle where the center of the test circle is encircled by the inner edge 304 .
[0103] In an alternative embodiment of the invention for determining the center of a circle which provides a best fit to the inner edge 304 , circles having radii within a preselected interval of radii (rmin, rmax) are centered along the edges 304 in the edge converted image. The interval of different radii is selected from typical radii of lumen's 302 . This method is illustrated in FIG. 3 and described below.
[0104] FIG. 4 shows a circle 401 which illustrates the inner edge 304 of the vessel, i.e. a curve which center is unknown and must be determined. By drawing test circles 402 centered at edge points along the circle or edge 304 , a number of intersections of the test circles are obtained. Clearly, in FIG. 4 the test circles have the same radius as the “unknown” circle 401 and, therefore, the number of intersections of the test circles is largest at the center (x,y). Thus, by counting the number of intersections of the test circles having radii within a preselected interval of radii (rmin, rmax), the center of an unknown ideal circle can be uniquely determined as the point having the largest number of intersections assuming that the radius of the unknown circle is within the interval of radii (rmin, rmax).
[0105] The inner edge 304 of the vessel may not be perfectly circular, however, by generating circles with radii within the interval (rmin, rmax) and centering them along points of the edges 304 , 305 , the point or region have the largest number of intersections of circles can be considered as the center of the vessel. This is illustrated by the illustration to the right in FIG. 4 , where the circular band with a minimum radius rmin and a maximum radius rmax correspond to minimum and maximum radii of the closed edge of the vessel. Thus, by counting the number of intersections of the test circles at different locations within a specific area such as the area encircled by the edges or other features in the image (e.g. imaging device features), the center of the cross-sectional view of the blood vessel can be determined as the location which has the largest number of intersecting test circles. The location may comprise one or more pixels, e.g. a square of e.g. 16 pixels.
[0106] In order to reduce the number of false candidates for the vessel center generated by edges 304 which are not an edge of the vessel, a criteria can be set so that an intersection of a test circle within a given location is only considered if an intersecting test circle exists at a substantially diagonally located edge point of one of the vessel segments. Thus, the edge point 405 of the edge 304 is only considered if the substantially diagonally located edge point 406 exists, where the edge points 405 , 406 have associated test circles which intersect within a common location or area.
[0107] Typically multiple clusters of center point candidates are generated both in and outside the vessel lumen 302 . The mean center point of each cluster is selected by cluster analysis, e.g. by calculating the k-means relative to the number of clusters detected.
[0108] This detection is done using a simple grid search positioned around each center point. To select the true center located within the vessel lumen from the remaining candidates all remaining points are plotted in the original image. The selection rule is based on the fact that the true inner circular edge must be placed within the vessel lumen in which the image intensity is expected to be significantly lower than outside. A circle with radius equal to rmin is created around each center point. The center with the lowest of the mean intensities calculated within each circle is selected as the detected center of the vessel.
[0109] When the center (x,y) in the medical image or equivalently, a point encircled by edges 304 , has been determined, a radius of the circle associated with the center is determined, i.e. the circle which represents the inner edge of the vessel. The radius may be given by the predetermined radius of the circle correlated with edges 304 , 305 . Alternatively, the radius can be determined from the set of test circles intersecting in the associated center point (x,y) for example as the smallest radius of the intersecting test circles or as a mean radius of the intersecting test circles. Alternatively, the radius of the circle can be set according to the type of image. For example, if the image shows a heel view 113 , the radius may be set according to a typical radius of the lumen near the heel location of a vessel. The type of image may be inputted manually by clinical personnel or determined by image analysis.
[0110] Thus, the radius associated with the center in the medical image may be predetermined, selected from the interval of radii or selected from other criteria, such as typical radii of vessels. The selected or determined radius and the determined center are used as an initial adaptable closed circular contour for a determining a closed vessel contour which models the edges of the cross sectional view of the vessel according to a method described below.
[0111] After the encircled or surrounded point, i.e. the approximate centre point a or collection of points of the lumen 302 , has been set as the center point of the adaptable closed circular contour, the adaptable contour is deformed towards the wall 301 or the edges 304 of the cross sectional view of the vessel so as to obtain a closed vessel contour which models the inner edge 304 of the cross sectional view of the vessel.
[0112] Whereas the edge 304 may be used for adapting the contour to approximate the lumen 302 of the vessel, it may be better to use the intensity function I (x,y) of the wall 301 for adapting the contour. For example the intensity function may be filtered using a gradient function to identify an edge, preferably the inner edge of the wall 302 .
[0113] FIG. 5 illustrates an energy based method for deforming the adaptable contour towards the wall 301 or edges 304 of the segments of the cross sectional view of the vessel. The finally adapted contour which models the wall, e.g. inner edge, of the cross sectional view of the vessel is referred to as a closed vessel contour 510 . The circle 501 illustrates the adaptable closed circular contour which is centered at the point (x,y), 502 determined as the point encircled by the edges 304 , 305 and which has a radius determined as explained above. The inner edge 304 and a segment 301 of the wall of the vessel are schematically illustrated. According to the energy based method, the adaptable contour 501 is modeled by an internal energy function Eint which defines the contour's elasticity and bending stiffness according to the equation:
[0000] E int =(α( s )| v ′( s )| 2 +β( s )| v ″( s )| 2 )/2
[0114] where v′(s) and v″(s) denote the first and second derivatives of the parametrically defined adaptable closed contour v(s) (commonly referred to as a snake) with respect to the arc length s. Adjusting the two weight coefficients α(s) and β(s), determines how much the snake is allowed to stretch and bend at a given point.
[0115] Thus, alpha(s) controls the tension between points and β(s) controls the rigidity or bending stiffness of the contour so that α(s) and β(s) determine how much the closed contour is allowed to stretch or bend at a given point s.
[0116] Further, according to the energy based method, en image energy function Eimg is defined for the inner edge 304 or a segment of the wall 301 of the vessel. The purpose of the image energy function is to define a local minimum energy at the desired border of the wall of vessel, for example along the inner edge 304 , in order to attract or capture the adaptable contour 501 at the desired border of the vessel. For images where the cross-sectional view of the blood vessel is defined by the intensity function I(x,y) where x,y defines pixel point in the image, the image energy function can be defined as:
[0000] E images ( x,y )=−∇[ G σ ( x,y )* I ( x,y )]
[0117] where Gσ(x,y) is a Gaussian function with standard deviation σ, and where ∇ is the gradient operator. The combination creates a gradient image with local minima at the boundaries left after the Gaussian function, i.e. approximately along the inner edge 304 .
[0118] In order to force the adaptable contour 501 towards the minimum energy values of the image energy function Eimg, a global expansion energy function Eexp that makes the adaptable contour 501 expand towards the desired inner edge 304 when no image force is present, for example along the undefined path 503 of the closed inner edge 304 . The expansion energy function Eexp is defined as the direction normal at each point of the adaptable contour 501 by
[0000] E expand =n i
[0119] where n(s) is a normal vector to the closed contour at point s. The expansion energy function gives the snake a more dynamic behavior and helps the snake from being trapped from isolated energy minima in the cross-sectional view of the blood vessel.
[0120] The parameters of the adaptable closed contour v(s) which minimizes the sum of energies Eint+Eimg+Eexp and, thereby the parameters of v(s) which determines the closed vessel contour, can be found e.g. by a steepest descent method where the gradient of the sum of energies Eint+Eimg+Eexp is determined and where the minimum of the energy function is found by adjusting the parameters along the negative gradient. An explanation of the steepest descent method may be found in Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Erwin Kreyszig, 7th edition, pages 1084-1086.
[0121] The adaptable closed contour may alternatively be described as a polygon, i.e. a closed path consisting of a plurality of linear light segments whose length and angle relative to neighbor segments can be adjusted. Accordingly, by adjusting the length and relative angles of the polygon so that the line segments moves towards the inner edge 304 , the closed vessel contour and, thereby, an approximation of the inner edge can be determined. Constraints of the angle and lengths of the segments can be set to avoid that segments moves away from the inner edge, e.g. at open sections 503 of the inner edge. The adjustment of the polygon segments can be performed by adjusting the length and angle parameters along the negative gradient of a performance function. The performance function may equate the distance between the polygon edges and the closed contour 502 , e.g. from the center point of each segment, and the gradient is determined as the derivative of the performance function relative to the length and angle parameters.
[0122] It is clear that the adaptable contours described above need not necessarily be exactly centered at the point 502 encircled or surrounded by the wall 301 , but it may be sufficient that the adaptable contour 501 is located so that it surrounds the encircled point 502 . That is, even if the adaptable contour is not exactly centered at the point 502 , the energy method is able to expand the adaptable contour towards the desired inner edge 304 of the vessel wall 301 . Similarly, adjustments of segments of a polygon can also be adapted towards the vessel wall even if the polygon is not centered at the point 502 .
[0123] The above steps including one or more of determining edges, determining encircled points adaption of a closed contour towards the inner edges is performed at least for one or more of the images showing cross-sectional views of the blood vessel for a single location of the vessel.
[0124] During imaging of the vessel, the medical imaging device records a sequence of images. The images show different expansion states, i.e. the area of the lumen 302 of the vessel varies over time and in relationship with the pulsation of the heart.
[0125] In order to obtain information about the flow property of the blood vessel, an image which is characteristic for a specific expansion state is selected. The specific expansion state preferably refers to the state where the vessel is expanded most, but may also refer to other expansion states, for example the state where the vessel shows the largest contraction.
[0126] Since the expansion state of the vessel is correlated with the pulsation of the heart and, thereby, an electrocardiograph signal (EKG), the image which is characteristic for the specific expansion state of the vessel may be determined from the electrocardiograph signal. For example, characteristic peaks of the electrocardiograph signal may trigger the selection of the specific image, or may trigger a delay before the specific image is selected.
[0127] Alternatively, the image which is characteristic for the specific expansion state of the vessel may be determined by determining an area or a radius of the vessel by determining an area or radius of the closed vessel contour which has been adapted towards the edges 304 of the cross sectional view of the vessel. The area may be determined by for example by overlaying the adapted vessel contour with a grid and calculating the area of the grid elements which are encircled by the adapted vessel contour. Similarly a radius, e.g. a maximum radius may be determined by analyzing the adapted vessel contour.
[0128] After the image which shows the specific expansion state has been selected, the area or radius of the lumen of the selected image is calculated, for example as described above using a grid with known grid cells. Clearly, if the characteristic image was selected by calculating the area of the lumen, this calculated area is used.
[0129] FIG. 6 shows in an example a structural element 700 of a medical imaging device 901 . The structural element 700 comprises two skin supports 702 , 703 which are intended for being positioned against a tissue, e.g. of a beating, and thus pulsating, heart. The skin supports stabilize the area of which imaging is required.
[0130] Between the skin supports a cavity 704 is provided for accommodating the vessel to be imaged, e.g. a bypass graft, heart muscles, anastomoses or coronary vessels.
[0131] The structural element 700 also comprises an aperture 705 for receiving e.g. an ultrasonic probe to be used together with the structural element. To make sure that the probe is properly secured in the structural element 700 , the device may comprise fixing elements 701 for securing the probe to the structural element 700 . Examples of fixing elements 701 are one or more protrusions or notches which match corresponding protrusions or notches of the probe for holding the probe in the structural element. The shape and size of such protrusions or notches may vary. In the embodiment shown, protrusions in the shape of beads are provided.
[0132] FIG. 7 shows a medical image of a cross-sectional view of the blood vessel 301 . In addition to the vessel 301 , the image also shows structural features 801 of the structural element 700 . In this example, the beads 701 of the structural element 700 are imaged as the structural features 801 . Since the vessel is accommodated by the cavity 704 located between the beads 701 , it is known that the image of the vessel 301 is located between the image parts showing the structural features 801 . Accordingly, before the entire image is analyzed by determining one or more of edges, centre points and adapting the closed vessel contour, the part of the image which contains the cross-sectional view of the blood vessel 301 can be determined by identifying imaged structural features 801 in the one or more images. In FIG. 7 the part of the image which contains the blood vessel 301 is shown by rectangle 802 .
[0133] In an embodiment a processing unit 902 (see FIG. 8 ) is configured for automatically determining predefined cross sectional views of the vessel from a selection of images showing different cross sectional views along the length of a vessel, such as a bypass blood vessel. For example, the processing unit may be configured to select an image representing a cross-section where the bypass blood vessel and the existing blood vessel constitute separate passageways such as the heel view 115 , an image representing a cross-section where the bypass blood vessel and the existing blood vessel constitute a common passageway such as the center view 114 , and an image representing a cross-section where the existing blood vessel is the sole passageway such as the toe view 113 . The selection of images may be performed by analyzing the shapes and/or number of closed vessel contours in the image. For example, the heel view 115 may be identified when two closed paths are determined, the center view may be identified when a closed contour has an elongate shape with a specific ratio between the elongate length and the perpendicular width, and the toe view 113 may be identified which the closed contour has a specific shape.
[0134] FIG. 8 shows the system 900 for determining flow properties of a blood vessel. The system 900 comprises a medical imaging device 901 , for example an ultrasound imaging device 901 or a magnetic resonance imaging device, and a processing unit 902 for processing the images from the imaging device. The processing unit may be a computer, an image processor or other computing systems configured for analyzing images. The system 900 may further comprise a display 903 for visualization of the images and processed images and a user input device 904 enabling the user to provide input information to the processing unit.
[0135] FIG. 9 illustrates a method according to an embodiment of the invention comprising the steps:
[0136] Step 1001: Determining a point 502 encircled by a wall 301 of the cross sectional view of the vessel,
[0137] Step 1002: Using the encircled point 502 to obtain a closed vessel contour 510 which models the wall of the cross sectional view of the vessel by centering an adaptable closed circular contour 304 at the encircled point 502 and deforming the adaptable closed contour towards the wall of the cross sectional view 301 of the vessel,
[0138] Step 1003: Selecting an image from the plurality of images based on determining a specific expansion state of the vessel, and
[0139] Step 1004: Determining an area or radius of the closed vessel contour of the selected image so as to obtain information about the flow property of the blood vessel.
[0140] The steps need not be performed in the listed order. Also some of the steps may be performed several times on a selection of images before other steps are initiated.
[0141] While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.
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The invention relates to a method for providing quantitative measures of the flow property of a blood vessel. The method is based on analyzing cross-sectional images of a vessel by estimating the area of the lumen of the vessel. The method comprises steps of determining a point contained within the walls of the vessel, determining a closed path which approximates the inner circumference of the wall of the vessel, and determining the area of the closed path when the vessel is most expanding in order to get a measurement of the maximum lumen. This method may enable the clinical personnel to quickly evaluate the flow property e.g. of an inserted bypass vessel and, thereby, conclude if the surgical intervention is successful or if adjustments are required.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to a power module including at least one semiconductor chip, where the power module is clamped against a cold plate to dissipate heat generated by the chip, and more particularly to a power module having an improved leadframe arrangement for accessing electrical terminals of the chip.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Semiconductor power modules house one or more semiconductor power devices such as transistors or diodes, and can be used as components of a power circuit such as a converter or inverter. Ordinarily, the electrical terminals of the chip are wire-bonded to a metal leadframe at the periphery of the chip, and the chip and leadframe can be sandwiched between a pair of ceramic substrates that dissipate heat generated by the chip. The modules are normally constructed as flat rectangular packages that can be clamped against a cold plate (or heat sink), or even sandwiched between a pair of cold plates for double-sided cooling. In the latter case particularly, it can be difficult to ensure that there will be adequate electrical insulation between the metal leadframe of the module and the adjacent cold plates, especially in high voltage applications. A related concern arises in connection with large semiconductor transistor chips such as IGBTs and FETs where the gate terminal is coupled to segmented emitter or source terminals by an array of exposed conductive links because of the close proximity of the metal leadframe to the gate terminal links. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved semiconductor power module leadframe arrangement that is adequately insulated against inadvertent electrical shorting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The present invention is directed to an improved semiconductor power module including a semiconductor chip thermally interfaced to a ceramic substrate for heat dissipation and a leadframe defined by a flexible circuit disposed intermediate the chip and the ceramic substrate. The flexible circuit comprises an inner conductor pattern that is selectively encased in an insulated jacket to ensure adequate electrical insulation between the leadframe conductor pattern and adjacent conductive surfaces. Preferably, the module is constructed for double side cooling by sandwiching the chip between a pair of ceramic substrates and providing intermediate flexible circuit leadframes on both sides of the chip for electrically accessing the chip terminals. In modules including two or more semiconductor chips, separate ceramic substrates are provided for each chip for low cost and to accommodate different chip thicknesses, and a single flexible circuit leadframe provides electrical interconnects to all of the chips.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] FIG. 1 is an exploded side view of an actively or passively cooled semiconductor power module according to this invention;
[0005] FIG. 2 is an exploded isometric top view of the semiconductor power module of FIG. 1 ;
[0006] FIG. 3 is an exploded isometric bottom view of the semiconductor power module of FIG. 1 ;
[0007] FIG. 4 depicts the lower face of an upper flexible circuit leadframe of the semiconductor power module of FIG. 1 ;
[0008] FIG. 5 depicts the lower face of a lower flexible circuit leadframe of the semiconductor power module of FIG. 1 ;
[0009] FIG. 6 is an isometric bottom view of the semiconductor power module of FIG. 1 ; and
[0010] FIG. 7 is a top view of the semiconductor power module of FIG. 1 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0011] The present invention is directed to a power electronics module including one or more power semiconductor devices such as transistors and diodes that have solderable active areas on their opposing faces. For example, an insulated gate bipolar power transistor, or IGBT, typically has a solderable collector terminal formed on one of its faces and solderable gate and emitter terminals formed on its opposite face. The invention is described herein in the context of a power transistor switch including an IGBT (or FET) and a free-wheeling or anti-parallel diode, but it will be appreciated that the invention is applicable in general to power electronics modules including different numbers and kinds of power semiconductor devices.
[0012] Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1 , the reference numeral 10 generally designates a semiconductor power module according to this invention designed for double-side cooling by upper and lower cold plates 12 and 14 . Referring to FIGS. 1-3 , the illustrated module 10 houses two semiconductor chips 16 and 18 . The upper face 16 a of chip 16 is thermally coupled to the upper cold plate 12 through a first upper ceramic substrate 20 , and the upper face 18 a of chip 18 is thermally coupled to upper cold plate 12 through a second upper ceramic substrate 22 . Similarly, the lower face 16 b of chip 16 is thermally coupled to the lower cold plate 14 through a first lower ceramic substrate 24 , and the lower face 18 b of chip 18 is thermally coupled to lower cold plate 14 through a second lower ceramic substrate 26 . An upper flexible circuit leadframe 28 is disposed intermediate the chips 16 , 18 and the upper ceramic substrates 20 , 22 for electrically accessing terminals formed on the upper faces 16 a and 18 a of chips 16 and 18 . And similarly, a lower flexible circuit leadframe 30 is disposed intermediate the chips 16 , 18 and the lower ceramic substrates 24 , 26 for electrically accessing terminals formed on the lower faces 16 b and 18 b of chips 16 and 18 . As illustrated in FIG. 1 , the upper and lower flexible circuit leadframes 28 and 30 each comprise a patterned copper layer 28 a and 30 a sandwiched between a pair of patterned insulation layers 28 b, 28 c and 30 b, 30 c.
[0013] For purposes of discussion, it will be assumed that chip 16 is an insulated-gate-bipolar-transistor (IGBT) and that chip 18 is a free-wheeling or anti-parallel diode. Referring to FIG. 2 , the IGBT gate terminal 32 and a segmented array of IGBT emitter terminals 34 are formed on the upper face 16 a of chip 16 . The diode anode terminal 36 is formed on the upper face 18 a of chip 18 . Referring to FIG. 3 , the IGBT collector terminal 35 is formed on the lower face 16 b of chip 16 , and the diode cathode terminal 37 is formed on the lower face 18 b of chip 18 .
[0014] Referring to FIGS. 2-3 and 4 , the insulation layers 28 b and 28 c of upper flexible circuit leadframe 28 are patterned to provide an array of un-insulated regions 38 , 40 , 42 that correspond and register with the gate, emitter and anode terminals 32 , 34 and 36 . Additionally, the inboard insulation layer 28 c is patterned to provide a set of three peripheral un-insulated regions 46 , 48 and 50 for external access to the terminals 32 , 34 and 36 via the exposed leadframe copper areas 52 , 54 and 56 of copper layer 28 a. An exposed leadframe copper pad 58 in the un-insulated region 38 is soldered to the gate terminal 32 of chip 16 , and an insulated leg 60 of the copper layer 28 a electrically joins the copper pad 58 to the exposed peripheral copper area 52 , which serves as the gate terminal of the module 10 . Exposed leadframe copper pads 62 in the un-insulated regions 40 are soldered to the emitter terminals 34 of chip 16 , and exposed leadframe copper pads 64 in the un-insulated regions 42 are soldered to the anode terminal 36 of chip 18 . An insulated portion 66 of the copper layer 28 a electrically joins the copper pads 62 and 64 to the exposed peripheral copper areas 54 and 56 . Thus, the insulated portion 66 of the copper layer 28 a serves to electrically couple the emitter terminals 34 of chip 16 to the anode terminal 36 of chip 18 , and to provide electrical access to the joined emitter and anode terminals 34 , 36 at the peripheral copper areas 54 and 56 , which serve as low voltage terminals for the module 10 .
[0015] Referring to FIGS. 2-3 and 5 , the insulation layers 30 b and 30 c of lower flexible circuit leadframe 30 are patterned to provide an array of un-insulated regions 70 and 72 that correspond and register with the collector and cathode terminals 35 and 37 of chips 16 and 18 . Additionally, the outboard insulation layer 30 c is patterned to provide a set of two peripheral un-insulated regions 74 and 76 for external access to the terminals 35 and 37 via the exposed leadframe copper areas 78 and 80 of copper layer 30 a. Exposed leadframe copper pads 82 in the un-insulated region 70 are soldered to the collector terminal 35 of chip 16 , and exposed leadframe copper pads 84 in the un-insulated region 72 are soldered to the cathode terminal 37 of chip 18 . As seen in FIG. 5 , an insulated portion 86 of the copper layer 30 a electrically joins the copper pads 82 and 84 to the exposed peripheral copper areas 78 and 80 . Thus, the insulated portion 86 of the copper layer 30 a serves to electrically couple the collector terminal 35 of chip 16 to the cathode terminal 37 of chip 18 , and to provide electrical access to the joined collector and cathode terminals 35 , 37 at the peripheral copper areas 78 and 80 , which serve as high voltage terminals for the module 10 .
[0016] As best seen in FIG. 6 , the gate terminal 52 and emitter/anode terminals 54 , 56 provided on upper flexible circuit leadframe 28 and the collector/cathode terminals 78 , 80 provided on lower flexible circuit leadframe 30 are all accessible on the same (lower) side of module 10 . The upper flexible circuit leadframe 28 extends laterally beyond the lower flexible circuit leadframe 30 so that the lower flexible circuit leadframe 30 does not cover the gate and emitter/anode terminals 52 , 54 , 56 of upper flexible circuit leadframe 28 . Of course, the terminals 52 , 54 , 56 , 78 , 80 may be variously arranged to accommodate the requirements of a given application, and the flexible nature of the leadframes 28 , 30 allows the terminal portions to be bent out of the plane of the chips 16 , 18 for connection to an external circuit board or bus bar, if desired.
[0017] As seen in FIGS. 2-3 and 6 - 7 , the outboard surfaces of the upper and lower ceramic substrates 20 - 26 are each clad with a metal layer (such as copper, aluminum, or any conventional thick film or thin film conductor formulation) to promote heat transfer from the module 10 to the upper and lower cold plates 12 and 14 . Additionally, the inboard surfaces of the substrates 20 - 26 bear a metal cladding that is soldered to the chips 16 , 18 and the flexible circuit leadframes 28 , 30 . Referring to FIG. 2-3 , for example, the inboard face of upper ceramic substrate 20 is clad with a metallization pattern that matches and registers with the gate and emitter terminals 32 , 34 of chip 16 . The substrate's metallization pattern is soldered to the exposed copper pads 52 and 62 of upper flexible circuit leadframe 28 , as well as the emitter terminals 34 of chip 16 . And of course, the exposed copper pads 52 and 62 of leadframe 28 are soldered to the gate and emitter terminals 32 and 34 of chip 16 . Corresponding solder joints are formed between each ceramic substrate 20 - 26 and the adjacent chip terminals and leadframe copper pads.
[0018] In summary, the present invention provides an improved semiconductor power module leadframe arrangement. The disclosed leadframe arrangement offers numerous advantages when compared with conventional discrete metal leadframes. First, the use of selectively insulated flexible circuit leadframes ensures that all metal runners between soldered connections are electrically insulated from adjacent conductive components such as the cold plates 12 and 14 . Furthermore, the flexible circuit leadframes and improved cooling allow the module 10 to be considerably thinner than a conventionally semiconductor power module. The module 10 is relatively inexpensive to produce as well because the overall ceramic substrate surface area is considerably reduced compared to a module in which multiple chips are soldered to the same substrate. In the same vein, using separate ceramic substrates for each chip of a multi-chip module enables the use of chips having different thicknesses.
[0019] While the present invention has been described in reference to the illustrated embodiment, it will be understood that numerous modifications and variations in addition to those mentioned above will occur to those skilled in the art. For example, the disclosed apparatus is applicable to modules housing a different number of chips, just one flexible circuit leadframe, and so on. Additionally, the flexible circuit terminals 54 - 56 , 78 - 80 may be arranged to accommodate planar (i.e., non-pedestal) cold plates 12 , 14 , if desired, and so forth. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but that it have the full scope permitted by the language of the following claims.
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A semiconductor power module includes a semiconductor chip thermally interfaced to a ceramic substrate and a leadframe defined by a flexible circuit disposed intermediate the chip and the ceramic substrate. The flexible circuit includes a conductor layer that is selectively encased in an insulated jacket to ensure adequate electrical insulation between the conductor layer and adjacent conductive surfaces. Preferably, the module is constructed for double side cooling by sandwiching the chip between a pair of ceramic substrates and providing intermediate flexible circuit leadframes on both sides of the chip for electrically accessing the chip terminals.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to an insulating glass unit having at least two glass panes, a fastener for fixing the position of the glass panes, and a sealing element for setting a distance between two neighboring panes and for gas-tight lateral insulation of the pane intermediate space enclosed by the panes. In particular, the present invention relates to such an insulating glass unit, in which the sealing element contains at least one gas-tight middle part and two lateral gap seals, each of which is situated between a glass pane and the middle part.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] As also described in German industrial standard (DIN) 1259, part 2, in such a glazing unit, also referred to as multi-pane insulating glass, glass panes made of window glass mirror glass, cast glass, flat glass, or similar glasses are typically used. The glass panes are separated from one another by one or more intermediate spaces filled with air or gas and are sealed airtight or gas-tight and moisture-tight at their edges. The edge seal is of great significance for the operational capability of the insulating glass unit. If it leaks, inter alia, the thermally insulating gas filling may escape, for example, or moisture may collect in the insulating glass unit and condense on the interiors of the panes. The insulating glass unit then becomes “blind,” no longer insulates as desired, and is typically irreparably damaged. As a result, an insulating glass unit is of higher quality the tighter and longer-lived the edge seal of the pane intermediate space is.
[0005] Normally, the edge seal comprises a sealing element and a fastener. The sealing element runs around the outer circumference, preferably parallel to the glass pane edges, and typically comprises a middle part and two gap seals located laterally on the middle part and oriented toward each of the two glass panes. The middle part, also referred to as a spacer, is typically a hollow profile made of a gas-tight material, such as steel or aluminum. In order to remove water vapor from the pane intermediate space, which has possibly entered during production or because of leaks, a desiccant, such as a molecular sieve, is introduced into the cavity to absorb water vapor. However, massive middle part profiles made of a thermoplastic having incorporated desiccants are also known.
[0006] In order to terminate the areas between the middle part and the two neighboring glass panes gas-tight, gap seals are situated here. The gap seals are predominantly manufactured from polyisobutylene (“butyl”). This is a thermoplastic synthetic rubber which adheres well to glass and has a very low water vapor diffusion coefficient. The polyisobutylene may either be inserted as a pre-profiled cord between the panes in the middle part or introduced with the aid of an extruder into the gap area. In addition to sealing the gap, which is also referred to as a diffusion gap, the polyisobutylene seal is also used as a fixing aid during the production of the insulating glass units. However, because of its low material strength, the gap seal cannot contribute to the mechanical strength of the edge connection.
[0007] Therefore, a fastener is additionally situated to hold the glasses and the sealing element together permanently. Since the late nineteen-sixties, an elastic adhesive has been used as a fastener. This is applied externally to the sealing element and between the glass pane edges, which extend outward beyond the sealing element, while the glasses are pressed from the outside against the sealing element. After curing, the adhesive acts like a spring which presses the panes against the sealing element, through which diffusion gap widths of less than 0.5 mm width are achieved in the normal state. In the related art, in addition to single component (1-C) silicone and hot-melt butyl adhesives, two-component (2-C) adhesives have also proven themselves as fasteners. 2-C polysulfide and 2-C polyurethane adhesives, which have a high strength and elasticity with a relatively low water vapor diffusion coefficient, through which these also unfold an additional sealing effect, are especially widespread.
[0008] In order to be permitted by the building inspection authorities, the insulating glass units must withstand systematic tests in many countries. The systematic tests simulate the stress situations of an insulating glass unit in a shortened process. For this purpose, greatly varying temperature, pressure, UV radiation, weathering (rain) effects and stresses are typically simulated. In Germany, an insulating glass unit must currently meet the systematic test requirements of DIN 1286, but in future, it will have to meet the European standard prEN 1279. In general, the insulating glasses are to fulfill requirements for the gas loss rate, the sealant adhesion, the fogging safety, i.e., safety against out-gassing of foreign materials, which are deposited in the pane intermediate space as mist, the water vapor absorption of the desiccant, the UV stability, the stability of the sealing unit, in particular, the stability of the spacer profiles, the productive processing ability in the insulating glass manufacturing, the ability to manufacture models, the installation capability of transoms, and the ability to manufacture skylights and glass facades, in which the insulating glass units are attached to a support construction lying behind the glass unit (structural glazing).
[0009] With the introduction of prEN 1279, the requirements for the tight sealing of the insulating glass unit are sharpened, in particular, by greatly shortened cycle times of the different stress cases. It has been shown that the currently typical insulating glasses generally do not meet this standard, in particular, in the event of air pressure changes rapidly following one another.
[0010] In general, pressure changes result in deformations of the insulating glass units. If the external air pressure changes rapidly between high and low pressure, as during systematic tests, for example, “pumping” of the insulating glass units occurs. The glass panes of the insulating glass unit bulge alternately inward or outward as a function of the changing barometric air pressure. This behavior of the insulating glass units is caused because the pane intermediate space is hermetically isolated in relation to the surrounding atmosphere and no pressure equalization may occur in the event of changing barometric pressure.
[0011] FIG. 7 shows a pane edge of a typical insulating glass unit 1 of the related art in the deformed state when the outer air pressure is lower than the filling pressure in the pane intermediate space SZR. Because of the low external pressure, the two spaced glass panes 2 , 3 bulge outward. Thus, the glass unit 1 assumes a convex shape, the two spaced glass panes 2 , 3 rotating around the outer edges of the rigid middle part 6 of the sealing element 5 and their outermost pane edges compressing the fastener 4 (a 2-C adhesive here, for example). Presumably, because the fastener adhesive 4 has a relatively large internal pressure resistance, the panes 2 , 3 may lever off of the spacer 6 at the outermost edge. Because of the low tensile strength of the polyisobutylene seals 7 , 8 , the seals 7 , 8 detach easily, as shown in FIG. 7 . Depending on where the adhesion of the gap seals 7 , 8 is first exceeded, the seal 7 or 8 detaches either directly from the glass pane 3 or from the side of the spacer 6 . In any case, the diffusion gap between the sealing element 5 and the particular glass pane 2 , 3 is enlarged, and the leakage rate between the sealing element 5 (spacer 6 ) and the glass panes 2 , 3 increases.
[0012] If the external air pressure is increased in such a way that a higher pressure exists outside the insulating glass element 1 than in the pane intermediate space SZR, the, glass element 1 assumes a concave shape. This results in the fastener 4 being subjected to tension in the edge area, while the gap seal 7 or 8 is compressed. In the event of especially large pressure load on the gap seal 7 , 8 , there may be damage to the adhesive effect of the gap seal 7 , 8 on the spacer 6 . If the load direction, i.e., the air pressure, then subsequently changes, the gap seal 7 or 8 will detach from the spacer 6 as a result and the leakage is amplified further.
[0013] The related art also has the disadvantage that the use of adhesive for fixing the panes slows the manufacturing of the insulating glass unit and additionally stresses the environment. After the adhesive has been applied in the pane intermediate space between sealing element and pane outer edges, it must first cure before the insulating glass unit may be processed further or transported. Outgassing of the adhesive itself and solvent vapors of solvents, which must be used for cleaning the devices carrying the adhesive and for removing adhesive residues, strains the environment and manufacturing personnel. The components of the insulating glass units of the related art which are glued to one another are additionally unsuitable for recycling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] The object of the present invention is therefore to provide an insulating glass unit which is simple and cost-effective to manufacture, and which has a sufficiently tightly sealed pane intermediate space even in the event of frequent and rapid air pressure changes. Furthermore, the insulating glass unit according to the present invention is to be producible using a minimum of adhesive.
[0015] This object is achieved by the insulating glass unit as described below.
[0016] The insulating glass unit according to the present invention has at least two glass panes, a fastener for fixing the position of the glass panes and a sealing element for setting a distance between the glass panes and for gas-tight lateral insulation of the pane intermediate space enclosed by the glass panes. The sealing element contains at least one gas-tight middle part and two lateral gap seals. The gap seals are each situated in the area between one of the glass panes and the middle part, at least one diffusion-tight cushion, which essentially comprises an elastic material, being situated in the area between the two gap seals of the sealing element. The cushion is situated so that it directly adjoins the middle part and presses directly against one of the two gap seals.
[0017] The cushion ensures that distance changes between the panes and/or twists of the panes which may result from air pressure changes, for example, are transmitted to the cushion and compensated for there. The cushion is expediently installed between the panes under compressive stress, so that movements of the panes are introduced directly into the cushion. Pane movements, then, do not cause any noticeable change of the diffusion gap between glass pane and sealing element, and overstress of the gap seals or detachment of the gap seals from the panes is effectively avoided.
[0018] A diffusion-tight cushion is preferably situated between each of the two gap seals and the middle part of the sealing element directly adjoining the gap seal and the middle part. It is thus possible to use a typical spacer as the middle part for the sealing element, on each of whose sides facing toward the two glass panes a cushion is situated. Therefore, each gap seal has a cushion assigned directly thereto, and movements of the panes are introduced directly via the gap seal into the particular cushion. This also has the advantage that movements of a single pane may be damped in the cushion decoupled from the diametrically opposite pane.
[0019] In order that the cushion may deform sufficiently under the typical air pressure changes, it is preferably made of a material having a Shore A hardness in accordance with DIN 53505 of 50 N/mm 2 to 70 N/mm 2 . To ensure its usage capability, the material is to remain essentially permanently elastic even over a long period of time, e.g., for more than 20 to 25 years, and only display slight plastic deformations over this period of time, if at all. Therefore, the cushion is advantageously made of an elastomeric plastic, in particular EPDM, polyurethane, an acrylonitrile butadiene elastomer, a chlorobutadiene elastomer, a fluoroelastomer, or a silicone. An embodiment made of EPDM is especially preferable. This is a synthetic high-performance rubber made of ethylene, propylene, and diene monomers. EPDM remains elastic over decades and has already been successfully used in sealing lips in aluminum or wood windows.
[0020] It is decisive for the tightness of the sealing element that, in addition to the middle part, the cushion is also gas-tight. In most cases, the diffusion tightness of the above-mentioned materials is sufficient for sealing the pane intermediate space. If greater tightness is desired, the buffer may be provided with a gas-tight layer on at least one surface, in particular, a metal layer. Metal-coated plastics are already known in high-vacuum sealed food packages. For this purpose, the relevant surface of the cushion is expediently metal plated using vapor-deposition or dry galvanized. Pre-finished thin films may also possibly be laminated onto the cushion. The gas-tight layer may, in turn, comprise multiple individual layers. In order to effectively prevent permeation of water vapor, an overall layer thickness of the gas-tight layer in the nanometer range suffices. Suitable layer thicknesses for a metal coating are approximately in the range between 40 and 200 um, a stainless steel preferably being used as a metal.
[0021] It is especially expedient if the gas-tight layer is applied to the surface of the cushion facing toward the inner pane intermediate space. In addition to the advantages already described, this position has the additional positive effect that vapors of the cushion are not released into the pane intermediate space.
[0022] Furthermore, it is advantageous if the cushion is extruded or vulcanized onto the middle part. This guarantees a gas-tight bond of the buffer to the middle part. In this case, the surface of the cushion is expediently sealed gas-tight (metallized) only after the extrusion, which then also seals the transition area cushion-middle part. It is especially expedient to seal both the exterior and also the interior of the cushion gas-tight. Finally, it is noted, once again, that the gas-tight coating may be a suitable measure for increasing the gas tightness, but is not absolutely necessary. Rather, there are also materials for the cushion which allow an effective vapor barrier even without metal coating.
[0023] In a preferred embodiment of the insulating glass unit according to the present invention, the gap seal is manufactured from a synthetic, in particular elastomeric plastic having a very low diffusion rate. Polyisobutylene having a water vapor diffusion rate of approximately 0.1 g/dm 2 /K is preferably used here. It is advantageous, in this case, if the gap seal lies at least partially in a trough of the sealing element. The gap seal is then enclosed on all sides by glass pane and sealing element. This effectively prevents the gap seal from shifting, being crushed, or dissolving, as occurs with polyisobutylene under high pressure in particular. The trough is preferably to be implemented in such a way that parts of the sealing element which delimit the trough on the top and/or bottom press directly against the glass pane. The troughs are expediently situated in the lateral areas of the cushion of the sealing element.
[0024] The trough may be incorporated into the cushion pressing against the glass pane. In order to provide a trough of this type in an especially simple and cost-effective way, however, the cushion expediently comprises at least two profiled strips situated neighboring one another. This has the advantage that commercially available elastomeric profiled strips, for example, having a triangular, semicircular, or even rectangular cross-section, may be used. These profiled strips may either be glued using an adhesive to the middle part and/or to one another or may be assembled directly via a gap seal made of polyisobutylene. If necessary, they may also be used entirely without adhesive in the sealing element. In any case, only a minimum quantity of adhesive is required for their attachment, which—compared to the quantity which has been used until now for pane fixing—practically does not come into consideration. In addition, the sealing element may already be pre-manufactured, so that delays because of curing times do not occur during the manufacturing of the insulating glass unit.
[0025] The widths of the profiled strips do not necessarily have to add up to the overall height of the middle part which they neighbor. It is also possible to situate the profiled strips at a distance from one another on the middle part of the sealing element. A variation in which the gap seal is framed between two profiled strips and also adjoins the middle part is also conceivable, for example. However, in this case, it is to be ensured that the width of the gap seal is selected broad enough for a secure seal of the pane intermediate space. If the profiled strips are situated neighboring one another at a distance, preferably on the outermost edges of the sealing element, width differences of different sealing elements may be equalized easily without having to use an individually tailored elastomeric cushion for each type and size of sealing element.
[0026] Preferably, a profile having high transverse strength and gas tightness is used for the middle part of the sealing element. Metal profiles are especially advantageous here, since they have a high structural strength and may be processed well. Hollow profiles which may receive the desiccant, which is used for absorbing water vapor, in their cavity, are preferred. In order that the desiccant may absorb and bind this water vapor, it is advantageous to open the hollow profile toward the pane interior side.
[0027] In order to reduce the quantity of adhesive in the pane intermediate space, it is preferred, according to the present invention, that no adhesive be used for fixing the panes, but rater at least one clamp be used, which is particularly made of metal. This clamp encloses the glass panes situated at a distance from one another from the outside and presses them against the sealing element. In other words, there is preferably essentially no adhesive in the space between the panes. “Essentially no adhesive” means here that small quantities of adhesive are provided in any case for attaching the individual components of the scaling element to one another. In particular, however, no adhesive and also no other sealing compound made of plastic is provided in the area between the exterior of the sealing element and the pane edges in the pane intermediate space in order to fix the panes in relation to one another and additionally to seal them in relation to one another. Therefore, the panes may no longer rest on an adhesive or plastic edge on their edges. The levering arising during “pumping” of the insulating glass panes, which frequently results in tearing of the gap seals, may therefore be effectively prevented. In addition, the entire insulating glass unit may be produced practically adhesive-free, because of which the insulating glass units according to the present invention may be produced more rapidly, with better quality, more cost effectively, and more environmentally compatibly.
[0028] Specifically, the more rapid production results because the insulating glass is already finished directly after the application of the fastening clamps and the otherwise typical bonding times of the adhesive no longer have to be maintained. The quality of the glass units is improved because dosing variations during mixing of the two-components and accompanying variations of the adhesive strength of the fastening agent no longer occur. The sealing element may also be situated further out on the glass pane edge, since the clamps achieve their retention force from the spring effect and not, like the adhesive, via the contact area. This advantageously enlarges the insulated area of the insulating glass element according to the present invention in relation to the known elements. Furthermore, intermediate storage areas (for the curing of the adhesive) and adhesive and dosing machines may be dispensed with, which allows the production to become more cost-effective. Finally, the insulating glass unit is produced in a more environmentally friendly way, not only the adhesive itself but rater also the cleaning of production means and tools being dispensed with.
[0029] Because two-component adhesives are dispensed with, above all, no chlorinated hydrocarbons and no aromatic solvents are required for cleaning machines and mixing lines. Toxic isocyanate and mercury residues no longer arise during the production if polyurethane-based (PU) adhesives are used and manganese oxides no longer arise in the event of gluing using polysulfide-based (PS) adhesives. Furthermore, the insulating glass units according to the present invention may be recycled better after the removal of the clamps, since all components are immediately available again sorted by grade.
[0030] In an expedient embodiment, the clamps enclose the entire outer edge of the insulating glass unit. A continuous and uniform peripheral compression of the pane edge may thus be guaranteed, and the metal clamps also function as a further sealing line and edge protector. Such an edge protector is used for protecting the insulating glass unit from damage, and in addition, for protecting the people handling the insulating glass unit from cuts due to the very sharp-edged glass panes. Many fastening possibilities of the glass units also result through the strapping with the metal band and installation in plastic, wood, or aluminum windows is improved. If only metal and possibly gas-tight coated cushions are installed except for polyisobutylene, the insulating glass unit according to the present invention is also outstandingly usable in highly loaded roof areas and in structural glazing constructions.
[0031] The clamps preferably have a U-shaped cross-section having a front side and two leg sides pressing against the glass panes. During assembly of the insulating glass units, either already pre-manufactured peripheral frames having an L-shaped starting profile are folded into the U-shape around the inserted glass panes, or the U-profile is folded from strip steel directly around the glass pane edges, or profiles which are already U-shaped are pushed onto the pressed-together glass element edges. In any case, it is advantageous if the outer edges of the leg sides press against the glass panes, since a relatively large retention force is thus developed. It is especially advantageous if at least one of the leg sides of the clamps has at least one bulge toward the pane. This bulge concentrates the pressure on the pane and the sealing element lying behind it.
[0032] Furthermore, it is advantageous if the clamps also have at least one bulge on their front side. This bulge is typically a fold which ensures that the clamps act like a spring. During the manufacturing of insulating glass unit, the clamp is pulled apart in the direction of its leg sides, pushed in the stretched state onto the edge of the insulating glass unit, and then relaxed. Because of the front fold, the clamps will contract and exert the desired contact pressure on the pane exteriors. The glass panes are thus pressed against the sealing element, the cushion and the gap seals are brought to tension, and the pane intermediate space is effectively sealed.
[0033] In an especially preferred embodiment of the insulating glass unit, the fastener for fixing the position of the glass panes comprises multiple clamps and a tension band. Thus, instead of a single peripheral clamp, multiple short clamps situated at a distance from one another are used. The tension band is guided externally on the clamps and around the edges of the glass panes and tensioned. The clamps are thus pressed by the tension band onto the pane edges, and thus, effectively prevent the panes or the clamps from shifting in relation to one another The tension band expediently runs in bulges on the front sides of the clamps which correspond as much is possible to the cross-sectional shape of the tension band. The tension band is thus secured against slipping off of the clamps or the insulating glass unit.
[0034] Special beveled corner clamps which abut one another at the corners are situated on the comers of the pane edges. The tension band is thus guided continuously around the corner areas of the glass panes and is protected especially well there—from fraying, for example. The tension band itself may be made of material having high tensile strength such as stainless steel, webbing, or something similar and may have a rounded or, especially expediently, polygonal cross-sectional shape which is as flat as possible. It is especially positive in this clamped embodiment of the insulating glass unit according to the present invention that less material is required for the clamps. and the unit is thus to be produced more cost-effectively. In addition, production which uses the clamped insulating glass unit may be tailored significantly more easily to changing pane sizes or geometries. This embodiment is therefore also especially well suitable for insulating glass units which are produced only in a small piece count or deviating from a rectangular exterior shape, for example.
[0035] Overall, the insulating glass units according to the present invention have the advantage that they have a very similar basic construction to the insulating glass units of the related art. Thus, significantly improved insulating glass elements may be manufactured with the same assembly in principle on already existing manufacturing facilities and from typical materials and components, such as spacers, etc.
[0036] The present invention will be explained in greater detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0037] FIG. 1 schematically shows a section through the edge of a first exemplary embodiment of an insulating glass unit according to the present invention;
[0038] FIG. 2 schematically shows a section through the edge area of the first exemplary embodiment when it is deformed convexly by low external air pressure;
[0039] FIG. 3 schematically shows a section through the edge area of a second exemplary embodiment of an insulating glass unit according to the present invention;
[0040] FIG. 4 schematically shows a detail of a section through the edge area of a third exemplary embodiment of an insulating glass unit according to the present invention;
[0041] FIG. 5 schematically shows a section through the edge area of a fourth exemplary embodiment of an insulating glass unit according to the present invention;
[0042] FIG. 6 schematically shows a side view of the fourth exemplary embodiment of the insulating glass unit shown in FIG. 5 ; and
[0043] FIG. 7 schematically shows a section through the edge area of an insulating glass unit according to the related art when it is deformed convexly by low external air pressure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0044] FIG. 1 schematically shows a first exemplary embodiment of an insulating glass unit 1 according to the present invention in which a sealing element 5 is situated between the outer edges of two glass panes 2 , 3 . and which seals the pane intermediate space SZR between the panes 2 , 3 relative to the environment. Argon is concentrated in the pane intermediate space SZR for insulation. The insulating glass unit is held together on its edge by a peripherally continuous clamp as the fastener 4 . In this exemplary embodiment, the sealing element 5 comprises a centrally situated middle part 6 having a cavity 17 which is filled with a desiccant. Two cushions 9 , 10 are extruded onto both sides of the middle part 6 , each of which faces toward the respective glass pane 2 , 3 . Both of the cushions have a metal layer 11 , 12 vapor-deposited on their surfaces which face toward the pane intermediate space SZR. These metal layers. 11 , 12 are gas-tight and prevent argon from diffusing out through the elastic cushions 9 , 10 , and prevent air and water vapor from diffusing in. A gap seal 7 , 8 , made of polyisobutylene is attached to the side of each of the cushions 9 , l 0 that faces toward the panes 2 or 3 , respectively. These polyisobutylene seals 7 , 8 , prevent a gas exchange along the contact faces of the sealing element 5 and the glass panes 2 , 3 , respectively.
[0045] During assembly of the insulating glass unit, the two glass panes 2 , 3 are pressed together from the outside and the fastening clamps 4 are pushed onto the edge where they are held under tension. In the installed state, the clamps 4 press the two glass panes 2 , 3 against the sealing element 5 . The elastic cushions 9 , 10 are thus compressed, because of which movements of the panes 2 , 3 are transmitted directly via the polyisobutylene seals 7 , 8 to the respective cushion 9 , 10 . The cushions 9 , 10 , thus, permanently exert pressure on the gap seals 7 , 8 , respectively, because of the compression, and thus, conduct possibly occurring tensile stresses into the gap seals 7 , 8 .
[0046] It is advantageous if bulges 21 , 22 of the diametrically opposing legs 19 , 20 of the fastening clamps 4 extend linearly, parallel to the edge of the glass unit and lie as much as possible at the same height. The diametrically opposing panes are thus pressed against one another in a plane “A” running parallel to the edge. In order to reduce unfavorable tensile forces on the sealing element 5 , it is also situated having its center of gravity axis in the plane “A”. Enlargements of the diffusion gap are thus already reduced in geometric ways by avoiding unfavorable lever effects of the fastening element.
[0047] In this exemplary embodiment, the width of the middle part is between 10 mm and 16 mm and the width of the sealing element is between 14 mm and 20 mm. The height of the sealing element, and thus, also the gap seals 7 , 8 , is approximately 6 mm, doubled in relation to the typical dimensions. The interior width of the clamps is 20 mm to 30 mm at a leg exterior length of 5 to 8 mm and a thickness of the clamps is approximately 0.8 mm to 1 mm.
[0048] Because, at 6 mm, the diffusion gap is twice the height of the known insulating glass units, the leakage rate of the sealing unit 5 has been further reduced. Thus, in the known systems, gas leakage rates of over 1% per year exist. Since the k-value no longer changes at a gas filling rate of 60% argon in the pane intermediate space, the intermediate space is typically overfilled with more than 90% argon, in order to arrive at an operational capability of the insulating glass unit 1 of more than 25 years. Because of the reduced leakage rate, it is no longer necessary in the insulating glass units 1 according to the present invention to overfill the pane intermediate space SZR with more than 90% argon, and/or a significantly lengthened operational capability of the insulating glass units results at the same rate of overfilling.
[0049] FIG. 2 shows the pane edge of the first exemplary embodiment of the insulating glass unit 1 according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 in the deformed state. The deformed state shown corresponds to a deformation of the insulating glass unit when the exterior air pressure is lower than the filling pressure in the pane intermediate space SZR. In relation to the related art, the insulating glass unit 1 according to the present invention has the advantage that the glass panes 2 , 3 no longer have their outermost edges placed on the fastening element 4 and are no longer able to lever off via the sealing element 5 . Rather, the bulges 21 , 22 ensure that the movement of the glass panes 2 , 3 plays out essentially in the center of gravity axis “A” of the sealing element 5 . Since the panes 2 , 3 are also pressed together at these points, it is possible to effectively reduce the tensile stresses on the polyisobutylene seals 7 , 8 , because the required deformation pathways are provided by the elastic cushions 9 , 10 . In other words, the cushions 9 , 10 are compressed on their exterior sides 13 , 14 , while they are pulled on their interior sides 11 , 12 , and thus, relieve the polyisobutylene seals 7 , 8 . This results in a significantly increased tightness of the insulating glass unit 1 according to the present invention in relation to the known insulating glass unit of the related art shown in FIG. 7 .
[0050] FIG. 3 shows a second exemplary embodiment of the insulating glass unit according to the present invention. In order to prevent displacement or pushing away of the gap seals made of polyisobutylene 7 , 8 , in this exemplary embodiment, the gap seals are situated in troughs 15 , 16 . The edges of the elastomeric cushions 9 , 10 delimiting the troughs press directly against the glass panes 2 , 3 and prevent the polyisobutylene from being compressed and exiting laterally.
[0051] In this exemplary embodiment, the elastomeric cushions 9 , 10 have metal vapor-deposited not only on the sides 11 , 12 facing toward the pane intermediate space SZR, but also on the sides 13 , 14 facing away from the pane intermediate space SZR. This effectively prevents gases from escaping out of the cushions or diffusing through the cushions.
[0052] The peripheral clamp 4 completely enclosing the edge of the insulating glass unit 1 has a bulge 23 on its front side 18 in this exemplary embodiment, which gives the clamp 4 a spring effect. During the manufacturing, the clamp is pulled in the direction of its two exterior legs 19 , 20 and pushed laterally onto the pane edges. By relaxing the clamp 4 , it contracts because of the spring effect of the bulge 23 , and the leg interiors 19 , 20 press against the glass panes 2 , 3 and clamp the sealing element 5 . The middle part 6 of the sealing element 5 used in this exemplary embodiment is a commercially available hollow spacer made of metal, whose interior 17 is also filled with a desiccant.
[0053] FIG. 4 shows a detail of an especially preferred third embodiment of an insulating glass unit according to the present invention, in which the cushions 9 , 10 of the sealing element 5 each comprise two prismatic elastomeric profiled strips 25 , 26 and 27 , 28 . The clamp 4 located on the edge is not shown in this illustration, although this embodiment is also a clamped insulating glass unit 1 The cushioning strips 25 , 26 and 27 , 28 are each situated in pairs next to one another in such a way that a trough 15 or 16 having a triangular cross-section results between them in each case. A gap seal 7 , 8 made of polyisobutylene is situated in each trough 15 , 16 . The cushion surfaces facing toward the pane intermediate space SZR are not provided with a metal coating in this embodiment.
[0054] In the fourth embodiment of the insulating glass unit 1 of FIGS. 5 & 6 , the sealing element 5 again has two permanently elastic cushions 9 , 10 which are not provided with a metal coating. Experiments have shown that metallic surfaces of the cushions 9 , 10 may be dispensed with in many applications, since the cushions 9 , 10 are usually sufficiently tight to vapor diffusion. To adsorb water vapor from the pane intermediate space SZR, the sealing element 5 has a hollow profile 6 which is open to the desiccant containing cavity 17 through perforations 24 .
[0055] In this embodiment as well, the glass panes 2 , 3 and the sealing element 5 are fixed entirely without the aid of an adhesive, in this case using multiple clamps 4 and a tensioned tension band 29 . The tension band 29 is guided in recesses 23 of the clamps 4 , and thus, secured against lateral slipping on the clamp backs 18 . As may be seen in the side view of the insulating glass unit 1 in FIG. 6 , the tension band 29 runs parallel to and around the pane edges 30 , 31 of the glass panes 2 , 3 . In the tensioned installed state, the tension band 29 thus presses all clamps 4 against the pane edges 30 , 31 of the glass panes 2 , 3 , and thus, prevents slipping of both of the panes. 2 , 3 and also the clamps 4 . In this embodiment, the clamps 4 have linear leg sides 19 , 20 projecting perpendicularly from the front side 18 . The clamps 4 press the glass panes 2 , 3 against the sealing element 5 to form a seal via the legs 19 , 20 , which press flatly against the glass panes 2 , 3 .
[0056] Special comer clamps 32 , 33 are provided on the comers of insulating glass unit 1 . These are cut away on their ends facing toward the corners so that they may be situated abutting one another on the corner With a rectangular comer, the comer clamps 32 , 33 are thus beveled on their front sides at 45° . Due to the clamps 32 , 33 enclosing the comers of the glass panes 2 , 3 , it is also possible to use a tension band 29 which is narrower than the sealing element 5 without it tensioning in the pane intermediate space SZR. In addition, the comer clamps 32 , 33 protect wider tension bands 29 from cuts on the pane edges of the comer interior. The tension band 29 shown here is a flat band made of stainless steel.
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An insulating glass unit having at least two glass panes, a fastener for fixing the position of the glass panes and a sealing element for setting a distance between two neighboring panes and for gas-tight, lateral insulation of the pane intermediate space enclosed by the panes, the sealing element containing at least one gas-tight middle part and two lateral gap seals, each of which is situated in the area between one of the glass panes and the middle part, at least one diffusion-tight cushion, which is essentially made of an elastic material, being situated in the area between the two gap seals of the sealing element. The inner surfaces of the cushion preferably have a metal layer vapor-deposited on them. In a preferred embodiment, the fastener is a metal clamp externally enclosing the panes which enables the insulating glass unit to be manufactured essentially without adhesive.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority form U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/232,952 filed on Sep. 15, 2000, and is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/723,666 filed on Nov. 27, 2000 (which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/167,594 filed on Nov. 26, 1999). The disclosures of each of the foregoing priority applications is incorporated herein by reference.
REFERENCES
[0002] This provisional application references the Bag of Words Library (referred to herein as “libbow”): McCallum, Andrew Kachites. “Bow: A toolkit for statistical language modeling, text retrieval, classification and clustering,” http://www.cs.cmu.edu/˜mccallum/bow, 1996, which is published under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License, as published by the Free Software Federation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave., Cambridge, Mass. 02139.
BACKGROUND ON THE PRIOR ART
[0003] On wide area networks such as the Internet or corporate intranets, user contributions are often made available to broad, decentralized audiences. For example, in the context of online forums and other platforms for group collaboration, users contribute new messages, postings or other items to existing collections of items made widely available to other users. It is important that users with common interests have an opportunity to review and respond to groupings of related items, as a form of dialog or collaboration.
[0004] Collections of user-contributed items, and each newly contributed item, must therefore be categorized or indexed in some manner to facilitate efficient access by other users.
[0005] There are three general approaches taken in the prior art.
[0006] One approach to categorization requires decisionmaking by users at the moment they contribute content, and a corresponding effort by users accessing content. A user selects and transmits items to (or retrieves items from) a network node that is known to accumulate and redistribute items in a defined category, such as the server for a mailing list on a specialized topic, a decentralized Usenet server or a groupware platform. Or the user intercommunicates with a network node offering alternative collections or paths to collections of content, traverses a hierarchy of categories and subcategories, and identifies an appropriate forum or groupware category for making a contribution (or accessing content), such as a web site or intranet hosting multiple, special purpose discussion groups or knowledge bases. 1
[0007] Another approach to categorization requires decisionmaking by third parties when users contribute content and, in theory, a simpler effort by the users accessing content. Editors or moderators are positioned at a node (or group of related nodes) on a wide area network and accept user contributions, conduct a review or vetting procedure—possibly exercising discretion to edit or rewrite items—and undertake the placement of items within a hierarchy of categories that they define and manage. Among their objectives are improving quality, simplifying data access and retrieval, and increasing the likelihood of further dialog and collaboration. Examples include mailing list moderation by volunteers, the centralized editorial fimctions of a web site serving a specific category of content or commerce, or staff management of a corporate knowledge base.
[0008] These first two approaches require the definition of subject matter at the outset and refinement over time, and may involve the construction of a hierarchy of categories by a central authority. Judgments about the scope and granularity of subject matter requires the balancing of competing objectives. Ease of use requires a limited number of categories. However, if the subject matter is too general, forums and collaborative environments may fail to develop cohesive discussions and prove less useful. At the same time, multiplying the number of categories can be taken too far. If too specialized, forums and collaborative environments may fail to achieve critical mass and continuity. Further, in the case of moderation or the editorial or staff placement of items, the administrative burden multiplies as the number of categories grows.
[0009] Typically, high volume forums and collaborative environments on wide area networks are defined by relatively narrow subject matter, either explicitly or in context. 2 Applications involving heavy moderation or editorial and staff placement of items tend to be low-to-medium volume.
[0010] A third approach to categorizing or indexing user-contributed items is the use of automated means, such as search engines that serve up items in response to key words or natural languages questions, or similar embedded applications. 3
[0011] Automated means of indexing (and retrieving) user-contributed items typically utilize pairwise comparison, which attempts to find the best individual item matches for a query or a new item of content, based on factors such as term overlap, term frequency within a document, and term frequency among documents. Such indexing methods do not typically categorize items at the time they enter the system, but rather store “tokenized”, reduced form representations suited for efficient pairwise comparison on-the-fly. Examples of pairwise comparison in the area of user-contributed content include the search engine of the Deja Usenet archive, and its successor, Google Groups, in the form at which the service entered public beta in 2001. Another example is the emerging category of corporate knowledge bases providing natural language search engines for documents created by staff on a variety of productivity applications (which may themselves store information in proprietary and incompatible formats).
[0012] Automated methods of categorizing user-contributed items typically rely on statistical and database techniques known as “cluster analysis”, which determine the conceptual “distance” between individual items based on factors such as term overlap, term frequency within a document, and term frequency among documents. With these techniques, it is possible to take large collections of unclassified items and produce a classification system based on machine estimates of concept “proximity”. It is also possible to take already classified items (whether by human efforts, automated means or some combination) and predict the appropriate classification for a query or new item of content. An example of this is a customer relationship management system that performs cluster analysis on historical e-mails, then automatically categorizes incoming e-mail and sends it along to staff associated with the category.
[0013] Demonstrating the deficiency of the prior art, even with the application of all the above methods, users must often review mountains of user-contributed content that is poor, offensive, unrelated to their interests or reflecting commercial bias, before finding items that fully meet their needs. Indeed, few users have the time and ability to perform such a review, which may require constant attention to a rapid stream of content flowing through traditional forums, traversing elaborate hierarchies of content with no assurance of success, relying on the editorial efforts (and seeing through the bias) of centralized media sources, or coping with search engines that are mostly blind to quality considerations.
[0014] Worse, to the extent that some users spend time and effort identifying quality items for their own consumption, other users generally do not benefit, and either end up duplicating the effort or abandoning it altogether.
[0015] Users have few tools at their disposal that improve the situation. They may be able to selectively block items from users whose contributions they wish to avoid entirely, 4 or report evidence of abuse to administrators of the service or collaboration environment, or post a response that attempts to alert others to problematic content. In some cases, “average” ratings of an author's previous contributions (typically based on sparse ratings assigned by unknown users) may be available, to which one can add another rating.
[0016] Search technology alone is a poor substitute for quality control. Relevancy and concept proximity are only loosely related to the quality of content in many, if not most situations. In fact, given a reliable measure of quality, it is likely that many users would sacrifice some element of relevancy or concept proximity for higher quality content.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] In view of the foregoing shortcomings of prior art, it should be apparent that there exists a need in the art for enhancements that incorporate additional quality control features into categorization and search technologies. Particularly absent from the prior art are robust methods of tapping the expertise of contributing users as a means of quality control, in applications that categorize and index user-contributed items by automated means.
[0018] In a related patent application, we have set forth methods of general application for rating users, user-contributed items and groupings of user-contributed items, including Expertise, Regard, Quality, Caliber, related methods and user-interface innovations. 5 These methods
[0019] The invention applies these methods in the context of categorizing, indexing and accessing user-generated content.
[0020] In an improvement over the prior art of clustering of items into hierarchical classifications, we utilize Expertise, Regard, Quality and Caliber, and related methods, to focus the analysis on contributions of more highly regarded users and, generally, on higher quality items. Thus, as ratings enter the system (along with additional user-contributed items), we construct more robust hierarchies of classification, and increase the accuracy of automated means of placing items within them.
[0021] We improve search technology in the prior art, using Expertise, Regard, Quality and Caliber, and related methods, to differentiate among search results derived by concept clustering methods of information retrieval, and also to provide additional granularity in pairwise comparison methods. We provide procedures for explicitly trading off relevancy and quality, and methods of efficiently blending multiple criteria for large data sets.
[0022] An embodiment of the invention described herein collects at a single network node (or in a distributed environment) user contributions spanning multiple categories of content, while minimizing the need for users to categorize each of their contributions and reducing the navigation required to locate content in an area of interest—all enhanced with robust, quality control technologies.
[0023] Advantages of the described embodiments will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the described embodiments. The objects and advantages of the described embodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims and equivalents.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0024] [0024]FIG. 1 displays a threaded discussion.
[0025] [0025]FIG. 2 demonstrates the use of a filtering method.
[0026] [0026]FIG. 3 lists Usenet newsgroups selected for combination In an “Autos” category.
[0027] [0027]FIG. 4 is a binary tree representation of a cluster model generated by automated means.
[0028] [0028]FIG. 5 is an excerpt of a mapping of threads to nodes in a cluster hierarchy.
[0029] [0029]FIG. 6 displays a series of computer file directories representing a binary tree structure
[0030] [0030]FIG. 7 presents key words derived from a cluster model of “Autos” category content.
[0031] [0031]FIG. 8 demonstrates a selective subclustering of a binary tree cluster model
[0032] [0032]FIG. 9 presents key words derived from a selective subclustering of a binary tree cluster model of “autos” category content.
[0033] [0033]FIG. 10 is an example of cluster classification probabilities derived for a new, unclassified item or query.
[0034] [0034]FIG. 11 diagrams the submission of search terms by a user, leading to search and retrieval of items and subsequent user interaction.
[0035] [0035]FIG. 12 illustrates the use of cluster classification as a single criterion for identifying matching items in a search engine context.
[0036] [0036]FIG. 13 the interpretation of a user rating using methods to determine ratings of items, groupings of items and authors/contributors of items.
[0037] [0037]FIG. 14 sets forth steps in the incorporation of a new item of content.
[0038] [0038]FIG. 15 diagrams a successive approximation procedure to determine ratings of items, groupings of items and authors/contributors of items.
[0039] [0039]FIG. 16 presents an overall picture of circular operations.
[0040] [0040]FIG. 17 illustrates the utility of a secondary criterion for matching items in a search engine context.
[0041] [0041]FIG. 18 depicts (in the form of a graphical user interface) a search engine result based upon dual criteria.
[0042] [0042]FIG. 19 depicts (in the form of a graphical user interface) a search engine result based upon cluster classification, ratings of authors and item quality, and pairwise relevancy as a multiple criteria.
[0043] [0043]FIG. 20 sets forth possible query results in matrix form, a layout referred to herein as “pixelization”.
[0044] [0044]FIG. 21 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a pixel traversal method.
[0045] [0045]FIG. 22 illustrates a method of efficient traversal of pixelized search results.
[0046] FIGS. 23 - 26 set forth a wide area network and a series of network nodes, servers and databases, and a number of information transactions in a preferred embodiment of the Invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
1. Threads/Outlines
[0047] In preferred embodiments, the invention is applied to threads—a series of interrelated messages, articles or other items, each either initiating a new thread or responding to an existing thread, as depicted in FIG. 1. Examples of threads include Usenet newsgroups, “listserve” mailing lists, online forums, groupware applications, customer service correspondence, and question and answer dialogs.
[0048] In certain related embodiments, the invention is applied to content expressed in an outline format, or otherwise embodying a structure that can be expressed or reduced to an outline, which includes items associated with particular user-contributors. An example of an outline is a corporate knowledge base constructed by multiple contributors to service an internal constituency (e.g. employees) or an external constituency (e.g., customers or suppliers). 6
[0049] [0049]FIG. 2 is a flowchart that sets forth the use of a filtering method (at the point of inserting items) to reduce the volume of content used to build database search and retrieval facilities, from an initial collection to a subset based on standards that improve the data set for clustering and classification, as set forth below.
[0050] Let A aid represent the contents of a message, article or other item, with aid denoting an “article ID” for identification in a database. Let T tid represent the contents of a thread, with tid denoting a “thread ID”.
[0051] 1.1. Basic Filtering. The filtered, aggregated content of a thread can be represented as
T f tid = ∑ aid ε tid f ( A aid )
[0052] where f(.) represents a filtering algorithm that eliminates contents deemed irrelevant to indexing and clustering analysis (e.g., RFC 822 headers, “stoplisted” word, punctuation, word stems), and denotes the concatenation of the remaining text.
[0053] 1.2. Enhanced Filtering. Expertise, Regard, Quality, Caliber, and related methods can enhance the construction of thread (or article) databases relevant to cluster analysis.
[0054] The filtered, aggregated content of a thread can be represented as
T f , h _ , q _ tid = { ∑ aid ε tid f ( A aid ) if h [ uid ( aid ) ] > h _ or q ( aid ) > q _ null otherwise ( 1.1 )
[0055] where uid (aid) is the user ID of the user associated with article aid, h(uid) is either Expertise or Regard, as the case may be, of such user, //h is a selected threshold value, q(aid) is the Quality of article aid, and q is another selected threshold value. 7
[0056] Herein,
T tid f
[0057] can represent, for example, filtering based on the Basic or Extended methods of Expertise or High Regard, and
A aid f
[0058] the application of such methods at the article, rather than the thread, level.
2. Concept Clustering
[0059] 2.1. Introduction. Document indexing technologies in common use today are capable of “clustering” items contained in large content databases into groupings based on common concepts.
[0060] Within the confines of the prior art, concept clustering is generally considered to have limited application to traditional threaded discussions. Given the historical practice of narrowly defining forum subject matter, often postings with common concepts are already grouped together—in large part, by the participants themselves.
[0061] Still, the pre-classification of forum subject matter is limiting, sometimes arbitrary, and inflexible over time, and places additional burdens on users.
[0062] Concept clustering has the potential to reduce the use, or at least the specificity, of prefabricated limitations on forum content. Instead, a user might specify a concept (or search terms from which concepts may be identified) and be served up forum postings with the same or related concepts, according to a recent and comprehensive automated analysis. Similarly, a user could contribute an article without selecting a narrowly defined forum and, again based on an automated analysis of conceptual content, the posting could be automatically positioned alongside related content for future users.
[0063] 2.2. Methods. In typical techniques of concept clustering, terms contained in each item are “tokenized”, or given reduced form expression, and mapped into so-called “multidimensional word space”. A model is constructed that effectively evaluates each item for its “proximity” to other items using one of a variety of algorithms. Clusters of items are considered to reflect common concepts, and are therefore classified together.
[0064] Methods of scoring document relationships include Naive Bayes, Fienberg-classify, HEM-classify, HEM-cluster and Multiclass. The “crossbow” application in the libbow package offers an implementation of these methods.
[0065] To keep such a model current, clustering is conducted periodically. The resulting classification scheme can organize content received incrementally and serve as a basis for responding to certain kinds of search queries.
[0066] 2.3. Binary Tree Representation. As an illustration, we collected 147,410 articles from 34 Usenet newsgroups related to automobiles, set forth in FIG. 3 (agglomerating all the forums), assembling 26,053 threads by applying a filtering method as set forth in Section 1.1, and using automated means to classify the threads into concept clusters.
[0067] Using crossbow, selecting the method of Naive Bayes, we conducted a limited clustering procedure yielding a four-level binary tree division into 16 cluster leafnodes, represented by FIG. 4.
[0068] 2.4. Populating the Tree. Crossbow outputs an assignment of each thread to nodes at each level of the binary tree (as excerpted in FIG. 5). We created a hard disk drive representation of the binary tree, with a directory representing each node (as forth in FIG. 6) and placed therein symbolic links to each
T tid f
[0069] for further analysis.
[0070] Keywords deemed by crossbow the most relevant to each node in the tree are set forth in FIG. 7. 8
[0071] [0071] 2 . 5 . Extensions of the Binary Tree. It is possible to cluster the tree deeper than four binary levels, achieving additional granularity in the results, with each level multiplying by two the number of total concept clusters at the leafnodes. 9
[0072] Alternatively, for a more selective targeted approach, it is possible to “subcluster” portions of the binary tree based on the number of articles in particular clusters, or judgments about the potential for a rich set of concepts to be found, or other factors. The subclustering of a single cluster is represented in FIG. 8.
[0073] We created a hard disk drive representation of the subcluster, with a directory representing each node and placed therein symbolic links to each
T tid f
[0074] for further analysis.
[0075] Crossbow outputs the information necessary to assign each article to one of the nodes at each level of the extended binary tree, from the top level to the leafnodes. We created a hard disk drive representation of the extended binary tree with a directory representing each node. It was then possible to locate therein copies (or symbolic links) of each
T tid f
[0076] for further analysis. Keywords deemed by crossbow the most relevant to each node in the tree are set forth in FIG. 9.
[0077] The identifier used here for a position in the binary tree is a concatenation of the nodes in all the preceding levels. For example, the right most, lowest level node in the subclustered portion of this extended tree is 11011111.
[0078] This procedure can be iterated still a further step, subclustering a subcluster, etc.
3. Cluster Classification and Additional Criteria
[0079] 3.1. Probabilistic Cluster Classification. With such a hard disk drive representation of the binary tree, it is possible to analyze and classify a new article or a user-provided query.
[0080] Any of a number of algorithms, such as Active, Dirk, EM, Emsimple, KL, KNN, Maxent, Naive Bayes, NB Shrinkage, NB Simple, Prind, tf-idf (words), tf-idf [log(words)], tf-idf [log(occur)], tf-idf and SVM, may be used to generate a database and model for analyzing new items, in order to determine the probability associated with every fork traversing the tree from top to bottom. Rainbow in the libbow package offers an implementation of these methods.
[0081] Crossbow includes additional, more efficient methods of classification, in particular implementations of Naive Bayes Shrinkage taking into account the entire binary tree structure.
[0082] These models can also derives probabilistic classifications of user-provided queries (search terms).
[0083] For example, using rainbow we derived a set of forking probabilities for a newly received item, set forth in FIG. 10. In the case presented, there is a 0.95 probability that the item is best associated with cluster 0 rather than cluster 1 ; a 0.85 probability it is best associated with cluster 00 rather than cluster 01 , a 0.07 probability it is best associated with cluster 000 rather than cluster 001 ; and a 0.4 probability that it is best associated with cluster 0000 rather than cluster 0001 .
[0084] The cumulative probability associated with each of the leafnodes is
P leafnode = levels ∏ top leafnode p node
[0085] For example, the cumulative probability associated with leafnode cluster 0000 is
P 0000 =4{square root}{square root over (0.95×0.85×0.07×0.4=0.38)}
[0086] Such databases can be regenerated periodically to include incrementally received items and apply updated inputs into the selected filter model, including revised values of Expertise, Regard, Quality and Caliber, to keep the model current, increase selectivity and improve accuracy.
[0087] 3.2. Single Criteria Query. Given a user-provided query (search terms), a cluster-oriented search engine can identify groupings of items already in the system, e.g., clusters of related threads of discussion, containing conceptually similar material.
[0088] [0088]FIG. 11 is a flowchart of submission of a query by a user, leading to search and retrieval of items, delivery of the items to the user, and subsequent user interaction with the items. The query is analyzed in the same manner as a new item that survives filtration. However, instead of simply determining the most likely appropriate classification for the query, the specific probabilities associated with each alternative classification are noted for further analysis in methods of search and retrieval. The determination of an ordered result for delivery of items to the user may include consideration of classification probabilities as a single criteria, or the application of additional criteria in tandem.
[0089] Using the binary tree and probabilities depicted in FIG. 10 as an example of possible classifications of a user-provided query, the top five clusters could be scored along an axis measuring cluster relevancy, as in FIG. 12.
[0090] Without additional criteria, the score of each thread contained in a cluster is the same, based exclusively on the concept proximity between the cluster and the query, i.e., the cluster probability derived by rainbow or crossbow. 10
Score tid query =P cluster tid query
[0091] Where P cluster tid query is the probability that the query should be classified as a member of the cluster that contains thread tid. This is a measure of the conceptual proximity of the thread to the query, i.e., how well the thread matches the query.
score aidεtid query =P cluster tid query
[0092] As the foundation of search engine for matching threads, this approach would return all the threads in cluster 0010 , followed by all the threads in cluster 0011 , followed by all the threads in cluster 0111 , and so on.
[0093] There is no criteria to distinguish among the threads in any particular cluster. For example, the search would return the lowest quality items in cluster 0010 before returning the highest quality items in cluster_ 0011 . Also, there is no accounting for the magnitude of the differences in cumulative cluster probability. For example the relative proximity of cluster 0010 and cluster 0011 at the high end, and the relative distance between cluster 0011 and next cluster 0111 , have no impact on the analysis.
[0094] The size of the first document cluster in such a list may be so large that users rarely move beyond it to other relevant material. 11 In a case such as depicted here, in which two clusters are scored near the high-end of the observed range (i.e., cluster 0010 has a cumulative probability of 0.82, and cluster 0011 has a cumulative probability of 0.74), highly relevant material in the second cluster might be neglected.
[0095] 3.3. Derivation of Additional Criteria. Among the derivatives of the framework set forth here as preferred embodiments are methods of rating authors, the quality of articles, and relationships between individual articles (relevancy).
[0096] As set forth in FIG. 11, in certain embodiments a user to whom items are delivered in an ordered search result may select certain items for review, rate some items and contribute responsive items, e.g., a response to an article in a threaded discussion. Each form of user interaction contributes information that may be interpreted, serving as the basis for additional criteria which facilitate more robust ordering of results for fixture searches.
[0097] For example, FIG. 13 is a flowchart of several steps in the interpretation of a user rating of an item in certain embodiments, using methods of calculating Expertise, Regard, Quality and Caliber incorporated herein by reference.
[0098] [0098]FIG. 14 is a flowchart of steps involved in certain embodiments in the incorporation of a newly contributed item. If the item, e.g., an article, is identified as a member of an existing thread, it is bundled with the other member of the thread for calculation of Caliber, a measure of thread quality, and if a Regard value is available, it is established as a default measurement of the Quality of the item.
[0099] [0099]FIG. 15 is a flowchart of iterative steps of successive approximation of Regard, in embodiments using High Regard methods for rating articles and deriving Regard, Quality and Caliber. In alternative embodiments, these iterative methods are conducted periodically or in real-time, upon the receipt of new ratings.
[0100] [0100]FIG. 16 presents an overall picture of the circular nature of the process, in terms of the manner in which filtration improves the input into clustering/search models and methodology, which makes methods of search and retrieval more accurate, which helps users identify content for review, rating and response, which generates more content and makes ratings more robust and accurate, which in turn improves the inputs into the process.
[0101] Another use of initial data and improved inputs is traditional search engine relevancy modeling, based on pairwise comparison of items using standards such as common words or word usage/frequency, or common concepts or concept usage/frequency.
[0102] 3.4. Blended Scoring with Secondary Criteria. With a secondary criteria for evaluating content, it is possible to return a more precisely ordered search result using a blended method to score threads:
score tid query =b[P cluster tid query , α(query, tid )]
[0103] such that the “best” of cluster 0010 and the “best” of cluster 0011 , under the secondary scoring method represented by α(.), are near the top of the list, and the “worst” of cluster 0010 is presented somewhat later, as depicted in FIG. 17. Note that, in this example, the “best” of cluster 0000 would be presented after the “worst” of cluster 0010 or 0011 , because of a lower blended score.
[0104] Required here is a defined trade-off between the cluster relevancy and the secondary criterion to blend the two scoring methods, represented by b(.), which is depicted in FIG. 17 as a series of parallel diagonal lines (represented a weighted average) with the highest blended score along the upper right diagonal line. 12
[0105] [0105] 3 . 5 . Potential Secondary Criteria.
[0106] Author Rating. α(.)may represent a thread ranking based on a method β(.) of rating the authors of all the articles contained in the thread:
α( T f tid )=β[ uid ( aid )| aid aidεtid ]
[0107] Examples of author ratings include:
[0108] An objective benchmark such as the length or volume of the author's participation.
[0109] A simple mathematical average of user-provided ratings of authors, based on a single rating by each user of another user, or a rating on a per-article basis or another basis.
[0110] The Expertise or Regard of the author.
[0111] Hence, blended scoring based on cluster relevancy and author ratings might be expressed as
score tid query =b {P cluster tid query β[uid ( aid )| aid aidεtid ]
[0112] Article Ratings. α(.) may represent a thread ranking based on a method γ(.) of rating all the articles in the thread:
α( T f tid )=γ[ uid ( aid )| aid aidεtid ]
[0113] Examples might include:
[0114] An objective benchmark, such as the length of the article, or the number of times it has been read, or responded to, by users.
[0115] A simple mathematical average of user-provided ratings of articles.
[0116] The Quality of the article.
[0117] Hence, blended scoring based on cluster relevancy and article ratings might be expressed as
score tid query =b {P cluster tid query γ[( aid )| aid aidεtid ]
[0118] Thread Ratings. α(.) may represent a direct ranking of thread Ttid/f. Examples might include:
[0119] An objective benchmark, such as the length of the thread, or the number of times it has been read, or responded to, by users.
[0120] A simple mathematical average of user-provided ratings of threads.
[0121] The Caliber of the thread. In effect, Caliber is an embodiment combining the concepts of author and article ratings
α( T f tid )=δ{β[ uid ( aid )| aid aidεtid , γ| aid aidεtid ]}
[0122] wherein δ(.) represents the Caliber calculation, β(.) author Expertise or Regard, as the case may be, and γ(.) article Quality.
[0123] Hence, scoring based on cluster relevancy and thread ratings (in the form of Caliber) might be expressed as
score tid query =b ( P cluster tid query , δ{β[uid ( aid )| aid aidεtid ,γ| aid aidεtid ]})
[0124] [0124]FIG. 18 presents the use of this technique to query our autos database. In this example, b(.) represents a blending of cluster relevancy and Caliber through the use of a weighted arithmetic average. The user is permitted to select alternative weights to determine the blending between “RELEVANCY vs. QUALITY” (i.e. cluster relevancy vs. Caliber)—in this case, selecting either (0.00, 1.00) or (0.25, 0.75) OR (0.50, 0.50) OR (0.75, 0.25) or (1.00, 0.00) by selecting 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, respectively, in the depicted user interface box.
[0125] The query result moves from “green diamond” rated items (representing Caliber of 0.875 to 1.0) 13 to “blue diamond” rated items (representing Caliber of 0.625 to 0.875) 14 in the most relevant cluster, and back to “green diamond” rated items in a less relevant cluster. 15
[0126] In other words, based on blended formula, content in the highest Caliber range, but in a cluster of secondary relevancy, will be positioned in the sorted response list prior to content in the most relevant cluster that is considered lower Caliber (i.e., “gray diamond”, “yellow diamond” or “red diamond” rated, each representing Caliber segments below 0.625).
[0127] Search Term Relevancy. α(.) may represent a pairwise analysis of relevancy, a procedure distinctive from the analysis of cluster relevancy.
[0128] Focusing on articles rather than threads for this example, pairwise analysis of relevancy, including term overlap, term frequency within a document, term frequency among documents and other factors, may be represented as
α ( query , A f aid ) = ε ( query , A f aid A f n A f o )
[0129] where
A f aid A f n A f o
[0130] represents all the filtered articles in the system, which will have been pre-processed and “tokenized” to a reduced form representation for efficient pairwise comparison. An implementation of pairwise methods, and related methods, may be found in the archer package of libbow.
[0131] Blended Scoring with Tertiary Criterion. With the addition of a third criterion for evaluating content in a blended method, it would be possible to user-specified query (search terms) and return an even more precisely ordered result.
[0132] For example, one might combine the methods of concept clustering, article Caliber 16 and search term relevancy, as a method of scoring articles and threads
score tid query = max ( score aid query = θ [ P cluster tid query , δ { β [ uid ( aid ) aid aid ε tid , γ [ aid aid aid ε tid ] } ε ( query , A f aid A f o A f n ) ] )
[0133] [0133]FIG. 19 presents the use of this technique to query our autos database. In this example, θ represents a blending of cluster relevancy, Caliber and search term relevancy through the use of a weighted arithmetic average. The user is again permitted to select alternative weights for “RELEVANCY vs. QUALITY” (i.e., cluster relevancy on the one hand, and Caliber or Quality on the other). The result is then applied to weight the search term relevancy calculation.
4. Pixelized Secondary Criteria
[0134] 4.1. The Computational Challenge of Blended Criteria. A secondary criterion may be both inclusive and exclusive, in that a small part of the data set is identified as a possible search result and a large part of the data set is ruled out. For example, search term relevancy as described in Section 3.5 reduces the possible responses to items with a high degree of term overlap, so that only a small number of “blending” calculations need be done, significantly reducing computational requirements. 17
[0135] By contrast, note that the secondary criteria of author ratings, article ratings and thread ratings described in Section 3.5 are relative and do nothing to include certain items and wholly exclude others. Instead, they assign a value to every item, each of which is a potential input into a blending calculation.
[0136] Without a short-cut procedure, the blended value of every item in the data set would potentially have to be calculated in order to identify the best query responses-potentially an extraordinary computational task—even if only a handful of search results are to be returned to the user.
[0137] 4.2. Pixelization. The aforementioned relative secondary criteria, including Expertise, Regard, Quality and Caliber, are bounded by zero and one. It is therefore possible to divide up the possible values into a series of ranges and select midpoints therein. Note that the primary criterion, cluster assignment probabilities, are inherently segmented into classifications.
[0138] The scope of possible pairs of values, for example, Caliber and cluster assignment probabilities can therefore be expressed as a two dimensional field, segmented into a “pixelized” matrix, into which all of the possible query results will fall, as in FIG. 20.
[0139] The cluster relevancy rankings along the top (horizontal) scale represent cluster assignment probabilities, ranked and put into sorted order for a particular query. The Caliber rankings along the left side (vertical) scale represent ranges of possible values of Caliber and their midpoints. Each pixel has been assigned an ID number. Given a basic 16 cluster binary tree and 16 segments of Caliber, as in this example, the pixels are numbered from 1 to 256 .
[0140] The optimization sought is to compute the full blended score of as few threads as possible—a small multiple of the number of responses intended to be returned to the user, e.g., 3×100—while retaining a high level of accuracy.
[0141] The method computes the blended score of the midpoint of certain pixels, identifying a path through the pixels that minimize computational requirements.
[0142] Note that whatever blending formula is selected (within reason), pixel # 1 will have the highest blended score, and pixel # 256 , the lowest. So, to begin, the blended score of all the threads in pixel # 1 are calculated and the threads are added to our response list.
[0143] The next pixel whose contents are to be added to our response list is either the pixel immediately to the right or immediately below, # 2 or # 17 . The choice is based on applying the blending formula to the cluster assignment probabilities and Caliber midpoint values of each pixel. Whichever pixel has the higher score, the blended value of all the threads therein are calculated and the threads are added to the response list.
[0144] Which pixel's contents are to be added next? At no time is the next appropriate pixel directly above, directly to the left, or positioned both above and to the left, of the current pixel. We must advance to at least one cluster assignment to the right or one Caliber segment down at each stage. Given a movement of the cluster assignment to the right, it is possible for pixel to be associated with any Caliber segment, so long as the pixel has not already been selected. Given a movement of the Caliber segment down, it is possible for the pixel to be associated with any cluster assignment, so long as the pixel has not already been selected. The two previous sentences are subject to the proviso that at no time is a pixel considered if it is directly below, directly to the right, or positioned both directly below or to the right of any other pixel that meets the criteria for consideration in the same iteration.
[0145] [0145]FIG. 21 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a pixel traversal method.
[0146] [0146]FIG. 22 sets forth a feasible path through several subsequent pixels, pursuant to this method.
[0147] For example, if the active pixel has traversed from # 1 to # 2 to # 17 to # 3 , the next feasible pixels are # 4 , # 18 and # 33 .
[0148] If the active pixel has traversed from # 1 to # 2 to # 17 to # 3 to # 4 to # 5 to # 18 to # 19 to # 33 , the next feasible pixels are # 6 , # 20 , # 34 and # 49 .
[0149] A blended calculation based on cluster relevancy and Caliber midpoints is done for each feasible pixel, a choice is made, and the blended scores of all the threads contained therein are calculated, the threads are added to our response list.
[0150] In alternative embodiments, the value calculated for any feasible pixel is stored between iterations, so that no value is calculated twice while traversing the pixels. The final response to the user is based on the response list, sorted by the blended thread scores.
5. Network Configuration
[0151] [0151]FIG. 23- 26 set forth a wide area network and a series of network nodes, servers and databases in a preferred embodiment of the Invention (the “Configuration”).
[0152] In FIG. 23, an article or other item is contributed to a web server, passed along to a forum server and entered into a forum database. Concurrently, the forum server passes the item along for insertion into a cluster model, mediated by a cluster probability server supported by a back end computational cluster. In selected embodiments, the forum server also passes the item along for insertion into a relevancy model, mediated by a search term relevancy server supported by a backend computational cluster.
[0153] In FIG. 24, a user submits search terms to a web server, which passes the terms along to the cluster probability server and search terms relevancy server.
[0154] In FIG. 25, the cluster probability server delivers cluster probabilities associated with the search terms to a scoring server. The scoring server accesses a database of “pixelized” A representations of clusters and a caliber segments, conducts an efficient pixel traversal, and calculates blended values for a subset of the threads in the database. The search term relevancy server delivers a list of articles, relevancy scores and the articles' cluster associations to the scoring server. The rating server delivers ratings such as Quality and Caliber to the scoring server, for updated scoring. In turn, the scoring server delivers sorted lists of articles/Quality and threads/Caliber to the forum server.
[0155] In FIG. 26, the forum server queries the rating server with the list of authors whose articles will be displayed in a fashion that will display user ratings of expertise or regard, submits subjects, ratings and structural information to the html rendering server, which constructs a mark-up language version of a list of articles, including for example information on quality and forum structure, which are then transmitted to the user.
[0156] [0156]FIG. 27 demonstrates the path through which ratings travel to the ratings server for subsequent backend analysis, updating values of expertise, regard, quality and caliber.
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A method for computerized interactive search and retrieval of content items, in which contributed content items are separated into discrete classifications, provided to users, evaluated by certain users, and assigned a quality rating based on weightings of the evaluations.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part application claiming priority to non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/910,571 filed on Jun. 5, 2013, which in turn claims the benefit to Provisional Application No. 61/721,578 filed on Nov. 2, 2012.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a tablet holder. More particularly, the holder of the present invention is particularly adapted for use with a stroller, carriage or other mobile apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a variety of different electronic tablets and the like that may be used by people of all ages. This includes instructional computers or tablets for young children. These typically are used in a stationary manner and for educational purposes.
One of the advantages of using such electronic tablets is its mobility. Electronic tablets are built to be light and easily accessible for using them while traveling. Electronic tablets can provide an entertaining or educational use for children when parents are traveling with them. Such use of electronic tablets can be very helpful when parents need their children to be occupied while attending to other matters. However, using electronic tablets while traveling increases the chance of damaging them which commonly occurs due to unforeseen accidents. When electronic tablets are operated by children while traveling, the chance of damaging them is even higher.
While there are many holsters for electronic tablets exist to protect the electronic tablets from being damaged in case of an accidental drop or the like, such holsters do not provide a stable platform to hold the electronic tablets in place while a child interacts with them.
Therefore, a need exists for a tablet holder that can be mounted to a stroller to prevent damages that may occur to electronic tablets when a child operates them while in motion. A need also exists for a tablet holder that can be easily adjustable while providing a stable platform.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The subject matter of this application may involve, in some cases, interrelated products, alternative solutions to a particular problem, and/or a plurality of different uses of a single system or article.
An object of the present invention is to provide such a tablet associated with a stroller, carriage or other mobile apparatus.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a detachable tablet holder that may be removably attached to a stroller, carriage or the like mobile apparatus and which is provided with a number of different adjustments. In this way, a viewing screen of the tablet can be disposed at a convenient location for viewing by the child, particularly while the child is seated within the stroller. When not in use, the tablet holder may be removed from the stroller in a relatively simple manner leaving a portion of the device attached to the stroller and pivotal on either side of the seat of the stroller. The tablet holder may be pivoted between a stowed or rest position and a usable position.
In one aspect, a detachable tablet holder for a stroller is provided. The detachable tablet holder may comprise a support frame, a plate member, a plurality of upright legs, a platform, and a plurality of support legs. The support frame may be configured to receive the tablet and hold it within the support frame. A locking lever is formed at a back of the support frame placing the support frame in a fixed position when the locking lever is engaged.
A plate member may be pivotally mounted at the back of the support frame where a securing knob may be placed to tighten the support frame and the plate member in place. A plurality of upright legs may be pivotally attached at a bottom of the plate member. The plurality of upright legs may share a pivot axis extending perpendicular to each of the plurality of upright legs. Such pivot connections among the support frame, the plate member, and the plurality of upright legs allow the tablet therein to be adjustable.
A platform may provide a flat surface where the plurality of uprights legs may be affixed. The platform may have a plurality of support legs extending downwardly therefrom. Each of the plurality of support legs may be extendable and/or retractable along their length, allowing height adjustment of the platform. Finally, the plurality of support legs may be pivotally attached to the stroller.
In another aspect, a stroller receiving the detachable tablet holder is provided. The stroller may comprise a handle at a top of the holder enabling it to be maneuvered. A plurality of rails may extend at an angle towards a bottom of the stroller where the plurality of support legs may be pivotally attached. The stroller may comprise a seated area where a child may be placed. The detachable tablet holder may be adjustable to a convenient location for viewing by the child placed in the seated area.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
It should be understood that the drawings are provided for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to define the limits of the disclosure. In the drawings depicting the present invention, all dimensions are to scale. The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the embodiments described herein will become apparent with reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tablet display holder as mounted on a children's stroller;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating a portion of the holder and the associated tablet display;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of the holder;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating one of the adjustment features of the apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary exploded view illustrating the manner in which the apparatus may be separated and removed;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing further details of the portion of the apparatus that remains attached to the stroller but that is pivotal relative to the stroller;
FIG. 7 illustrates the stroller attached portion of the support apparatus in a stowed position;
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view of a portion of another embodiment of the holder;
FIG. 9 is a perspective of an embodiment of the tablet computer holder configured to attach to various devices; and
FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view of a portion of another embodiment of the holder.
FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view of a portion of another embodiment of the holder.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Reference is now made to the perspective view of FIG. 1 that illustrates, what may be considered a conventional stroller at 10 . The stroller 10 has a seated area. In FIG. 1 the child is illustrated in the seated area at 12 . The stroller typically also includes a support wheels 14 and a handle 16 . As a variety of different types of strollers may be used with the apparatus of the present invention, the construction of the stroller itself is not discussed herein in any great detail. The stroller may be one that does not fold up or it may be a stroller of the folding-up type. FIG. 1 also shows opposite side rails 18 that extend from the handle 16 to the bottom of the stroller 10 . FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a portion of the apparatus of the present invention attached at the very base of the support rails 18 .
The tablet contemplated herein may include, but is not limited to mobile computers, tablet computers, laptops, handheld computers, smart phones, electronic readers, and similar display device.
FIG. 1 also illustrates the novel apparatus of the present invention at 20 which supports a tablet 22 in proper viewing position to a child. This may also enable the child to interact with the tablet 22 depending upon the particular tablet construction.
In FIG. 1 a detachable tablet holder 20 may be considered as comprised of support legs 24 that is pivotally attached at the base of the rails 18 , on the left and right of the stroller, and a removable portion 26 that is for the main support of the tablet 22 .
Reference is now made to further details of the detachable tablet holder 20 depicted in FIGS. 2-7 . FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view illustrating a portion of the holder and the associated tablet display.
In the embodiments shown, the tablet holder device is shown connected to a stroller, but it should be understood that it may be configured to not only attach to a stroller, but can also attach to any other device such as a wheelchair, a standard chair, a table, stool, desk, and the like.
Portions of the platform 28 are depicted in FIGS. 2-5 . FIGS. 4 and 5 , in particular, depict the end of the platform 28 and the connector 30 having an externally threaded base 31 (see FIG. 5 ). The connector 30 forms an essentially right angle joint connected directly to the platform 28 . FIG. 5 also illustrates a top end of the support legs 24 having an internally threaded collar 32 that is free to rotate and removably mate with a threaded section 31 of the connector 30 . The height of the support legs 24 may also be adjusted by means of a locking ring 34 that can be rotated in the direction of arrow 35 . In this regard, refer to FIG. 4 and the arrows 35 . By rotating the ring 34 in one direction or the other, the post 36 , a portion of the support legs 24 , may be moved up or down for adjusting the overall height of the support legs 24 . This height adjustment is illustrated in FIG. 4 by the arrows 37 . When the locking ring 34 is rotated in one particular direction, it can lock the post 36 in the particular desired height position.
With further reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 , the platform 28 may be affixed at the bottom of upright legs 52 by a mounting member. The mounting member may connect the upright legs 52 and the platform 28 . In one embodiment, the mounting member may comprise a suction cup 70 . In this embodiment, a frame 40 may comprise of three side pieces 42 fixed to the platform 28 , and a pivotal piece 44 . The frame 40 is for retaining a base of the suction cup 50 that supports the upright legs 52 . As shown in FIG. 2 , a second securing knob 54 may be provided at a top of the upright legs 52 . The second securing knob 54 can be tightened and loosened to allow pivoting of the plate member 56 about a one pivot axis 57 .
Turning now to FIG. 2 , a top of the plate member 56 further comprises a securing knob 60 that allows for a manipulation and adjustment of the tablet 22 in the direction of double headed arrow 62 . The securing knob 60 may be placed at a pivot point between the support frame 64 and the plate member 56 . The plate member 56 connects to a support frame 64 . The support frame 64 , as depicted in FIG. 2 , may be slid in the direction of arrow 65 so that the opening between the opposed sides of the support frame 64 can be changed to accommodate tablets of different length. The support frame 64 may also be provided with a locking lever 66 for locking a one side end 67 of the support frame 64 in a proper position for securely holding the tablet 22 in place.
FIG. 3 illustrates the pivotal piece 44 swung to an open position. This enables the base of the suction cup 50 of the detachable tablet holder 20 to be inserted into the frame 40 . To secure the base of the suction cup 50 in place, there may be provided a suction cup 70 that can be operated by means of the lock 72 to force, by a suction action, the suction cup 70 against a flat base piece 74 . The pivotal piece 44 may be opened in the direction of arrow 75 and may be locked to one of the side pieces 42 by means of the locking pin 76 .
In one embodiment, an aperture may be formed on one of the side pieces 42 . The aperture may be placed to receive the locking pin 76 , thereby securing the pivotal piece 44 from opening when received. In a further embodiment, the aperture may have an elongated shape. A bar may protrude out transversely at the end of the locking pin 76 where the bar is sized to fit through the aperture. The locking pin 76 may be rotated to align the bar with the aperture having the elongated shape, thereby allowing the locking pin 76 to escape out of the aperture. On the other hand, the pivotal piece 44 may be at a locked position, when the locking pin 76 is received by the aperture and rotated further to misalign the bar about the aperture.
As indicated previously, the detachable tablet holder 20 apparatus of the present invention includes fixed but pivotal support legs 24 . Reference may now be made to further fragmentary views of FIGS. 6 and 7 showing the base of the support legs 24 . FIG. 6 illustrates the support legs 24 in a locked upright position, while FIG. 7 shows the support legs 24 disengaged and pivoted to a stowed position wherein the support legs 24 extends substantially alongside of the stroller rails 18 . The arrow 77 in FIG. 7 illustrates the direction of pivoting. The support legs 24 include a base end 80 and a pivot arm 82 . FIGS. 6 and 7 also illustrate a pivot stop 84 . The pivot stop 84 , as illustrated in FIG. 6 , has a pad 85 that engages the base 80 and a disengageable pad 86 that is locked under the pivot arm 82 . The pivot arm 82 may be attached to the rail 80 at a pivot location 87 . The pivot stop 84 is supported in a pivotal manner at 88 . There is also included a slide ring 89 attached to the pivot arm 82 . In FIG. 6 the slide ring 89 is shown at its uppermost position with the pivot arm 82 pivoted and locked in position so that the support legs 24 are in an upright position such as the position illustrated also in FIG. 1 .
In order to pivot the support legs 24 to a downward position, reference may now be made to FIG. 7 . For that purpose, the pad 86 may be screwed down so as to disengage from the pivot arm 82 allowing the pivot arm 82 to pivot. This causes the slide ring 89 to slide along the base 80 to its lowermost position as illustrated in FIG. 7 . This pivoting action in the direction of arrow 77 stows the support legs 24 to a position directly adjacent to the stroller rail 18 . The adjustment illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 can be made with respect to both of the oppositely disposed support legs 24 which are meant to be supported in the same position depending upon whether in the operative position or in the stowed position.
FIG. 5 , in particular, illustrates the manner in which the platform 28 of the detachable tablet holder 20 may be disengaged from the support legs 24 . This disengagement is illustrated by means of the arrow 92 in FIG. 5 . The removable portion 26 may then be totally removed on both sides of the platform 28 so that access is had to the seated area of the stroller 10 . This enables the child to be seated or removed from the seated area. After the child is in place, then the platform 28 may be secured at the support legs 24 such as in the position illustrated in FIG. 4 . Adjustment and height of the platform 28 is possible by means of the locking ring 34 rotated in the direction of arrow 35 as depicted in FIG. 4 .
Turning back to FIG. 2 , an embodiment describing an assembly of the tablet 22 and the support frame 64 is shown. The tablet 22 may comprise a left edge, a right edge opposite to the left edge, a front face, and a back face opposite to the front face. In one embodiment, the support frame 64 may comprise the one side end 67 contacting the tablet 22 at an upper portion of the left edge, forming a first end structure. The one side end may be urged against the upper portion of the left edge when the support frame 64 is at a fixed position. The one side end may further contact the tablet 22 at a lower portion of the left edge, forming a second end structure, which may be urged against the one side end 67 when the support frame 64 is at the fixed position. The first end structure and the second end structure may further extend towards the right edge over the front face, forming L-shape end structures, which may prevent the tablet 22 from escaping away from the support frame 64 .
In another embodiment, the support frame 64 may comprise an arm extending from the back of the support frame 64 away from the one side end 67 and towards the right edge. The arm may contact the right edge, forming a third end structure, which may be urged against the right edge when the support frame 64 is at the fixed position. The third end structures may further extend towards the left edge over the front face, causing the plurality of third end structures to appear L-shape, which may prevent the tablet 22 from escaping away from the support frame 64 .
Turning now to FIG. 8 a view of an underside of an embodiment of a platform 128 is provided. The platform is connected to support legs 103 by 90 degree connectors 101 (or similar angled joint connector) to cross-bar 102 . Cross bar supports the platform 128 to whatever the platform is connected to. A pair of U-joints 104 may connect cross-bar 102 directly to the platform 128 , though it should be understood that any connection may be employed. Cross-bar 102 is shown here as a two part bar slideably inserted into a central tube. This central tube comprises a plurality of apertures 105 —in this case, three rows of non-aligned apertures 105 . Spring loaded pins 106 extend from each side end of the cross bars 102 . These pins 106 are configured to engage with the apertures 105 at varying positions, to allow support legs 103 to be angled and spaced to a variety of positions. As such, the support legs may be parallel or not, may be positioned at the same lateral position, or not, and further, this configuration allows platform 128 to have its angle adjusted forward or backward, depending on desired configuration. In this embodiment, the tablet holder support legs 102 may be configured to not only attach to a stroller, but can also attach to any other device such as a wheelchair, a standard chair, a table, stool, desk, and the like.
FIGS. 9 , 10 and 11 , show another embodiment of the tablet holder. This embodiment is configured to attach not only to a stroller but to any other device, including, but not limited to a wheelchair, a standard chair, a table, stool, desk, and the like. Platform 128 has cross-bar or bars 102 connected to its bottom. It should be understood that in some embodiments, the underside of platform 128 may be configured as shown in FIG. 8 . Cross bars 102 are connected at each end to joint 107 . Which may be adjustable to change the angle between cross bar 102 and support leg 103 . A connector assembly is comprised of a slideable and pivotable connector 111 . A slide bar 108 connects bar 110 to another connector 111 , creating a triangular and adjustable base for connector 109 . Slide bar 108 comprises a channel along its length with a peg movable along the channel. This peg is connected to bar 110 which is pivotally connected to leg 103 via connector 111 . As such, clamp connector 109 may be moved and rotated to any number of different positions and orientations allowing for its connection to many different surfaces or structures. It should be understood that platform 128 , in most embodiments may further comprise the tablet and connector structure as discussed above and shown in FIG. 2 , 3 , and other figures.
Further shown in FIG. 9 is the platform 128 having a generally U shaped receiving slot formed as a protrusion from the top face of the platform, having a reduced diameter through a channel, and increased diameter at the receiving section. The channel is configured to slideably receive the frame, such that the frame is removable by sliding out of the channel, and held securely in place when within the channel. This structure allows the frame and its connected structure to be removable from the platform, and securely attachable to the platform. The receiving slot further comprises two portions along its height, the first portion having a width large enough to receive the frame, and the second portion above the first portion having a width smaller than the width of the frame, such that the frame cannot pass upward through the channel, and can only slide outward on the open end of the U-shaped channel.
Having now described a limited number of embodiments of the present invention, it should now be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous other embodiments and modifications thereof are contemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.
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The present disclosure concerns a tablet holder securing a tablet to a stroller, chair, table, or the like. The tablet holder involves a multiple adjustable mechanisms to accommodate different size of the tablet and viewing angles. The tablet holder provides a secure platform for the user to interact with the tablet, and it is conveniently foldable and can be disassembled while not in use.
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This is a divisional application of prior application Ser. No. 09/336,713 filed Jun. 21, 1999 now abandoned.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to novel organometallic luminescent materials, and, more particularly, to a novel organometallic luminescent material having the capability of emitting a wide range of colors including blue and green light, and high thermal stability, and an organic luminescent device containing same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventional organometallic luminescent compounds used in organic electroluminescent devices are mostly complexes of di- or trivalent metals such as zinc and aluminium.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,988 describes 8-hydroxyquinoline complexes of zinc, aluminium and magnesium as organic luminescent materials; U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,390 discloses magnesium, zinc and cadmium complexes of 2-(o-hydroxyphenylbenzoxazole); Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 07-133483 reports luminescent complexes of 2-(o-hydroxyphenylbenzoxazole) with divalent metals such as magnesium and copper; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,853, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 06-322362, 08-143548 and 10-072580 disclose divalent or trivalent metal complexes of 10-hydroxybenzo[10]quinoline.
The above organometallic luminescent compounds containing a divalent or trivalent metal have relatively loosely bound ligands and an extended system of conjugation. As a result, they are relatively unstable and emit green or red light but not a blue light.
Therefore, there has existed a need to develop an organometallic luminescent material having improved stability and light emission characteristics such as the capability of emitting a blue light.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel organometallic luminescent material having the stability and desired emission characteristics, and an organic luminescent device containing same.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an organometallic luminescent material selected from the group consisting of the compounds of formulae (I) to (V).
wherein,
M 1 and M 4 are each independently a monovalent or tetravalent metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Zr, Si, Ti, Sn, Cs, Fr, Rb, Hf, Pr, Pa, Ge, Pb, Tm and Md;
M 2 is a mono-, di-, tri- or tetravalent metal selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Ca, Be, Ga, Zn, Cd, Al, Cs, Fr, Rb, Mg, Mn, Ti, Cu, Zr, Si, Hf, Pr, Pa, Ge, Sn, Pb, Tm and Md;
M 3 is selected from the group consisting of Li + , Na + , K + , Cs + , Fr + , Rb + , Ca 2+ , Be 2+ , Ga 3+ , Zn 2+ , Al 3+ , Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ , Ti 2+ and Cu 2+ ;
R is a hydrogen or C 1-10 alkyl;
X and Y, which can be the same or different, are independently a hydrogen, Cl, F, I, Br or SO 3 H;
A is a hydrogen, F, Cl, Br or I;
B is O, S, Se or Te;
D is O or S; and
n is an integer ranging from 1 to 4.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description thereof, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIGS. 1 a , 1 b and 1 c illustrate schematic diagrams of organic electroluminescent devices having an organic layer in the form of a single layer, a double layer or a multilayer, respectively;
FIG. 2 shows the light emission spectrum of the organometallic luminescent material of Example 1 of the present invention;
FIG. 3 demonstrates variations of the current density(A/m 2 )( 3-1 ) and brightness(cd/m 2 )( 3-2 ) of the electroluminescent device of Example 2 of the present invention as a function of applied voltage(V);
FIGS. 4 a and 4 b depict changes in the luminous efficiency(lm/W) of the electroluminescent device of Example 2 with current density(A/m 2 ) and brightness(cd/m 2 ), respectively; and
FIG. 5 exhibits the electroluminous spectra of the electroluminescent device of Example 2 of the present invention at various applied voltages(V).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The organometallic luminescent materials of the present invention include 8-hydroxyquinoline-metal complexes of formula(I), 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate-metal complexes of formula(II), benzoxazole-or benzthiazole-metal complexes of formula(III), benzotriazole-metal complexes of formula(IV), and benzoquinoline-metal complexes of formula(V).
Among the organometallic luminescent materials of the present invention, preferred are those listed in Table I.
TABLE I
Compound
γ max
Formula
No.
M*
M 3
X
Y
A
B
D
n
R
(nm)
color
(I)
1
Li
—
H
H
—
—
—
1
H
495
bluish
green
2
Li
—
H
H
—
—
—
1
CH 3
490
bluish
green
3
Zr
—
H
H
—
—
—
4
H
535
light
green
4
Zr
—
H
H
—
—
—
4
CH 3
532
light
green
(II)
5
Li
Li
—
—
H
—
—
1
H
460
blue
6
Li
Na
—
—
H
—
—
1
H
462
blue
7
Na
Li
—
—
H
—
—
1
H
460
blue
8
Na
Na
—
—
H
—
—
1
H
463
blue
9
Zn
Li
—
—
H
—
—
2
H
461
blue
10
Zn
Na
—
—
H
—
—
2
H
464
blue
11
Al
Li
—
—
H
—
—
3
H
462
blue
12
Al
Na
—
—
H
—
—
3
H
465
blue
(III)
13
Li
—
—
—
—
O
O
1
H
450
blue
14
Na
—
—
—
—
—
O
1
H
455
blue
(IV)
15
Li
—
—
—
—
—
O
1
H
508
green
16
Na
—
—
—
—
—
O
1
H
512
green
(V)
17
Li
—
—
—
—
—
O
1
H
515
green
18
Na
—
—
—
—
—
O
1
H
650
red
Note:
M* is M 1 , M 2 or M 4 .
The organometallic luminescent compound of the present invention may be prepared by reacting an organic compound that can serve as a ligand with an appropriate metal compound in a suitable solvent.
Exemplary solvents which can be used in the present invention include water, ethanol, methanol, propanol and the like.
Representative metal compounds that can be used to prepare the organometallic luminescent compounds of the present invention are LiOH, NaOH, KOH, NaCl, KCl, LiCl, ZrCl 4 , SnCl 4 , TiCl 4 , SiCl 4 , BeCl 2 , MgCl 2 , AlCl 3 , CaCl 2 , ZnCl 2 and the like.
Representative organic compounds which can be used as ligands in the present invention include 2-(2-hydroxy-phenyl)benzoxazole, 8-hydroxyquinoline, 8-hydroxy-quinoline-5-sulfonic acid, 2-(2-benzo-triazolyl)-p-cresol, 10-hydroxybenzoquinoline and the like.
The reaction of the organic and metal compounds to prepare the organometallic luminescent compound of the present invention may be carried out in a stoichiometric molar ratio which depends on n at a temperature ranging from 25 to 100° C. for 1 to 24 hours.
In the preparation of 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate metal derivative of formula(II), 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid and a suitable M 2 compound are reacted to give 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate derivatives of formula (VI). Subsequently, the compound of formula(VI) is reacted with a compound of M 3 to obtain the 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate derivative of formula (II).
Alternatively, the 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate metal derivative of formula(II) may be prepared by a dry process. That is, a compound of formula (VI) and a compound of formula(VII) may be deposited separately on a substrate and an in-situ reaction thereof may be incurred, e.g., at 150 to 450° C. under a reduced pressure(about 10 −6 torr). The metallation of the sulfonic acid group in accordance with the in-situ reaction of scheme 1 accompanies a blue shift in the emitted light. For example, the maximum wavelength of the emitting light of the compound of formula(VI) is 510 nm while that of the compound of formula(II) is 460 nm.
wherein, M 2 , M 3 and n have the same meanings as defined above, and Z is a halogen atom or hydroxy group.
The organometallic complex of the present invention can be used as a luminescent doping material as well. For example, when it is doped in an amount of about 2% in a blue light emitting luminescent layer, the emitting light changes from blue to light blue or green. Accordingly, an efficient electroluminescent device capable of emitting a tuned color can be prepared.
The organic luminescent device of the present invention has a structure comprising an organic thin layer in the form of a single layer, or in the form of a double layer and multilayer containing a hole transporting layer and/or an electron transporting layer. In this case, the organometallic luminescent material of the present invention can be used alone, or in combination with a polymer or an inorganic material. Further, it may be doped in a polymer to give a fluorescent thin layer.
An example of the electroluminescent device of the present invention contains a single organic layer as shown in FIG. 1 a . The device consists of (i) a glass substrate, (ii) a transparent ITO(indium tin oxides) anode electrode layer, (iii) an organic luminescent layer containing an organometallic luminescent material of the present invention, and (iv) a metal cathode electrode layer. Another example of the inventive device has an additional hole transporting layer(iii-1) as shown in FIG. 1 b , or a multilayered structure shown in FIG. 1C wherein (iii-2) denotes an additional electron transporting layer. The electroluminescent device of the present invention may be operated with direct or alternative current, while the direct current is preferred.
The organic luminescent layer of the present invention may be formed by a conventional method including a wet process such as spin coating, and a dry process such as a vapor deposition, vacuum thermal deposition, sputtering and electron beam deposition method.
The novel organometallic luminescent compound of the present invention is capable of emitting blue, green or red light. The inventive complexes containing monovalent metals in particular are excellent blue light emitting luminescent materials which are stable even at a high temperature.
The present invention is further described and illustrated in Examples, which are, however, not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation Compound 13
2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole and lithium oxide were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and the solvent and moisture were removed under a reduced pressure to give 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole-lithium complex of formula(VIII) (compound 13).
FIG. 2 shows light emission spectrum of the complex thus obtained.
EXAMPLE 2
Indium-tin-oxide(ITO) was coated on a glass substrate to form a transparent anode layer. The coated substrate was subjected to photolithography and the patterned ITO glass was cleaned with a solution containing a non-phosphorous detergent, acetone and ethanol.
A mixture of polyetherimide of formula(IX) and triphenyldiamine of formula(X) in a weight ratio of 50:50 were dissolved in chloroform to a concentration of 0.5 wt %, and the resulting mixture was spin-coated on the ITO glass to form a hole transporting layer.
wherein m is an integer of two or higher.
2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole-lithium complex obtained in Example 1 was vapor deposited as a luminescent material on the hole transporting layer to a thickness of 20 nm to form an organic luminescent layer, and then, aluminium was vapor deposited to a thickness of 500nm to form a cathode layer. Subsequently, the device was packaged to obtain an electroluminescent device.
The luminescence characteristics of the electroluminescent device are shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 .
FIG. 3 illustrates the variation of the current density(A/m 2 ) ( 3-1 ) and brightness(cd/m 2 ) of the electroluminescent device thus obtained as a function of the applied voltage(v). The current injection starts at about 6 V, turn on voltage is about 7 to 8 V, and the brightness is 500 cd/m 2 at 11 V.
FIGS. 4 a and 4 b depict the changes in the luminous efficiency(lm/W) of the above electroluminescent device with current density(A/m 2 ) and brightness(cd/m 2 ), respectively. The luminous efficiency is steady at 1.2 lm/W at a current density of 200 A/m 2 and beyond.
FIG. 5 exhibits electroluminous spectra of the above electroluminescent device at various applied voltages of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 V. The main peak appears at 456 nm and shoulder peaks are observed at 430 and 487 nm. The emitted light is blue.
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation of Compounds 5 and 6
8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid and lithium hydroxide were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and dissolved in an excess amount of water. Subsequently, water was removed under a reduced pressure to obtain lithium complex of 8-hydroxyquinoline-(5-sulfonic acid)-(LiQSA).
LiQSA thus obtained and LiOH(or NaOH) were added to 100 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was reacted at a room temperature for 1 hour. Precipitates were separated from the reaction mixture and dried for 24 hours under a reduced pressure to obtain a lithium complex of lithium 8-hydroxyquinolinato-5-sulfonate (LiQSLi, Compound 5), or a lithium complex of sodium 8-hydroxyquinolinato-5-sulfonate (LiQSNa, Compound 6), respectively.
The maximum wavelength and emitted colors of the complexes thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 4
Preparation of Compounds 7 and 8
8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid and sodium hydroxide were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and dissolved in an excess amount of water. Subsequently, water was removed under a reduced pressure to obtain 8-hydroxyquinolin-(5-sulfonic acid) sodium complex (NaQSA).
NaQSA thus obtained and LiOH(or NaOH) were added to 100 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was reacted at a room temperature for 1 hour. Precipitates were separated from the reaction mixture and dried for 24 hours under a reduced pressure to obtain a sodium complex of lithium 8-hydroxyquinolinato-5-sulfonate (NaQSLi, Compound 7) or a sodium complex of sodium 8-hydroxyquinolinato-5-sulfonate (NaQSNa, Compound 8).
The maximum wavelengths and emitted colors of the complexes thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 5
Preparation of Compounds 9 and 10
8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid and zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ) were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 2:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and dissolved in an excess amount of water. Subsequently, water and HCl were removed under a reduced pressure to give a zinc complex of bis(8-hydroxyquinolinato-5-sulfonic acid) (Zn(QSA) 2 ).
Zn(QSA) 2 thus obtained and LiOH(or NaOH) were added to 100 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:2 and the mixture was reacted at a room temperature for 1 hour. Precipitates were separated from the reaction mixture and dried for 24 hours under a reduced pressure to obtain a zinc complex of lithium bis(8-hydroxyquinolinato-(5-sulfonate) (Zn(QSLi) 2 , Compound 9), or a zinc complex of sodium bis(8-hydroxyquinolin-5-sulfonate) (Zn(QSNa) 2 , Compound 10).
The maximum wavelengths and emitted colors of the complexes thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 6
Preparation of Compounds 11 and 12
8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid and AlCl 3 were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 3:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and dissolved in an excess amount of water. Subsequently, water and HCl were removed under a reduced pressure to obtain aluminium tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato-5-sulfonic acid) (Al(QSA) 3 ).
Al(QSA) 3 thus obtained and LiOH (or NaOH) were added to 100 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:3 and the mixture was reacted at a room temperature for 1 hour. Precipitates were separated from the reaction mixture and dried for 24 hours under a reduced pressure to obtain an aluminium complex of lithium tris(8-hydroxyquinolin-(5-sulfonate) (Al(QSLi) 3, Compound 11), or an aluminium complex of sodium tris(8-hydroxyquinolin -5-sulfonate) complex (Zn(QSNa) 3 ).
The maximum wavelengths and emitted colors of the complexes thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 7
Preparation of Compound 14
2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole and NaOH were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and the solvent and moisture were removed under a reduced pressure to obtain 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzoxazole-sodium complex.
The maximum wavelength and emitted color of the complex thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 8
Preparation of Compounds 15 and 16
2-(2-hydroxybenzotriazole)-p-cresol and LiOH(or NaOH) were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and the solvent and moisture were removed under a reduced pressure to give 2-(2-hydroxybenzotriazole)-p-cresol-lithium complex (LiBTZC, Compound 15), or 2-(2-hydroxybenzotriazole)-p-cresol-sodium complex(NaBTZC, Compound 16).
The maximum wavelengths and emitted colors of the complexes thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 9
Preparation of Compounds 17 and 18
10-hydroxyquinoline and LiOH (or NaOH) were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 1:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and the solvent and moisture were removed under a reduced pressure to obtain 10-hydroxyquinoline-lithium complex(LiBQ, Compound 17), or 10-hydroxyquinoline-sodium complex(NaBQ, Compound 18).
The maximum wavelengths and emitted colors of the complexes thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
EXAMPLE 10
Preparation of Compound 3
8-hydroxyquinoline and ZrCl 4 were added to 250 ml of ethanol in a molar ratio of 4:1 and the mixture was refluxed at 78° C. for 4 hours. The reaction mixture was filtered and the solvent, HCl and moisture were removed under a reduced pressure to obtain tetra(8-hydroxyquiloninato)-zirconium complex (ZrQ 4 , Compound 3).
The maximum wavelength and emitted color of the complex thus obtained were measured and shown in Table I.
As can be seen from the above result, the organometallic luminescent material of the present invention exhibits blue, green or red light emission. Therefore, an electroluminescent device containing the same is capable of exhibiting a full range of colors in the visible region with a high efficiency.
While the embodiments of the subject invention have been described and illustrated, it is obvious that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the present invention which should be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
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An organometallic luminescent material selected from the group consisting of the compounds of formulae (I) to (V) of the present invention can emit blue, green and red lights.
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This application is a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 07/831,240, filed Feb. 3, 1992, now abandoned.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is in the field of plant breeding, specifically hybrid corn breeding.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The goal of plant breeding is to combine in a single variety/hybrid various desirable traits of the parental lines. For field crops, these traits may include resistance to diseases and insects, tolerance to heat and drought, reducing the time to crop maturity, greater yield, and better agronomic quality. With mechanical harvesting of many crops, uniformity of plant characteristics such as germination and stand establishment, growth rate, maturity, and fruit size, is important.
Field crops are bred through techniques that take advantage of the plant's method of pollination. A plant is self-pollinating if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant. A plant is cross-pollinated if the pollen comes from a flower on a different plant.
Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type for many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny. A cross between two homozygous lines produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that may be heterozygous for many gene loci. A cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of gene loci will produce a population of hybrid plants that differ genetically and will not be uniform.
Corn plants (Zea mays L.) can be bred by both self-pollination and cross-pollination techniques. Corn has male flowers, located on the tassel, and female flowers, located on the ear, on the same plant. Natural pollination occurs in corn when wind blows pollen from the tassels to the silks that protrude from the tops of the incipient ears.
The development of corn hybrids requires the development of homozygous inbred lines, the crossing of these lines, and the evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used to develop inbred lines from populations. Breeding programs combine desirable traits from two or more inbred lines or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from which new inbred lines are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new inbreds are crossed with other inbred lines and the hybrids from these crosses are evaluated to determine which have commercial potential.
Pedigree breeding starts with the crossing of two genotypes, each of which may have one or more desirable characteristics that is lacking in the other or which complement the other. If the two original parents do not provide all of the desired characteristics, other sources can be included in the breeding population. In the pedigree method, superior plants are selfed and selected in successive generations. In the succeeding generations the heterozygous condition gives way to homogeneous lines as a result of self-pollination and selection. Typically in the pedigree method of breeding five or more generations of selfing and selection is practiced. F 1 →F 2 ; F 2 →F 3 ; F 3 →F 4 ; F 4 →F 5 , etc.
A hybrid corn variety is the cross of two inbred lines, each of which may have one or more desirable characteristics lacked by the other or which complement the other. The hybrid progeny of the first generation is designated F 1 . In the development of hybrids only the F 1 hybrid plants are sought. The F 1 hybrid is more vigorous than its inbred parents. This hybrid vigor, or heterosis, can be manifested in many ways, including increased vegetative growth and increased yield.
The development of a hybrid corn variety involves three steps: (1) the selection of superior plants from various germplasm pools; (2) the selfing of the superior plants for several generations to produce a series of inbred lines, which although different from each other, breed true and are highly uniform; and (3) crossing the selected inbred lines with unrelated inbred lines to produce the hybrid progeny (F 1 ). During the inbreeding process the vigor of the lines decreases. Vigor is restored when two unrelated inbred lines are crossed to produce the hybrid progeny (F 1 ). An important consequence of the homozygosity and homogeneity of the inbred lines is that the hybrid between any two inbreds will always be the same. Once the inbreds that give the best hybrid have been identified, the hybrid seed can be reproduced indefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the inbred parents is maintained.
A single cross hybrid is produced when two inbred lines are crossed to produce the F 1 progeny. A double cross hybrid, is produced from four inbred lines crossed in pairs (A×B and C×D) and then the two F 1 hybrids are crossed again (A×B)×(C×D). Much of the hybrid vigor exhibited by F 1 hybrids is lost in the next generation (F 2 ). Consequently, seed from hybrid varieties is not used for planting stock.
Hybrid corn seed can be produced by manual detasseling. Alternate strips of two inbred varieties of corn are planted in a field, and the pollen-bearing tassels are removed from one of the inbreds (female). Providing that there is sufficient isolation from sources of foreign corn pollen, the ears of the detasseled inbred will be fertilized only from pollen from the other inbred (male), and the resulting seed is therefore hybrid and will form hybrid plants.
The laborious detasseling process can be avoided by using cytoplasmic male-sterile (CMS) inbreds. Plants of a CMS inbred are fertilized with pollen from another inbred that is not male-sterile. Pollen from the second inbred can contribute genes that make the hybrid plants male-fertile. Usually seed from detasseled normal corn and CMS produced seed of the same hybrid is blended to insure that adequate pollen loads are available for fertilization when the hybrid plants are grown.
Corn is an important and valuable field crop. Thus, a continuing goal of plant breeding is to develop stable high yielding corn hybrids that are agronomically sound. The reasons for this goal are obvious: to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and to supply food for both animals and humans.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, there is provided a hybrid corn plant, designated as 3279, produced by crossing two Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred corn lines. This invention thus relates to the hybrid seed 3279, the hybrid plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and trivial modifications of hybrid 3279. This hybrid is characterized by having excellent stress tolerance with high dependable yield. 3279 has good grain appearance and test weight with very good roots and adequate stalks. It is widely adapted across the Central Corn Belt.
DEFINITIONS
In the description and examples that follow, a number of terms are used herein. In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of the specification and claims, including the scope to be given such terms, the following definitions are provided:
ABS=ABSOLUTE MEASUREMENT. The % mean is the percentage of mean for the experiments in which the hybrid was grown.
ADVANTAGE=The advantage of the hybrid to be patented compared to another hybrid for yield (bushels per acre), moisture (drier is an advantage), income, population, stand (absence of stalk lodging is an advantage), roots (absence of root lodging is an advantage), and test weight, respectively, in strip tests.
BAR PLT=BARREN PLANTS. The percent of plants per plot that were not barren (lack ears).
B/STK=BRITTLE STALKS RATING. A 1-9 rating where a 1, 5, and 9 represent serious, average, and little or no potential for brittle stalk breakage.
BRT STK=BRITTLE STALKS. A measure of the stalk breakage near the time of pollination, and an indication of whether a hybrid would snap or break near the time of flowering under severe winds. Data are presented as percentage of plants that did not snap.
BU ACR=YIELD (BUSHELS/ACRE). Actual yield of the grain at harvest adjusted to 15.5% moisture.
D/D=DRYDOWN. This represents the relative rate at which a hybrid will reach acceptable harvest moisture compared to other hybrids on a 1-9 rating scale. A high score indicates a hybrid that dries relatively fast while a low score indicates a hybrid that dries slowly.
D/E=DROPPED EARS RATING. This is a 1-9 rating where a 1, 5, and 9 represent serious, average, and little or no ear droppage potential, respectively.
DRP EAR=DROPPED EARS. This is a measure of the number of dropped ears per plot and represents the percentage of plants that did not drop ears prior to harvest.
D/T=DROUGHT TOLERANCE. This represents a 1-9 rating for drought tolerance, and is based on data obtained under stress conditions. A high score indicates good drought tolerance and a low score indicates poor drought tolerance.
E/HT=EAR HEIGHT RATING. A 1-9 rating with 1, 5, and 9 representing a very low, average, and very high ear placement, respectively.
EAR HT=EAR HEIGHT. The ear height is a measure from the ground to the highest placed developed ear node attachment and is measured in inches.
EST CNT=EARLY STAND COUNT. This is a measure of the stand establishment in the spring and represents the number of plants that emerge on a per plot basis for the hybrid.
GDU BL=GDU TO BLACKLAYER. This is the number of growing degree units required for the hybrid to reach blacklayer from the time that it was planted. Growing degree units are calculated by the Barger Method, where the heat units for a 24-hour period are: ##EQU1##
The highest maximum used is 86° F. and the lowest minimum used is 50° F. For each inbred or hybrid it takes a certain number of GDUs to reach various stages of plant development.
GDU SHD=GDU TO SHED. The number of growing degree units (GDUs) or heat units required for a hybrid to have approximately 50 percent of the plants shedding pollen and is measured from the time of planting.
GDU SLK=GDU TO SILK. The number of growing degree units required for a hybrid to have approximately 50 percent of the plants with silk emergence from time of planting.
GRN APP=G/A=GRAIN APPEARANCE. This is a 1 to 9 rating for the general quality of the shelled grain as it is harvested based on such factors as the color of the harvested grain, any mold on the grain, and any cracked grain. High scores indicate good grain quality and low scores indicate poor grain quality.
H/POP=YIELD AT HIGH DENSITY. Yield ability at relatively high plant densities on a 1-9 relative rating system with a higher number indicating the hybrid responds well to high plant densities for yield relative to other hybrids. A 1, 5, and 9 would represent very poor, average, and very good yield response, respectively, to increased plant density.
INCOME/ACRE: Relative income per acre assuming drying costs of two cents per point above 15.5 percent harvest moisture and market price of $2.25 per bushel.
L/POP=YIELD AT LOW DENSITY. Yield ability at relatively low plant densities on a 1-9 relative system with a higher number indicating the hybrid responds well to low plant densities for yield relative to other hybrids. A 1, 5, and 9 would represent very poor, average, and very good yield response, respectively, to low plant density.
MST=MOIST=HARVEST MOISTURE. Harvest moisture is the actual percentage moisture of the grain at harvest.
MST RM=MOISTURE RM. This represents the Comparative Relative Maturity Rating (CRM) for the hybrid and is based on the harvest moisture of the grain relative to a standard set of checks of previously determined Comparative RM rating. Linear regression analysis is used to computer this rating.
P/HT=PLANT HEIGHT RATING. This is a 1-9 rating with a 1, 5, and 9 representing a very short, average, and very tall hybrid, respectively.
PLT HT=PLANT HEIGHT. This is a measure of the height of the plant from the ground to the tip of the tassel in inches.
POP K/ACRE: Plants per 0.001 acre.
PERCENT WINS: For yield, moisture, income, populations, stand, roots, and test weight, it would be the percentage of comparisons where the hybrid to be patented yielded more, had lower harvest moisture percentage, had greater income per acre, had better stalks, had better roots, and had higher test weight, respectively, in strip tests.
R/L=ROOT LODGING RATING. A 1-9 rating where a higher score indicates less root lodging potential (1 is very poor, 5 is intermediate, and 9 is very good, respectively, for resistance to root lodging).
ROOT (%): Percentage of plants that did not root lodge (lean greater than 30 degrees from vertical) taken on strip test plots.
RT LDG=ROOT LODGING. Root lodging is the percentage of plants that do not root lodge; plants that lean from the vertical axis at an approximately 30° angle or greater would be counted as root lodged.
S/L=STALK LODGING RATING. This is a 1-9 rating where a higher score indicates less stalk lodging potential (1 is very poor, 5 is intermediate, and 9 is very good, respectively, for resistance to stalk lodging).
SDG VGR=S/VIG=SEEDLING VIGOR. This is the visual rating (1 to 9) of the amount of vegetative growth after emergence at the seedling stage (approximately five leaves). A higher score indicates better vigor and a low score indicates poorer vigor.
STA GRN=STGR=STAY GREEN. Stay green is the measure of plant health near the time of black layer formation (physiological maturity) using a 1-9 visual rating. A high score indicates better late-season plant health and a low score indicates poor plant health.
STAND (%): Percentage of plants that did not break (lodge) below the ear taken on strip test plots.
STK LDG=STALK LODGING. This is the percentage of plants that did not stalk lodge (stalk breakage) as measured by either natural lodging or pushing the stalks and determining the percentage of plants that break below the ear.
T/WT=TEST WEIGHT RATING. This is a 1-9 relative rating with a 1, 5, and 9 indicating very low, average, and very high test weight, respectively.
TST WTA=TEST WEIGHT. The measure of the weight of the grain in pounds for a given volume (bushel) adjusted for percent moisture.
YLD=YIELD FOR MATURITY. This represents a 1-9 rating for a hybrid's yield potential. 1, 5, and 9 would represent very poor, average, and very high yield potential, respectively, relative to other hybrids of a similar maturity.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 is a single cross, yellow endosperm, dent corn hybrid with superior yield in its maturity. It is well suited for average and stress environments. 3279 has good grain appearance and test weight. It has very good roots with adequate stalks. It has excellent tolerance to Goss' wilt and head smut. The hybrid can have some ear droppage and has poor tolerance to Northern leaf blight and Anthracnose root rot.
This hybrid has the following characteristics based on the descriptive data collected primarily at Johnston, Iowa.
__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY DESCRIPTION INFORMATIONHYBRID = PIONEER BRAND 3279Type: Dent Region Best Adapted: Central Corn Belt__________________________________________________________________________A. Maturity: Minnesota Relative Maturity Rating (harvest moisture): 123 GDU's to Physiological Maturity (black layer): 2900 GDU's to 50% Silk: 1429B. Plant Characteristics: Plant height (to tassel tip): 271 cm Length of top ear internode: 14 cm Number of ears per stalk: Single Ear height (to base of top ear): 84 cm Number of tillers: None Cytoplasm type: NormalC. Leaf: Color: Dark Green (B14) Angle from Stalk: <30 degrees Marginal Waves: Few (WF9) Number of Leaves (mature plants): 19 Sheath Pubescence: Light (W22) Longitudinal Creases: Few (OH56A) Length (Ear node leaf): 110 cm Width (widest point, ear node leaf): 11 cmD. Tassel: Number lateral branches: 13 Branch Angle from central spike: >45 degrees Pollen Shed: Heavy (KY21) Peduncle Length (top leaf to basal branches): 22 cm Anther Color: Yellow Glume Color: GreenE. Ear (Husked Ear Data Except When Stated Otherwise): Length: 19 cm Weight: 273 gm Mid-point Diameter: 51 mm Silk Color: Yellow Husk Extension (Harvest stage): Medium (Barely covering ear) Husk Leaf: Long (>15 cm) Taper of Ear: Slight Position of Shank (dry husks): upright Kernel Rows: Straight, Distinct Number = 20 Husk Color (fresh): Light Green Husk Color (dry): Buff Shank Length: 13 cm Shank (No. of internodes): 8F. Kernel (Dried): Size (from ear mid-point) Length: 13 mm Width: 7 mm Thick: 5 mm Shape Grade (% rounds): <20 Pericarp Color: Colorless Aleurone Color: Homozygous Yellow Endosperm Color: Yellow Endosperm Type: Normal Starch Gm Wt/100 Seeds (unsized): 33 gmG. Cob: Diameter at mid-point: 28 mm Strength: Strong Color: RedH. Diseases: Corn Lethal Necrosis (MCMV = Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus Resistant and MDMV = Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus): Maize Dwarf Mosaic Complex (MDMV & MCDV = Maize Dwarf Susceptible Virus): Anthracnose Stalk Rot (C. graminicola): Intermediate S. Leaf Blight (B. maydis): Intermediate N. Leaf Blight (E. turcicum): Intermediate Gray Leaf Spot (C. zeae): Intermediate Goss's Wilt (C. nebraskense): Highly Resistant Fusarium Ear Mold (F. moniliforme): ResistantI. Insects: European Corn Borer-1 Leaf Damage (Pre-flowering): Intermediate European Corn Borer-2 (Post-flowering): Susceptible The above descriptions are based on a scale of 1-9, 1 being highly susceptible, 9 being highly resistant. S (Susceptible): A score of 1-3. I (Intermediate): A score of 4-5. R (Resistant): A score of 6-7. H (Highly Resistant): a score of 8-9. Highly resistant does not imply the hybrid is immune.J. Variety Most Closely Resembling: Character Hybrid Maturity Pioneer Brand 3245 Usage Pioneer Brand 3245__________________________________________________________________________
In interpreting the foregoing color designations, reference may be had to the Munsell Glossy Book of Color, a standard color reference.
Items B, C, D, E, F, and G are based on a maximum of two reps of data primarily from Johnston, Iowa.
This invention includes the hybrid corn seed of 3279, the hybrid corn plant produced from the hybrid corn seed, and variants, mutants, and modifications of 3279. This invention also relates to the use of 3279 in producing three-way and double cross hybrids.
As used herein, the term "plant" includes plant cells, plant protoplasts, plant cell or tissue culture from which corn plants can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such as flowers, kernels, ears, cobs, leaves, husks, stalks and the like.
Tissue culture of corn is described in European Patent Application, publication number 160,390, incorporated herein by reference. Corn tissue culture procedures are also described in Green and Rhodes, "Plant Regeneration in Tissue Culture of Maize," Maize for Biological Research, (Plant Molecular Biology Association, Charlottesville, Va. 1982) at 367-372 and in Duncan, et al., "The Production of Callus Capable of Plant Regeneration from Immature Embryos of Numerous Zea Mays Genotypes,", 165 Planta 322-332 (1985).
Duncan, Williams, Zehr, and Widholm, Planta, (1985) 165:322-332 reflects that 97% of the plants cultured which produced callus were capable of plant regeneration. Subsequent experiments with both inbreds and hybrids produced 91% regenerable callus which produced plants. In a further study in 1988, Songstad, Duncan & Widholm in Plant Cell Reports (1988), 7:262-265 reports several media additions which enhance regenerability of callus of two inbred lines. Other published reports also indicated that "nontraditional" tissues are capable of producing somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration. K. P. Rao, et al., Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter, 60:64-65 (1986), refers to somatic embryogenesis from glume callus cultures and B. V. Conger, et al., Plant Cell Reports, 6:345-347 (1987) indicates somatic embryogenesis from the tissue cultures of maize leaf segments. Thus, it is clear from the literature that the state of the art is such that these methods of obtaining plants are, and were, "conventional" in the sense that they are routinely used and have a very high rate of success.
USES OF CORN
Corn is used as human food, livestock feed, and as raw material in industry. The food uses of corn, in addition to human consumption of corn kernels, include both products of dry- and wet-milling industries. The principal products of corn dry milling are grits, meal and flour. The corn wet-milling industry can provide starch, syrups, and dextrose for food use. Corn oil is recovered from corn germ, which is a by-product of both dry- and wet-milling industries.
Corn is also used extensively as livestock feed primarily to beef cattle, dairy cattle, hogs, and poultry.
Industrial uses of corn are mainly from corn starch in the wet-milling industry and corn flour in the dry-milling industry. The industrial applications of corn starch and flour are based on functional properties, such as viscosity, film formation, adhesive properties, and ability to suspend particles. Corn starch and flour have application in the paper and textile industries. Other industrial uses include applications in adhesives, building materials, foundry binders, laundry starches, explosives, oil-well muds, and other mining applications.
Plant parts other than the grain of corn are also used in industry. Stalks and husks are made into paper and wallboard and cobs are used for fuel, to make charcoal.
The seed of 3279, the hybrid corn plant produced from the seed, and various parts of the hybrid corn plant can be utilized for human food, livestock feed, and as a raw material in industry.
The plant of 3279 can be produced from seed of 3279, which is available to the public through Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Des Moines, Iowa. Alternatively, multiple plants can be produced from a single seed by germinating the seed to form a plant, culturing nodes from the plant as they form, and regenerating plants from the cultures, ad infinitum.
EXAMPLE 1
Research Comparisons for Pioneer Hybrid 3279
Comparisons of the characteristics for Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 were made against Pioneer Brand Hybrids 3189, 3180, 3162, and 3140; Dekalb Brand Hybrid DK656; Funk's Brand Hybrid G4673B; and NC+ Brand Hybrid NC6414. These hybrids are grown in the Central and Western Corn Belt and have similar maturity. Table 1A compares 3279 to Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3189. The results show 3279 has higher yield, lower grain harvest moisture and similar test weight compared to 3189. 3279 has more barren plants than 3189. 3279 is taller with higher ear placement and flowers (GDU Shed and GDU Silk) earlier than 3189. 3279 has better seedling vigor and a higher early stand count than 3189. 3279 has better grain appearance, but poorer stay green than 3189. 3279 is more susceptible to stalk lodging, but has better resistance to root lodging and fewer brittle stalks than 3189.
Table 1B shows that Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 has higher yield, lower grain harvest moisture, and higher test weight than Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3180. 3279 and 3180 have similar plant height, but 3279 has a lower ear placement. 3279 flowers (GDU Shed and GDU Silk) earlier than 3180. 3279 has better grain appearance than 3180. 3279 has better stalk and root lodging resistance and fewer brittle stalks than 3180.
Table 1C compares Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 to Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3162. The hybrids yield similarly but 3279 has lower grain harvest moisture and test weight. 3279 has fewer barren plants, is taller, and has higher ear placement than 3162. 3279 has better stay green and more resistance to stalk lodging, but has more susceptibility to root lodging and more brittle stalks than 3162.
Table 1D compares Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 to Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3140. 3279 has higher yield, lower grain harvest moisture, and higher test weight than 3140. 3279 is a shorter hybrid with lower ear placement compared to 3140. 3279 flowers (GDU Shed and GDU Silk) earlier than 3140. 3279 has better grain appearance, poorer stay green, less resistance to stalk lodging and more resistance to root lodging than 3140.
In Table 1E, a comparison of Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 and Dekalb Brand Hybrid DK656, the results show 3279 has higher yield, lower grain harvest moisture, and higher test weight. The hybids have similar plant height, but 3279 has lower ear placement. 3279 has significantly better seedling vigor. 3279 flowers (GDU Shed and GDU Silk) earlier than DK656. 3279 has better grain appearance and stay green, more resistance to stalk and root lodging, and more brittle stalks than DK656.
Table 1F shows Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 has lower yield and grain harvest moisture and slightly higher test weight than Funk's Brand Hybrid G4673B. 3279 has fewer barren plants than G4673B. 3279 has better seedling vigor than G4673B. 3279 has poorer stay green but better root lodging resistance than G4673B.
Table 1G compares Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 to NC+ Brand Hybrid NC6414. The results show 3279 has lower yield and grain harvest moisture, but higher test weight than NC6414. 3279 is a shorter hybrid with lower ear placement and flowers (GDU Shed and GDU Silk) earlier than NC6414. 3279 has better seedling vigor than NC6414. 3279 has poorer stay green, less resistance to stalk lodging, more resistance to root lodging, and fewer brittle stalks than NC6414.
TABLE 1A__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 - 3279VARIETY #2 - 3189__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU BAR PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST PLT HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 163.3 106 19.6 88.7 110.3 45.7 6.3 58.2 99.4 2 153.5 100 20.7 92.7 105.3 43.0 4.9 57.7 99.8 LOCS 165 165 165 4 89 89 72 122 65 REPS 289 289 289 9 146 146 129 203 108 DIFF 9.7 6 1.1 3.9 5.1 2.7 1.5 0.6 0.4 PROB .000# .000# .000# .594 .000# .000# .000# .194 .023+__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT BRT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDG STKDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1424 1455 59.0 7.6 5.8 94.6 97.7 97.7 2 1430 1481 59.0 7.1 6.9 96.3 96.5 93.5 LOCS 51 15 162 91 108 153 48 8 REPS 80 19 283 149 183 270 75 17 DIFF 6 26 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.8 1.2 4.2 PROB .096* .049+ .930 .000# .000# .000# .315 .403__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
TABLE 1B__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 - 3279VARIETY #2 - 3180__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU BAR PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST PLT HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 159.2 105 19.8 96.9 106.8 44.5 6.2 58.4 99.4 2 153.4 101 20.3 97.1 106.9 45.0 6.2 58.0 99.8 LOCS 229 229 229 5 113 113 89 146 114 REPS 385 385 385 11 183 183 155 240 188 DIFF 5.8 4 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.5 PROB .000# .000# .000# .950 .897 .088* .516 .330 .000#__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT BRT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDG STKDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1414 1460 59.0 7.7 5.5 93.6 96.4 98.6 2 1442 1493 57.6 6.6 5.6 92.6 91.8 97.0 LOCS 64 19 226 130 128 210 59 14 REPS 101 26 379 208 211 354 105 29 DIFF 29 33 1.3 1.1 0.1 1.0 4.5 1.6 PROB .000# .001# .000# .000# .312 .106 .033+ .375__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
TABLE 1C__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 - 3279VARIETY #2 - 3162__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU BAR PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST PLT HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 162.3 105 19.3 92.2 105.3 44.6 5.9 60.4 99.4 2 162.9 105 21.3 89.8 99.1 41.6 6.2 60.7 99.8 LOCS 188 188 189 9 106 106 83 124 99 REPS 322 322 323 17 179 179 142 203 165 DIFF 0.6 1 2.0 2.4 6.2 3.0 0.2 0.3 0.3 PROB .683 .594 .000# .514 .000# .000# .108 .488 .019+__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT BRT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDG STKDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1414 1443 59.3 7.6 5.9 94.5 97.5 97.4 2 1390 1431 59.5 7.5 5.5 93.4 98.3 98.1 LOCS 53 17 183 71 113 173 69 10 REPS 87 25 312 107 185 291 116 21 DIFF 24 12 0.2 0.1 0.5 1.1 0.8 0.7 PROB .000# .221 .069* .319 .009# .099* .302 .502__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
TABLE 1D__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 - 3279VARIETY #2 - 3140__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 152.2 106 19.2 103.2 44.0 6.1 52.5 99.2 2 146.8 103 20.4 107.9 52.1 5.4 52.2 98.5 LOCS 84 84 87 39 39 37 57 41 REPS 130 130 136 63 63 60 93 65 DIFF 5.4 3 1.2 4.7 8.0 0.7 0.3 0.7 PROB .015+ .144 .000# .000# .000# .001# .570 .074*__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDGDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1415 1470 58.7 7.8 4.4 90.6 98.2 2 1485 1555 57.2 7.4 5.8 93.7 93.5 LOCS 22 5 87 70 60 84 14 REPS 34 6 136 114 98 132 27 DIFF 70 85 1.5 0.4 1.4 3.2 4.7 PROB .000# .003# .000# .006# .000# .019+ .148__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
TABLE 1E__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 = 3279VARIETY #2 = DK656__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU BAR PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST PLT HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 159.2 106 20.5 97.6 105.1 44.1 6.5 58.5 99.5 2 154.2 102 21.3 97.6 105.4 49.3 5.4 59.2 99.6 LOCS 69 69 69 2 27 27 22 41 28 REPS 132 132 132 5 54 54 40 79 51 DIFF 5.0 4 0.8 0.0 0.3 5.3 1.1 0.7 0.1 PROB .056* .011+ .000# .000# .693 .000# .000# .456 .776__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT BRT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDG STKDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1396 1363 58.7 7.8 5.6 95.0 96.6 97.3 2 1419 1420 57.6 6.9 3.9 93.5 91.9 98.8 LOCS 14 3 68 19 26 64 22 7 REPS 28 5 130 38 55 125 39 16 DIFF 22 57 1.2 0.9 1.6 1.4 4.6 1.5 PROB .003# .169 .000# .008# .000# .164 .142 .116__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
TABLE 1F__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 = 3279VARIETY #2 = G4673B__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU BAR PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST PLT HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 174.1 102 16.6 97.6 102.7 40.0 6.4 64.6 98.2 2 177.1 103 18.3 95.5 103.5 42.5 5.9 65.7 99.6 LOCS 35 35 35 2 16 16 16 25 2 REPS 73 73 73 5 35 35 29 50 5 DIFF 3.0 1 1.7 2.1 0.8 2.5 0.5 1.1 1.5 PROB .322 .587 .000# .630 .433 .005# .056* .188 .632__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT BRT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDG STKDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1409 1385 60.8 9.0 4.8 93.5 94.9 98.0 2 1403 1385 60.3 8.8 6.0 93.7 76.9 98.1 LOCS 7 1 32 1 16 28 5 5 REPS 16 2 67 4 36 61 11 12 DIFF 6 0 0.5 0.3 1.3 0.1 18.0 0.1 PROB .356 .115 .094* .917 .075* .861__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
TABLE 1G__________________________________________________________________________VARIETY #1 = 3279VARIETY #2 = NC6414__________________________________________________________________________ BU BU BAR PLT EAR SDG EST DRP VAR ACR ACR MST PLT HT HT VGR CNT EARDEPT # ABS % MN ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 174.1 102 16.6 97.6 102.7 40.0 6.4 64.6 98.2 2 176.8 103 17.8 97.7 103.1 43.2 5.5 64.7 100.0 LOCS 35 35 35 2 16 16 16 25 2 REPS 73 73 73 5 35 35 29 50 5 DIFF 2.7 1 1.2 0.2 0.5 3.2 1.0 0.1 1.8 PROB .497 .618 .000# .890 .540 .000# .008# .861 .500__________________________________________________________________________ GDU GDU TST GRN STA STK RT BRT VAR SHD SLK WTA APP GRN LDG LDG STKDEPT # ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS ABS__________________________________________________________________________TOTAL SUM 1 1409 1385 60.8 9.0 4.8 93.5 94.9 98.0 2 1424 1410 58.6 9.0 5.4 95.0 93.2 93.3 LOCS 7 1 32 1 16 28 5 5 REPS 16 2 67 4 36 61 11 12 DIFF 14 25 2.2 0.0 0.7 1.5 1.7 4.7 PROB .174 .000# .060* .246 .547 .449__________________________________________________________________________ * = 10% SIG + = 5% SIG # = 1% SIG
EXAMPLE 2
Strip Test Data for Hybrid 3279
Comparison data was collected from strip tests that were grown by farmers. Each hybrid was grown in strips of 4, 6, 8, 2, etc. rows in fields depending upon the size of the planter used. The data was collected from strip tests that had the hybrids in the same area and weighed. The moisture percentage was determined and bushels per acre was adjusted to 15.5 percent moisture. The number of comparisons represent the number of locations or replications for the two hybrids that were grown in the same field in close proximity and compared.
Comparison strip testing was done between Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 and Pioneer Brand Hybrids 3189, 3180, 3162, 3140 and NC+ Brand Hybrid NC6414. The comparisons came from all the hybrid's adapted growing areas in the United States.
These results are presented in Table 2. The results show Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 had a yield advantage over compared hybrids except Pioneer 3162 and NC+ Hybrid NC6414 where it had a disadvantage of 3.7 and 3.2 bushels per acre, respectively. 3279 had a moisture advantage over all hybrids compared. 3279 showed a greater income advantage to the farmer based on adjusted gross income over all hybrids compared except Pioneer 3162 and NC+ Hybrid NC6414 where the disadvantage was $1.57 and $0.86 per acre, respectively.
TABLE 2__________________________________________________________________________PIONEER HYBRID 3279 VS PIONEER HYBRIDS 3189, 3180, 3162,AND 3140; AND NC+ BRAND HYBRID NC6414FROM 1991 STRIP TESTS Income/ Pop Stand Roots TestBrand Product Yield Moist Acre K/Acre (%) (%) Wt__________________________________________________________________________PIONEER 3279 166.5 17.7 407.24 23.5 94 99 58.5PIONEER 3189 165.0 19.1 398.31 24.3 96 94 58.3Advantage 1.5 1.4 8.93 -0.8 -2 5 0.2Number of Comparisons 53 53 53 27 21 21 46Percent Wins 52 71 54 18 14 23 54Probability of Difference 62 99 96 95 60 83 77PIONEER 3279 152.6 18.0 373.42 23.8 92 92 58.6PIONEER 3180 143.1 18.7 347.50 24.4 91 92 57.0Advantage 9.5 0.7 25.92 -0.6 1 0 1.6Number of Comparisons 97 97 97 62 46 29 65Percent Wins 76 69 81 35 43 13 87Probability of Difference 99 99 99 95 42 21 99PIONEER 3279 158.5 18.2 386.81 24.3 93 97 58.5PIONEER 3162 162.2 20.5 388.38 24.3 90 97 58.5Advantage -3.7 2.3 -1.57 0.0 3 0 0.0Number of Comparisons 178 178 178 117 91 73 163Percent Wins 39 94 48 40 54 10 37Probability of Difference 99 99 40 11 99 16 20PIONEER 3279 137.0 18.5 333.61 22.7 91 91 57.6PIONEER 3140 135.3 19.9 325.70 22.8 92 91 56.2Advantage 1.7 1.4 7.91 -0.1 -1 0 1.4Number of Comparisons 111 111 111 71 54 37 82Percent Wins 52 82 54 43 31 27 79Probability of Difference 72 99 96 14 35 18 99PIONEER 3279 195.1 18.1 475.31 28.5 100 100 58.6NC+ HYBRIDS 6414 198.3 19.6 476.17 28.0 100 88 56.3Advantage -3.2 1.5 -0.86 0.5 0 12 2.3Number of Comparisons 8 8 8 6 1 1 8Percent Wins 37 87 37 50 0 100 87Probability of Difference 50 98 7 54 0 0 99PIONEER 3279 154.1 18.1 376.30 23.8 92 95 58.3WEIGHTED AVG 153.1 19.8 368.55 24.1 91 94 57.6Advantage 1.0 1.7 7.75 -0.3 1 1 0.7Number of Comparisons 453 453 453 287 215 161 370Percent Wins 51 83 57 37 42 17 59Probability of Difference 81 99 99 91 96 80 99__________________________________________________________________________ NOTE: The probability values are useful in analyzing if there is a "real" difference in the genetic potential of the products involved. High values are desirable, with 95% considered significant for real differences.
EXAMPLE 3
Comparison of Key Characteristics for Hybrid 3279
Characteristics of Pioneer Brand Hybrid 3279 are compared to Pioneer Brand Hybrids 3189, 3180, 3162, and 3140; Dekalb Brand Hybrid DK656; Funk's Brand Hybrid G4673B; and NC+ Brand Hybrid NC6414 in Table 3. The ratings given for most of the traits are on a 1 to 9 basis. In these cases 9 would be outstanding, while 1 would be poor for the given characteristics. These values are based on performance of a given hybrid relative to other Pioneer commercial, precommercial, and competitive hybrids that are grown in research and strip test trials. The traits characterized in Table 3 were defined previously and the ratings utilized not only research data, but experience trained researchers had in the field as well as sales experience with the hybrids in strip tests and the field. These scores reflect the hybrid's relative performance to other hybrids for the characteristics listed. The table shows 3279 yielded well for its maturity and has good drought tolerance. Relative to the other hybrids, 3279 has good root lodging resistance, good grain appearance, and good early growth. 3279's overall excellent yield and agronomic characteristics should make it an important hybrid in its area of adaptation.
TABLE 3__________________________________________________________________________HYBRID PATENT COMPARISONS--CHARACTERISTICSPioneer Hybrid 3279 vs Pioneer Hybrids 3189, 3180, 3162, 3140;Dekalb Brand Hybrid DK656; Funk's Brand Hybrid G4673B; and NC+ BrandHybrid NC6414__________________________________________________________________________HYBRID SILK CRM GDU SILK BL CRM GDU BL CRM YLD H/POP L/POP D/D__________________________________________________________________________3279 112 1429 114 2900 114 9 9 9 33189 114 1466 116 2970 117 7 7 5 73180 115 1469 115 2925 116 7 7 8 53162 111 1416 114 2901 118 9 9 8 43140 119 1533 118 3084 118 9 6 9 7DK656 113 1482 111 2780 116 6 6 7 3G4673B 117 7 7 7NC6414 117 7 7 5__________________________________________________________________________HYBRID S/L R/L STGR D/T T/WT G/A S/V P/HT E/HT D/E B/STK__________________________________________________________________________3279 5 7 5 9 6 6 7 5 4 4 53189 7 6 8 8 6 4 3 3 2 6 53180 5 5 5 5 4 3 5 5 4 5 43162 5 7 5 7 6 8 6 4 3 5 73140 8 5 8 7 4 4 3 7 8 4 5DK656 4 3 2 6 5 4 3 5 7 5 8G4673B 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 7 5 7NC6414 5 7 3 4 4 4 5 6 5 5__________________________________________________________________________
Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding, it will be obvious that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the invention, as limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
Applicants have made available to the public without restriction a deposit of at least 2500 seeds of Hybrid Corn Seed 3279 with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Rockville, Md. 20852 USA, ATCC Deposit No. 97151. The seeds deposited with the ATCC are taken from the same deposit maintained by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., 700 Capital Square, 400 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309 since prior to the filing date of this application. This deposit of the Hybrid Corn Seed 3279 will be maintained without restriction in the ATCC depository, which is a public depository, for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recent request, or for the effective life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if it becomes nonviable during that period.
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According to the invention, there is provided a hybrid corn plant, designated as 3279, produced by crossing two Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred corn lines. This invention thus relates to the hybrid seed 3279, the hybrid plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and trivial modifications of hybrid 3279. This hybrid is characterized by having excellent stress tolerance with high dependable yield. 3279 has good grain appearance and test weight with very good roots and adequate stalks. It is widely adapted across the Central Corn Belt.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a method for detecting changes in rigidity of a hydraulic passenger car brake system, as well as a control unit having an algorithm for carrying out the method.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] In known hydraulic passenger car brake systems, changes in the brake characteristics are able to come about especially by air inclusions in the brake fluid. Changes in the brake performance characteristics are normally able to be detected by the driver when operating the brake pedal, since a longer pedal path has to be covered to achieve the same vehicle deceleration. This is only true, however, for the usual hydraulic brake systems, in which a mechanical feedthrough exists between the brake pedal and the brake caliper. By contrast, brake systems in which the brake pedal is mechanically decoupled from the remainder of the brake system give no feedback via the brake pedal.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a method by the use of which rigidity changes in brake systems (hydraulic ones and also ones that are decoupled) are able to be detected automatically.
[0006] One aspect of the present invention is to measure the pressure prevailing in the vacuum chamber of the vacuum brake booster in the operated and the non-operated state of the brake, and from the measured pressures to calculate a characteristic parameter that is characteristic for the break performance, such as the path covered by the booster diaphragm or the main brake cylinder, the volume displaced by the main brake cylinder or just simply the pressure difference in the two states, and to compare this characteristic variable to a reference value. This makes it possible to detect a change in the rigidity of the brake system based on the measured vacuum chamber pressure alone.
[0007] The reference value is preferably calculated as a function of the hydraulic brake pressure (e.g. of the admission pressure) or is determined with the aid of a characteristics curve.
[0008] According to one example embodiment of the present invention, the pressure difference between the vacuum chamber pressure in the operated and the non-operated state is calculated and compared to the reference value. The reference value Δp may, for instance, be calculated using the following relationship
[0000]
Δ
p
=
p
FC
Rel
.
-
p
FC
Appl
.
=
(
S
B
+
V
RC
Rel
.
A
B
)
·
(
p
MC
Appl
.
·
(
A
MC
+
α
)
+
D
·
S
B
+
F
0
)
V
B
(
1
)
[0009] as a function of the hydraulic brake pressure p MC Appl. , or ascertained from an appropriate characteristics curve. (For the explanation of the formula, see special figure description).
[0010] In the method according to the first example embodiment, the vacuum chamber pressure is preferably first measured in the operated state of the brake, and after that in the non-operated state.
[0011] According to a second example embodiment of the present invention, the path covered by the diaphragm of the vacuum brake booster, or a quantity proportional to it, is determined as a function of the measured vacuum chamber pressures in the operated and the non-operated state. The path s covered by the diaphragm may be ascertained, for instance, according to the following relationship:
[0000]
S
B
Appl
.
=
V
FC
Rel
.
-
V
FC
Appl
.
A
B
=
V
FC
Rel
.
A
B
·
[
1
-
(
r
FC
Rel
.
p
FC
Appl
.
)
1
/
κ
]
(
2
)
[0012] (For the explanation of the formula, see special figure description).
[0013] From the path s thus calculated, a volume displaced by the main brake cylinder is preferably calculated. This volume V MC may be calculated as follows, for instance:
[0000] V MC =A MC ·( S B Appl. −S 0 ) (3)
[0014] Volume V MC determined from the vacuum pressures is preferably compared to a volume ascertained from a p/V characteristics line. If the deviation is greater than a specified threshold value, a change in the rigidity of the brake system is detected. This may be displayed to the driver, for example, using a control lamp or another device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
[0015] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a vacuum brake booster.
[0016] FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the steps of a method for detecting changes in the rigidity of a break system, according to a first example embodiment.
[0017] FIG. 3 shows a flow chart the steps of a method for detecting changes in the rigidity of a break system, according to a second example embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a usual vacuum brake booster (UBKV). The UBKV essentially includes a working chamber 2 , a vacuum chamber 1 having a vacuum connection 3 and a diaphragm 7 , which is situated between the two chambers 1 , 2 . A vacuum source (not shown) is connected to vacuum connection 3 , which is driven, for instance, by the internal combustion engine, and generates a specified vacuum in vacuum chamber 1 . In the central region of UBKV 8 there is a double valve 4 which fulfills two functions, namely a) to separate working chamber 2 from vacuum chamber 1 , or to connect the two chambers 1 , 2 to each other, and b) to ventilate working chamber 2 or to separate it from the environmental air.
[0019] In the non-braked state, the connection between vacuum chamber 1 and working chamber 2 is open. In both chambers 1 , 2 there consequently prevails the same vacuum. When the brake pedal is operated, the two chambers 1 , 2 are separated from each other and working chamber 2 is ventilated.
[0020] As a function of the path set via piston rod 6 , a pressure difference sets in between the pressure in vacuum chamber 1 and the environmental pressure. The force resulting from the pressure difference on working diaphragm 7 boosts the brake force via piston rod 6 , in this instance. After the release of force F, the ventilation using environmental air is interrupted and the chamber valve is opened again. Because of this, both chambers 1 , 2 have a vacuum applied to them by the vacuum source.
[0021] In contrast to known UBKV's, the UBKV 8 shown includes a sensor system 9 , 10 , 11 , by which changes in the force-path characteristics of the vacuum brake booster are able to be detected. The sensor system, in this case, includes a pressure sensor 9 situated in vacuum chamber 1 , whose output signal is evaluated by a control unit 11 , and a pressure sensor 10 for measuring a hydraulic brake pressure (admission pressure), which is also connected to control unit 11 .
[0022] Variant 1: Determination of the Rigidity when the Brake Pedal is Released
[0023] According to a first example embodiment of the present invention, the pressure prevailing in vacuum chamber 1 is first measured in the operated state and then in the released state of the brake, and a pressure difference is formed from this. This pressure difference is finally compared to a reference value.
[0024] FIG. 2 shows the method steps of this method.
[0025] In step 15 it is first monitored whether the foot brake pedal has been operated and held constant over a predefined short time period, for instance, at least 500 ms. In addition, it is checked whether the vacuum prevailing in vacuum chamber 1 is constant. If both conditions are satisfied, in step 16 a measurement takes place of the vacuum p FC appl in vacuum chamber 1 (the subscript appl=applied or operated, FC=front chamber or vacuum chamber), as well as of the hydraulic brake pressure p MC appl (subscript MC=master cylinder or main brake cylinder).
[0026] In the following step 17 it is monitored whether the direction of motion of the pedal is changing and the brake is released. When the foot brake pedal is released for a predefined short time, and the pressure prevailing in vacuum chamber 1 is constant over a predefined time period, in step 18 a pressure measured value p FC Rel. (superscript Rel=released), is taken up, on which the following calculation is based.
[0027] In step 19 the pressure difference Δp=p FC Rel. −p FC Appl. is then formed from the two measured values.
[0028] The following equation is applied for the reference value:
[0000]
p
FC
Rel
.
-
p
FC
Appl
.
=
(
S
B
+
V
RC
Rel
.
A
B
)
·
(
p
MC
Appl
.
·
(
A
MC
+
α
)
+
D
·
S
B
+
F
0
)
V
B
(
1
)
[0029] In the equation, α denotes the pressure-dependent friction of the seals in the brake cylinder, D the force of the springs and the pressure-dependent friction, and F 0 the initial force which has to be present via a pressure difference at diaphragm 7 before the diaphragm moves from its position of rest. Furthermore, A MC is the effective area of the main brake cylinder and s B is the path covered by the diaphragm or the main brake cylinder.
[0030] Formula (1) may be derived from the following considerations. For the entire air volume V B in vacuum brake booster 8, the following applies:
[0000] V B =const.= V FC Rel. +V RC Rel. =V FC Appl. +V RC Appl. (4)
[0000] p FC Rel. ·V B =p FC Appl. V FC Appl. +p RC Appl. V RC Appl. (4)
[0031] In equation (4) it was assumed that the connection of vacuum chamber 1 to the vacuum supply was interrupted during the discharge. If this is not the case, the pressure of vacuum supply p vac is first determined by measuring the pressure in vacuum chamber 1 , while the vacuum brake booster is not being operated. During the discharge, the pressure in vacuum chamber 1 is constantly measured. From the difference of chamber pressure p RC and the vacuum pressure, the air mass flowing out during the discharge is able to be determined:
[0000] Δ m=A c ∫Ψ( p RC ,p vac ) dt
[0032] using the function:
[0000]
ψ
=
const
.
=
p
0
2
RT
κ
κ
+
1
(
2
κ
+
1
)
1
κ
-
1
for
p
vac
<
p
RC
(
2
κ
)
κ
κ
+
1
ψ
=
p
0
2
RT
κ
κ
-
1
(
p
vac
p
RC
)
2
κ
-
(
p
vac
p
RC
)
κ
+
1
κ
for
p
vac
≥
p
RC
(
2
κ
)
κ
κ
+
1
[0033] In order to be able to calculate the displacement s B of diaphragm 7 from equation (5), the pressure p RC Appl. prevailing in working chamber (subscript RC=rear chamber) has to be determined in the operated state. For this, we observe the force equilibrium between the main brake cylinder and diaphragm 7 in the operated state:
[0000] p MC Appl. ·A MC +p MC Appl. ·α+D·S B +F 0 =A B ( p RC Appl. −p FC Appl. ) (6)
[0034] In the equation, α denotes the pressure-dependent friction of the seals in the brake cylinder, D the force of the springs (diaphragm and main brake cylinder) and the path-dependent friction, and F 0 , the initial force, which has to be present via a pressure difference at diaphragm 7 before the diaphragm moves from its position of rest.
[0035] Equation (6) applies only for systems not having mechanical coupling. In the case of the usual vacuum brake boosters, the equation should be modified to the extent that input force F in is taken into consideration:
[0000] p MC Appl. ·A MC +p MC Appl. ·α+D·S B +F 0 =A B ( p RC Appl. −p FC Appl. )+ F in
[0036] Provided the saturation point of the vacuum brake booster has not been reached (which may be detected on p MC ) the boosting may be approximated linearly:
[0000] A B ( p RC Appl. −p FC Appl. )=β F in
[0000] using boost factor β. Now, if the quantity A B is replaced by
[0000]
A
B
(
1
+
1
β
)
,
[0000] equation (6) keeps its validity even in the case of the usual vacuum brake boosters.
[0037] From equations (5) and (6) one may now calculate path s B of diaphragm 7 during the release of the pedal:
[0000]
S
B
=
-
(
A
B
2
·
D
·
X
+
V
RC
Rel
.
2
·
A
B
)
+
(
A
B
2
·
D
·
X
+
V
RC
Rel
.
2
·
A
B
)
+
(
p
FC
Rel
.
-
p
FC
Appl
.
)
·
V
B
-
V
RC
Rel
.
·
X
D
(
7
)
X
:=
p
MC
Appl
.
·
(
A
MC
+
α
)
+
F
0
A
B
(
8
)
[0038] Path s B , calculated from equations (7) and (8) could be directly compared (or rather, after recalculating of path s B into a volume V) to the pV characteristics curve for the brake system. From the difference of the two values one could consequently determine whether air inclusions are present or not.
[0039] Since, however, formula (7) in its present form can only be calculated with great effort in a control unit, and since, for the application, it is only of interest when the volume take-up in the brake system is exceeding a certain limit, we propose the following procedure.
[0040] First, equations (7) and (8) are solved according to pressure difference p FC Rel. −p FC Appl. operated and released state, so that the following equation is obtained:
[0000]
p
FC
Rel
.
-
p
FC
Appl
.
=
(
S
B
+
V
RC
Rel
.
A
B
)
·
(
p
MC
Appl
.
·
(
A
MC
+
α
)
+
D
·
S
B
+
F
0
)
V
B
(
9
)
[0041] In this equation, only path s B , covered by the main cylinder, is unknown. This quantity may be determined via the following equation, as a function of the hydraulic admission pressure p MC and from the pV characteristics curve of the evacuated brake system V MC =V MC NoAir (p MC ).
[0042] Consequently, formula (9) is only still a function of hydraulic pressure p MC , and for each measured hydraulic pressure p MCr Appl. it gives a pertaining value for the pressure difference Δp that is to be expected. Consequently, measured pressure difference Δp must be compared only to the pressure difference ascertained from characteristics line (9). When these two values differ from each other more than a predefined threshold value, a critical state is detected and a corresponding warning signal is emitted.
[0043] Variant 2: Determination of the Rigidity when the Brake Pedal is Operated
[0044] According to a second example embodiment, volume V MC displaced in response to the operation of the foot brake pedal by the main brake cylinder is ascertained, and is compared to the pV characteristics curve of the system. For the volume of vacuum chamber 1 (subscript FC) in the operated state (superscript Appl.), the following applies:
[0000]
V
FC
Appl
.
=
V
FC
Rel
.
·
(
p
FC
Rel
.
p
FC
Appl
.
)
1
κ
(
10
)
[0045] where the assumption was made again that the vacuum supply was interrupted. The differential mass may be calculated and taken into account analogously to the preceding case.
[0046] In this context, p FC Rel. and p FC Appl. are the pressures in vacuum chamber 1 in the non-operated and the operated state respectively, and k=1 for an isothermal change in state. Then the following applies for the path S B Appl. covered by diaphragm 7 :
[0000]
S
B
Appl
.
=
V
FC
Rel
.
-
V
FC
Appl
.
A
B
=
V
FC
Rel
.
A
B
·
[
1
-
(
p
FC
Rel
.
p
FC
Appl
.
)
1
κ
]
(
11
)
[0047] where A B is the effective area of diaphragm 7 . The volume V MC displaced by the main cylinder may now be calculated from cross sectional area A MC of the main brake cylinder and path s B Appl. , since the path covered in main brake cylinder 8 is thus identical to the path of diaphragm 7 , minus some free play s 0 , until a pressure build-up takes place in the main brake cylinder (MC). The following applies:
[0000] V MC =A MC ·( S B Appl. −S 0 ) (12)
[0048] From a comparison of V MC to the pV characteristics curve of the evacuated brake system V MC =V MC NoAir (P MC ), one is able to establish whether there is air inclusion in the brake system.
|
In a method for detecting air in the brake circuit of a motor vehicle having a hydraulic brake system that has a vacuum brake booster, the pressure prevailing in the vacuum chamber of the vacuum brake booster in the operated and the non-operated states of the brake is measured, and a parameter characteristic of the brake performance is determined as a function of the measured pressure, and the characteristic parameter is compared to a reference value.
| 1
|
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automotive ignition systems and, more particularly, to an improved automotive ignition system utilizing multiple ignition sparks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automotive ignition systems are typically the weakest link in the proper performance of the modern internal combustion gasoline engine. They are frequently the major cause of poor performance, poor fuel mileage and increased exhaust emmissions. Notwithstanding the critical role played by the ignition system, it is imperative that the system work properly in the hostile environment of moisture, dirt, heat and vibration found in the automotive engine. In addition, the ignition system must function well in the presence of the partial failure of other components such as spark plugs, connectors and high voltage cable.
The prior art ignition system used almost exclusively, until fairly recently, is the well known Kettering system. The Kettering system includes a low voltage primary circuit which contains a storage battery, the primary of the ignition coil and engine breaker points. The breaker points are opened and closed by an engine driven cam. When the points are closed, current flows from the battery, through the primary of the coil, through the points and back to the battery via the engine ground connection. The current flow through the primary winding induces a magnetic field in the core of the coil. When the breaker points open, the current which has been flowing through the points is allowed to flow into a capacitor connected in parallel with the points. As the capacitor charges, the magnetic field in the coil collapses, inducing a high voltage pulse into the secondary of the coil. This high voltage pulse is then applied to the spark plugs in the engine via a high voltage distributor circuit which is driven in synchronism with the breaker points by the same shaft which drives the cam.
The Kettering system, although widely used, suffers from several disadvantages. The primary disadvantages are breaker point wear and the slow rise time of the high voltage pulse applied to the spark plugs. In an attempt to overcome these disadvantages, the prior art devised two other ignition systems. The first of these is the transistor ignition system which simply utilizes a transistor rather than the breaker points to switch the current in the primary coil circuit. The breaker points turn the power transistor on and off. Breaker point wear is thus reduced since the interrupted current flow in the coil primary is effected by the transistor thereby eliminating arcing across the breaker points.
The second ignition system is the capacitor discharge ignition system. This system places a capacitor in series with the primary of the ignition coil which is alternatively charged and discharged to produce the creation and the collapse of a magnetic field in the primary of the ignition coil. The use of such a capacitor allows the storage of greater energy for each spark and thus decreases the rise time of the pulse applied to the spark plugs.
Notwithstanding the attempted prior art improvements in ignition systems, a major problem still remains. This problem is the incomplete burning in the combustion chamber which frequently results with these prior art systems. Incomplete burning results because the fuel mixture in the combustion chamber is frequently too lean or too rich at the time of the single spark generated by the prior art systems. With such a mixture, ignition frequently does not occur at all or ignition occurs very slowly and is not completed before the piston is moved from its optimum firing position. Incomplete burning results in increased fuel consumption, added air pollution and reduced engine performance. With the prior art systems, this problem can only be overcome by refining the timing constraints such that firing always occurs at the proper time for optimum burning. Such accurate timing is difficult if not impossible to achieve and maintain.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved ignition system which solves the problem of incomplete burning without requiring an increase in timing accuracy.
It is another object of this invention to provide such an improved system which costs no more than the prior art systems currently in use.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an improved system which is more reliable than the prior art alternatives currently in use.
An additional prior art system which attempted to solve the problem of incomplete burning was the ignition system used in the "Model T" Ford. In this system, a separate ignition coil was provided for each of the four cylinders. A timing switch rotated by the engine connected power in turn to each ignition coil. Battery current flowed through the primary of the ignition coil and also through a set of breaker points arranged in a self interruption electrical configuration similar to a doorbell buzzer. When the current reached a certain value, the points opened and the subsequent collapse of the magnetic field in the coil generated the desired spark. The breaker points then closed when the current flow ceased. This process continued as long as voltage was continuously applied to a particular coil assembly, thereby generating a series of sparks for each cylinder in turn. The multiple sparks applied to each cylinder tended to ensure complete burning. This system, however, only worked well at low engine speeds and the timing was very inaccurate due to the primitive nature of the breaker points. At high engine speeds common in modern engines, this system would be inoperative.
It is, therefore, a further object of this invention to provide complete burning without sacrificing timing accuracy.
It is another object of this invention to provide a system which provides complete burning even at the high engine speeds common in modern engines.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the invention, accurate timing information is derived from the opening and closing of the breaker points (or from comparable timing apparatus) in response to the rotation of a cam shaft driven by the automobile engine.
It is a feature of the invention that a predetermined number of successive control signals are generated each time the breaker points are opened.
It is another feature of the invention that a magnetic field is respectively built up and collapsed in the primary winding of the ignition coil in response to successive control signals during each chamber firing cycle.
It is a further feature of the invention that multiple control signals are generated during the interval in which the breaker points are open and signal generation is terminated during the interval in which the breaker points are closed.
The repetitive build-up and collapse of a magnetic field in the primary winding of the ignition coil occurs in response to the multiple control signals produced while the breaker points are open. This action generates a plurality of sparks for each cylinder ignition rather than the single spark ignition utilized in the prior art ignition systems. The generation of a plurality of ignition sparks ensures complete burning for each cylinder ignition, thereby overcoming the disadvantages of increased fuel consumption, added air pollution and reduced engine performance which are inherent in prior art ignition systems.
The foregoing and other objects and features of this invention will be more fully understood from the following description of illustrative embodiments thereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the Drawings:
FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate prior art automotive ignition systems;
FIG. 4 discloses a block diagram of an improved multiple sparking ignition system;
FIG. 5 discloses a schematic drawing for one embodiment of an improved multiple sparking ignition system;
FIG. 6 discloses a schematic drawing of a multiple sparking ignition system utilizing an inductor as an energy storage device; and
FIG. 7 discloses a schematic drawing of a simplified multiple sparking ignition system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Automobile engines are operated by igniting a premixed charge of fuel vapor and air in the engine's combustion chamber. The charge is ignited by passing a high voltage electric current between the two electrodes of the spark plug in the combustion chamber. When a spark of sufficient energy jumps the gap between the electrodes a self propagating flame is produced which spreads rapidly throughout the charge. The ignition system in FIG. 1 known as the Kettering system, is the basic prior art system utilized to produce the charge which ignites the mixture in the combustion chamber.
Battery 10 in FIG. 1 supplies power for the low voltage primary circuit which includes the primary winding of ignition coil 12, capacitor 16, and breaker points 14. Cam 15 rotates in the direction indicated to open and close breaker points 14. When the breaker points are closed current flows from battery 10 through the primary winding of coil 12 through breaker points 14 and back to the battery through the engine ground connection. Coil 12 is wound around a soft iron core. The current in the primary winding induces a magnetic field in and around this core. When the breaker points are opened by the rotation of cam 15 the current which has been passing through the points now flows into capacitor 16. As capacitor 16 charges the magnetic field rapidly collapses in the primary winding of coil 12. This rapid collapse of the magnetic field in the primary winding induces a high voltage (on the order of twenty thousand volts) in the secondary winding of coil 12. The high voltage induced in the secondary is distributed to the spark plugs 20 in proper sequence by distributor 18 and its contacts 17. Distributor 18 is driven by the same shaft that drives cam 15. Only one spark plug 20 is shown, but it is understood that one spark plug would be utilized for each engine chamber. Capacitor 16 is utilized to limit arcing across breaker 14. Such arcing would burn the points and soon destroy them. The Kettering system described above has been used since the beginning of this century. This system has generally performed adequately until the last few years. Increasing concern with air pollution and recent increases in fuel prices have justified alternatives to the basic Kettering system.
FIG. 2 illustrates a variation of the Kettering Ignition System, generally known as a transistor ignition system, which has been used since 1974 on many production automobiles in the United States. Current flows from battery 10 through the primary of coil 12 and back to the battery through transistor 22. Transistor 22 serves the same function with regard to the coil primary as did the breaker points in the Kettering system. This system does not need capacitor 16, because the transistor is capable of switching off the primary current much more rapidly than the breaker points and therefore there is no arcing problem. Timing information is provided by cam 15 and breaker points 14 in the same manner as described above for the Kettering system, or by other per se well known timing elements (e.g., of optical or magnetic construction). This timing information is applied to trigger circuit 24 which discriminates between firing signals and spurious noise and provides adequate drive to transistor 22. Transistor 22 is turned on each time the breaker points close and turn off each time the breaker points open. This causes a build up and collapse of a magnetic field in the primary of the coil which in turn induces the high voltage in the secondary of coil 12 necessary to drive the spark plugs. The high secondary voltage is then distributed to spark plugs 20 in the same manner as was done in the Kettering system.
Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a capacitor discharge ignition system which is another example of prior art ignition systems. In this system instead of storing energy in the magnetic field in the coil 12, ignition spark energy is stored in capacitor 28. Capacitor 28 is charged to a high voltage (e.g., about 300 volts) by a DC-to-DC converter 79 in conjunction with battery 10. Engine timing information is again provided as by points 14 and cam 15. This timing information is applied to trigger circuit 24, which is utilized to drive an SCR 26. When a signal is received from the timing apparatus indicating that a spark is desired the SCR is turned on and connects one end of capacitor 28 to ground. The other end of capacitor 28 is connected to primary of the coil 12. The discharge of capacitor 28 through SCR 26 causes the build up of a magnetic field in the primary of coil 12. This in turn induces a high voltage in the secondary of coil 12 which is distributed by the distributor to the spark plugs in the same manner as indicated above.
Each of these prior art systems produce one and only one spark for each opening of the breaker points. With such an arrangement it is imperative that this single spark occur when the combination of fuel and air in the combustion chamber be of exactly the right mixture to ensure proper ignition and complete burning of the mixture. Incomplete burning or lack of ignition reduces engine performance, increases gas consumption and adds to the air pollution problem.
It has been found that the problem of incomplete burning or non-ignition can be overcome by a system which utilizes a series of closely spaced spark pulses to ignite the charge in the cylinder. Much time and effort has been expended in the prior art to produce a timing system which produces a spark at the proper time for optimum burning. Rather than concentrating on producing a single spart at the optimum time, the instant invention is concerned with producing a number of sparks closely spaced in time, with the first spark occuring at or near the optimum time. Therefore, with the instant invention the first of a series of multiple sparks will be delivered at the predicted time for best combustion. If it occurs when the combustion mixture is normal the mixture will properly ignite and the remainder of the sparks will have little or no value; but they will also cause no difficulties. If, however, the first spark occurs in an increment of mixture volume which is too lean or too rich the burning will not take place or it may propagate slowly, and the burning will not be completed in the available time. In this instance there is a real possibility that a second or subsequent attempt to ignite the mixture can speed matters up and produce a more normal, uniformed, and complete burn. The remainder of this description is directed to such a multiple sparking ignition system.
Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic block diagram of a first proposed multiple spark ignition system. Capacitor 41 in the primary circuit of coil 12 performs an analogous function to that described above for the capacitor 28 in the capacitive discharge system (FIG. 3). In this case, however, switch 38 rapidly moves back and forth between points A and B to produce multiple sparks as will be hereinafter described. Power from battery 10 is applied to the regulated DC-DC converter 79. Converter 79 functions to raise the available battery voltage from the initially available 7 to 15 volts to about 200 volts.
Energy from the DC-to-DC converter 79 is stored in capacitor 32. When switch 38 is in position A, charge from energy storage capacitor 32 flows through diode 36, and switch 38 transfer contact 39, to charge capacitor 41 through the primary of coil 12. Storage capacitor 32 is advantageously much larger than capacitor 41, therefore the voltage across capacitor 32 changes very little when capacitor 41 is being charged. The current flowing to the primary of coil 12 while capacitor 41 is being resonant charged in this first polarity produces the first spark which is distributed to the spark plugs in the manner previously described. As is well known per se for resonant charging, diode 36 terminates current flow with a voltage stored in capacitor 41 is double that across source capacitor 32, less energy delivered to the fired cylinder.
Switch 38 is next thrown to position B. An opposite resonant charging, half cycle obtains, such that the voltage across capacitor 41 reverses polarity. Resonant charging ends when the diode 40 blocks the attempted current reversal. Again, the rapid current flow through the primary of the coil 12 generates a cylinder firing spark. Therefore, this FIG. 4 system produces one spark when capacitor 41 is charged in a first polarity (Switch 38 in position "A"), and produces a second spark when the voltage across capacitor 41 reverses (Switch 38 in the "B" position). This in marked contrast to the systems described above which produced only one spark by discharging the series capacitor 28 (FIG. 3).
The action of switch 38 is under the control of engine timing elements, e.g., the engine cam 15 and points 14 (although, as before, any per se well known timing structure coupled to the drive shaft may be employed). Processing circuitry 42 produces a square wave output pulse for a timed interval after the points 14 open. In accordance with an optional aspect of the present invention, the output of processing circuit 42 changes back to its initial state after a timed interval which is dependent upon engine speed. The length of the output pulse from circuit 42 will determine the number of sparks that will be produced for each opening of the points.
The output of processing circuit 42 is used to drive gated "sparking" oscillator 44. This oscillator sets the time spacing between subsequent sparks. Counter and drive logic 46 counts cycles of this oscillator and in turn is utilized to drive switch 38. In accordance with one optional aspect of the invention, counter 46 is utilized to assure that an even number of sparks are provided for each point opening of the engine, and thus that spark plug firing current polarity is of a like state. In practical spark plugs the sparking voltage is found to be lower when the hotter central electrode of the plug is negative with respect to ground. Circuitry 46 ensures that the first spark of each group of sparks will have this negative polarity. Second and subsequent sparks of a series of sparks are easier to produce than the first because there are a large number of ions in the vicinity of the spark gap just after the first spark. By counting the sparks produced for each point opening and making this an even number it is assured that the first spark produced is of the negative or preferred polarity.
In summary then, it can be seen that the circuitry in FIG. 4 produces plural sparks each time points 14 open. The number of sparks produced for each such opening is dependent on the frequency of oscillator 44. The higher the frequency of the oscillator 44, the greater the number of sparks produced for each opening of the points. Producing multiple sparks for each point opening gives rise to complete and total combustion for each chamber in the automobile engine.
Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a schematic diagram of a multiple spark ignition system of the type described in block diagram form in FIG. 4. Power from battery 10 is applied to the DC-DC converter 79. The power is applied to the center tap of coil 89 and from there to push-pull arranged transistors 85 and 86. Drive for transistors 85 and 86 is supplied from oscillator 80 which operates at approximately 10KC. Its output is applied to a counter (e.g., a toggle flip-flop) 81 which divides the output frequency in half. The output of flip-flop 81 comprises two square waves which are 180 degrees out of phase. These two drive signals are applied to one input of AND (coincidence) gates 82 and 84. Gates 82 and 84 in turn are controlled by turn on delay circuit 100 and a voltage regulator error sensing circuit consisting of transistor 96 and associated circuitry.
Turn on delay circuit 100 is utilized to prevent the firing of a cylinder when the engine is first switched on, but before the activation of the engine starter motor. When power is first applied to delay circuit 100 transistor 101 is biased on through capacitor 103 which begins to charge. Under this condition a relatively low level (logical zero for conventional current sinking logic) is applied to one input of AND gate 98. Therefore, the output of gate 98 is also a logical zero which ensures that gates 82 and 84 are turned off and there is no drive applied to transistors 85 and 86.
When capacitor 103 has charged through resistor 102 and the base-emitter junction of transistor 101, transistor 101 stops conducting and applies a relatively high level (logical one) to the input of gate 98. Assuming a logical one being applied to the remaining input of gate 98 by the regulator circuitry signalling that output energy is required, gate 98 switches to a high output state, thus partially enabling the AND gates 82 and 84. These gates 82 and 84 alternately turn on when the Q, Q outputs of flip-flops 81 are high to apply push-pull drive signals to the inputs of transistors 85 and 86. The high voltage secondary of chopper transformer 89 thus provides AC drive to full wave rectifier bridge 90. This bridge rectifies the output of transformer 89 and applies a DC output to a low pass ripple filter 92, e.g., formed of a series inductor 93 and shunt capacitor 94.
When filter output capacitor 94 has been charged to the intended output value (as adjusted and selected by potentiometer 95) transistor 96 turns off by per se conventional regulator action. This puts a low level logical zero on one input of gate 98 thereby disabling this gate. Gate 98, in turn, disables gates 82 and 84 thereby removing the drive from transistors 85 and 86. Therefore, when the desired output voltage is exceeded, drive is removed from transistors 85 and 86, terminating the DC-to-DC conversion action. However, energy is still stored in inductor 93 and capacitor 94. When the energy stored in capacitors 94 decreases in value, transistor 96 will again be turned on enabling gate 98 which in turn reapplies alternating drive to transistors 85 and 86 through gates 82 and 84. As per se well known, hysteresis may be employed in the voltage level sensor/comparator to define a range of output potential across capacitor 94.
The charge stored in capacitor 94 is utilized to resonant charge capacitor 41 in a first polarity through diode 36 and transistor 69 (which performs the function of switch "A" in FIG. 4) and the coil 12 as above-discussed. The charge stored in capacitor 41 is in turn reversed via diode 40 and transistor 70 (serving as switch "B" in the FIG. 4 schematic presentation) and the coil 12. The resonant charging of capacitor 41 through the primary of coil 12 generates multiple sparking in the manner described above.
The signals for turning transistors 69 and 70 on and off originate in points 14 and cam 15 (or other timing elements alternatively employed) as previously described. When the points open, a positive going signal is applied to the input of one shot multivibrator 54. The duration of the output pulse from multivibrator 54 is substantially fixed at low engine speeds (low repetition rates) and is determined by internal reactive timing components at faster rates as is per se understood in the art. By proper selection of the internal timing components in multivibator 54, its output can be arranged to give an output pulse of approximately 10 milliseconds in duration for a triggering rate of 33 pulses per second, and can give an output pulse of 1 millisecond duration for a triggering rate of 330 pulses per second. These rates are appropriate for 500 and 5,000 rpm for an 8 cylinder engine.
The output of multivibrator 54 is inverted by inverter 56 and applied to one input of NAND (coincident) gate 58. The remaining input of gate 58 is normally high as counter (e.g., a toggle flip flop) 61 is normally in a reset state. Therefore, the output of gate 58 goes high which enables oscillator 44. Oscillator 44 operates at approximately 2,000 hertz, supplying its output to flip flop 61 which produces when active two output square waves 180 degrees out of phase. Flip flop 61 begins in a quiescent state. Therefore, the first time this flip flop is triggered, the Q output of the flip flop goes high. This positive going pulse is applied to the base of transistor 66 turning this transistor on, thus also enabling the "A" switch transistor 69. The activated transistor 69 passes current from capacitor 94 through diode 36 to the capacitor 41 and coil 12 as previously described. This action produces the first spark of the multiple sparking arrangement. Approximately 500 microseconds later, the Q output of flip flop 61 goes low and Q output of flip flop 61 goes high, directly turning on the "B" switch transistor 70 and turning off switch 69. The transistor 70 and diode 40 provide a path to reverse resonant charge capacitor 41, thereby producing the second spark in the manner previously described.
The process described above continues as long as the output of monostable multivibrator 54 is high. During this time, oscillator 44 continues to run and its output is divided by flip flop 61. This provides alternating drive pulses to transistors 69 and 70 in the manner described above. Therefore, as long as the output of multivibrator 54 is high, multiple sparking pulses are continuously applied to the spark plugs.
When the output of multivibrator 54 goes low signalling the end of the sparking period, a high level ("on") is applied to the upper input of gate 58 via inverter 56. When the Q output of flip flop 61 again returns high (if it is not already in this state), a second high is applied to the input of gate 58. Therefore, the output of NAND gate 58 goes low turning off oscillator 44 and resetting flip flop 61 to the reset state. Thus, the circuitry always resides in the same state when the points close such that, upon point reopening, the first spark is always of the same polarity.
Protection in the FIG. 5 circuitry arrangement is provided by zener diodes 71 and 75. These two diodes limit the voltage which can appear across the base-collector junction of transistors 69 and 70 under adverse conditions such as an open spark plug lead. This would cause high voltages to be reflected back through the ignition coil which could damage transistors 69 and 70. Capacitor 74 is a small capacitor merely used as a radio frequency bypass for the output line. This completes the description of the multiple sparking arrangement shown in FIG. 5.
Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a second embodiment of a multiple spark automotive ignition system. The system shown in FIG. 6 utilizes an inductor to store the sparking energy rather than a capacitor as was described above. A multiple spark ignition system is limited by the rapidity with which it can produce sparks. This limitation is in turn determined by the time it takes to store energy in the spark coil. The time it takes to store energy in the sparking coil can be shortened if the charging voltage is substantially higher than the battery voltage normally used to charge the coil. This is the original reason why a capacitor discharge system is used. However, when a charged capacitor is connected across the coil primary, a spark is produced but the coil primary does not end up with any stored energy after the capacitor is discharged. Therefore, an advantageous method is to store energy in the coil primary by connecting it to a constant current source which already contains energy.
FIG. 6 utilizes coil 12 in the same manner as described above. Transistors 114 and 116 provide the multiple sparking as will be hereinafter described. The system in FIG. 6, however, contains storage inductor 112 which functions as a constant current source connected in series with the primary winding of coil 12. Assume now that transistor 116 is biased in the "on" condition. In this stage, current flows from the battery 10, through the key switch 110, through storage inductor 112 and through the primary of coil 12. In both inductors, there is stored energy equal to 1/2 L1 2 , where L is the inductance in henrys of the particular coil and I is the current in amperes. The spark coil will typically have a primary inductance of about 5 millihenrys. The storage inductor can easily be made 20 times as large and it will therefore store 20 times as much energy.
When a series of sparks are desired to fire a particular cylinder, it is necessary to switch the primary of coil 12 from being in series with the storage inductor 112 to engine ground potential. Therefore, when transistor 114 is turned on and transistor 116 turned off, the primary of coil 12 is connected to ground collapsing the magnetic field previously built up in this coil. This produces spark voltage in the secondary of coil 12 in the manner previously described. When transistor 114 is turned off and transistor 116 again turned on, the path between battery 10 to ground through the storage inductor and the primary of the coil 12 is restored. Therefore, the current flowing through the primary suddenly increases, inducing a magnetic field into the secondary of coil 12 which produces a second spark. This sparking sequencecontinues as long as the multivibrator 118 remains gated on by the trigger circuit 117.
The drive for switching transistor 114 and 116 is provided by gated, symmetrical output multivibrator 118 which is driven by trigger circuit 117. The trigger circuit receives timing information from points 14 and cam 15 in the same manner as the previous systems received their timing information. Trigger circuit 117 detects the opening and closing of points 14 and each time points 14 open, trigger circuit 117 enables astable multivibrator 118. This multivibrator in turn provides two 180° out of phase square wave pulse trains to switching transistors 114 and 116. The pulse trains applied to these transistors alternately turn them on and off. This generate multiple sparking in the manner described above. The frequency of multivibrator 118 may approximate 2.5 kilocycles to generate one spark approximately every 200 microseconds. At 5,000 rpm, therefore, an 8 cylinder engine will get 5 sparks for each opening of the points. At 400 rpm, there will be over 60 sparks for each opening of the points.
Turn-on protection circuit 130 is utilized to ensure that no sparks will be produced until the points have closed one time. Transistors 132 and 134 in combination form an equivalent SCR as is per se well known. This equivalent SCR is enabled by the negative going voltage transition generated by the first closing of points 14. Once transistors 132 and 134 are enabled, battery voltage is applied to circuits 117 and 118 to thereafter enable these elements.
Transistor protection circuit 120 is utilized as a clamp to suppress any high voltage spikes that might otherwise appear at the collectors of transistors 114 and 116 during current switching. When such a spike occurs, transistors 122 is turned on, thus clamping the maximum voltage allowed across either transistor 114 or 116 to the value of zener diode 123, multiplied by the voltage division factor of the resistive voltage divider network formed of resistors 124 and 125, i.e., at level V Z ·(R124-R125)/R125). This permits use of common and inexpensive low voltage zener diodes to provide a clamp or reference of hundreds of volts. This completes the description of the inductive multiple spark ignition system shown in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIG. 7, therein is shown a third embodiment of the invention. Turn-on protection circuit 130 is identical to the circuit previously described with reference to FIG. 6. Also, transistor protection circuit 120 functions in the same manner as in FIG. 6. The circuit of FIG. 7 utilizes transistor 160 as the switching transistor. This transistor is driven by an asymmetrical gated free running multivibrator 162. The asymmetrical multivibrator is enabled by turn-on protection circuit 130 after an initial delay in the same manner as described above. When points 14 are closed, the output of multivibrator 162 is high which holds transistor 160 in the on state. When points 14 are open, the multivibrator oscillates in such a way that it alternately turns the switching transistor off for unequal periods, e.g., one-half millisecond and then on for 2 milliseconds. The longer on-time is required to store meaningful energy in the core of coil 12.
This oscillation continues as long as the points are open. When the points close again, the transistor 160 is returned to a steady on condition. The result of this oscillation period is the production of a spark each 2.5 milliseconds as long as the points are open. For a four cylinder engine, this provides two sparks per cylinder at very high speeds (e.g., 4,000 rpm) and provides approximately ten sparks per cylinder at low speeds (e.g., 400 rpm). The first spark of the series is the strongest. Later sparks are of course limited by the smaller amount of energy which is stored in the coil during the dwell time. Turning the switching transistor 160 on and off by the multivibrator builds up and collapses the magnetic field in the primary of coil 12 in the manner described above. This in turn is reflected to the secondary of coil 12 which distributes sparks to the various spark plugs.
The above-described arrangements, are merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
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An automotive ignition system utilized multiple sparks for each cylinder ignition to ensure complete burning of the fuel mixture therein. To this end, a plurality of control signals are produced each time the engine breaker points or other timing apparatus signals that a chamber is conditioned for combustion. Successive control signals during each combustion cycle build up and collapse a magnetic field in the primary winding of the ignition coil to thereby generate the requisite multiple sparking. The resultant complete burning of the fuel mixture in each cylinder results in increased gas mileage, reduced air pollution, and improved and continued high level engine performance, notwithstanding degradation in ignition system elements.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of organosilicon disulfide compounds. Organosilicon disulfides are known adhesion promoters in sulfur-vulcanizable rubber mixtures reinforced with inorganic materials such as glass SiO 2 , aluminosilicates and carbon black. For example, in GB 1,484,909, there is disclosed a process for the preparation of organo trialkoxysilane disulfides. In accordance with the teachings of this reference, mercaptopropyl trimethoxy silane or mercaptopropyl triethoxy silane is reacted with sulfuryl chloride in an inert solvent at temperatures of from 0° to 100°. The disulfide is then obtained by fractional distillation. The yields of desired product range in the neighborhood of 63 to 65 percent of theoretical.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,111 discloses a method for the preparation of organosilicon disulfide compounds by oxidizing mercaptoalkoxysilanes. Representative oxidizing agents include oxygen, chlorine, halogens of atomic weight 35 to 127, nitric oxide, sulfuryl chloride and sulfoxides.
Generally speaking, organosilicon disulfide compounds are very expensive and, with the increasing interest in silica-reinforced vulcanizable rubber, more cost-efficient methods of preparing these compounds are needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a organosilicon disulfide compounds. The present invention may be used to prepare symmetrical organosilicon disulfide compounds of the formula
Z--R.sup.1 --S.sub.2 --R.sup.1 --Z, I
unsymmetrical organosilicon disulfide compounds of the formula ##STR1## and mixtures thereof, wherein Z is selected from the group consisting of ##STR2## wherein R 2 may be the same or different and is independently selected from the group consisting of an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbons and phenyl; R 3 may be the same or different and is independently selected from the group consisting of alkoxy groups having 1 to 8 carbon atoms and cycloalkoxy groups with 5 to 8 carbon atoms; and R 1 is selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted alkylene group having a total of 1 to 18 carbon atoms and a substituted or unsubstituted arylene group having a total of 6 to 12 carbon atoms.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
There is disclosed a process for the preparation of organosilicon disulfide compounds comprising reacting
(a) a sulfenamide compound of the formula ##STR3## where R 4 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, acyclic aliphatic groups having from 1 to 10 carbon atoms and cyclic aliphatic groups having from 5 to 10 carbon atoms; and R 5 is selected from the group consisting of acyclic aliphatic groups having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and cyclic aliphatic groups having from 5 to 10 carbon atoms; with
(b) a mercaptosilane compound of the formula
Z--R.sup.1 --SH IV
wherein Z is selected from the group consisting of ##STR4## wherein R 2 may be the same of different and is independently selected from the group consisting of an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon and phenyl; R 3 may be the same of different and is independently selected from the group consisting of alkoxy groups having 1 to 8 carbon atoms and cycloalkoxy groups with 5 to 8 carbon atoms; and R 1 is selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted alkylene group having a total of 1 to 18 carbon atoms and a substituted or unsubstituted arylene group having a total of 6 to 12 carbon atoms.
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of organosilicon disulfide compounds. Representative organosilicon disulfide compounds of formula I which may be prepared in accordance with the present invention include 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trimethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(triethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(triethoxysilypropyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(tripropoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(tri-sec-butoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(tri-t-butoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(triisopropoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trioctoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(2'-ethylhexoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(dimethoxy ethoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(methoxyethoxypropoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(dimethoxymethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(methoxy dimethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(diethoxymethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(ethoxydimethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(cyclohexoxy dimethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 4,4'-bis(trimethoxysilylbutyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-3-methylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(tripropoxysilyl-3-methylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(dimethoxy methylsilyl-3-ethylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-2-methylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(dimethoxyphenylsilyl-2-methylpropyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trimethoxysilylcyclohexyl) disulfide; 12,12'-bis(trimethoxysilyldodecyl) disulfide; 12,12'-bis(triethoxysilyldodecyl) disulfide; 18,18'-bis(trimethoxysilyloctadecyl) disulfide; 18,18'-bis(methoxydimethylsilyloctadecyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-2-methylethyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(tripropoxysilyl-2-methylethy) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trioctoxysilyl-2-methylethyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-phenyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(triethoxysilyl-phenyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-tolyl)disulfide; 2,2'-bis(triethoxysilyl-tolyl)disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-methyl tolyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(triethoxysilyl-methyl tolyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-ethyl phenyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(triethoxysilyl-ethyl phenyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-ethyl tolyl) disulfide; 2,2'-bis(triethoxysilyl-ethyl tolyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-propyl phenyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(triethoxysilyl-propyl phenyl) disulfide; 3,3'-bis(trimethoxysilyl-propyl tolyl) disulfide; and 3,3'-bis(triethoxysilyl-propyl tolyl) disulfide.
Representative organosilicon disulfide compounds of formula II which may be prepared in accordance with the present invention include 2-benzothiazyl-(3-triethoxysilyl)propyl disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-triethoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-tripropoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-tri-sec-butoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-tri-t-butoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-triisopropoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trioctoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-ethylhexoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-dimethoxy ethoxysilylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-methoxyethoxypropoxysilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-dimethoxymethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-methoxy dimethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-diethoxymethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-ethoxydimethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-cyclohexoxy dimethylsilylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(4-trimethoxysilylbutyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trimethoxysilyl-3-methylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-tripropoxysilyl-3-methylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-dimethoxy methylsilyl-3-ethylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trimethoxysilyl-2-methylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-dimethoxyphenylsilyl-2-methylpropyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trimethoxysilylcyclohexyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(12-trimethoxysilyldodecyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(12-triethoxysilyldodecyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(18-trimethoxysilyloctadecyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(18-methoxydimethylsilyloctadecyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilyl-2-methylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-tripropoxysilyl-2-methylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trioctoxysilyl-2-methylethyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilyl-phenyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-triethoxysilyl-phenyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilyl-tolyl)disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-triethoxysilyl-tolyl)disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilyl-methyl tolyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-triethoxysilyl-methyl tolyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilyl-ethyl phenyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-triethoxysilyl-ethyl phenyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-trimethoxysilyl-ethyl tolyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(2-triethoxysilyl-ethyl tolyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trimethoxysilyl-propyl phenyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-triethoxysilyl-propyl phenyl) disulfide; 2-benzothiazyl-(3-trimethoxysilyl-propyl tolyl) disulfide; and 2-benzothiazyl-(3-triethoxysilyl-propyl tolyl) disulfide.
With reference to formulas I and II, preferably R 1 is a alkylene group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms Z is ##STR5## and R 3 is an alkoxy group having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms.
The desired products are prepared by reacting a sulfenamide compound of formula III with a mercaptosilane compound of formula IV. Representative examples of compounds of formula III include N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N-t-butyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N,N-dicyclohexyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N-isopropyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N,N-dimethyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N,N-diethyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N,N-diproply-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide, N,N-diisopropyl-2-benzothiazyl-sulfenamide and N,N-diphenyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide. Preferably, the sulfenamide is N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazylsulfenamide.
Representative examples of compounds of formula IV include 2-mercaptoethyl trimethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyl triethoxysilane, 2-mercaptopropyl triethoxysilane, 2-mercaptoethyl tripropoxysilane, 2-mercaptoethyl tri sec-butoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyl tri-t-butoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyl triisopropoxysilane; 3-mercaptopropyl trioctoxysilane, 2-mercaptoethyl tri-2'-ethylhexoxysilane, 2-mercaptoethyl dimethoxy ethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyl methoxyethoxypropoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyl dimethoxy methylsilane, 3-mercaptopropyl methoxy dimethylsilane, 3-mercaptopropyl diethoxy methylsilane, 3-mercaptopropyl ethoxy dimethylslane, 3-mercaptopropyl cyclohexoxy dimethyl silane, 4-mercaptobutyl trimethoxysilane, 3mercapto-3-methylpropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-mercapto-3-methylpropyl-tripropoxysilane, 3-mercapto-3-ethylpropyl-dimethoxy methylsilane, 3-mercapto-2-methylpropyl trimethoxysilane, 3-mercapto-2-methylpropyl dimethoxy phenylsilane, 3-mercaptocyclohexyl-trimethoxysilane, 12-mercaptododecyl trimethoxy silane, 12-mercaptododecyl triethoxy silane, 18-mercaptooctadecyl trimethoxysilane, 18-mercaptooctadecyl methoxydimethylsilane, 2-mercapto-2-methylethyl-tripropoxysilane, 2-mercapto-2-methylethyl-trioctoxysilane, 2-mercaptophenyl trimethoxysilane, 2-mercaptophenyl triethoxysilane; 2-mercaptotolyl trimethoxysilane; 2-mercaptotolyl triethoxysilane; 2-mercaptomethyltolyl trimethoxysilane; 2-mercaptomethyltolyl triethoxysilane; 2-mercaptoethylphenyl trimethoxysilane; 2-mercaptoethylphenyl triethoxysilane; 2-mercaptoethyltolyl trimethoxysilane; 2-mercaptoethyltolyl triethoxysilane; 3-mercaptopropylphenyl trimethoxysilane; 3-mercaptopropylphenyl triethoxysilane; 3-mercaptopropyltolyl trimethoxysilane; and 3-mercaptopropyltolyl triethoxysilane.
With reference to formula IV, preferably Z is ##STR6## R 3 is an alkoxy group having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms and R 1 is an alkylene group having 2 to 3 carbon atoms.
The molar ratio of the compound of formula III to the compound of formula IV may range from 1:5 to 5:1. Preferably, the molar ratio ranges from 1:3 to 3:1 with a range of from 1:1 to 1:2 being particularly preferred. As can be appreciated by the teachings herein, by varying the molar ratio of the compound of formula III to the compound of formula IV, one produces varying weight percentage of the symmetrical organosilicon disulfide of formula I and the unsymmetrical organosilicon disulfide for formula II.
The reaction should be conducted in the absence of water because the presence of a alkoxysilane moiety may be hydrolysed by contact with water.
The reaction of the present invention may be conducted in the presence of an organic solvent. Suitable solvents which may be used include chloroform, dichloromethane, carbon tetrachloride, hexane, heptane, cyclohexane, xylene, benzene, dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, dioxane, diisopropyl ether, tetrahydrofuran and toluene. As indicated above, care should be exercised to avoid the presence of water during the reaction. Therefore, none of the above solvent should contain any appreciable levels of water. Preferably, the organic solvent is chloroform, heptane, xylene, cyclohexane or toluene.
The reaction may be conducted over a variety of temperatures. Generally speaking, the reaction is conducted in a temperature ranging from 20° C. to 140° C. Preferably, the reaction is conducted at a temperature ranging from 50° C. to 90° C.
The process of the present invention may be conducted at a variety of pressures. Generally speaking, however, the reaction is conducted at a pressure ranging from 0.96 to 4.83 kg/cm 2 .
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation of 2-Benzothiazyl-(3-Triethoxysilyl)Propyl Disulfide and Bis (3-Triethoxysilyl)Propyl Disulfide
A 1-quart (0.946 l) glass reactor was charged with 400 ml of mixed xylenes, 25.1 g (0.10 mole) of N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazolesulfenamide, 23.8 g (0.10 mole) of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and shaken for a few minutes, wherein an exotherm to 32° C. was observed and a thick off-white-to-yellow precipitate began to form. The reaction was stirred for 4 hours, filtered and dried under 29 inches of Hg vacuum, to give 18 g of a liquid product containing 27.2 percent by weight of 2-benzothiazyl-(3-triethoxysilyl)propyl disulfide and 42.7 percent by weight of bis (3-triethoxysilyl)propyl disulfide, with 19 percent by weight of starting material as determined by GPC and mass spectrometric analysis.
EXAMPLE 2
Preparation of Bis(3-Triethoxysilyl)Propyl Disulfide
A 1-quart (0.946l) glass reactor was charged with 400 ml of mixed xylenes, 25.1 g (0.10 mole) of N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazolesulfenamide, 47.6 g (0.20 mole) of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and shaken for a few minutes, wherein an exotherm to 33° C. was observed and a thick off-white-to-yellow-brown precipitate began to form. The reaction was stirred for 4 hours, filtered and stripped under 29 inches of Hg vacuum, to give 44.5 g of a liquid product containing 98 percent by weight of bis 3-triethoxysilyl)propyl disulfide, as determined by GPC and mass spectrometric analysis. The precipitate weighed 38.4 g and was determined to be mercaptobenzothiazole.
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation of Bis(3-Triethoxysilyl)Propyl Disulfide
A 1-quart (0.946l) glass reactor was charged with 400 ml of mixed xylenes, 23.9 g (0.10 mole) of N-t-butyl-2-benzothiazolesulfenamide, 47.6 g (0.20 mole) of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and shaken for a few minutes, wherein an exotherm to 33° C. was observed and a thick off-white-to-yellow-brown precipitate began to form. The reaction was stirred for 4 hours, filtered and stripped under 29 inches of Hg vacuum, to give 40.0 g of a liquid product containing 97 percent by weight of bis (3-triethoxysilyl)propyl disulfide, as determined by GPC and mass spectrometric analysis. The precipitate weighed 30.6 g and was determined to be mercaptobenzothiazole.
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The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of organo silicon disulfide compounds. The process involves reacting a mercaptoalkoxysilane with a sulfenamide compound.
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PRIORITY DOCUMENTS
This application takes priority from U.S. Granted Pat. No. 7,958,952 entitled “Pulse Rate of Penetration Enhancement Device and Method” and filed on Dec. 17, 2008 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/529,329 entitled “Full Flow Pulser for Measurement While Drilling (MWD) Device and filed on Aug. 31, 2011. In addition the entire contents of both applications, as filed are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF DISCLOSURE
The current invention includes an apparatus and a method for controlling a pulse created within drilling fluid or drilling mud traveling along the internal portion of a coiled tubing (CT) housing by the use of a flow throttling device (FTD). The pulse is normally generated by selectively initiating flow driven bidirectional pulses due to proper geometric mechanical designs within a pulser. Coiled Tubing (CT) is defined as any continuously-milled tubular product manufactured in lengths that requires spooling onto a take-up reel, during the primary milling or manufacturing process. The tube is nominally straightened prior to being inserted into the wellbore and is recoiled for spooling back onto the reel. Tubing diameter normally ranges from 0.75 inches to 4 inches and single reel tubing lengths in excess of 30,000 ft. have been commercially manufactured. Common CT steels have yield strengths ranging from 55,000 PSI to 120,000 PSI and the limit is usually reached at no more than 5 inch diameters due to weight limitations. The coiled tubing unit is comprised of the complete set of equipment necessary to perform standard continuous-length tubing operations in the oil or gas exploration field. The unit consists of four basic elements:
1. Reel—for storage and transport of the CT 2. Injector Head—to provide the surface drive force to run and retrieve the CT 3. Control Cabin—from which the equipment operator monitors and controls the CT 4. Power Pack—to generate hydraulic and pneumatic power required to operate the CT unit.
Features of the combined pulsing and CT device include operating a full flow throttling device [FTD] that provides pulses providing more open area to the flow of the drilling fluid in a CT device that also allows for intelligent control above or below a positive displacement motor with downlink capabilities as well as providing and maintaining weight on bit with a feedback loop such that pressure differentials within the collar and associated annular of the FTD inside the bore pipe to provide information for reproducible properly guided pressure pulses with low noise signals. The pulse received “up hole” from the tool down hole includes a series of pressure variations that represent pressure signals which may be interpreted as inclination, azimuth, gamma ray counts per second, etc. by oilfield engineers and managers and utilized to further increase yield in oilfield operations.
BACKGROUND
This invention relates generally to the completion of wellbores. More particularly, this invention relates to new and improved methods and devices for completion, extension, fracing and increasing rate of penetration (ROP) in drilling of a branch wellbore extending laterally from a primary well which may be vertical, substantially vertical, inclined or horizontal. This invention finds particular utility in the completion of multilateral wells, that is, downhole well environments where a plurality of discrete, spaced lateral wells extend from a common vertical wellbore.
Horizontal well drilling and production have been increasingly important to the oil industry in recent years due to findings of new or untapped reservoirs that require special equipment for such production. While horizontal wells have been known for many years, only relatively recently have such wells been determined to be a cost effective alternative (or at least companion) to conventional vertical well drilling. Although drilling a horizontal well costs substantially more than its vertical counterpart, a horizontal well frequently improves production by a factor of five, ten, or even twenty of those that are naturally fractured reservoirs. Generally, projected productivity from a horizontal well must triple that of a vertical hole for horizontal drilling to be economical. This increased production minimizes the number of platforms, cutting investment and operational costs. Horizontal drilling makes reservoirs in urban areas, permafrost zones and deep offshore waters more accessible. Other applications for horizontal wells include periphery wells, thin reservoirs that would require too many vertical wells, and reservoirs with coning problems in which a horizontal well could be optimally distanced from the fluid contact.
Horizontal wells are typically classified into four categories depending on the turning radius:
1. An ultra short turning radius is 1-2 feet; build angle is 45-60 degrees per foot. 2. A short turning radius is 20-100 feet; build angle is 2-5 degrees per foot. 3. A medium turning radius is 300-1,000 feet; build angle is 6-20 degrees per 100 feet. 4. A long turning radius is 1,000-3,000 feet; build angle is 2-6 degrees per 100 feet.
These additional lateral wells are sometimes referred to as drainholes and vertical wells containing more than one lateral well are referred to as multilateral wells. Multilateral wells are becoming increasingly important, both from the standpoint of new drilling operations and from the increasingly important standpoint of reworking existing wellbores including remedial and stimulation work.
As a result, the foregoing increased dependence on and importance of horizontal wells, horizontal well completion, and particularly multilateral well completion, important concerns provide a host of difficult problems to overcome. Lateral completion, particularly at the juncture between the vertical and lateral wellbore is extremely important in order to avoid collapse of the well in unconsolidated or weakly consolidated formations. Thus, open hole completions are limited to competent rock formations; and even then open hole completions are inadequate since there is no control or ability to re-access (or re-enter the lateral) or to isolate production zones within the well. Coupled with this need to complete lateral wells is the growing desire to maintain the size of the wellbore in the lateral well as close as possible to the size of the primary vertical wellbore for ease of drilling and completion.
Conventionally, horizontal wells have been completed using either slotted liner completion, external casing packers (ECP's) or cementing techniques. The primary purpose of inserting a slotted liner in a horizontal well is to guard against hole collapse. Additionally, a liner provides a convenient path to insert coiled tubing in a horizontal well. Three types of liners have been used namely (1) perforated liners, where holes are drilled in the liner, (2) slotted liners, where slots of various width and depth are milled along the line length, and (3) pre-packed liners.
Slotted liners provide limited sand control through selection of hole sizes and slot width sizes. However, these liners are susceptible to plugging. In unconsolidated formations, wire wrapped slotted liners have been used to control sand production. Gravel packing may also be used for sand control in a horizontal well. The main disadvantage of a slotted liner is that effective well stimulation can be difficult because of the open annular space between the liner and the well. Similarly, selective production (e.g., zone isolation) is difficult.
Another option is a liner with partial isolations. External casing packers (ECPs) have been installed outside the slotted liner to divide a long horizontal well bore into several small sections. This method provides limited zone isolation, which can be used for stimulation or production control along the well length. However, ECP's are also associated with certain drawbacks and deficiencies. For example, normal horizontal wells are not truly horizontal over their entire length; rather they have many bends and curves. In a hole with several bends it may be difficult to insert a liner with several external casing packers. Finally, it is possible to cement and perforate medium and long radius wells as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,165.
While sealing the juncture between a vertical and lateral well is of importance in both horizontal and multilateral wells, re-entry and zone isolation is of particular importance and pose particularly difficult problems in multilateral wells completions. Re-entering lateral wells is necessary to perform completion work, additional drilling and/or remedial and stimulation work. Isolating a lateral well from other lateral branches is necessary to prevent migration of fluids and to comply with completion practices and regulations regarding the separate production of different production zones. Zonal isolation may also be needed if the borehole drifts in and out of the target reservoir because of insufficient geological knowledge or poor directional control; and because of pressure differentials in vertically displaced strata as will be discussed below.
When horizontal boreholes are drilled in naturally fractured reservoirs, zonal isolation is seen as desirable. Initial pressure in naturally fractured formations may vary from one fracture to the next, as may the hydrocarbon gravity and likelihood of coning. Allowing different fractures to produce together, permits cross flow between fractures and a single fracture with early water breakthrough, which may jeopardize the entire well's production.
As mentioned above, initially horizontal wells were completed with uncemented slotted liner unless the formation was strong enough for an open hole completion. Both methods make it difficult to determine producing zones and, if problems develop, practically impossible to selectively treat the right zone. Today, zone isolation is achieved using either external casing packers on slotted or perforated liners or by conventional cementing and perforating.
The problem of lateral wellbore (and particularly multilateral wellbore) completion has been recognized for many years as reflected in the patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,704 discloses a system for completing multiple lateral wellbores using a dual packer and a deflective guide member. U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,893 discloses a method for completing lateral wells using a flexible liner and deflecting tool. U.S. Pat. No. 2,397,070 similarly describes lateral wellbore completion using flexible casing together with a closure shield for closing off the lateral. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,858,107, a removable whipstock assembly provides a means for locating (e.g., re-entry) a lateral subsequent to completion thereof.
Notwithstanding the above-described attempts at obtaining cost effective and workable lateral well completions, there continues to be a need for new horizontal wells to increase, for example, unconventional shale plays—which are wells exhibiting low permeability and therefore requiring horizontal laterals increasing in length to maximize reservoir contact. With increased lateral length, the number of zones fractured increases proportionally.
Most of these wells are fractured using the “Plug and Perf” method which requires perforating the zone nearest the toe of the horizontal section, fracturing that zone and then placing a composite plug (pumped down an electrical line) followed by perforating the next set of cluster. The process is repeated numerous times until all the required zones are stimulated. Upon completing the fracturing operation, the plugs are removed with a positive displacement motor (PDM) and mill run on coiled tubing. As the lateral length increases, milling with coiled tubing becomes less efficient, leading to the use of jointed pipe for removing plugs.
Two related reasons cause this reduction in efficiency of the CT. First, as the depth increases, the effective maximum weight on bit (WOB) decreases. Second, at increased lateral depths, the coiled tubing is typically in a stable helical spiral in the wellbore. The operator sending the additional coiled tubing (and weight from the surface) will have to overcome greater static loads leading to a longer and inconsistent transmission of load to the bit. This phenomenon is referred to as “stick/slip” in field operations. The onset of these two effects is controlled by several factors including; CT shell thickness, wellbore deviation and build angle, completion size, CT/completion contact friction drag, fluid drag, debris, and bottomhole assembly (BHA) weight and size. CT outer diameter less than 4 inches tends to buckle due to easier helical spiraling, thus increasing the friction from the increased contact surface with the wall of the bore hole. CT outer diameter above 4 inches is impractical due to weight and friction limitations, wellbore deviation is normally not well controlled, friction drag is a function of CT shell thickness and diameter, leaving end loads as one of the variables most studied for manipulation to achieve better well completion.
SUMMARY
The need to effectively overcome these challenges for both lateral reach and improved plug milling has led to the development of the current CT/pulser tool. The tool allows for improved methods that provide better well completions, the ability to re-enter lateral wells (particularly in multilateral systems), achieving extended reach zone isolation between respective lateral wells in a multilateral well system, communicating uphole the downhole formation information, better rate and direction of penetration with proper WOB, as well as providing for controlled pulsing of the pulser in a proper directional manner.
Current pulser technology utilizes pulsers that are sensitive to different fluid pump down hole pressures, and flow rates, and require field adjustments to pulse properly so that meaningful signals from these pulses can be received and interpreted uphold using Coil Tubing (CT) technology. Newer technology incorporated with CT has included the use of water hammer devices producing a force when the drilling fluid is suddenly stopped or interrupted by the sudden closing of a valve. This force created by the sudden closing of the valve can be used to pull the coiled tubing deeper into the wellbore. The pull is created by increasing the axial stress in the coiled tubing and straightening the tubing due to momentary higher fluid pressure inside the tubing and thus reducing the frictional drag. This task—generating the force by opening and closing valves—can be accomplished in many ways—and is also the partial subject of the present disclosure.
The present disclosure and associated embodiments allows for providing a pulser system within coil tubing such that the pulser decreases sensitivity to fluid flow rate or overall fluid pressure within easily achievable limits, does not require field adjustment, and is capable of creating recognizable, repeatable, reproducible, clean [i.e. noise free] fluid pulse signals using minimum power due to a unique flow throttling device [FTD]. The pulser is a full flow throttling device without a centralized pilot port, thus reducing wear, clogging and capital investment of unnecessary equipment as well as increasing longevity and dependability in the down hole portion of the CT. This augmented CT still utilizes battery, magneto-electric and/or turbine generated energy to provide (MWD) measurement while drilling, as well as increased (ROP) rate of penetration capabilities within the CT using the FTD of the present disclosure.
Additional featured benefits of the present inventive device and associated methods include having a pulser tool above and/or below the PDM (positive displacement motor) allowing for intelligence gathering and transmitting of real time data by using the pulser above the motor and as an efficient drilling tool with data being stored in memory below the motor with controlled annular pressure, acceleration, as well as downhole WOB control. The WOB control is controlled by using a set point and threshold for the axial force provided by the shock wave generated using the FTD. Master control is provided uphole with a feedback loop from the surface of the well to the BHA above and/or below the PDM
The coiled tubing industry continues to be one of the fastest growing segments of the oilfield services sector, and for good reason. CT growth has been driven by attractive economics, continual advances in technology, and utilization of CT to perform an ever-growing list of field operations. The economic advantages of the present invention include; increased efficiency of milling times of the plugs by intelligent downhole assessments, extended reach of the CT to the end of the run, allowing for reduction of time on the well and more efficient well production (huge cost avoidances), reduced coil fatigue by eliminating or reducing CT cycling (insertion and removal of the CT from the well), high pressure pulses with little or no kinking and less friction as the pulses are fully controlled, and a lower overall power budget due to the use of the intelligent pulser.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an overview of the full flow MWD.
FIG. 2 is a pulsar control flow diagram for coil tubing application
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention will now be described in greater detail and with reference to the accompanying drawings.
With reference to FIG. 1 , the pulser assembly [ 400 ] device illustrated produces pressure pulses in drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] flowing through a tubular hang-off collar [ 120 . The flow cone [ 170 ] is secured to the inner diameter of the tubular hang-off collar [ 120 ] and includes a pilot flow upper annulus [ 160 ]. Major assemblies of the MWD are shown as provided including aligned within the bore hole of the hang-off collar [ 120 ] are the pilot flow screen assembly [ 135 ], the main valve actuator assembly [ 229 ], the pilot actuator assembly [ 335 ] (comprising a rear pilot shaft [ 336 ], front pilot shaft [ 337 ], pilot shield [ 270 ], and pilot [ 338 ]), and the helical pulser support [ 480 ].
In FIG. 1 , starting from top is the pilot flow screen assembly [ 135 ] which houses the pilot flow screen [ 130 ] which leads to the pilot flow upper annulus [ 160 ], the flow cone [ 170 ] and the main orifice [ 180 ].
In FIG. 1 , starting from an outside position and moving toward the center of the main valve actuator assembly [ 229 ] comprising a main valve [ 190 ], a main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ], a main valve support block [ 350 ], main valve seals [ 225 ] and pilot flow seals [ 245 ]. Internal to the main valve support block [ 350 ] is a main valve feed channel [ 220 ] and the pilot orifice [ 250 ].
The pilot actuator assembly [ 335 ] houses the pilot valve [ 260 ], pilot shield [ 270 ], bellows [ 280 ] and the anti-rotation block [ 290 ], rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ], the bore pipe pressure sensor [ 420 ], the annular pressure sensor [ 470 ], as well as a helically cut cylinder [ 490 ] which rests on the helical pulser support [ 480 ] and tool face alignment key [ 295 ] that keeps the pulser assembly rotated in a fixed position in the tubular hang-off collar [ 120 ]. This figure also shows the passage of the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] past the pilot flow screen [ 130 ] through the main flow entrance [ 150 ], into the flow cone [ 170 ], through the main orifice [ 180 ] into and around the main valve [ 190 ], past the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ], past the main valve seals [ 225 ] through the main valve support block [ 350 ], after which it combines with the pilot exit flow [ 320 ]] both of which flow through the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] to become the main exit flow [ 340 ].
The pilot flow [ 100 ] flows through the pilot flow screen [ 130 ] into the pilot flow screen chamber [ 140 ], through the pilot flow upper annular [ 160 ], through the pilot flow lower annulus [ 210 ] and into the pilot flow inlet channel [ 230 ], where it then flows up into the main valve feed channel [ 220 ] until it reaches the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ] where it flows back down the main valve feed channel [ 220 ], through the pilot flow exit channel [ 360 ], through the pilot orifice [ 250 ], past the pilot valve [ 260 ] where the pilot exit flow [ 320 ] flows over the pilot flow shield [ 270 ] where it combines with the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] to become the main exit flow [ 340 ] as it exits the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] and flows past the bore pipe pressure sensor [ 420 ] and the annulus pressure sensor [ 470 ] imbedded in the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] on either side of the rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ], past the drive shaft [ 305 ] and the drive motor [ 310 ]. The pilot flow lower annulus [ 210 ] extends beyond the pilot flow inlet channel [ 230 ] in the main valve support block [ 350 ], to the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] where it connects to the bore pipe pressure inlet [ 410 ] where the bore pipe pressure sensor [ 420 ] is located. Inside the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] also housed an annulus pressure sensor [ 470 ] which is connected through an annulus pressure inlet [ 450 ] to the collar annulus pressure port [ 460 ]. The lower part of the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] is a helically cut cylinder [ 490 ] that mates with and rests on the helical pulser support [ 480 ] which is mounted securely against rotation and axial motion in the tubular hang-off collar [ 120 ]. The helical pulser support [ 480 ] is designed such that as the helically cut cylinder [ 490 ] of the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] sits on it, the annulus pressure inlet [ 450 ] is aligned with the collar annulus pressure port [ 460 ]. The mating area of the pressure ports are sealed off by flow guide seals [ 240 ] to insure that the annulus pressure sensor [ 470 ] receives only the annulus pressure from the collar annulus pressure port [ 460 ]. The electrical wiring of the pressure sensors [ 420 , 470 ] are sealed off from the fluid of the main exit flow [ 340 ] by using sensor cavity plugs [ 430 ] and the wires are routed to the electrical connector [ 440 ].
The pilot actuator assembly [ 335 ] includes a magnetic pressure cup [ 370 ], and encompasses the rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ]. The magnetic pressure cup [ 370 ] and the rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ] may comprise several magnets, or one or more components of magnetic or ceramic material exhibiting several magnetic poles within a single component. The magnets are located and positioned in such a manner that the rotary movement or the magnetic pressure cup [ 370 ] linearly and axially moves the pilot valve [ 260 ]. The rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ] is actuated by the drive motor [ 310 ] via the drive shaft [ 305 ].
The information flow on the Pulser Control Flow Diagram in FIG. 2 details the smart pulser operation sequence. The drilling fluid pump, known as the mud pump [ 500 ] is creating the flow with a certain base line pressure. That fluid pressure is contained in the entirety of the interior of the drill string [ 510 ], known as the bore pressure. The bore pipe pressure sensor [ 420 ] is sensing this pressure increase when the pumps turn on, and send that information to the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) [ 540 ] which interprets it. The DSP [ 540 ] also receives information from the annulus pressure sensor [ 470 ] which senses the drilling fluid (mud) pressure as it returns to the pump [ 500 ] in the annular (outside) of the drill pipe [ 520 ]. Based on the pre-programmed logic [ 530 ] in the software of the DSP [ 540 ], and on the input of the two pressure sensors [ 420 , 470 ] the DSP [ 540 ] determines the correct pulser operation settings and sends that information to the pulser motor controller [ 550 ]. The pulser motor controller [ 550 ] adjusts the stepper motor [ 310 ] current draw, response time, acceleration, duration, revolution, etc. to correspond to the pre-programmed pulser settings [ 530 ] from the DSP [ 540 ]. The stepper motor [ 310 ] driven by the pulser motor controller [ 550 ] operates the pilot actuator assembly [ 335 ] from FIG. 1 . The pilot actuator assembly [ 335 ], responding exactly to the pulser motor controller [ 550 ], opens and closes the main valve [ 190 ], from FIG. 1 , in the very sequence as dictated by the DSP [ 540 ]. The main valve [ 190 ] opening and closing creates pressure variations of the fluid pressure in the drill string [ 510 ] on top of the bore pressure which is created by the mud pump [ 500 ]. The main valve [ 190 ] opening and closing also creates pressure variations of the fluid pressure in the annulus of the drill string on top of the base line annulus pressure created in the annular of the drill pipe [ 520 ] because the fluid movement restricted by the main valve [ 190 ] affects the fluid pressure downstream of the pulser assembly [ 400 ] through the drill it jets into the annulus of the bore hole. Both the annulus pressure sensor [ 470 ] and the bore pipe pressure sensor [ 420 ] detecting the pressure variation due to the pulsing and the pump base line pressure sends that information to the DSP [ 540 ] which determines the necessary action to be taken to adjust the pulser operation based on the pre-programmed logic [ 530 ].
Operation—Operational Pilot Flow—all when the Pilot is in the Closed Position;
In FIG. 1 the drive motor [ 310 ] rotates the rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ] via a drive shaft [ 305 ] which transfers the rotary motion to linear motion of the pilot valve [ 260 ] by using an anti-rotation block [ 290 ]. The mechanism of the rotary magnetic coupling [ 300 ] is immersed in oil and is protected from the drilling fluid flow by a bellows [ 280 ] and a pilot flow shield [ 270 ]. When the drive motor [ 310 ] moves the pilot valve [ 260 ] forward [upward in FIG. 1 ] into the pilot orifice [ 250 ], the pilot fluid flow is blocked and backs up in the pilot flow exit channel [ 360 ], pilot flow inlet channel [ 230 ], the pilot flow lower annulus [ 210 ] and in the pilot flow upper annular [ 160 ] all the way back to the pilot flow screen [ 130 ] which is located in the lower velocity flow area due to the larger flow area of the main flow [ 110 ] and pilot flow [ 100 ] where the pilot flow fluid pressure is higher than the fluid flow through the restricted area of the main orifice [ 180 ]. The pilot fluid flow [ 100 ] in the pilot flow exit channel [ 360 ] also backs up through the main valve feed channel [ 220 ] and into the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ]. The fluid pressure in the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ] is equal to the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] pressure, and this pressure is higher relative to the pressure of the main fluid flow in the restricted area of the main orifice [ 180 ] in the front portion of the main valve [ 190 ]. This differential pressure between the pilot flow in the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ] area and the main flow through the main orifice [ 180 ] causes the main valve [ 190 ] to act like a piston and to move toward closure [still upward in FIG. 1 to stop the flow of the main fluid flow [ 110 ] causing the main valve [ 190 ] to stop the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] through the main orifice [ 180 ]. As the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] stops at the main valve [ 190 ] its pressure increases. Since the pilot flow lower annulus [ 210 ] extends to the bore pipe pressure inlet [ 410 ] located in the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] the pressure change in the pilot fluid flow reaches the bore pipe pressure sensor [ 420 ] which transmits that information through the electrical connector [ 440 ] to the DSP [ 540 ] as shown in FIG. 2 . The DSP [ 540 ] together with pressure data from the annulus pressure sensor [ 470 ] adjusts the pilot valve operation based on pre-programmed logic [ 530 ] to achieve the desired pulse characteristics.
Opening Operation
When the drive motor [ 310 ] moves the pilot valve [ 260 ] away [downward in FIG. 1 ] from the pilot orifice [ 250 ] allowing the fluid to exit the pilot exit flow [ 320 ] and pass from the pilot flow exit channel [ 360 ] relieving the higher pressure in the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ] which causes the fluid pressure to be reduced and the fluid flow to escape In. this instance, the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] having higher pressure than the main valve pressure chamber [ 200 ] is forced to flow through the main orifice [ 180 ] to push open [downward in FIG. 1 ] the main valve [ 190 ], thus allowing the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] to bypass the main valve [ 190 ] and to flow unencumbered through the remainder of the tool.
Pilot Valve in the Open Position
As the drilling fluid main flow [ 110 ] combined with the pilot flow [ 100 ] enter the main flow entrance [ 150 ] and flow through into the flow cone area [ 170 ], by geometry [decreased cross-sectional area], the velocity of the fluid flow increases. When the fluid reaches the main orifice [ 180 ] the fluid flow velocity is and the pressure of the fluid is decreased relative to the entrance flows [main flow entrance area vs. the orifice area] [ 180 ]. When the pilot valve [ 260 ] is in the opened position, the main valve [ 190 ] is also in the opened position and allows the fluid to pass through the main orifice [ 180 ] and around the main valve [ 190 ], through the openings in the main valve support block [ 350 ] through the pilot valve support block [ 330 ] and subsequently into the main exit flow [ 340 ].
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An apparatus, method, and system for generating pressure pulses in a drilling fluid flowing within coiled tubing assembly is described that includes; a flow throttling device longitudinally and axially positioned within the center of a main valve actuator assembly that allows main exit flow fluid to flow past a drive shaft and motor such that the pilot fluid and the main exit flow fluid causes one or more flow throttling devices to generate large, rapid controllable pulses. The pulses generated by the flow throttling device thereby allow transmission of well-developed signals easily distinguished from any noise resulting from other vibrations due to nearby equipment within the borehole or exterior to the borehole, or within the coiled tubing assembly wherein the signals also provide predetermined height, width and shape of the signals.
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BACKGROUND
[0001] 1. Technical Field
[0002] The present disclosure relates to locking structures and, more particularly, relates to a locking structure with a threaded nut, a method for manufacturing the locking structure and a heat dissipation device using the locking structure.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Generally, various components of numerous kinds of products are assembled together using locking structures such as bolts. For example, a typical heat dissipation device for dissipating heat generated by an electronic device (e.g. a central processing unit) includes components such as a heat sink, a clip, and a heat pipe. Bolts are of used to assemble these various components together.
[0005] With the development of electronics technology, electronic devices used in electronic apparatuses are being made to have more and more powerful operating capacity. An example is a central processing unit (CPU) used in a notebook computer. Nowadays, a CPU can have huge processing capacity. Yet modern electronic apparatuses are being made smaller and thinner. The heat dissipation device, including the components and the bolts securing the components, needs to also be made thin to suit the configuration of the electronic apparatus. However, the components of the heat dissipation device secured by the bolts may be so thin as to make the use of the bolts problematic. In particular, when a bolt is screwed into a component, the bolt is prone to be stripped or loosen from the component due to the limited surface areas available for threaded and frictional engagement. That is, conventional locking structures do not necessarily meet the needs of contemporary electronic apparatuses.
[0006] What are needed, therefore, are a locking structure which can overcome the limitations described above, a method for manufacturing such locking structure, and a heat dissipation device using the locking structure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Many aspects of the present embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present embodiments. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
[0008] FIG. 1 is an assembled, isometric view of a heat dissipation device of an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the heat dissipation device of FIG. 1 .
[0010] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of a nut of a locking structure of the heat dissipation device of FIG. 2 .
[0011] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the heat dissipation device of FIG. 1 , taken along line IV-IV thereof.
[0012] FIG. 5A is an inverted, side cross-sectional view of the nut of FIG. 3 ready to be secured to a base of the heat dissipation device of FIG. 2 .
[0013] FIG. 5B is similar to FIG. 5A , but showing the nut pre-secured to the base.
[0014] FIG. 5C is similar to FIG. 5B , but showing the nut fully secured to the base.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] Referring to FIGS. 1-2 , a heat dissipation device of an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated. The heat dissipation device comprises a base 10 , a heat absorbing plate 20 , a securing member 30 connecting with the base 10 and the heat absorbing plate 20 , and a locking member 50 locking the securing member 30 to the base 10 . A heat pipe 40 is in thermal contact with the heat absorbing plate 20 . The locking member 50 comprises a nut 16 engaging with the base 10 , and a bolt 18 extending through the securing member 30 and engaging with the nut 16 .
[0016] Referring to also FIGS. 3-5C also, the base 10 is substantially rectangular, and is integrally made from a piece of metal such as aluminum. The base 10 comprises a main body (not labeled), and a plurality of spaced locking arms 11 extending from a periphery of the main body. Each of the arms 11 defines a through hole. A plurality of fasteners (not shown) are extended through the arms 11 and into a printed circuit board to fasten the base 10 and the printed circuit board together. An opening 12 is defined in a central portion of the main body for exposing the heat absorbing plate 20 . The opening 12 is elongated in this embodiment. The base 10 defines two engaging holes 14 at two opposite sides of the opening 12 , respectively, for receiving two corresponding nuts 16 therein.
[0017] Each nut 16 comprises a chassis 160 and a sleeve 162 extending from the chassis 160 . In this embodiment, the chassis 160 is circular in shape. The chassis 160 forms a plurality of first teeth 161 along a circumferential periphery thereof. The base 10 forms a plurality of second teeth (not shown) in the corresponding engaging hole 14 . The second teeth are complementary with the first teeth 161 of the chassis 160 , such that the first teeth 161 of the chassis 160 can joggle with the second teeth of the base 10 . Thus, the nut 16 can be locked and prevented from rotating in the engaging hole 14 . The sleeve 162 is hollow and has a shape of a cylinder (or column) The chassis 160 and the sleeve 162 are coaxial. The sleeve 162 has an external diameter less than that of the chassis 160 . In this embodiment, the external diameter of the sleeve 162 is substantially equal to the diameter of the engaging hole 14 , such that the sleeve 162 can be snugly received in the engaging hole 14 . The combined chassis 160 and sleeve 162 form a screw thread in an interior surface thereof. The sleeve 162 defines an annular groove 1620 in an external periphery thereof adjacent to the chassis 160 . The base 10 forms an annular protrusion 19 extending inwardly from an inner wall of the engaging hole 14 and engaging in the groove 1620 of the sleeve 160 after the nut 16 is secured to the base 10 , such that the nut 16 can be locked and prevented from moving along an axial direction of the engaging hole 14 . The nut 16 is made from material which is more rigid than that of the base 10 , such as cast iron, steel, copper, or any suitable alloy including any of the foregoing.
[0018] The heat absorbing plate 20 is substantially rectangular, and is integrally made from a piece of material with good heat conductivity, such as copper or aluminum. The heat absorbing plate 20 comprises a main body, and a plurality of spaced posts 22 extending upwardly from the main body. The main body of the heat absorbing plate 20 has a first face and a second face opposite to the first face. The first face is for contacting an electronic device mounted on the printed circuit board and absorbing heat from the electronic device. The posts 22 extend perpendicularly from the second face of the main body of the heat absorbing plate 20 .
[0019] The securing member 30 is flexible. In this embodiment, the securing member 30 is in the form of a bent metal sheet. The securing member 30 comprises a frame 32 , and two elastic arms 34 respectively extending from two opposite sides of the frame 32 . The frame 32 defines a window in a central portion thereof, and comprises two opposite clamping portions 320 and two opposite pressing portions 322 around the window. Each pressing portion 322 defines two spaced positioning apertures 3220 in two end parts thereof, respectively. The pressing portions 322 can span over and press two opposite lateral portions of the second face the main body of the heat absorbing plate 20 . The two elastic arms 34 each comprise a first portion extending outwardly and upwardly from a central part of the corresponding pressing portion 322 , and a second portion extending outwardly and horizontally from a distal end of the first portion. A distal end of the second portion of each elastic arm 34 defines a though hole 340 therein, for extension of a bolt 18 therethrough. The bolt 18 comprises a threaded portion capable of extending through the though hole 340 and screwing into the sleeve 162 of the nut 16 to fasten the securing member 30 to the base 10 .
[0020] Referring to FIGS. 5A , 5 B and 5 C, in assembly, each nut 16 is inserted to the corresponding engaging hole 14 of the base 10 . The nut 16 is disposed within the engaging hole 14 of the base 10 as shown in FIG. 5B from a place above the base 10 as viewed in FIG. 5A . After the sleeve 162 is totally received in the engaging hole 14 and the chassis 160 is blocked from entering the engaging hole 14 by a top face of the base 10 , the chassis 160 is punched toward the base 10 until the chassis 160 is embedded into the base 10 . As shown in FIG. 5C , when the nut 16 is fixed into position in this way, a part of a wall of the base 10 surrounding the engaging hole 14 is deformed to form the protrusion 19 engaged into the groove 1620 of the sleeve 162 due to pressure generated by the chassis 160 . The base 10 around the chassis 160 simultaneously forms the plurality of second teeth joggled with the first teeth 161 of the chassis 160 . Therefore, the nut 16 is firmly locked in the engaging hole 14 of the base 10 in circumferential directions of the engaging hole 14 and axial directions of the engaging hole 14 . In this embodiment, the chassis 160 is coplanar with the base 10 at bottom faces thereof. Referring back to FIGS. 2 and 3 , the posts 22 of the heat absorbing plate 20 are firmly positioned into corresponding positioning apertures 3220 of the pressing portions 322 of the securing member 30 by punching. Thereby, the heat absorbing plate 20 is firmly attached to the securing member 30 . The heat absorbing plate 20 and the frame 32 of the securing member 30 are positioned to be at a level below the base 10 , via the opening 12 of the base 10 . The second portions of the elastic arms 34 are positioned on the base 10 , with the through holes 340 in line with the corresponding engaging holes 14 of the base 10 . The threaded portions of the bolts 18 are extended through the corresponding through holes 340 and screwed into the nuts 16 in the base 10 . Thus, the base 10 and the heat absorbing plate 20 are firmly assembled together via the securing member 30 .
[0021] The heat pipe 40 is flattened and has a portion thereof positioned on and contacting the second face of the heat absorbing plate 20 , for transferring heat absorbed by the heat absorbing plate 20 to another location (not shown).
[0022] It is believed that the embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the disclosure.
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A locking structure for assembling a first component to a second component. The locking structure includes a nut embedded into the first component and a bolt. The nut defines a groove in a circumferential periphery thereof. The first component forms a protrusion engaging into the grove of the nut. The bolt extends through the second component and screws into the nut.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to access to electronic resources, and more specifically to the transfer of access rights.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a system for protecting the copyrights of digital content that is distributed online. Examples of such digital content includes e-books, music, and movies. DRM systems are an important element in safeguarding against unauthorized access and use of digital properties. DRM systems often use the technique of secure distribution, where users need custom software to access content. This software implements the rights management properties. Typically, the content generator sets up rules for access during packaging for distribution. The software verifies that the rights information associated with the content being accessed is being respected. The rights information associated with the content typically contains the manufacturer information. It is the cornerstone of the rights enforcement mechanism.
DRM is an important aspect of conducting business on the Internet. It prevents unauthorized distribution and usage of content. Typically, digital rights are managed through two mechanisms: secure distribution, where the user has to install custom software to access content, and digital watermarking, where the manufacturer takes the responsibility of verifying proper usage by using watermark identity spiders. Such mechanisms help manufacturers to regulate and monitor the access of digital properties.
However, none of the solutions address the issue of transferring of digital rights from one owner to another, either permanently or temporarily. It is a common practice in the real world for property owners to sell their properties to others. Such an act legally transfers the ownership to another party. Currently, there is no mechanism to accomplish the same task for digital properties over the Internet.
In addition, there is no current method for maintaining a record of ownership information. Current ownership, as well as the chain of ownership, can provide important information. For example, this information can be of use both financially (for manufactures) and legally (in case of disputes, as well as for transfer of digital properties).
When a customer purchases a product, that customer also purchases a set of property rights, such as the right to lend and resell. Different rights “packages” might be sold to a customer, which would dictate which rights that customer could transfer. By the same token, this set of rights would also be inherited by subsequent transferees of the property. However, there is no current method for specifying DRM selling and lending privileges and the inheritance of these privileges.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and mechanism for transferring digital property rights and maintaining records of chains of title. It would also be desirable to have a method for specifying selling and lending privileges for digital properties and the inheritance of such privileges.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method, program, and system for augmenting digital rights management. The invention comprises associating two fields with an electronic document. The first field identifies the current owner of the electronic document, and the second field contains information about previous ownership of the electronic document. If ownership of the electronic document is transferred from the current owner to a subsequent owner, the current owner's name in the first field is replaced with the subsequent owner's name. In addition, information about the subsequent owner is added to the ownership history field.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented;
FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram illustrating a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented;
FIG. 4 depicts a diagram illustrating ownership information associated with digital property in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 5 depicts a diagram illustrating the transfer of digital property and the update of ownership information in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart illustrating an overview of the augmented DRM in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 7 depicts a diagram illustrating lending information associated with digital property in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart illustrating DRM loans in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart illustrating the process of verifying transfer rights in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system 100 is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system 100 contains a network 102 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within network data processing system 100 . Network 102 may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.
In the depicted example, a server 104 is connected to network 102 along with storage unit 106 . In addition, clients 108 , 110 , and 112 also are connected to network 102 . These clients 108 , 110 , and 112 may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server 104 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients 108 – 112 . Clients 108 , 110 , and 112 are clients to server 104 . Network data processing system 100 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown.
In the depicted example, network data processing system 100 is the Internet with network 102 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system 100 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 is intended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 2 , a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server, such as server 104 in FIG. 1 , is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Data processing system 200 may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors 202 and 204 connected to system bus 206 . Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connected to system bus 206 is memory controller/cache 208 , which provides an interface to local memory 209 . I/O bus bridge 210 is connected to system bus 206 and provides an interface to I/O bus 212 . Memory controller/cache 208 and I/O bus bridge 210 may be integrated as depicted.
Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge 214 connected to I/O bus 212 provides an interface to PCI local bus 216 . A number of modems may be connected to PCI bus 216 . Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to network computers 108 – 112 in FIG. 1 may be provided through modem 218 and network adapter 220 connected to PCI local bus 216 through add-in boards.
Additional PCI bus bridges 222 and 224 provide interfaces for additional PCI buses 226 and 228 , from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system 200 allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter 230 and hard disk 232 may also be connected to I/O bus 212 as depicted, either directly or indirectly.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in FIG. 2 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention.
The data processing system depicted in FIG. 2 may be, for example, an eSeries pServer system, a product of International Business Machines Corporation in Armonk, N.Y., running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) or Linux operating systems.
With reference now to FIG. 3 , a block diagram illustrating a data processing system is depicted in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system 300 is an example of a client computer. Data processing system 300 employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be used. Processor 302 and main memory 304 are connected to PCI local bus 306 through PCI bridge 308 . PCI bridge 308 also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor 302 . Additional connections to PCI local bus 306 may be made through direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 310 , SCSI host bus adapter 312 , and expansion bus interface 314 are connected to PCI local bus 306 by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter 316 , graphics adapter 318 , and audio/video adapter 319 are connected to PCI local bus 306 by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface 314 provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter 320 , modem 322 , and additional memory 324 . Small computer system interface (SCSI) host bus adapter 312 provides a connection for hard disk drive 326 , tape drive 328 , CD-ROM drive 330 , and DVD drive 332 . Typical PCI local bus implementations will support three or four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.
An operating system runs on processor 302 and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system 300 in FIG. 3 . The operating system may be a commercially available operating system, such as Windows 2000, which is available from Microsoft Corporation. An object oriented programming system such as Java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provide calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system 300 . “Java” is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented operating system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive 326 , and may be loaded into main memory 304 for execution by processor 302 .
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIG. 3 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash ROM (or equivalent nonvolatile memory) or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIG. 3 . Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.
As another example, data processing system 300 may be a stand-alone system configured to be bootable without relying on some type of network communication interface, whether or not data processing system 300 comprises some type of network communication interface. As a further example, data processing system 300 may be a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, which is configured with ROM and/or flash ROM in order to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.
The depicted example in FIG. 3 and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system 300 also may be a notebook computer or hand held computer in addition to taking the form of a PDA. Data processing system 300 also may be a kiosk or a Web appliance.
DRM systems enforce a set of rules set up by the publisher when packaging digital property for distribution. To access content, the user must have special software that can interpret the business rules. Once the access is authenticated, the user is allowed to use the content based on the rights agreement in force (i.e. the software manages access after verifying that the user has satisfied all requirements for access).
Referring to FIG. 4 , a diagram illustrating ownership information associated with digital property is depicted in accordance with the present invention. In the present invention, digital rights information 401 is augmented with two fields. Current owner 402 refers to the party that currently owns the rights to the digital property in question. This information can be used in rights enforcement (i.e. only the current owner can use the property) and also to legally transfer the property among parties. Ownership history 403 is a list of prior owners. This can provide valuable information to the manufacturer (about potential customers for other products) and can also be useful in case of disputes.
Access control software can check these variables to ensure that digital rights are being respected and can send back information to the manufacturer in case of abuse or violation.
Referring now to FIG. 5 , a diagram illustrating the transfer of digital property and the update of ownership information is depicted in accordance with the present invention. In the present example, before being transferred, the property (digital document) 501 is registered to Owner 2. This is indicated in the current owner field 502 . The ownership history field 503 shows that before property 501 was owned by Owner 2, it was first owned by Owner 1. When property 501 is transferred (i.e. sold or loaned) to Owner 3, the current owner field 502 is updated to reflect that the fact that Owner 3 now owns property 501 . In addition, the ownership history field 503 is also updated to include Owner 3.
Optionally, the specifics of the transaction may also be stored in a backup server 504 . Backup server 504 contains a copy of the information stored in ownership history field 503 and current owner field 502 . When property 501 is transferred from Owner 2 to Owner 3, the transaction is recorded in server 504 , and the information in server 504 is updated to reflect the new information entered in fields 502 and 503 .
Referring to FIG. 6 , a flowchart illustrating an overview of the augmented DRM is depicted in accordance with the present invention. When digital property is first sold (step 601 ), the DRM inserts the buyer's name in the ownership field (step 602 ). In the ownership history, the time period of ownership for each owner is digitally signed by that owner (seller) (step 603 ). Thereafter, for every use of the product, the software validates that the invoker has ownership rights, and then allows access. When the ownership is transferred, the seller adds an entry with information about the future owner (buyer) (step 604 ). The seller then digitally signs this entry (step 605 ). This process is analogous to title transfer in tangible property and endorsement of commercial paper. The buyer (new owner) is then free to use the digital property. As an alternative, the current owner can set an ownership password field to a mutually agreed value, and thereafter, the new owner can set the field to his or her choice. In most cases, the title would be saved with the digital property itself, which would reduce the record keeping complication of storing the title and property separately.
All authentication and validation by the special software can be performed using digital signatures and certificates, as well as other well known techniques.
Optionally, the above information may be relayed back to the original manufacturer, so that the manufacturer can maintain a record of ownership history (step 606 ). The original manufacturer may charge a transaction fee for each transfer of ownership (if part of the contract).
As mentioned in relation to FIG. 5 , a server may also store the associated information as an additional safeguard against tampering (step 607 ).
The present invention can also be used to allow lending of digital content (property) for limited periods of time.
Referring to FIG. 7 , a diagram illustrating lending information associated with digital property is depicted in accordance with the present invention. As in FIG. 4 , the digital property information 701 is augmented with a current owner field 702 and an ownership history field 703 . In addition, a current borrower field 704 in added. In addition to identifying the borrower, the field 704 may also indicate the time period of the loan (not shown). Borrower field 704 may contain several names if the lender is able to lend property 701 to multiple borrowers (e.g. electronic libraries).
Referring now to FIG. 8 , a flowchart illustrating DRM loans is depicted in accordance with the present invention. The process is similar to that in FIG. 6 . When the current owner has loaned the property (step 801 ), the owner will add an entry with the information about the borrower into the current borrower field (step 802 ). To support lending, a loan flag is set to “true” (step 803 ), and the time period specifying the duration of the loan is entered (step 804 ). Optionally, the manufacturer may also be notified of the loan (step 805 ). After the loan period expires (step 806 ), the access control software no longer permits the borrower to access the content.
The process flows depicted in FIGS. 6 and 8 are dependent upon the rights and privileges of the owner of the digital property in question. Another aspect of the present invention is the ability to specify and control the types of transfer rights the owner of digital property possesses, and how those specified rights are inherited by subsequent transferees of the property.
Referring to FIG. 9 , a flowchart illustrating the process of verifying transfer rights is depicted in accordance with the present invention. In addition to the owner information and ownership history, the rights information associated with digital property is augmented with the following transfer rights:
Lending information: This record provides answers to the questions: Does this owner have the privilege of lending this property? Can the owner lend to multiple people simultaneously, and if so, to how many? (For example, simultaneous lending might be used by a library.) Will the owner be allowed to use the property while it is out on loan?
Reselling information: Information on the privilege to resell (e.g. allow reselling to only one person, if the original owner is an individual).
Media players or platforms on which the content is playable: The merchant or manufacturer may wish to restrict the digital properties to be playable on certain target devices.
When the owner of digital property transfers (i.e. Sells or loans) that property (step 901 ), the access control software can check the owner's transfer rights to ensure that digital rights are being respected (step 902 ). If the attempted transfer does not fall within the owner's transfer rights, the access control software will not validate the transfer and will prevent the transferee's access to the digital content (step 903 ). In addition, the access control hardware will send back information to the manufacturer in case of abuse or violation (step 904 ). If the attempted transfer does fall within the owner's transfer rights, the access control software will validate the transfer of the digital property based on the privileges that the owner has, and allow the transferee to access the digital content (step 905 ).
The access control software may also determine the transferee's rights, according to the rights of the transferor and the nature of the transfer (step 906 ). There are various cases to be considered for the inheritance of privileges, with rights inheritance often dependent upon the classification of the original owner. For example, a borrower typically will have no privileges other than to view or listen to the digital property.
A merchant or manufacturer may set up a price schedule based on the privileges that the user desires. For example, a user who will not be lending or reselling the material may get a deep discount for the digital property. Where the original owner is an individual (as opposed to a retailer), a purchaser of the digital property will usually inherit the same privileges that the original owner had. In the case of a retailer (who has the right to resell to multiple customers), individual buyers only inherit a subset of the retailer's privileges (i.e. view or listen, but not resell).
It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links, wired or wireless communications links using transmission forms, such as, for example, radio frequency and light wave transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of coded formats that are decoded for actual use in a particular data processing system.
The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
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A method, program, and system for augmenting digital rights management are provided. The invention comprises associating two fields with an electronic document. The first field identifies the current owner of the electronic document, and the second field contains information about previous ownership of the electronic document. If ownership of the electronic document is transferred from the current owner to a subsequent owner, the current owner's name in the first field is replaced with the subsequent owner's name. In addition, information about the subsequent owner is added to the ownership history field.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related to a process and system for cooling a heat transfer fluid. In particular, this invention is directed to an external loop nonfreezing heat exchanger for cooling a heat transfer fluid with cryogenic fluid.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cryogenic fluids, such as liquid nitrogen, have been used successfully in a number of low-temperature freezing operations such as food or biological materials freezing. In theory, it was recognized that a number of chemical and pharmaceutical processes also could benefit from cryogenic cooling due to the low temperature and high driving force afforded by cryogenic liquids. However, although certain cryogenic fluids can provide very high heat transfer driving force, it has limited use to cool process liquid if freezing is undesirable. Many process liquids have freezing point far above that of liquid nitrogen, which boils at −195° C. This limits the use of liquid nitrogen in cooling process fluid in low temperature chemical process because the process fluid can potentially be frozen. Freezing the process fluid in chemical operation is undesirable and can be hazardous especially if the refrigeration is used to control exothermic reactions.
Properly designed direct contact cooling can reduce the potential freezing problem. This is carried out by injecting liquid nitrogen directly into process or heat transfer fluid. Unfortunately, it is not always acceptable to customers due to various reasons. Although the emission level is very low at this type of operating conditions, some manufacturer's site may not be able to accept any additional vapor into the solvent recovery system. For very large potential cryogenic cooling process (chilling the heat transfer fluid for freeze-drying can use up to 40 TPD of liquid nitrogen), manufacturer would prefer reusing the spent nitrogen. Therefore, indirect contact cooling in a heat exchanger is a preferred choice of operation. However, the freezing potential must be eliminated.
A conventional approach to solve the above problem is to design an over sized shell and tube heat exchanger. A heat transfer fluid or reactant is pumped into the tube side under high velocity. Liquid nitrogen is either sprayed or flooded into the shell side of the heat exchanger. One problem encountered by this approach is that the heat transfer fluid may cause problems as the liquid nitrogen downloads its latent heat of vaporization on the metal surface. When ice starts to grow and propagate, the heat transfer surface will lose its thermal conductivity. The result is either a heat exchanger losing its heat transfer capacity rapidly or having the content frozen totally solid. The unit must be defrosted before it can be put back to service. For reactions or applications that require very short batch time, an over-sized heat exchanger may still function for a limited time before losing its capability.
Another approach is to mix the liquid nitrogen with room temperature nitrogen gas to reduce the refrigerant driving force and provide a cryogenic gas with a warmer temperature than the boiling point of −320° F. However, all the latent heat of vaporization is lost in the mixing process. Although this approach may avoid freezing, the heat transfer fluid can be warmed as high as one desired, the nitrogen consumption rate is normally too high to be economically acceptable. Furthermore, the cold gas mixture will lose its sensible heat very rapidly due to the cryogenic fluid's low heat capacity, making it unacceptable for a number of applications.
Yet another approach is to use a heat transfer fluid with lower freezing points to receive the refrigeration from the liquid nitrogen. The lower freezing point heat transfer fluid is then used to cool another heat transfer or process fluid to the final desired temperatures. Such a stopgap measure may prolong the batch time before total freezing occurs. It also adds substantial complexity and cost to the process.
The prior arts have also proposed a complicated scheme by cycling inlet and outlet of cryogenic flow to avoid freezing. However, freezing may still occur eventually, even with this complicated cycling operation by a sequence of valves. Subsequently, these prior arts also require recycling part of the spent nitrogen to mix with the fresh liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen and the spent nitrogen gas form a cryogenic cold gas mixture as refrigerant.
A cycling flow control mechanism then force these cold gas mixture to enter the heat exchanger in the front and then reverses flow to enter from the back. Such a complicated mechanism not only add significant capital and operating cost to the process, but it also deteriorate the recirculating pattern of the spent nitrogen gas. Such complicated cycling procedures are believed to be unnecessary and counter-productive to the mixing requirements of the spent nitrogen and fresh liquid nitrogen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,084 discloses the above complex cryogenic cooling system for freeze dryers at which a sequence of valves cycle the flow of cryogen between the heat exchanger inlet and outlet. Part of the spent nitrogen is recycled alternatively between the inlet and outlet to vaporize and mix with the fresh cryogen liquid. There is no prior art that teaches or suggests the amount of recycle is needed to make the system workable. Furthermore, an eductor is generally not the right type of device to recirculate the cryogenic nitrogen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,655 discloses a heat exchanger that contains a series of baffles and vaporizers inside a single heat exchanger where the liquid nitrogen is vaporized directly inside a series of vaporizer tube. As the vaporized nitrogen warms up by contacting the heat transfer fluid surface, it is re-directed by the baffles to be chilled by the vaporizing liquid nitrogen. Very high thermal efficiency can be achieved without any mechanical means. A draw back of such as system is the complexity of the internal devices in that it requires the system to be custom designed and fabricated individually. The heat exchanger must be custom built.
It is, therefore, desirable to have an effective means to convert all the latent heat of vaporization of the cryogenic liquid into sensible heat. It is also the objective of this invention to develop a process at which a conventional heat exchanger can be used while having the benefits of cooling without freezing.
It was found from this invention that the alternative cyclic operation of cryogen inlet and out let is not necessary to make the heat transfer from the cryogen without freezing the process fluid. It was also found from this invention that the amount of spent nitrogen needed to recycle must be at higher than the weight of the fresh cryogenic liquid. An amount less than that will have a domino-effect in that the spent nitrogen will not be sufficient to vaporize the liquid nitrogen, which in turn will not be able to entrain sufficient spent nitrogen and so on. The complete loop must allow for high gas flow at low-pressure drop without the complicated valve switching system blocking its way.
There is a general misconception that the freezing condition in heat exchangers occur because of the cold temperature of the liquid nitrogen. Most freezing occur because the liquid nitrogen can boil and transfer its latent heat of vaporization rapidly when come in contact with a warmer surface. The latent heat of vaporization is generally more than half of all the refrigeration available from the liquid nitrogen. Therefore, a very small section can become extremely cold during the initial contact. As a result, the heat transfer coefficient of the liquid nitrogen is significantly bigger than a cryogenic cold gas at the equivalent temperatures.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system in which the direct contact design does not cause the process fluid to freeze.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed to a process for cooling a process fluid which comprises flowing a cool mixed refrigerant in a continuous unidirectional loop comprising a) passing a pressurized cryogenic fluid in a heat exchange relationship with a recirculating gas to form a vaporized cryogenic fluid and a cooler recirculating gas respectively; b) passing the vaporized cryogenic fluid and the cooler recirculating gas through at least one gas mover to form a mixed gas refrigerant; and c) passing the cool mixed gas refrigerant to cool the process fluid.
This invention is also directed to a process for cooling a process fluid which comprises flowing a cool mixed refrigerant in a continuous unidirectional loop comprising a) passing a recirculating gas through a blower to form a pressurized recirculating gas; b) mixing a pressurized cryogenic fluid directly with the pressurized recirculating gas to form a cool mixed gas refrigerant; and c) passing the cool mixed gas refrigerant to cool the process fluid.
The process comprises passing the pressurized cryogenic gas at a higher pressure than the recirculating gas. The process has a recirculating gas with a mass flow greater than that of the cryogenic fluid. The recirculating gas vaporizes the cryogenic fluid. The cryogenic fluid is at a pressure of from about 10 to about 1000 psig.
A system for cooling a process fluid in a continuous unidirectional loop comprising a) a source of a pressurized cryogenic fluid; b) a recirculating gas; c) a heat exchanger through which the pressurized cryogenic fluid flows to form a vaporized cryogenic fluid and the recirculating gas flows to form a cooled recirculating gas; d) at least one gas mover to mix the vaporized cryogenic fluid and the cooled recirculating gas mix to form a mixed refrigerant; and e) a means to cool the process fluid through which a warm process fluid is cooled to form a cool process fluid by the mixed refrigerant which emerges as a warmed recirculating gas.
This invention is also directed to a system for cooling a process fluid comprising in a continuous unidirectional loop comprising a) a source of pressurized and vaporized cryogenic fluid; b) a recirculating gas; c) at least one blower to form a compressed recirculating gas for mixing with the pressurized cryogenic fluid to form a mixed refrigerant; and d) a means to cool the process fluid through which a warmer process fluid is cooled to form a cooled process fluid by the mixed refrigerant which emerges as a warmed recirculating gas.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a process schematic of an external loop nonfreezing heat exchanger system in this invention that uses a plate heat exchanger and a plurality of blowers; and
FIG. 2 is a process schematic of an external loop nonfreezing heat exchanger system in this invention that uses an electrical blower.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
To prevent the heat exchangers from freezing, this invention avoids direct contact of the liquid nitrogen with the metal surface where the process fluid is flowing. This is accomplished by boiling off the liquid nitrogen before it contacts the process fluid. Therefore, the metal surface containing the process fluid will come in contact only with the vaporized cryogenic cold gas, not the liquid nitrogen itself. Since the process fluid has a much bigger heat capacity to absorb the sensible heat from the nitrogen gas per unit volume, freezing can be avoided.
The draw back of using cold nitrogen gas in place of liquid nitrogen is the heat capacity of the nitrogen gas is very small. To transfer sufficient refrigeration, this invention uses a gas mover to create a very high one directional recirculating flow of cold cryogenic fluid in a closed loop. As used herein, a gas mover is a mixer that pressurizes a fluid flow and urges its movement in one direction. In this invention, it is preferable to use a plurality of gas movers in series. Excess nitrogen is bleed off only when the pressure inside the loop becomes excessive. The pressure drop is kept to a minimum. The high capacity recirculating loop eliminates a lot of drawbacks of the prior arts that uses cryogenic liquid or cryogenic nitrogen gas flow cooling. With high gas velocity, no complicated valves of switching the flow between inlet and outlet are necessary.
The pressurized cryogenic fluid (e.g., liquid nitrogen) provides the driving force for the high capacity-recirculating loop. The pressurized cryogenic fluid is vaporized in the process. No mechanical moving parts or switching valves are necessary. The countercurrent flow arrangement also provides excellent heat transfer efficiency.
The high recirculating rate verses the low exhaust rate is a key to this invention. This is achievable with the multiple stages gas movers, preferably in series, and a circulating loop with minimum pressure drop.
FIG. 1 shows the general process schematic of this invention. Cryogenic fluid 10 (e.g., liquid nitrogen) enters the system at a pressure of preferably from about 10 to about 1000 psig, more preferably at from about 25 to about 300 psig, and most preferably at from about 75 to about 150 psig. The higher-pressure range is needed when the spent nitrogen is used for downstream applications. The cryogenic fluid pressure is monitored by a pressure sensor or pressure gauge (not shown).
The cryogenic fluid 10 passes through a manual valve (not shown), a solenoid valve (emergency shut off; not shown) and then control valve 12 . The control valve receives the signal from a temperature controller (not shown), which monitor the temperature of the chilled heat transfer fluid (process fluid).
The cryogenic fluid then enters heat exchanger 14 , preferably a plate heat exchanger, where the cryogenic fluid is boiled off (to form vaporized cryogenic gas 16 ) against the recirculating gas 18 (e.g., nitrogen gas)(to form cool recirculating gas 20 ). To transfer all the latent heat from the vaporized cryogenic gas 16 to the cool recirculating gas 20 , very large volume of cool recirculating gas 20 has to be recirculated (this is the most challenging part). It is preferable to have the cryogenic fluid pass through the system at a higher pressure than the recirculating gas, preferably at a pressure at least twice that of the recirculating gas. Table 1 shows the heat and energy balance of a process at which the 1,814.5 lb/hr of nitrogen gas is being recirculated verses 769.5 lb/hr of liquid nitrogen entering the system. The nitrogen gas being recirculated is 236% of the liquid nitrogen being evaporated. Even if one consider pre-evaporating liquid nitrogen, to recirculate such a large volume of recirculating gas with much smaller amount of cryogenic fluid would be considered to be virtually physically impossible.
TABLE 1
For purposes of Table 1, LN 2 refers to liquid nitrogen; GN2 refers to gaseous nitrogen; and HTF refers to the heat transfer fluid (or process fluid).
The vaporized cryogenic fluid 16 (e.g., liquid nitrogen), still at its boiling point temperature (in this example, at −176° C.) enters the gas movers 22 simultaneously as several separate streams, including the cool recirculating gas 20 . The pressure of the vaporized nitrogen gas provides the motive energy to move the vaporized cryogen 16 and cool recirculating gas 20 inside the gas movers 22 . As an example, the high-pressure cool mixed refrigerant enters the gas blowers at the middle of the unit. There is a small gap sandwiched on the side wall. The velocity of this high-pressure cool mixed refrigerant gas increases as it passes through the small gap. Potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. The now high velocity cool recirculating gas formed exit the small gap, forming a ring of high velocity gas next to the sidewall. The close proximity of the high velocity gas stream to the side wall destroy the boundary layer and drag along the recirculating nitrogen gas in the center of the gas blower. As used herein, the terms gas movers and gas blowers may be used interchangeably.
The gas mover design is significantly different from an ejector or a thermal compressor in design and operating principles. A venturi uses a high-pressure motive gas centered at the throat of a venturi. The high pressure motive gas entering a venturi at the center of the unit is ejected to the conical part of the venturi, resulting in compression of the surrounding gases as they both squeeze through the narrow pathway of the venturi throat. Due to the small pathway of the venturi throat, the ejector or thermal compressor is suitable to increase the pressure of the entrained gas at small flow volume.
The operating principle of the ejector or thermal compressor is generally not preferred for recirculating large volumes of gases with small amounts of motive cold gases. It has been erroneously assumed that the viscosity of the gas is inversely proportional to temperature. However, the opposite is true in that the gas viscosity is proportional to temperature, opposite to the behavior of liquid. The cryogenic fluid from vaporized liquid nitrogen, however, is maintained at −320° F. For example, nitrogen gas at 80° F. will have a viscosity of 0.0715 cps. At −320° F., it decreases to 0.0055 cps. This is a 92.3% reduction in viscosity. Therefore, the viscous drag is reduced by a factor of 92.3%, which would have a direct impact on the operation of venturi type devices. Without any viscous drag, the high velocity cryogenic nitrogen gases flow through the center of flow without exchange of momentum.
Instead of injecting the cryogenic cold gas into the center of the gas stream as in an eductor or thermal compressor, the cryogenic cold gas is fed into the gas stream through a small gap on the sidewall of a gas mover. This cryogenic cold gas was then able to wrap, mix and carry a whole block of recirculating gas to move forward, despite the large drop in viscous drag.
Now, the large volume of circulating cool recirculating gas 20 (e.g., spent nitrogen) is thoroughly mixed with the freshly vaporized cryogenic gas 16 (e.g., vaporized nitrogen) to form a mixed refrigerant 24 (e.g., mixture of cryogenic cold gas). This mixture of cryogenic cold gas enters the main heat exchanger at high velocity. A shell and tube heat exchanger 34 is used with large flow tubes. This heat exchanger 34 is designed so that the pressure drop through this device is minimal to allow the recirculating flow to maintain at high velocity. To maintain such a high recirculating rate, no regulating, switches or blocking valves should be used to create pressure drop.
The high velocity of the mixed refrigerant allows the thermal boundary layer to be reduced to a minimum. The thermal boundary layer is a thin layer of relative stationary gas between the mixed refrigerant (e.g., cryogenic cold gas mixture) and the cooling surface. Since the heat capacity of this mixed refrigerant is small, the heat transfer fluid or process fluid 26 with a high heat capacity is never chilled enough to freeze. The mixed refrigerant 24 enters the process fluid heat exchanger 34 . The heat exchange relationship cools the warm process fluid 26 to form cool process fluid 28 . Warm recirculating gas emerges from heat exchanger 34 and continues in the continuous single directional flow pattern for another cycle. Back pressure regulator 30 controls the flow of the recirculating gas 32 for venting.
A key aspect of this invention is to prevaporizing all the cryogenic fluid into a high-pressure cryogenic cool gas. This high-pressure cool recirculating gas is used to drive a series of gas blowers to entrain more than two times its own weight of spent cryogen gas. The resulting cool recirculating gas will be recirculated in high velocity with a minimal drop in pressure. No valves or direct reversing devices are needed to avoid freezing the heat transfer fluid (or process fluid).
The main heat exchanger 34 is used for the heat transfer between the high velocity cryogenic cold gas and the heat transfer or process fluid. Alternatively, the main heat exchanger can be built of parallel plates instead of shell and tube. The gap between these plates has to be adjusted so that the pressure drop can be kept to minimum. Other types of heat exchangers such as spiral heat exchangers can also be used.
It is possible a series of specially designed venturi or eductor can also be used in place of the gas blowers. Since eductors are normally designed for steam applications, tests are necessary to properly size one or more units in order to entrain two times of its own weight of gas under cryogenic conditions.
Alternatively, electrical blowers can be used where external electrical power is used to move the large volume of spent nitrogen gas. In this case, the user has to pay for the external power. However, low-pressure liquid nitrogen can be used in this case since it will not have to work as a motive gas. Furthermore, the first heat exchanger 14 may be eliminated since the cryogenic fluid (e.g., liquid nitrogen) can be vaporized by direct mixing with the recirculating cool recirculating gas (e.g., spent nitrogen gas). This is illustrated in FIG. 2 .
In FIG. 2, pressurized cryrogenic fluid 210 passes through control valve 212 , forming pressurized cryogenic fluid 220 . Recirculating gas 218 passes through an electrical blower 250 , prior to combining with the pressurized cryrogenic fluid 220 to form cool mixed refrigerant 224 . Warm process fluid 226 flows through heat exchanger 234 wherein mixed refrigerant 224 effects the heat exchange relationship therein, thereby forming cool process fluid 228 (or heat transfer fluid). The resulting recirculating gas 218 is passed from the heat exchanger 234 , and derived from spent mixed refrigerant 224 . Back pressure regulator 230 controls the flow of the recirculating gas 232 for venting.
It should 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 invention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives modifications and variances which fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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This invention is directed to an external loop nonfreezing heat exchanger for cooling a heat transfer fluid with cryogenic fluid. The cryogenic fluid is first pre-vaporized with the spent cryogenic fluid. The heat transfer fluid is then cooled by the vaporized cryogenic fluid instead of the cryogenic fluid feed directly.
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The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000 with Sandia Corporation.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
(Not Applicable)
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Photolithography is used in the production of semiconductor devices to add layers of polymeric material to a silicon wafer and to produce circuit paths within these polymers. Many volatile and non-volatile chemicals are utilized in this process, including solvents, polymer building blocks and other reactive substances. Production of low defect devices at high yield requires extensive quality assurance and quality control activities.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) emission to the atmosphere is a major concern of semiconductor manufacturing industries, research laboratories, the public, and regulatory agencies. Historically, focus has been on cleaning waste VOCs from the manufacturing plant's "air" emissions through the use of scrubbers and filters. Some industries are now seeking ways to reduce emissions by reducing VOCs at the point of use (or generation) to decrease the costs associated with removing VOCs from the air. For successful point of use reduction, VOC measurement methods must be developed for on-line process monitoring. These methods must meet several performance specifications such as rapid response time, continuous detection, lower limit of detection, and speciation of the VOCs detected. Specie-specific information is needed since the chemicals used have different chemical properties as well as different levels at which they become a regulatory concern.
A variety of methods and instrumentation can be used to monitor airborne VOCs depending on the application and the equipment available. Common methods may utilize gas chromatography (GC), mass spectrometry (MS), fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), chemical specific sensors, or hyphenated techniques including gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). "Protocol for Equipment Leak Emission Estimates," U.S. Environ. Prot. Agency, Off. Air Qual. Plann. Stand., Tech. Rep.! EPA (1993), EPA-453/R-93-026, 257 pp., provides an overview of many methods for monitoring airborne VOCs and field portable GCs.
A system for gaseous VOC monitoring of a lithography process must meet several analytical and physical criteria in order to accurately characterize the emissions. The VOCs in the vapors in the ventilation system are the compounds measured by this invention. Therefore, the analytical requirements of the system, based on the lithography process knowledge and limited flame ionization detector (FID) data, include the ability to 1) detect the particular airborne VOCs used in lithography, 2) attain detection limits for these VOCs below 10 ppm by volume, 3) obtain concentration information for each analyte in the gas stream and 4) acquire at least 1 data scan per second.
Several analytical techniques were examined to assess their ability to meet the requirements described above. Meeting the analytical requirements was the highest priority of the system requirements. The techniques evaluated were gas chromatography (GC), mass spectrometry (MS), GC/MS, μGC, fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), and FID. Although each technique is capable of detecting lithography VOCs, only MS and FID met or exceeded both the detection limits and data acquisition rate requirements. However, FID could only meet the data acquisition rate requirement when used without chromatographic separation, which does not allow for quantitation of individual analytes. Only mass spectrometry met all the analytical and physical requirements.
Many mass spectrometers can be operated either in electron ionization (El) or chemical ionization (Cl) mode. In El, electrons generated by a hot filament ionize and fragment the analyte molecules. The ionized molecules or fragments are then mass analyzed. Typically, electron ionization is a very energetic process, which causes a high degree of fragmentation of the analyte molecules and leaves few, if any, molecular ions for detection. Identification and quantitation is performed using one or more of the fragment ions.
Chemical ionization differs from electron ionization in that reagent molecules (not electrons) ionize the analyte molecule. For example, for methane Cl, the ionizing reagent molecule is CH 5 + . Methane gas is ionized by electrons and interacts with neutral methane molecules to form a number of products, one of which is CH 5 + . A proton is transferred from CH 5 + to the sample molecule to form an M+H! + ion where M is the molecular weight of the sample molecule. Therefore, the parent ion in chemical ionization appears in the mass spectrum at a mass which is 1 greater than the molecular weight of the neutral analyte molecule.
Chemical ionization is much softer (less energetic) than electron ionization; this affords significant advantages for airborne VOC measurement when mixtures are present. The Cl analyte molecular ion signal is more intense and fewer fragment ions are produced than with El, which minimizes the mass spectral interferences and causes Cl to be more sensitive than El for many compounds.
Because a mass spectrometer counts the number of ions over a period of time, quantitative measurements require that the MS be calibrated against a known source operating at the same pressure as the source to be tested. It is difficult to use mass spectrometry for on-line VOC measurements because various sources of VOCs operate at different pressures, and these pressures change during operation due to ventilation or barometric changes, which means the MS must be recalibrated with each pressure change.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide real-time monitoring of VOCs in gaseous environments.
It is another object of this invention to use chemical ionization to monitor VOCs from lithography processes at different pressures.
It is also an object of this invention to use active feedback to control the input pressure of a system for real-time monitoring of VOCs in variable gaseous environments.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects, and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention may comprise a system for on-line measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a gaseous sample comprising a measuring device such as a mass spectrometer for measuring the amount of VOCs in the sample, the device having a measuring input maintained at a low pressure. This device has an input tube for carrying the gaseous sample from a first location to its input, the tube reducing the pressure from a first value at said first location to the low pressure, the first value being at least 1000 times greater than the low pressure. An elongated passage is provided for carrying the gaseous sample from a device under test to the first location and for keeping the gas flow and pressure at the first location at predetermined constant values.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 2 shows the effect of pressure change on measurements of the invention.
FIG. 3 shows the effect of flow change on measurements of the invention.
FIG. 4 shows ion intensities vs. scan number for APEX coat of four wafers using this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with a preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, an on-line volatile organic compound monitoring system 10 may include a chemical ionization mass spectrometer 12 connected to receive VOC from at least one operating chemical process such as a lithography tool 5. The connection must provide an accurate representation at MS 12 of the gases at tool 5, while accounting for the greatly different pressures at these locations. Typically, tool 5 operates at about room atmosphere, a pressure of several hundred Torr, while MS 12 operates at less than one thousandth of a Torr. Furthermore, as discussed hereinafter, the connection must keep the pressure and flow into MS 12 constant, even though the input pressure and flow may vary.
To accomplish this connection, tubing 30 (typically flexible plastic about 5 mm (3/16") inside diameter) extends on the order of 20 m from tool 5, through the subfloor 7 of the fabrication facility where lithography tool 5 is utilized, through a flow controller 64(A) to a first connection port of distribution manifold 32. One embodiment of spectrometer 12 includes a 1.5 mm diameter stainless steel vacuum housing 14 having an open end 15 which provides the only communication to the ion source region of MS 12, and a closed opposing end 17 through which a short length of pressure reducing tube 16 extends from the ion source region to a second connection port of distribution manifold 32. Tubing 16 may be a tubing of any size that provides for restricting flow as well known in the art to drop the pressure across tube 16 to the low operating pressure of MS 12. However, tubing 16 is preferably a capillary of sufficiently small diameter to provide resistance to the flow of gas from tool 5 to MS 12. In one test of the invention, capillary tube 16 was a .25 mm inside diameter uncoated fused silica tube having a length on the order of 1 meter. A metering valve (not shown) between manifold 32 and MS 12 was also used with capillary tube 16 in one test of the invention, but such a valve was found not to be a requirement.
Optionally, a source of buffer gas such as helium may also be applied to vacuum housing 14 through a fixed orifice 18 to limit flow. The sample and buffer combine within the ion source region of spectrometer 12.
In operation, lithography tool 5 generates vapors in a sealed container as is well known in the art. These vapors are exhausted through conventional exhaust lines running under the fab subfloor 5, with the pressure in the exhaust lines typically being on the order of 700 Torr. For qualitative measurements of VOCs at tool 5, it is sufficient to provide a pump 44 connected to a third connection point of distribution manifold 32 to draw gases from tool 5 to distribution manifold 32. Mass spectrometer 12 operates at an internal pressure of between 10 -3 and 10 -5 Torr, so gases are drawn into the MS from manifold 32.
The aforementioned equipment cannot provide for quantitative measurements due to naturally occurring variations in the system. The measured quantity of VOC is a function of the amount of VOC that flows through tube 16 into MS 12, which amount is a function of the pressure and flow of gas at the input end of capillary tube 16. Pressure may randomly change as the conditions change within tool 5, as the atmospheric pressure changes, and as the device is connected to different tools 5. The flow may change as different processes occur within tool 5 and as equipment comes on or off line in parallel with tool 5. Furthermore, the system must be calibrated with a constant source of material at the same pressure and flow as tool 5.
In accordance with this invention, additional equipment is provided to ensure that the pressure and flow at the input to MS 12 remains constant. Mass flow controller 64(A) provides a constant flow rate at its output so long as its input is at a greater flow rate and there is a sufficient pressure difference between input and output. For a test of this embodiment, controller 64(A) was an MKS Instruments, Andover, Mass., type 1359C device that was set to provide a controlled flow of 2000 sccm (standard cubic centimeters per minute). Setpoints and readout were achieved with a four channel readout, MKS type 247C (not shown) connected to controller 64(A). Sufficient flow through controller 64(A) was ensured by pump 44, a direct drive mechanical type 2021 pump from Alcatel Vacuum Products Inc., Hingham, Mass.
Pressure at manifold 32 was maintained at a constant pressure of about 400 Torr using a pressure gauge 54 connected to a fourth connection point of distribution manifold 32 to measure the pressure, a throttle valve 48 connected between manifold 32 and pump 44 to adjust the pressure and a throttle valve controller 52 controlled by a signal from pressure gauge 54 to adjust the position of valve 48. The value of 400 Torr was a result of the equipment used in the disclosed embodiment. Any pressure at manifold 32 which is less than the pressure at tool 5 (or any other input likely to be attached to the system), which is significantly greater than the operating pressure of MS 12, and which supports a constant flow and pressure as described herein, is acceptable. As a practical matter, it becomes more difficult to maintain a constant pressure at lower pressures.
For the test, gauge 54 was an MKS Instruments model 690A13TRC; valve 48 was an MKS Instruments type 270, model 253A-1-2CF-1; and controller 52 was an MKS Instruments type 252. The manifold 64 was heated to approximately 50° C. using resistive heat tape to prevent condensation of the organic compounds under test. Depending on the compounds, the entire system may have to be heated, as is well known in the art.
A sampling flow of 2000 sccm was used for each sample line to monitor individual tools. Sample flow was diluted with room air, dependent upon the signal observed, using a second flow controller. For example, a total flow of 4000 sccm (flow controllers 64(A) and 64(B) open, set for 2000 sccm each with 64(C) and 64(D) closed), diluted the exhaust by a factor of two. Different inlet pressures (400 and 500 torr) were also utilized to affect signal intensity.
For the tests, MS 12 was an INCOS XL mass spectrometer (Finnigan Corp., San Jose, Calif.). The instrument scanned a mass range of 50-175 amu at the rate of one scan per 0.8276 seconds. Source and transfer line temperatures were set at 120° C.
FIG. 2 shows the effect of a change in inlet pressure on quantitative measurements. When the inlet pressure at distribution manifold 32 dropped from 500 torr to 400 torr during processing of the fourth of six wafers, the total ion count jumped significantly. This jump occurred because a change in pressure affects the quantity of sample entering MS 12, as well as the pressure inside the MS, which affects the efficiency at which analytes are detected. The drop in pressure reduced the amount of sample entering the MS, which increased the detection efficiency (or sensitivity) of the device and yielded a larger signal.
The feedback system of the invention is utilized to prevent such changes.
In a similar manner, FIG. 3 shows that a change in flow from four to six standard liters per minute caused a significant reduction in total ion count, because a constant fraction of the total flow enters MS 12, and the stream from tool 5 had been diluted by 50% with the extra flow coming from the room air, not the tool.
As further illustrated in FIG. 1, this invention permits the use of the expensive mass spectrometer with a plurality of inputs. An input manifold 60 includes four parallel input arms or paths (A)-(D), with each input path containing a flow controller 64 similar to controller 64(A) and a gate valve 62 to regulate whether or not gas passes through that arm. (Specific arms, and components of specific arms, are identified by a letter (A)-(D) representing each of the four arms displayed in FIG. 1. Statements that apply to all arms will not be designated by a letter.) Additional input tubes (not shown) corresponding to tube 30 may connect each of controllers 64(B) and 64(C) to different tools (not shown) in the fabrication facility.
For calibration purposes, the inputs of flow controller 64(D) is shown to be connected through a three way gate valve 66 to a source of air and to an acetone permeation tube 68. A permeation tube is a closed container filled with a relatively large amount of the desired analyte, such as acetone, in pure form which diffuses through the porous walls of the container at a known rate. The tube is often placed in an oven to ensure constant temperature. For the test, acetone permeation tube 68 (VTI, Oak Ridge, Tenn., model LPL-5-ACE-4MVCR-FV-FTV) was connected to the sampling manifold with a flow of 50 cc/min.
Input manifold 60 permits single or multi-component gas streams to be generated for calibration purposes. By connecting glass bubbling tube 67 to path (B), gases of different compounds may be generated and used to calibrate MS 12. In a test of the invention, quantitation was performed by monitoring a single mass for each source analyte. The signal intensity of the protonated molecular ion was monitored for acetone (m/z 59), isopropanol (m/z 61), and ethyl lactate (m/z 119) ; whereas the signal intensity of a fragment ion of HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) (m/z 147) was monitored. Protonated HMDS was observed, but was far less abundant. Both ethyl lactate and HMDS produce fragment ions that should be considered if additional compounds are to be monitored since they may overlap with peaks of other compounds. For example, the fragment ion of HMDS appearing at m/z 73 creates an interference for any analyte whose protonated molecular ion would appear at the same mass. In mixture analysis the result could range from a small measurement bias to a false positive. In general, the less fragmentation present and the higher the m/z value monitored, the lower the probability of mass spectral interferences.
To utilize the invention in the environment for which it is designed, a semiconductor production line, the major components of each photolithography blend were detected by GC/MS and retention times tabulated for all components under these GC conditions. The major ions observed for individual components, i.e. their mass spectral "signatures", were also tabulated. Samples were then collected using adsorption tubes on-site and analyzed to determine the approximate concentration levels of photolithography blend components present during wafer processing. Despite difficulties in determining detection limits in Cl/MS, comparison of on-site data and GC/MS analysis of laboratory-generated exhaust flows allowed the sampling manifold and Cl/MS instrumentation to be optimized for on-line analysis.
One goal of this invention is to determine the potential of Cl/MS to perform as an end-point detector in various operations. Detection and measurement of organics exhausted during spin-coat, soft-bake, and post-exposure bake tool (PEB) operations has been demonstrated. Changes in the signal of one component observed in the PEB exhaust with changes in exposure conditions and PEB oven temperature demonstrate the capabilities of Cl/MS exhaust monitoring.
For one test, exhaust flow from two spin-coater cups were individually monitored during standard wafer coating procedures. The first procedure coated APEX (a photoresist chemical manufactured by Shipley, Marlborough, Mont.) followed by a backside wash of GBL (a rinsing chemical manufactured by Olin Stamford, Conn., whose major ingredient is 4-butyrolactone). FIG. 4 plots with a common y-axis the total ion counts (TIC, sum of all ions) in addition to selected ion plots for m/z 73 (APEX) and m/z 87 (GBL) versus scan number. Four wafers were coated using the nominal parameters of a 6 second dispense time, 30 second casting time and 15 second backside rinse. Initially almost no APEX and only a small level of GBL was present. APEX present in the spin-coater and/or sampling line did not drop back to baseline before the next wafer was coated, and remains elevated during the following wafers. One and a half minutes after the last wafer, APEX was still present. An acetone calibration was performed after the APEX coat and used to calculate the APEX concentration (in acetone equivalents) present at each peak maximum (see Table 1). The less volatile GBL was observed to increase slowly with time (see m/z 87, FIG. 2), reaching a maximum concentration of 0.8 ppm (in acetone equivalents). Depletion of GBL began to occur 1.5 minutes after the last wafer.
Based on the preliminary data, the APEX ion (m/z 73, fragment of PGMEA) and the protonated molecular ion of GBL (m/z 87) were chosen for quantitation. These ions were of greatest abundance in the spectra of these compounds and therefore would allow the lowest detection limits.
TABLE 1______________________________________APEX peak width and concentration at peak - maximum (in acetoneequivalents). peak max. (ppm)APEX peak # peak width (seconds) (acetone equivalents)______________________________________1 71 2.52 75 2.23 71 2.04 68 .2.2______________________________________
The particular sizes and equipment discussed above are cited merely to illustrate a particular embodiment of this invention. While the invention is illustrated measuring VOCs from a semiconductor processing tool, it may be utilized to monitor many different processes and many different compounds. It is contemplated that the use of the invention may involve components having different sizes and shapes as long as the principles of the invention are followed. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto.
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A system for on-line quantitative monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) includes pressure reduction means for carrying a gaseous sample from a first location to a measuring input location maintained at a low pressure, the system utilizing active feedback to keep both the vapor flow and pressure to a chemical ionization mode mass spectrometer constant. A multiple input manifold for VOC and gas distribution permits a combination of calibration gases or samples to be applied to the spectrometer.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This present invention relates to the manipulation of up to sixteen (16) joints of pipe at a time and other tubular items that are commonly maneuvered on an oil and gas well site with a snubbing unit or workover rig attached to it for completion or reworking of the well. This invention is also hydraulically maneuvered vertically and horizontally for very smooth transportation of the pipe and other tubular items. It is the smooth movement that maintains the integrity of the pipe utilized. This pipe handling apparatus will be supplied with trained personnel to operate at all times.
[0003] 2. Background of Related Art
[0004] In the oil and gas industry, pipe and other tubular items are regularly hoisted vertically from the pipe racks on the ground to the work basket which is 5 to 37 feet up the derrick (depending on the type of rig used), to be run downhole by the snubbing unit or workover rig from their work basket. There are also occasions when the process is reversed and the pipe must be retrieved from the work basket back down to the ground and placed on pipe racks.
[0005] Various patents have been issued to pipe handlers that typically only carry one (1) joint of pipe via a trough type carriage at a time and are chain driven. Such patents include:
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,314 issued to Luth on Sep. 24, 1984
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,766 issued to Boyadjieff on Apr. 26, 1985
[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 8,052,368 issued to Littlewood, Thieme on Sep. 23, 2008
[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 8,215,887 issued to Fikowski, Hunter, Brost on Nov. 1, 2010
[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 8,474,892 issued to Hanna on Jun. 13, 2012
[0011] Other patents for manipulating pipe are boom and cable type apparatuses which can be a danger to the rig hand and can potentially damage the pipe, as well as above one joint of pipe is transported at a time. Such patents include:
[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 7,918,636 issued to Orgeron on Oct. 24, 2007
[0013] U.S. Pat. No. 8,506,229 issued to Orgeron on Mar. 31, 2011
[0014] Both current pipe handling machine patents are confined to manipulating just one joint of pipe at a time and in most cases the derrick hand is waiting for the next joint of pipe to be hoisted up to him, impeding production and increasing risk factors due to the numerous trips to the work basket and back down to the pipe racks.
[0015] The oil and gas industry is a hazardous occupation, the need of reliable and safe manipulation of pipe and other tubular items is significantly warranted to maintain a safe work environment for all workers on the well site. In addition to; it is vital to keep production at its peak performance.
[0016] This invention satisfies both major components it increases productivity by manipulating up to sixteen (16) joints of pipe securely in a single trip without damaging the pipe and it accomplishes the safety factor by controlling the amount of round trips to the work basket as well as giving the derrick hand an additional escape route in case of an emergency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The present invention provides novel pipe manipulation by the unique characteristics of my pipe handling apparatus, such as; my pipe handler has an operator's tower and it has a metal roof overhead for the operator's protection as well as an emergency shut down on all hydraulics at his fingertips and a kill switch on the motor should an occasion arise requiring such an action. The pipe delivery section (hydraulic pipe table) holds up to sixteen (16) joints of pipe or tubular items per trip to the work basket, the hydraulic pipe table doubles as an alternative escape route in case of an emergency for the derrick hand in the work basket. The loading arm can load up to 4 joints of pipe onto the hydraulic pipe table at a time reducing the time it takes to fully load the hydraulic pipe table. Because this machine lifts 16 joints of pipe/tubing at a time (current pipe handlers must make 16 trips to equal our 1) the reduction of trips increases productivity and saves wear and tear on the apparatus as well as increasing the safety aspect with reduced motion. My unit is raised and lowered as well as pipe delivery hydraulically rather than the chain driven ones currently used. This unit can also serve as a temporary pipe/tubing storage area.
[0018] A heavy truck outfitted with a fifth wheel hook up hauls and sets the pipe handling apparatus on a gas or oil well location. The operator levels out the apparatus via four (4) hydraulic cylinders around the base.
[0019] A loader hauls and places the pipe racks and the pipe rack stabilizer bar while the operator installs the pins to swing them into place. This step is completed on both sides of the apparatus for a total of four (4) times.
[0020] A loader loads the hydraulic pipe racks with the pipe or other tubular items being utilized by the snubbing unit or workover rig. The trained operator supplied for this pipe handling apparatus then hydraulically maneuvers the pipe rack to roll toward the hydraulic pipe loader and tilts the hydraulic pipe table to roll the pipe or other tubular items to the opposite side of the hydraulic pipe table for easy loading. The hydraulic pipe loader picks up four (4) joints of pipe or other tubular items and rolls them onto the hydraulic pipe table, this is repeated 3 more times. Now the hydraulic pipe table is full with sixteen (16) joints of pipe or other tubular items. The operator hydraulically lifts the hydraulic pipe gate to secure the load and levels out the hydraulic pipe table.
[0021] The operator sets the angle required to reach the work basket on the incline gauge, he then hydraulically lifts the pipe table vertical until the desired angle is achieved. The operator then engages the hydraulic pipe pusher to extend out to the work basket. It takes about two (2) minutes to load, lift and extend the table into place for the derrick hand.
[0022] The operator holds the aforementioned position until the derrick hand has used all sixteen (16) joints of pipe or other tubular items. Once the last joint has been removed from the hydraulic pipe table it is lowered back down to the base and the steps repeat.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] Side View Sheet 1 is the side view with the hydraulic pipe table in the lowered position from the operator station to the tail roller. This drawing shows the operator station, hydraulic pipe pusher, hydraulic bumper light bar, hydraulic pipe gates, hydraulic telescoping pipe table, hydraulic pipe racks, hydraulic leveling jacks, and hydraulic pipe loader as well as the main lift hydraulic cylinder and the trailer base.
[0024] Operator Station Sheet 1 - 1 is detailed close up drawing of the operator station from side view sheet 1 .
[0025] Pipe Pusher Sheet 1 - 2 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic pipe pusher from side view sheet 1 .
[0026] Hydraulic Bumper Light Bar Sheet 1 - 3 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic bumper light bar from side view sheet 1 .
[0027] Hydraulic Pipe Gates Sheet 1 - 4 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic pipe gates from side view sheet 1 .
[0028] Hydraulic Telescoping Pipe Table Sheet 1 - 5 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic telescoping pipe table from side view sheet 1 .
[0029] Hydraulic Pipe Racks Sheet 1 - 6 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic pipe racks from side view sheet 1 .
[0030] Hydraulic Leveling Jacks Sheet 1 - 7 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic leveling jacks from side view sheet 1 .
[0031] Hydraulic Pipe Loader Sheet 1 - 8 is a detailed close up drawing of the hydraulic pipe loader from side view sheet 1 .
[0032] Front View Sheet 2 with the hydraulic pipe table at the lowered position giving front view detail to the hydraulic pipe racks, bumper, stairs for the operator station, canopy of the operator station, hydraulic pipe pusher, hydraulic tank, hydraulic (telescoping) pipe table, and the hydraulic leveling jacks.
[0033] Side View Sheet 3 illustrates the hydraulic pipe handling apparatus with the hydraulic pipe table in the raised position via a side view.
[0034] 3-D View Sheet 4 illustrates the pipe handling apparatus with the hydraulic pipe table elevated in a 3-D format.
[0035] Side View Sheet 5 illustrates the pipe handling apparatus with the hydraulic pipe table elevated and the hydraulic pipe pusher extended to telescope the hydraulic pipe table to the work basket of a snubbing unit or workover rig. The pipe or other tubular item is extended out for easy handling by the derrick hand in the work basket.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Side View Drawing Sheet 1 and Supporting Detail Drawing Sheets
[0036] Referring to Side View Sheet 1 , Illustrates the components of this invention, my pipe handling apparatus (sheet 1 ). The components listed are Operator Station Sheet 1 - 1 , Hydraulic Pipe pusher Sheet 1 - 2 , Hydraulic Bumper Light Bar Sheet 1 - 3 , Hydraulic Pipe Gates Sheet 1 - 4 , Hydraulic Telescoping Pipe Table Sheet 1 - 5 , Hydraulic Pipe Racks Sheet 1 - 6 , Hydraulic Leveling Jacks Sheet 1 - 7 , Hydraulic Pipe Loader Sheet 1 - 8 , Main Lift Hydraulic Cylinder Sheet 1 , 1 -A and the Trailer Base Sheet 1 , 1 -B.
[0037] Referring to the Operator Station Sheet 1 - 1 , This sheet illustrates the location of the rig up/down hydraulic controls that maneuver the side hydraulic pipe gates (sheet 1 - 4 ) on the pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ), tilt the pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) horizontally and maneuvers the hydraulic bumper light bar (sheet 1 - 3 ), main elevation controls (sheet 1 - 1 ) the ability to level the entire apparatus on location (sheet 1 - 7 ), pipe telescoping controls (sheet 1 - 1 ) that maneuver the hydraulic telescoping pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) and the hydraulic pipe pusher (sheet 1 - 2 ), lastly the table/pipe rack hydraulic controls (sheet 1 - 1 ) operate the hydraulic pipe racks on both the left and right side of the apparatus (sheet 1 - 6 ), lift the pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) vertically off the trailer base (sheet 1 , 1 -B) via the main lift hydraulic cylinder (sheet 1 , 1 -A). The operator station (sheet 1 - 1 ) has complete control over all hydraulically driven aspects of this pipe handling apparatus (sheet 1 ). The operator station (sheet 1 - 1 ) is constructed with welded steel compartments, height adjustable steel frame securing the stainless steel roof, as well as welded diamond plate steel for the floor of the station.
[0038] Referring to the Pipe Pusher Sheet 1 - 2 , this drawing further illustrates the components of the hydraulic pipe pusher (sheet 1 - 2 ) which extends the pipe table (sheet 1 ) vertically to the work basket. The components are the hydraulic hose track (sheet 1 - 2 ), constructed from riveted stainless steel to provide flexibility during the extension process, the function of the hydraulic hose track (sheet 1 - 2 ) is to protect the rubber hydraulic hoses encapsulated inside the track. The pipe pusher scissor main assembly (sheet 1 - 2 ) is constructed from welded steel with metal pins to provide bendability, vertically when extended. The pipe pusher hydraulic cylinders (sheet 1 - 2 ) provide the pipe pusher (sheet 1 - 2 ) with hydraulically powered maneuverability. The pipe pusher head assembly (sheet 1 - 2 ) is constructed from welded steel which houses the pipe pusher gantry assembly (sheet 1 - 2 ) which is constructed from welded steel and supports the pipe pusher scissor assembly (sheet 1 - 2 ).
[0039] Referring to the Hydraulic Bumper Light Bar Sheet 1 - 3 , this drawing further illustrates the components of the bumper with a main bumper bar (sheet 1 - 3 ) constructed from welded steel for strength. The LED lights (sheet 1 - 3 ) provide ample lighting for safe operation during dusk and dark hours. The DOT light assembly (sheet 1 - 3 ) has dual purpose, their first function is road worthy DOT regulated tail lights (sheet 1 - 3 ), brake lights and turn signals; their second functions is to visually alert personnel on the well site that the pipe handling apparatus (sheet 1 ) is in motion, audio alerts are present at this time as well. The main pivot shaft (sheet 1 - 3 ) is constructed from welded steel and allows the bumper assembly (sheet 1 - 3 ) to fold to the appropriate angle during operation of the pipe handling apparatus (Sheet 1 ) and return to the perpendicular position during transport for accurate use of the DOT light assembly (sheet 1 - 3 ).
[0040] Referring to the Hydraulic Pipe Gates Sheet 1 - 4 , this drawing further illustrates the hydraulic pipe gates cylinder (sheet 1 - 4 ) which is constructed from welded steel. The hydraulic main gate tube (Sheet 1 - 5 ) is constructed from steel tubing. The hydraulic pipe gates pivot assembly (sheet 1 - 4 ) is constructed from welded steel with steel pins to achieve the ability to pivot. The function of the pipe gates (sheet 1 - 4 ) is to lower when loading pipe and raise to secure pipe on the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ).
[0041] Referring to the Hydraulic Telescoping Pipe Table Sheet 1 - 5 , this drawing illustrates in detail the components of the pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) constructed from welded steel with steel rollers which make smooth telescoping capability possible. The tail roller (sheet 1 - 5 ) is constructed from steel pipe which aides in the pipe removal process for the derrick hand in the work basket. The main lift hydraulic cylinder (Sheet 1 , 1 -A) provides smooth raising and lowering hydraulically driven maneuvers. The table base assembly (sheet 1 - 5 ) is constructed from welded steel and houses the telescoping roller assembly with the steel rollers in the aforementioned sentence. The tilting table top (sheet 1 - 5 ) is a maneuver to roll the pipe laying on the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) to the desired side of the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ). The tilting table top (sheet 1 - 5 ) is a vital function of the pipe handling apparatus for the reason that the loading and unloading of pipe requires the pipe to roll in the desired direction to maintain quick yet safe pipe preparation and handling.
[0042] Referring to the Hydraulic Pipe Racks Sheet 1 - 6 , this drawing further illustrates the components of the pipe racking and loading system. The pipe rack main frame on sheet 1 - 6 is constructed from welded steel tubing; its main function is to safely and securely hold the pipe which is being loaded or unloaded from the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ). The pipe rack pivot assembly (sheet 1 - 6 ) allows the pipe racks to swing into the open position. The pipe rack support bars (sheet 1 - 6 ) stabilize the pipe rack main frame (sheet 1 - 6 ) from movement. The pipe rack hydraulic cylinder (sheet 1 - 6 ) hydraulically adjusts the pipe rack main frame from −5 degrees, to level, then to +5 degrees and anywhere in between to stabilize the pipe or roll the pipe to the appropriate side of the pipe rack. The pipe rack foot assembly (sheet 1 - 6 ) secures the pipe rack hydraulic cylinder (sheet 1 - 6 ) for safe and reliable movement.
[0043] Referring to the Hydraulic Leveling Jack's Sheet 1 - 7 , this drawing illustrates in detail the components of the hydraulic leveling jack's. The outside main jack cylinder (sheet 1 - 7 ) houses the inside main jack cylinder, both are constructed from steel with steel fittings. The main jack support (sheet 1 - 7 ) is constructed from steel tubing and supports the main jack cylinder (sheet 1 - 7 ). The jack pivot assembly is welded steel fittings which allow the main jack support (sheet 1 - 7 ) to accurately level the pipe handling apparatus (sheet 1 ) as well as raise the hydraulic leveling jack's for transporting.
[0044] Referring to the Hydraulic Pipe Loader Sheet 1 - 8 , this drawing illustrates in detail the hydraulic pipe loader; its function is to pick up the pipe (up to four (4) joints at a time) from the hydraulic pipe rack and roll them onto the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ). The pipe loader main frame (sheet 1 - 8 ) is constructed from welded steel and is located on the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ), it is adjustable; while in the upright position it locks the pipe onto the hydraulic pipe table and while in the lowered position it allows the pipe to roll onto or off of the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ). The pipe loader locking pin (sheet 1 - 8 ) is metal and used during transport as a dual form of safety to securely lock the pipe loader down to the pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ). The pipe loader swing arm (sheet 1 - 8 ) is constructed from welded steel and is the section that picks up and rolls the pipe onto the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ). The hydraulic cylinder (sheet 1 - 8 ) is the metal cylinder that drives the loading arm. The pipe loader main shell (sheet 1 - 8 ) is the area that allows the pipe loader frame (sheet 1 - 8 ) to pivot while loading and unloading pipe.
Front View Drawing Sheet 2
[0045] Referring to the front view sheet 2 , this drawing illustrates the hydraulic pipe table at the lowered position from the front view of the pipe handling apparatus (sheet 1 ). The canopy (sheet 2 ) is covering the operator station (sheet 1 - 1 ) and is constructed from stainless steel. The pipe pusher (sheet 1 - 2 ) from the front view. The hydraulic tank (sheet 2 ) is welded metal and contains the hydraulic fluid. The telescoping table (sheet 1 - 5 ) from the front view. The leveling jacks (sheet 1 - 7 ) from the front view. The bumper light bar (sheet 1 - 4 ) from the front view. The pipe racks (sheet 1 - 6 ) from the front view. The stairs (sheet 2 ) lead up to the operator station (sheet 1 - 1 ) and are constructed of welded steel.
Side View Sheet 3 Elevated Vertically
[0046] Referring to the side view sheet 3 , this drawing illustrates the pipe handling apparatus from sheet 1 , while elevating the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) vertically toward the work basket of a snubbing unit or workover rig.
3D View Sheet 4
[0047] Referring to the 3D view sheet 4 , this drawing illustrates the pipe handling apparatus from sheet 1 in detail with the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) lifted vertically.
Side View Sheet 5
[0048] Referring to side view sheet 5 , this drawing illustrates the pipe handling apparatus from sheet 1 in detail with the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 - 5 ) vertically elevated as well as the hydraulic pipe pusher (sheet 1 - 2 ) extending the hydraulic pipe table (sheet 1 ) out with the pipe or other tubular item ready for a derrick hand in the work basket to utilize.
[0049] The present invention accomplishes many enhancements that separate this invention over the prior art. The most prominent enhancement is that the hydraulic pipe table holds up to sixteen (16) joints of pipe or other tubular items in a single trip to the work basket. All prior inventions must make sixteen (16) trips to equal our one (1) trip. Through minimizing the number of trips to a work basket several issues become clearly beneficial such as increasing production by increasing the amount of pipe ready for the derrick hand in the workbasket to drive downhole. There is no down time waiting for pipe by the pipe handler, down time is a significant cost per hour on a well site. Safety is a top contender as well and the decreased trips up to the work basket and back down to the pipe racks is automatically going to decrease the chances of accidents and raise the safety factor to all the personnel on the well site. The pipe being handled is securely placed on a Hydraulic pipe table, this retains the integrity of the pipe utilized which also saves money, as for less pipe requires replacement due to damage. The hydraulically driven pipe handler loads, tilts, raises, telescopes, lowers and unloads the pipe very smoothly, this also is a safety factor. Pipe in a swaying or jerking motion is hazardous to all personnel on the well site. The hydraulic pipe table is a large flat surface that in the case of an emergency could be used as an alternate escape route. The dual pipe racks can be used as temporary pipe storage racks. This pipe handling apparatus is independent of the snubbing unit or workover rig. Neither the snubbing unit nor the workover rig require any modifications to accommodate this hydraulic pipe handling apparatus. This invention is transported via heavy truck equipped with a fifth wheel attachment and requires no special transporting permits.
[0050] The abovementioned disclosure and description of this invention is illustrative and descriptive thereof. Various modifications to the details of the illustrated structure can be made within the scope of the attached claims without deviating from the true nature of this invention. This invention should only be limited by the following statements and their legal counterparts.
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The present invention is a pipe handling apparatus that hydraulically lifts up to sixteen (16) joints of pipe and/or other tubular items up to the work basket of a snubbing unit or a workover service rig located on an active well site in the oil and gas industry. The base and hydraulic pipe table of the apparatus, hydraulic pipe racks, hydraulic pipe loader and hydraulic pipe pusher are all hydraulically driven for a smooth, accurate motion. The height and length is adjustable to accommodate varying work basket heights and variable proximity to the well and snubbing/workover unit for length. The hydraulic pipe table has the ability to tilt from side to side for positioning the pipe to load and unload the hydraulic pipe table. The machine has a covered operator's tower that fully maneuvers all motions of the apparatus as well as kill switches; it is hauled via semi-truck with a fifth wheel hook up.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a liquid crystal/resin composite comprising a resin having dispersed therein a liquid crystal material or a resin/liquid crystal composite comprising a liquid crystal material having dispersed therein a resin.
2. Prior Art
Liquid crystal electro-optical devices well known and already put to practice heretofore are those operating in TN (twisted nematic) mode or STN (super twisted nematic) mode, in which nematic liquid crystal compositions are used. Recently, liquid crystal electro-optical devices taking advantage of ferroelectric liquid crystals have been also realized. A liquid crystal electro-optical device of the type above basically comprises a first and a second substrate each having provided thereon an electrode and a lead, and a liquid crystal composition incorporated therebetween. Thus, the liquid crystal composition can undergo a transition between states by applying thereto an electric field through the electrodes provided on the substrates. These changes in states are ascribed to the anisotropy of the dielectric constant of the liquid crystal composition itself in the case of nematic liquid crystals, etc., and to the spontaneous polarization in the case of ferroelectric liquid crystals. In this manner, the electro-optical effect due to the changes in state of the liquid crystal molecules can be utilized to give an electro-optical device.
In the TN mode or the STN mode liquid crystal electro-optical devices, the liquid crystal molecules within the plane of the liquid crystal layer in contact with the substrate arrange themselves along the rubbing direction upon applying a rubbing treatment to establish a molecular orientation. The upper and the lower substrates are displaced from each other in such a manner that the rubbing direction of one substrate make an angle in the range of from 90° or from 200° to 290° to that of the other. Thus, at the central portion of the liquid crystal layer, the liquid crystal molecules are arranged helically to minimize the energy between the upper and the lower liquid crystals which are positioned with respect to each other within an angle in the range of from 90° to 290°. Furthermore, in such a construction, the liquid crystal material in an STN mode device may be a mixture with chiral substances if necessary.
In the conventional type of electro-optical devices as described in the foregoing, however, it is requisite to incorporate polarizer sheets and also to maintain the liquid crystal molecules in a regularly oriented manner within the liquid crystal electro-optical device. The treatment for establishing a molecular orientation comprises rubbing the orientation film (which is an organic film in general) with a cotton cloth or a velvet cloth. If no such treatment is applied, the electro-optical effect of the liquid crystals cannot be expected because no uni-direction oriented liquid crystal molecules would be realized. Accordingly, the device inevitably comprises a pair of electrodes to define a space to maintain therein the liquid crystal material. Thus, the liquid crystal is injected into said space and then subjected to orientation treatment to realize an optical effect.
In contrast to the liquid crystal electro-optical device mentioned hereinbefore, there is also known a dispersion-type liquid crystal which can be employed free of such polarizers and rubbing treatment, and which yet provides an image plane having a brighter contrast. The light control layer of this dispersion-type liquid crystal comprises a light-transmitting solid polymer maintaining therein the liquid crystal material in droplets or in a sponge-like structure. The liquid crystal device can be fabricated by dispersing an encapsulated liquid crystal material into a polymer, and then providing said polymer on a substrate as a film or a thin film. The liquid crystal can be encapsulated with gum arabic, poly (vinyl alcohol), gelatin, and the like.
In a dispersion-type liquid crystal comprising liquid crystal molecules encapsulated with polyvinyl alcohol) and having a positive dielectric anisotropy, for example, the liquid crystal molecules arrange themselves in such a manner that the major axes thereof become parallel to the direction of the electric field. If the refraction index of the solid polymer is equivalent to that of the arranged liquid crystal upon application of the electric field, the light control layer turns transparent. When the electric field is turned off, the liquid crystal molecules take a random arrangement, and hence, the refraction index of the liquid crystal material greatly deviates from that of the solid polymer. Thus an opaque state is realized, because the light is scattered by the liquid crystal molecules and the light-transmittance becomes low. The device takes advantage of the difference between the transparent state and the opaque state to provide information of various types. In addition to the encapsulated type, dispersion-type liquid crystals include those comprising liquid crystal materials being dispersed in an epoxy resin; those taking advantage of phase separation between the liquid crystal and the resin, which is realized by irradiating a light beam to a mixture of a liquid crystal and a photo-curable resin to cure the resin; and those comprising a three-dimensionally bonded polymer impregnated with a liquid crystal. In the present invention, the term "dispersion-type liquid crystal" encompasses all the types enumerated above.
The above dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical devices are free from polarizer sheets and hence have extremely high light transmittance as compared with those of the conventional electro-optical devices operating in a TN mode, STN mode, etc. More specifically, the transmittance per single polarizer sheet is about 50%. Hence, in an active matrix type electro-optical device using a combination of said polarizer sheets result in a final transmittance of about 1%; in an electro-optical device operating in an STN mode, the actual transmittance is about 20%. Accordingly, much effort in those conventional electro-optical devices is placed to realizing a bright display by increasing illuminance of the back-lighting. In contrast to the conventional electro-optical devices, dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical devices transmit 50% or more of the incident light. This is a unique superiority of the dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical devices which results from their structure free of any polarizer sheets.
As stated in the foregoing, a dispersion-type liquid crystal takes a transparent state and an opaque state, and because it is capable of transmitting a large amount of light, research and development efforts are generally concerned in realizing a transmitting type device. Particularly among them, projection-type liquid crystal devices are the most actively developed types. A projection-type liquid crystal electro-optical device comprises a liquid crystal electro-optical device panel placed in the light path to intervene in the light beam emitted from the light source, so that the light having passed through this panel may be projected on a wall plane through a slit provided at a predetermined angle. The liquid crystal molecules in this panel provide a white opaque state when they are in a random arrangement at a low level electric field below the threshold value at which the liquid crystal molecules do not respond. The light incident to the panel at this instance is scattered upon passing through the panel to greatly widen the light path thereof. Accordingly, the scattered light is mostly cut off by the slit provided subsequent to the panel. A black state occurs on the wall by thus cutting off the scattered light. When an electric field is applied at an intensity over the threshold value, on the other hand, the liquid crystal molecules arrange themselves in response to the electric field to make a parallel arrangement with respect to the direction of the electric field. Thus, the light incident thereto advances straight forward without being scattered to finally realize a bright state with high luminance on the wall.
In the dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical devices as described in the foregoing, the contrast of the display depends on the degree of light scattering corresponding to the change in orientation states of the liquid crystal material. Accordingly, it is required that the liquid crystal material is incorporated in the device as numerous minute droplets. The size of the minute droplets should fall in a range of from about 0.05 to 10 μm. In general, they are about 0.3 to 3 μm in size. Such minute liquid crystal droplets can be fabricated under controlled conditions, particularly under strict control of temperature.
If the resin material is solidified at a temperature higher than that at which the liquid crystal droplets precipitate from a mixed system of a liquid crystal material and a resin material, the mixed system cannot undergo sufficient phase separation as to provide the liquid crystal portion and the resin portion. As a result of such insufficient phase separation, the liquid crystal material solidifies in a surrounded state in the resin to give liquid crystal droplets less than 1 μm in size. Such minute liquid crystal droplets do not contribute to light scattering and, moreover, only few droplets can be obtained under such conditions.
If the resin material is solidified at a temperature lower than that at which the liquid crystal droplets precipitate from s mixed system of a liquid crystal material and a resin material, on the other hand, the liquid crystal droplet having precipitated from the mixed system grows into a larger one, or two or more such droplets contact and fuse with each other to give a larger single droplet. The large droplets obtained in this case are too large to contribute to scattering light. When the resin material and the liquid crystal material are less compatible with each other, the resin material is preferably solidified at a temperature slightly higher than the precipitation temperature of the droplets, because excessively large droplets may result if the resin material is solidified at a temperature lower than the precipitation temperature of the droplets.
On the contrary, the resin material is preferably solidified at a temperature slightly lower than the precipitation temperature of droplets if the resin material is highly compatible with the liquid crystal material, because an insufficient phase separation may result by resin solidification at a temperature higher than the temperature at which the droplets precipitate. It can be seen from the foregoing that droplets of a pertinent size and at a large number thereby can be obtained only under a controlled temperature condition; when the light-transmitting resin material is solidified at the precipitation temperature of the droplets or at the vicinity thereof.
However, if the precipitation of the droplets occurs at too high a temperature, the resin material should be solidified at an elevated temperature. Then, problems concerning, for example, increase in fabrication cost of the liquid crystal electro-optical device, handling of substrates, and reproducibility of the process, must be newly confronted. A solution to these problems is to control the temperature of precipitation of the droplets from the mixed system. The precipitation temperature can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the amount of the light-transmitting resin material. However, this method inevitably increases or decreases the amount of the liquid crystal as to impair the light scattering, because light scattering depends on the number of liquid crystal droplets. Moreover, liquid crystal in excess results in too large and non-uniform liquid crystal droplets which impair light scattering and generate a hysteresis.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a solution to the aforementioned problems. It provides a liquid crystal electro-optical device which can be fabricated by controlling the precipitation temperature of the liquid crystal droplets without impairing the light scattering properties. More specifically, the mixing ratio of the at least two different organic substances constituting the light-transmitting resin material is varied while maintaining the amount of the liquid crystal and the density of the liquid crystal droplets constant so that the light scattering properties may not be impaired. By thus controlling the mixing ratio of the organic substances, the precipitation temperature of the droplets from the mixed system can be set at a pertinent temperature suited for fabrication, and, by setting the resin solidification temperature at the same temperature, droplets of a uniform size can be obtained to realize a liquid crystal electro-optical device having excellent light scattering properties. A temperature at which the droplet of the liquid crystal is precipitated from a mixture of the liquid crystal and at least two different organic substances is approximately equal to a temperature at which at least two different organic substances are hardened. The liquid crystal 3 is dispersed in the organic substances 4, or the organic substances are dispersed in the liquid crystal 4 as shown in FIG. 3. The electro-optical device in accordance with the present invention comprises an electro-optical modulating layer comprising the liquid crystal and at least two different organic substances, and two substrates sandwiching the electro-optical modulating layer therebetween, and means for applying an electric field to the electro-optical modulating layer. In the fabrication of a dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a light-transmitting resin material in particular, the light-transmitting resin material can be more effectively rendered compatible with the liquid crystal material by increasing the amount of the lower molecular weight component rather than varying the amount of the higher molecular component. In this manner, the solidification temperature at the phase separation can be lowered.
The foregoing fabrication process is particularly suited in cases in which the liquid crystal to be used has a high precipitation temperature. In such cases, the resin solidification must be inevitably conducted at a high temperature corresponding to the precipitation temperature of the liquid crystal droplets. More specifically, the process above is effective when mass production cannot be realized due to the difficulty in handling and to the lack of a temperature controller. According to the process, a liquid crystal electro-optical device having excellent light scattering properties under zero electric field can be realized, because the liquid crystal droplets can be precipitated preferably at room temperature from the mixed system without varying the content of the light-transmitting resin in the mixed system, and yet without reducing the amount of the liquid crystal material and thereby without decreasing the number of liquid crystal droplets.
Furthermore, in the fabrication of a dispersion-type liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a mixture of a liquid crystal material and a light-transmitting resin material, the precipitation temperature of the liquid crystal droplets can be more effectively elevated by reducing particularly the content of the low molecular weight components from the light-transmitting resin components. In this manner, the process temperature during solidification of the resin can be increased.
The fabrication process above is particularly suited when resin solidification must be conducted inevitably at a low temperature to achieve favorable scattering properties even in cases where liquid crystal having a relatively low precipitation temperature is used. More specifically, the process above is effective when mass production cannot be realized due to the difficulty in handling and to the lack of a temperature controller. According to the process, a liquid crystal electro-optical device having no drop in light scattering properties due to change in size of liquid crystal droplets can be realized, because the liquid crystal droplets can be precipitated preferably at room temperature from the mixed system without varying the content of the light-transmitting resin in the mixed system.
As mentioned in the foregoing, a liquid crystal electro-optical device having excellent light scattering properties, i.e., a display of high contrast, and which can be driven with a pertinent driving voltage can be easily fabricated without increasing or decreasing the liquid crystal fraction in the mixed system of the light-transmitting resin material and the liquid crystal material.
In FIG. 3 is shown schematically a liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising a substrate having provided thereon a transparent electrically conductive film (2). In other embodiments, a MIM (metal-insulator-metal) non-linear element or a thin film transistor may be formed together with the transparent electrically conductive film on one of the substrates.
In general, the transmittance of a dispersion-type liquid crystal does not increase sharply upon application of an electric field. Accordingly, it is unlikely that a dispersion-type liquid crystal is directly matrix-driven using multiple electrodes. It is therefore preferable to aid its drive by installing non-linear elements and thin film transistors. In this manner, the sluggish response of the liquid crystal can be compensated. In other words, each of the pixels can be switched from a scattering state to a light-transmitting state and vice versa while it is matrix driven.
In the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention, any of the generally used liquid crystals such as nematic, smectic, and cholesteric liquid crystal materials can be used. It should be noted, however, that the fraction of the polymer for the light-transmitting resin within the mixed system and the temperature of precipitating liquid crystal droplets vary depending on the differing characteristics of the selected liquid crystal material.
In the foregoing description, the liquid crystal support is expressed as a light-transmitting resin. However, the resin need not be transparent to all the light covering the entire wavelength. Accordingly, any material having a transmittance of 50% or higher for the wavelength of the light being used in the liquid crystal electro-optical device is suited for use as the support.
In addition, the liquid crystal material being dispersed are expressed as droplets or liquid crystal droplets in the present specification or in FIG. 3. Moreover, the droplets are simply drawn with circles. These expressions and drawings are for explanatory means, and in practice, the dispersed liquid crystal material may take other forms and shapes.
The precipitation temperature of the liquid crystal droplets described in the present specification corresponds to the temperature at which the liquid crystal (inclusive of a liquid crystal state and isotropic phase) appears from a mixed and mutually dissolved state of the liquid crystal material and the light-transmitting resin. The liquid crystal droplets as referred herein mean the liquid crystal phase after the light-transmitting resin is solidified.
Some examples are given below for further explanation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an example of transition temperatures of liquid crystal materials suited for use in the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows another example of transition temperatures of liquid crystal materials suited for use in the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 shows schematically a structure of an embodiment of a liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the driving voltage and the transmittance of a liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
EXAMPLE 1
As shown in FIG. 3, a light-transmitting electrically conductive film of an oxide of indium and tin (Indium-Tin-Oxide; ITO) (2) was deposited on a first substrate (1) at a thickness of from 500 to 2,000 Å by vapor deposition or by sputtering. The sheet resistance of the thus deposited film was from 20 to 200 Ω/cm 2 . The sheet thus obtained was patterned by a conventional photolithographic technology to obtain a first substrate (1). Similarly, a second substrate having provided thereon a second light-transmitting electrode was fabricated and laminated with the first substrate incorporating a spacer therebetween to maintain a spacing of from 5 to 50 μm, and preferably, from 7 to 20 μm.
A cyanobiphenyl nematic liquid crystal having a refractive index of 1.518 and a Δn of 0.2240 was used together with a mixed system of an urethane-based oligomer and an acrylic monomer, having a refractive index of 1.573, as a non-solidified photo-curable resin. The photo-curable resin in the mixed system used in the present Example contains the urethane oligomer and the acrylic monomer at an oligomer to monomer ratio by weight of 35:65, and this photo-curable resin was mixed with the liquid crystal at a ratio by weight of 50:50. Droplets began to precipitate in the mixed system at about 25° C. The precipitation temperature (referred to hereinafter as the "N-I transition temperature") of the droplets from the mixed system can be related to the mixing ratio of the liquid crystal material and the resin as shown in FIG. 1.
The mixed system of liquid crystal and resin above was injected into a liquid crystal cell defined by the first and the second substrates at room temperature, and ultraviolet (UV) light (ray) was irradiated thereto with the mixture being provided between the first and the second substrates at a UV light irradiation density (energy density) of from about 10 to 100 mW/cm 2 for a duration of about 30 to 300 seconds to cure the resin while allowing the system to undergo phase separation between the liquid crystal and the resin. Thus was fabricated a liquid crystal electro-optical device. Room temperature as referred herein corresponds to about 25° C. Droplets from 1 to 3 μm in size and about 1.5 μm in average were found to be uniformly distributed over the liquid crystal electro-optical device.
The liquid crystal electro-optical device thus obtained yielded a sufficiently high transmittance when a driving voltage of from 15 to 25 V, i.e., an ordinary voltage range for a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical device, as shown with broken lines marked (1) in FIG. 4, however, only a poor contrast resulted under zero electric field because scattering occurred to yield a transmittance as high as about 30%.
EXAMPLE 2
Liquid crystal material and photo-curable resin similar to those used in Example 1 were used in the present Example. Thus, the urethane oligomer and the acrylic monomer were mixed at a ratio by weight in the range of 10:90, and the liquid crystal and the photo-curable resin were mixed at a ratio by weight of 70:30. Droplets precipitated from the mixture at about 26° C. The mixing ratio of the liquid crystal material and the resin is related to the N-I transition temperature as in FIG. 1.
The mixed system of liquid crystal and resin above was injected into a liquid crystal cell defined by the first and the second substrates as described above at room temperature, i.e., at a temperature at the vicinity of the N-I transition point, and ultraviolet (UV) light was irradiated thereto at a UV light irradiation density of from about 10 to 100 mW/cm 2 for a duration of about 30 to 300 seconds to cure the resin while allowing the system to undergo phase separation between the liquid crystal and the resin. Thus was fabricated a liquid crystal electro-optical device. Droplets from 1 to 5 μm in size and about 1.5 μm in average were found to be uniformly distributed over the liquid crystal electro-optical device.
The liquid crystal electro-optical device thus obtained yielded a sufficiently high transmittance when a driving voltage of from 15 to 25 V, i.e., an ordinary voltage range for a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical device was applied, and a favorable scattering to give a transmittance as low as in the range of 1 to 5% when no electric field was applied. Thus, a sufficient contrast was obtained.
It can be seen clearly from the figure that the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention can be obtained by controlling the fabrication temperature as well as selecting the amount of the liquid crystal to allow sufficient scattering to take place. It can be seen that a liquid crystal electro-optical device having an improved scattering properties under zero applied electric field was obtained without impairing the preferred driving voltage.
EXAMPLE 3
A cyanobiphenyl nematic liquid crystal having a refractive index of 1.530 and a Δn of 0.267 was used together with a mixed system of an urethane-based oligomer and an acrylic monomer, having a refractive index of 1.573, as a photo-curable resin. The mixture of the liquid crystal and the resin above was injected into a liquid crystal cell defined by the first and the second substrates above. The urethane oligomer and the acrylic monomer were mixed at a ratio by weight of 10:90, and the liquid crystal and the photo-curable resin were mixed at a ratio by weight of 73:27. Droplets precipitated from the mixture at about 10° C. The mixing ratio of the liquid crystal material and the resin is related to the N-I transition temperature as in FIG. 2.
The mixed system of liquid crystal and resin above was injected into a liquid crystal cell defined by the first and the second substrates as described above at room temperature, and UV light was irradiated thereto at an irradiation density of from about 10 to 100 mW/cm 2 for a duration of about 30 to 300 seconds to cure the resin while allowing the system to undergo phase separation between the liquid crystal and the resin. Thus was fabricated a liquid crystal electro-optical device. Droplets from 1 to 3 μm in size and about 1.0 μm in average were found to be uniformly distributed over the liquid crystal electro-optical device.
The liquid crystal electro-optical device thus obtained yielded an insufficient transmittance as shown in FIG. 4 with broken lines (2) even in the driving voltage range of from 15 to 25 V, i.e., an ordinary voltage range for a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical device, and no sufficiently high contrast was available.
EXAMPLE 4
Liquid crystal material and photo-curable resin similar to those used in Example 3 were used in the present Example. Thus, the urethane oligomer and the acrylic monomer were mixed at a ratio by weight of 35:65, and the liquid crystal and the photo-curable resin were mixed at a ratio by weight of 75:25. Droplets precipitated from the mixture at about 25° C. The mixing ratio of the liquid crystal material and the resin is related to the N-I transition temperature as in FIG. 2.
The mixed system of liquid crystal and resin above was injected into a liquid crystal cell defined by the first and the second substrates as described above at room temperature, and ultraviolet (UV) light was irradiated to the mixed system at an irradiation density of from about 10 to 100 mW/cm 2 for a duration of about 30 to 300 seconds to cure the resin while allowing the system to undergo phase separation between the liquid crystal and the resin. Thus was fabricated a liquid crystal electro-optical device. Droplets from 1 to 5 μm in size and about 1.5 μm in average were found to be uniformly distributed over the liquid crystal electro-optical device.
The liquid crystal electro-optical device thus obtained yielded a sufficiently high transmittance as shown in FIG. 4 with solid line when a driving voltage of from 15 to 25 V, i.e., an ordinary voltage range for a conventional liquid crystal electro-optical device was applied, and a scattering to give a transmittance as low as in the range of 1 to 5% when no electric field was applied. Thus, a sufficient contrast was obtained.
As described in the foregoing Examples which illustrate the process for fabricating liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention, it can be seen that the precipitation temperature of the droplets from the mixed system can be controlled by varying the amount of the oligomer or the monomer which constitute the photo-curable resin composition as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Accordingly, the resin material can be solidified at a vicinity of the desired temperature suited for the fabrication process.
In FIG. 4, the broken lines show the characteristic curves for the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to Example 1 or Example 3; the solid line represents the same for the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to Example 2 or Example 4.
In FIG. 4, the ordinate represents the transmittance of the liquid crystal electro-optical device, and the abscissa represents the driving voltage. The thickness of each of the liquid crystal electro-optical device was maintained uniform to discuss directly the variation in transmittance by comparing the transmittance as read on the ordinate.
As read clearly from the Figure, the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention is obtained by controlling the amount of the polymers constituting the light-transmitting resin when the quantity of the liquid crystal necessary for favorable scattering is attained. The liquid crystal electro-optical device thus obtained yields improved scattering characteristics at zero applied electric field yet maintaining the driving voltage in the preferred range.
In the foregoing Examples, a light-transmitting electrically conductive film of an oxide of indium and tin (Indium-Tin-Oxide; ITO) (2) was deposited on a first substrate (1) at a thickness of from 500 to 2,000 Å by a known vapor deposition or by sputtering process to give a structure as shown in FIG. 3. The sheet resistance of the thus deposited film was from 20 to 200 Ω/cm 2 . The sheet thus obtained was patterned by a conventional photolithographic technology to obtain a first substrate (1). Similarly, a second substrate having provided thereon a second light-transmitting electrode was fabricated and laminated with the first substrate incorporating a spacer therebetween to maintain a spacing of from 5 to 50 μm, and preferably, from 7 to 20 μm.
The liquid crystal having introduced into the liquid crystal cell thus obtained was a P-type cyanobiphenyl-based nematic liquid crystal, however, an N-type nematic liquid crystal, a ferroelectric liquid crystal, or a non-ferroelectric liquid crystal may be used as well. Furthermore, a polymer liquid crystal may also be used. The liquid crystal enumerated above may further contain a dye. A light-transmitting resin may be a photocurable resin, or an epoxy resin so long as it is of a type which solidifies under a given condition to support the liquid crystal being dispersed therein.
The liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention may be fabricated from an electro-optical modulating layer containing liquid crystal droplets which are sectioned with the wall of a resin, or such having a three-dimensionally developed resin structure.
As described in the illustrative Examples above, the present invention provides a liquid crystal electro-optical device having favorable scattering properties and which provides a display with high contrast under a pertinent driving voltage. This is attributed to the fabrication process which is characterized by the solidification temperature of the resin being controlled without changing the quantity of the liquid crystal being incorporated in the device. Because of this process, the liquid crystal can be divided into a large number of fine liquid crystal droplets of uniform size.
In the foregoing Examples, an ultraviolet light is used to cure the resin (organic substances), however, a light energy, a thermal energy, or both of them may be supplied to the mixture of the liquid crystal and the organic substances to separate the liquid crystal from the organic substances and to harden the organic substances.
The present invention provides a process for fabricating a dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device having improved light scattering properties under zero applied electric field without changing the driving voltage. Furthermore, the dispersed liquid crystal droplets can be controlled to an ideal and uniform size by improving compatibility between the resin support and the liquid crystal. Accordingly, an extremely high display contrast was realized.
A liquid crystal display having low loss and an extremely high display contrast was also achieved by excluding polarizer sheets.
The process for fabricating the liquid crystal electro-optical device according to the present invention comprises changing the fraction of the polymer constituting the light-transmitting resin to control arbitrarily the compatibility between the liquid crystal material and the light-transmitting resin material and to control the precipitation temperature of the liquid crystal droplets from the mixture of resin materials and liquid crystal materials as desired. In this manner, the resin can be solidified at a state which exhibits favorable scattering properties. Accordingly, a liquid crystal electro-optical device having excellent scattering properties can be fabricated without changing the number and size of the liquid crystal droplets necessary for light scattering. Thus, the fabrication process according to the present invention provides the liquid crystal electro-optical device at high reproducibility and efficiency without strictly controlling the temperature in solidifying the resin.
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An object of the present invention is to provide a dispersion type liquid crystal electro-optical device comprising liquid crystal droplets of uniform size without impairing the scattering properties. The present invention realizes a liquid crystal electro-optical device having excellent scattering properties which is achieved by increasing or decreasing the fraction of the organic constituent of the light-transmitting resin material without changing the amount of the liquid crystal and the number and density of the liquid crystal droplets so that the light scattering properties of the device may not be impaired, and thereby controlling the precipitation temperature of the liquid crystal droplets from the mixture to the vicinity of a temperature convenient in the fabrication, so that the solidification temperature of the resin material can be set at the vicinity of that temperature.
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BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This invention relates to a suspension system for a four-wheeled vehicle and more particularly to an improved, simplified and more effective suspension system for controlling all running conditions, which the vehicle encounters.
An arrangement has been proposed for suspending four-wheeled vehicles that employs individual shock absorbers at each wheel which have a relatively simple damping arrangement in them. However, the shock absorbers of paired wheels are coupled together with a pressure control mechanism that provides additional damping under certain characteristics. This type of system is show in Japanese Published Application. Hei 06-72127 and in its United States equivalent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,018, entitled “SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR FOUR-WHEELED VEHICLES” issued Jan. 23, 1996 and the assigned to the assignee hereof. That patent shows a number of arrangements of such interrelated suspension systems. One that shows considerable sophistication appears in FIG. 13 of that U.S. patent and is reproduced here a FIG. 1 . The details of the interrelationship between the various shock absorbers and the control arrangement is shown in more detail in FIG. 2 .
As shown therein, there are four shock absorbers indicated at 11 LF, 11 RF, 11 LR and 11 RR comprising the cushioning units associated with the four wheels of the vehicle at its corners. Each of the shock absorbers 11 is mounted between the wheel suspension system and the vehicle body in a manner, which will be generally described, as will the individual construction of each shock absorber 11 , which are identical.
Each shock absorber 11 includes a body portion 12 that defines a cylinder bore in which a piston 13 is supported. The piston 13 divides the cylinder bore into an upper chamber 14 and a lower chamber 115 . A piston rod 16 extends through the upper chamber 14 and has a trunion 17 for attachment to the wheel suspension system or the vehicle body. A trunion 18 on the cylinder 12 accommodates the other connection.
A passageway 19 extends between the chambers 14 and 15 and has an orifice 21 for providing individual wheel damping control.
The individual shock absorbers 11 are interconnected with each other by means of an interconnecting control arrangement, indicated generally by the reference numeral 22 . This control arrangement 22 includes individual passageways 23 , 24 , 25 and 26 , which interconnect the chambers 15 of the shock absorber 11 LF, 11 RF, 11 LR and 11 RR with a pressure control, indicated generally by the reference numeral 27 .
This pressure control 27 is shown in more detail in FIG. 2 and includes a body 28 in which four cylinder bores 29 , 31 , 32 and 33 are formed. Pistons 34 , 35 , 36 and 37 reciprocate in the cylinder bores 29 , 31 , 32 and 33 , respectively. These pistons 34 , 35 , 36 and 37 are all connected for simultaneous movement by means of a bridging member 38 , which extends into a pressurized gas chamber 39 . This chamber 39 is pressurized to a suitable pressure with an inert gas such as nitrogen.
Thus, each shock absorber chamber 15 is in communication with a respective one of pressure control volumes 41 , 42 , 43 and 44 formed in the control body 28 between the pistons 34 , 35 , 36 and 37 and the cylinder bores 29 , 31 , 32 and 33 , respectively.
Certain of the shock absorber chambers 15 are paired with each other via communicating passageways 45 , 46 and 47 which connect the control pressure chambers 41 and 42 , 42 and 43 , and 43 and 44 together. Flow controlling orifices 48 , 49 and 51 are positioned in the passages 45 , 46 and 47 , respectively.
When each wheel encounters the same obstacle at substantially the same time, each piston 13 will move in its respective shock absorber 11 to decrease the volume in the chamber 15 . This motion is dampened by the flow through the orifice 21 into the chamber 14 . However, since the piston rod 16 extends into the chamber 14 and displaces some of its volume, more fluid is expelled through the conduits 23 , 24 , 25 and 26 than the chambers 14 can accommodate. This excess displaced fluid flows to the chambers 41 , 42 , 43 and 44 , respectively. Since equal volume of fluid is displaced from each shock absorber 11 , the pistons 34 , 35 , 36 and 37 will move uniformly and the control device 27 will provide no additional damping.
If, however, there is a pitching motion, which tends to cause the vehicle weight to shift to the front, there will be more compression in the chambers 15 and 16 of the shock absorbers 11 LF and 11 RF than in the shock absorbers 11 LR and 11 RR. In fact, these shock absorbers will tend to move in the opposite direction. When this occurs, flow will pass through the orifices 48 and 51 from the chambers 41 and 44 into the chambers 42 and 43 , respectively. Hence, this will provide damping from the pitching action, which might otherwise occur in addition to the damping provided by the individual shock absorbers 11 .
In a similar manner, if the vehicle is rounding a curve which tends to cause the body to roll to the right i.e. when making a left-had turn, fluid will flow from the shock absorber 11 LR to the shock absorber 11 RR through the orifice 49 so to resist roll. However, there is no such roll resistance provided at the front and thus, it is very difficult to set the arrangement for overall damping to suit all conditions.
It is, therefore, a principal object to this invention to provide an improved shock absorber and suspension arrangement for a four-wheeled vehicle that will provide good damping for individual wheel suspension travels and also so as to preclude roll and pitch in all directions.
It a further object to this invention to provide an improved and simplified suspension system of this type and that will achieve these results.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
A first feature of this invention is adapted to be embodied in a suspension system for a vehicle having at least four wheels, each of which is supported for suspension movement by a vehicle body. Each of four damping elements, each having a pair of relatively moveable members defining a respective first chamber, are interposed between a respective one of the wheels and the vehicle body for varying the volume of the first fluid chamber upon suspension movement of the respective one wheel. Each of the damping elements has a respective damping arrangement for damping the flow of fluid from the respective one of the first fluid chambers. A first conduit interconnects a first pair of the first fluid chambers of two of the damping elements and a first control arrangement is provided for precluding fluid flow through the first conduit in response to a first suspension condition and for providing a damped flow through the first conduit in response to a second suspension condition. A second conduit interconnects the second pair of the first fluid chambers of the remaining two of the damping units. A second control arrangement is provided in the second conduit for precluding fluid flow through the second conduit in response to a first suspension condition and for providing a damp flow through the second conduit in response to a second condition. A third conduit interconnects a third pair of the first fluid chambers other than those paired by the first and second conduits. A third control arrangement is provided in the third conduit for precluding fluid flow through the third conduit in response to a first suspension condition and for providing a damped flow through the third conduit in response to a second suspension condition. A fourth pair of the first fluid chambers other than those paired by the first, second and third conduits are interconnected by a fourth conduit. A fourth control arrangement is provided in the fourth conduit for precluding fluid flow through the fourth conduit in response to a first suspension condition and for providing a damped flow through the fourth conduit in response to a second suspension condition.
Another feature of the invention is embodied in an accumulator and control device for interconnection between four hydraulic damping units for controlling their respective damping action. The device comprises a housing defining first, second, third and fourth fluid chambers each adapted to exchange fluid with a respective one of said damping units. First, second, third and fourth accumulator pistons are each received in a respective one of the fluid chambers. The pistons and fluid chambers each define a fluid side for exchanging hydraulic fluid with the respective hydraulic damping unit and an accumulator side for maintaining a pressure in the hydraulic fluid. Four conduits each having a flow control therein interconnect different pairs of the fluid chambers and control the flow therebetween.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a partially schematic view of a prior art type of vehicle suspension system.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view showing the control damping arrangement for this prior art type of construction.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view, in part similar to FIG. 1, but showing a first embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view, in part similar to FIG. 2, but shows the damping control arrangement for this embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view, in part similar to FIG. 4, and shows a second embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view, in part similar to FIGS. 4 and 5, and shows a third embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view, in part similar to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 , and shows a fourth embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring first to the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, this embodiment employs components, which are generally similar to those of the prior art type of construction as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. Therefore, when these similar components are described in conjunction with this embodiment, the same references numerals will be utilized to identify the components and those components will only be described further only insofar as is necessary to understand the construction and operation of this embodiment.
As has been noted in the section entitled “BACKGROUND OF INVENTION”, the disadvantage with the prior art constructions is that there is no interconnection and damping arrangement between the chambers 15 of the two front shock absorbers 11 LF and 11 RF.
That problem is rectified in this embodiment by the provision of an interconnecting conduit 61 , which is formed in the control member, indicated here by the reference numeral 62 . The conduit 61 interconnects the chambers 41 and 44 associated with the front two shock absorbers 11 LF and 11 RF. In addition, there is a flow controlling orifice 63 in this conduit 61 .
Hence, when the vehicle is rounding a curve and there is a tendency for body roll to occur, the flow between the chambers 41 and 44 is possible and this flow is restricted by the orifice 63 . Thus, in combination with the rear damping orifice 49 , there will be similar damping at both the front and rear wheels. This facilitates not only the handling of the leaning when negotiating curve but also makes the internal damping arrangement for each wheel simpler, thus avoiding the problems in the prior art type of construction.
FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the invention which is generally similar to the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 but which provides a more compact construction. In the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4, the chambers 41 , 42 , 43 and 44 have all been positioned in side-by-side relationship and this provides a rather long assembly. In this embodiment, the control member, indicated generally by the reference numeral 71 has an outer housing 72 that defines four stepped bores comprised of a first bore 73 , a second bore of slightly smaller diameter 74 , a third bore of still further smaller diameter 75 and a final bore 76 of a yet further smaller diameter.
An integral piston assembly is contained in the housing 72 . This piston assembly is comprised of a piston rod 77 that integrally connects stepped pistons 78 , 79 , 81 and 82 , that are received in the bores 73 , 74 , 75 and 76 , respectively.
The upper piston 78 divides the construction into a first cylindrical chamber 83 , which constitutes an accumulator chamber that is charged with an inert gas such as nitrogen under pressure. Below this is formed a first fluid chamber 84 which has an effective cross sectional area 84 a equal to the area of the piston 78 less the area of the piston 79 and the piston rod 77 . This effective area is equal to the effective cross sectional area 85 a of a second fluid chamber 85 formed between the pistons 79 and 81 . This effective area 85 a is equal to the area of the piston 79 less the effective area of the piston 81 . The underside of the piston 81 defines a third fluid chamber 86 , which has an effective area 86 a equal to the area of the piston 81 less the effective area of the piston 82 . Finally, the underside of the piston 82 defines a final volume 87 which has an effective area 87 a equivalent to its cross sectional area less that of the piston rod 77 . That is:
84 a = 85 a = 86 a = 87 a
The conduits 24 and 26 from the right front and rear shock absorbers 11 RF and 11 RR extend to the chambers 87 and 86 , respectively. Damping between these chambers is provided by a flow passage 88 in which an orifice 89 is positioned.
The left shock absorbers and specifically the front and rear ones thereof 11 LF and 11 LR communicate via the conduits 23 and 25 with the chambers 84 and 85 , respectively.
Damping between these two chambers 84 and 85 is provided by a flow passage 91 that extends through the piston portion 79 and in which a flow controlling orifice 92 is positioned. The chamber 84 is connected with the chamber 87 by means of a conduit 93 in which a flow controlling orifice 94 is provided. This provides left to right damping against leaning at the front. Leaning at the rear is dampened by flow through an passage 95 in the piston 81 in which an orifice 96 is positioned.
FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the invention and is in part similar to FIG. 5 in that it does not show the individual shock absorbers but merely their interconnecting conduits 23 , 24 , 25 and 26 . In this embodiment, a pressure control 101 is provided to achieve the same results as with the previously described embodiment.
The pressure control 101 includes an outer housing 102 which defines a pair of upper and lower cylinder bores comprised of an upper left hand bore portion 103 and an upper right hand bore portion 104 . Below these upper bore portions 103 and 104 are provided smaller diameter, lower bore portions 105 and 106 . The area above an internal, stepped dividing wall having an upper portion 107 and a lower portion 108 forms an accumulator chamber above the bores 103 and 104 . This accumulator chamber is indicated by the reference numeral 109 . A stepped piston assembly 111 having a pair of piston portions is interconnected by a bridging member 112 that extends into the accumulator chamber 109 .
The piston assembly 111 is formed with respective left side pistons 113 and 114 that extend into the left hand bore portions 103 and 105 . Also the piston assembly 111 has right hand pistons 115 and 116 that extend into the right hand bore portions 104 and 106 .
Thus, there are defined four fluid chambers comprised of an upper left hand fluid chamber 117 , an upper right hand chamber 118 , a lower left hand chamber 119 and a lower right hand chamber 121 . As with the previously described embodiments, the effective areas of the piston portions 113 , 114 , 118 and 121 in the bores 117 , 119 , 118 and 112 , respectively, are all equal.
The left front shock absorber 11 LF communicates with the chamber 117 through the conduit 23 while the right front shock absorber 11 RF communicates with the right hand upper chamber 118 through the conduit 24 . The left and right rear shock absorbers communicate with the chambers 119 and 121 , respectively via the conduits 25 and 26 .
A passageway 122 through the piston portion 114 is provided with an orifice 123 , which dampens front to rear pitching and squat motions at the left side of the vehicle. Similar motions at the right side of the vehicle are damped by a flow passage 124 in which a flow controlling orifice 125 in the piston 116 .
Left to right roll at the front is controlled by a passageway 126 that extends through the dividing wall portions 107 and 108 at their juncture and in which a flow controlling orifice 127 is provided. Similar dampening at the rear is provided by a flow passage 128 that extends between the chambers 119 and 121 and which a flow controlling orifice 129 is provided. Hence, with this embodiment, the damping front to rear and side-to-side is provided equally at the front and rear and left and right sides of the vehicle.
FIG. 7 shows a yet further embodiment, which in some ways is quite similar to that of FIG. 6 and, therefore, where components of this embodiment are the same as that embodiment or substantially the same, they have been identified by the same reference numerals and will described again only insofar as is necessary to understand the invention. in this embodiment, the two pairs of pistons 113 and 114 and 115 and 116 rather than being integrally connected to each other by the bridging portion 112 are hydraulically connected to each other. Hence, it is possible to mount the components in spaced apart locations. Because the piston portions 113 and 114 and 115 and 116 are separate from each other and not mechanically interconnected, it is not necessary that they be disposed in the same housing.
However, in whatever housing they are supported, there is provided a pair of further fluid chambers 201 and 202 formed above the chambers 117 and 118 , respectively. These chambers are in fluid communication with an accumulator device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 203 and which also can be separately located because of the lack of mechanical interconnection.
Fluid interconnection is provided by means of a pair of conduits 204 and 205 that extend from a pair of equal effective area fluid chambers 206 and 207 , respectively, formed in the housing 203 . A piston having first and second portions 208 and 209 is received in bore portions 211 and 212 respectively thereof. An incompressible fluid such as an oil is contained in the chambers 206 and 207 , conduits 204 and 105 and chambers 201 and 202 so as to insure uniform movement there between.
The area above the piston 209 is filled with an inert gas under pressure in a chamber indicated by the reference numeral 213 so as to accommodate for the difference in piston rod displacements and to insure good control. Thus, since this embodiment operates the same as that previously described, further description of it is not believed to be necessary to permit those skilled in the art to practice the invention.
Thus from the foregoing described and preferred embodiments, it should be apparent that a highly effective and yet quite simple four wheel vehicle suspension system is possible that effectively dampens all types of expected loadings. Of course these embodiments are only preferred embodiments and various changes and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set out in the appended claims.
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A number of embodiments of four-wheeled vehicle suspension systems have interrelated front and rear shock absorbers so as to provide good control under normal suspension travel as well as resistance toward leaning, pitching, diving and squatting. In each embodiment, the normal fluid dampers having only a single shock absorber valve therein are interrelated with pressure controls that comprise four hydraulic cylinder portions which communicate with each other through various paired arrangements so as to provide this control and simplification of damping.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for producing a solar battery having semiconductor film on insulating substrate, particularly to a method for producing an integrated solar battery produced using laser beam processing.
In recent years, a thin film solar battery in which non-monocrystal silicon film is formed on an insulating substrate is getting attention. Here, the substance applied as non-monocrystal silicon is amorphous silicon, microcrystal silicon, thin film polycrystal silicon, and compound thereof. A thin film solar battery is characterized in that production cost is kept low and material used for production is little. By using plastic film substrate having flexibility as an insulation substrate, shape of the solar battery is set freely. It is one of important characteristics to make an integrated structure possible on the insulation substrate, where desired voltage is obtained by dividing an element to plural elements on single substrate and connecting the elements in series. It is possible to use a substrate having an insulating surface, for example a conductive substrate on which an insulating film is provided.
Laser beam process is used widely for producing a solar battery of integrated structure. The laser beam process irradiates laser beam gathered on a certain area to a work piece, makes a hole by melting, evaporation, or scattering, performs melting, cutting off, and marking, and divides, thereby any shape can be processed by scanning laser beam. By this technique, separation of thin film can be performed with scribing width of equivalent width in high speed. The laser beam process is used even for means melting and connecting taking-out electrodes of the solar battery. Although the process is called bonding especially, the process is included in the laser beam process.
There has been technique of photolithography hitherto as a method for shape-processing pattern for the purpose of electrode and semiconductor layer constituting solar battery. Patterning process of the solar battery using the photolithography applies a resist to allover face of the work piece, exposes through a mask, and after that, a resist mask is formed at developing process. Next, area except masked area with the resist is etched by etching process, after that, the resist is peeled off by alkali solvent, and cleaning and drying are performed, thereby the process is completed. The process has problems of complexity and many process steps, long processing time, and high production cost.
The patterning process of the solar battery by laser beam process is simple and few in number of processes. It has a distinguishing characteristic that the processes are completed only by irradiating laser beam while scanning at a part desired to perform patterning.
The laser beam process irradiates laser beam, melts a part of work instantly, and evaporates or scatters. At this time, material of the part of work melted at high temperature is cooled while scattering or after sticking at periphery, and becomes particles of powder condition. The particles of powder condition damage generating layer of the solar battery at manufacturing process after the laser beam process, thereby causes one of decline in characteristic.
Here, producing process of the solar battery using laser beam process of the prior art will be described using FIGS. 2A to 2E . First, a lower electrode 202 is formed on a substrate 201 , and on the lower electrode 202 , a semiconductor layer 203 being a generating of the solar battery is formed as shown in FIG. 2A . Next, to make an integrated structure of the solar battery on the same substrate, the lower electrode layer and the semiconductor layer are divided by laser beam process, and plural sections are made. Divided parts 204 a and 204 b by laser beam process are shown in FIG. 2B . At the laser beam process, the semiconductor layer and the lower electrode of the divided portions are melted and scattered by the laser beam. Particles 205 a , 205 b , and 205 c of powder condition generated at this time scatter and stick on the semiconductor layer 203 of periphery. The particles possibly get stuck in the semiconductor layer 203 .
After the laser beam process, insulating layers 206 a and 206 b are formed. This is because contact of the lower electrode and an upper electrode is prevented when the conductive upper electrode is formed on the divided portion. The state using thermosetting resin as insulating layer and forming with screen printing method is shown in FIG. 2C . Insulating thermosetting resin 208 is applied on a screen printing plate 207 , a squeegee 209 is moved to direction 210 from right to left of the figure, and resin is printed at parts of the insulation layers 206 a and 206 b . At the printing, the screen-printing plate 207 contacts the semiconductor layer 203 and particles of powder condition, and presses the particles of powder condition against the semiconductor layer. Even the particles of powder condition stuck on surface of the semiconductor layer are possibly taken in the semiconductor layer.
In the printing process, when the screen-printing plate is separated from the semiconductor layer and further after the printing process, particles of powder condition possibly desorbs from surface of semiconductor layer or inside. Parts 212 a , 212 b , and 212 c where the particles of powder condition are desorbed exist at the semiconductor layer as shown in FIG. 2D .
Although the upper electrodes 213 a , 213 b , and 213 c are formed as shown in FIG. 2E after the printing process and drying process, at this time, parts 215 b and 215 c where the upper electrode and the lower electrode contact are formed at parts 212 b and 212 c where the lower electrodes expose among the desorbed parts 212 a , 212 b , and 212 c . Since the upper electrode and the lower electrode contact at unit cells 214 b and 214 c , characteristic of the solar battery such as release voltage decreases. At a part 212 a where the lower electrode is not exposed, a part 215 a where the upper electrode and the lower electrode are close is formed. Although characteristic of the solar battery such as release voltage does not decrease directly by cause of the close part 215 a , damage caused by static electricity occurs easily at dealing as a product.
Although method forming insulation layer using screen printing method is described in FIGS. 2A to 2E , in the case forming insulation layer by another method or using another producing process of the solar battery, generation of the particles of powder condition can not be avoided as long as the laser beam process is performed. Although particles of powder condition generated at laser beam process stick at semiconductor layer and get in inside of the layer, the particles drop out by process forming the upper electrode, and the upper electrode contacts the lower electrode at forming the upper electrode.
As one means to reduce foreign bodies of fine particles, there is a method adjusting condition of laser power, that is, feeding speed of a part of work in laser beam processing device. For example, means making laser power weak, that is, making feeding speed of the working portion fast may be used. However, particles of powder condition generated at laser beam process can reduce using the means, however, it is impossible to remove the entire particles. For example, although it is possible to make the sizes small or to reduce numbers of particles of powder condition 205 a , 205 b , and 205 c shown in FIG. 2B , it is impossible to remove the entire particles.
As another means to reduce foreign bodies of fine particles, a method absorbing particles of power condition generated at process in laser beam processing device using absorbing mechanism. However, although material of a part processed by laser melts and scatters instantly, scattering speed is considerably high and temperature is high. Because of that, removing the particles of powder condition before adhesion to generating layer of the solar battery or removing the particles of powder condition stuck is not performed completely even by using strong absorbing mechanism.
The invention is performed in view of the above-mentioned problem, an object of the invention is to prevent decrease of characteristic of the solar battery and production yield caused by particles of powder condition generating from a part of work at laser beam process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the constitution of the invention is characterized by comprising: a first step forming the lower electrode and the semiconductor layer on the insulating substrate by laminating; a second step forming a protective film on surface of the semiconductor; a third step forming an opening portion at the semiconductor layer, or the semiconductor layer and the lower electrode by laser beam process after the second step; and a fourth step removing the protective film.
Another constitution is characterized by comprising: a first step forming the lower electrode and the semiconductor layer on the insulating substrate by laminating; a second step forming a protective film providing an opening portion on surface of the semiconductor by screen-printing method; a third step forming an opening portion at the semiconductor layer, or the semiconductor layer and the lower electrode by laser beam process corresponding to the opening portion; and a fourth step removing the protective film.
Although the protective film is formed of thermosetting resin, it is desirable to form the protective film with thermosetting polyester system resin. The protective film can be removed without complex process by peeling an adhesive tape and the protective film at the same time after the adhesive tape is bonded to the protective film.
By providing the protective film at laser beam process, particles of powder condition generating from a part of work is prevented to stick directly at the semiconductor layer so that the semiconductor is prevented to damage. By removing the protective film after laser beam process, particles of powder condition gets in the inside of the semiconductor layer and drops out by the forming process of the upper electrode even at screen-printing process so that shortage of the lower electrode at forming the upper electrode is prevented.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIGS. 1A to 1E are views describing process producing a solar battery using protective film at laser beam process;
FIGS. 2A to 2E are views describing process producing a solar battery using laser beam processing method of the related art;
FIGS. 3A to 3D are graphs showing transmissivity and reflectance as influence to monocrystal silicon film by protective film;
FIGS. 4A and 4B are graphs showing output characteristic of solar battery as influence to monocrystal silicon film by protective film;
FIGS. 5A and 5B are graphs showing spectral characteristic as influence to monocrystal silicon film by protective film;
FIGS. 6A to 6E are views describing process producing a solar battery using protective film; and
FIGS. 7A and 7B are histograms showing comparison of production characteristic by existence of protective film.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A mode for carrying out the invention will be described referring FIG. 1A to 1E . First, a lower electrode 102 and a semiconductor layer 103 are formed on a substrate 101 as shown in FIG. 1A . Next, protective films 106 a , 106 b , and 106 c are formed except places 107 a and 107 b where laser beam process is performed as shown in FIG. 1B . For the protective films, thermosetting resin, for example, is printed using screen-printing method so as to form by thermosetting.
After forming the protective film, laser beam process is performed to divide the semiconductor layer 103 and the lower electrode 102 as shown in FIG. 1C . Divided portions 104 a and 104 b of the semiconductor layer and the lower electrode are formed by laser beam process. At laser beam process, particles of powder condition 105 a , 105 b , and 105 c melted from the semiconductor layer 103 and the lower electrode 102 by laser beam scatter and stick on protective films 106 a , 106 b , and 106 c.
After the laser beam process, the protective films 106 a , 106 b , and 106 c are removed as shown in FIG. 1D . Although melting by organic solvent is general in removing method of resin, it is difficult to melt only the protective film selectively at producing process when another resin is already formed on surface of substrate. On the other hand, when thermosetting resin having elasticity easy in exfoliation is used for the protective film, only protective film can be removed easily without crush by method that adhesive tape is put on surface of the substrate and is peeled off, that is, peeling method. Such the peeling method without using solvent can omit washing process, and can reduce process. Because the protective film and particles of powder condition stuck on the protective film are removed at the same time, particles of powder condition on the semiconductor layer 103 become nothing at all.
After removing the protective films, divided portions of the semiconductor layer and the lower electrode are filled with insulators 108 a and 108 b as shown in FIG. 1E . The insulators are formed of thermosetting insulating resin, for example, using screen-printing method. Further upper electrodes 113 a , 113 b , and 113 c are formed to become a laminated structure. For example, the upper electrode 113 a of a unit cell 114 a connects to the lower electrode 102 b of a unit cell 114 b , and each unit cell is connected in series. The upper electrodes are formed of conductive resin, for example, using screen-printing method. At the same time, an ejecting electrode 116 of the lower electrode side and an ejecting electrode 117 of the upper electrode side are formed. When process forming the protective films is used, contact of the semiconductor and the lower electrode is not generated at forming the upper electrode because the semiconductor does not have parts where particles of powder condition are omitted. Characteristic of the solar battery does not fall, and yield of product improves.
EMBODIMENTS
Embodiment 1
In the embodiment, existence of influence to output characteristic of the solar battery by forming and peeling the protective film is shown. First, a translucent lower electrode and a non-monocrystal silicon layer are formed on a translucent substrate, and at a part on the non-monocrystal silicon layer, protective films protecting the non-monocrystal silicon layer from particles of powder condition generating at laser beam process are formed. For the protective films, thermosetting resin of polyester system (STRIP MASK #228-T made by Asahi chemical laboratory, Inc.) is used. After forming the protective films, the protective films are peeled by an adhesive tape after designated time.
After the process peeling the protective films, a part not forming the protective films and a part forming and peeling the protective films exist, then, transmissivity and reflectance are measured at each part. Transmissivity at the part not forming the protective films is shown in FIG. 3A , transmissivity at the part forming and peeling the protective films is shown in FIG. 3B , reflectance at the part not forming the protective films is shown in FIG. 3C , and reflectance at the part forming and peeling the protective films is shown in FIG. 3D . In transmissivity and reflectance, there is not difference between the part not forming the protective films and the part forming and peeling the protective films.
After the process peeling the protective films, an upper electrode is formed at each of the part not forming the protective films and the part forming and peeling the protective films to form the solar battery. After that, output characteristic of each solar battery is measured to compare the characteristic. Output characteristic (I-V characteristic) of each solar battery is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B , and spectral characteristic of each solar battery is shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B . Even in output characteristic and spectral characteristic of each solar battery, there is not difference between the part not forming the protective films and the part forming and peeling the protective films.
By the experimentation, it is known that forming and peeling the protective films on the non-monocrystal silicon layer does not influence output characteristic of the solar battery produced using the non-polycrystal silicon layer. The similar effect can be obtained even at another process producing the solar battery.
Embodiment 2
In the embodiment, a non-monocrystal silicon solar battery of a laminated structure is produced on an elastic substrate, and comparison of yield of final product is shown. Producing processes are shown in FIGS. 6A to 6E . First, ITO (Indium tin oxide) and GZO (Gallium addition zinc oxide) are filmed as translucent conductive material on translucent PEN (Polyethylene naphthalate) film substrate by spattering method to form a lower electrode. Thickness of the ITO layer and the GZO are set to 50 to 60 nm and 20 to 30 nm respectively. Non-monocrystal silicon layers of each of conductive types of p, i, and n are coated to form a generating layer of the solar battery. Thickness of the non-monocrystal silicon layers is set to 300 to 800 nm, in the embodiment, 600 nm.
Next, the non-monocrystal silicon film and the lower electrode layer are divided in order to form the laminating structure on the same substrate, and one unit of the solar battery is produced. The one unit of the solar unit means a part having one stage of pin junction. Although there is a case including conductive ejecting electrode in the pin junction, in the embodiment, the one unit of the solar battery is called unit cell. Protective films are formed in order to protect the generating layer of the solar battery from particles of powder condition.
A state forming protective films 601 a , 601 b , 601 c , and 601 d on the generating layer are formed is shown in FIG. 6A . In FIG. 6A , periphery of the protective films shows the lower electrode portion and the generating layer portion. Thermosetting resin easy in peeling is used for the protective films to form using screen-printing method. In the embodiment, STRIP MASK #228-T made by Asahi chemical laboratory, Inc. is used for the thermosetting resin.
After forming the protective films, the protective films are divided using laser beam process as shown in FIG. 6B . The method dividing with laser beam is called laser scribing. A divided portion 602 a is divided to each unit cell, and a divided portion 602 b is divided to the periphery portion and an external form of the solar battery. It is need to consider the following items for dimension design of space between the divided portion and the protective film. Actual width of made by laser beam process is about 0.1 mm. The width varies a little by kind of film processed, laser power, and processing speed. Margin of alignment shift at laser beam process is considered. Therefore, distance between protective films provided at both side of the divided portion by the laser beam process is need to set 0.2 mm or more at least. In the case forming the protective film using thermosetting resin by screen-printing method, design of a screen-printing plate considering the dimension is need. Since the object of the protective film is to prevent damage of the generating layer caused by particles of powder condition, it is desirable to cover the generating layer part as far as possible and to make space between the divided portion and the protective film by laser beam process as small as possible. In the embodiment, distance between protecting films provided at both sides of the divided portion by laser beam process is set to 0.5 mm.
After the laser beam process, the protective films are peeled as shown in FIG. 6C . In the peeling process, a tape having stronger adhesion than adhesion of the protective films to the generating layer is put, and the tape and the protective films are peeled at the same time.
The divided portions 602 a and 602 b are filled with insulating resin 603 as shown in FIG. 6D . The reason is as the following. That is, when the upper electrode of the unit cell is formed so as to get over the divided portion to connect to the lower electrode of adjacent unit cell, it is prevented to contact the lower electrode of the upper electrode itself so that output falls. Insulating resin is formed using thermosetting resin by screen-printing method.
After forming the insulating resin, conductive upper electrodes 604 a , 604 b , 604 c , and 604 d are formed as shown in FIG. 6E . The conductive upper electrode is formed using thermosetting resin containing silver or carbon by screen-printing method. The upper electrode are connected the lower electrodes of the unit cell adjacent to laser-bonding portions 605 b , 605 c , and 605 d . For example, the upper electrode 604 a of a unit cell 606 a is connected to the lower electrode of adjacent unit cell 606 b at the laser-bonding portion 605 b . A rejecting electrode 607 a is connected to the lower electrode of the unit cell 606 a by laser bonding, is ejected to upper side. After the laser bonding process, unit cells 606 a , 606 b , 606 c , and 606 d are laminated in series, and a solar battery having an ejecting electrode 607 a of the lower electrode side and an ejecting electrode 607 b of the upper electrode side electrode is completed. By forming the protective films protecting the generating layer of the solar battery at laser beam process, damage of the generating layer by particles of powder condition can be prevented. The solar battery shows excellent characteristic, and production yield of characteristic improves.
Histograms of Fill Factor (F.F) as product characteristic by existence of the protective film of resin are shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B . FIG. 7A shows in the case not having the protective film, and FIG. 7B shows the case having the protective film. Yield is defined as that F.F is larger than 0.65 at characteristic of the solar battery of low illuminance 200 lux. Although characteristic of the solar battery does not almost change as shown in Embodiment 1, it is shown that effect of the protective films appears largely in yield.
There is the following characteristic when screen-printing on the protective film is possible and thermosetting resin easy in peeling is used. First, the resin has viscosity enabling to perform screen-printing process similarly as another thermosetting resin, and the desired shape can be obtained by pattern hole plate. Because drying (curing) temperature is low, it is hard to generate damage to another film and change in quality of material by temperature. Cure of the resin is performed by volatizing solvent component at low temperature baking of some degree. The cured resin is peeled with simple contact. For example, an adhesive tape is used. Since adhesion of the resin and face of the protective film is weak, damage does not appear at surface of the protective film so that peeling is possible. At this time, since resin has flexibility, resin itself is not crushed at peeling operation of the resin, and new fine particles are not increased. Like this, since thermosetting resin easy in peeling is possible to perform the similar screen-printing as usual printing process and is removed easily at peeling process, it is possible to use as mask material of various uses. The present invention can be applied to not only the solar battery but also other photovoltaic devices and semiconductor devices.
As described above, particles of powder condition generated from working part can be removed easily at laser beam process by using the present invention in patterning process of the solar battery by laser beam process. In producing process after laser beam process, characteristic can be improved without damage of the generating layer of the solar battery. Further, in product, product yield of characteristic can be improved.
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The invention is aimed to prevent that fall of characteristic of a solar battery and producing yield caused by particles of powder condition generating from working part at laser beam process in the method producing the solar battery by laser beam process. The constitution of the invention is characterized by comprising: a first step forming the lower electrode and the semiconductor layer on the insulating substrate by laminating; a second step forming a protective film on surface of the semiconductor; a third step forming an opening portion at the semiconductor layer, or the semiconductor layer and the lower electrode by laser beam process after the second step; and a fourth step removing the protective film.
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[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/324,166 filed Apr. 14, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field of the Invention
[0002] Embodiments of this invention are directed generally to biology and medicine. In certain aspects the invention relates to a gene set whose levels of expression are evaluated and used to prognose and/or derive a survival indicator for a patient who has undergone therapy, who is undergoing therapy, or who is a candidate for therapy.
II. Background
[0003] There are four main approaches to improving the ability to predict responsiveness to therapies. One approach is a standard predictive or chemopredictive study focused on treatment, in which a sufficiently powered discovery population of subjects is used to define a predictive test that must then be proven to be accurate in a similarly sized validation population (Ransohoff, 2005; Ransohoff 2004). Several studies have used this approach to define predictive genes for adjuvant tamoxifen therapy (Ma et al., 2004; Jansen et al., 2005; Loi et al., 2005). There are advantages to this approach, particularly when samples are available from mature studies for retrospective analysis. But two disadvantages are that the study design is empirical and that adjuvant (post surgery) treatment introduces surgery as a confounding variable, because it is impossible to ever know which patients were cured by their surgery and would never relapse, irrespective of their sensitivity to systemic therapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy trials enable a direct comparison of tumor characteristics with pathologic response to the specific therapy (Ayers et al., 2004).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] In medicine today, doctors search for methods of predicting how a patient (given their condition) may respond to treatment. Symptoms and tests may indicate favorable treatment with standard therapies. Likewise, a number of symptoms, health factors, and tests may indicate a less favorable treatment result with standard treatment—this may indicate that a more aggressive treatment plan may be desired. Prognostic scoring is also used for cancer outcome predictions.
[0005] Although pathologic complete response (pCR) has been adopted as the primary endpoint for neoadjuvant trials because it is associated with long-term survival, it has not been uniformly or consistently defined (Bear, 2006; Carey, 2005; Hennessy, 2005; Kaufmann, 2006; Kuroi, 2005; Kurosumi, 2004; Rajan, 2004; von Minckwitz, 2005). While it is generally agreed that a definition of pCR should include patients without residual invasive carcinoma in the breast (pT0), the presence of nodal metastasis, minimal residual cellularity, and residual in situ carcinoma are not consistently stated as either pCR or residual disease (RD) (Bear, 2006; Kaufmann, 2006; Hennessy, 2005; Rajan, 2004). Therefore, dichotomization of response as pCR or residual disease (RD) may be simplistic for the objective of assay discovery and validation, particularly because residual disease (RD) after neoadjuvant treatment includes a broad range of actual tumor shrinkage. In some patients who are categorized as RD but actually show minimal residual disease, the response outcome blurs the prognostic distinction between pCR and RD. On the other hand, it should be possible to clearly identify patients within RD who are resistant to treatment in order to develop management strategies for this adverse outcome.
[0006] Expression markers are chosen for the ability to classify and/or identify patients as to probability for response (or non response) to therapy. Response to therapy is commonly classified by the RECIST criteria established by the World Health Organization, the National Cancer Institute and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. The RECIST criteria classify response as progressive disease (PD), stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), and complete response (CR). A good response is typically considered to include PR+CR (collectively referred to herein as Objective Response).
[0007] Certain aspects of the invention include methods of evaluating a cancer patient comprising one or more of the steps of (a) evaluating gene expression levels in a patient sample comprising cancer cells or an RNA sample isolated from one or more a patient samples, wherein a plurality of genes to be evaluated are selected from 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 150, or all of the genes identified in Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4, including all ranges and values there between and all subsets and combinations thereof (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 100 or more such genes can be specifically excluded, including all values and ranges there between); (b) calculating a predictor score using a gene expression profile index; and (c) assessing the likelihood of a therapeutic outcome using the predictor score. The method may further comprise classifying a patient prior to evaluation. In certain aspects classification can include identifying a cancer patient with a disease state classified as a residual disease state or other clinically defined state prior to evaluation. In certain aspects, a predictor includes but is not limited to a measure for distant relapse-free survival (DRFS).
[0008] In still a further aspect, a gene expression index comprises 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 150 or all of the genes identified in Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 including all values and ranges there between as well as a number of subsets of these genes which may include some genes from one or more tables and exclude others from the same table or other tables.
[0009] In other aspects, a patient may be stratified or analyzed by using other factors such as protein expression, demographic information, family history, and other biological or medical states. The method may include determining Her2-neu and/or estrogen receptor status of the patient sample and/or evaluation of tumor size, cellularity of tumor bed, and/or nodal burden to name a few.
[0010] The methods may also provide a treatment recommendation depending on the assessment derived from analysis of the gene expression profile as well as other factors. In certain aspects the recommendation may be based on residual cancer burden (RCB) classification or the like. A treatment is typically a standard treatment or a more aggressive non-standard treatment depending on the analysis. For example a treatment may be combination of one or more cancer therapies, such as hormonal therapy and/or chemotherapy. Hormonal therapy includes, but is not limited to tamoxifen therapy, aromatase inhibitor therapy, or SERM therapy.
[0011] In other aspects, preparing a gene expression index can include one or more of the following steps: (a) obtaining data associated with a plurality of cancer patients, such as breast cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer or the like comprising measuring expression levels of a plurality of genes in samples from a plurality of patients; (b) partitioning the data into a first and second dataset; (c) evaluating the data and identifying data associated with a particular treatment outcome; (d) selecting a set of genes whose expression levels are indicative of therapeutic outcome. In one aspect, the index includes evaluation of survival of the patient population sampled for all or part of the reference population of tumor samples such as the distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) of the patient population.
[0012] Other aspects of the invention include kits to determine responsiveness of a cancer or cancer patient to a treatment or therapy comprising one or more of (a) reagents for determining expression levels of a plurality of genes selected from Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 or combinations thereof, such as probe sets that identify and measure the levels of gene transcripts, transcription, or protein levels; and software encoding methods for designing, gathering, inputting, analyzing and/or assessing various data, which includes an algorithm for calculating a predictor score based on the analysis of the gene expression levels.
[0013] In still other aspects the invention includes an apparatus, or system for providing assessment of a sample relative to a gene expression index, the system comprising (a) an application server comprising an input manager to receive expression data from a user for a plurality of genes selected from Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 or combinations thereof obtained from a patient sample or an RNA sample from such patient sample; and (b) a network server comprising an output manager constructed and arranged to provide an assessment to the user.
[0014] In yet another aspect the invention includes a computer readable medium having software modules for performing the one or more of the methods described herein comprising the acts of: (a) comparing gene expression data obtained from a patient sample for a plurality of genes selected from Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 or combinations thereof with a reference; and (b) providing a predictor score to a physician for use in determining an appropriate therapeutic regimen for a patient.
[0015] In still yet another aspect the invention includes a computer system, having a processor, memory, external data storage, input/output mechanisms, a display, for performing the method of the invention, comprising (a) a database; (b) logic mechanisms in the computer for generating the transcriptional profile index; and (c) a comparing mechanism in the computer for comparing the gene expression reference to expression data from a patient sample or an RNA sample from such a patient sample to calculate a predictor score.
[0016] An internet accessible portal may be use to provide biological information constructed and arranged to execute a computer-implemented methods for providing: (a) a comparison of gene expression data of a plurality of genes of claim 1 in a patient sample with a transcriptional profile index; and (b) providing a predictor score to a physician for use in determining an appropriate therapeutic regime for a patient.
[0017] Other embodiments of the invention are discussed throughout this application. Any embodiment discussed with respect to one aspect of the invention applies to other aspects of the invention as well and vice versa. The embodiments in the Example section are understood to be embodiments of the invention that are applicable to all aspects of the invention.
[0018] The terms “inhibiting,” “reducing,” or “prevention,” or any variation of these terms, when used in the claims and/or the specification includes any measurable decrease or complete inhibition to achieve a desired result.
[0019] The use of the word “a” or “an” when used in conjunction with the term “comprising” in the claims and/or the specification may mean “one,” but it is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more,” “at least one,” and “one or more than one.”
[0020] Throughout this application, the term “about” is used to indicate that a value includes the standard deviation of error for the device or method being employed to determine the value.
[0021] The use of the term “or” in the claims is used to mean “and/or” unless explicitly indicated to refer to alternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive, although the disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternatives and “and/or.”
[0022] As used in this specification and claim(s), the words “comprising” (and any form of comprising, such as “comprise” and “comprises”), “having” (and any form of having, such as “have” and “has”), “including” (and any form of including, such as “includes” and “include”) or “containing” (and any form of containing, such as “contains” and “contain”) are inclusive or open-ended and do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.
[0023] Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating specific embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] The following drawings form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the detailed description of specific embodiments presented herein.
[0025] FIG. 1 Plot of relapse-free survival in predicted responders and non-responders using the relapse-based predictor of Example 2 in the validation cohort of patients.
[0026] FIG. 2 Plot of distant relapse-free survival outcomes in predicted responders and non-responders using response-based endpoint of RCB0/I of Example 4 in the validation cohort of patients.
[0027] FIG. 3A-3B Prediction of responders to chemotherapy in ER-positive tumors (A) and ER-negative tumors (B) using the response-based predictor in the validation cohort of patients.
[0028] FIG. 4 Prediction of responders to chemotherapy using a combination of relapse- and response-based predictors in the validation cohort of patients.
[0029] FIG. 5A-5B Prediction of responders to chemotherapy in ER-positive tumors (A) and ER-negative tumors (B) using the combination of relapse- and response-based predictors in the validation cohort of patients.
[0030] FIG. 6 Endocrine sensitivity index in the validation cohort of patients.
[0031] FIG. 7 Plot of combined predictions in the validation cohort to identify responders and non-responders to chemotherapy.
[0032] FIG. 8A-8B Plot of distant relapse-free survival within ER-specific subsets of the validation cohort, (A) ER-positive patients stratified by predicted responders and non-responders, (B) ER-negative patients stratified by predicted responders and non-responders.
[0033] FIG. 9 The decision algorithm that was used in the genomic test to predict a patient's sensitivity to adjuvant chemotherapy or chemo-endocrine therapy from a biopsy of newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer. (*) predicted sensitivity to endocrine therapy was defined as high or intermediate genomic sensitivity to endocrine therapy (SET) index; (**) predicted resistance to chemotherapy was defined as predicted extensive residual cancer burden (RCB-III) or predicted distant relapse or death within 3 years of diagnosis; (***) predicted sensitivity to chemotherapy was defined as predicted pathologic complete response (pCR) or minimal residual cancer burden (RCB-I).
[0034] FIG. 10A-10C Plot of responders and non-responders in the validation cohort of patients predicted by using a combination of predictors of relapse, response as RCB-0/I, resistance as RCB-III, and SET. Kaplan-Meier estimates of distant relapse-free survival according to genomic predictions (before treatment) as treatment-sensitive (Rx Sensitive) or treatment-insensitive (Rx Insensitive) in the discovery (A) and independent validation (B) cohorts. For comparison, the prognosis of the groups stratified by actual pathologic response (pathologic complete response vs. residual disease) after completion of all chemotherapy is shown for the validation cohort (C). P-values are from the log-rank test. Vertical ticks on the curves indicate censored observations.
[0035] FIG. 11A-11D Subset analysis of genomic predictions in the validation cohort: ER+/HER2− (A), ER−/HER2− (B), taxane chemotherapy administered as 12 cycles of weekly paclitaxel (C) or 4 cycles of 3-weekly docetaxel (D). P-values are from the log-rank test. Vertical ticks on the curves indicate censored observations.
[0036] FIG. 12A-12H Kaplan-Meier estimates of distant relapse-free survival in the discovery cohort (A-D) and the independent validation cohort (E-H) of patients treated with sequential taxane-anthracycline chemotherapy, then endocrine therapy if hormone receptor-positive, stratified by other signatures reported to be predictive of response to neoadjuvant taxane-anthracycline chemotherapy. A prognostic signature for genomic grade index predicts pathologic response if high GGI versus low GGI (A, E); the intrinsic subtype classifier predicts pathologic response if basal-like or luminal B versus other subtypes (B, F); a genomic predictor of pathologic complete response (pCR) versus residual disease following taxane-anthracycline chemotherapy (C, G); and the genomic predictor of excellent pathologic response (pCR or RCB-I) versus other residual disease, according to ER status, that we incorporated in the last step of our prediction algorithm (D, H). P-values are from the log-rank test. Vertical ticks on the curves indicate censored observations.
[0037] FIG. 13 Schematic of use of the predictor assay to guide decisions in therapy outcome.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0038] Despite the critical importance of selecting the most effective adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy for an individual, diagnostic tests to guide selection of the optimal regimen for a particular patient continue to be inadequate (Carlson, 2000; Goldhirsch, 2003). Estrogen receptor (ER) negative status, high grade and high proliferative activity are histological characteristics that tend to indicate more chemotherapy sensitive cancer (Bast, 2001; Ross, 2003; Rouzier, 2005). However, although these clinicopathologic variables may identify eligibility or predict general chemotherapy sensitivity, they have little potential to guide selection of a specific treatment regimen in standard-of-care practice.
[0039] The limited utility of individual markers to predict clinical outcome of cancer may be due to the incomplete understanding of the function of these markers. In addition, biologically important molecules act in concert and form complex, interactive pathways where an individual molecule may only contribute limited information on the functional activity of a whole pathway. The promise of microarray technology is that, by assessing the transcriptional activity of a large number of genes, the complex gene-expression profile may contain more information than any individual marker that contributes to it.
[0040] There are examples indicating that the molecular classification of cancer based on gene-expression profiles could be important in framing patient management strategies. Unsupervised clustering of breast cancer specimens consistently separated tumors into ER + and ER − clusters (Gruvberger, 2001; Perou, 2000; Pusztai, 2003). Analysis of gene-expression profiles also distinguished sporadic breast cancers from breast cancer gene, BRCA, mutant cases (Hedenfalk, 2001). Transcriptional profiles have also revealed previously unrecognized molecular subgroups within existing histological categories in breast cancer (Perou, 2000), diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma, and soft tissue and central nervous system embryonal tumors (Nielsen, 2002; Pomeroy, 2002). In addition, gene-expression profiles have been shown to predict survival of patients with node-negative breast cancer (van de Vijver, 2002; van 't Veer, 2002), lymphoma (Alizadeh, 2000; Rosenwald, 2002), renal cancer (Takahashi, 2001), and lung cancer (Beer, 2002).
[0041] Previous efforts into applying gene expression-based predictors in breast cancer have focused largely on predicting a patient's risk of cancer recurrence in the event of either receiving no systemic treatment after surgery (van de Vijver, 2002; van 't Veer, 2002; Wang, 2005) or receiving tamoxifen, a hormonal therapy agent, for 5 years after surgery (Paik, 2006; Paik, 2004; Ma, 2006; Davis, 2007). These gene-based predictors do not directly address the need or the responsiveness to chemotherapy although a high risk of recurrence may indirectly suggest the general consideration of chemotherapy among the available options for patient management.
[0042] Other research efforts have also reported gene-based predictors of response to standard breast cancer treatments (Ayers, 2004; Bild, 2006; Chang, 2003; Hess, 2006; Modlich, 2006) although these are not commercially marketed yet as assays. Some of these predictors are developed using patient tissue samples treated clinically with a specific chemotherapy regimen and subsequently comparing genomic profiles of responders versus non-responders using survival-driven endpoints (Ayers, 2004; Chang, 2003; Hess, 2006; Modlich, 2006) whereas others are focused on analyses of changes in genes within breast cancer cell lines that are treated in vitro with single standard therapeutic agents (Bild, 2006).
[0043] As an in vivo model for marker development and validation, neoadjuvant (preoperative) chemotherapy provides an opportunity to gain access to samples that directly describe tumor response to therapy. Furthermore, complete eradication of all invasive cancer from the breast and regional lymph nodes, called pathologic complete response (pCR), is associated with excellent long-term cancer-free survival (Fisher, 1998; Kuerer, 1999). Therefore, the goal in developing treatment-directed response markers is to evaluate gene expression profiles in order to predict who may achieve pCR versus residual disease (RD). Pathologic CR is a meaningful clinical end-point to predict because these patients experience prolonged disease-free and overall survival compared to patients with lesser response (Cleator, 2005; Fisher, 1998; Kaufmann, 2006; Wolmark, 2001). Good survival in these patients reflects benefit from chemotherapy since most clinical and gene expression variables that are associated with pCR (i.e., high grade, ER-negative status, high OncotypeDX recurrence score) tend to predict worse prognosis in the absence of chemotherapy (Paik, 2006; Paik, 2004).
[0044] Previous work has demonstrated the development and validation of a 30-probe genomic predictor for response to a taxane-containing chemotherapy (Ayers, 2004; Hess, 2006). The treatment administered in the neoadjuvant setting was sequential paclitaxel anthracycline preoperative chemotherapy (T/FAC). A complex multidrug regimen was selected for study because combination chemotherapy represents the current clinical standard for patients who require systemic cytotoxic treatment. Also, studies that explore gene signatures for response to individual drugs may not fully capture sensitivity to combination chemotherapy as practiced in standard-of-care.
[0045] A cohort of 82 patients was used for predictor discovery of pCR to preoperative T/FAC chemotherapy using fine needle biopsies taken before treatment and by analyzing gene profiles generated from a commercially available standard gene expression profiling technology (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, Calif.). Although several analytic techniques and resulting gene sets for response prediction were studied, the nominally best predictor for pCR with the least number of genes, called DLDA-30, was selected for independent validation in 51 additional patients. The predictor showed substantially higher sensitivity (a measure of how well a predictor identifies responsiveness or non-responsiveness to a therapy, e.g., true positives/(true positives+false negatives)) (92% vs. 61%) and slightly better negative predictive value (NPV, the proportion of patients with negative test results who are correctly diagnosed.) (96% vs. 86%) than a clinical predictor based on ER, grade and age (Hess, 2006). The positive predictive value (PPV, is the proportion of patients with positive test results who are correctly diagnosed.) of the genomic predictor at 52% (95 CI: 30%-73%), was significantly higher than the baseline 26% pCR rate in unselected patients. A sensitivity of 100% means that the test recognizes all patient as either responsive to therapy or non-responsive to therapy. Typically, sensitivity alone does not tell us how well the test predicts other classes (that is, about the negative cases). Sensitivity is not the same as the positive predictive value (ratio of true positives to combined true and false positives), which is as much a statement about the proportion of actual positives in the population being tested as it is about the test. The calculation of sensitivity typically does not take into account indeterminate test results. If a test cannot be repeated, the options are to exclude indeterminate samples from analyses (but the number of exclusions should be stated when quoting sensitivity), or, alternatively, indeterminate samples can be treated as false negatives (which gives the worst-case value for sensitivity and may therefore underestimate it).
[0046] Although this predictor and others described in literature (Chang, 2003; Modlich, 2006) may help define a patient population that is more likely to achieve pCR than the general patient population, further developments can help refine prediction of treatment response considerably. Although pCR as a response endpoint is strongly correlated with high treatment-related survival, patients with residual disease (RD) after treatment encompass a wide range of outcomes ranging from very good prognosis (“near-pCR”) to drug resistance. Predictors that can better classify response outcomes to capture and differentiate the high responders and non-responders within the spectrum of residual disease could significantly benefit patient management.
[0047] Although pathologic complete response (pCR) has been adopted as the primary endpoint for neoadjuvant trials because it is associated with long-term survival, it has not been uniformly or consistently defined (Bear, 2006; Carey, 2005; Hennessy, 2005; Kaufmann, 2006; Kuroi, 2005; Kurosumi, 2004; Rajan, 2004; von Minckwitz, 2005). While it is generally agreed that a definition of pCR should include patients without residual invasive carcinoma in the breast (pT0), the presence of nodal metastasis, minimal residual cellularity, and residual in situ carcinoma are not consistently stated as either pCR or residual disease (RD) (Bear, 2006; Kaufmann, 2006; Hennessy, 2005; Rajan, 2004). Therefore, dichotomization of response as pCR or residual disease (RD) may be simplistic for the objective of assay discovery and validation, particularly because residual disease (RD) after neoadjuvant treatment includes a broad range of actual tumor shrinkage. In some patients who are categorized as RD but actually show minimal residual disease, the response outcome blurs the prognostic distinction between pCR and RD. On the other hand, it should be possible to clearly identify patients within RD who are resistant to treatment in order to develop management strategies for this adverse outcome.
[0048] A measure of residual disease or residual cancer burden (RCB), previously developed and reported, may be useful as a variable to characterize response to treatment (Symmans et al., 2007). This measure is derived from the primary tumor dimensions, cellularity of the tumor bed, and axillary nodal burden. Each component contributes meaningful pathologic information and can be obtained using routine pathologic materials and methods of interpretation that could easily be implemented in routine diagnostic practice. RCB measurements can provide a continuous parameter of residual disease and thus of response or resistance, so that all subject responses contribute to the analysis.
[0049] RCB is divided into four survival-related classes (RCB-0 to RCB-III) where patients with minimal residual disease (RCB-I) have the same 5-year relapse-free survival as those with pCR (RCB-0), irrespective of the type of neoadjuvant chemotherapy administered, adjuvant hormonal therapy or the pathologic stage of RD. Therefore, the combination of RCB-0 (pCR) and RCB-I expands the subset of patients who can be identified as having “good response” and to have benefited from the chemotherapy. Extensive residual disease (RCB-III), on the other hand, is associated with poor prognosis, irrespective of the type of neoadjuvant chemotherapy administered, adjuvant hormonal therapy, or the pathologic stage of RD. In particular, all patients with RCB-III after T/FAC chemotherapy, who did not receive adjuvant hormonal therapy, suffered distant relapse within 3 years (Symmans et al., 2007). This identifies an important subset of patients who are not responsive to chemotherapy, or with residual disease (after surgery) that is too extensive to be controlled by hormonal therapy alone.
[0050] Therefore, residual cancer burden (RCB) is an informative tool and a metric to help develop response predictors based on better characterization of likely treatment outcomes.
[0051] RCB categories can be employed with existing methods to define surrogate endpoints from neoadjuvant trials. As a metric correlated with survival, RCB is strongly and independently prognostic and the classes of RCB capture distinct sets of survival-based outcomes. Development of a predictor that reports likelihood of a patient's tumor post-treatment to belong to one of the RCB classes, rather than simply pCR as an endpoint, can yield valuable diagnostic information for efficient treatment management. In certain aspects, predictors specific to RCB-0 (pCR or complete response), RCB-0/I (pCR+near-pCR called good response) and RCB-III (resistance) are developed. In certain aspects of the methods described, the inventors have also accounted for tumor sub-types based on the status of two receptors, Her2-neu and ER, allowing for the predictors to capture heterogeneity within breast cancers and achieve acceptable diagnostic performance.
III. Predictors of Response or Resistance to Therapy
[0052] Sets of genes are defined that are prognostic, diagnostic, or predictive or indicative of the outcome for a cancer patient. These genes can be incorporated into an index or predictor of such an outcome and used in the management of the treatment for a given patient. Prognosis is a medical term denoting the doctor's prediction of how a patient's disease will progress, and whether there is chance of recovery.
[0053] Outcome can be represented in various forms to indicate probability of survival or likely survival outcome. In biostatistics, survival rate is a part of survival analysis, indicating the percentage of people in a study or treatment group who are alive for a given period of time after diagnosis. Survival rates are important for prognosis; for example, whether a type of cancer has a good or bad prognosis can be determined from its survival rate or survival outcome.
[0054] Patients with a certain disease can die directly from that disease or from an unrelated cause such as a car accident. When the precise cause of death is not specified, this is called the overall survival rate or observed survival rate. Doctors often use mean overall survival rates to estimate the patient's prognosis. This is often expressed over standard time periods, like one, five, and ten years. For example, prostate cancer has a much higher one year overall survival rate than pancreatic cancer, and thus has a better prognosis.
[0055] When someone is more interested in how survival is affected by the disease, there is also the net survival rate, which filters out the effect of mortality from other causes than the disease. Typically, the two main ways to calculate net survival are relative survival and cause specific survival or disease specific survival.
[0056] Relative survival is calculated by dividing the overall survival after diagnosis of a disease by the survival as observed in a similar population that was not diagnosed with that disease. A similar population is composed of individuals with at least age and gender similar to those diagnosed with the disease. Cause-specific survival is calculated by treating deaths from other causes than the disease as withdrawals from the population that don't lower survival, comparable to patients who are not observed any longer, e.g. due to reaching the end of the study period. Relative survival has the advantage that it does not depend on accuracy of the reported cause of death; cause-specific survival has the advantage that it does not depend on the ability to find a similar population of people without the disease.
[0057] Survival is not the only endpoint that can be used as a metric in developing predictors such as those described herein. Endpoints or therapeutic outcomes can include survival or distant relapse-free survival (DRFS). Other endpoints are discussed in Cooper and Kaanders, Biological surrogate end-points in cancer trials: Potential uses, benefits and pitfalls, European Journal of Cancer, Volume 41, Issue 9, Pages 1261-1266, which is incorporated herein by reference. A “surrogate marker” or “surrogate endpoint” or “secondary endpoint” typically will refer to a biological or clinical parameter that is measured in place of the biologically definitive or clinically most meaningful parameter, i.e., survival. Primary endpoints may also include limitation of pharmacologic therapies, reduction of time to death, or reduction in the progression of the disease, disorder, or condition. Surrogate markers are pathophysiologic parameters determined by medical or clinical laboratory diagnosis that are associated and have been correlated with the prognosis, progression, predisposition, or risk analysis with a disease, disorder, or condition that are not directly related to the primary diagnosed pathophysiologic condition. Secondary endpoints are those that supplement the primary endpoint. For example, secondary endpoints include reduction in pharmacologic therapy, reduction in requirement of a medical device, or alteration of the progression of the disease disorder, or condition. Typically, a clinical endpoint may refer to a disease, symptom, or sign that constitutes one of the target outcomes of the therapy or clinical trial. The results of a therapy or clinical trial generally indicate the number of people enrolled who reached the pre-determined clinical endpoint during the study interval, compared with the overall number of people who were enrolled. Once a patient reaches the endpoint, he or she is generally excluded from further experimental intervention (the origin of the term endpoint). For example, a clinical trial investigating the ability of a medication to prevent heart attack might use chest pain as a clinical endpoint. Any patient enrolled in the trial who develops chest pain over the course of the trial, then, would be counted as having reached that clinical endpoint. The results would ultimately reflect the fraction of patients who reached the endpoint of having developed chest pain, compared with the overall number of people enrolled. When an experiment involves a control group, the fraction of individuals who reach the clinical endpoint after an intervention is compared with the fraction of individuals in the control group who reached the same clinical endpoint, thus reflecting the ability of the intervention to prevent the endpoint in question. Some studies will examine the incidence of a combined endpoint, which can merge a variety of outcomes into one group.
[0058] When building prediction rules of treatment response or disease state in general from gene expression data can be selected from a small subset of informative genes that will be used as prognostic features in the predictor. Most predictors employ univariate filtering to rank the candidate genes according to the p-value of a two-sample unequal variance t-test comparing the mean expression values of each gene in the two response classes (e.g., pCR and RD). Univariate filtering methods have the disadvantage that they do not deal well with redundant features (genes that have similar expression profiles) and therefore the resulting predictors tend to be less robust (Lai, 2006).
[0059] The method used to identify predictive genes involved first, applying a filter to the gene expression data of all probes on an array to select the top probe sets to be used in signature development using the above described algorithm. Gene filtering can be based on the regularized t-test for the selected response endpoint such as pCR or RCB-0 (complete response), RCB-0/I (good response), or RCB-III (poor response). Other methods for gene filtering include methods that utilize non-specific global filtering criteria. These include, but are not limited to intensity-based filtering, which aims to remove genes that are not expressed at all in the samples studied or variability-based filtering, which aims to remove genes with low variability across samples.
[0060] A multivariate method was used to simultaneously select the signature genes and to calculate the classification score. The predictor is determined by level of penalization, which determines the number of genes included in the predictive signature, and the choice of a decision threshold to dichotomize the classification score. As one example, the inventors selected the maximum level of penalization resulting in the smallest signatures that yield significant cross-validated predictor or outcome predictor, each of these terms can be used interchangeably, performance—this step determines the signature probe sets and their weights. Then, a decision threshold is selected in order to optimize the predictive values of the predictor. Evaluation of the predictors was based on the joint confidence interval of the positive predictive value (PPV) and the negative predictive value (NPV) of the predictor at 5% significance level (low 95% confidence limit of PPV≧baseline response rate & low 95% confidence limit of NPV≧1—baseline response rate).
[0061] In developing the RCB-based predictor, the inventors used an approach that combines feature selection and model discovery using a multivariate penalized approach, an example of which is Gradient Directed Regularization developed by Prof J. Friedman at Stanford University, a description of which can be found on the World Wide Web at stat.stanford.edu/˜jhf/ftp/pathlite.pdf. Typically, the informative genes are selected with penalization using the maximization of the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) as the optimization criterion. Ma and Huang have previously used a similar approach for disease classification (Ma, 2006). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC), or simply ROC curve, is a graphical plot of the sensitivity vs. (1—specificity) for a binary classifier system as its discrimination threshold is varied. The ROC can also be represented equivalently by plotting the fraction of true positives (TPR=true positive rate) vs. the fraction of false positives (FPR=false positive rate). The best possible prediction method would yield a point in the upper left corner or coordinate (0,1) of the ROC space, representing 100% sensitivity (all true positives are found) and 100% specificity (no false positives are found). The (0,1) point is also called a perfect classification. A completely random guess would give a point along a diagonal line (the so-called line of no-discrimination) from the left bottom to the top right corners. The diagonal line divides the ROC space in areas of good or bad classification/diagnostic. Points above the diagonal line indicate good classification results, while points below the line indicate wrong results.
[0062] As an example of predictor discovery and evaluation the protocol suggested by Wessels et al. was followed (Wessels, 2005). The methodology is briefly explained below. First, the input dataset is randomly partitioned into a training set and a test set. A 3-fold cross-validation based on Dudoit et al. recommendation of a 2:1 split between training and test sets was used (Dudoit, 2002). The training set consisting of ⅔ of the original data is used to develop a predictor. To account for bias in the several data-dependent decisions involved in building the predictor, a 5-fold internal cross-validation can be used to select the optimal set of genes for the predictor and to tune the parameters of the predictor, e.g., the degree of penalization. Since different optimal reporter gene sets might result from the different internal cross-validation folds, the number of times each gene is selected is tracked to provide a measure of its importance or its reliability. The trained predictor is then tested on the ⅕ hold-out part of the training dataset and its performance is evaluated based on the AUC.
[0063] To obtain a less biased estimate of classification performance, the trained predictor or outcome predictor can be evaluated on the test set (⅓ of the original data) that was not used in training the predictor. To assess the significance of the predictive performance of the trained predictor, the permutation predictive performance of the predictor was estimated by randomly scrambling the outcome labels in the test dataset. The entire process of randomly splitting the data to a training and a test set was repeated a number of times to obtain the distributions and summary statistics of the performance metrics.
[0064] Typically, under cross-validation the decision threshold is varied along all possible values and for each value predictor performance (accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV)) is determined. The threshold is selected that yields the best compromise between PPV and NPV, as typically increasing PPV results in decreasing NPV. Typically, the objective is to maximize both.
[0065] In certain aspects, other measurements or determinations can be made in conjunction the nucleic acid analysis, for example determination of protein expression and/or histology of a sample. Protein expression can be detected in tumor tissue, cell material obtained by biopsy and the like. For example, a biopsy sample can be immobilized and contacted with an antibody, an antibody fragment or an aptamer that binds selectively to the protein to be detected. The sample can be assayed to determine whether the antibody, fragment or aptamer has bound to the protein by techniques well known in the art. Protein expression can be measured by a variety of methods including but not limited to Western blot, immunoblot, enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), radioimmunoassay (RIA), immunoprecipitation, surface plasmon resonance, immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis, mass spectrometry, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and flow cytometry.
[0066] In a further aspect, IHC analysis is used to measure protein expression. The level of expression for a sample is determined by IHC by staining the sample for a particular expression marker and developing a score for the staining. For example, monoclonal antibodies can be used to stain for the expression of a marker of interest. Mouse antibodies are known for use in the staining of the marker PTEN. Samples can be evaluated for the frequency of cells stained for each sample and the intensity of the stain. Typically, a score based on the frequency (rated from 0-4) and intensity (rated from 0-4) of the stained sample is developed as a measure of overall expression. Exemplary but non-limiting methods for IHC and criteria for scoring expression are described in detail in Handbook of Immunohistochemistry and In Situ Hybridization in Human Carcinomas, M. Hayat Ed., 2004, Academic Press.
IV. Use of Predictor for Patient Evaluation
[0067] In one aspect of the invention, a predictor or transcriptional profile index is used to measure the expression of many genes that provide predictive information about a likely outcome for a particular patient. The invention includes the methods for standardizing the expression values of future samples to a normalization standard that will allow direct comparison of the results to past samples, such as from a clinical trial. The invention also includes the biostatistical methods to calculate and report such results. A sample as used herein can comprise any number of cells that is sufficient for a clinical diagnosis or prognosis, and typically contain at least, at most or about 100 target cells.
[0068] The microarrays provide a suitable method to measure gene expression from clinical samples. mRNA levels measured by microarrays, such as Affymetrix U133A gene chips, in fine needle aspirates (FNA), core needle biopsy, and/or frozen tumor tissue samples of breast cancer correlated closely with protein expression by enzyme immunoassay and by routine immunohistochemistry.
[0069] Estrogen Receptor and Her2-Neu Status.
[0070] ER-positive breast cancer includes a continuum of ER expression that might reflect a continuum of biologic behavior and endocrine sensitivity. Others have reported that some breast cancers are difficult to predict as ER-positive based on transcriptional profile and described non-estrogenic growth effects, such as HER-2, more frequently in this small subset of tumors with aggressive natural history (Kun et al., 2003). Indeed, ER mRNA levels are lower in breast cancers that are positive for both ER and HER2 (Konecny et al., 2003).
V. Cancer Therapies
[0071] Diagnostic tools are needed not merely for prognosis, but, for providing a biological rationale and to demonstrate clinical benefit when they are used to guide the selection and duration of therapies, particularly in light of the cost, complexity, toxicity, benefits and other factors related to such therapies. An index or predictor can be used to predict the likelihood of response rather than intrinsic prognosis.
[0072] In addition to other know methods of cancer therapy, hormone therapies may be employed in the treatment of patients identified as having hormone sensitive cancers. Hormones, or other compounds that stimulate or inhibit these pathways, can bind to hormone receptors, blocking a cancer's ability to get the hormones it needs for growth. By altering the hormone supply, hormone therapy can inhibit growth of a tumor or shrink the tumor. Typically, these cancer treatments only work for hormone-sensitive cancers. If a cancer is hormone sensitive, a patient might benefit from hormone therapy as part of cancer treatment. Sensitive to hormones is usually determined by taking a sample of a tumor (biopsy) and conducting analysis in a laboratory.
[0073] A. Chemotherapy
[0074] Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances to treat disease. In its modern-day use, it refers to cytotoxic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a standardized treatment regimen. There are a number of strategies in the administration of chemotherapeutic drugs used today. Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent or it may aim to prolong life or to palliate symptoms.
[0075] Combined modality chemotherapy is the use of drugs with other cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy or surgery. Combination chemotherapy is a similar practice which involves treating a patient with a number of different drugs simultaneously, e.g., T/FAC therapy. Typically, the drugs differ in their mechanism and side effects. The biggest advantage is minimizing the chances of resistance developing to any one agent.
[0076] In neoadjuvant chemotherapy (preoperative treatment) initial chemotherapy is aimed for shrinking the primary tumor, thereby rendering local therapy (surgery or radiotherapy) less destructive or more effective.
[0077] Adjuvant chemotherapy (postoperative treatment) can be used when there is little evidence of cancer present, but there is risk of recurrence. This can help reduce chances of resistance developing if the tumor does develop. It is also useful in killing any cancerous cells which have spread to other parts of the body. This is often effective as the newly growing tumors are fast-dividing, and therefore very susceptible.
[0078] Palliative chemotherapy is given without curative intent, but simply to decrease tumor load and increase life expectancy. For these regimens, a better toxicity profile is generally expected.
[0079] All chemotherapy regimens require that the patient be capable of undergoing the treatment. Performance status is often used as a measure to determine whether a patient can receive chemotherapy, or whether dose reduction is required.
[0080] B. Hormone Therapy
[0081] Several malignancies respond to hormonal therapy. Strictly speaking, this is not chemotherapy. Cancer arising from certain tissues, including the mammary and prostate glands, may be inhibited or stimulated by appropriate changes in hormone balance. Cancers that are most likely to be hormone-receptive include: Breast cancer, Prostate cancer, Ovarian cancer, and Endometrial cancer. Not every cancer of these types is hormone-sensitive, however. That is why the cancer must be analyzed to determine if hormone therapy is appropriate.
[0082] Breast cancer cells often highly express the estrogen and/or progesterone receptor. Inhibiting the production (with aromatase inhibitors) or action (with tamoxifen) of these hormones can often be used as an adjunct to therapy.
[0083] Hormone therapy may be used in combination with other types of cancer treatments, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. A hormone therapy can be used before a primary cancer treatment, such as before surgery to remove a tumor. This is called neoadjuvant therapy. Hormone therapy can sometimes shrink a tumor to a more manageable size so that it's easier to remove during surgery.
[0084] Hormone therapy is sometimes given in addition to the primary treatment—usually after—in an effort to prevent the cancer from recurring (adjuvant therapy). In some cases of advanced (metastatic) cancers, such as in advanced prostate cancer and advanced breast cancer, hormone therapy is sometimes used as a primary treatment.
[0085] The most common types of drugs for hormone-receptive cancers include: (1) Anti-hormones that block the cancer cell's ability to interact with the hormones that stimulate or support cancer growth. Though these drugs do not reduce the production of hormones, anti-hormones block the ability to use these hormones. Anti-hormones include the anti-estrogens tamoxifen (Nolvadex) and toremifene (Fareston) for breast cancer, and the anti-androgens flutamide (Eulexin) and bicalutamide (Casodex) for prostate cancer. (2) Aromatase inhibitors—Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) target enzymes that produce estrogen in postmenopausal women, thus reducing the amount of estrogen available to fuel tumors. AIs are only used in postmenopausal women because the drugs can't prevent the production of estrogen in women who haven't yet been through menopause. Approved AIs include letrozole (Femara), anastrozole (Arimidex) and exemestane (Aromasin). (3) Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonists and antagonists—LH-RH agonists—sometimes called analogs and LH-RH antagonists reduce the level of hormones by altering the mechanisms in the brain that tell the body to produce hormones. LH-RH agonists are essentially a chemical alternative to surgery for removal of the ovaries for women, or of the testicles for men. Depending on the cancer type, one might choose this route if they hope to have children in the future and want to avoid surgical castration. In most cases the effects of these drugs are reversible. Examples of LH-RH agonists include: Leuprolide (Lupron, Viadur, Eligard) for prostate cancer, Goserelin (Zoladex) for breast and prostate cancers, Triptorelin (Trelstar) for ovarian and prostate cancers and abarelix (Plenaxis).
[0086] One class of pharmaceuticals is the Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators or SERMs. SERMs block the action of estrogen in the breast and certain other tissues by occupying estrogen receptors inside cells. SERMs include, but are not limited to tamoxifen (the brand name is Nolvadex, generic tamoxifen citrate); Raloxifene (brand name: Evista), and toremifene (brand name: Fareston).
VI. Kits
[0087] Further embodiments of the invention include kits for the measurement, analysis, and reporting of gene expression and transcriptional output. A kit may include, but is not limited to microarray, quantitative RT-PCR, antibodies, labeling or other reagents and materials, as well as hardware and/or software for performing at least a portion of the methods described. For example, custom microarrays or analysis methods for existing microarrays are contemplated. Also, methods of the invention include methods of accessing and using a reporting system that compares a single result to a scale of clinical trial results. In yet still further aspects of the invention, a digital standard for data normalization is contemplated so that the assay result values from future samples would be able to be directly compared with the assay value results from past samples, such as from specific clinical trials.
VII. Examples
[0088] The following examples are given for the purpose of illustrating various embodiments of the invention and are not meant to limit the present invention in any fashion. One skilled in the art will appreciate readily that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned, as well as those objects, ends and advantages inherent herein. The present examples, along with the methods described herein are presently representative of preferred embodiments, are exemplary, and are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention. Changes therein and other uses which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the claims will occur to those skilled in the art.
Example 1
Materials and Methods
[0089] Needle biopsy samples (fine needle aspirates—FNAs or core biopsies—CBX) were analyzed in order to examine genes correlated with the selected endpoint. The genes were identified by this method using these samples and methods to standardize data were done in order to facilitate calculation of the predictor indices consistently in different sample types such as biopsies, resected tissue from an excised tumor, and frozen tumor tissue.
[0090] Patients and Samples—
[0091] Patients prospectively consented to an Institutional Research Board approved research protocol (LAB99-402, USO-02-103, 2003-0321, I-SPY-1) to obtain a tumor biopsy by fine needle aspiration (FNA) or core biopsy (CBX) prior to any systemic therapy for genomic studies to develop and test predictors of treatment outcome. Clinical nodal status was determined before treatment from physical examination, with or without axillary ultrasound, with diagnostic FNA as required. Pathologic HER2 status was defined as negative according to the ASCO/CAP guidelines. Patients with any nuclear immunostaining for ER in the tumor cells were considered as eligible for adjuvant endocrine therapy. During this research, patients were consented to undergo pretreatment biopsy as fine needle aspiration (FNA) (Ayers, 2004; Hess, 2006) or core needle biopsy, of the primary breast tumor or ipsilateral axillary metastasis before starting chemotherapy as part of an ongoing pharmacogenomic marker discovery program. Gene expression data generated from the biopsies captures the molecular characteristics of the invasive cancer including the molecular class (Pusztai, 2003). At least 70% of all aspirations yielded at least 1 μg total RNA that is required for the gene expression profiling. The main reason for failure to obtain sufficient RNA was acellular aspirations. Three hundred and ten (310) patients with at least 1 μg RNA were included in this analysis. All patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of a combination of either paclitaxel or docetaxel with anthracycline. At the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy all patients had modified radical mastectomy or lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary node dissection as determined appropriate by the surgeon. Patients who were ER-positive also received endocrine therapy as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitor. Clinical characteristics of the patients are in Table 1A.
[0092] Discovery of Predictor of Relapse after Therapy:
[0093] Table 1B describes the breakdown of samples between FNAs and core biopsies and the treatments administered to the patients.
[0094] Validation of Predictors of Response and Relapse after Therapy:
[0095] Table 1A and 1B also describe the patients whose samples were used to validate the predictors developed for outcome of chemotherapy. Patient samples were collected at University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), LBJ Hospital, and US Oncology, in Houston, Tex. and at cancer centers in Peru, Mexico and Spain. During this research, patients were consented to undergo pretreatment biopsy as fine needle aspiration (FNA) (Ayers, 2004; Hess, 2006) or core needle biopsy, of the primary breast tumor or ipsilateral axillary metastasis before starting chemotherapy as part of an ongoing pharmacogenomic marker discovery program. One hundred and ninety eight (198) patients with at least 1 μg RNA and data on relapse-free survival to perform survival analysis were included in this analysis. All patients received either neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or in a small group, adjuvant chemotherapy, consisting of a combination of either paclitaxel or docetaxel with anthracycline. At the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy all patients had modified radical mastectomy or lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary node dissection as determined appropriate by the surgeon. Patients who were ER-positive also received endocrine therapy as tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitor. This study was approved by the institutional review boards (IRB) of the respective institutions and all patients signed an informed consent for voluntary participation.
[0000]
TABLE 1A
Patient characteristics in development and validation of the predictors
Discovery Population
Validation Population
MDACC a
I-SPY b
Total
MDACC
LBJ c /IN d /GEI e
USO f
Total
Patients
227
83
310
86
58
54
198
Age
<=50
112 (49%)
30 (36%)
142 (46%)
48 (56%)
30 (52%)
31 (57%)
109 (55%)
>50
115 (51%)
53 (64%)
168 (54%)
38 (44%)
28 (48%)
23 (43%)
89 (45%)
Mean (SD)
51 (11)
47 (8)
50 (10)
49 (11)
51 (11)
48 (9)
49 (11)
Nodal status
Pos
165 (73%)
58 (70%)
223 (72%)
52 (60%)
42 (72%)
34 (63%)
128 (65%)
Neg
62 (27%)
25 (30%)
87 (28%)
34 (40%)
16 (28%)
20 (37%)
70 (35%)
T stage
0
2 (1%)
0
2 (1%)
1 (1%)
0
0
1 (1%)
1
19 (8%)
1 (1%)
20 (6%)
8 (9%)
1 (1%)
1 (2%)
10 (5%)
2
131 (58%)
34 (41%)
165 (53%)
52 (61%)
19 (33%)
19 (35%)
90 (45%)
3
35 (15%)
39 (47%)
74 (24%)
18 (21%)
19 (33%)
34 (63%)
71 (36%)
4
40 (18%)
9 (11%)
49 (16%)
7 (8%)
19 (33%)
0
26 (13%)
Grade
1
13 (6%)
6 (7%)
19 (6%)
7 (8%)
5 (8%)
1 (2%)
13 (7%)
2
92 (40%)
25 (30%)
117 (38%)
28 (33%)
19 (33%)
16 (30%)
63 (32%)
3
122 (54%)
29 (35%)
151 (49%)
51 (59%)
23 (40%)
34 (63%)
108 (54%)
Unknown
0
23 (28%)
23 (7%)
0
11 (19%)
3 (5%)
14 (7%)
AJCC g
Stage
I
6 (3%)
0
6 (2%)
2 (2%)
0
0
2 (1%)
II
126 (55%)
39 (47%)
165 (53%)
57 66%)
18 (31%)
32 (59%)
107 (54%)
III
95 (42%)
44 (53%)
139 (45%)
27 (32%)
40 (69%)
22 (41%)
89 (45%)
ER h Status
Pos
131 (58%)
43 (52%)
174 (56%)
60 (70%)
37 (64%)
27 (50%)
124 (63%)
Neg
96 (42%)
35 (42%)
131 (42%)
26 (30%)
21 (36%)
27 (50%)
74 (37%)
Indeterminate
0
5 (6%)
5 (2%)
0
0
0
0
PR i Status
Pos
102 (45%)
40 (48%)
142 (46%)
43 (50%)
31 (53%)
28 (52%)
102 (52%)
Neg
125 (55%)
37 (45%)
162 (52%)
43 (50%)
27 (47%)
26 (48%)
96 (48%)
Indeterminate
0
6 (7%)
6 (2%)
0
0
0
0
a M.D. Anderson Cancer Center;
b I-SPY-1 clinical trial;
c Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital;
d Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas (INEN);
e Grupo Español de Investigación en Cáncer de Mama (GEICAM);
f US Oncology;
g American Joint Committee on Cancer;
h Estrogen receptor;
i Progesterone receptor.
[0000]
TABLE 1B
Chemotherapy And Pre-treatment Biopsy
Details for the Study Cohorts
Discovery
Validation
Cohort
Cohort
(N = 310)
(N = 198)
Needle Biopsy for Genomic Testing
FNA
227
157
CBX
83
41
Chemotherapy Regimen
Entirely Neoadjuvant
T × 12 → FAC × 4 → Sx 1
227
73
AC × 4 → T/Tx × 4 → Sx 2
83
—
TxX × 4 → FEC × 4 → Sx 3
—
92
Partial Neoadjuvant
FAC/FEC × 6 → Sx → T × 12 4
—
18
Entirely Adjuvant
Sx → T × 12 → FAC/FEC × 4 5
—
12
Sx → TxX × 4 → FEC × 4 6
—
2
Sx → Tx × 4 → FEC × 4 7
—
1
FNA: fine needle aspiration
CBX: core needle biopsy
Sx: surgery
1 12 weekly doses of paclitaxel (T) followed by four cycles of fluorouracil (F), doxorubicin (A) and cyclophosphamide (C) and then surgery.
2 Four cycles of doxorubicin (A) and cyclophosphamide (C) followed by four cycles of paclitaxel (T) (N = 60) or docetaxel (Tx) (N = 18) or taxane not specified (N = 5) and then surgery.
3 Four cycles of docetaxel (Tx) with capecitabine (X) followed by four cycles of fluorouracil (F), epirubicin (E) and cyclophosphamide (C) and then surgery.
4 Six cycles of fluorouracil (F), doxorubicin (A) or epirubicin (E), and cyclophosphamide (C) followed by surgery and then by 12 weekly doses of paclitaxel (T).
5 Surgery followed by 12 weekly doses of paclitaxel (T) and then by four cycles of fluorouracil (F), doxorubicin (A) or epirubicin (E), and cyclophosphamide (C).
6 Surgery followed by four cycles of docetaxel (Tx) with capecitabine (X) and then followed by four cycles of fluorouracil (F), epirubicin (E) and cyclophosphamide (C).
7 Surgery followed by four cycles of docetaxel (Tx) and then by four cycles of fluorouracil (F), epirubicin (E) and cyclophosphamide (C).
[0096] RNA Extraction and Gene Expression Profiling—
[0097] Biopsy samples were either collected in 1.5 ml RNAlater™ (Qiagen, Valencia, Calif.) and stored locally at −70° C. and transported to the laboratory on dry ice (MDACC, INEN, LBJ, GEICAM) or couriered overnight in a cooler pack from clinics to the laboratory (USO), or were frozen, cryosectioned and an aliquot of RNA sent to the laboratory on dry ice (I-SPY). Details of our methods for RNA purification and microarray hybridization have been reported previously Rouzier, 2005; Stec, 2005; Symmans, 2003). Briefly, a single-round T7 amplification was used to generate biotin-labeled cRNA for hybridization to oligonucleotide microarrays (U133A GeneChip™, Affymetrix, Santa Clara, Calif.). Gene expression levels were derived from multiple oligonucleotide probes on the microarray that hybridize to different sequence sites of a gene transcript (probe sets).
[0098] Microarray Quality Control—
[0099] Quality control (QC) checks are performed at 3 levels (i) RNA yield, (ii) cRNA yield, and (ii) chip hybridization signal) and samples that fail at any level are not processed further. The amount and quality of RNA is assessed with NanoDrop ND-1000 Spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher scientific In, Wilmington, Del., USA) and is generally considered adequate for further analysis if the OD 260/280 ratio is between 1.8-2.1 and the total RNA yield is ≧1.0 microgram. If total RNA yield is <1.0 microgram all remaining samples (if available) from that patient are used for RNA extraction. At least 10 μg of biotin-labeled cRNA need to be generated from a single-round in vitro transcription protocol to proceed with hybridized to U133A chips.
[0100] Microarray Data Normalization—
[0101] Raw intensity files (.CEL) from each microarray were processed using MAS5.0 (R/Bioconductor, www.bioconductor.org) 1 to normalize to a mean array intensity of 600 and to generate probe set-level expression values. Expression values were then log 2-transformed and subsequently scaled by the expression levels of 1322 breast cancer reference genes to reference values that had been established as the median expression of these genes in an independent reference cohort of invasive breast cancer (N=444). The quality of hybridization and microarray profiling was assessed based on a set of 8 metrics that compare the expression level of the reference genes in each sample to the historical reference values before and after scaling. Metrics include the median deviation, the inter-quartile range (IQR) of deviations, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic for equality of the distributions and the p-value of the K-S statistic. Dimensionality was reduced through a principal component analysis (PCA) model of the 8 metrics which were further summarized in two multivariate statistics, the Hotteling T2 and the sum of squares of the residuals or Q statistic (Jackson & Mudholkar, 1979). Control limits for Q and T2 for sample acceptance were established from historical in-control samples. Prior to analysis for predictor development, 2,522 probe sets that either had low specificity (extensions_xfri_in their name), were housekeeping probes (starting with AFFX) or were not adequately expressed (log 2-transformed intensity of at least 5 in at least 75% of the arrays) were removed. A total of 16,289 probe sets (73% of all) were retained for further analysis.
Example 2
Predictor of Distant Relapse after Therapy or of Resistance to Therapy
[0102] Methods for Building Predictor of Survival Outcomes as a Result of Therapy—
[0103] Distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) was used as the endpoint of favorable outcome of therapy to build the predictor genes. Prior to analysis, probes that either had low specificity (those that include extensions_xfri_in their name) or housekeeping probes (those starting with AFFX) were selected and removed from the candidate probesets. This process removed 2522 probesets. Subsequently, a non-specific filter was applied to retain probesets that has log 2-transformed intensity of at least 5 in at least 75% of the arrays. A total of 16289 probesets (73% of all) were retained for further analysis.
[0104] The samples in the development cohort were subdivided in ER+ and ER− subsets and in lymph node negative (N0) and lymph positive (NP) subsets within each ER group. Means and standard deviations (SDs) of the 16289 genes were computed for each of the 4 subsets of cases. Within each ER cohort, the means and SDs for N0 and NP subsets were averaged to yield nodal-status adjusted statistics. These means and SDs were then used to scale the expression values of all probesets using the corresponding statistics for ER+ or ER− cases.
[0105] Each probeset was evaluated in a univariate Cox regression model for the significance of its association with risk of distant relapse. For this analysis, distant relapses or breast-cancer related deaths were considered as events, whereas local relapses were censored at the time of occurrence. Time to event was determined since the time of initial diagnosis. The significance of the association of each probeset to distant relapse risk was assessed based on the likelihood ratio test, which compares the log-likelihood of the model having the given probeset as the only covariate to the null model. The likelihood ratio statistic is distributed according to a chi-squared with one degree of freedom. P-values for the significance of each probeset were calculated from this distribution.
[0106] To account for sampling variability in the training dataset, Cox regression models for each probeset were fit repeatedly using a bootstrap procedure in which cases were sampled with replacement to generate bootstrapped datasets of the same size as the original dataset. This process was repeated 499 times, thus generating 500 estimates for the p-values of each probeset. The association of each probeset with distant relapse risk was assessed within each bootstrapped dataset at a critical significance level of 0.001 or 0.0005 to account for multiple testing. Those probesets that were called significant in at least 20% of the bootstrap replicates were selected as candidate probesets. This process was applied separately to the ER-positive and ER-negative cases in the training dataset and resulted in 235 and 268 candidate probesets in the ER+ and ER− subsets.
[0107] Final multivariate prediction models were built from the candidate probesets in the ER+ and ER− cohorts. Maximization of the partial likelihood associated with Cox proportional hazards models becomes problematic and non-unique if the number of covariates exceeds the number of available samples or if there is a high degree of colinearity between the predictors. To prevent this pathologic behavior, some sort of regularization or shrinkage needs to be applied to the regression coefficients to allow efficient estimation of the remaining ones. The Cox univariate shrinkage (CUS) approach was used for this purpose (Tibshirani, 2009), which is equivalent to the lasso estimate in standard regression analysis. The level of penalization is an adjustable parameter in the algorithm, with higher penalization resulting in smaller signatures. The optimal level of penalization was determined under 5-fold cross-validation as the penalization level that resulted in the shortest list of genes that yielded the highest incremental improvement in the Cox model's deviance.
[0108] The final predictors for ER+ and ER− subsets used 33 probesets and 27 probesets respectively to make the predictions. The probesets, genes that they encode for, and their weights (Cox coefficients) are shown in Table 2. The risk score is calculated by multiplying the scaled log 2-transformed expression level of each gene in a given sample by its corresponding weight and then adding up the weighted expression values for all genes in the signature. The following formula describes the score calculation for sample i:
[0000]
y
i
=
{
∑
j
=
1
K
+
w
j
+
z
ij
+
,
if
ER
positive
∑
j
=
1
K
-
w
j
-
z
ij
-
,
if
ER
negative
[0000] where w j is the weight of gene j in the signature, z ij is the log 2-transformed and scaled expression value of gene j in sample i, K is the number of genes in the signature, and the + or − symbols refer to the ER+ and ER− signatures.
[0109] A cut point was selected to dichotomize the risk score and predict two risk classes. The optimal cutoff was selected in order to maximize the accuracy of the prediction of 5-yr distant relapse outcome by the risk classes. A cutoff of 0 was selected for both the ER+ and ER− scores. Positive scores signify “High risk” class, i.e. higher risk of distant relapse and a zero or negative score signifies “Low risk”.
[0000]
TABLE 2
Genes used for prediction of distant relapse risk in ER-stratified patient subsets
Probe Set
Symbol
Description
GeneID
Chromosome
Cytoband
Weight
ER-Positive
1
212174_at
AK2
adenylate kinase 2
204
1
1p34
0.0011
2
215407_s_at
ASTN2
astrotactin 2
23245
9
9q33.1
−0.0131
3
205626_s_at
CALB1
calbindin 1, 28 kDa
793
8
8q21.3-q22.1
0.008
4
212816_s_at
CBS
cystathionine-beta-
875
21
21q22.3
0.0116
synthase
5
216923_at
CDLK5
cyclin-dependent kinase
6792
X
Xp22.13
−0.0084
like 5
6
205471_s_at
DACH1
dachshund homolog 1
1602
13
13q22
−0.0043
( Drosophila )
7
221681_s_at
DSPP
dentin
1834
4
4q21.3
−0.0285
sialophosphoprotein
8
201539_s_at
FHL1
four and a half LIM
2273
X
Xq26
0.0142
domains 1
9
215744_at
FUS
fusion (involved in t(12; 16)
2521
16
16p11.2
−0.0016
in malignant liposarcoma)
10
209604_s_at
GATA3
GATA binding protein 3
2625
10
10p15
−0.0414
11
209602_s_at
GATA3
GATA binding protein 3
2625
10
10p15
−0.0285
12
209603_at
GATA3
GATA binding protein 3
2625
10
10p15
−0.0067
13
203821_at
HBEGF
heparin-binding EGF-like
1839
5
5q23
−0.0126
growth factor
14
219976_at
HOOK1
hook homolog 1
51361
1
1p32.1
−0.0136
( Drosophila )
15
212531_at
LCN2
lipocalin 2
3934
9
9q34
0.0411
16
220906_at
LDB2
LIM domain binding 2
9079
4
p15.32
−0.0358
17
217506_at
LOC339290
hypothetical LOC339290
339290
18
18p11.31
−0.0171
18
204058_at
ME1
malic enzyme 1,
4199
6
6q12
0.0002
NADP(+)-dependent,
cytosolic
19
200899_s_at
MGEA5
meningioma expressed
10724
10
10q24.1-q24.3
−0.0023
antigen 5 (hyaluronidase)
20
203419_at
MLL4
myeloid/lymphoid or
9757
19
19q13.1
−0.0097
mixed-lineage leukemia 4
21
211874_s_at
MYST4
MYST histone
23522
10
10q22.2
−0.0336
acetyltransferase
(monocytic leukemia) 4
22
40569_at
MZF1
myeloid zinc finger 1
7593
19
19q13.4
−0.0349
23
203621_at
NDUFB5
NADH dehydrogenase
4711
3
3q26.33
0.0448
(ubiquinone) 1 beta
subcomplex, 5, 16 kDa
24
202886_s_at
PPP2R1B
protein phosphatase 2
5519
11
11q23.2
0.0061
(formerly 2A), regulatory
subunit A, beta isoform
25
201834_at
PRKAB1
protein kinase, AMP-
5564
12
12q24.1
−0.0341
activated, beta 1 non-
catalytic subunit
26
212743_at
RCHY1
ring finger and CHY zinc
25898
4
4q21.1
−0.0127
finger domain containing 1
27
219869_s_at
SLC39A8
solute carrier family 39
64116
4
4q22-q24
0.0262
(zinc transporter), member 8
28
210692_s_at
SLC43A3
solute carrier family 43,
29015
11
11q11
0.0075
member 3
29
213103_at
STARD13
StAR-related lipid transfer
90627
13
13q12-q13
−0.0185
(START) domain
containing 13
30
202342_s_at
TRIM2
tripartite motif-containing 2
23321
4
4q31.3
0.0088
31
212534_at
ZNF24
zinc finger protein 24
7572
18
18q12
−0.0025
32
219635_at
ZNF606
zinc finger protein 606
80095
19
19q13.4
−0.0198
33
214202_at
—
—
—
5
5q22.3
−0.0421
ER-Negative
1
200982_s_at
ANXA6
annexin A6
309
5
5q32-q34
0.0136
2
212136_at
ATP2B4
ATPase, Ca++ transporting, plasma membrane 4
493
1
1q32.1
0.0123
3
205379_at
CBR3
carbonyl reductase 3
874
21
21q22.2
−0.0067
4
219755_at
CBX8
chromobox homolog 8 (Pc class homolog,
57332
17
17q25.3
−0.0023
Drosophila )
5
204720_s_at
DNAJC6
DnaJ (Hsp40) homolog, subfamily C, member 6
9829
1
1pter-q31.3
0.0022
6
203303_at
DYNLT3
dynein, light chain, Tctex-type 3
6990
X
Xp21
0.0041
7
216682_s_at
FAM48A
family with sequence similarity 48, member A
55578
13
13q13.3
0.0044
8
206847_s_at
HOXA7
homeobox A7
3204
7
7p15-p14
−0.0323
9
219284_at
HSPBAP1
HSPB (heat shock 27 kDa) associated protein 1
79663
3
3q21.1
0.0068
10
210036_s_at
KCNH2
potassium voltage-gated channel, subfamily H
3757
7
7q35-q36
0.0158
(eag-related), member 2
11
217929_s_at
KIAA0319L
KIAA0319-like
79932
1
1p34.2
−0.0044
12
201932_at
LRRC41
leucine rich repeat containing 41
10489
1
1p34.1
−0.0089
13
205301_s_at
OGG1
8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase
4968
3
3p26.2
−0.0025
14
208393_s_at
RAD50
RAD50 homolog ( S. cerevisiae )
10111
5
5q31
0.0404
15
203286_at
RNF44
ring finger protein 44
22838
5
5q35.2
0.0061
16
213044_at
ROCK1
Rho-associated, coiled-coil containing protein
6093
18
18q11.1
0.0138
kinase 1
17
203889_at
SCG5
secretogranin V (7B2 protein)
6447
15
15q13-q14
0.0065
18
221053_s_at
TDRKH
tudor and KH domain containing
11022
1
1q21
0.0107
19
203254_s_at
TLN1
talin 1
7094
9
9p13
0.0167
20
210180_s_at
TRA2B
transformer 2 beta homolog ( Drosophila )
6434
3
3q26.2-q27
−0.001
21
221836_s_at
TRAPPC9
trafficking protein particle complex 9
83696
8
8q24.3
0.0165
22
208349_at
TRPA1
transient receptor potential cation channel,
8989
8
8q13
0.025
subfamily A, member 1
23
216374_at
TSPY1
testis specific protein, Y-linked 1
7258
Y
Yp11.2
0.0079
24
218715_at
UTP6
UTP6, small subunit (SSU) processome
55813
17
17q112
0.0142
component, homolog (yeast)
25
208453_s_at
XPNPEP1
X-prolyl aminopeptidase (aminopeptidase P) 1,
7511
10
10q25.3
−0.0208
soluble
26
214900_at
ZKSCAN1
zinc finger with KRAB and SCAN domains 1
7586
7
7q21.3-q22.1
−0.0032
27
215298_at
—
—
—
4
4q8.3
0.0039
Example 3
Performance of Relapse-Based Predictor in Chemotherapy Outcomes Prediction
[0110] FIG. 1 shows the survival outcome of patients from the validation cohort (Table 1A) predicted as good and poor responders by the ER-stratified outcomes predictor described in Example 2. Survival is defined by distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) over a period of about 60 months since the initial biopsy. These patients have undergone surgery where it was considered appropriate and the ER-positive patients received hormonal therapy (tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitor) for 5 years after the surgery. ER-negative patients did not receive any additional treatment post-surgery.
[0111] The plot shows that predicted good and poor responders to taxane-chemotherapy ( FIG. 1 ) have distinctly separated relapse-free survival curves (p=0.008). The good responders (51%) or “low-risk” patients show a fewer number of distant relapse events (˜85% relapse-free after 60 months) whereas the remaining patients show considerably higher relapse rates among the patients (˜60% DRFS after 60 months).
Example 4
Predictor of Response to Chemotherapy
[0112] Patients and Samples—
[0113] Patient samples used were those shown in Table 1A. All other laboratory analytic methods were the same as in Example 1.
[0114] Methods for Building Predictors of Response to Chemotherapy—
[0115] The inventors used the response endpoint RCB0/I, representing no residual disease or minimal residual disease measured at the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, to identify genes that differentiated patients who responded to chemotherapy versus all others in the discovery cohort of Table 1A. Prior to analysis, probes that either had low specificity (those that include extensions_xfri_in their name) or housekeeping probes (those starting with AFFX) were selected and removed from the candidate probesets. This process removed 2522 probesets. Subsequently, a non-specific filter was applied to retain probesets that has log 2-transformed intensity of at least 5 in at least 75% of the arrays. A total of 16289 probesets (73% of all) were retained for further analysis.
[0116] The samples in the development cohort were subdivided in ER+ and ER− subsets and in lymph node negative (N0) and lymph positive (NP) subsets within each ER group. Means and standard deviations (SDs) of the 16289 genes were computed for each of the 4 subsets of cases. Within each ER cohort, the means and SDs for N0 and NP subsets were averaged to yield nodal-status adjusted statistics. These means and SDs were then used to scale the expression values of all probesets using the corresponding statistics for ER+ or ER− cases.
[0117] Each probeset was evaluated for differential expression in the two responder groups (RCB-0/I vs rest) using an unequal variance t-statistic based on the trimmed means and trimmed standard deviations in the two groups using a trim fraction of 0.025 (i.e. the lowest 2.5% and highest 2.5% values were eliminated and the statistics were calculated on the remaining 95% of the observations in each group). Degrees of freedom for the unequal variance t-statistic were estimated based on Satterthwaite's approximation (Armitage, Berry & Matthews, 2002). The significance of association of each probe set with response was assessed based on the unequal variance t-statistic. P-values for the significance of each probeset were calculated from the t-distribution with the corresponding degrees of freedom.
[0118] To account for sampling variability in the training dataset, the differential expression analysis for each probeset described in the previous paragraph was performed repeatedly using a bootstrap procedure in which cases were sampled with replacement to generate bootstrapped datasets of the same size as the original dataset. This process was repeated 499 times, thus generating 500 estimates for the p-values of each probeset. The association of each probeset with distant relapse risk was assessed within each bootstrapped dataset at a critical significance level of 0.0005 to account for multiple testing. Those probesets that were called significant in at least 30% of the bootstrap replicates were selected as candidate probesets. This process was applied separately to the ER-positive and ER-negative cases in the training dataset and resulted in 209 and 244 candidate probesets in the ER+ and ER-subsets.
[0119] In developing the RCB-based chemothereapy response predictor, the inventors used an approach that combines feature selection and model discovery using a multivariate penalized approach called Gradient Directed Regularization developed by Prof. J. Friedman at Stanford University, a description of which can be found on the World Wide Web at stat.stanford.edu/˜jhf/ftp/pathlite.pdf. The informative genes are selected through penalization using the maximization of the area under the ROC curve (AUC) as the optimization criterion. Ma and Huang have previously used a similar approach for disease classification (Ma, 2006).
[0120] For predictor discovery and evaluation the inventors followed a cross-validation protocol. First, the input dataset is randomly partitioned into a training set and a test set. A 5-fold cross-validation for a 4:1 split stratified by response group between training and test sets was used (Dudoit, 2002). The training set consisting of ⅘ of the original data is used to develop the predictor. The algorithm starts with the same initial list of candidate genes that were determined through the bootstrap procedure and iteratively refines the predictor by selecting genes that contribute in maximizing the AUC of the candidate predictor. The maximum level of penalization is used to derive the most parsimonious predictors. Since different optimal reporter gene sets might result from the different internal cross-validation folds, the number of times each gene is selected is tracked to provide a measure of its importance or its reliability. The trained predictor is then tested on the ⅕ hold-out part of the training dataset and its performance is evaluated based on the AUC.
[0121] The entire process of randomly splitting the data to a training- and a test-set was repeated 499 times to obtain the distributions and summary statistics of the performance metrics from the cross-validated replicates.
[0122] The final predictors for ER+ and ER− subsets used 39 probesets and 55 probesets respectively to make the predictions. The probesets, genes that they encode for, and their weights (coefficients) are shown in Table 3. The risk score is calculated by multiplying the scaled log 2-transformed expression level of each gene in a given sample by its corresponding weight and then adding up the weighted expression values for all genes in the signature. The following formula describes the score calculation for sample i:
[0000]
y
i
=
{
∑
j
=
1
K
+
w
j
+
z
ij
+
,
if
ER
positive
∑
j
=
1
K
-
w
j
-
z
ij
-
,
if
ER
negative
[0000] where w j is the weight of gene j in the signature, z ij is the log 2-transformed and scaled expression value of gene j in sample i, K is the number of genes in the signature, and the + or − symbols refer to the ER+ and ER− signatures.
[0123] A cut point was selected to dichotomize the risk score and predict two risk classes. The optimal cutoff was selected in order to maximize the accuracy of the prediction. A cutoff of 0 was selected for both the ER+ and ER− scores. Positive scores signify “responders” and a zero or negative score signifies “non-responders”.
[0000]
TABLE 3
Genes used for prediction of response, RCB-0/I, in ER-stratified patient subsets
Probe Set
Symbol
Description
GeneID
Chromosome
Cytoband
Weight
ER-Positive
1
204332_s_at
AGA
aspartylglucosaminidase
175
4
4q32-q33
1.023626
2
36865_at
ANGEL1
angel homolog 1
23357
14
14q24.3
0.538063
( Drosophila )
3
219437_s_at
ANKRD11
ankyrin repeat domain
29123
16
16q24.3
0.26952
11
4
205865_at
ARID3A
AT rich interactive
1820
19
19p13.3
0.832093
domain 3A (BRIGHT-
like)
5
215407_s_at
ASTN2
astrotactin 2
23245
9
9q33.1
1.081851
6
204493_at
BID
BH3 interacting domain
637
22
22q11.1
0.351295
death agonist
7
205557_at
BPI
bactericidal/permeability-
671
20
20q11.23-q12
−1.05657
increasing protein
8
42361_g_at
CCHCR1
coiled-coil alpha-helical
54535
6
6p21.3
−0.19308
rod protein 1
9
205937_at
CGREF1
cell growth regulator
10669
2
2p23.3
0.616448
with EF-hand domain 1
10
208817_at
COMT
catechol-O-
1312
22
22q11.21
0.964167
methyltransferase
11
202250_s_at
DCAF8
DDB1 and CUL4
50717
1
1q22-q23
0.438059
associated factor 8
12
202570_s_at
DLGAP4
discs, large ( Drosophila )
22839
20
20q11.23
−0.03735
homolog-associated
protein 4
13
218103_at
FTSJ3
FtsJ homolog 3 (E. coli)
117246
17
17q23.3
0.902969
14
216651_s_at
GAD2
glutamate
2572
10
10p11.23
1.191928
decarboxylase 2
(pancreatic islets and
brain, 65 kDa)
15
205505_at
GCNT1
glucosaminyl (N-acetyl)
2650
9
9q13
0.635989
transferase 1, core 2
(beta-1,6-N-
acetylglucosaminyltransferase)
16
213020_at
GOSR1
golgi SNAP receptor
9527
17
17q11
0.041002
complex member 1
17
212597_s_at
HMGXB4
HMG box domain
10042
22
22q13.1
0.241141
containing 4
18
212898_at
KIAA0406
KIAA0406
9675
20
20q11.23
−0.37731
19
220652_at
KIF24
kinesin family member
347240
9
9p13.3
−0.85991
24
20
218486_at
KLF11
Kruppel-like factor 11
8462
2
2p25
0.145703
21
202057_at
KPNA1
karyopherin alpha 1
3836
3
3q21
0.047619
(importin alpha 5)
22
209204_at
LMO4
LIM domain only 4
8543
1
1p22.3
0.906757
23
201818_at
LPCAT1
lysophosphatidylcholine
79888
5
5p15.33
0.602505
acyltransferase 1
24
208328_s_at
MEF2A
myocyte enhancer
4205
15
15q26
0.196532
factor 2A
25
215491_at
MYCL1
v-myc
4610
1
1p34.2
1.199616
myelocytomatosis viral
oncogene homolog 1,
lung carcinoma derived
(avian)
26
202944_at
NAGA
N-
4668
22
22q11
0.053596
acetylgalactosaminidase,
alpha-
27
218886_at
PAK1IP1
PAK1 interacting protein 1
55003
6
6p24.2
−0.39992
28
207081_s_at
PI4KA
phosphatidylinositol 4-
5297
22
22q11.21
0.879705
kinase, catalytic, alpha
29
210771_at
PPARA
peroxisome proliferator-
5465
22
22q12-q13.1
0.771244
activated receptor alpha
30
203096_s_at
RAPGEF2
Rap guanine nucleotide
9693
4
4q32.1
0.645585
exchange factor (GEF) 2
31
218593_at
RBM28
RNA binding motif
55131
7
7q32.1
0.533325
protein 28
32
211678_s_at
RNF114
ring finger protein 114
55905
20
20q13.13
1.178185
33
202762_at
ROCK2
Rho-associated, coiled-
9475
2
2p24
1
coil containing protein
kinase 2
34
206239_s_at
SPINK1
serine peptidase
6690
5
5q32
0.620242
inhibitor, Kazal type 1
35
221276_s_at
SYNC
syncoilin, intermediate
81493
1
1p34.3-p33
−0.38482
filament protein
36
213155_at
WSCD1
WSC domain containing 1
23302
17
17p13.2
−0.31573
37
37117_at
PRR5
proline rich 5 (renal)
55615
22
22q13
0.106363
38
220855_at
AC091271.1
no-protein transcript
—
17
17q23.2
−0.3595
39
222275_at
—
—
—
5
5p12
0.03155
ER-Negative
1
202442_at
AP3S1
adaptor-related protein
1176
5
5q22
−0.19044
complex 3, sigma 1
subunit
2
212135_s_at
ATP2B4
ATPase, Ca++
493
1
1q32.1
−0.3245
transporting, plasma
membrane 4
3
217911_s_at
BAG3
BCL2-associated
9531
10
10q25.2-q26.2
−0.23225
athanogene 3
4
210214_s_at
BMPR2
bone morphogenetic
659
2
2q33-q34
0.814841
protein receptor, type II
(serine/threonine kinase)
5
202048_s_at
CBX6
chromobox homolog 6
23466
22
22q13.1
−1.02907
6
203653_s_at
COIL
coilin
8161
17
17q22-q23
0.078687
7
203633_at
CPT1A
carnitine
1374
11
11q13.1-q13.2
−0.06407
palmitoyltransferase 1A
(liver)
8
210096_at
CYP4B1
cytochrome P450, family
1580
1
1p34-p12
−0.39651
4, subfamily B,
polypeptide 1
9
212838_at
DNMBP
dynamin binding protein
23268
10
10q24.2
−0.07158
10
219850_s_at
EHF
ets homologous factor
26298
11
11p12
0.115972
11
201936_s_at
EIF4G3
eukaryotic translation
8672
1
1p36.12
−0.08341
initiation factor 4 gamma, 3
12
217254_s_at
EPO
erythropoietin
2056
7
7q22
−0.9403
13
205774_at
F12
coagulation factor XII
2161
5
5q33-qter
−0.21253
(Hageman factor)
14
218532_s_at
FAM134B
family with sequence
54463
5
5p15.1
−0.12462
similarity 134, member B
15
200709_at
FKBP1A
FK506 binding protein
2280
20
20p13
−0.06741
1A, 12 kDa
16
212294_at
GNG12
guanine nucleotide
55970
1
1p31.3
−0.2595
binding protein (G
protein), gamma 12
17
211525_s_at
GP5
glycoprotein V (platelet)
2814
3
3q29
−0.52858
18
212090_at
GRINA
glutamate receptor,
2907
8
8q24.3
−0.02213
ionotropic, N-methyl D-
aspartate-associated
protein 1 (glutamate
binding)
19
213053_at
HAUS5
HAUS augmin-like
23354
19
19q13.12
0.395212
complex, subunit 5
20
214537_at
HIST1H1D
histone cluster 1, H1d
3007
6
6p21.3
0.029003
21
206194_at
HOXC4
homeobox C4
3221
12
12q13.3
−0.10183
22
204544_at
HPS5
Hermansky-Pudlak
11234
11
11p14
0.203156
syndrome 5
23
205700_at
HSD17B6
hydroxysteroid (17-beta)
8630
12
12q13
−0.88741
dehydrogenase 6
homolog (mouse)
24
209575_at
IL10RB
interleukin 10 receptor,
3588
21
21q22.1-q22.2
0.162807
beta
25
215177_s_at
ITGA6
integrin, alpha 6
3655
2
2q31.1
0.34206
26
221986_s_at
KLHL24
kelch-like 24 ( Drosophila )
54800
3
3q27.1
1
27
208107_s_at
LOC81691
exonuclease NEF-sp
81691
16
16p12.3
0.618062
28
221650_s_at
MED18
mediator complex
54797
1
1p35.3
−0.05596
subunit 18
29
218251_at
MID1IP1
MID1 interacting protein
58526
X
Xp11.4
−0.41753
1 (gastrulation specific
G12 homolog
(zebrafish))
30
215563_s_at
MSTP9
macrophage stimulating,
11223
1
1p36.13
−0.02463
pseudogene 9
31
221207_s_at
NBEA
neurobeachin
26960
13
13q13
−0.45289
32
208926_at
NEU1
sialidase 1 (lysosomal
4758
6
6p21.3
0.27621
sialidase)
33
204107_at
NFYA
nuclear transcription
4800
6
6p21.3
−0.10057
factor Y, alpha
34
218410_s_at
PGP
phosphoglycolate
283871
16
16p13.3
−0.13051
phosphatase
35
211159_s_at
PPP2R5D
protein phosphatase 2,
5528
6
6p21.1
0.218826
regulatory subunit B′,
delta isoform
36
205617_at
PRRG2
proline rich Gla (G-
5639
19
19q13.33
0.752739
carboxyglutamic acid) 2
37
203038_at
PTPRK
protein tyrosine
5796
6
6q22.2-q22.3
0.268374
phosphatase, receptor
type, K
38
203831_at
R3HDM2
R3H domain containing 2
22864
12
12q13.3
−0.04695
39
201779_s_at
RNF13
ring finger protein 13
11342
3
3q25.1
0.247392
40
203286_at
RNF44
ring finger protein 44
22838
5
5q35.2
−0.07864
41
221524_s_at
RRAGD
Ras-related GTP binding D
58528
6
6q15-q16
0.616503
42
212416_at
SCAMP1
secretory carrier
9522
5
5q13.3-q14.1
−0.96624
membrane protein 1
43
207707_s_at
SEC13
SEC13 homolog ( S. cerevisiae )
6396
3
3p25-p24
0.706684
44
201915_at
SEC63
SEC63 homolog ( S. cerevisiae )
11231
6
6q21
0.383853
45
203580_s_at
SLC7A6
solute carrier family 7
9057
16
16q22.1
−0.16415
(cationic amino acid
transporter, y+ system),
member 6
46
212257_s_at
SMARCA2
SWI/SNF related, matrix
6595
9
9p22.3
0.152197
associated, actin
dependent regulator of
chromatin, subfamily a,
member 2
47
201794_s_at
SMG7
Smg-7 homolog,
9887
1
1q25
−0.33961
nonsense mediated
mRNA decay factor ( C. elegans )
48
202991_at
STARD3
StAR-related lipid
10948
17
17q11-q12
0.579916
transfer (START) domain
containing 3
49
210294_at
TAPBP
TAP binding protein
6892
6
6p21.3
0.04522
(tapasin)
50
217711_at
TEK
TEK tyrosine kinase,
7010
9
9p21
−0.06112
endothelial
51
212638_s_at
WWP1
WW domain containing
11059
8
8q21
−0.37266
E3 ubiquitin protein
ligase 1
52
213081_at
ZBTB22
zinc finger and BTB
9278
6
6p21.3
−0.16771
domain containing 22
53
216738_at
—
—
—
3
3p25.3
−0.10674
54
220820_at
—
—
—
10
10q11.23
−0.3542
55
222312_s_at
—
—
—
1
1p22.3
−0.11559
Example 5
Performance of Response-Based Predictor in Validation Cohort
[0124] FIG. 2 shows the survival outcomes of patients from the independent validation cohort (Table 1A) that were predicted as good responders by the ER-stratified predictor of response (RCB0/I) described in Example 4. Survival is defined by distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) over a period of about 80 months after the initial diagnostic biopsy. These patients have undergone surgery where it was considered appropriate and the ER-positive patients received hormonal therapy (tamoxifen) for 5 years after the surgery. ER-negative patients did not receive any treatment post-surgery.
[0125] The plot shows that predicted responders to taxane-containing chemotherapy ( FIG. 2 ) show fewer events resulting in lower distant relapse rate (˜20% relapse rate after 60 months) whereas the remainder show considerably higher relapse rate among the patients (˜40% relapse rate in after 60 months). The overall separation of the two curves, poor responders corresponding to lower survival and good responders corresponding to higher survival, however, are not statistically significant (log-rank test p=0.143). This indicates that the response-based predictor facilitates some separation according to outcomes after therapy but is not strongly predictive enough on its own to distinctly differentiate survival after therapy in this particular validation cohort.
[0126] FIG. 3 shows plots of the prediction of the response predictor versus relapse-free survival in ER-positive and ER-negative subsets of the independent validation cohort of Table 1A. The plot shows that predicted responders in ER-positive tumors are not well separated from non-responders over the first 3 years ( FIG. 3A ), although the predicted non-responders accumulate more events after 3 years, whereas there is a reasonably good separation between responders to taxane-therapy versus non-responders in ER-negative tumors (p=0.094, FIG. 3B ). The response-based predictor, therefore, shows a potentially stronger predictive power in ER-negative tumors for outcomes after chemotherapy.
Example 6
Prediction of Chemotherapy Outcome Using a Combination of Relapse-Based and Response-Based Predictors
[0127] Based on the performance of the relapse-based or resistance predictor of Example 2 and the response-based predictor of Example 4, combined prediction using the two predictors was studied in the validation cohort (Table 1A). The relapse-based predictor was applied first to the cohort as described in FIG. 1 to obtain low-risk and high-risk patients. The response-based predictor was then applied to the low-risk patients to further stratify them into two groups—called High responders and Intermediate responders. The patients previously identified as high-risk by the relapse-based predictor were labeled here as Low responders.
[0128] FIG. 4 shows K-M plots of the cohorts defined by the combined predictor based on relapse (resistance) and response. The plot shows about 29% of patients with an excellent 5-year survival (average 92% DRFS at 60 months) versus the Intermediate and Low responders who show approximately 65% or lower DRFS at 60 months. The separation of the curves is statistically significant (p=0.003). The Intermediate and Low responders may be combined into a single group as non-responders since they had very similar DRFS profiles.
[0129] FIG. 5 shows plots of the prediction of the combined predictor versus relapse-free survival in ER-positive ( FIG. 5A ) and ER-negative ( FIG. 5B ) subsets of the validation cohort. In both subsets, the High responders as one group are distinctly separated from the Intermediate and Low responders, which together can be considered as Non-responders in both subsets. The responders for the ER-positive tumors have excellent survival (˜100% DRFS at 60 months) versus the non-responders have about 73% DRFS in that time period. The ER-negative tumors, known to have poorer prognosis relative to ER-positive tumors, have an 85% DRFS at 60 months among responders but a much lower DRFS of ˜50% among non-responders. Identifying patients who would be at such high risk despite aggressive chemotherapy would be clinically useful since they can be considered for more advanced therapies or in clinical trials of new therapeutic agents.
Example 7
Chemotherapy Outcomes Prediction Using an Index of Endocrine Sensitivity
[0130] The prediction of breast cancer sensitivity to endocrine therapy such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors has been described earlier by measurement of gene expression levels (U.S. Provisional Patent Application, 61/174,706). We examined the combination of the sensitivity to endocrine therapy (SET) index with prediction of chemosensitivity using the combined predictor genes described in Example 6.
[0131] In this example, the endocrine sensitivity index (as described in U.S. 61/174,706) was applied first to the validation cohort of patients shown in Table 1A. The High and Intermediate classes (8.9%) of endocrine sensitivity showed good relapse-free survival ( FIG. 6 ). Therefore, patients who show high and intermediate values of the endocrine sensitivity index will have a good outcome when chemotherapy is combined with endocrine therapy for these patients. The remaining patients (91.1%) need to be evaluated additionally for benefit of chemotherapy using other methods, such as the predictors described in Examples 2 and 4.
[0132] The relapse-based predictor (Example 2) and response-based predictor (Example 4), combined as described in Example 6, were applied to the patient samples classified with a low endocrine sensitivity index. Patients identified for chemosensitivity by the predictors of Example 2 and 4 together were then combined with patients with high and intermediate endocrine sensitivity index as responders. FIG. 7 shows the predicted good and poor responders identified by these combined predictors. The poor responders (64.1% of patients) show a larger number of events resulting in lower DRFS (˜60% relapse-free after 60 months) whereas the responder patients (35.9% of total) show considerably higher relapse-free survival among the patients (˜95% relapse-free after 60 months). The two curves, poor responders corresponding to lower survival and good responders corresponding to higher survival, are statistically distinct (p<0.001). This shows that the synergistic use of genomic indices such as the SET index along with the predictor genes in Tables 2 and 3 can very effectively identify patients who will have a good outcome or a poor outcome as a result of chemotherapy.
[0133] FIG. 8 shows the performance of the combined predictor separately ER positive and ER negative patients. In ER-positive patients ( FIG. 8A ), the predicted responders have an excellent outcome as ˜98%% relapse-free survival over 5 years and represent about 35% of the patients whereas the poor responders have a relapse-free survival of 65% in comparison. In ER-negative patients ( FIG. 8B ), the identified responders have about an 80% relapse-free survival rate in contrast to poor responders who do much worse at 45% relapse-free survival. In both sets of patients, whether ER-positive or ER-negative, the responder and non-responder curves are distinctly separated with statistical significance (p=0.005 for ER-positive and p=0.004 for ER− negative subsets, respectively).
Example 8
Predictor of Poor Response to Chemotherapy
[0134] Patients and Samples—
[0135] Patient samples used were those shown in Table 1A. All other laboratory analytic methods were the same as in Example 1.
[0136] Methods for Building Predictors of Poor Response to Chemotherapy—
[0137] The inventors used the response endpoint RCB-III, representing extensive residual disease after the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, to identify genes that differentiated patients who failed to respond to chemotherapy versus all others in the discovery cohort (Table 1A). Prior to analysis, probes that either had low specificity (those that include extensions_xfri — in their name) or housekeeping probes (those starting with AFFX) were selected and removed from the candidate probesets. This process removed 2522 probesets. Subsequently, a non-specific filter was applied to retain probesets that has log 2-transformed intensity of at least 5 in at least 75% of the arrays. A total of 16289 probesets (73% of all) were retained for further analysis.
[0138] The samples in the development cohort were subdivided in ER+ and ER− subsets and in lymph node negative (N0) and lymph positive (NP) subsets within each ER group. Means and standard deviations (SDs) of the 16289 genes were computed for each of the 4 subsets of cases. Within each ER cohort, the means and SDs for N0 and NP subsets were averaged to yield nodal-status adjusted statistics. These means and SDs were then used to scale the expression values of all probesets using the corresponding statistics for ER+ or ER− cases.
[0139] Each probeset was evaluated for differential expression in the two responder groups (RCB-III vs rest) using an unequal variance t-statistic based on the trimmed means and trimmed standard deviations in the two groups using a trim fraction of 0.025 (i.e. the lowest 2.5% and highest 2.5% values were eliminated and the statistics were calculated on the remaining 95% of the observations in each group). Degrees of freedom for the unequal variance t-statistic were estimated based on Satterthwaite's approximation (Armitage, Berry & Matthews, 2002). The significance of association of each probe set with response was assessed based on the unequal variance t-statistic. P-values for the significance of each probeset were calculated from the t-distribution with the corresponding degrees of freedom.
[0140] To account for sampling variability in the training dataset, the differential expression analysis for each probeset described in the previous paragraph was performed repeatedly using a bootstrap procedure in which cases were sampled with replacement to generate bootstrapped datasets of the same size as the original dataset. This process was repeated 499 times, thus generating 500 estimates for the p-values of each probeset. The association of each probeset with distant relapse risk was assessed within each bootstrapped dataset at a critical significance level of 0.00075 to account for multiple testing. Those probesets that were called significant in at least 30% of the bootstrap replicates were selected as candidate probesets. This process was applied separately to the ER-positive and ER-negative cases in the training dataset and resulted in 256 and 202 candidate probesets in the ER+ and ER-subsets.
[0141] In developing the RCB-based chemothereapy response predictor, the inventors used an approach that combines feature selection and model discovery using a multivariate penalized approach called Gradient Directed Regularization developed by Prof. J. Friedman at Stanford University, a description of which can be found on the World Wide Web at stat.stanford.edu/˜jhf/ftp/pathlite.pdf. The informative genes are selected through penalization using the maximization of the area under the ROC curve (AUC) as the optimization criterion. Ma and Huang have previously used a similar approach for disease classification (Ma, 2006).
[0142] For predictor discovery and evaluation the inventors followed a cross-validation protocol. First, the input dataset is randomly partitioned into a training set and a test set. A 5-fold cross-validation for a 4:1 split stratified by response group between training and test sets was used (Dudoit, 2002). The training set consisting of ⅘ of the original data is used to develop the predictor. The algorithm starts with the same initial list of candidate genes that were determined through the bootstrap procedure and iteratively refines the predictor by selecting genes that contribute in maximizing the AUC of the candidate predictor. The maximum level of penalization is used to derive the most parsimonious predictors. Since different optimal reporter gene sets might result from the different internal cross-validation folds, the number of times each gene is selected is tracked to provide a measure of its importance or its reliability. The trained predictor is then tested on the ⅕ hold-out part of the training dataset and its performance is evaluated based on the AUC.
[0143] The entire process of randomly splitting the data to a training- and a test-set was repeated 499 times to obtain the distributions and summary statistics of the performance metrics from the cross-validated replicates.
[0144] The final predictors for ER+ and ER− subsets used 73 probesets and 54 probesets respectively to make the predictions. The probesets, genes that they encode for, and their weights (coefficients) are shown in Table 4. The risk score is calculated by multiplying the scaled log 2-transformed expression level of each gene in a given sample by its corresponding weight and then adding up the weighted expression values for all genes in the signature. The following formula describes the score calculation for sample i:
[0000]
y
i
=
{
∑
j
=
1
K
+
w
j
+
z
ij
+
,
if
ER
positive
∑
j
=
1
K
-
w
j
-
z
ij
-
,
if
ER
negative
[0000] where w j is the weight of gene j in the signature, z ij is the log 2-transformed and scaled expression value of gene j in sample i, K is the number of genes in the signature, and the + or − symbols refer to the ER+ and ER− signatures.
[0145] A cut point was selected to dichotomize the risk score and predict two risk classes. The optimal cutoff was selected in order to maximize the accuracy of the prediction. A cutoff of 0 was selected for both the ER+ and ER− scores. Positive scores signify “resistant” or poor-responder and a zero or negative score signifies “non-resistant”.
[0000]
TABLE 4
Genes used for prediction of poor response, RCB-III, in ER-stratified patient
subsets
Probe Set
Symbol
Description
GeneID
Chromosome
Cytoband
Weight
ER-Positive
1
200045_at
ABCF1
ATP-binding cassette,
23
6
6p21.33
−0.1287
sub-family F (GCN20),
member 1
2
218868_at
ACTR3B
ARP3 actin-related
57180
7
7q36.1
−0.073
protein 3 homolog B
(yeast)
3
213532_at
ADAM17
ADAM
6868
2
2p25
−0.3194
metallopeptidase
domain 17
4
217090_at
ADAM3A
ADAM
1587
8
8p11.23
0.3763
metallopeptidase
domain 3A (cyritestin
1)
5
205013_s_at
ADORA2A
adenosine A2a
135
22
22q11.23
0.1786
receptor
6
208042_at
AGGF1
angiogenic factor with
55109
5
5q13.3
0.1425
G patch and FHA
domains 1
7
215789_s_at
AJAP1
adherens junctions
55966
1
1p36.32
−0.111
associated protein 1
8
221825_at
ANGEL2
angel homolog 2
90806
1
1q32.3
0.5463
( Drosophila )
9
202631_s_at
APPBP2
amyloid beta
10513
17
17q21-q23
−0.1027
precursor protein
(cytoplasmic tail)
binding protein 2
10
200011_s_at
ARF3
ADP-ribosylation
377
12
12q13
0.3083
factor 3
11
202492_at
ATG9A
ATG9 autophagy
79065
2
2q35
−0.6807
related 9 homolog A
( S. cerevisiae )
12
212930_at
ATP2B1
ATPase, Ca++
490
12
12q21.3
0.0737
transporting, plasma
membrane 1
13
218789_s_at
C11orf71
chromosome 11 open
54494
11
11q14.2-q14.3
0.2824
reading frame 71
14
219022_at
C12orf43
chromosome 12 open
64897
12
12q
0.3528
reading frame 43
15
214322_at
CAMK2G
calcium/calmodulin-
818
10
10q22
−0.0176
dependent protein
kinase II gamma
16
218384_at
CARHSP1
calcium regulated
23589
16
16p13.2
0.5253
heat stable protein 1,
24 kDa
17
212586_at
CAST
calpastatin
831
5
5q15
−0.0498
18
218592_s_at
CECR5
cat eye syndrome
27440
22
−0.4437
chromosome region,
candidate 5
19
218439_s_at
COMMD10
COMM domain
51397
5
5q23.1
0.1117
containing 10
20
211808_s_at
CREBBP
CREB binding protein
1387
16
16p13.3
0.1494
21
209164_s_at
CYB561
cytochrome b-561
1534
17
17q11-qter
−0.3429
22
203979_at
CYP27A1
cytochrome P450,
1593
2
2q33-qter
−0.3785
family 27, subfamily A,
polypeptide 1
23
216874_at
DKFZp686O1327
hypothetical gene
401014
2
2q22.3
1
supported by
BC043549; BX648102
24
204797_s_at
EML1
echinoderm
2009
14
14q32
0.2037
microtubule
associated protein like 1
25
218692_at
GOLSYN
Golgi-localized protein
55638
8
8q23.2
0.174
26
202453_s_at
GTF2H1
general transcription
2965
11
11p15.1-p14
−0.3144
factor IIH, polypeptide
1, 62 kDa
27
221046_s_at
GTPBP8
GTP-binding protein 8
29083
3
3q13.2
−0.118
(putative)
28
208886_at
H1F0
H1 histone family,
3005
22
22q13.1
0.028
member 0
29
205426_s_at
HIP1
huntingtin interacting
3092
7
7q11.23
0.4815
protein 1
30
202983_at
HLTF
helicase-like
6596
3
3q25.1-q26.1
−0.1866
transcription factor
31
217145_at
IGKC
immunoglobulin kappa
3514
2
2p12
−0.035
constant
32
204863_s_at
IL6ST
interleukin 6 signal
3572
5
5q11
−0.6475
transducer (gp130,
oncostatin M receptor)
33
211817_s_at
KCNJ5
potassium inwardly-
3762
11
11q24
0.3023
rectifying channel,
subfamily J, member 5
34
201776_s_at
KIAA0494
KIAA0494
9813
1
1pter-p22.1
−0.3831
35
209212_s_at
KLF5
Kruppel-like factor 5
688
13
13q22.1
−0.1623
(intestinal)
36
212271_at
MAPK1
mitogen-activated
5594
22
22q11.2
0.1979
protein kinase 1
37
206904_at
MATN1
matrilin 1, cartilage
4146
1
1p35
−0.4397
matrix protein
38
206961_s_at
MED20
mediator complex
9477
6
6p21.1
0.1547
subunit 20
39
213403_at
MFSD9
major facilitator
84804
2
2q12.1
0.3304
superfamily domain
containing 9
40
209733_at
MID2
midline 2
11043
X
Xq22.3
0.1227
41
218205_s_at
MKNK2
MAP kinase
2872
19
19p13.3
0.1801
interacting
serine/threonine
kinase 2
42
209973_at
NFKBIL1
nuclear factor of
4795
6
6p21.3
−0.0068
kappa light
polypeptide gene
enhancer in B-cells
inhibitor-like 1
43
217963_s_at
NGFRAP1
nerve growth factor
27018
X
Xq22.2
0.201
receptor (TNFRSF16)
associated protein 1
44
207400_at
NPY5R
neuropeptide Y
4889
4
4q31-q32
0.0984
receptor Y5
45
202097_at
NUP153
nucleoporin 153 kDa
9972
6
6p22.3
−0.1197
46
220631_at
OSGEPL1
O-sialoglycoprotein
64172
2
2q32.2
0.2148
endopeptidase-like 1
47
205077_s_at
PIGF
phosphatidylinositol
5281
2
2p21-p16
0.5495
glycan anchor
biosynthesis, class F
48
220811_at
PRG3
proteoglycan 3
10394
11
11q12
0.2689
49
208733_at
RAB2A
RAB2A, member RAS
5862
8
8q12.1
0.581
oncogene family
50
206066_s_at
RAD51C
RAD51 homolog C ( S. cerevisiae )
5889
17
17q22-q23
−0.0517
51
206290_s_at
RGS7
regulator of G-protein
6000
1
1q23.1
0.0092
signaling 7
52
214519_s_at
RLN2
relaxin 2
6019
9
9p24.1
0.103
53
206805_at
SEMA3A
sema domain,
10371
7
7p12.1
0.1132
immunoglobulin
domain (Ig), short
basic domain,
secreted,
(semaphorin) 3A
54
208941_s_at
SEPHS1
selenophosphate
22929
10
10p14
−0.6301
synthetase 1
55
213755_s_at
SKI
v-ski sarcoma viral
6497
1
1q22-q24
−0.1078
oncogene homolog
(avian)
56
202667_s_at
SLC39A7
solute carrier family
7922
6
6p21.3
−0.1376
39 (zinc transporter),
member 7
57
216611_s_at
SLC6A2
solute carrier family 6
6530
16
16q12.2
−0.0064
(neurotransmitter
transporter,
noradrenalin),
member 2
58
211805_s_at
SLC8A1
solute carrier family 8
6546
2
2p23-p22
−0.248
(sodium/calcium
exchanger), member 1
59
205596_s_at
SMURF2
SMAD specific E3
64750
17
17q22-q23
−0.1446
ubiquitin protein ligase 2
60
203054_s_at
TCTA
T-cell leukemia
6988
3
3p21
0.2818
translocation altered
gene
61
218099_at
TEX2
testis expressed 2
55852
17
17q23.3
−0.0149
62
217121_at
TNKS
tankyrase, TRF1-
8658
8
8p23.1
−0.5943
interacting ankyrin-
related ADP-ribose
polymerase
63
220415_at
TNNI3K
TNNI3 interacting
51086
1
1p31.1
0.3122
kinase
64
209593_s_at
TOR1B
torsin family 1,
27348
9
9q34
−0.0834
member B (torsin B)
65
215796_at
TRD@
T cell receptor delta
6964
14
14q11.2
0.4491
locus
66
210541_s_at
TRIM27
tripartite motif-
5987
6
6p22
−0.0174
containing 27
67
213563_s_at
TUBGCP2
tubulin, gamma
10844
10
10q26.3
−0.169
complex associated
protein 2
68
221839_s_at
UBAP2
ubiquitin associated
55833
9
9p13.3
−0.0133
protein 2
69
213822_s_at
UBE3B
ubiquitin protein ligase
89910
12
12q24.11
−0.4683
E3B
70
221746_at
UBL4A
ubiquitin-like 4A
8266
X
Xq28
−0.0227
71
219740_at
VASH2
vasohibin 2
79805
1
1q32.3
−0.1995
72
205877_s_at
ZC3H7B
zinc finger CCCH-type
23264
22
22q13.2
−0.9818
containing 7B
73
218413_s_at
ZNF639
zinc finger protein 639
51193
3
3q26.33
−0.1572
ER-Negative
1
214919_s_at
ANKHD1-
ANKHD1-
404734
5
5q31.3
0.1134
EIF4EBP3
EIF4EBP3
readthrough
2
202955_s_at
ARFGEF1
ADP-ribosylation
10565
8
8q13
0.0616
factor guanine
nucleotide
exchange factor
1(brefeldin A-
inhibited)
3
203576_at
BCAT2
branched chain
587
19
19q13
−0.1544
aminotransferase
2, mitochondrial
4
202047_s_at
CBX6
chromobox
23466
22
22q13.1
0.0673
homolog 6
5
220674_at
CD22
CD22 molecule
933
19
19q13.1
0.1582
6
208022_s_at
CDC14B
CDC14 cell
8555
9
9q22.32-q22.33
−0.4312
division cycle 14
homolog B ( S. cerevisiae )
7
204250_s_at
CEP164
centrosomal
22897
11
11q23.3
0.1607
protein 164 kDa
8
218597_s_at
CISD1
CDGSH iron sulfur
55847
10
10q21.1
0.6177
domain 1
9
206073_at
COLQ
collagen-like tail
8292
3
3p25
−0.033
subunit (single
strand of
homotrimer) of
asymmetric
acetylcholinesterase
10
208303_s_at
CRLF2
cytokine receptor
64109
X, Y
Xp22.3
−0.0413
like factor 2
11
217047_s_at
FAM13A
family with
10144
4
4q22.1
−0.1603
sequence
similarity 13,
member A
12
212484_at
FAM89B
family with
23625
11
11q23
−0.0232
sequence
similarity 89,
member B
13
204437_s_at
FOLR1
folate receptor 1
2348
11
11q13.3-q14.1
−1
(adult)
14
203314_at
GTPBP6
GTP binding
8225
X, Y
Xp22.33
0.0926
protein 6 (putative)
15
210964_s_at
GYG2
glycogenin 2
8908
X
Xp22.3
−0.364
16
212431_at
HMGXB3
HMG box domain
22993
5
5q32
0.0875
containing 3
17
211616_s_at
HTR2A
5-
3356
13
13q14-q21
0.1049
hydroxytryptamine
(serotonin)
receptor 2A
18
204990_s_at
ITGB4
integrin, beta 4
3691
17
17q25
−0.2769
19
207012_at
MMP16
matrix
4325
8
8q21.3
0.1034
metallopeptidase
16 (membrane-
inserted)
20
212251_at
MTDH
Metadherin
92140
8
8q22.1
0.7935
21
202039_at
MYO18A
myosin XVIIIA
399687
17
17q11.2
0.1596
22
222018_at
NACA
nascent
4666
12
12q23-q24.1
0.1843
polypeptide-
associated
complex alpha
subunit
23
209519_at
NCBP1
nuclear cap
4686
9
9q34.1
−0.4186
binding protein
subunit 1, 80 kDa
24
213032_at
NFIB
nuclear factor I/B
4781
9
9p24.1
0.1829
25
215818_at
NUDT7
nudix (nucleoside
283927
16
16q23.1
−0.1766
diphosphate linked
moiety X)-type
motif 7
26
218271_s_at
PARL
presenilin
55486
3
3q27.1
−0.0708
associated,
rhomboid-like
27
204049_s_at
PHACTR2
phosphatase and
9749
6
6q24.2
0.1352
actin regulator 2
28
217806_s_at
POLDIP2
polymerase (DNA-
26073
17
17q11.2
0.3128
directed), delta
interacting protein 2
29
206653_at
POLR3G
polymerase (RNA)
10622
5
5q14.3
−0.3632
III (DNA directed)
polypeptide G
(32 kD)
30
210831_s_at
PTGER3
prostaglandin E
5733
1
1p31.2
−0.0066
receptor 3
(subtype EP3)
31
213933_at
PTGER3
prostaglandin E
5733
1
1p31.2
0.0187
receptor 3
(subtype EP3)
32
208393_s_at
RAD50
RAD50 homolog
10111
5
5q31
−0.1057
( S. cerevisiae )
33
221705_s_at
SIKE1
suppressor of
80143
1
1p13.2
−0.2882
IKBKE 1
34
211112_at
SLC12A4
solute carrier
6560
16
16q22.1
−0.1596
family 12
(potassium/chloride
transporters),
member 4
35
215294_s_at
SMARCA1
SWI/SNF related,
6594
X
Xq25
0.056
matrix associated,
actin dependent
regulator of
chromatin,
subfamily a,
member 1
36
215458_s_at
SMURF1
SMAD specific E3
57154
7
7q22.1
−0.1767
ubiquitin protein
ligase 1
37
215860_at
SYT12
synaptotagmin XII
91683
11
11q13.2
−0.023
38
222173_s_at
TBC1D2
TBC1 domain
55357
9
9q22.33
−0.124
family, member 2
39
204147_s_at
TFDP1
transcription factor
7027
13
13q34
0.1725
Dp-1
40
206260_at
TGM4
transglutaminase
7047
3
3p22-p21.33
0.2701
4 (prostate)
41
212963_at
TM2D1
TM2 domain
83941
1
1p31.3
0.1779
containing 1
42
213882_at
TM2D1
TM2 domain
83941
1
1p31.3
0.1487
containing 1
43
219182_at
TMEM231
transmembrane
79583
16
16q23.1
−0.2436
protein 231
44
209344_at
TPM4
tropomyosin 4
7171
19
19p13.1
0.3404
45
217056_at
TRD@
T cell receptor
6964
14
14q11.2
0.0697
delta locus
46
217065_at
TRD@
T cell receptor
6964
14
14q11.2
0.0128
delta locus
47
203701_s_at
TRMT1
TRM1 tRNA
55621
19
19p13.2
0.187
methyltransferase
1 homolog ( S. cerevisiae )
48
201797_s_at
VARS
valyl-tRNA
7407
6
6p21.3
−0.5888
synthetase
49
208453_s_at
XPNPEP1
X-prolyl
7511
10
10q25.3
0.5107
aminopeptidase
(aminopeptidase
P) 1, soluble
50
213081_at
ZBTB22
zinc finger and
9278
6
6p21.3
0.3968
BTB domain
containing 22
51
206448_at
ZNF365
zinc finger protein
22891
10
10q21.2
0.3809
365
52
212867_at
—
—
—
8
8q13.3
0.4115
53
213879_at
—
—
—
17
17q25.1
−0.4574
54
222174_at
—
—
—
14
—
0.017
Example 9
Prediction of Chemotherapy Outcomes Combining Poor Response as Endpoint
[0146] Survival outcomes of patients predicted as responders and non-responders were assessed by using the predictor of RCB-III described in Example 8 used as a combined algorithm with predictors of Examples 2 and 4 and the sensitivity to endocrine therapy (SET) index of Example 7. Survival is defined by distant relapse-free survival (DRFS) over a period of about 80 months. These patients have undergone surgery where it was considered appropriate and the ER-positive patients received hormonal therapy (tamoxifen) for 5 years after the surgery. ER-negative patients did not receive any treatment post-surgery. We combined the individual predictions into a testing algorithm ( FIG. 9 ) for predicted sensitivity to adjuvant treatment of HER2-negative breast cancer with taxane-anthracycline chemotherapy: 1) sensitivity to endocrine therapy (SET) assessed based on the published 165-gene index of the most ER-correlated genes (high or intermediate SET index) that independently predicts survival following adjuvant endocrine or chemoendocrine therapy 13 ; 2) resistance to chemotherapy predicted either by early distant relapse events or by extensive residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy; and 3) sensitivity (pathologic response) to chemotherapy.
[0147] The predictive test (algorithm) was applied to the discovery cohort of 310 samples ( FIG. 10A ) and then evaluated in the independent validation cohort of 198 patients (99% clinical Stage II-III) who received sequential taxane-anthracycline chemotherapy then endocrine therapy (if ER+). The validation cohort had a pathologic response rate of pCR 25% and of pCR or RCB-I 30%, median follow up of 3 years, and an average 3-year baseline DRFS of 79% (95% CI 74 to 85). The 3-year DRFS (NPV) was 92% (95% CI 85 to 100), and there was significant absolute risk reduction (ARR) of 18% (95% CI 6 to 28), in 28% of patients who were predicted to be treatment-sensitive. The 3-year point estimate of DRFS for those predicted to be treatment-insensitive was 75% (95% CI 67 to 82). Overall, we observed a significant association between predicted sensitivity to treatment and DRFS (p=0.002; FIG. 10B ). In 91 tumors with low SET and evaluated for RCB, excellent response from chemotherapy (pCR or RCB-I) was observed in 56% (95% CI 31 to 78) of those predicted to be treatment-sensitive.
[0148] Of note, 3-year DRFS in patients predicted to be treatment-sensitive at the time of diagnosis was similar to the 3-year DRFS of 93% (95% CI 85 to 100) in the 21% of patients in the validation cohort who achieved pathologic complete response (pCR) after completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Also, 3-year DRFS for predicted treatment-insensitive was identical to the 3-year DRFS of 75% (95% CI 68 to 83) in those who had residual disease (RD) ( FIG. 10C ). Furthermore, DRFS estimates for the predicted treatment-sensitive and the actual pCR groups were unchanged at 5 years, and were identical at 65% (95% CI 56 to 75) for the predicted treatment-insensitive and for the actual RD groups.
[0149] Treatment Sensitivity According to ER Status:
[0150] There were 30% and 26% of patients with predicted sensitivity to treatment in the ER+/HER2− and ER−/HER2− subsets, respectively, and both had significantly favorable prognosis ( FIG. 11A-B ). The treatment sensitive patients identified by test in the ER+/HER2− subset had excellent DRFS (NPV) of 97% (95% CI 91 to 100) and a significant ARR of 11% (95% CI 0.1 to 21) at 3 years of follow up. In the low SET subset of ER+/HER2−, PPV for pathologic response was 42% (95% CI 15 to 72) in 20% who were predicted treatment-sensitive. For ER−/HER2− patients, the PPV for 3-year relapse was 43% (95% CI 28 to 55) if predicted treatment-insensitive. Patients predicted to be treatment-sensitive had considerably improved 3-year DRFS (NPV 83% (95% CI 68 to 100)) and significant ARR of 26% (95% CI 4 to 48) overall, and PPV for pathologic response of 83% (95% CI 36-100).
[0151] Performance of the Predictive Test in Other Relevant Subsets
[0152] The association between predicted treatment sensitivity and DRFS appears to be unrelated to the type of taxane therapy administered ( FIG. 11C-D ). The 3-year DRFS was 90% (95% CI 80 to 100) in the subset who received 12 cycles of weekly paclitaxel, and 96% (95% CI 88 to 100) for 4 cycles of 3-weekly docetaxel with capecitabine. Also, the 3-year DRFS was 93% (95% CI 84 to 100) in 128 clinically node-positive patients, with significantly improved DRFS compared to those predicted to be insensitive (p=0.003). The 3-year DRFS was 91% (95% CI 81 to 100) in 70 clinically node-negative patients, but was not significantly different from predicted insensitivity.
[0153] Comparison of the Predictive Test with Clinical-Pathologic Parameters
[0154] Genomic predictions were independently and significantly associated with risk of distant relapse or death (sensitive versus insensitive; HR 0.19; 95% CI 0.07 to 0.55; p=0.002), after adjusting for standard clinical-pathologic parameters (Table 5). Addition of the genomic prediction to a multivariate Cox model of the clinical-pathologic factors significantly increased the model's predictive utility (likelihood ratio of complete model versus clinical model 13.8, p<0.001). In this model, higher clinical tumor stage (tumor stage T3 or T4 versus T1 or T2; HR 2.13; 95% CI 1.13 to 4.02; p=0.02) and ER-negative status (ER status positive versus negative; HR 0.34; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.65; p=0.001) were associated with statistically significant greater risk of distant relapse or death.
[0000]
TABLE 5
MULTIVARIATE Cox Regression Analysis
of Association with DRFS
Validation Cohort
(N = 183)*
P
Factor
Hazard Ratio (95% CI)
value
Age (>50 vs ≦50)
0.53 (0.27 to 1.04)
0.063
Clinical Nodal Status (pos vs neg)
1.76 (0.84 to 3.67)
0.134
Clinical Tumor Stage (T3 or T4 vs T1
2.13 (1.13 to 4.02)
0.020
or T2)
Histologic Grade (3 vs 1 or 2)
0.64 (0.32 to 1.29)
0.208
ER Status (IHC positive vs negative)
0.34 (0.18 to 0.65)
0.001
Taxane (docetaxel vs paclitaxel)
0.92 (0.49 to 1.73)
0.795
Prediction (Rx Sensitive vs Insensitive)
0.19 (0.07 to 0.56)
0.002
*Fifteen cases were excluded from the multivariate analysis due to incomplete data. Likelihood ratio test for the addition of Genomic Prediction to the model was 13.8 on one degree of freedom, p = 0.0002.
The Hazard Ratio is a measure of the risk of distant relapse or death; vs, versus; ER, estrogen receptor.
Example 10
Comparison with Other Predictive Genomic Signatures
[0155] The entire predictive test algorithm described in FIG. 9 had PPV of 56% (95% CI 31 to 78) for pathologic response prediction in the validation cohort (Table 6) after excluding patients with predicted endocrine sensitivity (high or intermediate SET). We also evaluated other phenotypic predictors that have published association with higher probability of pCR to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, have a pre-defined threshold for prediction of pCR that was based on Affymetrix microarray data, and that we have confirmed to be correctly calculated in our hands: the 96-gene genomic grade index (GGI) to define high versus low grade (high GGI predicted pCR) (Liedtke et al., 2009), a 52-gene signature (PAM50) to assign intrinsic subtype (basal-like, HER2 and luminal B subtypes predicted pCR) (Parker et al., 2009), and a 30-gene signature (DLDA30) developed to predict pCR versus residual disease (Hess, Anderson et al., 2006). These tests were significantly predictive of pathologic response in the discovery cohort (lower 95% confidence limit of the PPV greater than the baseline pCR rate of 19% and pCR or RCB-I rate of 29%), and the tests had NPV of 84% or greater (Table 6). Performance in the validation cohort was similar, but not all tests had PPV and NPV that was significantly greater than the baseline response rates (pCR rate of 25% and pCR or RCB-I rate of 30%). The entire prediction algorithm ( FIG. 9 ), demonstrated significantly better DRFS for patients who were predicted to be treatment-sensitive (Table 6). The other tests (GGI, PAM50, DLDA30) demonstrated worse DRFS for patients who were predicted to have chemosensitive breast cancer ( FIG. 12 ), as indicated by their negative ARR (Table 6).
[0156] The performance of the different genomic signatures for predicting 3-year DRFS was compared on the basis of the diagnostic likelihood ratio (DLR), which is clinically useful statistic for summarizing the diagnostic accuracy of tests (Deeks and Altman, 2004). The DLR+ summarizes how many times a positive test (predicted distant relapse or treatment insensitive) is more likely among patients who experience distant metastasis within 3 years, compared to those who do not. The DLR− is a similar metric for a negative test (predicted absence of relapse or treatment sensitive), which is more relevant in the context of this test. A clinically useful test associated with the presence of relapse should have DLR+>1, whereas a test associated with the absence of relapse should have DLR−<1. Another useful property of the DLR is that it allows calculation of the post-test odds of relapse, simply by multiplying the pre-test odds of relapse by the DLR. The odds ratio (OD), defined as DLR+/DLR−, is also related to the coefficient of a logistic regression model of the binary genomic test for predicting the binary relapse outcome. The values summarized in Table 7 were calculated from the K-M estimates of DRFS for the two predicted groups from each genomic predictor, for the overall validation cohort and for the ER-positive and ER-negative subsets.
[0157] The predictive test of Example 9 (last entry in Table 7) is the only test with a significant DLR− (0.33, 0.27, 0.35 in the overall validation cohort and ER+, ER− subsets), indicating a 3-fold reduction in the odds of distant relapse in the presence of a negative test result (predicted treatment sensitive). The DLR+ of the genomic predictor was >1 in all 3 cohorts, but was not significant. The ER-stratified predictor of pCR/RCB-I showed consistent but not significant metrics. The first three genomic predictors showed paradoxical statistics (DLR+<1 and DLR−>1), i.e. a positive test result (predicted relapse) was associated with lower odds of relapse and vice versa.
[0000]
TABLE 6
Performance of Genomic Signatures for Predicting Pathologic Response and 3-year
DRFS
Prediction of Distant Relapse or Death
Within 3 Years
Prediction of Pathologic Response
Discovery Cohort
Validation Cohort
Discovery Cohort
Validation Cohort
(N = 310)
(N = 198)
N
%
N
%
% NPV
% NPV
Predictor
(% Resp)
% PPV
NPV
(% Resp)
% PPV
NPV
(DRFS)
% PPV
% ARR
(DRFS)
% PPV
% ARR
Genomic
301
36
88
101
40
84
72
14
−14
72
7
−21
Grade
(29)
(30 to
(79 to
(30)
(28 to
(70 to
(65 to
(6 to
(−25 to
(64 to
(1 to
(−30 to
Index
43)
93)
54)
93)
79)
22)
−3)
80)
13)
−10)
(High)
Genomic
301
40
85
101
40
78
66
13
−20
72
12
−16
Subtype
(29)
(32 to
(78 to
(30)
(25 to
(65 to
(58 to
(7 to
(−31 to
(62 to
(6 to
(−27 to
Classifier
48)
90)
56)
87)
76)
19)
−10)
81)
20)
−5)
(Luminal B
or Basal-
like)
Genomic
301
46
83
101
40
75
62
15
−24
62
10
−28
Predictor
(29)
(37 to
(77 to
(30)
(24 to
(63 to
(52 to
(9 to
(−36 to
(50 to
(4 to
(−41 to
of pCR
55)
88)
58)
85)
73)
20)
−12)
73)
16)
−−16)
ER-
301
69
100
101
42
81
85
30
15
82
24
5
stratified
(29)
(60 to
(98 to
(30)
(28 to
(68 to
(78 to
(22 to
(4 to
(74 to
(14 to
(−7 to
Genomic
77)
100)
57)
91)
93)
37)
25)
90)
32)
16)
Predictor
of
pCR/RCB-I §
Predictive
256
78
84
91
56
73
95
36
31
92
25
18
Test (Rx
(31)
(66 to
78 to
(33)
(31 to
(61 to
(91 to
(27 to
(22 to
(85 to
(18 to
(6 to
Sensitive) §¶#
88)
89)
78)
82)
100)
44)
41)
100)
33)
28)
N, number or patients evaluated;
%, percent;
Resp, pathologic response rate;
PPV, positive predictive value;
NPV, negative predictive value;
DRFS, distant relapse-free survival estimate at 3 years;
ARR, absolute risk reduction for event within 3 years if predicted to be treatment-sensitive (−, any negative risk reduction was in favor of predicted treatment-insensitive). The 95% confidence intervals (parentheses) for PPV and NPV for prediction of pathologic response were based on binomial approximation.
§ Performance of the pCR predictor on the discovery cohort is optimistically biased because the predictor was trained on a subset of these samples. Performance of the pCR/RCB-I predictor and of the overall genomic prediction test on the discovery cohort represents resubstitution performance, since the predictors were trained on the same cohort.
¶ Genomic prediction of pathologic response was evaluated in the SET-Low subset in both cohorts.
# Performance of the predictive test is optimistically biased in the discovery cohort because a component of the test was trained on DRFS events to define resistance.
[0000]
TABLE 7
Comparison of Genomic Signatures Performance for Predicting 3-year DRFS
ER-positive Subset
ER-negative Subset
(N = 123)
(N = 74)
Validation Cohort (N = 198)
DLR+
DLR−
OR
DLR+
DLR−
OR
DLR+
DLR−
OR
(95%
(95%
(95%
(95%
(95%
(95%
Predictor
(95% CI)
(95% CI)
(95% CI)
CI)
CI)
CI)
CI)
CI)
CI)
Genomic
.30
1.50
.2
.62
1.41
.44
.17
1.20
.14
Grade
(.06 to
(.97 to
(.04 to
(.13 to
(.45 to
(.06 to
(.0 to
(.73 to
(.0 to
Index
0.63)
2.20)
.47)
1.33)
2.88)
1.71)
.77)
2.01)
.70)
(High)
Genomic
.55
1.53
.36
.81
1.32
.62
.60
1.21
.50
Subtype
(.24 to
(.97 to
(.14 to
(.23 to
(.36 to
(.15 to
(.15 to
(.69 to
(.12 to
Classifier
.96
2.33)
.74)
1.60)
2.64)
2.80)
1.56)
2.14)
1.50)
(Luminal B
or Basal-
like)
Genomic
.43
2.39
.18
.86
1.98
.43
.28
1.31
.21
Predictor of
(.18 to
(1.41 to
(.07 to
(.33 to
(.01 to
(.10 to
(.0 to
(.77 to
(.0 to
pCR
.73)
3.96)
.37)
1.50)
6.37)
88.1)
.92)
2.25)
.77)
ER-
1.18
.85
1.39
1.07
.93
1.15
1.70
.68
2.50
stratified
(.65 to
(.46 to
(.66 to
(.35 to
(.16 to
(.31 to
(.79 to
(.32 to
(.88 to
Genomic
1.83)
1.36)
2.93)
2.11)
2.03)
6.61)
3.65)
1.27)
7.03)
Predictor of
pCR/RCB-I
Predictive
1.32
.33
4.01
1.33
.27
4.88
1.33
.35
3.78
Test (Rx
(.84 to
(.07 to
(1.55 to
(.56 to
(.01 to
(1.05 to
(.76 to
(.01 to
(1.16 to
Sensitive)
1.93)
.78)
21.6)
2.34)
0.98)
206)
2.30)
.99)
138)
DLR: Diagnostic likelihood ratio;
DLR+: DLR given a positive test result (predicted treatment insensitive);
DLR−: DLR given a negative test result (predicted treatment sensitive);
OR: odd ratio of a positive test result over a negative test result (DLR+/DLR−);
CI: confidence interval. Confidence intervals were calculated through bootstrap with 999 iterations
Example 11
Analysis of Patient Samples Using Predictor for Assessing Outcome of Therapy
[0158] FIG. 13 shows a schematic of how a patient sample may be collected at the time of biopsy or at the time of surgery, and analyzed in a laboratory to produce a result from the predictor to be used to assess likely outcome of chemotherapy. A tumor sample, collected as a needle biopsy or a fresh tumor sample from the excised tumor after surgery is added to a pre-supplied tube containing RNA preservative solution. The tube is shipped overnight to a qualified laboratory for analysis of gene expression.
[0159] RNA is extracted in a manner described in Example 1. A gene chip such as Affymetrix U133A (Affymetrix, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.) is used to analyze the expression levels of genes of Tables 2, 3 and 4. The resulting expression values are then normalized as described in Examples 2, 4, and 8, and weighted according to their respective coefficients to calculate the predictor score. Using cut-off values for the predictor score, a patient's tumor can be classified as either a High Score (good outcome from therapy) or a Low Score (poor outcome of therapy). The analyses could be completed within 5-7 days from receipt of a tumor sample to provide a report on results to the requesting physician. Decisions may be made by physicians regarding the inclusion of a certain therapy if the likely outcome is good or alternatively, to consider additional aggressive therapy regimens for the patient in the likely event of a poor outcome.
REFERENCES
[0160] The following references, to the extent that they provide exemplary procedural or other details supplementary to those set forth herein, are specifically incorporated herein by reference.
Armitage, P., G. Berry & J. N. S. Matthews (2002). Statistical Methods In Medical Research, Fourth Edition. Blackwell Science. Ayers, M., W. F. Symmans, et al. (2004). “Gene expression profiles predict complete pathologic response to neoadjuvant paclitaxel and fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy in breast cancer.” J Clin Oncol 22(12): 2284-93. Bear, H. D., S. Anderson, et al. (2006). “Sequential preoperative or postoperative docetaxel added to preoperative doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide for operable breast cancer: National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Protocol B-27.” J Clin Oncol 24(13): 2019-27. Bild, A. H., G. Yao, et al. (2006). “Oncogenic pathway signatures in human cancers as a guide to targeted therapies.” Nature 439(7074): 353-7. Carey, L. A., R. Metzger, et al. (2005). “American Joint Committee on Cancer tumor-node-metastasis stage after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and breast cancer outcome.” J Natl Cancer Inst 97(15): 1137-42. Carlson, R. W., B. O. Anderson, et al. (2000). “NCCN practice guidelines for breast cancer.” Oncology (Williston Park) 14(11A): 33-49. Chang, J. C., E. C. Wooten, et al. (2003). Gene expression profiling for the prediction of therapeutic response to docetaxel in patients with breast cancer. Lancet 362(9381): 362-9. Deeks J J, Altman D G. Diagnostic tests 4: likelihood ratios. BMJ . Jul. 17, 2004; 329(7458):168-169 Dudoit, S., J. Fridlyand, et al. (2002). “Comparison of discrimination methods for the classification of tumors using gene expression data.” J Am Stat Assoc 97: 77-87. Fisher, B., J. Bryant, et al. (1998). “Effect of preoperative chemotherapy on the outcome of women with operable breast cancer.” J Clin Oncol 16(8): 2672-85. Goldhirsch, A., W. C. Wood, et al. (2003). “Meeting highlights: updated international expert consensus on the primary therapy of early breast cancer.” J Clin Oncol 21(17): 3357-65. Hennessy, B. T., G. N. Hortobagyi, et al. (2005). “Outcome after pathologic complete eradication of cytologically proven breast cancer axillary node metastases following primary chemotherapy.” J Clin Oncol 23(36): 9304-11. Hennessy, B. T. and L. Pusztai (2005). “Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer.” Minerva Ginecol 57(3): 305-26. Hess, K. R., K. Anderson, et al. (2006). “Pharmacogenomic predictor of sensitivity to preoperative chemotherapy with paclitaxel and fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide in breast cancer.” J Clin Oncol 24(26): 4236-44. Jackson J E, Mudholkar, G S. (1979). “Control procedures for residuals associated with principal component analysis.” Tehcnometrics 21:341-349. Kaufmann, M., G. N. Hortobagyi, et al. (2006). “Recommendations from an international expert panel on the use of neoadjuvant (primary) systemic treatment of operable breast cancer: an update.” J Clin Oncol 24(12): 1940-9. Kuerer, H. M., L. A. Newman, et al. (1999). “Clinical course of breast cancer patients with complete pathologic primary tumor and axillary lymph node response to doxorubicin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy.” J Clin Oncol 17(2): 460-9. Kuroi, K., M. Toi, et al. (2005). “Unargued issues on the pathological assessment of response in primary systemic therapy for breast cancer.” Biomed Pharmacother 59 Suppl 2: S387-92. Kurosumi, M. (2004). “Significance of histopathological evaluation in primary therapy for breast cancer—recent trends in primary modality with pathological complete response (pCR) as endpoint.” Breast Cancer 11(2): 139-47. Lai, C., M. J. Reinders, et al. (2006). “A comparison of univariate and multivariate gene selection techniques for classification of cancer datasets.” BMC Bioinformatics 7(1): 235. Liedtke C, Hatzis C, Symmans W F, et al. Genomic grade index is associated with response to chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. J Clin Oncol . Jul. 1, 2009; 27(19):3185-3191. Ma, S., X. Song, et al. (2006). “Regularized binormal ROC method in disease classification using microarray data.” BMC Bioinformatics 7: 253. Parker J S, Mullins M, Cheang M C, et al. Supervised risk predictor of breast cancer based on intrinsic subtypes. J Clin Oncol . Mar. 10, 2009; 27(8):1160-1167. Perou, C. M., T. Sorlie, et al. (2000). “Molecular portraits of human breast tumours.” Nature 406(6797): 747-52. Pusztai, L., M. Ayers, et al. (2003). “Gene expression profiles obtained from fine-needle aspirations of breast cancer reliably identify routine prognostic markers and reveal large-scale molecular differences between estrogen-negative and estrogen-positive tumors.” Clin Cancer Res 9(7): 2406-15. Pusztai, L., M. Ayers, et al. (2003). “Clinical application of cDNA microarrays in oncology.” Oncologist 8(3): 252-8. Pusztai, L., C. Sotiriou, et al. (2003). “Molecular profiles of invasive mucinous and ductal carcinomas of the breast: a molecular case study.” Cancer Genet Cytogenet 141(2): 148-53. Rajan, R., A. Poniecka, et al. (2004). “Change in tumor cellularity of breast carcinoma after neoadjuvant chemotherapy as a variable in the pathologic assessment of response.” Cancer 100(7): 1365-73. Ross, J. S., J. A. Fletcher, et al. (2003). “HER-2/neu testing in breast cancer.” Am J Clin Pathol 120 Suppl: S53-71. Ross, J. S., J. A. Fletcher, et al. (2003). “The Her-2/neu gene and protein in breast cancer 2003: biomarker and target of therapy.” Oncologist 8(4): 307-25. Ross, J. S., G. P. Linette, et al. (2003). “Breast cancer biomarkers and molecular medicine.” Expert Rev Mol Diagn 3(5): 573-85. Rouzier, R., C. M. Perou, et al. (2005). “Breast cancer molecular subtypes respond differently to preoperative chemotherapy.” Clin Cancer Res 11(16): 5678-85. Rouzier, R., L. Pusztai, et al. (2005). “Nomograms to predict pathologic complete response and metastasis-free survival after preoperative chemotherapy for breast cancer.” J Clin Oncol 23(33): 8331-9. Rouzier, R., R. Rajan, et al. (2005). “Microtubule-associated protein tau: a marker of paclitaxel sensitivity in breast cancer.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102(23): 8315-20. Rouzier, R., P. Wagner, et al. (2005). “Gene expression profiling of primary breast cancer.” Curr Oncol Rep 7(1): 38-44. Stec, J., J. Wang, et al. (2005). “Comparison of the predictive accuracy of DNA array-based multigene classifiers across cDNA arrays and Affymetrix GeneChips.” J Mol Diagn 7(3): 357-67. Symmans, W. F., M. Ayers, et al. (2003). “Total RNA yield and microarray gene expression profiles from fine-needle aspiration biopsy and core-needle biopsy samples of breast carcinoma.” Cancer 97(12): 2960-71. Symmans, W. F., F. Peintinger, et al. (2007). “Measurement of Residual Breast Cancer Burden to Predict Survival After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.” J Clin Oncol. Tibshirani R. J. (2009) Univaraite shrinkage in the Cox model for high dimensional data. Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology 8(1): article 21. van 't Veer, L. J., H. Dai, et al. (2002). “Gene expression profiling predicts clinical outcome of breast cancer.” Nature 415(6871): 530-6. van de Vijver, M. J., Y. D. He, et al. (2002). “A gene-expression signature as a predictor of survival in breast cancer.” N Engl J Med 347(25): 1999-2009. Wang, Y., J. G. Klijn, et al. (2005). “Gene-expression profiles to predict distant metastasis of lymph-node-negative primary breast cancer.” Lancet 365(9460): 671-9.
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A method of evaluating a cancer patient comprising evaluating gene expression levels in a patient sample, calculating a predictor score using the gene expression levels, and assessing the likelihood of a therapeutic outcome using the predictor score is disclosed.
| 2
|
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention is directed to the field of blood gas monitoring, specifically the non-invasive monitoring of arterial blood gas concentration.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Percutaneous oxygenators have been described in the prior art for more than twenty years. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,689 to Hattler, a percutaneous oxygenator comprises a number of hollow, gas-permeable fibers. This device is inserted through a single small incision into a patient's venous system. When an oxygen supply is attached to the device, oxygen flows through the hollow fibers and diffuses through the wall of the fibers into the patient's blood. Conversely, carbon dioxide from the blood diffuses back across the fiber wall, up the fibers and out of the system to the atmosphere. While improvements to this design have been made, to date, no percutaneous oxygenator is able to fully provide the necessary oxygenation required. At best performance, prior art oxygenators may supply 50%-70% of required metabolic oxygen. Therefore, it has been proposed that percutaneous oxygenators may be used to augment natural patient respiration or mechanical ventilation support already provided to the patient through the patient's airway. The augmentation of the natural patient respiration may allow a patient to avoid mechanical ventilation. For a patient who is already receiving mechanical ventilation support, the introduction of percutaneous oxygenator support would reduce the demand for aggressive ventilatory treatment. This is desirable due to the fact that aggressive ventilatory treatment may cause lung injury or increase the cardiac stresses on the patient.
[0003] Percutaneous oxygenator technology is not limited in scope to merely the delivery of supplemental oxygen. The same catheterization technique of the patient with gas-permeable membrane fibers can be used to deliver a variety of medical gases intravenously into the patient's blood stream. This technique may be used to deliver anesthetic agent, or other medical gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrogen (N), nitrous oxide (NO), or helium (He).
[0004] Typically, when a patient is receiving ventilatory support, the effectiveness of this support is monitored using a spirometer and respiratory gas monitor such as the Datex-Ohmeda S5 Gas Analyzer. The data collected from the spirometer and gas monitor is used to monitor the composition, flow rates, and exchange rates of the gases inspired and expired by the patient. However, patients receiving mechanical ventilatory support often have compromised gas exchange in their lungs. A patient receiving supplemental percutaneous oxygenator support often results in the erroneous prediction or estimation of the patient's blood gas concentration due to mismatched blood-gas exchange and compromised gas diffusion across the alveoli. Solutions to this problem have been invasive and time-consuming. Typically, blood samples must be drawn intermittently and individually analyzed to assess the patient's actual blood gas concentration and evaluate the adequacy of the combined treatment. While systems have been developed to automatically sample and analyze the patient's blood gas concentration, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,580 to Polanyi, these systems require the invasive arterial insertion of a costly multi-parameter, multi-sensor transducer.
[0005] Despite improvements, all of the aforementioned systems are limited in their ability to continuously monitor a patient's blood gas concentration. All of these systems and methods require the taking of an actual blood sample. This inherently reduces the sampling rate of the patient's blood and additional time is required to compute the blood gas concentration. These delays produce a lag time that can inaccurately display the patient's blood gas concentration.
[0006] It is therefore desirable for a system by which the blood gas concentration of a patient receiving both mechanical ventilation and percutaneous oxygenator support may be determined without the introduction of an invasive intravascular transducer. It is also desirable for a system by which components already used in conjunction with or associated with the mechanical ventilation and/or percutaneous oxygenation of a patient are used to determine patient blood gas concentration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] An embodiment of the present invention is a system that comprises exchange catheter gas composition data, such as the composition and flow rates in and out of a percutaneous oxygenator to determine patient venous blood gas concentration resulting in continuous computation of patient arterial blood gas concentration.
[0008] In a further embodiment of the present invention, the exchange catheter gas composition data combines with pre-existing gas analysis data from the mechanical ventilation system comprising gas analyzer and spirometry data to continuously compute cardiac output trending, blood gas exchange analysis, and arterial gas concentrations.
[0009] It is a further aspect of the present invention that the present invention provides a continuous and noninvasive solution to the computation of arterial blood gas concentration.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The drawings illustrate the best mode presently contemplated of carrying out the invention. In the drawings:
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the patient analysis system of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0012] FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a patient receiving both mechanical ventilation as well as percutaneous oxygenator support. The patient 10 receives mechanical ventilation support from a ventilator 12 via a patient interface 14 such as a face mask or endotracheal tube. The patient's mechanical ventilation support is augmented by a percutaneous oxygenator 16 which introduces an additional supply of oxygen to the patient venous blood via a gas exchange catheter 18 which is inserted into the patient's superior or inferior vena cava.
[0013] In a typical clinical setting where a patient is undergoing mechanical ventilation support the ventilator 12 is used in conjunction with a spirometer 20 and a gas analyzer 22 which receive samples of the gas inspired and expired by the patient 10 via a gas sampling tube 24 . Alternatively, mainstream gas analyzers that measure gas concentration directly from the patient gas stream without having the gases sampled via a tube may also be used. The spirometer 20 monitors the volume and flow rate of the air that is inspired and expired by the patient. The gas analyzer 22 derives the concentrations of the different component gases breathed by the patient 10 .
[0014] Referring back to the present invention as depicted in FIG. 1 , a CPU 26 collects data from a variety of sources including the ventilator 12 , percutaneous oxygenator 16 , the spirometer 20 , and the gas analyzer 22 . Then the CPU processes this data through a series of algorithms 28 by which the patient's blood gas concentration 30 is derived.
[0015] The present invention will be described in consideration of the exchange of oxygen to the venous blood stream and the related computation of the oxygen exchange and arterial oxygen concentration. However, it is understood that a similar device arrangement and method can be used to compute other gas exchanges and arterial concentrations, such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrogen (N), nitrous oxide (NO), helium (He), carbon monoxide (CO), or anesthetic gases. As previously stated, the CPU 26 receives data relating to the patient's blood gas concentration from a variety of sources connected to the patient. As the ventilator provides inspiratory support to the patient 14 , the concentration of inspired oxygen 32 is provided to CPU 26 . The spirometer 20 provides data to the CPU 26 representing the inspiratory flow rate 34 and the expiratory flow rate 36 . The gas analyzer 22 provides CPU 26 with data representative of the concentration of expired oxygen 38 of the patient 10 .
[0016] As additional oxygen support is provided to the patient by the percutaneous oxygenator 16 , the individual flow rates of the component gases entering the catheter 18 are known either by the manual control settings of the gases by the clinician or by the measurement of the gas concentration and flow rate by a separate component downstream (not pictured). The gas concentration and flow rate data, namely the concentration of oxygen going into the catheter 40 and the flow rate of oxygen into the catheter 42 are sent to CPU 26 . As gases exit the distal end of the catheter 18 , the concentration of the component gases are determined by a second gas analyzer 44 that provides data representative of the concentration of oxygen 46 coming out of the catheter 18 to CPU 26 . The total flow of the gases out of the catheter 18 is measured by a flow sensor 48 and is provided to the CPU 26 as the total flow out of the catheter 50 .
[0017] The CPU 26 uses the data that it has received, as described above, with a variety of algorithms to be herein described further. By using the law of conservation of mass, the gas exchange and arterial oxygen concentration can be computed as herein described. Included Table I is a summary of the variables used in the following equations, a description of the variable, the source of this value, and an associated reference number if applicable.
[0000]
TABLE I
Ref.
Variables
Description
Source
#
V h
Effective gas exchange volume
Calculated (Eq. 1)
—
of the intravenous gas
exchange catheter
C O2out
Concentration of O2 out of the
Gas Analyzer (44)
46
catheter
F O2in
Flow of O2 into the catheter
P.O. (16)
42
F tot _out
Total Flow out of the catheter
Flow Sensor (48)
50
K eff
Gas equilibration coefficient
Constant/Known
—
C venousO2
Concentration of venous O2
Calculated (Eq. 2)
—
CO
Average Cardiac Output
Calculated (Eq. 3)
—
C artO2
Average Concentration of
Calculated (Eq. 7)
30
arterial O2
C inspO2
Concentration of inspired O2
Ventilator (12)
32
F insp
Flow of inspired gases
Spirometer (20)
34
C expO2
Concentration of expired O2
Gas Analyzer (22)
38
C O2in
Concentration of O2 into the
P.O. (16)
40
catheter
C returnO2
Concentration of venous
Calculated (Eq. 6)
—
return O2
F exp
Flow of expired gases
Spirometer (20)
36
[0018] By definition, the mixed venous concentration of oxygen entering the right atria can be computed using the gas equilibration coefficient, K eff , which is known to the system by the design or calibration of the percutaneous oxygenator 16 ,
[0000]
V
h
*
(
C
O
2
out
)
t
=
F
O
2
i
n
-
[
C
O
2
out
*
F
tot_out
]
-
K
eff
*
[
C
O
2
out
-
C
venous
O
2
]
(
Eq
.
1
)
[0019] At steady state and in the catheter flow condition labeled as — 1, the derivative of C O2out — 1 with respect to time, tends to zero, giving the steady state concentration of the venous blood to the right atria to be:
[0000] C venousO 2— 1 =( C O 2 out — 1 −F tot — out )− F O 2 in — 1 +K eff *C O 2 out (Eq. 2)
[0020] Now considering the gas exchange in the lungs, by integrating over a breath, the arterial oxygen concentration can be found by solving the following integral equation:
[0000] ∫( CO*C artO 2 ) dt =∫( CO*C venousO 2— 1 +C inspO 2 *F insp −C expO 2 *F exp ) dt (Eq. 3)
Where CO is the cardiac output and can be found by using two different settings of C O2in 42 or F O2in 40 .
[0021] Now assuming that the concentration of O 2 in the catheter is being altered from a condition — 1 to condition — 2, and set in a duration that is much shorter than the recirculation time of blood, but is sufficiently long for a steady state to settle, the uptake of O2 surrounding the compartment around the catheter 18 and the vena cava at a steady state in the two conditions are described by the two gas mass balance equations,
[0000] ∫( F O 2 in — 1 −( C O 2 out — 1 *F tot — out — 1 )) dt =∫( CO *( C returnO 2 −C venousO 2— 1 )) dt (Eq. 4)
[0000] ∫( F O 2 in — 2 −( C O 2 out — 2 *F tot — out — 2 )) dt =∫( CO *( C returnO 2 −C venousO 2— 2 )) dt (Eq. 5)
[0000] Where the indices — 1 and — 2 indicate the settings or measurements under condition — 1 and condition — 2, respectively, of the oxygen concentration into the catheter 18 . C returnO2 is the flow averaged concentration of mixed venous blood in the superior or inferior vena cava and remains constant during the two settings of O2 concentration into the catheter. Furthermore, assuming that the gas flow and concentration into the catheter 18 , C returnO2 and cardiac output (CO) are constant over the two integral period, the integral expression may be removed from the integration and multiplied by the duration and can be divided out from both sides of the equations.
[0022] By subtracting the equation in condition — 1 from the equation in condition — 2, the unknown variable C returnO2 is eliminated and after rearranging the resulting equation, the cardiac output is obtained:
[0000]
CO
=
(
(
F
O
2
in_
1
-
(
C
O
2
out_
1
*
F
tot_out
_
1
)
)
-
(
(
F
O
2
in_
2
-
(
C
O
2
out_
2
*
F
tot_out
_
2
)
)
)
(
C
venous
O
2
_
2
-
C
venous
O
2
_
1
)
(
Eq
.
6
)
[0023] By substituting the cardiac output calculated in Equation 6 back into the arterial blood gas equation, with C venousO2 computed from Equation 2, solving Equation 3 yields the concentration of arterial oxygen 30 , as shown in Equation 7.
[0000]
C
art
O
2
=
∫
(
CO
*
C
venous
O
2
_
1
+
C
insp
O
2
*
F
insp
-
C
exp
O
2
*
F
exp
)
t
∫
(
CO
)
t
(
Eq
.
7
)
[0024] The arterial concentration of CO2, C artCO2 , can be derived by perturbing the inflow of gases, F O2in , and solving a set of similarly derived equations except for the substitution of CO2 concentrations, such as C CO2out and C venousCO2 , for the corresponding O2 concentrations.
[0025] In an embodiment of the present invention, the CPU 26 further uses the derived patient blood gas concentrations 30 to control the operation of the percutaneous oxygenator 16 or the ventilator 12 . For example, if the patient's blood gas concentration of oxygen becomes too low, the CPU may automatically adjust the oxygen concentration or the flow rate of oxygen supplied to the patient 10 by the percutaneous oxygenator 16 . It is also understood that the operational controls of the ventilator 12 may be adjusted to raise the oxygen concentration in the patient's blood. The CPU 26 may adjust the respiratory rate, respiratory pressure, positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP), or the concentration of supplemental oxygen supplied by the ventilator 12 . It is under stood that this automated control may be used in the control of other gases supplied to the patient as herein described. Furthermore, it is understood that in an embodiment of the present invention, CPU 26 may signal or alarm a clinician to initiate changes in the operational parameters of the percutaneous oxygenator 16 or ventilator 12 instead of automatedly performing these functions.
[0026] The advantage of this invention is that the oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange, and the arterial concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide can be computed continuously and trended without an additional arterial blood gas monitor. This reduces the cost of assessing the progression of a gas exchange therapy and replaces the time consuming and slow responding laboratory blood gas sample analysis. Therefore, the present invention provides an accurate, non-invasive approach to continuously monitoring arterial oxygenation levels of a patient receiving both mechanical ventilatory support and percutaneous oxygenation support.
[0027] This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements of insubstantial difference from the literal language of the claims.
[0028] Various alternatives and embodiments are contemplated as being with in the scope of the following claims, particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention.
|
A system and method for monitoring the arterial gas concentrations of a patient receiving percutaneous oxygenator support. The system comprises a percutaneous oxygenator for providing medical gases to the venous system of the patient via a catheter. Gases are also removed from the venous system via a catheter. The concentrations and flow rates of the gases provided and removed from the patient are monitored. A CPU analyzes the concentration and flow rate information to compute the arterial gas concentration of the patient.
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FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a method of measuring a vehicle's own speed by the Doppler radar principle.
In particular, the invention relates to a method of measuring a vehicle's own speed by the Doppler radar principle, in accordance with which microwaves are sent out at a transmission frequency by the vehicle. A portion of the microwave energy is reflected back to the vehicle at a receiving frequency. Upon reception at the vehicle, the received signal is mixed with a sample of the transmitted signal to produce a mixed signal, whereby Doppler frequencies are obtained. After pulse formation, the mixed signals are evaluated as Doppler pulse signals by a frequency measurement in the time range and in accordance with direction-of-travel, in order to form digital Doppler signal values.
A further aspect of the invention relates to a corresponding device for the measurement of the own speed of a vehicle having a Doppler radar sensor located on the vehicle. The device has a mixer which is fed with microwaves of the transmitted frequency and with microwaves received by the Doppler radar sensor. The device includes a pulse-former connected to an output of the mixer, a period measuring device which is connected behind the pulse-former and produces one digital Doppler frequency value for each digitalized period, and an evaluation device which is connected behind the period measuring device to obtain a mean value for the speed sought from a predetermined number of Doppler frequency values.
As is known, the measurement of a vehicle's own speed by the Doppler radar principle is based on the fact that a difference frequency occurs between the frequency of a wavefront transmitted by the vehicle--transmission signal--and the wavefront reflected by the ground, with respect to which the vehicle moves, in particular, horizontally, and received again by the vehicle. The difference frequency is proportional to the relative movement of the vehicle with respect to the ground. By the terms "Doppler signal" and "Doppler frequency" there is always to be understood in the present application the signal with the difference frequency.
For the technical practice out of the method, a radar module which comprises an oscillator--a Gunn oscillator--a circulator, a mixer, an antenna--horn radiator--and a directional coupler can be used. The oscillator produces the high-frequency signal oscillation which is fed to the antenna via the circulator. The antenna radiates this energy into space and, in particular, in the direction toward the ground over which the vehicle is travelling. The wave reflected on the ground is received again by the antenna, and the corresponding received signal is fed to the mixer via the circulator. A part of the transmission energy is furthermore fed to the mixer via the directional coupler, so that the received signal and the transmitted signal are superimposed on each other. A mixing process takes place in the mixer--mixer diode--which is acted on by the transmitted signal and the received signal, the mixing process forming, inter alia, the Doppler signal as difference frequency between the frequency of the transmitted wave and the frequency of the received reflected wave. The Doppler signal is made available via an amplifier for further processing.
In practical devices for measuring the own speed of a vehicle by the Doppler principle, there occurs as Doppler frequency not only a single difference frequency but a Doppler spectrum even upon measurement of the speed by means of only a single point of reflection. In the case of ground which is present in actual practice, such as asphalt surfaces or tilled land, which can be approximated by a random distribution of points of reflection of differenct reflection factors, the detectable Doppler signal is in addition disturbed by amplitude quenchings and phase jumps. Such a Doppler spectrum exhibits an irregular distribution of the amplitude as a function of the frequency, which is furthermore not constant with time. Variations can be noted, in particular, of the maximum on the frequency axis.
The vehicle speed determined in accordance with the above principle of measurement is thus subject to a large measurement error.
In order to reduce this measurement error, there is already known a Doppler radar speed indicator having a pulse-width discriminator which is intended to determine the maximum of the distribution curve of the Doppler signal or the Doppler frequency spectrum (West German Patent No. 32 19 819). That speed indicator comprises a Doppler radar sensor which is fastened on the vehicle, transmits microwaves, and receives a part of the waves reflected by the ground and mixes them with a part of the transmitted waves. The Doppler signals produced in this manner are amplified in an amplifying and pulse-forming device and a Doppler pulse signal is produced. The Doppler pulse signal is converted into a digital Doppler signal in a period counter. The output of the period counter serves as address for a storage for the evaluation of the digital Doppler signals. An adder increments by one the content of the storage under each controlled address for each Doppler pulse signal applied until a predetermined number of digital Doppler pulse signals has been completely incremented. Upon the occurrence of the nth Doppler pulse signal, the above-mentioned pulse-width discriminator determines the address assigned to the storage content n/2 as measure of the speed sought.
This known Doppler radar speed meter however has the disadvantage that, in order to obtain sufficient accuracy, the digital Doppler signals must be measured and evaluated over long periods of time if the number of n Doppler pulse signals is not to be too small and, thus the determination of the Doppler frequency (which is also known as center frequency) which corresponds to the speed of the vehicle, imprecise. The measurement and evaluation of the Doppler signals, however, takes place at the expense of the dynamic nature of the process and of the Doppler radar speed meter operating in accordance therewith. This deficient dynamic nature is particularly disturbing when it is to operate in combination with an anti-locking brake device.
In order to reduce the spectrum of the reflected radiation and thus decrease the integration time for the determination of a mean Doppler frequency which corresponds to the own speed of the land vehicle, a special antenna developed as slot antenna wave guide, is already known (West German patent No. 22 37 139). The slot antenna wave guide is aligned with its longitudinal axis parallel to the direction of the velocity vector and with its broad sides transverse thereto, parallel to the surface of the earth. It is provided, in addition, in its lower broad side with a longitudinal slot for the radar oscillations which extends somewhat outside the center of the broad side. In order to avoid a further distortion or broadening of the Doppler spectrum which can occur upon pitching motions of the vehicle, a two-channel Doppler radar device is known (West German Patent 22 37 139), in which, with two mixers, one Doppler signal is formed from the radiation in the direction of travel and one Doppler signal from the radiation opposite the direction of travel. The two signals are combined with each other upon the evaluation.
It is further known in this connection to compensate by a correction signal for an error in the Doppler signal due to vertical osciallations or changes in the distance of the vehicle from the ground. For this purpose an additional mixer having a diode is used which receives a quasi-optically mirrored radar radiation which is not subject to a Doppler shift but changes its phase position as a function of the distance of the antenna from the ground. The mixing of the so-called mirrored radiation with the residual signal of the transmitter remaining in the wave guide results in a low-frequency oscillation with which the error occurring upon the measurement of the Doppler signal can be compensated for. The above measures for increasing the accuracy of the measured Doppler frequency increase the expense and can limit the possibility of using the measurement principle, or they are only suitable to compensate for certain causes of distortion of the measured Doppler signals.
The object of the present invention is rapidly and accurately to determine a Doppler frequency which corresponds to the vehicle's own speed, even from irregular, strongly fluctuating Doppler spectra. No great additional expense is to be required for the corresponding evaluation of the Doppler signals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, a median M(n-3) is continuously determined from a predetermined number of last-generated digital Doppler signal values of a sequence M(n-1), M(n-2), M(n-3), M(n-4), M(n-5) in order to determine an average Doppler period (FIG. 3).
The method in accordance with the invention proceeds from Doppler signals which are evaluated in accordance with the period measurement method. In accordance with the period measurement method, digital Doppler signals are formed for the specific period measured.
In order to determine the mean Doppler frequency or a mean Doppler period which represents a measure of the speed of the vehicle, a median or central value is formed from a predetermined number of digital Doppler signal values of a sequence of such Doppler signal values. For the formation of the median, the digital Doppler signal value which lies in the center of a finite sequence of increasing Doppler signal values is determined and equated to the mean digital Doppler signal. The digital Dopper signal values must, therefore, first of all be sorted in accordance with this sequence. In this connection the extreme values of the measurement probes or of the individual Doppler signals lie at one of the ends of the finite sequence of numbers and do not affect the median determined, which is rather accurate even when based on only relatively few Doppler signal values. The method is accurate since phase jumps and/or partial suppression of the Doppler signals measured practically do not enter into the median if these disturbances do not occur too frequently. The possibility of using a method for measuring a vehicle's own speed by the Doppler radar principle is substantially promoted by the formation of a median. Since the median is only slightly delayed as compared with the digital Doppler signal values from which have been determined by sorting, this method is particularly suitable whenever rapid adjustments are to take place, for instance in an anti-locking brake device.
The dynamics of the method of the invention are high, in particular, for the reason that merely a relatively small number of Doppler signals is sufficient for the formation of a representative means value or median. This sliding formation of the median means that the median is not constantly formed from a number of completely new digital Doppler signals, rather, in each case, the last-formed digital Doppler signal is evaluated in combination with previously formed digital Doppler signals, of which there is the predetermined number. The variation in the mean Doppler period and thus in the relative error are reduced with an increase in the number of measured values, i.e. the number of Doppler signals produced last which are taken into account in the formation of the median.
If the median is formed from an odd number of the last digital Doppler signal values, then the middle Doppler signal value of the values sorted in ascending order is determined as median. However, if there is an even number of digital Doppler signal values which have be sorted in the sequence of ascending values, the two central Doppler signal values are sorted out for the formation of the median and processed as arithmetic mean value.
The method of the invention can be expanded in the manner that the Doppler signals formed from a two-channel measurement system are evaluated in order to reduce the influence of vertical movements of the vehicle and of pitching on the speed of the vehicle (in horizontal direction) formed from the Doppler signals. Two-channel measurement methods for measuring the speed of the vehicle itself by the Doppler principle are known per se; they are based on two radar heads, one of which radiates essentially in the direction of travel and the other in the opposite direction. The evaluation of the first and second Doppler signals which are formed from the waves reflected essentially in direction opposite the direction of travel and from the waves reflected essentially in the direction of travel, respectively, takes place in a method for measuring a vehicle's own speed by the Doppler principle. Therein, Doppler signals are produced by transmitting microwaves in the direction of travel. Reflected microwave signals are received and mixed with the microwave at the transmission frequency and are converted into first Doppler pulse signals. Second Doppler signals are produced by transmitting the microwaves in the direction opposite the direction of travel, receiving the reflected microwaves and mixing the received microwaves with the transmission frequency, to obtain the second Doppler pulse signals.
For the determination of a first mean Doppler period, in each case a first median (T1) from a predetermined number of first digital Doppler signal measurement values of a sequence, which have been generated last, is continuously determined. For the determination of a second mean Doppler period, in each case a second median (T2) from a predetermined number of last generated second digital Doppler signal measurement values is continuously sorted out. For the determination of the vehicle speed in the direction of travel, a mean Doppler period (T-J) is formed by the formation of the arithmetic mean from the first median value and the second median value.
By sorting out the first and second medians from the first and second Doppler signal measured values, the variations which are not due to changes in the vehicle's own speed are already substantially reduced. By the subsequent formation of the arithmetic mean from the two Doppler frequencies or from the first and second medians, the influence of errors due to vertical oscillations or pitching motions of the vehicle is furthermore substantially reduced. The mean value from the first median and the second median can then be processed further in customary manner so as to form the mean Doppler frequency and the speed of the vehicle from the mean Doppler period. The two-channel method with determination of first and second medians and subsequent formation of the mean value from the medians is particularly suitable for cases of operation in which the vertical speed remains less than the vehicle's own speed.
If the last-mentioned condition is not satisfied, i.e. if stronger vehicle vibrations and/or variations in height of the vehicle occur which exceed its own speed, then the measurement error can nevertheless be further reduced, while retaining the above-mentioned method for the evaluation of the first mean Doppler period and the second mean Doppler period. The wave which, in each case, is reflected to the radar antenna is mixed, in a quadrature mixer having two mixer diodes, with the oscillation produced by the oscillator.
The two mixer diodes are, for this purpose, shifted in location to the conductor to the antenna which is connected to the oscillator by one-eighth wavelength, (λ/8) or an odd multiple of λ/8. (With the same spacing the mixer diodes are thus at different distances from the reflecting target.) By the evaluation of the phase shift of the two Doppler signals which are formed at the two mixer diodes of the quadrature mixer, a change in direction of the Doppler frequency curves of the Doppler frequencies can be determined which are produced in the two mixer diodes by mixing.
In a two-channel method, two voltage signals can be produced for each channel, it being possible to determine the direction of movement of the vehicle from the phase angle between the two voltages of a channel. Signs for the first and second Doppler signal measured values can be formed from the phase angles so that these measured values can be evaluated with proper sign for the determination of the median. Thus the disturbing influences can also be compensated for if the vertical speed of the vehicle is greater than its own speed in horizontal direction.
For the carrying out of the method of the invention as set forth in the beginning of the summary of the invention hereinabove, there is provided a device for measuring a vehicle's own speed with a Doppler radar sensor arranged on it according to the third paragraph of this specification hereinabove, having an evaluation device (16) with a median filter. The inputs of the filter are acted on in sliding fashion by a continuous sequence of digital Doppler frequency measured values (T1, T2).
As has been explained above, by means of the median filter there is sorted out from a predetermined number of digital Doppler frequency measured values wherein the median value represents the mean Doppler frequency measured value of a spectrum and the vehicle's own speed. In case of an odd number of digital Doppler frequency measured values which are evaluated by the median filter, only one median is taken by the filter for further processing. In connection with the development of the median filter for the evaluation of an even number of digital Doppler frequency measured values, there are in this case concerned two (central) median values which are fed to an arithmetic-mean-value former in which the mean value is formed as a measure for the vehicle's own speed.
The median filter can also be designated a sorter since in it the number of digital Doppler frequency measured values is sorted in the sequence of their value i.e. of their preferably sign-evaluated amount. The median appears at the output of a comparator which filters out the Doppler frequency measured values located in the central position of the sequence of ascending values.
The device for this evaluation of the sequence of digital Doppler frequency measured values is characterized preferably by the fact that the median filter is connected to a shift register circuit (28-32) the input of which is acted on by the digital Doppler frequency measured values, and the shift register stages of which are shifted upon each measurement interval (measurement period) by one shift pulse. Also, the median filter comprises comparators, the inputs of which are so connected to the outputs of the shift register stages as well as to each other that they filter out the digital Doppler frequency measured value which represents the median value from the Doppler frequency measured values stored in the shfit register stages. The shift register comprises in this connection a number of shift register stages which is equal to the predetermined number of digital Doppler frequency measurement values. The comparators from which the median filter is formed are provided, in particular, with two inputs to which the two digital Doppler frequency measured values which are to be compared are to be fed, and with two outputs with which the two Doppler frequency measured values fed are to be associated in accordance with the inner structure of the comparator as a function of the sign of the Doppler frequency measured values.
Instead of this uncomplicated construction of the sorter with the shift register which can be realized with little expense in a hardware realization of the invention, the median filter with the corresponding storage stages can also be realized by a microprocessor with a filter program.
Another feature of the invention is that a quadrature mixer is provided having two mixer diodes (4, 5) which are coupled, staggered by an odd-number multiple of λ/8 referred to the transmission frequency, on a conductor in the Doppler radar sensor (1 or 2) between the oscillator 49 and the antenna 50, and that two Doppler signals (A, B or C, D) of both mixer diodes are fed into a sign discriminator which generates a sign signal which corresponds to the phase relationship between the Doppler signals (A, B or C, D) which sign signal is fed together with the corresponding digital Doppler frequency value to the evaluation device 16 having the median filter.
This further feature for the measurement of own speed is particularly suitable for very slowly moving vehicles in which the Doppler signal is considerably distorted due to vehicle vibrations or variations in height caused in some other manner. This feature substantially eliminates these measurement errors in the manner that the direction of movement can be detected and sign-valued Doppler frequency measured values are accordingly formed which can be evaluated with the median filter. The median filter is, in this case, therefore developed in such a manner that the signs of the digital Doppler frequency measured values also are taken into account in order to form the sequence of Doppler frequency measured values of increasing value. A prerequisite for accounting for the direction of movement is a quadrature mixer, known per se, having two mixer diodes which are coupled, staggered by an odd-number multiple of λ/8, in terms of the transmission frequency, on a conductor in the Doppler radar sensor between the oscillator and the antenna. The two Doppler signals formed by the mixer diodes are fed to a sign discriminator which generates a sign signal which corresponds to the phase relationship between these two Doppler signals.
The sign discriminator comprises, in uncomplicated manner, type-D a flip-flop (12 or 13) having a static input (D) and a dynamic input, the inputs being connected in each case to one of the two mixer diodes (4, 5 or 6, 7) of the quadrature mixture.
According to another feature, the invention provides a device having a two-channel Doppler radar sensor with quadrature mixers, wherein in each channel one period measurement device (converter 14 or 15) each and one sign discriminator (D flip-flop 12 or 13) each are connected in front of an evaluation device 16 which comprises a median filter for each channel and the outputs of the median filters are connected to an arithmetic-means former, the mean value of which is a measure of the own speed (horizontal speed) sought.
The influeneces due to pitching and vertical movements of the vehicle are smallest with this two-channel device with quadrature mixers. The evaluation of the sign-valued digital Doppler frequency measured values takes place in this case again by one correspondingly developed median filter per channel and an arithmetic-mean former which is connected to the (median) outputs of the two median filters. In each of the two median filters, the median of the period of the Doppler signal measured values is formed in, in each case, one of the two channels. In the arithmetic-mean former there takes place the formation of the resultant period from both channels, which is also referred to as the period of the Janus Doppler frequency since the signal generation comes from two approximately oppositely directed antennas in a so-called Janus head.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
With the above and other objects and advantages in view, the present invention will become more clearly understood in connection with the detailed description of preferred embodiments, when considered with the accompanying drawing, of which:
FIG. 1 is a greatly simplified block diagram of the device for the measurement of own speed;
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic showing of a part of the evaluation device indicated in FIG. 1, namely the part for the determination of the median;
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic showing of a part of the evaluation device indicated in FIG. 1, namely the part for the determination of the median in another embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a time graph of the Doppler frequency measured, without median formation;
FIG. 5 is a showing similar to FIG. 4 but with formation of the median of the Doppler frequency measured; and
FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic showing of the quadrature mixer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The block diagram of FIG. 1 shows a two-channel device for measurement of own speed, having two substantially oppositely directed Doppler radar sensors 1 and 2 which are arranged in a so-called Janus head 3. The Janus head is firmly attached to a vehicle (not shown) and is moved with the vehicle in the direction of travel v. Each of the two Doppler signal sensors contains a quadrature mixer, indicated by the mixer diodes 4, 5 and 6, 7. This arrangement affords the best prerequisite for minimizing the influences of pitching and movements in height of the vehicle.
The evaluation of the Doppler frequency measured values which are filtered out from the mixed products of the quadrature mixers and are shown by the time curves A, B, C, D in FIG. 1 takes place in the manner that the Doppler frequency measured values are first of all fed to Schmitt triggers 8 to 11 in which the oscillations of the Doppler frequency measured values are converted into corresponding square pulses A', B', C', D'. Two D flip-flops 12, 13 are provided for the formation of the sign signals which indicate the direction of travel of the vehicle. The output of the Schmitt trigger 8 is, in this case, connected to a D-input of the D flip-flop 12 and one output of the Schmitt trigger 9 to a dynamic input of the same D flip-flop. One output of the Schmitt trigger 10 is connected to the D-input of the D flip-flop 13, the dynamic input of which is acted on by the output of the Schmitt trigger 11.
Furthermore, one output of the Schmitt trigger 8 is connected to an input of a converter 14 for measurement of the period and one output of the Schmitt trigger 10 is connected to another converter 15 for the measurement of the period. In the converters for measurement of the period, the digital Doppler signal measured values are obtained as binary numbers. Supplemented by the sign signals, they are fed separately for each channel to an evaluation device, generally designated 16.
The evaluation device contains, for each channel, a storage chain which can be formed, in particular, by a shift register, as well as a sorter by which a defined number m of discrete Doppler signal measured values are evaluated for the formation of the median of this Doppler signal measured value sequence.
A corresponding part for one channel of the evaluation device is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2. The digital Doppler signal measured values X(n), X(n-1), etc. are pushed through on a line 16a. X(n) represents means in this connection for the nth Doppler signal measured value. Time-delay elements 17-20 provide that the successive Doppler signal measured values are, in each case, delayed by one measurement interval. At the outputs 21-26 of the line 16a there are therefore present, parallel to each other, the m measured values of Doppler signal which are sorted in the sorter 27. The sorter is constructed in detail in such a manner that the sequence of the m Doppler signal measured values is sorted into a new sequence of ascending value and the median (central value X 18 ) present at the central place is formed from the ascending sequence.
Further details are shown in FIG. 3 in an embodiment of a part of the evaluation device for the formation of the median. This deals with a portion of the electrical circuitry for one of the two channels. The time delay is developed by a shift register having the input 28 and the storages 29-32, the dynamic input of which is jointly connected via a shift-pulse line 33 with shift pulses which occur upon each measurement interval. The storages 29-32 form a shift register for five measured values. The measured-value range is therefore m=5 (the measured values are designated here by M). In the individual storages the inputs are designated E and the outputs A. The outputs of the storages for the Doppler signal measured values M(n-1) to M(n-4) and the measured value M(n) are connected to the actual sorter, which is formed by the arrangement of comparators 34-43 shown in FIG. 3. The comparators are in each case so constructed that an input A is connected to an output D and an input B to an output C if the digital value at input A is larger than the digital value at input B. However, if this condition is not satisfied, input A is connected to output C and input B to output D.
The symbols indicated in FIG. 3 have the following meaning:
T=Shift pulse
M(n)=nth measured value
M1-M5=sorted measured value sequence M1<M2<M<M4<M5
M3=Median
It is directly evident from the showing of the connection in FIG. 3 and the indicated function of the comparators 34-43 how a re-grouped sequence of Doppler signal measured values M1-M5 of ascending value is formed from the output signals of the storages 28-32. The central value M3 is read from the comparator 42 and stored in a median storage 44. (Since, of the sorters and median filter shown in FIG. 3, only the output variable M3 of the median storage 44 is of interest, and the comparator 43 can be dispensed with.)
The evaluation device (16) in FIG. 1 comprises, for each of the two inputs 45, 46, a sorter having a storage in accordance with FIG. 3 in which the digital Doppler signal measured value T1 or T2 is smoothed in accordance with the median averaging method.
The evaluation device (16) furthermore comprises an arithmetic-mean former (not shown) which forms the arithmetic mean from the medians T1 and T2. On one output (47) of the evaluation device (16) there is thus present a digital signal having the period of the resultant Doppler frequency from both channels. This period is designated Tj. It can be converted by a further converter (not shown in FIG. 1) into a velocity signal of the own speed. This converter produces the proportional relationship between the mean Doppler frequency derived from the period Tj and the own speed of the vehicle.
The method of measuring the own speed is evident from the above description of the device.
FIGS. 4 and 5 show the smoothing effect of the formation of the median from measured Doppler frequencies, the median representing the mean Doppler frequency with little variation over the course of the continuing evaluation.
FIG. 4 shows, in detail, the result of the frequency measurement from a radar signal (single-channel) in which the frequency fluctuates very strongly around the theoretical mean Doppler frequency of 1,209 Hz. Characteristic are small pulses, the peaks of which deviate up to 90% from the mean Doppler frequency.
FIG. 5, on the other hand, shows the corresponding signal curve after formation of the median over eleven discrete Doppler signal measured values of a sequence. A clear reduction in the fluctuations around the mean Doppler frequency, which is controlling for the own speed and a clear suppression of the extreme values of the Doppler signal measured values can be noted. By comparison of the signal curves in FIGS. 4 and 5 it is clear that the smoothing of the Doppler signal measured values which a permit correspondingly precise determination of the own speed. It can be noted that the signal curved of FIG. 5 is based on more measurements than is provided by the circuitry of FIG. 3 inasmuch as FIG. 3 only provides for the formation of the median from a number, M=5, of measured values. The accuracy is improved with increasing number of measured values.
The Doppler signal sensors 1 and 2, the Schmitt triggers 8-11, the D flip-flops 12 and 13 and the converters 14 and 15 shown in FIG. 1 are constructed in accordance with the prior art and function in a manner known per se. The converters 14, 15 determine in each case the period of the Doppler signal measured values. The frequency can then be determined--in this case after formation of the median and the mean--from the reciprocal of the measured period. The D flip-flops 12 and 13, which are constructed in accordance with the prior art, represent the storage which takes over the condition of the D-input when a logical "1" is present at the pulse input or dynamic input. The information from the D-input is maintained at an output Q (see FIG. 1) until the signal at the pulse input is "1" and at the D input is "0". As a whole, the D flip-flop determines whether signal A' or B' lags with respect to the other signal in each case and it gives off at its output Q or inverted Q a corresponding sign signal which is a criterion for the direction of travel of the vehicle.
As example of the smoothing of the Doppler signal measured values one can start from the following sequence of numbers:
5 6 8 3 2 -100 10.
The new sequence in which the Doppler signal measured values are grouped in accordance with their value is as follows:
-100 2 3 5 6 8 10.
From this the values results as median (central value).
By way of comparison with the prior art there is indicated the arithmetic mean which, in this case, amounts to -66/7=-9.43 and thus differs greatly from the median.
FIG. 6 shows how the mixer diodes, for instance 4, 5 of the quadrature mixer, are arranged staggered with respect to each other on the line 48 between on oscillator 49 and an antenna 50. The distance l 1 between the couplings of the two mixer diodes 4 and 5 at the places x and y of the line 48 is in this case an odd multiple of λ/8. In FIG. 6 the reflection target, i.e., the ground, with respect to which the antenna 50 moves with the speed v is designated z.
It is noted that the principles of the invention apply with transmission of microwave radiation including electromagnetic, and sonic radiation, the electromagnetic radiation including the usual radar frequencies as well as the optical portion of the spectrum. The preferred embodiment of the invention employs X-band or K-band electromagnetic radar frequencies.
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A method for measuring a vehicle's own speed by the Doppler radar principle, in accordance with which microwaves of a transmission frequency are sent out by the vehicle, a part thereof being reflected back and mixed with the microwave signal at transmission frequency. In this way Doppler signals are produced which, after pulse formation, are evaluated as Doppler pulse signals by a frequency measurement in the time range plus direction-of-travel evaluation, so as to form digital Doppler signal values. For the determination of a mean Doppler period in each case, a median M(n-3) is continuously determined from a predetermined number of the last generated digital Doppler signal values of the sequence M(n-1), M(n-2), M(n-3), M(n-4), M(n-5).
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a Divisional of application Serial No. 08/476,192, filed Jun. 7, 1995, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/224,396, filed Apr. 7, 1994, now abandoned, which is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No. 07/938,364, filed Aug. 31, 1992, now abandoned, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to compatible composite thermoplastic materials used for the fabrication of structural members. The thermoplastic materials comprise a continuous phase of polyvinyl chloride having a discontinuous phase of a cellulosic fiber. The composite material is maintained thermoplastic throughout its useful life by avoiding the use of any substantial concentration of crosslinking agents that would either crosslink cellulosic fibers, polymer molecules or cellulosic fiber to polymer. The physical properties of the thermoplastic material are improved by increasing polymer-fiber compatibility, i.e. the tendency of the polymer and fiber to mix. The improved mixing tendencies improves the coatability of the fiber by polymer, increases the degree the polymer wets the fiber in the melt stage and substantially increases the engineering properties of the materials as a whole. In particular, the improved engineering properties include increased tensile strength when compared to immodified materials (without a compatibilizing composition). The improved engineering properties permit the manufacture of improved structural members. Such members can be any structural unit. Preferably the members are for use in windows and doors for residential and commercial architecture. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved composite material adapted to extrusion or injection molding processes for forming structural members that have improved properties when used in windows and doors. The composite materials of the invention can be made to manufacture structural components such as rails, jambs, stiles, sills, tracks, stop and sash, nonstructural trim elements such as grid, cove, bead, quarter round, etc.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventional window and door manufacture has commonly used wood and metal components in forming structural members. Commonly, residential windows are manufactured from milled wood products that are assembled with glass to form typically double hung or casement units. Wood windows while structurally sound, useful and well adapted for use in many residential installations, can deteriorate under certain circumstances. Wood windows also require painting and other periodic maintenance. Wooden windows also suffer from cost problems related to the availability of suitable wood for construction. Clear wood products are slowly becoming more scarce and are becoming more expensive as demand increases. Metal components are often combined with glass and formed into single unit sliding windows. Metal windows typically suffer from substantial energy loss during winter months.
Extruded thermoplastic materials have been used in window and door manufacture. Filled and unfilled thermoplastics have been extruded into useful seals, trim, weatherstripping, coatings and other window construction components. Thermoplastic materials such as polyvinyl chloride have been combined with wood members in manufacturing PERMASHIELD® brand windows manufactured by Andersen Corporation for many years. The technology disclosed in Zanini, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,926,729 and 3,432,883, have been utilized in the manufacturing of plastic coatings or envelopes on wooden or other structural members. Generally, the cladding or coating technology used in making PERMASHIELD® windows involves extruding a thin polyvinyl chloride coating or envelope surrounding a wooden structural member.
Recent advances have made a polyvinyl chloride/cellulosic fiber composite material useful in the manufacture of structural members for windows and doors. Puppin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,768 comprise a continuous phase of polyvinyl chloride and a particular wood fiber material having preferred fiber size and aspect ratio in a thermoplastic material that provides engineering properties for structural members and for applications in window and door manufacture. These thermoplastic composite materials have become an important part of commercial manufacture of window and door components. While these materials are sufficiently strong for most structural components used in window and door manufacture, certain components require added stiffness, tensile strength, elongation at break or other engineering property not always provided by the materials disclosed in Puppin et al.
We have examined the modification of thermoplastic materials in the continuous polymer phase, the modification of the cellulosic materials in the discontinuous cellulosic phase for improving the structural polymers of these composite materials. The prior art has recognized that certain advantages can be obtained by a judicious modification of the materials. For example, a number of additives are known for use in both thermoplastic and cellulosic materials including molding lubricants, polymer stabilizers, pigments, coatings, etc.
The prior art contains numerous suggestions regarding polymer fiber composites. Gaylord, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,765,934, 3,869,432, 3,894,975, 3,900,685, 3,958,069 and Casper et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,214 teach a bulk polymerization that occurs in situ between styrene and maleic anhydride monomer combined with wood fiber to prepare a polymer fiber composite. Segaud, U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,303 teaches a composite composition containing a polymer, a reinforcing mineral filler and a coupling agent that increases the compatibility between the filler and the polymer. The prior art also recognizes modifying the fiber component of a composite. Hamed, U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,079 teaches subjecting unregenerated cellulose fiber to a shearing force resulting in mixing minor proportions of a polymer and a lubricant material with the fiber. Such processing improves fiber separation and prevents agglomeration. The processing with the effects of the lubricant tends to enhance receptiveness of the fiber to the polymer reducing the time required for mixing. Similarly, Coran et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,267 teaches a treatment of fiber with an aqueous dispersion of a vinyl chloride polymer and a plasticizer, the resulting fibers contain a coating of polyvinyl chloride and plasticizer and can be incorporated into the polymer matrix with reduced mixing energy. Beshay, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,717,742 and 4,820,749 teach a composite material containing a cellulose having grafted silane groups. Raj et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,776 teach cellulosic fibers pretreated with maleic or phthalic anhydride to improve the bonding and dispersibility of the fiber in the polymer matrix. Raj et al. teach a high density polyethylene chemical treated pulp composite. Hon, U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,772 discloses fiber reinforced thermoplastic made with a moisture pretreated cellulosic material such as discarded newspapers having a lignant content. Kokta et al., “Composites of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) and Wood Fibers. Part II. Effect of Chemical Treatment”, Polymer Composites , April 1990, Volume 11, No. 2, teach a variety of cellulose treatments. The treatments include latex coating, grafting with vinyl monomers, grafting with acids or anhydrides, grafting with coupling agents such as maleic anhydride, abietic acid (See also Kokta, U.K. Application No. 2,192,397). Beshay, U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,241 teaches composite materials including a modified cellulose. The cellulose is modified with an organo titanium coupling agent which reacts with and reinforces the polymer phase. Similarly, the modification of the thermoplastic is also suggested in metal polypropylene laminates, crystallinity of polypropylene has been modified with an unsaturated carboxylic acid or derivative thereof. Such materials are known to be used in composite formation.
Maldas et al. in “Performance of Hybrid Reinforcements in PVC Composites: Part I and Part III”, Journal of Testing and Evaluation , Vol. 21, No. 1, 1993, pp. 68-72 and Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites , Volume II, October 1992, pp. 1093-1102 teach small molecule modification of filler such as glass, mica, etc. in PVC composites. No improvement in physical properties are demonstrated as a result of sample preparation and testing. Maldas and Kokta, “Surface modification of wood fibers using maleic anhydride and isocyanate as coating components and their performance in polystyrene composites”, Journal Adhesion Science Technology , 1991, pp. 1-14 show polystyrene flour composites containing a maleic anhydride modified wood flour. A number of publications including Kokta et al., “Composites of Polyvinyl Chloride-Wood Fibers. III: Effect of Silane as Coupling Agent”, Journal of Vinyl Technology , Vol. 12, No. 3, September 1990, pp. 142-153 disclose modified polymer (other references disclosed modified fiber) in highly plasticized thermoplastic composites. Additionally, Chahyadi et al., “Wood Flour/Polypropylene Composites: Influence of Maleated Polypropylene and Process and Composition Variables on Mechanical Properties”, International Journal Polymeric Materials , Volume 15, 1991, pp. 21-44 discuss polypropylene composites having polymer backbone modified with maleic anhydride.
Accordingly, a substantial need exists for an improved thermoplastic composite material that can be made of polymer and wood fiber with an optional, intentional recycle of a waste stream. A further need exists for an improved thermoplastic composite material that can be extruded into a shape that is a direct substitute for the equivalent milled shape in a wooden or metal structural member. This need requires a thermoplastic composite with creep resistance, improved heat distortion temperature having a coefficient of thermal expansion that approximates wood, a material that can be extruded into reproducible stable dimensions, a high compressive strength, a low thermal transmission rate, an improved resistance to insect attack and rot while in use and a hardness and rigidity that permits sawing, milling, and fastening retention comparable to wood members. Further, companies manufacturing window and door products have become significantly sensitive to waste streams produced in the manufacture of such products. Substantial quantities of wood waste including wood trim pieces, sawdust, wood milling by-products; recycled thermoplastic including recycled polyvinyl chloride, has caused significant expense to window manufacturers. Commonly, these materials are either burned for their heat value in electrical generation or are shipped to qualified landfills for disposal. Such waste streams are contaminated with substantial proportions of hot melt and solvent-based adhesives, waste thermoplastic such as polyvinyl chloride, paint, preservatives, and other organic materials. A substantial need exists to find a productive environmentally compatible use for such waste streams to avoid returning the materials into the environment in an environmentally harmful way. Such recycling requires that the recycled material remains largely thermoplastic. Lastly a substantial need exists to improve poly vinylchloride-cellulosic composites for use in high stress or high load bearing applications.
BRIEF DISCUSSION OF THE INVENTION
We have found that the problems relating to polymerfiber composites can be solved by forming compatible thermoplastic/fiber composite from a modified polymer or a modified wood fiber, or both. An increase in compatibility between polymer and fiber can be characterized by a measurable increase (outside standard deviation) in tensile strength or applied tensile strength at point of yield of material. The improved compatibility of the materials improves wetting and incorporation of fiber into polymer, increasing reinforcement and a resulting improvement in tensile strength.
For the purpose of this application, the term “modified polymer (derivatized polymer)” indicates a polymeric material having side groups or moieties deliberately introduced onto the polymer backbone or copolymerized into the polymer backbone that increase the tendency of the polymer to associate with or wet the fiber surface. Typically, such modifications introduce pendant groups onto the polymer that form hydrogen bonds with the cellulosic material. Similarly, the cellulose can be modified or derivatized. The term “derivatized or modified cellulose” for purposes of this invention include reacting the cellulose with a reagent that forms a derivative on either a primary or secondary hydroxyl of the cellulosic material. The hydroxyl reactive reagent contains a substituent group of similar polarity to the polymer material used in an ultimate composite. For the purpose of this application, the term “compatibility with a thermoplastic polymer” can be characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data and by measuring surface energy using a goniometer device. In examining compatibility using a differential scanning calorimeter, the calorimetry of a separate polymer phase and a modified cellulose phase or the cellulose modifier reagent can be measured with DSC equipment. After the materials are mixed, compatibility can be shown in a DSC scan by showing differences in the T g peaks. Compatible materials have modified T g 's, fully compatible materials will form a single T g peak in the scan. To match a polymer with a reagent or reagent group, measuring the surface energy of the materials using a goniometer will produce a surface energy quantity. Similar quantities will suggest compatibility.
The polymer compatible functional group on the cellulose naturally associates with the polymer using van der Waals' forces causing an increased compatibility, mixing or wetting of the polymer with the fiber.
Similarly, both the polymer and the cellulosic material can be derivatized with functional groups that increase the polymer fiber compatibility. Further, the functional groups can have moieties on the functional group that are compatible with the corresponding moiety. The increased compatibility of polymer and fiber after modification can be obtained by measuring the DSC properties or surface energy of the modified polymer/fiber, the polymer/modified fiber or the modified polymer/modified fiber when compared to the polymer/fiber material alone. Such materials with increased compatibility have improved thermodynamic properties and reduced energy of mixing.
The resulting modified materials remain completely thermoplastic because they are substantially free of any substantial crosslinking of fiber-to-fiber or polymer-to-fiber. Further, the material once manufactured can be extruded in the form of a thermoplastic pellet which can then be subject to heat and pressure and molded using either extrusion technology or thermoforming technology into window and door structural members. The wood fiber preferably comprises sawdust or milling byproduct waste stream from milling wooden members in window manufacture and can be contaminated with substantial proportions of hot melt adhesive, paint, solvent or adhesive components, preservatives, polyvinyl chloride recycle pigment, plasticizers, etc. We have found that the PVC and wood fiber composite can be manufactured into acceptable substitutes for wooden members if the PVC and wood material contains less than about 10 wt-%, preferably less than 3.5% water based on pellet weight. Water is removed by degassing (removing water vapor) during melt processing of the composite. The compositions can achieve, in a final product, high modulus, improved creep resistance, improved heat distortion temperature, high compressive strength, reproducible, stable dimensions, a superior modulus and elasticity. We have also found that the successful manufacture of structural members for windows and doors requires the preliminary manufacture of the polyvinyl chloride wood fiber composite in the form of a pellet wherein the materials are intimately mixed and contacted in forming the pellet prior to the extrusion of the members from the pellet material. We have found that the intimate mixing of polyvinyl chloride and wood fiber of increased compatibility (and optionally waste) in the manufacture of the pellet process with associated control of moisture content produces a pelletized product that is uniquely adapted to the extrusion manufacture of PVC/wood fiber components and achieves the manufacture of a useful wood replacement product. The materials of the invention are free of an effective quantity of a plasticizer. Such materials can only reduce the uilimate mechanical stregnth of the material. Further the material is formulated with proportions of materials that remain fully thermoplastic and recyclable in normal melt processing.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the use of a modified polyvinyl chloride, a modified wood fiber or both, in a composite material. The preferred material has a controlled water content. The material is preferably made in the form of a pelletized compatible material wherein the wood fiber is intimately contacted and wetted by the organic materials due to increased compatibility. The intimate contact and wetting between the components in the pelletizing process ensures high quality physical properties in the extruded composite materials after manufacture.
Modified Polymer
The preferred material is a polymer comprising vinyl chloride. A modified polymer, as defined below, can be used with modified or unmodified cellulose. Unmodified polymer can be used only with a modified adhesive fiber.
Polyvinyl chloride is a common commodity thermoplastic polymer. Vinyl chloride monomer is made from a variety of different processes such as the reaction of acetylene and hydrogen chloride and the direct chlorination of ethylene. Polyvinyl chloride is typically manufactured by the free radical polymerization of vinyl chloride resulting in a useful thermoplastic polymer. After polymerization, polyvinyl chloride is commonly combined with thermal stabilizers, lubricants, plasticizers, organic and inorganic pigments, fillers, biocides, processing aids, flame retardants and other commonly available additive materials. Polyvinyl chloride can also be combined with other vinyl monomers in the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride copolymers. Such copolymers can be linear copolymers, branched copolymers, graft copolymers, random copolymers, regular repeating copolymers, heteric copolymers and block copolymers, etc. Monomers that can be combined with vinyl chloride to form vinyl chloride copolymers include a acrylonitrile; alpha-olefins such as ethylene, propylene, etc.; chlorinated monomers such as vinylidene dichloride, acrylate monomers such as acrylic acid, methylacrylate, methylmethacrylate, acrylamide, hydroxyethyl acrylate, and others; styrenic monomers such as styrene, alphamethyl styrene, vinyl toluene, etc.; vinyl acetate; and other commonly available ethylenically unsaturated monomer compositions.
Such monomers can be used in an amount of up to but less than about 50 mol-%, the balance being vinyl chloride. Polymer blends or polymer alloys can also be useful in manufacturing the pellet or linear extrudate of the invention. Such alloys typically comprise two miscible polymers blended to form a uniform composition. Scientific and commercial progress in the area of polymer blends has lead to the realization that important physical property improvements can be made not by developing new polymer material but by forming miscible polymer blends or alloys. A polymer alloy at equilibrium comprises a mixture of two amorphous polymers existing as a single phase of intimately mixed segments of the two macro molecular components. Miscible amorphous polymers form glasses upon sufficient cooling and a homogeneous or miscible polymer blend exhibits a single, composition dependent glass transition temperature (T g ) Immiscible or non-alloyed blend of polymers typically displays two or more glass transition temperatures associated with immiscible polymer phases. In the simplest cases, the properties of polymer alloys reflect a composition weighted average of properties possessed by the components. In general, however, the property dependence on composition varies in a complex way with a particular property, the nature of the components (glassy, rubbery or semi-crystalline), the thermodynamic state of the blend, and its mechanical state whether molecules and phases are oriented. Polyvinyl chloride forms a number of known polymer alloys including, for example, polyvinyl chloride/nitrile rubber; polyvinyl chloride and related chlorinated copolymers and terpolymers of polyvinyl chloride or vinylidene dichloride; polyvinyl chloride/alphamethyl styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer blends; polyvinyl chloride/polyethylene; polyvinyl chloride/chlorinated polyethylene and others.
The primary requirement for the substantially thermoplastic polymeric material is that it retain sufficient thermoplastic properties to permit melt blending with wood fiber, permit formation of linear extrudate pellets, and to permit the composition material or pellet to be extruded or injection molded in a thermoplastic process forming the rigid structural member. Polyvinyl chloride homopolymers copolymers and polymer alloys are available from a number of manufacturers including B. F. Goodrich, Vista, Air Products, Occidental Chemicals, etc. Preferred polyvinyl chloride materials are polyvinyl chloride homopolymer having a molecular weight (Mn) of about 90,000±50,000, most preferably about 88,000±10,000.
Modifications
The polyvinyl chloride material is modified to introduce pendant groups that can form hydrogen bonds with the cellulosic hydroxyl groups. Cellulose molecules are known to be polymers of glucose with varying branching and molecular weight. Glucose molecules contain both secondary and primary hydroxyl groups and many such groups are available for hydrogen bonding.
The modified polyvinyl chloride comprises either a polymer comprising vinyl chloride and a second monomer having functional groups that are capable of forming hydrogen bonds with cellulose. Further, the modified polymer can comprise a polymer comprising vinyl chloride and optionally a second monomer that is reacted with the modifying reagent that can form substituents having hydrogen bonding functional groups.
Polymer Modifications
The polyvinyl chloride polymer material can be modified either by grafting onto the polymer backbone a reactive moiety compatible with the cellulose or by incorporating into the polymer backbone, by copolymerization techniques, functional groups that can increase polymer compatibility. It should be clearly understood that the PVC cellulosic fiber compatibility is relatively good. Wood fiber and polyvinyl chloride polymer will mix under conditions achievable in modern extrusion equipment. However, the compatibility of long chain modifications to the cellulosic polymer material provides significantly enhanced tensile strength.
Representative examples of monomers that can be included as a minor component (less than 50 mol-%) in a polyvinyl chloride copolymer include vinyl alcohol (hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate monomer), maleic anhydride monomer, glycidyl methacrylate, vinyl oxazolines, vinyl pyrrolidones, vinyl lactones, and others. Such monomers when present at the preferred concentration (less than 10 mol-%, preferably less than 5 mol-%) react covalently with cellulose hydroxyl groups and form associative bonds with cellulosic hydroxyl groups resulting in increased compatibility but are not sufficiently reacted to result in a crosslinked material. The polyvinyl chloride polymer material can be grafted with a variety of reactive compositions. In large part, the reactive species has a primary or secondary nitrogen, an oxygen atom, or a carboxyl group that can both covalently bond (to a small degree) and form hydroxyl groups with cellulosic materials. Included within the useful reactive species are N-vinyl pyrrolidone, N-vinyl pyridine, N-vinyl pyrimidine, polyvinyl alcohol polymers, unsaturated fatty acids, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, reactive acrylic oligomers, reactive amines, reactive amides and others. Virtually any reactive or grafting species containing a hydrogen bonding atom can be used as a graft reagent for the purposes of this invention.
Modified Fiber
Wood fiber, in terms of abundance and suitability can be derived from either soft woods or evergreens or from hard woods commonly known as broad leaf deciduous trees. Soft woods are generally preferred for fiber manufacture because the resulting fibers are longer, contain high percentages of lignin and lower percentages of hemicellulose than hard woods. While soft wood is the primary source of fiber for the invention, additional fiber make-up can be derived from a number of secondary or fiber reclaim sources including bamboo, rice, sugar cane, and recycled fibers from newspapers, boxes, computer printouts, etc.
However, the primary source for wood fiber of this invention comprises the wood fiber by-product of sawing or milling soft woods commonly known as sawdust or milling tailings. Such wood fiber has a regular reproducible shape and aspect ratio. The fibers based on a random selection of about 100 fibers are commonly at least 3 mm in length, 1 mm in thickness and commonly have an aspect ratio of at least 1.8. Preferably, the fibers are 1 to 10 mm in length, 0.3 to 1.5 mm in thickness with an aspect ratio between 2 and 7, preferably 2.5 to 6.0. The preferred fiber for use in this invention are fibers derived from processes common in the manufacture of windows and doors. Wooden members are commonly ripped or sawed to size in a cross grain direction to form appropriate lengths and widths of wood materials. The by-product of such sawing operations is a substantial quantity of sawdust. In shaping a regular shaped piece of wood into a useful milled shape, wood is commonly passed through machines which selectively removes wood from the piece leaving the useful shape. Such milling operations produces substantial quantities of sawdust or mill tailing by-products. Lastly, when shaped materials are cut to size and mitered joints, butt joints, overlapping joints, mortise and tenon joints are manufactured from pre-shaped wooden members, substantial waste trim is produced. Such large trim pieces are commonly cut and machined to convert the larger objects into wood fiber having dimensions approximating sawdust or mill tailing dimensions. The wood fiber sources of the invention can be blended regardless of particle size and used to make the composite. The fiber stream can be presized to a preferred range or can be sized after blending. Further, the fiber can be pre-pelletized before use in composite manufacture.
Such sawdust material can contain substantial proportions of waste stream by-products. Such by-products include waste polyvinyl chloride or other polymer materials that have been used as coating, cladding or envelope on wooden members; recycled structural members made from thermoplastic materials; polymeric materials from coatings; adhesive components in the form of hot melt adhesives, solvent based adhesives, powdered adhesives, etc.; paints including water based paints, alkyd paints, epoxy paints, etc.; preservatives, anti-fungal agents, anti-bacterial agents, insecticides, etc., and other waste streams common in the manufacture of wooden doors and windows. The total waste stream content of the wood fiber materials is commonly less than 25 wt-% of the total wood fiber input into the polyvinyl chloride wood fiber product. Of the total waste recycle, approximately 10 wt-% of that can comprise a vinyl polymer commonly polyvinyl chloride. Commonly, the intentional recycle ranges from about 1 to about 25 wt-%, preferably about 2 to about 20 wt-%, most commonly from about 3 to about 15 wt-% of contaminants based on the sawdust.
Modifications
The modified cellulosic material of the invention that can be combined with polymer material to form the preferred composite material comprises a cellulosic fiber having surface moieties containing substituent groups having a polarity and composition that matches the polyvinyl chloride material. In a preferred mode the chemical modifier conprises long chain groups that can entangle or associate with the polymer to increase compoatability. Such chains are typically polymeric but can also be long (C 6-36 ) aklyl groups.
As discussed above, compatible polymeric species that can associate with polyvinyl chloride polymers in improving compatibility can be found using either differential scanning calorimetry or surface energy (goniometer) data. Examples of compatible polymer species that can be grafted onto a cellulosic molecule for increasing compatibility include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymers, maleic anhydride butadiene styrene polymers, chlorinated polyethylene polymers, styrene acrylonitrile polymers, alpha styrene acrylonitrile polymers, polymethyl methacrylate polymers, ethylene vinyl acetate polymers, natural rubber polymers, a variety of thermoplastic polyurethane polymers, styrene maleic anhydride polymers, synthetic rubber elastomers, polyacrylicimide polymers, polyacrylamide polymers, polycaprolactone polymers, poly(ethylene-adipate). Such polymeric groups can be reacted with other reactive species to form on the polymeric backbone a group reactive with a cellulosic hydroxyl group to result in a modified cellulose material. Such functional groups include carboxylic anhydrides, epoxides (oxirane), carboxylic acids, carboxylic acid chlorides, isocyanate, lactone, alkyl chloride, nitrile, oxazoline, azide, etc.
Pellet
The polyvinyl chloride and wood fiber can be combined and formed into a pellet using a thermoplastic extrusion processes. Wood fiber, modified or unmodified, can be introduced into pellet making process in a number of sizes. We believe that the wood fiber should have a minimum size of length and width of at least 1 mm because wood flour tends to be explosive at certain wood to air ratios. Further, wood fiber of appropriate size of a aspect ratio greater than 1 tends to increase the physical properties of the extruded structural member. However, useful structural members can be made with a fiber of very large size. Fibers that are up to 3 cm in length and 0.5 cm in thickness can be used as input to the pellet or linear extrudate manufacturing process. However, particles of this size do not produce highest quality structural members or maximized structural strength. The best appearing product with maximized structural properties are manufactured within a range of particle size as set forth below. Further, large particle wood fiber an be reduced in size by grinding or other similar processes that produce a fiber similar to sawdust having the stated dimensions and aspect ratio. One further advantage of manufacturing sawdust of the desired size is that the material can be pre-dried before introduction into the pellet or linear extrudate manufacturing process. Further, the wood fiber can be pre-pelletized into pellets of wood fiber with small amounts of binder if necessary.
During the pelletizing process for the composite pellet, the polyvinyl chloride in an appropriate modification if modified and wood fiber are intimately contacted at high temperatures and pressures to insure that the wood fiber and polymeric material are wetted, mixed and extruded in a form such that the polymer material, on a microscopic basis, coats and flows into the pores, cavity, etc., of the fibers. The fibers are preferably substantially oriented by the extrusion process in the extrusion direction. Such substantial orientation causes overlapping of adjacent parallel fibers and polymeric coating of the oriented fibers resulting a material useful for manufacture of improved structural members with improved physical properties. The degree of orientation is about 20%, preferably 30% above random orientation which is about 45 to 50%. The structural members have substantially increased strength and tensile modulus with a coefficient of thermal expansion and a modulus of elasticity that is optimized for window and doors. The properties are a useful compromise between wood, aluminum and neat polymer.
Moisture control is an important element of manufacturing a useful linear extrudate or pellet. Depending on the equipment used and processing conditions, control of the water content of the linear extrudate or pellet can be important in forming a successful structural member substantially free of internal voids or surface blemishes. The concentration of water present in the sawdust during the formation of pellet or linear extrudate when heated can flash from the surface of the newly extruded structural member and can come as a result of a rapid volatilization, form a steam bubble deep in the interior of the extruded member which can pass from the interior through the hot thermoplastic extrudate leaving a substantial flaw. In a similar fashion, surface water can bubble and leave cracks, bubbles or other surface flaws in the extruded member.
Trees when cut depending on relative humidity and season can contain from 30 to 300 wt-% water based on fiber content. After rough cutting and finishing into sized lumber, seasoned wood can have a water content of from 20 to 30 wt-% based on fiber content. Kiln dried sized lumber cut to length can have a water content typically in the range of 8 to 12%, commonly 8 to 10 wt-% based on fiber. Some wood source, such as poplar or aspen, can have increased moisture content while some hard woods can have reduced water content.
Because of the variation in water content of wood fiber source and the sensitivity of extrudate to water content control of water to a level of less than 8 wt-% in the pellet based on pellet weight is important. Structural members extruded in non-vented extrusion process, the pellet should be as dry as possible and have a water content between 0.01 and 5%, preferably less than 3.5 wt-%. When using vented equipment in manufacturing the extruded linear member, a water content of less than 8 wt-% can be tolerated if processing conditions are such that vented extrusion equipment can dry the thermoplastic material prior to the final formation of the structural member of the extrusion head.
The pellets or linear extrudate of the invention are made by extrusion of the polyvinyl chloride and wood fiber composite through an extrusion die resulting in a linear extrudate that can be cut into a pellet shape. The pellet cross-section can be any arbitrary shape depending on the extrusion die geometry. However, we have found that a regular geometric cross-sectional shape can be useful. Such regular cross-sectional shapes include a triangle, a square, a rectangle, a hexagonal, an oval, a circle, etc. The preferred shape of the pellet is a regular cylinder having a roughly circular or somewhat oval cross-section. The pellet volume is preferably greater than about 12 mm 3 . The preferred pellet is a right circular cylinder, the preferred radius of the cylinder is at least 1.5 mm with a length of at least 1 mm. Preferably, the pellet has a radius of 1 to 5 mm and a length of 1 to 10 mm. Most preferably, the cylinder has a radius of 2.3 to 2.6 mm, a length of 2.4 to 4.7 mm, a volume of 40 to 100 mm 3 , a weight of 40 to 130 mg and a bulk density of about 0.2 to 0.8 gm/mm 3 .
We have found that the interaction, on a microscopic level, between the increased compatible polymer mass and the wood fiber is an important element of the invention. We have found that the physical properties of an extruded member are improved when the polymer melt during extrusion of the pellet or linear member thoroughly wets and penetrates the wood fiber particles improved wetting and penetration is a result of increased compatibility. The thermoplastic material comprises an exterior continuous organic polymer phase with the wood particle dispersed as a discontinuous phase in the continuous polymer phase. The material during mixing and extrusion obtains an aspect ratio of at least 1.1 and preferably between 2 and 4, optimizes orientation such as at least 20 wt-%, preferably 30% of the fibers are oriented in an extruder direction and are thoroughly mixed and wetted by the polymer such that all exterior surfaces of the wood fiber are in contact with the polymer material. This means, that any pore, crevice, crack, passage way, indentation, etc., is fully filled by thermoplastic material. Such penetration as attained by ensuring that the viscosity of the polymer melt is reduced by operations at elevated temperature and the use of sufficient pressure to force the polymer into the available internal pores, cracks and crevices in and on the surface of the wood fiber.
During the pellet or linear extrudate manufacture, substantial work is done in providing a uniform dispersion of the wood into the polymer material. Such work produces substantial orientation which when extruded into a final structural member, permits the orientation of the fibers in the structural member to be increased in the extruder direction resulting in improved structural properties.
The pellet dimensions are selected for both convenience in manufacturing and in optimizing the final properties of the extruded materials. A pellet is with dimensions substantially less than the dimensions set forth above are difficult to extrude, pelletize and handle in storage. Pellets larger than the range recited are difficult to introduce into extrusion or injection molding equipment, and are different to melt and form into a finished structural member.
Composition and Pellet Manufacture
In the manufacture of the composition and pellet of the invention, the manufacture and procedure requires two important steps. A first blending step and a second pelletizing step.
During the blending step, the polymer and wood fiber are intimately mixed by high shear mixing components with recycled material to form a polymer wood composite wherein the polymer mixture comprises a continuous organic phase and the wood fiber with the recycled materials forms a discontinuous phase suspended or dispersed throughout the polymer phase. The manufacture of the dispersed fiber phase within a continuous polymer phase requires substantial mechanical input. Such input can be achieved using a variety of mixing means including preferably extruder mechanisms wherein the materials are mixed under conditions of high shear until the appropriate degree of wetting and intimate contact is achieved. After the materials are fully mixed, the moisture content can be controlled at a moisture removal station. The heated composite is exposed to atmospheric pressure or reduced pressure at elevated temperature for a sufficient period of time to remove moisture resulting in a final moisture content of about 8 wt-% or less. Lastly, the polymer fiber is aligned and extruded into a useful form.
The preferred equipment for mixing and extruding the composition and wood pellet of the invention is an industrial extruder device. Such extruders can be obtained from a variety of manufacturers including Cincinnati Millicron, etc.
The materials feed to the extruder can comprise from about 30 to 50 wt-% of sawdust including recycled impurity along with from about 50 to 70 wt-% of polyvinyl chloride polymer compositions. Preferably, about 35 to 45 wt-% wood fiber or sawdust is combined with 65 to 55 wt-% polyvinyl chloride homopolymer. The polyvinyl chloride feed is commonly in a small particulate size which can take the form of flake, pellet, powder, etc. Any polymer form can be used such that the polymer can be dry mixed with the sawdust to result in a substantially uniform pre-mix. The wood fiber or sawdust input can be derived from a number of plant locations including the sawdust resulting from rip or cross grain sawing, milling of wood products or the intentional commuting or fiber manufacture from waste wood scrap. Such materials can be used directly from the operations resulting in the wood fiber by-product or the by-products can be blended to form a blended product. Further, any wood fiber material alone, or in combination with other wood fiber materials, can be blended with waste stream by-product from the manufacturer of wood windows as discussed above. The wood fiber or sawdust can be combined with other fibers and recycled in commonly available particulate handling equipment.
Polymer and wood fiber are then dry blended in appropriate proportions prior to introduction into blending equipment. Such blending steps can occur in separate powder handling equipment or the polymer fiber streams can be simultaneously introduced into the mixing station at appropriate feed ratios to ensure appropriate product composition.
In a preferred mode, the wood fiber is placed in a hopper, controlled by weight or by volume, to meter the sawdust at a desired volume while the polymer is introduced into a similar hopper have a gravametric metering input system. The weights are adjusted to ensure that the composite material contains appropriate proportions on a weight basis of polymer and wood fiber. The fibers are introduced into a twin screw extrusion device. The extrusion device has a mixing section, a transport section and melt section. Each section has a desired heat profile resulting in a useful product. The materials are introduced into the extruder at a rate of about 600 to about 4000 pounds of material per hour and are initially heated to a temperature of about 215-225° C. In the intake section, the stage is maintained at about 215° C. to 225° C. In the mixing section, the temperature of the twin screw mixing stage is staged beginning at a temperature of about 205-215° C. leading to a final temperature in the melt section of about 195-205° C. at spaced stages. Once the material leaves the blending stage, it is introduced into a three stage extruder with a temperature in the initial section of 185-195° C. wherein the mixed thermoplastic stream is divided into a number of cylindrical streams through a head section and extruded in a final zone of 195-200° C. Such head sections can contain a circular distribution (6-8″ diameter) of 10 to 500 or more, preferably 20 to 250 orifices having a cross-sectional shape leading to the production of a regular cylindrical pellet. As the material is extruded from the head it is cut with a double-ended knife blade at a rotational speed of about 100 to 400 rpm resulting in the desired pellet length.
The following examples were performed to further illustrate the invention that is explained in detail above. The following information illustrates the typical production conditions and compositions and the tensile modulus of a structural member made from the pellet. The following examples and data contain a best mode.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES UNMODIFIED PVC-FIBER COMPOSITE
A Cincinnati millicron extruder with an HP barrel, Cincinnati pelletizer screws, an AEG K-20 pelletizing head with 260 holes, each hole having a diameter of about 0.0200 inches was used to make the pellet. The input to the pelletizer comprised approximately 60 wt-% polymer and 40 wt-% sawdust. The polymer material comprises a thermoplastic mixture of approximately 100 parts of polyvinyl chloride homopolymer (in. weight of 88,000±2000), about 15 parts titanium dioxide, about 2 parts ethylene bis-stearamide wax lubricant, about 1.5 parts calcium stearate, about 7.5 parts Rohm & Haas 980 T acrylic resin impact modifier/process aid and about 2 parts of dimethyl tin thioglycolate. The sawdust comprises a wood fiber particle containing about 5 wt-% recycled polyvinyl chloride having a composition substantially identical to that recited above.
The initial melt temperature in the extruder was maintained between 180° C. and 210° C. The pelletizer was operated at a polyvinyl chloride-sawdust composite combined through put of 800 pounds per hour. In the initial extruder feed zone, the barrel temperature was maintained between 215-225° C. In the intake zone, the barrel was maintained at 215-225° C., in the compression zone the temperature was maintained at between 205-215° C. and in the melt zone the temperature was maintained at 195-205° C. The die was divided into three zones, the first zone at 185-195° C., the second die zone at 185-195° C. and in the final die zone at 195-205° C. The pelletizing head was operated at a setting providing 100 to 300 rpm resulting in a pellet with a diameter of 5 mm and a length of about 1-10 mm.
EXPERIMENTAL
Sample Preparation for Styrene Maleic*
Anhydride Compatibilizer Formulation
Composition (parts by weight)
Run number
PVC compound
saw dust
SMA
1
100
0
0
2
100
0
10
3
90
10
0
4
90
10
10
5
75
25
0
6
75
25
10
7
60
40
0
8
60
40
10
9
50
50
0
10
50
50
10
*In the following work the modifier is referred to by these numbers.
1. SMA used was a random copolymer of styrene and maleic anhydride from ARCO Chemical Company, Dylark 332 with 14% maleic anhydride, MW=190,000
2. VERR40 is a terpolymer of Vinylchloride-vinylacetate-glycidyl methacrylate (82%-9%-9%) with an epoxy functionality of 1.8% by weight
3. Terpolymer used was “Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate-vinyl alcohol” (91%-3%-6%) from Scientific Polymer Products, Inc., MW=70,000.
4. Epoxy used was Dows' DER332 which is a Diglycidyl bisphenol A epoxy
5. Catalyst used was Triethylene amine from Aldrich Chemical Company
6. ATBN rubber used was Goodrich's “HYCAR 1300X45” which is an “amine terminated butadiene acrylonitrile copolymer
1. Sawdust Preparation
Ponderosa Pine Sawdust ground and sieved to provide 80% 40-60 mesh and <15% fines Sawdust is dried to <1% moisture
2. PVC Compound 100 parts of Geon Resin 427 and 1 part of a methyltin mercaptide (Advastab TM 181 Methyltin Mercaptide) are blended in a high intensity mixer to temperature of 150° F. 1.7 parts of a fatty acid ester (Loxiol VGE 1884, and 0.4 part of an oxidized polyethylene (AC 629-A) are added and the PVC compound is mixed for an additional 4 minutes. (Standard Mixing procedures)
3. Styrene Maleic Anhydride
The SMA was Dylark 332 from ARCO chemical contains 14-15% maleic anhydride and molecular weight of approximately 170,000
4. 2×5 full factorial matrix
SMA was either 0, or 10 parts Sawdust was 0, 10, 25, 40, or 50 parts PVC varied inversely with the sawdust 100, 90, 75, 60, or 50 parts such that the PVC and saw dust parts added up to 100 parts
5. Mixing of PVC, Sawdust, and SMA
Mixing of PVC, Sawdust, and SMA was done on a Hobart “dough” mixer.
6. Extrusion
The formulations were fed into a twin screw counter rotating extruder and extruded as a 1″×0.1″ strip.
7. Second Pass through Extruder
Strips from #6 above were ground into pellets with a Cumberland grinder and fed into the twin screw extruder for a second time.
Tensile Testing
Tensile testing was performed in accordance with ASTM Method 3039M on an Instron 4505
TABLE 1
Tensile Properties
Composition (parts by weight)
% strain @
Run number
PVC compound
saw dust
SMA
Modulus
max load
stress
1
100
0
0
536,533
2.772
2
100
0
10
494,010
2.535
3
90
10
0
579,925
2.746
4
90
10
10
573,448
2.452
5
75
25
0
829,455
1.819
6
75
25
10
844,015
1.548
7
60
40
0
1,112,819
1.145
8
60
40
10
1,039,749
1.168
9
50
50
0
1,254,213
0.843
10
50
50
10
1,174,936
0.965
These data show the chemical modification has no significant impact on modulus, but has a significant increase in both % strain and in stress values.
Soxhlet Extraction
Five gram samples from test strips were extracted for 24 hours with hot tetrahydrofuran to determine percent resin bound to sawdust.
PVC
WF
SMA
% Retain
NNC3
2% M.C.
—
38.83
NNC3
2% M.C.
332-10%
43.88
NNC3
wet, 40%
—
41.21
NNC3
wet, 40%
332-10%
47.25
NNC3
wet, 40%
Butadiene-Man
48.39
NNC3
0
SMA332
30.61
These data show that the SMA reacts with and is bonded to the wood fiber to increase compatibility.
Sample Preparation for Vinyl Chloride Vinyl Acetate
Glycidyl Methacrylate Compatibilizer Formulation
Composition (parts by weight)
Run number
PVC compound
saw dust
VERR-40
1
100
0
0
2
96
0
4
3
90
0
10
4
60
40
0
5
57.6
40
2.4
6
54
40
6
1. Sawdust Preparation
Ponderosa Pine Sawdust ground and sieved to provide 80% 40-60 mesh and <15% fines.
Sawdust is dried to <1% moisture
2. PVC Compound
100 parts of Geon Resin 427 and 2 parts of a methyltin mercaptide (Advastab TM 181 Methyltin Mercaptide) are blended in a high intensity mixer to temperature of 150° F. 0.5 parts of a paraffin wax (XL 165), 0.8 parts of an oxidized polyethylene (AC 629-A) are added and the PVC compound is mixed for an additional 4 minutes (Standard Mixing procedures)
3. Vinyl Chloride Vinyl Acetate glycidyl methacrylate
The Vinyl Chloride Vinyl Acetate glycidyl methacrylate (82%-9%-9% by mole) was UCAR VERR-40 from Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics contains 9% glycidyl methacrylate and comes as a 40% solution in toluene and methyl ethyl ketone.
4. 2×3 full factorial matrix
VERR-40 was either 0, 4, or 10 parts of the PVC compound based on the weight of the solids. Sawdust was 0 or 40 parts PVC+the VERR-40 varied inversely with the sawdust 100, or 60, parts such that the PVC+VERR-40 and sawdust parts added up to 100 parts.
5. Mixing of PVC, Sawdust, and VERR-40
Mixing of PVC, Sawdust, and VERR-40 was done on a Hobart “dough” mixer. The VERR-40 was diluted with an additional 50 ml acetone and added to the sawdust first and mixed to provide even dispersion of VERR-40 on the sawdust. Then the PVC was added with continued mixing.
6. Extrusion
The formulations were fed into a twin screw counter rotating extruder and extruded as a 1″×0.1″ strip.
7. Tensile Testing
Tensile testing was performed in accordance with ASTM method D3039 on an Instron 4505
Tensile Properties
Composition (parts by weight)
% strain @
Run number
PVC compound
saw dust
VERR-40
Modulus
max load
stress
1
100
0
0
501,236
3.301
8458.6
2
96
0
4
488,245
2.741
7493.7
3
90
0
10
459,835
2.951
6833
4
60
40
0
1,143,393
0.949
6384.5
5
57.6
40
2.4
1,230,761
0.961
6688.9
6
54
40
6
1,273,530
0.889
6969.3
These data show significant improvement in stress with no substanial loss in modulus.
8. Soxhlet Extraction
Five gram samples from test strips were extracted for 24 hours with hot tetrahydrofuran to determine percent resin bound to sawdust. Only samples of 40% sawdust were extracted. The initial weight minus the retain after extraction—the weight of the sawdust gives the amount of resin attached to the wood.
Soxhlet Extraction Data
Composite with
Percent
40% sawdust
resin retain
10% VERR-40
5.6
4% VERR-40
2.6
10% SMA #1
7.4
Control
1.0
Fusion bowl data confirm the covalent reaction between wood fiber and SMA #1 resin. An increase in the equilibrium torque shows substantial reaction. In case 1, no fiber is used. In case 2, fiber is combined with no reactive resin and polystyrene a nonreactive resin. The equilibrium torque in the presence of fiber and substantial quantities of reactive SMA resin shows a 52% increase. Similar data is shown in case 3 using fiber and a styrene maleic anhydride modifier material.
The following data shows that modified polyvinyl chloride polymer can also improve physical properties of the composite material. Further, the data shows the thermoplastic nature of the modified material. The modified material can be formed in a modified state, ground and reprocessed under thermoplastic conditions with no substantial change in physical properties.
Fusion Bowl Data
Compound: PVC, TM181 1 phr*, calcium stearate
1.5 phr, oxidized polyethylene, 0.8 phr, Paraffin 0.8 phr
%
Additive
AWF
Eq. Tqe
Increase
Case 1
—
—
2135
0.00
(1) 10% SMA 332
—
2182
2.20
10% PS
—
1598
−25.15
Case 2
—
40% Dried
1795
0.00
(1) 10% SMA 332
40% Dried
2730
52.09
10% PS
40% Dried
1891
5.35
Case 3
—
40% Dried
1883
0.00
(1) 10% SMA 332
40% Dried
3799
101.75
(3) 10% PolySci
40% Dried
3926
108.50
SMA
*phr = parts per hundred parts resin
Fusion Bowl Operation:
Fusion bowl is a Brabender mixer of the type 6 with roller blades. The mixer was heated to 185° C. A charge of 62 grams was fed into the mixer with the blades rotating at 65 rpm. Automatic data acquisition software facilitated continuous recording of torque and material temperature. Any chemical interaction such as bonding between the compatibilizer and the sawdust results in an increase in the torque. Too much reaction would increase the torque and thus the temperature to an extent that PVC degrades. PVC degradation shows up as discoloration to black and also HCL fumes. Thus the fusion bowl can be used to monitor reactions between various ingredients.
Vinyl Chloride Terpolymer
A conventional polyvinyl chloride wood fiber composite as shown above in the comparative examples was modified using a vinyl chloride/vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol #3 terpolymer (91%-3%-6% by mole) MW=70,000, coupled with a diglycidyl bisphenol A (DERR 332). The following data table shows the presence of the terpolymer improves tensile stress with no substantial loss in modulus.
(3)
Terpolymer
Modulus
Elongation
Stress
0
1045094
1.173
5896
3
1056674
1.054
6637
5
1046822
1.121
6351
8
1027874
1.155
6452
10
1047205
1.096
6715
0
1047415
1.121
6206
3
1039648
1.034
6421
5
1069781
1.037
6909
8
1052043
1.056
7237
We have found that an increase in impact strength is obtained by adding a compatibilizing agent containing a rubber molecule moiety. The material is terpolymer as above coupled with the rubber and polymer with and epoxy diamine HYCAR1300X45 terminated butadiene acrylonitrile rubber component HYCAR1300X45. The use of the rubber containing chemical modifier substantially increases the impact strength.
Impact
Terpolymer
Epoxy
TEA
Strength
6
5.64
0
8.0/0.6
6
5.64
15
(6) 1% ATBN,
applied
to sawdust
6
5.64
0
6
5.64
15
10.4/0.4
Similarly, the materials shown in the table below were manufactured and recycled as shown. Pass 1 shows that the modified material has a similar tensile stress elongation and modulus as the other materials in the table. Pass 2 is a second extrusion of the material of pass 1. The physical properties are not different significantly showing substantial thermoplastic character.
Tensile
Terpolymer
Epoxy
TEA
Modulus
Elongation
Stress
0
0
0
1033518
1.08
5826
0
0
0
1036756
1.056
5889
5
0
0
1045985
1.049
6325
Pass 1
3
15
1073853
0.98
7001
5
Pass 2
3
15
1098495
1.007
7150
5
Similarly, a terpolymer comprising vinyl chloride vinyl acetate and vinyl alcohol is coupled with the polymer using an epoxy functionality VERR40 (1.8 wt %). The use of such a material as a polymer modifier results in a substantial increase in tensile strength. Data supporting this conclusion is shown in the following table.
(3)
(4)
(5)
Elongation
Stress
Terpolymer
Epoxy
TEA
Modulus
at max load
max load
0
0
0
1048353
1.114
5990
0
0
15
1059081
1.032
6233
0
4
—
994857
1.07
5735
0
4
15%
1089991
0.997
6500
6
0
—
1059950
1.084
6610
6
0
15%
1054579
1.04
6895
3
3
—
1104357
1.059
6174
3
3
15%
1142600
0.988
6701
5
3
—
1092483
0.998
6299
5
3
15%
1106976
0.979
6952
8
3
—
1104892
1.005
6438
8
3
15%
1126601
0.988
7093
8
5
—
1288699
0.908
6497
8
5
15%
1111775
0.907
7123
5
5
—
1137586
0.963
6383
5
5
15%
1115420
0.923
7105
3
5
—
1110601
0.972
6163
3
5
15%
The foregoing disclosure provides an explanation of the compositions and properties of the modified Thermoplastic material. Many alterations, variations and modifications of the invention arising in the extruded material can be made by substitution of equivalent modifier materials, rearrangement of the compositions, variations of the proportions, etc. Accordingly, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
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The invention relates to a composition comprising a thermoplastic polymer and wood fiber composite that can be used in the form of a linear extrudate or thermoplastic pellet to manufacture structural members. The polymer, the fiber or both can be modified to increase compatibility. The wood fiber composite structural members can be manufactured in an extrusion process or an injection molding process. The linear extrudate or pellet can have a cross-section of any arbitrary shape, or can be a regular geometric. The pellet can have a cross-section shape having a volume of at least about 12 mm 3 . Preferably the pellet is a right cylindrical pellet having a minimum radius of about 1.5 mm and a minimum length of 1 mm weighing at least 14 mg. The invention also relates to an environmentally sensitive recycle of waste streams. The polymer and wood fiber composite contains an intentional recycle of a waste stream comprising polymer flakes or particles or wood fiber. The waste stream can comprises, in addition to polymer such as polyvinyl chloride or wood fiber, adhesive, paint, preservative, or other chemical stream common in the wood-window or door manufacturing process, or mixtures thereof. The initial mixing step before extrusion of the composite material insures substantial mixing and melt contact between molten polymer and wood fiber. The extruded pellet comprises a consistent proportion of polymer, wood fiber and water. During the extrusion, water is removed intentionally to dry the material to a maximum water content of less than about 10 wt-% based on the pellet weight. To make a structural unit, the pellet is introduced into an extruder or injection molding apparatus wherein, under conditions of temperature and pressure, the composite pellet material is shaped into a useful cross-section. Alternatively, the extruded thermoplastic mass, in the form of a elongated linear extrudate without a pelletizing step, can be immediately directed after formation into an extruder or injection molding apparatus.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present technology relates to surgical procedural devices. The present technology can be used, for example, to attach soft tissue such as tendinous tissue to a bone prosthesis.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Certain surgical procedures require the resection of bone where critical soft tissues, such as tendons, ligaments and muscles, in particular the patella tendon, attach to the bone. It has been difficult to secure attachment of these soft tissues to prosthesis for multiple reasons.
First, in natural attachment to bone, there is transition region of soft tissue to bone (i.e., muscle-tendon-bone) that has a gradual change from flexible to rigid. In the reattachment of soft tissue to bone, this transition region is often lost resulting in failure of the soft tissue prosthesis interface from the flexibility of soft tissue to the very rigid metal implant.
Second, in certain procedures resection of surrounding soft tissues along with bony resections are required (i.e., resection to obtain adequate surgical margins during the removal of bone cancer such as osteosarcoma). This soft tissue resection often leaves the remaining soft tissues too short to reach their original attachment sites, even if adequate method of attachment directly to metal were available.
Currently, several methods are used to create a functional bridge between soft tissue and prosthesis, which exhibit limited success. Where there exists enough length for the soft tissue to reach the prosthesis, the soft tissue is often sutured directly to the prosthesis. Advances have been made in the material and surface treatment of the attachment sites (i.e., the use of porous or foam metals) to improve and promote the in-growth of soft tissue after surgery. However, the relative stiffness of these attachment sites compared to the soft tissue being attached continues to be a problem.
When soft tissue length is not adequate to reach the natural attachment site on the prosthesis, a graft is sometimes used to create a bridge. Autograft (via transplant or flap) can help to provide additional functional length of the soft tissue, but does not address the stiffness issue. Also, function of the graft host site is reduced. Allograft is also an option, however, again stiffness is not addressed and known issues of rejection and/or lack of integration with the graft tissue exist. Synthetic materials such as aorta-graft materials have been used to create a sleeve or bridge between the prosthesis and bone. This can address the stiffness issue at the soft tissue attachment site. However, the lack of direct integration of the synthetic material with the prosthesis means that long term loads must be borne by sutures or other suitable materials are used to secure the graft to the prosthesis. As a result, failure of the interface merely moves from the soft tissue/prosthesis interface to the graft/prosthesis interface.
In all of the above cases, the preparation and attachment of all of these grafts requires significant time and effort during the surgical setting, which exposes the patient to additional OR time in what can be an already lengthy surgical procedure.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present technology provides a prosthetic bone implant, the bone implant forming one side of a joint and comprising a prosthesis and a soft tissue attachment component connected to the bone implant and extending outwardly therefrom and towards a joint line. The soft tissue attachment component may be moveable with respect to the prosthesis while connected thereto. Furthermore, the soft tissue attachment may extend beyond the joint line and have a first end and a second end, the first end configured to attach to the prosthesis and the second end including a tip, such as, for example, a forked tip configured to engage a soft tissue.
In one embodiment, the prosthetic bone implant may further comprise a plurality of filaments attached to the soft tissue attachment component, wherein the filaments are configured to connect the soft tissue attachment component to soft tissue. Alternatively, the soft tissue attachment component may have a first end and a second end, the first end configured to attach to the prosthesis and the second end including a plug configured for attachment to bone. In yet another embodiment, the soft tissue attachment component may have a first end and a second end, the first end configured to attach to the prosthesis and the second end attached to a replacement or resurfacing element for a bony structure. The soft tissue attachment component may be formed integrally with the replacement or resurfacing element. Furthermore, the soft tissue attachment component may have a sufficient length to provide attachment to a piece of soft tissue that has been at least partially resected.
The soft tissue attachment may extend from a region of the prosthetic configured to promote ingrowth or on-growth of the soft tissue, such as a porous or foam metal, and hence load share with the soft tissue. The soft tissue attachment mechanism may extend toward or beyond the soft tissues natural attachment site from a region distal to (away from the joint line) the natural attachment site so that when tissue prosthesis integration occurs, it will be at the natural site.
In another embodiment, the prosthesis and the soft tissue attachment component may be formed as a one-piece construct. Alternatively, the prosthesis and the soft tissue attachment mechanism may be configured to be connected at the time of surgery. In addition, the soft tissue attachment component may be configured to be modified by a surgeon according to the size and tension needs of a particular procedure.
The soft tissue attachment component of the prosthetic bone implant may be composed of a material that is either synthetic or biologic, or a composite of synthetic and biologic materials. Furthermore, the soft tissue attachment component may be composed of a material that is biodegradable or bioresorbable such that over time it is replaced by natural tissue. Still furthermore, the soft tissue attachment component may be at least partially porous. In one embodiment, the soft tissue attachment component may have a variable porosity throughout its length or throughout its cross section, or throughout both its length and its cross section.
The soft tissue attachment component of the prosthetic bone implant may be composed at least in part of a material selected from the group consisting of silk mesh or resorbable mesh, Dacron, polytetra fluoroethylene, Texturized or Open-weave poly(ethylene terephthalate), waterswolen poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), polydioxanone, PDO/Elastin Weave, polyurethane, aromatic porous polyurethane, poly-(L-lactic acid), Polyetheretherketone, allograft or xenograft tendon or ligament, small-intestinal submucosa, collagen, cell seeded collagen matrices, hydrogels, Chitosan, or other known cell scaffold materials.
A further aspect of the invention provides a method of securing soft tissue to a prosthetic bone implant. The method may comprise implanting a joint bone prosthesis adjacent to a joint at or near a natural soft tissue attachment site, the prosthesis connected to a one-piece soft tissue attachment component. The method may also include suturing the soft tissue attachment component to the natural soft tissue with filaments.
In one embodiment of the method, the step of attaching the soft tissue attachment component to natural soft tissue may include fixing the natural soft tissue between the prongs of a forked end of the soft tissue attachment component. In another embodiment, attaching the soft tissue attachment component to natural soft tissue may include suturing the natural soft tissue to the soft tissue attachment component with filaments connected to the end of the soft tissue attachment component. Other embodiments may include attaching the soft tissue attachment component to a bony structure by implanting a plug into the bony structure, wherein the plug is connected to the soft tissue attachment component, or attaching the soft tissue attachment component to a bony structure by fixing a replacement or resurfacing component to the bony structure, where the replacement or resurfacing component is connected to the soft tissue attachment component.
As used herein when referring to bones or other parts of the body, the term “proximal” means close to the heart and the term “distal” means more distant from the heart. The term “inferior” means toward the feet and the term “superior” means toward the head. The term “anterior” means toward the front part or the face and the term “posterior” means toward the back of the body. The term “medial” means toward the midline of the body and the term “lateral” means away from the midline of the body.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present technology will be better understood on reading the following detailed description of nonlimiting embodiments thereof, and on examining the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 a is an isometric view of a prosthetic tibial implant including the soft tissue attachment device of the present invention;
FIG. 1 b is a lateral view of the tibial implant including soft tissue attachment device of the present invention;
FIG. 1 c is an anterior view of the prosthetic tibia shown in FIGS. 1 a and 1 b;
FIG. 1 d is a top view of the prosthetic tibial components of FIGS. 1 a through 1 c showing the superior surfaces thereof;
FIG. 2 a is a prosthetic tibia including a modular soft tissue attachment device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 b is a lateral view of the tibia of FIG. 2 a showing the soft tissue attachment device spaced anteriorly of the tibia;
FIG. 3 a is an alternate prosthetic component having a receptacle for receiving soft tissue as shown;
FIG. 3 b is an anterior view of the prosthetic component of FIG. 3 a;
FIG. 4 a is an isometric view of a prosthetic tibial implant having yet an additional alternate embodiment of the soft tissue attachment device of the present invention;
FIG. 4 b is an anterior view of the prosthetic tibial component of FIG. 4 a;
FIG. 4 c is a lateral view of the prosthetic tibial components of FIGS. 4 a and 4 b;
FIG. 4 d is a top view of the prosthetic tibial component of FIGS. 4 a through 4 c joining the superior surface of the component;
FIG. 5 a is an isometric view of yet another alternate soft tissue attachment device of the present invention showing a tibial prosthesis with a proximally extending soft tissue attachment component with resurfacing element;
FIG. 5 b is a posterior view of the prosthetic tibial component of FIG. 5 a;
FIG. 5 c is a lateral view of the prosthetic tibial component of FIGS. 5 a and 5 b;
FIG. 5 d is an anterior view of the soft tissue attachment device of FIGS. 5 a - 5 c;
FIG. 5 e is a top view of the prosthetic femoral components of FIGS. 5 a - 5 d;
FIG. 6 a is an isometric view of yet another embodiment of the soft tissue attachment device of the present invention;
FIG. 6B is an isometric view of the embodiment of FIG. 6A with the soft tissue attachment element disassembled from the prosthetic tibia;
FIG. 7 a is a front view of an additional embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 b is an isometric view of the ultimate embodiment of FIG. 7A with the prosthetic patellar element removed; and
FIG. 7 c is a posterior view of the embodiment of FIGS. 7 a and 7 b with the prosthetic patella disassembled from the soft tissue attachment device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In describing preferred embodiments of the medical device of the present technology, reference will be made to directional nomenclature used in describing the human body. It is noted that this nomenclature is used only for convenience and that it is not intended to be limiting with respect to the scope or structure of the invention. When referring to specific directions, the device is understood to be described only with respect to its orientation and position during an exemplary application to the human body.
Referring to FIGS. 1 a through 1 d there is shown a preferred embodiment of a prosthetic tibial component generally denoted as 10 , which may be part of modular oncology system such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,081. In such a system large portions of diseased bones are removed and replaced by prosthetic implants such as the proximal tibia. The tibial prosthesis includes a proximal tibial portion 12 and a proximally extending soft tissue attachment device 14 . In the preferred embodiment, soft tissue attachment device 14 includes a stem portion 16 , which is coupled to the proximal end 18 of prosthetic tibia 12 . The device 14 may be one-piece with the proximal tibia such as by being integrally cast therewith or welded thereon. Other techniques such as Selector Laser Melting (SLM) or compression molding may also be used.
Soft tissue attachment device 14 includes first and second arms 20 and 22 , which form a generally U-shaped slot 24 . Slot 24 is designed to receive a portion of the patellar tendon. Arms 20 and 22 merge at a junction 26 to form stem 16 . In the preferred embodiment, the proximal superior facing surface of tibial prosthesis 12 is a planar surface 28 . While a U-shaped slot is shown, other shape slots may also be used.
In the preferred embodiment, surface 28 includes four proximally extending flange portions 30 , 32 , 34 , and 36 . Flange portions 30 , 32 , 34 , and 36 are designed to receive a prosthetic bearing surface which, in the preferred embodiment, is made of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). However, the bearing component may be made of other polymeric or metal materials suitable for prosthetic bearings. When a UHMWPE insert (not shown) is utilized, it may be snapped and locked in recessed grooves 38 , 40 , 42 , and 44 formed in flanges 30 , 32 , 34 , and 36 , respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 2 a and 2 b , there is shown a modular connection between the proximally extending tendon attachment device 14 and the proximal portion 18 of tibia prosthesis 12 . The modular attachment includes a flange or plate element 40 having a pair of through holes 42 for receiving screws (not shown), which engage with threaded bores 44 and 46 in tibial prosthesis 12 . Threaded bores 44 and 46 are preferably formed in a recessed area 48 formed in the anterior facing surface of the proximal tibia portion 18 . The recess preferably has a distal surface 50 , which receives a bottom surface 52 of flange portion 40 of the proximally extending stem portion 16 tendon attachment device 14 . Surface 50 provides support for distal surface 52 . As discussed above, stem portion 16 is fixedly attached to or integral with flange portion 40 . The stem portion 16 may be attached by welding so that the tendon attachment device 14 is made one piece with flange portion 40 .
Referring to FIG. 2 b , flange portion 40 includes a proximally facing surface 54 , which engages a distally facing surface 56 on the recessed portion 48 of prosthetic tibial component 12 . Thus flange portion 40 , once assembled, is prevented from proximal-distal movement by surfaces 50 and 56 of recess 48 .
Referring to FIGS. 3 a and 3 b , there is shown an alternate method of attaching a tendon 60 . In this embodiment the plurality of filaments are woven or stitched into soft tissue similar to suturing.
Referring to FIGS. 4 a through 4 d , there is shown yet an additional embodiment of the proximally extending tendon attachment device of the present invention. In this embodiment, prosthetic tibia 12 remains essentially unchanged with an alternate tendon attachment device 14 a having a stem 16 a attached to an anteriorly facing surface of proximal portion 18 of tibia prosthesis 12 . The tendon attachment area includes four spaced arms 70 , 72 , 74 , and 76 , which form U-shaped open areas facing anteriorly and posteriorly as well as medially and laterally. A proximally facing elongate pin 78 is provided. The four spaced arms 70 , 72 , 74 and 76 are attached to the soft tissue in the same manner as described with respect to FIG. 1 after the plug is implanted into the patella for load sharing. Pin 78 can be cylindrical or can have other shapes.
Referring to FIGS. 5 a through 5 e , there is shown yet an additional design for the proximally extending tendon attachment device wherein, again the tibial prosthetic portion 12 remains the same. However, in this embodiment, a proximally extending tendon attachment device 14 b includes a stem portion 16 b attached to the anteriorly facing surface of the tibial prosthesis 12 . A resurfacing portion 80 is provided at the proximal end of the stem 16 b , which the resurfacing portion includes three pointed pins 82 , 84 , and 86 . Pins 82 , 84 , and 86 extend anteriorly from an anterior surface 88 of resurfacing portion 80 . The posterior surface of resurfacing element 80 includes a smooth portion 90 , which may be part spherical in shape. Part spherical surface 90 may act as a prosthetic patellar surface once the patella is attached to pins 82 , 84 , and 86 . In this embodiment, the stem 16 b and attachment device 14 b may extend anteriorly and proximally to locate surface 90 of resurfacing portion 80 at the proper location for engaging a trochlear groove of a prosthetic femoral component (not shown).
Referring to FIGS. 6 a and 6 b there is shown an alternate embodiment in which a soft tissue attachment element such as a patellar tendon attachment element 200 is coupled to a prosthetic tibial component 212 by clamping element 202 . Attachment element 200 has a curved distal portion 204 which sits in a groove 206 formed in a recess 208 in the anterior portion of component 212 . Portion 204 is clamped within recess 206 by clamp 202 . Clamp 202 includes a pair of apertures 210 for receiving screws (not shown) which thread into threaded bores 214 formed in the anterior surface of component 212 in the area of recess 208 . Soft tissue attachment element 200 includes an anteriorly extending portion 216 which forms a proximal part of curved distal end portion 204 . Portion 216 fits within cut-out 218 of clamp 202 when the soft tissue attachment element 200 is assembled as shown in FIG. 6A .
Referring to FIGS. 7 a - 7 c , a proximal tibial component 312 with an integral soft tissue attachment element 300 integrally formed therewith such as by welding or casting. Soft tissue attachment element 300 includes a proximal end 302 having a plurality of through holes 304 for receiving the pegged posterior receiving peg elements 306 of a prosthetic patellar component 308 . A small protrusion 310 is formed on the anterior face of proximal end 302 of soft tissue attachment element 300 . Protrusion 310 extends into a recessed bore 312 formed on the posterior face of prosthetic patella 308 . As in all of the other embodiments the proximal surface 328 includes locking elements 314 for fixing a ultra high molecular weight polyethylene bearing surface to the proximal tibia. Such structures are well known in the art.
While the soft tissue attachment element is described herein in relation to a tibia similar elements may be used with a femoral knee joint prosthesis component, an elbow prosthesis component or a humeral prosthetic component or any other suitable locations where soft tissue is attached to bone.
Although the technology herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present technology. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present technology as defined by the appended claims.
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A prosthetic bone implant, the bone implant forming one side of a joint and including a prosthesis and a soft tissue attachment component. The soft tissue attachment component is connected to the bone implant and extends outwardly therefrom and towards a joint line. The soft tissue attachment component is moveable with respect to the prosthesis while connected thereto.
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[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional application 61/158,160 filed Mar. 6, 2009, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
[0002] The present disclosure relates to utility vehicles or low speed vehicles with multiples modes of use.
[0003] The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
[0004] Vehicle users continue to demand increased utility and functionality for utility vehicles. To this end, these users demand increased flexibility for storage and seating in utility-type vehicles. Increasing the flexibility and functionality of a utility vehicle allows the utility vehicles to be utilized more often and to perform additional tasks. Thus, increasing the functionality of a utility vehicle can increase its usefulness and its utilization. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a utility vehicle that can have its functionality altered to perform different tasks.
[0005] It would be further advantageous if the switching of the functionality of the utility vehicles were able to be accomplished quickly and easily. Moreover, it would be advantageous if no special tools or any tools at all were necessary to change the functionality of the utility vehicle. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a utility vehicle having a functionality that can be easily and quickly changed and the changing operation can be performed without the use of tools.
[0006] More particularly, it has become common in various communities, retirement communities and golf communities to have vehicles to transport people around a community. These vehicles could be similar to golf carts and can carry multiple persons. Some of the carts can be golf carts with rear facing seats. Others may be convertible between a utility vehicle and a golf cart, see for example U.S. Patent application publication number 20070057526, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. It would be advantageous to improve the functionality of this vehicle.
[0007] To satisfy this need, a low speed vehicle comprises a frame; a driver seat mounted to the frame; a rear facing side by side passenger seat mounted behind the driver seat, the rear facing passenger seat having a down position for use with passengers and an upright position for storage when no passengers. A rear wall is positioned intermediate the driver seat and the rear facing passenger seat. A security bar is positioned intermediate the side by side positions of the rear facing passenger seat, and the security bar has an upright position for use with passengers and a down position for use with no passengers. A latching assembly has a first latch mechanism located on the rear facing passenger seat proximate the security bar, a second latch mechanism on the security bar, and a third latch mechanism positioned on the rear wall, wherein when the rear facing passenger seat is down, the first latch mechanism is latched to the second latch mechanism to hold the security bar up, and when the rear facing passenger seat is folded up, the first latch mechanism is unlatched from the second latching mechanism, and the first latch mechanism is latched to the third latching mechanism.
[0008] In another aspect, a low speed vehicle comprises a frame; a driver seat mounted to the frame; a rear facing side by side passenger seat mounted behind the driver seat, where the rear facing passenger seat has a down position for use with passengers and an upright position for storage when no passengers. A rear wall is positioned intermediate the driver seat and the rear facing passenger seat and a security bar is positioned intermediate the side by side positions of the rear facing passenger seat. The security bar has an upright position for use with passengers and a down position for use with no passengers, wherein when in the down position, the security bar may be folded up with the passenger seat.
[0009] In yet another aspect, a low speed vehicle, comprises a frame; rear vehicle operational lights mounted to the frame; a driver seat mounted to the frame; a rear facing passenger seat mounted behind the driver seat; and a foot pedestal attached to the frame. The foot pedestal has a first position for use with rear facing passengers, and an upright position for use with no passengers, the foot pedestal has an operating position angled towards the vehicle at an angle of between 5° and 10° elevated from horizontal to allow the passengers feet to be angled up relative to the ground.
[0010] In yet another aspect, a low speed vehicle, comprises a frame; rear vehicle operational lights mounted to the frame; a driver seat mounted to the frame; a rear facing passenger seat mounted behind the driver seat; and a foot pedestal attached to the frame. The foot pedestal has a first position for use with rear facing passengers, and an upright position for use with no passengers. The foot pedestal has openings therethrough at locations proximate the rear vehicle operational lights, to view the rear vehicle operational lights from a rear thereof when the foot pedestal is in the upright position.
[0011] In yet another aspect, a low speed vehicle, comprises a frame; a driver seat, comprising a seat bottom and a seat back; front pillars mounted to the frame forward of the driver seat on left and right hand sides of the vehicle; rear pillars mounted to the frame rearward of the driver seat on left and right hand sides of the vehicle; a longitudinal frame member extending between each of the front and rear pillars; and a canopy operatively connected to the front and rear pillars. The canopy is spaced from at least a part of the longitudinal frame member to allow the driver and or passenger to use the longitudinal frame members as hand holds.
[0012] In another aspect, a low speed vehicle, comprises a frame; a driver seat mounted to the frame; a rear facing passenger seat mounted behind the driver seat; and a foot pedestal attached to the frame. The foot pedestal has a first position for use with rear facing passengers, and an upright position for use with no passengers, the foot pedestal being operational as a rear bumper in either the upright or down position.
[0013] In yet another embodiment, a low speed vehicle comprises a frame; a driver seat mounted to the frame; a drivetrain; fixed brackets mounted to opposite side of the frame; and an axle, having axle brackets attached thereto, in general lateral alignment with the fixed brackets. Trailing links extend between the fixed brackets and the axle brackets, and a linear force elements extend between the axle and the frame. A cross link extending between and movably attached to the fixed brackets and the axle.
[0014] Finally, a low speed vehicle may comprise a frame; a driver seat, comprising a seat bottom and a seat back; a driver seat adjustment mechanism positioned intermediate the frame and the driver seat back, where the driver seat adjustment mechanism allows the seat back to move with vertical and horizontal components.
[0015] The present teachings are merely exemplary and variations to the teachings can be employed. For example, the utility vehicle can be in a configuration other than that of a golf car. Additionally, the various interchangeable accessories can be modified to correspond to the contour of the utility vehicle upon which the interchangeable accessories are to be utilized. Additionally, the latching and locking members and mechanisms can be altered to accommodate different engaging features on the utility vehicle. Thus, such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present teachings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of the low speed vehicle showing the rear passenger area in an operational mode;
[0017] FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view similar to that of FIG. 1 , showing the rear passenger area modified for use as a golf cart;
[0018] FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the low speed vehicle frame and drivetrain;
[0019] FIG. 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 showing an underside perspective view;
[0020] FIG. 5 is similar to that of FIG. 4 showing a frontal underside perspective view;
[0021] FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the portion identified in FIG. 3 ;
[0022] FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the portion identified in FIG. 4 ;
[0023] FIGS. 8A and 8B are enlarged fragmentary views of the rear suspension from opposite perspectives;
[0024] FIGS. 9-11 show various perspective views of the seat bottom assembly for passenger rear facing seat, showing the security bar in the upright position;
[0025] FIGS. 13 and 14 show upper and lower perspective views of the rear facing passenger seat assembly with the security bar in the down position;
[0026] FIG. 15 shows an enlarged view of the portion identified in FIG. 11 ;
[0027] FIG. 16 shows an enlarged view of the latch of FIG. 15 ;
[0028] FIG. 17 is a view similar to that of FIG. 16 from a different perspective;
[0029] FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view through lines 18 - 18 of FIG. 17 ;
[0030] FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view similar to that of FIG. 18 showing the latch in the locked position;
[0031] FIGS. 20-23 show diagrammatical views of the passenger seat assembly changing between the four passenger mode and the golf cart mode;
[0032] FIG. 24 shows a rear perspective view of the rear foot pedestal assembly;
[0033] FIG. 25 shows an enlarged view of the portion identified in FIG. 24 ;
[0034] FIG. 26 shows an alternate perspective view of the foot pedestal of FIG. 24 ;
[0035] FIGS. 27 and 28 show side plan views of the foot pedestal of FIG. 24 in the down and up positions, respectively;
[0036] FIG. 29 is a rear plan view of the vehicle in the golf cart mode;
[0037] FIG. 30 shows an enlarged view of the portion identified in FIG. 29 ;
[0038] FIG. 31 is a top perspective view of the vehicle frame together with the canopy and the pedestals in position;
[0039] FIG. 32 is an underside perspective view of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 31 ;
[0040] FIG. 33 is an enlarged view showing the portion identified in FIG. 32 ;
[0041] FIG. 34 is an enlarged view of the portion identified in FIG. 32 ;
[0042] FIG. 35 shows a front perspective view of the driver and front passenger seat back assembly;
[0043] FIG. 36 shows a rear perspective view of the assembly of FIG. 35 ;
[0044] FIG. 37 shows a rear perspective view of the actuator assembly shown in FIG. 36 ; and
[0045] FIG. 38 shows a front perspective view of the actuator of FIG. 37 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0046] With reference first to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the low speed vehicle 2 is shown in two different two modes; FIG. 1 shows a first mode where the vehicle may be used to transport four persons, and FIG. 2 shows the vehicle in a golf cart mode. The vehicle 2 is shown generally including a front end 4 , a rear end 6 , and a frame 8 ( FIG. 2 ) supported by front wheels 10 and rear wheels 12 . The vehicle has a driver and front passenger area 14 and a rear passenger area 16 . The driver and front passenger area 14 is comprised of a seat bottom assembly 20 and a seat back assembly 22 . The rear passenger area 16 is comprised of a seat bottom assembly 26 and a seat back assembly 28 . The rear passenger area 16 also includes a rear foot pedestal 30 for providing a foot support for the rear facing passengers when in the four person vehicular mode as shown in FIG. 1 . The vehicle 2 also shows a storage area 34 for receiving the lower portion of 2 golf bags and an upper support 36 for holding the golf bags in an upright position as described further herein. Finally, a rear suspension assembly 40 ( FIG. 1 ) and a top canopy assembly 42 is described herein.
[0047] With respect now to FIGS. 3-5 , frame 8 will be described in greater detail. As shown best in FIG. 5 , a backbone of frame 8 includes two generally longitudinally extending tubular frame members 50 having front sections 52 , angled sections 54 , longitudinally extending sections 56 and upright portions 58 which extend upwardly and over rear wheels 12 . A front end section 60 spans the two front frame portions 52 and contains a front suspension assembly 62 . The longitudinally extending frame sections 56 include transverse frame members such as 70 , 72 , 74 and 76 ( FIG. 5 ). Meanwhile cross-frame members such as 80 , 82 and 84 ( FIG. 3 ) connect to upright frame portions 58 , and a rear frame portion 88 connects the free ends of the upright portions 58 . As best shown in FIG. 3 , frame 8 further includes side supports 90 and 92 , floor 94 and a crossbar 96 held by uprights 98 to assist in holding the front seat bottom. A battery box 100 is positioned intermediate crossbars 80 and 96 for retaining batteries for the electric vehicle. Finally frame 8 includes a foot pedestal support 108 and a rear seat support 110 as described below.
[0048] With reference now to FIGS. 6 and 7 , pedestal support 108 is generally comprised of a channel member 120 attached to rear crossbar 88 and connected at a seam 122 , for example, by welding. Channel 120 includes flanges 124 having mounting holes 126 and locating holes 128 as described herein.
[0049] With respect still to FIG. 7 , upper support member 110 is shown defining an upper support surface 140 where threaded nuts 142 are positioned on the opposite side of apertures 144 (see FIG. 3 ) for receiving fasteners such as bolts therethrough as described herein. Upper support member 110 is attached to uprights 58 , for example, at seams 146 and 148 such as by welding.
[0050] With respect now to FIGS. 8A and 8B , rear suspension 40 will be described in greater detail. As shown, suspension system 40 includes a fixed bracket 150 having a first and second attachment portions 152 , 154 . Suspension system 40 also comprises a moveable axle bracket portion 160 attached to rear axle 162 and is moveable with the axle 162 . Axle bracket 160 includes a first attachment portion 164 and a second attachment portion 166 . As shown, a trailing link 170 extends between the first attachment portion 152 of the fixed bracket 150 and the first attachment portion 164 of the axle bracket 160 . It should be appreciated that brackets 150 and 160 are fixedly mounted to the frame and axle respectively, for example by welding. Meanwhile a generally U-shaped cross link 172 extends between the second attachment portions 154 of the two fixed bracket portions 150 as best shown in FIG. 5 . A linear force element such as a shock absorber 174 is attached at its lower end to second attachment portion 166 of bracket 160 and to an underside of crossbar 82 ( FIG. 3 ). A coil spring 176 may be used to circumscribe shock absorber 174 as is known in the art. As best shown in FIG. 3 , axle 162 supports transmission 180 which in turn is connected to electric motor 182 .
[0051] As best shown in FIG. 8B , the suspension system further comprises a triangular link 184 which is attached to cross link 172 at one end, and to a bushing 186 at the opposite end. Bushing 186 is thereafter attached to axle 162 by way of bracket 188 . As should be appreciated, bushings 186 may rotate about a longitudinal axis.
[0052] Thus as shown, electric motor 182 drives transmission 180 , which then drives rear wheels 12 through transmission 180 , and the drivetrain comprised of motor 182 and transmission 180 is supported by the shock absorber 174 through trailing arm 170 . Cross link 172 is a triangulated link in that it is attached at 154 on both sides and at center bracket 188 . Cross link 172 controls the fore and aft motion of the axle as well as the side to side motion of the axle. The suspension system thus allows the wheels and tires to move vertically through the combination trailing arm 170 /shock 174 , as well as through the rotation of cross link 172 . However, the axle/frame combination is provided with lateral stability through the cross link 172 attachment to the axle. Said differently, the suspension prevents lateral swaying of the frame and chassis relative to the axle, when the axle needs to move vertically, particularly when only one wheel moves vertically.
[0053] With reference now to FIGS. 9-12 , the rear seat bottom assembly 26 will be described in greater detail. As shown best in FIG. 12 , seat bottom assembly 26 generally comprises a base 190 , a frame 192 , cushions 194 ( FIG. 11 ), a security bar 196 having a latch assembly 198 . As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 , base 190 includes an upper surface 200 having defined impressions 202 to receive the cushions 194 . Base 190 also includes a contoured front wall section 204 which receives latch assembly 198 therein. Finally base portion 190 includes a slot 206 therein to receive the security bar 196 when in the down position as shown of FIG. 13 , as described herein.
[0054] With respect now to FIGS. 12 and 14 , base 190 further comprises a lower surface 210 having laterally extending slots 212 , 214 and longitudinally extending slots 216 . Frame 192 is also comprised of laterally extending channels 222 and 224 positioned in respective slots 212 , 214 and longitudinally extending frame channels 226 extending in longitudinally extending grooves 216 . The ends of channels 226 includes hinges at 228 which fasten the seat bottom assembly to the vehicle as will be described herein.
[0055] As shown in either of FIG. 9 or 12 , the golf bag upper support 36 is integrally connected to bottom surface 210 and is circumscribed by the frame channels 222 , 224 and 226 . It should be appreciated that the base portion 190 could be integrally molded from a plastic material by way of a blow-molded, roto-mold or other similar process. As best shown in FIG. 12 , golf bag upper support 36 stands out from surface 210 to define two contoured surfaces 230 for the receipt of side-by-side golf bags, and includes an integrally molded recess at 232 to receive strap holders as is known in the art.
[0056] With respect now to FIG. 15 , latch assembly 198 is defined by a latch structure 240 which is attached to frame channels 224 and a latching second portion 242 which is attached to the security bar 196 . As shown in FIG. 15 , latching member 242 is latched to latching member 240 which retains the security bar in its upright position. With reference now to FIGS. 15 and 16 , latch member 240 will be described in greater detail.
[0057] Latch 240 includes a plate member 250 having an integrated stop member 252 having an end stop wall 254 and stop walls 256 . As shown in the position of FIG. 15 , security bar 196 is positioned against the end stop wall 254 and between side walls 256 in the latched position. Plate member 250 is attached to an upper latch frame member 262 which together with lower latch plate 264 retains the latch to channels 224 . It should be appreciated that frame members 262 and 264 may be attached to channel members 224 by any means known such as welding or adhesives or fasteners, and the like.
[0058] As shown best in FIGS. 16 and 17 , latch 240 further includes a latching element 270 comprised of two upstanding plate members 272 and 274 which define a U-shaped channel at 276 . A latching element 278 is positioned intermediate plates 272 and 274 and has a torsion spring 280 spring loading the latching element 278 into the open position shown in FIG. 17 , that is, in the unlatched position. Latching element 278 is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 18 and 19 as including a latch receiving opening at 286 and a catch at 288 . A rotatable catch 290 is shown being positioned approximate to latching element 278 and has two pawls 292 and 294 where pawls 292 and 294 define an opening 296 therebetween and where pawl 294 defines a contoured edge 298 , all of which will be described herein. With respect again to FIGS. 16 and 17 , latch 240 further includes an upper actuator at 310 which rotates about pin 312 and has a foot 314 which is positioned within openings 296 ( FIG. 18 ) between pawls 292 and 294 . Actuator 310 also includes an arm 320 which extends downwardly through plate 250 and through upper frame member 262 as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 . Arm 320 has a pin at 322 as best shown in FIG. 16 . As also shown in FIG. 16 , latch 240 further includes a lower actuator member 330 which rotates about pin 332 . Lower actuator 330 includes a forward catch 334 having a catch opening at 336 . Lower actuator 330 also includes a striker surface at 340 , which when engaged pivots the actuator 330 about pin 332 . Finally, as shown in FIG. 16 , latch assembly 240 further includes a release handle 350 operatively connected to a release member 352 which when rotated engages striker surface 340 .
[0059] With respect again to FIG. 15 , latch portion 242 includes a spanner portion 360 attached to security bar 196 by way of a link arm 362 and includes a pin 364 for cooperation with latch member 240 . With respect now to FIGS. 15-19 , the cooperation of the latch assembly 198 will be described.
[0060] As mentioned before, the latch assembly 198 is shown in the locked position in FIG. 15 with the security bar 196 shown in the secured position against the stop 252 , which corresponds to the position of security bar 196 as shown in FIG. 11 . Thus when latch 350 is pulled forwardly as shown in FIG. 16 , release member 352 engages striker surface 340 rotating lower actuator member 330 . This disengages catch opening 336 from pin 322 rotating upper actuator 310 about pin 312 . This causes rotation of member 290 ( FIG. 18 ) in a counterclockwise sense disengaging catch surfaces 288 , 298 . When moving in the opposite direction, and again with reference to FIGS. 18 and 19 , as pin 364 is moved downwardly into the opening 286 as shown in 18 , member 278 is rotated in a clockwise sense to the position where catch surfaces 288 and 298 are locked into the position of FIG. 19 . In this position, counter-rotation of member 278 is prevent by the engagement of surfaces 288 and 298 until such time as the handle 350 is released as described above.
[0061] In terms of the cooperation of the operation of the latch member 240 in respect of the entire seat bottom assembly, reference is made to FIGS. 20-23 . As shown in FIG. 20 , security bar 196 is shown in the fully latched position with pin 364 latched in place in the position of FIG. 19 . As shown in FIG. 21 , handle 350 is shown rotated in a counterclockwise position, and pin 364 is released from latch 240 , and is now in the position of FIG. 18 . This allows latch member 242 to be lifted up and security bar 196 rotated in the counterclockwise position. FIG. 22 shows the security bar 196 rotated downwardly into the corresponding slot 206 ( FIG. 13 ) whereas FIG. 23 shows the entire seat assembly rotated upwardly into the position shown in FIG. 2 .
[0062] It should be noted from FIG. 1 that seat back assembly 28 includes a contoured wall 370 and further includes a counterpart latch 372 . Thus as shown in FIG. 1 , contoured surface 204 ( FIG. 11 ) of seat bottom assembly 26 may be rotated into position where it is tucked under seat back assembly 28 such that the frame and contoured surface 204 fit below the seat back assembly 28 and contoured surface 370 respectively, and latch portion 240 cooperates with counterpart latch 372 to hold the seat bottom assembly 26 into the upright position of FIG. 2 .
[0063] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 20 , seat bottom assembly 26 includes hinges 376 which are positioned over and attached to apertures 144 and threaded apertures 142 . Finally with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2 , seat bottom assembly 26 further includes armrests 380 and seatbelt buckles 382 which are attached to seat assembly 26 and more particularly to frame 192 , and both the armrests 380 and the seatbelt buckles 382 rotate together with the seat assembly and flank the vehicle as shown in FIG. 2 .
[0064] With respect now to FIGS. 24-26 , the rear foot pedestal 30 will be described in greater detail. As shown, rear foot pedestal 30 is comprised of an integral body portion 390 having a laterally extending frame member 392 . Frame tube 392 retains a latch member 400 as best shown in FIG. 25 . Latch member 400 includes plate members 402 holding a cylinder 404 which in turn holds a popper pin 406 having a pin positioned at an end thereof and spring loaded into one of the locating holes 128 . It should be noted that the latch 400 is located on only one side thereof and therefore a user may grasp the body portion 390 , pull the popper pin 406 and move the rear foot pedestal between the extreme positions shown in FIGS. 27 and 28 . As shown in FIG. 27 , when the rear foot pedestal 30 is in the fully down position, the pedestal provides a slight angle upwardly towards the rear passenger to provide a secure feeling when the passenger's feet are on the pedestal, where the angle φ is between 5-10° and more preferably about 7°.
[0065] As also shown in FIGS. 24 and 26 , the body portion 390 is integrally molded to include openings 410 at the corners thereof in order that the openings are positioned adjacent to rear directional signals of the vehicle. More particularly as shown in FIGS. 29-30 , with the rear foot pedestal 30 in the upright position, openings 410 are located proximate to braking/directional signals 412 in order that the signals illuminate through openings 410 .
[0066] With respect now to FIGS. 31-34 , top canopy 42 will be described in greater detail. As shown in FIG. 31 , vehicle 2 includes front pedestals 420 and rear pedestals 422 . Longitudinally extending frame portions 424 ( FIG. 32 ) connect front and rear pedestals 420 , 422 as best shown in FIG. 32 . As shown in FIG. 32 , pedestal 420 is continuous with longitudinal portion 424 and extends rearwardly towards rear pedestal 422 . Canopy 42 includes integral rear corner connecting portions 430 ( FIG. 34 ) having a receiving portion 432 to receive longitudinal portion 424 and a receiving portion 434 for receiving pedestal portion 422 . In a like manner, front connector portions 440 are located at the front corners of the canopy 42 and are connected to longitudinal portion 424 to retain canopy to the pedestal assembly. As best shown in FIG. 33 , longitudinal portions 424 are spaced from the canopy, and in particular from an inner surface 450 of the canopy such that the space intermediate longitudinal portion 424 and inner surface 450 can be used as a grab bar for either the driver or the passenger for ingress or egress of the vehicle.
[0067] With respect now to FIGS. 35-38 , seat back assembly 22 will be described in greater detail. As shown in FIGS. 35 and 36 , seat back assembly 22 is shown as including a driver seat 470 , a passenger seat 472 where passenger seat 472 is directly connected to a rear frame member 474 and where seat 474 is attached to rear frame 474 by way of a seat back actuator 476 . Seat frame 474 is shown in FIG. 31 as spanning between rear pedestals 422 .
[0068] As shown in FIGS. 37 and 38 , actuator 476 is comprised of a rear plate 490 attached to frame 474 having an upper link 492 , a lower link 494 , where the upper and lower links may rotate relative to pins 496 , 498 , respectively. Links 492 and 494 are also pinned to a front plate portion 500 by way of pins 502 and 504 where the plate 500 rotates in an orbital manner about the arc depicted in FIG. 38 . A selector plate 510 is attached to link 492 and has a plurality of selector holes 512 which cooperate with a spring loaded selector rod 520 . Thus as shown in FIG. 37 , the rod could be moved leftward (as viewed in FIG. 37 ) to release the rod 520 from one of the selector holes 512 whereby plate 500 could be rotated upwardly or downwardly to suit the driver's physique. It should be appreciated that the seat padding 530 (see FIG. 35 ) is attached to plate 500 such that the entire seat back is movable by way of the actuator 476 .
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A utility vehicle is disclosed that may be used in multiple modes of use, such as a low speed transport vehicle or a golf cart. The vehicle has a rear passenger seat area which can be converted into a golf bag carrying mechanism. The vehicle also has a foot pedestal for use when operating with rear passengers, and which may fold up when not in use.
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This application is a continuation of PCT/IB98/01821 filed Nov. 16, 1998.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to new compounds which have a cooling effect on the skin or mucous membranes, notably the buccal mucosae. More particularly, the application deals with compounds of the formula
in which R=H and n is a whole number from 1 to 4 or R=CH 3 and n is a whole number from 0 to 4, as well as the use of the said compounds as cooling agents.
PRIOR ART
The prior art describes a large number of compounds of natural or synthetic origin, which have been observed to have a cooling effect on human skin or mucosae, the most well-known compound being (−)-menthol, which is found naturally in oil of mint, notably of mentha arvensis L and mentha viridis L.
Among the large number of publications in the field of synthetic cooling agents, particularly those derived from menthol, we should cite application DE-OS-2608226, which describes certain esters of menthol with hydroxylated carboxylic acids, for example glycolic acid, β-hydroxybutyric acid or α-hydroxycaprylic acid, but in particular the ester of lactic acid. Application EP-A-507190 describes cooling agents which are acetals of certain ketones, in particular 1-menthone glycerol ketal.
Application EP-A-583651 discloses another group of cooling agents derived from menthol, that is, asymmetric menthol carbonates, carbamates and thiocarbamates, in particular menthol ethylene glycol carbonate and menthol propane-1,2-diol carbonate.
In order to be suitable as a cooling agent, a compound must fulfill certain requirements. Firstly, the compound must not have an irritant effect on the skin or in particular the mucosae, which would prevent its use in certain applications, for example those in which the said compound is used in large quantities and/or the application product may come into contact with certain sensitive parts of the mucosae. For the reasons given above, the use of menthol is limited, as is the case also of other compounds which prove unsuitable for use in certain products.
Furthermore, for many applications it is desirable that the cooling effect be of prolonged duration, in order that this effect can still be perceived several minutes after the active agent is no longer in contact with the skin or mucosae. As menthol is highly volatile, it does not fulfill this condition in spite of its pronounced cooling effect.
In the majority of applications it is also desirable to have cooling agents which do not have a strong odour, as is the case of menthol which has the typical and pronounced odour of peppermint.
Finally, a cooling agent must not have an unpleasant taste, so that applications in the flavourings industry are possible. Once again, menthol has a marked bitter taste when used in high concentrations.
To summarise, it may be said that although menthol in particular, but also the other above-mentioned compounds which have a cooling effect, fulfill some of the above-mentioned conditions required of cooling substances (“cooling agents”), scientists are still searching for new compounds with properties which enable novel and preferably advantageous effects to be obtained in this field.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
We have now synthesised a new class of compounds of general formula:
in which R=H and n is a whole number from 1 to 4, or R=CH 3 and n is a whole number from 0 to 4.
We have been able to establish that this class of compounds has all the desirable properties of a cooling agent, i.e.:
they are non-irritant compounds
the cooling effect is pronounced and long-lasting
the compounds do not have a strong odour
the taste of the compounds is neutral, thus being able to reinforce the typical taste of the ingredients in flavour applications.
The class of compounds of formula (I) does not have the typical taste of menthol, but a more neutral taste which can vary according to the length of the chain linked to the carboxylic function, the nature of the terminal substituent on the said chain (H or CH 3 ), or the isomeric configuration of the menthol used as the starting substance for the preparation of the formula (I) compounds. In fact, the stereoisomery of compounds (I) is dictated by that of the starting menthol, and one can thus obtain all the stereoisomers of the compounds (I) corresponding to those of menthol. Of these stereoisomers, the formula (I) compounds derived from (−)-menthol are especially advantageous and preferred according to the invention for their marked cooling effect when used in the applications described below.
As formula (I) shows, the compounds according to the invention may have an alcohol or methoxy group in the terminal position of the chain. In the context of the present invention the use of compounds having a methoxy group in the terminal position is preferred.
Of the said compounds, the ones preferred are those which comply with formula (I) in which n=0 or 1, i.e. (−)-menthyl methoxyacetate, or (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate, and (−)-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate, or (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate. (−)-Menthyl methoxyacetate has a head note fruity taste resembling that of menthyl acetate, whereas (−)-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate has a bitter taste. These two compounds are highly advantageous in flavours and one or the other or even both of these compounds may be used, depending on the envisaged application. For example, in applications in which a bitter taste is undesirable, (−)-menthyl methoxyacetate will be preferred, while (−)-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate will be used in cases where the bitter taste is an advantage, for example in citrus-based edible products.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a mixture of (−)-menthyl methoxyacetate and (−)-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate is used. In these mixtures, the two constituents may be present in highly variable relative proportions depending on the desired effect. In fact, the use of these mixtures enables certain gustatory characteristics of one or the other of these two compounds to be suppressed when they are less advantageous in certain applications, while reinforcing the refreshing effect. We have established that this synergistic effect between the two compounds was best manifested with mixtures containing the two compounds in similar quantities by weight, that is about 50% of each by weight; these mixtures are therefore preferred according to the invention.
However, given that each of the compounds is a useful cooling ingredient in itself, it is clear that the invention also relates to mixtures of the two compounds in which the proportion of each is varied from 0 to 100% by weight of the mixture.
Moreover, these two compounds also lend themselves to applications other than in the flavour industry, for example in body-care or cosmetic products.
Thus the compounds of the invention may be used in all fields in which a cooling effect is to be imparted to the products in which they are incorporated. By way of example one may cite beverages such as fruit juices, soft drinks or cold tea, ice creams and sorbets, sweets, confectioneries, chewing gum, chewing tobacco, cigarettes, pharmaceutical preparations, dental-care products such as dentifrice gels and pastes, mouth washes, gargles, body and hair care products such as shampoos, shower or bath gels, body deodorants and antiperspirants, after-shave lotions and balms, shaving foams, perfumes, etc.
The proportions in which the compounds of the invention may be incorporated into the various products mentioned above vary within a wide range of values. These values depend on the nature of the article or product to which a cooling effect is to be imparted and on the effect required, as well as on the nature of the co-ingredients in a given composition when the compounds-of the invention are used in a mixture with flavouring or perfuming co-ingredients, solvents or adjuvants commonly used in the art.
By way of example one may cite typical concentrations of the order of 0.001 to 5% or even more, preferably 0.002 to 1%, by weight of this compound relative to the cooling finished product in which it is incorporated.
It should be noted that the concentrations of the compounds of the invention used in these applications depend both on the product to be flavoured and on the desired effect. Thus for example in applications such as beverages and sweets, concentrations of the order of 0.005 to 0.1% will typically be used, whereas for flavouring dentifrices and chewing gums the compounds of the invention will typically be used in concentrations within the range 0.2-0.3 and 0.5-1%.
The syntheses used to obtain the products of formula (I) all use menthol as the starting substance. One of the possible syntheses consists in an esterification of the said menthol with acetic acid which is substituted at position α, that is to say a compound of formula
in which n and R have the meanings assigned in formula (I). The reaction takes place under the catalytic action of an acid, such as for example p-toluenesulphonic acid, phosphoric acid or any acid known for this type of esterification. The reaction is preferably performed in a solvent which permits separation of the water formed by azeotropic distillation, e.g. toluene, benzene or xylene.
Another synthesis involves, in the first stage, esterification of the menthol with α-halogenated acetic acid, preferably 2-bromoacetic acid. This esterification is performed under conditions similar to those described in the preceding paragraph. The menthyl 2-halogenoacetate thus obtained is then converted into the desired product by a “Williamson” etherification reaction. In this reaction, an alcoholate of a compound of formula
As the alcoholate one may use the alcoholate of an alkali metal, preferably sodium. An aprotic polar solvent such as, for example, dimethyl formamide, is preferably used for the Williamson reaction.
After the reaction, the formula (I) compounds are isolated and purified by conventional techniques, for example distillation or chromatography.
The invention will now be described in greater detail in the examples below, in which temperature is indicated in degrees Celsius and the abbreviations have the usual meaning in the art.
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-3-methyl methoxyacetate
A solution of (−)-menthol (50 g, 320 mmol), methoxyacetic acid (29 g, 320 mmol) and monohydrated p-toluenesulphonic acid (5 g, 26 mmol) is brought to reflux for 3 h in 500 ml of toluene. The water released during the reaction is separated by azeotropic distillation. The mixture is washed 3 times with 100 ml of a 5% NaOH solution, then twice with 100 ml of brine, the organic solvent is dried on Na 2 SO 4 and the solvent evaporated under vacuum. Distillation is then performed under vacuum to recover 51 g (81%) of a colourless liquid (boiling point 75° C./3 Pa) with a purity≧99%.
MS(EI): 83(100), 45(52), 55(48), 69(36), 139(28), 41(26), 97(19), 95(18),29(14), 123(6), 155(1), 185(1), 213(1)
1 H-NMR (400 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 4.81(dt, J=11.0, 4.4 Hz, 1H)); 4.04, 3.98 (AB, 2H); 3.45 (s, 3H); 2.02, 1.99 (2m, 1H); 1.82 (m, 1H); 1.71, 1.68 (2m, 2H); 1.50 (m, 1H); 1.40 (m, 1H); 1.14-0.82 (series of multiplets, 3H); 0.91 (d, J=5.6 Hz, 3H); 0.89 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H); 0.77 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H) δ ppm
13 C-NMR(90 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 169.8 (s); 74.8 (d), 70.0 (t), 59.3 (q), 47.0 (d); 40.9 (t); 34.2 (t); 31.4(d); 26.3 (d): 23.4 (t); 22.0(q); 20.7 (q); 16.3 (q) δ ppm
EXAMPLE 2
Preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate
A solution of (−)-menthol (5 g, 32 mmol), (2-methoxyethoxy)acetic acid (4.3 g, 32 mmol) and monohydrated p-toluenesulphonic acid (0.5 g, 2.63 mmol) is brought to reflux for 3 h in 50 ml toluene. The water generated during the reaction is separated by azeotropic distillation. 150 ml toluene is added and the mixture is washed 3 times with 50 ml of a 5% NaOH solution, then twice with 50 ml of brine, the organic solvent is dried on Na 2 SO 4 and the solvent evaporated under vacuum. Distillation under vacuum is then performed to recover 6.47 g (74%) of a colourless liquid (boiling point 110° C./3 Pa) with a purity of 98%.
MS(EI): 83(100), 55(45), 59(38), 69(36), 138(28), 45(23), 97(19), 29(16), 123(6), 109(3), 192(2), 155(1)
1 H-NMR (400 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 4.78 (dt, J=10.4, 4.4 Hz, 1H); 4.16, 4.08 (AB, 2H); 3.72 3.50 (2m, 4H); 3.40 (s, 3H); 2.02, 1.99 (2m, 1H); 1.82 (m, 1H); 1.71, 1.68 (2m, 2H); 1.50 (m, 1H); 1.39 (m, 1H); 1.14-0.82 (series of multiplets, 3H); 0.92 (d, J=6.3 Hz, 3H); 0.89 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H); 0.77 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H) δ ppm
13 C-NMR(90 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 170.0 (s); 74.8 (d), 71.9 (t), 70.7 (t), 68.8 (t); 59.0 (q); 47.0 (d); 40.9 (t); 34.2(t): 31.4 (d); 26.3 (d); 23.4(t); 22.0 (q); 20.7 (q); 16.3 (q) δ ppm
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6,9-trioxadecanoate
A solution of (−)-menthol (5 g, 32 mmol), [2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]acetic acid (5.7 g, 32 mmol) and monohydrated p-toluenesulphonic acid (0.6 g, 3.2 mmol) is brought to reflux for 3 h in 20 ml toluene. The water given off during the reaction is separated by azeotropic distillation. 150 ml toluene is added, the mixture is washed 3 times with 50 ml of a 5% NaOH solution, then twice with 50 ml of brine, the organic solvent is dried on Na 2 SO 4 and the solvent evaporated under vacuum. Distillation is then performed under vacuum to recover 8.61 g (80%) of a colourless liquid (boiling point 160° C./1 Pa) with a purity of 96%.
MS(EI): 83(100), 59(74), 55(45), 103(44), 69(36), 138(34), 45(34), 95(22), 29(22), 133(16), 147(10), 178(8), 284(1)
1 H-NMR (400 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 4.78(dt, J=10.4, 4.4 Hz, 1H)); 4.15, 4.09 (AB, 2H); 3.75 3.71, 3.66, 3.55 (4m, 4H); 3.38 (s, 3H); 2.02, 1.99 (2m, 1H); 1.82 (m, 1H); 1.71, 1.68 (2m, 2H); 1.50 (m, 1H); 1.39 (m, 1H); 1.13-0.82 (series of multiplets, 3H); 0.92 (d, J=6.3 Hz, 3H); 0.89 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H); 0.76 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H) δ ppm
13 C-NMR(90 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 170.1 (s); 74.8 (d); 72.0, 70.9, 70.64, 70.58, 68.8 (5t); 59.1 (q); 47.0 (d); 40.9 (t); 34.2 (t); 31.4 (d); 26.3 (d); 23.5 (t); 22.0(q); 20.7 (q); 16.3 (q) δ ppm
EXAMPLE 4
Preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3.6,9-trioxadecanoate
This substance was synthesised in two stages:
a) For the first stage, a solution of (−)-menthol (1.56 g, 10 mmol), 2-bromoacetic acid (1.39 g, 10 mmol) and monohydrated p-toluenesulphonic acid (0.5 g, 2.6 mmol) was brought to reflux for 3 h in 100 ml toluene. The water given off during the reaction is separated by azeotropic distillation. 100 ml toluene is added, and the mixture is washed 3 times with 10 ml of a 5% NaOH solution, then twice with 100 ml of brine, the organic solvent is dried on Na 2 SO 4 and the solvent evaporated under vacuum. The menthyl 2-bromoacetate obtained (2.45 g, 89%) is used in the next step without purification.
b) The second stage consists in what is known as a “Williamson” reaction.
The tetraethylene glycol monomethyl ether alcoholate (1.87 g, 9 mmol) is produced by heating the said alcohol with sodium (0.23 g, 10 mmol) in dimethyl formamide (20 ml) for 4 h at 60° C. The menthyl bromoacetate obtained earlier (2.45 g, 9 mmol) is then added and the mixture stirred for 3 h at 60-80° C. and then 16 h at ambient temperature. 200 ml ethyl acetate is added and the mixture is washed 3 times with 20 ml of a 5% KHSO 4 solution, then 3 times with a 5% NaOH solution, and then twice with 20 ml of brine. The organic solvent is dried on Na 2 SO 4 and the solvent evaporated under vacuum. The product is purified by flash chromatography on silica gel eluted with a mixture of cyclohexane/ethyl acetate (60/40). 0.5 g of a slightly yellow oil (14%) is obtained. The reaction has not been optimised.
MS(CI, NH 3 ): 422(100, M + NH 4 + ), other fragments minimal
1 H-NMR (400 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 4.78(dt, J=10.4, 4.4 Hz, 1H)); 4.15, 4.08 (AB, 2H); 3.72-3.50 (m series, 24H); 3.38 (s, 3H); 2.02, 1.99 (2m, 1H); 1.82 (m, 1H); 1.71, 1.68 (2m, 2H); 1.50 (m, 1H); 1.39 (m, 1H); 1.14-0.82 (series of multiplets, 3H); 0.92 (d, J=6.3 Hz, 3H); 0.89 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H); 0.77 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H) δ ppm
13 C-NMR(90 MHz, CDCl 3 ): 170.1 (s); 74.8 (d); 72.0(t); series of triplets at 72.0 (t); 70.9(t), 70.6(t), 70.5(t) and 68.8 (t); 59.0 (q); 47.0 (d); 40.9 (t); 34.2 (t); 31.4 (d); 26.3 (d); 23.4 (t); 22.0 (q); 20.7 (q); 16.3 (q) δ ppm
EXAMPLE 5
Preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl (2-hydroxyethoxy)acetate
This substance was synthesised in three stages:
a) For the first step, NaH (60% in mineral oil, 1.97 g, 1.5 eq) is added in portions to a solution of 2-benzyloxyethanol (5 g, 32.85 mmol; source: Aldrich Chemicals) in 25 ml THF under argon. The resulting solution is brought to reflux for 1 h, then cooled to 25°.
A solution of sodium bromoacetate is prepared by adding NaH in portions (1.3 g, 1 eq) to a solution of bromoacetic acid (4.56 g, 32.85 mmol) in 25 ml THF.
This solution of bromoacetate is added dropwise to the prepared solution of benzyloxyethanolate anion, and the mixture is heated at reflux for 19 h. The reaction is stopped with 5% KHSO 4 . 250 ml ethyl acetate is added and the organic phase is extracted three times with the aid of 5% NaOH. The pH of the alkaline phase is reduced to 1 with 10% HCl and extraction is performed twice with EtOAc. The organic phase is washed three times with sodium chloride solution, dried on Na 2 SO 4 , and evaporated to obtain 6.4 g (93%) 7-phenyl-3,6-dioxaheptanoic acid in the form of a colourless liquid.
b) A mixture of 7-phenyl-3,6-dioxaheptanoic acid (6.36 g, 30.3 mmol), (−)menthol (4.73 g, 1 eq) and p-toluenesulphonic acid (0.63 g, 0.11 eq.) is heated azeotropically at reflux for 3 h in 40 ml toluene. Ethyl acetate is added, and the organic phase is washed three times with the aid of 5% NaHCO 3 , three times with brine, then dried on NaSO 4 and evaporated to obtain 10.9 g of a pale yellow oil which is distilled under vacuum to obtain 8.96 g (85%, b.p. 145-147°/10-2 mmHg) of a colourless oil corresponding to (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl 7-phenyl-3,6-dioxaheptanoate.
c) The (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl 7-phenyl-3,6-dioxaheptanoate (8.9 g, 25.5 mmol) is hydrolysed for 16 h in 50 ml THF with the aid of Pd on 10% wood charcoal (0.89 g) as the catalyst. Ethyl acetate is added, then the reaction mixture is filtered on a Celite® bed, washed three times with brine, dried on Na 2 SO 4 and evaporated. Flash chromatography is performed on silica gel (cyclohexane/EtOAc; 80/20) to obtain (1R,3R,4S)-menthyl (2-hydroxyethoxy)acetate in the form of a pale yellow liquid (5.37 g; 89.8%). Purity: 99.2% by gas-phase chromatography (DBI column, 15 m, 70° for 0.5 min then 70-220° at 10°/min, RT=11.76 min).
MS(EI): 83(100), 81(86), 95(85), 71(64),138(51), 123(50), 55(43), 41(24), 102(19), 109(16), 29(12), 155(2)
1 H-NMR (CDCl 3 ): 4.81 (dt, J=10.7, 4.4 Hz, 1H); 4.16-4.09 (AB, J=16.7 Hz, 2H); 3.76 (m, 2H); 3.69 (m, 2H); 3.06 (s broad, 1H, OH exchangeable); 2.03-2.00 (2m, 1H); 1.83 (m, 1H); 1.72-1.68 (2m, 2H); 1.52 (m, 1H); 1.44-1.37 (m, 1H); 1.09-0.83 (m,3H); 0.93; 0.91 (2d, J=6.8 Hz, 6H); 0.78 (d, J=7.1 Hz, 3H) δ ppm
13 C-NMR(CDCl 3 ): 170.8 (s); 75.4 (d); 73.6 (t); 68.5 (t); 61.5 (t); 47.0 (d); 40.9 (t); 34.1 (t); 31.4 (d); 26.4 (d); 23.5 (t); 22.0 (q); 20.7 (q); 16.3 (q) δ ppm
Taste: (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl (2-hydroxyethoxy)acetate is immediately and intensely cooling when tasted.
EXAMPLE 6
Preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl 11-hydroxy-3,6,9-trioxaundecanoate
This substance was synthesised in two stages:
a) For the first stage, (−)-menthol (20 g; 127 mmol) and 3,6,9-trioxaundecandioic acid (56.9 g; 2 eq; source: Fluka) is heated without solvent for 16 h at 120°, while drawing off the water continuously by distillation at 10 mmHg. The reaction mixture is diluted in ethyl acetate, washed 8 times with deionised water, dried on Na 2 SO 4 , and evaporated. Chromatography of the crude product is performed on silica gel (65/35 cyclohexane/ EtOAc with 1% acetic acid, then 40/60 with 1% ethanol) to obtain 25 g (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl hydrogeno-3,6,9-trioxaundecanedioate (54%) in the form of a colourless viscous liquid.
b) A borane tetrahydrofuran complex (1M, 20 ml) is added dropwise to a solution of (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl hydrogeno-3,6,9- trioxaundecanedioate (7.21 g; 20 mmol) in 72 ml THF at ambient temperature. The reaction is maintained with stirring for 4.5 h, then cooled to 0°. 5 ml NaOH is then added dropwise. The mixture is maintained with stirring for a further 10 min. Ethyl acetate is added, and the organic phase is washed 3 times with the aid of 5% NaHCO 3 , three times with 5% KHSO 4 , three times with brine, then dried on Na 2 SO 4 and evaporated. Flash chromatography is performed on silica gel (cyclohexane/EtOAc; 40/60) to obtain (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl 11-hydroxy-3,6,9-trioxaundecanoate in the form of a pale yellow liquid (2.22 g, 32%). Purity: 99.9% by gas-phase chromatography (DBI column, 15 m, 150° for 15 min, then 150-240° at 10°/min, RT=9.17 min).
MS(EI): 83(100), 45(52), 89(46), 138(45), 103(39), 69(31), 55(30) 147(15), 121 (15), 208(7), 163(6), 190(6), 177(5)
1 H-NMR (CDCl 3 ): 4.78 (dt, J=10.7, 4.4 Hz, 1H); 4.16; 4.09 (AB, J=16.7 Hz, 2H); 3.76-3.61 (m, 12H); 2.78 (s broad, 1H, OH exchangeable); 2.02; 1.98 (2m, 1H);
1.83 (m, 1H); 1.70; 1.66 (2m, 2H); 1.49 (m, 1H); 1.42-1.34 (m, 1H); 1.01-0.80 (m, 3H); 0.93; 0.91 (2d, J=5.9 Hz, 6H); 0.78 (d, J=6.7 Hz, 3H) δ ppm
13 C-NMR(CDCl 3 ): 170.1 (s); 75.0 (d); 72.7 (t); 70.7; 70.6; 70.5; 70.2 (4t); 68.7 (t); 61.6 (t); 47.0 (d); 40.9 (t); 34.2 (t); 31.4 (d); 26.3 (d); 23.4 (t); 22.0 (q); 20.7 (q); 16.3 (q) δ ppm
Taste: (1R,2S,5R)-menthyl 11-hydroxy-3,6,9-trioxaundecanoate has a slightly bitter, mentholated taste. Its cooling effect develops more particularly on the tongue and in the throat.
EXAMPLE 7
Preparation of a dentifrice gel and a dentifrice paste
(1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate and (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate were each added in a dosage of 0.4% to a dentifrice gel and a dentifrice paste of the conventional type, which had been prepared, for example, from the following ingredients:
Dentifrice gel
Ingredients
% by weight
Sorbosil ® AC 77 1)
8
Sorbosil ® AC 15 1)
9
70% Sorbitol
66.642
PEG 1500
2
Sodium lauryl sulphate
2.1
Sodium monofluorophosphate
0.76
Sodium carboxymethylcellulose
0.4
Saccharin sodium salt
0.2
Blue colouring
0.002
Demineralised water
0.896
Total
100.00
Dentifrice paste:
Ingredients
% by weight
Sorbosil ® AC 77 1)
6.5
Sorbosil ® AC 15 1)
9
70% Sorbitol
40
Sodium lauryl sulphate
1.5
Sodium monofluorophosphate
0.8
Sodium carboxymethylcellulose
1.1
Saccharin sodium salt
0.2
TiO 2
0.5
Demineralised water
40.4
Total
100.00
1) A silica-based thickening agent; source: Crosfield Chemicals Ltd, Great Britain
1) A silica-based thickening agent; source: Crosfield Chemicals Ltd, Great Britain
The products were then tested and evaluated by expert tasters under blind conditions. After use and rinsing of the mouth it was found that, in the case of both the products, a freshness which developed after rinsing lasted for 15 to 20 min. In a comparison with menthol, the substances of the invention cited above were judged to yield a freshness with a slow-release effect by comparison with that of menthol and, in addition, the typical taste of menthol was not perceived.
By introducing a mixture of the two previously mentioned compounds to the finished product in a dosage of 0.25% of each, a highly advantageous effect was obtained in this type of application by reducing both the fruitiness of (1R,3R,4S)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate and the bitterness of (1R,3R,4S)-3-menthyl-3,6-dioxaheptanoate by comparison with the products described above, which contained only one or the other of these compounds.
EXAMPLE 8
Preparation of Sweets
Grapefruit-flavoured sweets were prepared from boiled sugar, 1% citric acid, and 0.05% of a grapefruit flavouring of the following formula:
Ingredients
Parts by weight
Styrallyl acetate
25
0.1% Thiomenthone in ethanol
30
Grapefruit essence
945
Total
1000
Under blind conditions, expert flavourists then compared these sweets, without any additives, with sweets of the same composition to which certain compounds according to the invention had been added.
In the opinion of the tasters, addition of 0.05% (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate yielded a freshness which does not modify the organoleptic profile of the base composition, that is, the sweets described above.
Addition of the same quantity of (1H,2S,5R)-3-menthyl-3,6-dioxaheptanoate yielded a similar freshness and, in addition, a bitterness which reinforced the natural bitterness of the grapefruit essence.
EXAMPLE 9
Preparation of Gelatin-based Confectioneries
By a method which is known per se, grapefruit-flavoured confectioneries were prepared from 30 g gelatin, 175 g water, 150 g sugar and 200 g glucose. We then added 0.8% citric acid and 0.08% of a grapefruit flavouring of the formula given in Example 6.
Under blind conditions, expert flavourists then compared this base preserve, without any additives, with preserve of the same composition to which certain compounds according to the invention had been added.
In the opinion of the tasters, addition of 0.05% of (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate by weight to the base preserve leaves a freshness in the mouth. Addition of 0.05% (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate has the same freshness effect, while also reinforcing the bitterness of the grapefruit flavouring.
EXAMPLE 10
Preparation of Lemon Sorbets
Lemon sorbets were prepared from the following ingredients using conventional techniques:
Ingredients
% by weight
Sugar
20
Glucose syrup
8
Dextrose
2.5
Lemon juice concentrate
1.5
Meypyrogen IC 304 1)
0.6
Water
to 100%
Total
100
1) A mixture of carob gum E410, guar gum E412, carrageenan E407, gelatin, emulsifier E471; source: Meyhall Chemical AG, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
0.5% citric acid and 0.01% of lemon flavouring of the following formula were then added:
Ingredients
Parts by weight
Citronellyl acetate
2
Geranyl acetate
6
Linalyl acetate
2
Citronellol
2
Geraniol
3
Terpineol
5
Citral
5
Lemon terpenes
975
Total
1000
Under blind conditions, expert flavourists then compared this lemon sorbet, without any additives, with sorbets of the same composition to which certain compounds according to the invention had been added.
In the opinion of the tasters, addition of 0.05% by weight of (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate to the above prepared base sorbet gave it a pleasant freshness in the mouth.
Addition of 0.003% (1H,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate has a similar effect, but this compound also confers a bitterness which reinforces the “zesty” note of the lemon flavouring.
EXAMPLE 11
Preparation of Chewing Gum
Chewing gum was prepared from a Cafosa Navada Plus T 413-01chewing-gum base (18 parts by weight) (source: Cafosa Gum Products Technology, Barcelona, Spain), sugar (60 parts by weight, glucose (20 parts by weight) and glycerol (0.5 parts by weight). 0.8 parts by weight of citric acid and 1 part by weight of lemon flavouring according to the formula given in Example 8 were then added to this mixture. Under blind conditions, expert tasters then compared this chewing-gum base, without any additives, with chewing gums of the same composition to which certain compounds according to the invention had been added.
Thus the addition of 0.4 parts by weight respectively of (1R,3R,4S)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate or (1R,3R,4S)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate to the chewing gum gives it a prolonged freshness, the fresh sensation occurring in the mouth after chewing.
EXAMPLE 12
Preparation of an Orange Drink
An orange-flavoured drink was prepared from a 65° Brix syrup which had been diluted to 10%, acidified with 1.5% citric acid and then flavoured with 0.01% of an orange flavouring of the following formula:
Ingredients
Parts by weight
Hexanal
3
Octanal
2
Dodecanal
3
Ethyl butyrate
15
Acetic aldehyde
30
Orange essence
947
Total
1000
Under blind conditions, expert tasters then compared this base drink, without any additives, with drinks of the same composition to which certain compounds according to the invention had been added.
In the opinion of the tasters, addition of 0.003% (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl methoxyacetate give a sensation of freshness which develops as an after-taste.
Addition of 0.003% (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate has a similar effect, but this compound also confers a bitterness which reinforces the “zesty” note of the flavouring.
Comparative Example 1
Preparation of After-shave Lotions
Two after-shave lotions were prepared by a method which is known per se, starting with the following ingredients:
Ingredients
% by weight
A
1)
Cremophor ® RH-40 1)
1.5
2)
10% ethyl alcohol
98.0
3)
ML Frescolat ® 2)
0.5
1) Hydrogenated and ethoxylated ricin oil; source: BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany
2) (1R,2S,5R)-3-menthyl lactate; source: Haarmann & Reimer GmbH, Holzminden, Germany
Ingredients
% by weight
B
1)
Cremophor ® RH-40 1)
1.5
2)
10% ethyl alcohol
98.0
3)
(1R, 2S, 5R)-3-menthyl 3,6-dioxaheptanoate
0.5.
1) See lotion A
The two lotions thus obtained were poured into an aerosol-type bottle. They were then applied in a quantity of 300 mg to the forearm and cheek of each of the two people constituting the panel, and compared under blind conditions.
In the opinion of the panel, the lotion containing the compound according to the invention exhibited a cooling effect superior to that of the lotion containing the cooling agent of the prior art in 3 out of 4 tests conducted.
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Compounds of formula (I)
in which R=H or CH 3 and n is a whole number from 1 to 4. These compounds are useful as refreshing agents in various compositions, articles or products from flavor manufacture or perfumery.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/721,515, filed on Mar. 10, 2010 and entitled “Method of Managing Timing Alignment Functionality for Multiple Component Carriers and Related Communication Device”, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/160,715, filed on Mar. 17, 2009 and entitled “Method for handling TA update in multiple connections in a wireless communication system and related apparatus”, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] A method utilized in a wireless communication system and communication device thereof are provided, and more particularly, to a method of managing timing alignment functionality for multiple component carriers in a wireless communication system and related communication device.
[0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0005] Long Term Evolution wireless communication system (LTE system), an advanced high-speed wireless communication system established upon the 3G mobile telecommunication system, supports only packet-switched transmission, and tends to implement both Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and Radio Link Control (RLC) layer in one single communication site, so that the system structure becomes simple.
[0006] According to structure of the LTE system, timing alignment (TA) functionality allows a user equipment (UE) with a component carrier to be synchronized with a serving base station on uplink timing for preventing signals transmitted from the UE from colliding with those sent from other UEs under the coverage of the base station. In the TA functionality, the UE has to maintain a time alignment timer whose running state indicates that uplink transmission is still synchronized. The network can control the TA functionality of the UE with a timing advance command. Detailed operation of the TA functionality can be referred in related specifications, and is not given herein.
[0007] Toward advanced high-speed wireless communication system, such as transmitting data in a higher peak data rate, LTE-Advanced is standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as an enhancement of LTE system. LTE-Advanced targets faster switching between power states, improves performance at the cell edge, and includes subjects, such as bandwidth extension, coordinated multipoint transmission/reception (COMP), uplink multiple input multiple output (MIMO) extension up to 4×4, downlink MIMO extension up to 4×4, relaying, and etc.
[0008] Based on a concept of bandwidth extension, carrier aggregation is introduced to the LTE-Advanced for extension to wider bandwidth, where two or more component carriers are aggregated, for supporting wider transmission bandwidths e.g. up to 100 MHz and for spectrum aggregation. According to carrier aggregation capability, multiple component carriers are aggregated into overall wider bandwidth, wherein a UE can establish multiple links corresponding to the multiple component carriers for simultaneously receiving and/or transmitting on each component carrier. Each component carrier includes a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity and a transport block.
[0009] However, in the LTE system, each UE is only allowed to use a single component carrier, so the UE maintains synchronization with a base station during TA functionality performance only on the single component carrier. Furthermore, the UE is allowed to connect to multiple component carriers according to the LTE Advancement. However, the LTE Advancement does not clearly specify how the TA functionality is applied in the UE with multiple component carriers. The management of TA functionality for the multiple component carriers is never concerned. Improper configuration on TA functionality with multiple component carriers causes failure of UE synchronization and uplink transmission.
[0010] The applicant provides an uplink transmission problem as below based on a direct image on a basis of a combination of the prior art LTE and LTE-Advanced system. Consider a scenario that a UE in a RRC (Radio Resource Control) connected mode is configured with two component carriers for uplink transmission from two cells and the UE maintains a time alignment timer for uplink synchronization as specified in the LTE system. The two cells have different timing advance values for the UE. According to the prior art, the UE updates the timing advance according to a received timing advance command. When the UE applies the timing advance to the uplink transmission for both component carriers, the uplink transmission in one component carrier will be successful, but the uplink transmission in the other component carrier will be failed because the timing advance value is correct in the component carrier, but is not correct in the other component carrier.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] A method of managing timing alignment, TA, functionality for a communication device of a wireless communication system which supports carrier aggregation that multiple component carriers are aggregated to support wider transmission bandwidth, is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a radio resource control, RRC, message indicating a usage of a timing advance command for each of a plurality of component carriers configured to the communication device, from a cell in a network of the wireless communication system, when the timing advance command has been received from the cell in the network for each of the plurality of component carriers, applying the timing advance functionality corresponding to each of the plurality of component carriers, for updating a timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers, and when updating the timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers, starting or restarting a time alignment timer for each of the plurality of component carriers.
[0012] A method of managing timing alignment, TA, functionality for a cell in a network of a wireless communication system which supports carrier aggregation that multiple component carriers are aggregated to support wider transmission bandwidth, is disclosed. The method comprises transmitting, by a cell of the network, a radio resource control, RRC, message indicating a usage of a timing advance command for each of a plurality of component carriers configured to a communication device of the wireless communication system, to the communication device, and transmitting, by the cell of the network, the timing advance command for each of the plurality of component carriers to the communication device, for updating a timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers.
[0013] A communication device of a wireless communication system which supports carrier aggregation that multiple component carriers are aggregated to support wider transmission bandwidth, for managing timing alignment, TA, functionality, is disclosed. The communication device comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing program code corresponding to a process, and a processor coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium, for processing the program code to execute the process, wherein the process comprises: receiving a radio resource control, RRC, message indicating a usage of a timing advance command for each of a plurality of component carriers configured to the communication device, from a cell in a network of the wireless communication system, when the timing advance command has been received from the cell in the network for each of the plurality of component carriers, applying the timing advance functionality for each of the plurality component carriers, for updating a timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers, and when updating the timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers, starting or restarting a time alignment timer for all of the indicated at least one component carrier.
[0014] These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system with multiple component carriers.
[0016] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication device.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an exemplary process.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication device according to FIG. 3 .
[0019] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process.
[0020] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication device according to FIG. 5 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] Please refer to FIG. 1 , which illustrates a schematic diagram of connections between a UE and cells C 1 -Cn in a wireless communication system. In FIG. 1 , the cells C 1 -Cn and the UE are communicated through links L 1 -Lm each corresponding to a component carrier configured in the UE, and each supports a LTE-Advanced radio access technology (RAT) or an E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) RAT supporting the function of multiple component carriers on one UE. For example, the UE is communicated with the cell C 1 through the link L 1 , communicated with the cell C 2 through the links L 2 -L 4 , and so on. The component carriers of the links can be the same component carrier frequency band if the component carriers are associated to different cells. For example, the component carrier of any of the links L 2 -L 4 can use the same frequency band as the component carrier of the link L 1 .
[0022] Please refer to FIG. 2 , which illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication device 20 . The communication device 20 can be the UE shown in FIG. 1 and includes a processor 200 such as a microprocessor or ASIC, a computer readable recording medium 210 , and a communication interfacing unit 220 . The computer readable recording medium 210 is any data storage device that stores storage data 212 , including program code 214 , thereafter read and processed by the processor 200 . Examples of the computer readable recording medium 210 include a subscriber identity module (SIM), read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, hard disks, optical data storage devices, and carrier waves (such as data transmission through the Internet). The communication interfacing unit 220 is preferably a radio transceiver and accordingly exchanges wireless signals with a network (i.e. the cells C 1 -Cn) according to processing results of the processor 200 .
[0023] The program code 214 includes program code of a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer which can manage timing alignment (TA) functionality for multiple component carriers. Please refer to FIG. 3 , which illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary process 30 . The process 30 is utilized in the UE for managing TA functionality with multiple component carriers in a wireless communication system. The process 30 can be compiled into the program code 214 and includes the following steps:
[0024] Step 300 : Start.
[0025] Step 302 : Separately manage TA functionality of a plurality of component carriers.
[0026] Step 304 : End.
[0027] According to the process 30 , the UE manages TA functionality of each of the plurality of component carriers with independent TA configuration sets can be configured by timing advance command sent by the network. That is, when a timing advance command is received from a link belonging to a component carrier, the UE applies the TA functionality for the component carrier only. In one example, no limitation on carrier-to-cell allocation is introduced. The component carriers belonging to the same or different cells are depended on network resource allocation.
[0028] Take an example associated with FIG. 1 . If a UE has a first link (i.e. link L 1 ) belonging to a first component carrier and a second link (i.e. link L 2 ) belonging to a second component carrier for uplink transmission, the UE applies the TA functionality for the first component carrier when a first timing advance command is received in the first component carrier, applies the TA functionality for the second component carrier when a second timing advance command is received in the second component carrier, and so on.
[0029] For TA functionality operation, when the TA functionality is applied in a component carrier for updating a timing advance value corresponding to a cell, the UE starts or restarts a time alignment timer for the component carrier. For example, as abovementioned, when the TA functionality is applied in the first component carrier for updating a first timing advance value corresponding to a cell (i.e. cell C 1 ), the UE starts or restarts a first time alignment timer for the first component carrier according to the first timing advance command. Please note that, the abovementioned time alignment timer of the UE is utilized for indicating whether the UE is synchronized with the cell on uplink timing. When the time alignment timer is running, uplink timing is considered synchronized. If the time alignment timer expires, then this indicates that the UE no longer has uplink synchronization with the cell. Therefore, when the first time alignment timer expires, the UE releases resources of Channel Quality Indication (CQI) report, Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), scheduling request (SR), and Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) for the first component carrier. Similarly, when the TA functionality is applied in the second component carrier, the UE starts or restarts a second time alignment timer for the second component carrier according to the second timing advance command, and releases resources of CQI report, SRS, SR, and PUCCH for the second component carrier when the second time alignment timer expires. In the LTE-Advanced system, the released CQI-report, SRS, SR, and PUCCH resources can be CQI-ReportConfig, soundingRS-UL-Config, schedulingRequestConfig and pucch-Config configurations, respectively.
[0030] In addition, for network configuration flexibility and reduction of a signaling quantity, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message can be used to indicate the usage of the following timing advance command(s). When a RRC message indicating one component carrier is received, the UE applies TA functionality for the indicated component carrier when a timing advance command is received in the indicated component carrier.
[0031] Alternatively, when the RRC message indicating more than one component carrier is received, the UE applies the TA functionality for each of the indicated component carriers when the timing advance command is received in any one of the indicated component carriers. Take an example associated with FIG. 1 . If the RRC message indicates component carriers corresponding to the links L 2 -L 4 , the UE applies the TA functionality for each of the TA configuration sets corresponding to the links L 2 -L 4 when the timing advance command is received in any one of the links L 2 -L 4 . Please note that the abovementioned TA functionality applying is not against with the separate management concept of the process 30 . The UE still sets the TA functionality of the component carriers one by one although the configuration source, namely timing advance command, is come from one link.
[0032] Please refer to FIG. 4 which is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication device 40 . The communication device 40 is used for realizing the process 30 and includes TA executing units TA 1 -TA n and a management unit 401 . The TA executing units TA 1 -TA n are used for executing TA functionality (e.g resource releasing or time advance applying) of component carriers of the communication device 40 and each of the TA executing units TA 1 -TA n is responsible for one component carrier. The management unit 401 is used for separately managing the TA functionality of the component carriers. The management unit 401 includes a reception unit 402 for receiving a timing advance command, and a configuration applying unit 403 . In an example, when the reception unit 402 receives a timing advance command from one of the component carriers. The configuration applying unit 403 then applies the TA functionality for the component carriers received the timing advance command, and starts or restarts a time alignment timer for this component carrier according to the received timing advance command. In addition, the reception unit 402 is further used for receiving a RRC message for indicating at least one of the component carriers. The configuration applying unit 403 applies the TA functionality for the indicated component carriers when the timing advance command is received in one of the indicated component carriers, and starts or restarts a time alignment timer for all of the indicated component carriers. The related description can be realized by referring to the above, so a detailed description is omitted herein.
[0033] On the other hand, for reducing a configuration signaling quantity or complexity of TA functionality operation, please refer to FIG. 5 which is a flowchart of an exemplary process 50 . The process 50 is utilized in the UE for managing the TA functionality with multiple component carriers in a wireless communication system. The process 50 can be compiled into the program code 214 and includes the following steps:
[0034] Step 500 : Start.
[0035] Step 502 : Jointly manage TA functionality of a plurality of component carriers belonging to a cell.
[0036] Step 504 : End.
[0037] According to the process 50 , the UE manages the TA functionality in the plurality of component carriers belonging to the same cell with a common timing advance command. That is, when a timing advance command is received in one of the component carriers belonging to a cell, the UE jointly applies the TA functionality for the component carriers belonging to the cell.
[0038] Take an example according to FIG. 1 . When a timing advance command is received in any one of the links L 2 -L 4 belonging to the cell C 2 , the UE applies the TA functionality for the links L 2 -L 4 according to the timing advance command. In this situation, the network does not need to generate and send timing advance command duplications for the links L 2 -L 4 , and on the other hand, the UE does not need to handle the TA functionality for each component carrier belonging to the same cell. As a result, the signaling quantity is reduced and furthermore complexity problem of separately configuring each component carrier is avoided.
[0039] For TA functionality operation, when the TA functionality is applied in the plurality of component carriers belonging to the same cell for updating a timing advance value corresponding to the cell, the UE starts or restarts a time alignment timer for those component carriers according to the timing advance command. Therefore, when the time alignment timer expires, the UE releases resources of CQI report, sounding RS, scheduling request, and PUCCH for all component carriers belonging to the cell. As a result, according to the abovementioned example, the UE starts or restarts a time alignment timer for the links L 2 -L 4 , and releases resources of the links L 2 -L 4 when the time alignment timer expires.
[0040] Based on the process 50 , the UE applies the TA functionality and maintains one time alignment timer for certain component carriers belonging to the same cell through a single timing advance command, so as to reduce the number of times for the timing advance command reception and related signalling quantity.
[0041] Please refer to FIG. 6 which is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication device 60 . The communication device 60 can be used for realizing the process 40 , which includes a plurality of TA executing unit TA 1 -TA n for executing TA functionality of component carriers belonging to a cell, and a management unit 601 for jointly managing the TA functionality of the component carriers. The management unit 601 includes a reception unit 602 for receiving a timing advance command, and a configuration applying unit 603 . When the reception unit 602 receives a timing advance command in one of the component carriers belonging to a cell, the configuration applying unit 603 applies the TA functionality for at least a component carriers belonging to the cell. In addition, the configuration applying unit 603 starts or restarts a time alignment timer for the component carriers belonging to the cell according to the timing advance command. Detailed description can be referred from above, so the detailed description is omitted herein.
[0042] Please note that the abovementioned steps of the processes 30 and 50 including suggested steps can be realized by means that could be hardware, firmware known as a combination of a hardware device and computer instructions and data that reside as read-only software on the hardware device, or an electronic system. Examples of hardware can include analog, digital and mixed circuits known as microcircuit, microchip, or silicon chip. Examples of the electronic system can include system on chip (SOC), system in package (Sip), computer on module (COM), and the communication device 20 .
[0043] In conclusion, the above-mentioned examples provide a separately managing way to manage the TA functionality for multiple component carriers to avoid an erroneous situation where one component carrier belonging to a cell is successful in uplink synchronization while other component carriers belonging to other cells are failed. Furthermore, the other examples provide a jointly managing way for component carriers belonging to the same cell in order to reduce a signaling quantity or complexity of TA functionality operation.
[0044] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
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A method of managing TA functionality for a communication device of a wireless communication system which supports carrier aggregation that multiple component carriers are aggregated to support wider transmission bandwidth is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a RRC message indicating a usage of a timing advance command for each of a plurality of component carriers configured to the communication device, from a cell in a network of the wireless communication system, when the timing advance command has been received from the cell for each of the plurality of component carriers, applying the timing advance functionality corresponding to each of the plurality of component carriers, for updating a timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers, and when updating the timing advance value for each of the plurality of component carriers, starting or restarting a time alignment timer for each of the plurality of component carriers.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of the U.S. national stage designation of International application PCT/EP01/03677 filed Apr. 2, 2001, the content of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference thereto.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a novel confectionery product capable which produces an enhanced refreshing effect in the mouth. The present invention also relates to a method for providing a refreshing cooling effect in the mouth during consumption of the confectionery product.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the confectionery field, it is known to use sugar substitutes in the composition of high boiled candies, low boiled candies or chewable gums in amounts sufficient to provide a sweetening effect for replacing totally or partially the sugar while conferring similar setting and hardening properties. Sugar substitutes are chemically known as polyhydric alcohols or polyols. These polyols are good sweeteners and they advantageously help reduce the amount of calories in the confectionery product. They also have a well recognized beneficial effect on the reduction of tooth decay. Indeed, such polyols are resistant to the metabolism by oral bacteria which break down the sugars and starches to produce acids responsible for decay. For example, WO 97/03569 describes a specific sugar-free candy with a hygroscopic hard cooked maltitol core encased within a hard cooked non-hygroscopic sugar alcohol casing.
For these reasons, such polyols have been widely used as ingredients of confectionery products. A few polyols, such as xylitol or erythritol, are also known as having refreshing or cooling properties, which are mainly due to their negative heat of solution of a magnitude much higher than any other polyols or sugars. Therefore, these particular polyols have served as sugar substitutes mainly in the composition of chewing gums or toothpaste.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,801 relates to a dragé comprising a core and a shell of edible material enveloping the core and adhering to the latter, wherein the shell is formed by an intimate mixture of microcrystals of xylitol with a fatty substance. The core can be selected from a great variety of edible materials such as gums, jelly, almonds or agglomerated sugar or polyol mass. The goal of this patent is to make a xylitol shell of extremely compact and intimate microcrystalline structure having a smooth aspect of the outer surface thereof. Although the resulting product might have a certain pleasant sensation of freshness in the mouth due to the presence of xylitol in the coating of the confectionery, the effect only remains a relatively cool solid taste of the coating which melts slowly into the mouth. The cooling effect is also likely to be hidden, or at least reduced, because of the presence of the fat such as the cocoa butter that is added to the mixture to form the compact microcrystalline xylitol layer. Furthermore, the xylitol remains thermodynamically unstable and hygroscopic, so that its use only in the coating is unsuitable in that it might lose its refreshing power over time. Also, when in the presence of a warm and wet environment, the coating would have a tendency to dissolve while calorific energy is given off by the resulting solution before the sweet is consumed.
In view of this, improved confectionery products for providing an enhanced cooling effect are needed, and the present invention provides such improved products.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a novel confectionery in which the cooling effect is enhanced by conferring a refreshing mouthfeel in the form of a feeling of“liquid” release while also preserving a cooling efficiency which remains unchanged over an extensive period of time. To do this, the invention provides a confectionery product comprising a casing of a protective confectionery material and a filling included within the casing. Preferably, the filling is enclosed within the casing and comprises a major amount of monosaccharide polyol in crystalline anhydrous powder form chosen from among polyols having a cooling effect.
It has been surprisingly found that when the crystalline powder filling is released from the protective casing, either during chewing or after the casing has melted sufficiently, one obtains a unique “liquid” and fresh mouthfeel. This feeling of having a “liquid” differentiates from the solid taste of polyols in compact or agglomerated form as used in either the coatings or the solid cores of the prior art. The effect is also preserved by the fact the polyol is kept on a thermodynamic point of view, in a very stable and efficient state over time, as it is protected from environment by the casing and especially from moisture ingress. This confectionery product confers a sudden rapid and perceivable release in the mouth of a cooling effect without the consumer necessarily having to chew or bite the confectionery product.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES
The invention will now be described in greater detail in the following description, wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a filled sweet of the invention;
FIG. 2 shows a cross sectional view of the sweet of FIG. 1 along line A—A;
FIG. 3 illustrates a preferred process for producing the filled sweet of FIGS. 1 and 2 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The polyols which are used to make the powder filling of the invention are those which have high negative heat of solution. The heat of solution is a thermodynamic expression to define the amount of heat a solution requires to dissolve one gram of solute. In the case of polyols having a cooling effect, the energy is given off by the solution so as to make the heat of solution negative. The polyols of the invention have generally a heat of solution of less than −25 cal/g, preferably less than −30 cal/g. As a matter of comparison, sucrose is known as having a heat of solution of −4 cal/g only. When the filling is contacted by saliva in the mouth, the thermodynamic reaction of the anhydride polyol with the saliva occurs instantaneously and solubility also takes place thus conferring the impression that the powdered filling is a fresh “liquid”. It is also preferred that the solubility of the polyols for the filling is relatively high. More particularly, the solubility should preferably be higher than 240 g/100 g of water at 37° C. The higher the solubility, the more liquid the filling should feel. However, if too hygroscopic, the filling might lose its reactivity over time.
The filling is preferably a powder that is found in a free flowing state within the casing; i.e., that is not highly compressed or agglomerated in a solid self-cohesive shape before encapsulation within the casing. The fresh “liquid” effect is indeed also dependent on the flowing properties of the powder when leaving the casing. The quicker the powder can discharge in the mouth, the greater the exploding fresh liquid effect is perceived as the powder is immediately available to melt in contact with the saliva. In the undesirable situation in which the polyol is agglomerated to make a cohesive mass, the release of the polyol is delayed thus conferring a more “solid” taste similar to the taste of crystallized polyol coatings.
The monosaccharide polyol is preferably xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol or combinations thereof. Based on testing, Xylitol is preferred as it is one of the polyols that tasted the more “liquid” and fresh, at the same time, upon release in mouth. It also has a medium-range solubility which makes it both very reactive but also capable to sustain an extensive period of storage within the casing of the invention. Xylitol has a heat of solution of between −30 to −45 g/cal depending upon the chemical purity of the product (for instance, the commercial product Xylisorb® supplied by Roquette Frères of Lille, France is −34.8 g/cal). Solubility of xylitol is about 250–260 g/100 g of water at 37° C. whereas sucrose has a solubility under 230 g/100 g and maltitol has a solubility of less than 205 g/100 g. Sorbitol has a higher hygroscopicity and a water solubility of about 330–340 g/100 g (at 37° C.) but a lower heat of solution in the range of −28 to −26 g/cal. Sorbitol is supposed to have a slightly higher cooling effect than xylitol which can be measured by the instant fall of temperature when a determined amount of powder is added to water. The measured cooling effect of sorbitol is about −22° C. whereas xylitol is about −20° C. (instant fall of temperature when 150 g of powder are added to 50 ml of water at 37° C.). However, in practice, xylitol provides a sharper combined “liquid” and fresh sensation in mouth than sorbitol. Anhydride crystals of Erythritol differ from other polyols in that they are less water soluble but have a very negative heat of solution of about −42 to −45 g/cal which confer a relatively weaker liquid feeling but a very cool sensation in mouth. However, the use of Erythritol is limited to Japan only, due to legal reasons, whereas it is still not admitted in the other countries in the application to food products.
The control of the granulometry of the powder has also proved to be important to enhance the cooling effect as well as to speed up the melting reaction in mouth. The finer the particles of powder, the more the polyol mass when released tastes “liquid” with no gritty sensation in mouth. Finer free flowing particles promote the surface of contact of the polyol substrate with liquid during release which has as the consequence to concentrate the heat exchanges in a much shorter period of time. More specifically, substantially at least 85% by weight, preferably at least 95%, of the particles have a size preferably less than 250 microns. More preferably, at least 30% by weight, preferably 40%, of the particles have even less than 100 microns. A suitable example of particle size distribution is: less than 0.1% wt of more than 500 microns, less than 1.2% of between 500 to 250 microns, 48% of between 250 to 100 microns and the remainder of less than 100 microns.
The filling consists essentially of anhydride polyol as aforementioned. However, a small amount of other ingredients might be added to flavor and/or sweeten the filling or also to make it fizzy, for instance. In particular, natural or artificial flavoring agents may be used. Spray-dried and freeze-dried fruit juice such as lemon, orange, strawberry or others, may advantageously be added in an amount lower than 20% by weight, preferably lower than 12% by weight of the filling. Acids may also be added such as citric acid or maleic acid in amount preferably in the range of 0.1 to 3% by weight. A small amount of bicarbonate may also be added to have a slight effervescent effect. Functional ingredients such as antioxidants may also be added. As the antioxidant, those authorized as food additives, for example, vitamin C, vitamin E or extracts of plants, can be used. Edible colorants might also be added when necessary.
The amount of the filling must be effective to produce the liquid and cooling effect that is sought. Therefore, the content of non-polyol in the filling should not exceed 40% by weight of the filling. Therefore, the amount of polyol with the intended cooling effect should be of at least 60%, preferably at least 85% by weight of the filling.
In a preferred aspect, the filling part should represent between 6 to 30% by weight of the whole confectionery product including the casing part, more preferably, 8 to 22% by weight, and even more preferably 11 to 18% by weight. The maximum amount of filling has proved to be a limiting factor for two main technical reasons. The first reason is due to the process difficulties that have been experienced for encasing the filling with a too high proportion of powder when using the conventional die forming method. If the casing is not sufficiently closed, the powder may leak out from the casing thus causing a poor reactive effect upon consumption due to the lack of powder left in the casing. The second reason for a limited proportion of the filling is that the casing is also weakened with a too small thickness of the walls that might cause the fracture of the casing, in particular upon packaging of the product, if no very special attention is paid, that would lead to an increase of the rate of defective packaged products.
The filling may entirely or only partially fill the casing depending upon the size of the casing. For relatively small or medium size candies, the casing is entirely filled with the filling so as to ensure the desired liquid effect. The casing has dimensions of usual candies; i.e., a main weight ranging from 1 to 6 g, and preferably from 1.2 to 3 g. It is not desirable to have candies of a weight beyond the given range as polyols have also laxative side effects that could be a problem for sensitive persons if used in too large proportions.
In a preferred aspect of the invention, the casing of the confectionery is a boiled sweet, also commonly called hard sweet or high boiled candy which is a solid, glassy and amorphous casing. The casing may contain only sugar alcohols. In that case, the confectionery is thus entirely sugar-free, non cariogenic and low calorie which also makes it suitable for children, elderly people or diabetics. The sugar alcohols for the casing can be of any commercially available, economically satisfactory, sugar alcohols which are suitable for the production of non-hygroscopic hard candy. The polyalcohols for the casing are preferably selected from the group consisting of isomalt, sorbitol, maltitol, lactitol, mannitol, polydextrose and combination thereof. The final moisture content of the casing is preferably less than 3% by weight, preferably of about 2% by weight so as to confer an extended shelf life of the product and efficiently keep the filling dry and reagent.
Besides the polyalcohols, carbohydrates such as sucrose and hydrogenated glucose syrup or other sugars can also be used in mixture with or in replacement to polyalcohols to make the casing. For instance, the casing may have a carbohydrate composition which is less sticky and has a lower tendency to loose its glassy appearance as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,866 for which reference is made herein. Relevant additives such as natural or artificial flavorants, colorants or other active ingredients such as acids or sweeteners can be added in conventional amounts to the composition of the casing.
As already mentioned, the casing should have a sufficient thickness to withstand manipulation and packaging operations without easily breaking or fracturing which would cause loss of powder and consequently would impart no or reduced cooling effect. Preferably, the thickness of the casing is between 1 to 4 mm, and more preferably between 1.5 to 2.5 mm. The casing may be formed of one or several layers of different hardness, texture and/or flavors. For instance, it may comprise a hard thin coating covering a softer inner layer.
High boiled casings of the invention can be obtained by extensive dehydration of a slurry. Generally, the slurry is made of an aqueous mixture of saccharides and/or polyhydric alcohols which is boiled in suitable proportions in a cooker at a temperature of 130–150° C., preferably under vacuum conditions, to reach a high final solids content of less than 2.5%, preferably of about 1%. After cooking, the cooked mass is poured onto a cold slab to reach a suitable plastic consistency. As shown in FIG. 3 , the cooked plastic mass 3 is conveyed to a batch roller 10 in which a cone 30 of the plastic mass is pulled out. The batch roller includes a number of conical rollers 11 depending on the manufacturer's specifications which have the function of forming a continuous rope of plastic mass at the end. A centre filling pipe 40 is positioned in the cone of confectionery and the centre filling 50 is forced by along the pipe which extends into about two thirds to 90% of the cone's length. For example, a Batch Former model 7RL with file pipe is commercialised by Nuova Euromec that leaves the batch roller contains the filling 50 of polyol crystal powder. The powder for the filling comes from an auger 41 to feed the centre pipe 40 . The next stage consists in sizing the rope 5 to the desired cross-section by using a rope sizer 6 such as a Ropesizer model 61FL from Nuova Euromec, Machinery Divison, 24057 Martinengo (Bg), Italy. Individual confectionery products 7 are cut and shaped from the sized filled rope in a die forming device 8 such as a chain die like assembly having a high output rate (such as model 52STV from Nuova Euromec). The chain die assembly 8 comprises pairs of half-die members 80 that assemble during the rotation of the chains and punch the filled rope into the individual desired closed shapes. The cut ends of the filled sweet are thus closed or partially closed by punching. The closing generally forms, on both sides of the sweet, areas of reduced thickness 70 of the casing as illustrated in FIG. 2 . In some cases where the amount of filling is high, the closure of the casing is entirely secured. As aforementioned, the proportion of filling should not exceed 30% by weight, preferably 22%, even preferably 18% by weight, to limit serious closure problems that would lead to accidental leakage of the filling. However, there may be a benefit to have at least one zone of reduced thickness and/or even one small hole within the casing to enable the filling to discharge progressively in mouth. Such zone(s) of reduction and/or hole (s) should be capable to form at least one passage communicating with the filling of a size effective to allow at least part of the filling to be progressively freed into the mouth. When small holes are formed within the casing, they should be of a size that does not allow significant leakage of the powder in the conditions of storage. Small holes are intended to be holes equal to or less than 250 microns, and preferably equal to or less than 100 microns, within the casing. Zones of reduced thickness form weaker zones that solubilize by saliva after only a few seconds in mouth and before the entire casing has entirely solubilized. Therefore, in both cases larger passages are left after a few seconds in mouth which finally allow at least part of the filling to be progressively freed before the rest of the casing has significantly melted. As a result of this progressive release of polyol, a very pleasant sensation of cool “liquid” is given from the casing.
In a possible alternative, the casing may be formed of a chewy crystallized structure known in the confectionery art as “low boiled” candy such as a fudge, a caramel or toffee. The method for producing the sweets is similar to the method for high boiled candy. A paste is to produce a crystallized or non-crystallized high-solids fluid that can be sized into a rope, filled and shaped by means of a die or chain die assembly.
In another variant, the casing may be made of a chewing gum. Basically, the chewable gum includes a plasticized rubber or polymer, gum base texturizers and sugar and/or bulk sweeteners such as sorbitol, mannitol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt and xylitol or any suitable polyalcohols. Flavors can be added to give a taste to the chewable casing which can be compounded to essential oils as it is known in the chewing gum industry. Fruit acids may also be added to the casing composition such as orange, lemon, mint, strawberry or grape to enhance the flavour effect of the casing. High intensity sweeteners can be used to increase the sweet taste such as acesulfate K, aspartame, thaumatin, glycyrrhin or saccharin. The chewing gum casing may be pan coated with sugar or sugar alcohols to confer a superficial rigid coating.
The rubber or polymer of the chewing gum may contain synthetic elastomers and/or natural elastomers. Synthetic elastomers may include, but are not limited to, polyisobutylene, isobutylene-isoprene copolymer, polyethylene vinyl acetate, polyisoprene, polyethylene, vinyl acetate-vinyl laurate copolymer and combinations thereof. Natural elastomers may include natural rubber such as latex and guayule, natural gums such as jelutong, lechi caspi, perillo, sorva, balata, etc. The preferred synthetic elastomer and natural elastomer proportions vary depending on whether the chewing gum is a conventional gum or a bubble gum. Plasticizers may include estergums, for example, or other suitable plasticizers well known in the chewing gum industry.
Texturizers may include magnesium and calcium carbonate, ground limestone, silicate, clay, alumina, talc, titanium oxide, phosphates, cellulose polymers, and combinations thereof.
EXAMPLE
A non-limiting example is described below with percentages given by weight, unless otherwise indicated.
A casing whose recipe is composed by 80% isomalt, 10% maltitol syrup and 10% water is cooked to high final solids until 145° C. The mass is then put in batch under a slight vacuum (0.9 atm.) for 3 minutes.
The cooked mass is then discharged on a cooled table and 1% citric acid, 0.15% lemon flavour, 0.8% Acesulfame K are added. The ingredients are mixed until a plastic mass is formed. This mass at 75° C. is then introduced in the batch roller.
A filling of 95% anhydrous xylitol powder, 1% citric acid, 0.2% liquid lemon and 0.35% spray dried lemon juice is pumped into the center of the cooked and aromatised isomalt mass within the batch roller and a rope calibrated in the rope sizer at an external diameter of about 15 mm is pulled into the chain die assembly. The filling pump is calibrated to pump a 15% of filling part with respect to the casing part. Xylitol filled candies are pressed in elongated oval shapes of 2 grams having dimensions of 10 by 15 mm which are cooled into a cooling tunnel until reaching a 30° C. temperature. The candies are then removed from the dies and packed in bulk into cardboard sleeves. In an alternative, each individual candy is twist wrapped or flow wrapped and then packaged in sachets.
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The invention relates to a novel confectionery product comprising a casing of a protective confectionery material and a filling enclosed within the casing, wherein the casing is configured to enable the filling to be released without the casing having to be substantially dissolved and; wherein the filling includes a major amount of monosaccharide polyol in a crystalline anhydrous powder form chosen among polyols having a cooling effect. Preferably, the filling represents 6 to 40% by weight of the product and includes xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol or a combination thereof.
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BACKGROUND
In the field of elastic laminate garment panels for disposable or limited use garments, desirable qualities include light weight, good skin feel (hand) and exterior abrasion resistance, good flexibility and bond strength. Generally such elastic laminates may be made with a first facing of good hand to contact the skin of the wearer in a non-irritating manner. A second, exterior, facing is used for the exterior side of the garment facing away from the skin of the wearer. Between the two facings is applied an adhesive and strands or webs of elastic material.
However a first problem occurs with such elastic laminates in getting the facings to adhere to each other, and the tensioned elastics, without debonding. This can especially be problematic when the garment is wet, e.g. in swim pants which are subject to total immersion. A second problem occurs aesthetically when, as more adhesive is added to construct the laminate, the heavier, and stiffer, or less flexible, the material becomes. Standard methodology generally requires spraying an entire layer of adhesive down, which leads to a loss of aesthetic cloth-like qualities. Also, as more steps or materials are put into making a fabric (such as adhesive spraying) the more equipment and material is required, leading to a loss of economy.
Hot melt applied adhesives may require the use of adhesives applied in a liquid state and may have problems including increased energy consumption, increased thickness, process control and change time, in addition to the above-stated problems. Meltbonding of the facings may require that the facing webs or the elastic strands or webs, or both, of thermoplastic material be brought at least partially to their melting point in order to bond. These meltbonding techniques may share the same heat-associated problems as hot melt applications and may further suffer cosmetic and lamination strength problems as well as loss of cloth like feel.
Thus there is need to provide economical, light weight, easily manufactured nonwoven laminates having desirable aesthetic qualities.
SUMMARY
The present invention solves the above-stated needs in the art by providing a simplified elastomeric laminate made, in one aspect of the invention, from nonwoven facings and thermoplastic adhesive elastomeric fiber strands. A plurality of thermoplastic adhesive elastomeric fiber strands are located between first and second facing webs. The fibers have an elastic core and adhesive-enriched surfaces. Thus the core is free to perform its primary elastic function while the sheath or surface is free to perform the primary adhesive function without undue corruption of the primary functions resulting from an attempt to derive both functions from a single composition. The facing webs, with the elastomeric fiber strands between them, are calendered together, thus adhering the facing webs together via contact adhesion with the elastomeric fibers. Thus no extra material, machinery, or steps for separate placement of adhesives is required.
Without excessive adhesive, the laminates are lighter, and more flexible while still retaining excellent bond strength between the layers and desired aesthetics. Further, because the strand construction may allow the facings to remain free between the strands, additional bulk and softness may be obtained with the present invention while still providing adequate strand-to-facing and facing-to-facing adhesion. Heretofore, no one is believed to have taught such an elastic laminate using tacky, or adhesive, elastomeric strands, because the person having ordinary skill in the art would likely consider such adhesive strands to be too difficult to work with in a practical manufacturing setting.
Elastic adhesive fibers suitable for use with the present invention may be spunbond (SB) bicomponent or meltblown (MB) bicomponent fibers with a tacky sheath, or may be homofilament fibers loaded with an adhesive which will aggregate or concentrate at, or migrate to, the surface of the fibers. The process may be a vertical filament laminate (VFL) process, such as for making vertical filament stretch-bonded laminate (VFSBL) material, as disclosed in copending application WO 01/87588 published Nov. 22, 2001 and entitled Targeted Elastic Laminate, or a horizontal/continuous filament laminate (CFL) manufacturing process, such as for making continuous filament stretch-bonded laminate (CFSBL) material, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,775 issued Jan. 31, 1995 to Wright; all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
The facings may be nonwoven laminates such as, without limitation, about a 0.1 osy to about a 4.0 osy nonwoven, with a particular example being a 0.4 osy polypropylene spunbond nonwoven web and may be gatherable or expandable, or both in the desired direction, or axis, of elasticity for the laminate in order to provide for expansion and contraction of the resulting laminate.
DEFINITIONS
The term “bicomponent filaments” or “bicomponent fibers” refers to fibers which have been formed from at least two polymers extruded and formed together to create one fiber and may also be referred to herein as “conjugate” or “multicomponent” fibers. “Bicomponent” is not meant to be limiting to only two constituent polymers unless otherwise specifically indicated. The polymers are arranged in substantially constantly positioned distinct zones across the cross-section of the bicomponent fibers and extend continuously along the length of the bicomponent fibers. The configuration of such a bicomponent fiber may be, for example, a sheath/core arrangement wherein one polymer is surrounded by another, or may be a side-by-side arrangement, or a side-by-side-by-side, arrangement. Bicomponent fibers are generally taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,820 to Kaneko et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,552 to Strack et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,400 to Pike et al. For two component fibers, the polymers may be present in ratios of 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 or any other desired ratios. Conventional additives, such as pigments and surfactants, may be incorporated into one or both polymer streams, or applied to the filament surfaces.
As used herein, the term “consisting essentially of” does not exclude the presence of additional materials which do not significantly affect the desired characteristics of a given composition or product. Exemplary materials of this sort would include, without limitation, pigments, antioxidants, stabilizers, surfactants, waxes, flow promoters, solvents, particulates, and materials added to enhance processability of the composition.
The term “contact adhesion” or “contact adherence” refers to an adhesive system whereby a tacky surface adheres to create a bond without the necessity of one of the materials entering a liquid state to create the bond.
“Homofilament” refers to a fiber formed from only one predominate polymer and made from a single stream of that polymer. This is not meant to exclude fibers formed from one polymer to which small amounts of additives have been added for coloration, adhesive properties, anti-static properties, lubrication, hydrophilicity, processability, etc.
As used herein, the term “machine direction” or MD means the length of a fabric in the direction in which it is produced. The term “cross machine direction” or CD means the width of fabric, i.e. a direction generally perpendicular to the MD.
The term “meltblown fibers” means fibers formed by extruding a molten thermoplastic material through a plurality of fine, usually circular, die capillaries as molten threads or filaments into converging high velocity heated gas (e.g., air) streams which attenuate the filaments of molten thermoplastic material to reduce their diameter, which may be microfiber diameter. Thereafter, the meltblown fibers are carried by the high velocity gas stream and are deposited on a collecting surface to form a web of randomly dispersed meltblown fibers. Such a process is disclosed for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,241 to Butin et al. Meltblown fibers are microfibers which may be continuous or discontinuous, are generally smaller than 10 microns in diameter, and are generally self bonding when deposited onto a collecting surface.
The term “microfibers” means small diameter fibers having an average diameter not greater than about 75 microns, for example, having an average diameter of from about 1 micron to about 50 microns, or more particularly, having an average diameter of from about 1 micron to about 30 microns. Another frequently used expression of fiber diameter is denier, which is defined as grams per 9000 meters of a fiber. For a fiber having circular cross-section, denier may be calculated as fiber diameter in microns squared, multiplied by the density in grams/cc, multiplied by 0.00707. A lower denier indicates a finer fiber and a higher denier indicates a thicker or heavier fiber. For example, the diameter of a polypropylene fiber given as 15 microns may be converted to denier by squaring, multiplying the result by 0.89 g/cc (an assumed polypropylene density for this example) and multiplying by 0.00707. Thus, a 15 micron polypropylene fiber has a denier of about 1.42 (15 2 ×0.89×0.00707=1.415). Outside the United States the unit of measurement is more commonly the “tex,” which is defined as the grams per kilometer of fiber. Tex may be calculated as denier/9.
As used herein, the term “neck” or “neck stretch” interchangeably means that the fabric is drawn such that it is extended under conditions reducing its width or its transverse dimension by drawing and elongating to increase the length of the fabric. The controlled drawing may take place under cool temperatures, room temperature or greater temperatures and is limited to an increase in overall dimension in the direction being drawn up to the elongation required to break the fabric. The necking process typically involves unwinding a sheet from a supply roll and passing it through a brake nip roll assembly driven at a given linear speed. A take-up roll or nip, operating at a linear speed higher than the brake nip roll, draws the fabric and generates the tension needed to elongate and neck the fabric. U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,122 issued Oct. 23, 1990 to Morman, which, discloses a process for providing a reversibly necked nonwoven material which may include necking the material, then heating the necked material, followed by cooling.
As used herein, the term “neckable material or layer” means any material which can be necked such as a nonwoven, woven, or knitted material. As used herein, the term “necked material” refers to any material which has been drawn in at least one dimension, (e.g. lengthwise), reducing the transverse dimension, (e.g. width), such that when the drawing force is removed, the material can be pulled back, or relaxed, to its original width. The necked material typically has a higher basis weight per unit area than the un-necked material. When the necked material returns to its original un-necked width, it should have about the same basis weight as the un-necked material. This differs from stretching a material layer, during which the layer is thinned and the basis weight is permanently reduced.
Typically, such necked nonwoven fabric materials are capable of being necked up to about 80 percent. For example, the neckable backsheet 30 of the various aspects of the present invention may be provided by a material that has been necked from about 10 to about 80 percent, desirably from about 20 to about 60 percent, and more desirably from about 30 to about 50 percent for improved performance. For the purposes of the present disclosure, the term “percent necked” or “percent neckdown”refers to a ratio or percentage determined by measuring the difference between the pre-necked dimension and the necked dimension of a neckable material, and then dividing that difference by the pre-necked dimension of the neckable material and multiplying by 100 for percentage. The percentage of necking (percent neck) can be determined in accordance with the description in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,122.
The term “nonwoven fabric” or “nonwoven web” means a web having a structure of individual fibers or threads which are interlaid, but not in a regular or identifiable manner as in a knitted fabric. Nonwoven fabrics or webs have been formed from many processes such as, for example, meltblowing processes, spunbonding processes, air-laying processes, and bonded carded web processes. The basis weight of nonwoven fabrics is usually expressed in ounces of material per square yard (osy) or grams per square meter (gsm) and the fiber diameters are usually expressed in microns. (Note that to convert from osy to gsm, multiply osy by 33.91).
“Personal care product” or “personal care absorbent article” means diapers, wipes, training pants, absorbent underpants, adult incontinence products, feminine hygiene products, wound care items like bandages, and other like articles.
The term “polymer” generally includes without limitation homopolymers, copolymers (including, for example, block, graft, random and alternating copolymers), terpolymers, etc., and blends and modifications thereof. Furthermore, unless otherwise specifically limited, the term “polymer” shall include all possible geometrical configurations of the material. These configurations include, but are not limited to isotactic, syndiotactic and atactic symmetries.
The term “spunbond fibers” refers to small diameter fibers which are formed by extruding molten thermoplastic material as filaments from a plurality of fine capillaries of a spinneret having a circular or other configuration, with the diameter of the extruded filaments then being rapidly reduced as by, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,563 to Appel et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,618 to Dorschner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,817 to Matsuki et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,338,992 and 3,341,394 to Kinney, U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,763 to Hartman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,538 to Petersen, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,615 to Dobo et al. Spunbond fibers are quenched and generally not tacky when they are deposited onto a collecting surface. Spunbond fibers are generally continuous and usually have average diameters larger than meltblown fibers, and more particularly, generally between about 10 and 30 microns.
The term “substantially continuous filaments” or “substantially continuous fibers” refers to filaments or fibers prepared by extrusion from a spinneret, including without limitation spunbond and meltblown fibers, which are not cut from their original length prior to being formed into a nonwoven web or fabric. Substantially continuous filaments or fibers may have average lengths ranging from greater than about 15 cm to more than one meter, and up to or greater than the length of the nonwoven web or fabric being formed. The definition of “substantially continuous filaments” (or fibers) includes those filaments or fibers which are not cut prior to being formed into a nonwoven web or fabric, but which are later cut when the nonwoven web or fabric is cut.
The term “staple fibers” means fibers which are natural or cut from a manufactured filament prior to forming into a web, and which have an average length ranging from about 0.1-15 cm, more commonly about 0.2-7 cm.
Words of degree, such as “about”, “substantially”, and the like are used herein in the sense of “at, or nearly at, when given the manufacturing and material tolerances inherent in the stated circumstances” and are used to prevent the unscrupulous infringer from unfairly taking advantage of the invention disclosure where exact or absolute figures are stated as an aid to understanding the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings are presented as an aid to explanation and understanding of various aspects of the present invention only and are not to be taken as limiting the present invention. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, nor should they be taken as photographically accurate depictions of real objects unless otherwise stated.
FIG. 1 illustrates a training pant/swim pant which may utilize the elastic laminate of the present invention;
FIGS. 2-4 illustrate transverse, or cross direction, cross sections of alternative embodiments of the elastic adhesive fibers with facings;
FIG. 5 illustrates a first process for making an elastic laminate of the present invention;
FIG. 6 illustrates a second process for making an elastic laminate of the present invention; and
FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate top plan views of laminates of the present invention stretched and unstretched in the longitudinal, or machine direction, respectively.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Certain aspects and embodiments of the invention will be described in the context of disposable absorbent articles, and may more particularly be referred to, without limitation and by way of illustration, as a disposable training pant garment or swim wear garment with elastic side panels. It is, however, readily apparent that aspects of the present invention can also be employed to produce other elasticized areas and for other garment or personal care article types, such as feminine care articles, various incontinence garments, medical garments and any other disposable garments, whether absorbent or not, needing an easily manufactured elasticized area. Typically, such disposable garments are intended for limited use and are not intended to be laundered or otherwise cleaned for reuse. A disposable training pant, for example, is discarded after it has become soiled by the wearer.
With reference to FIG. 1 , the garment 20 generally defines a front waist section 22 , a rear waist section 24 , and a crotch 26 which interconnects the front and rear waist sections. The front and rear waist sections 22 and 24 include the general portions of the garment which are constructed to extend over the wearer's front and rear abdominal regions, respectively, during use. Elasticized side panels 28 , 30 , as further explained below, connect the front and rear waist sections 22 , 24 , respectively. The crotch 26 of the garment includes the general portion of the garment that is constructed to extend through the wearer's crotch region between the legs.
To provide improved fit and to help reduce leakage of body exudates from the garment 20 , the garment leg cuffs 35 and waist margins 37 may be elasticized with suitable elastic members. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1 , the garment 20 may include leg elastics 36 which are constructed to operably tension the side margins of the garment 20 to provide elasticized leg bands which can closely fit around the legs of the wearer to reduce leakage and provide improved comfort and appearance. Waist elastics 38 may be employed to elasticize the waist margins 37 of the garment 20 to provide elasticity to the waistband. The waist elastics 38 are configured to help provide a resilient, comfortably close fit around the waist of the wearer.
Referencing FIG. 1 , the side panels 28 , 30 are also elasticized to provide improved fit and conformance to the wearer. Each side panel, e.g., side panel 28 , is composed of a first portion 42 , and a second portion 44 . The first portion 42 is bonded to the front waist section 22 by any known means such as ultrasonic bonding, adhesives, etc. Likewise the second portion 44 is bonded to the back waist section 24 in similar matter. The free ends of the side panel portions not bonded to the waist sections are then bonded in a standing butt seam 46 to create a side panel area 49 . As used herein, the term “standing butt seam” refers to a seam wherein two separate pieces of substrate are bonded together face-to-face or back-to-back in close proximity to an outer edge of each of the pieces of substrate, and the outer edges of the pieces of substrate project outward from the finished product, placing the seam in peel, as opposed to shearing strain. The seam 46 may be substantially permanent or easily separable depending on the garment application.
Referencing FIG. 2 , an exemplary material, or laminate, 47 for the side panel portions is made elastic, flexible, and light weight by placing thermoplastic elastomeric adhesive fibers 48 between a first nonwoven facing 50 and a second nonwoven facing 52 such as 0.4 osy spunbond nonwoven webs. The fibers have elastic cores 51 and adhesive-rich sheaths, or outer perimeters 54 , which are adhered to the facings, or extendible webs, 50 , 52 by contact adhesion. It will of course be appreciated that facing materials may be webs of material other than nonwovens if appropriate. The fibers may be, for example, bicomponent fibers having a core of an elastic polymer blend available from KRATON Polymers of Houston, Tex. containing 70% by weight KRATON® G1730 tetrablock copolymer elastomer and 30% by weight polyethylene wax; and a sheath of KRATON® G2760 polymer which contains a tackifying resin. Such a composition may be suitable for fibers formed on a wire or screen such as in the continuous filament laminate (CFL) process as further explained below. Higher levels of tackifier in the sheath may be obtained with the vertical filament laminate (VFL) process, further explained below wherein the fibers are formed on a chill roll with a release layer coating.
Alternatively, referencing FIG. 3 , a bicomponent meltblown fiber of sheath/core (not shown) (especially good for VFL processes), or a partial sheath/core morphology fiber 56 (especially good for CFL processes) with an elastic core polymer 58 and incomplete or partially surrounding, tackifier, or adhesive, rich, outer areas 60 , which do not necessarily provide a 360 degree coverage of the core, may be utilized to bond the facings 50 , 52 through contact adhesion. The sheaths or surface areas 60 may also be a blend of elastomer and tackifier components.
As another alternative, referencing FIG. 4 , a homofilament fiber 62 , such as polyethylene substantially continuous spunbond fiber is loaded with a selective tackifier 64 which migrates to the surface of the fiber 62 . This homofilament fiber with selectively migrating tackifier may thus eliminate any special requirements of bicomponent processing. Examples of such a filament and selective migrating tackifier might include polyethylene fibers with a hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin tackifier.
FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a vertical filament laminate (VFL) process for the manufacture of elastic laminates as previously mentioned above. Referring to FIG. 5 , at least one molten elastomeric material is extruded from a die extruder 70 through spinning holes as a plurality of substantially continuous elastomeric, adhesive-rich filaments 72 . The filaments 72 are quenched and solidified by passing the filaments 72 over a first chill roll 74 . Any number of chill rolls can be used. Suitably, chill rolls may have a temperature of about 40 degrees F. to about 80 degrees F. The chill roll 74 may also suitably have a release layer covering (not shown) on the surface to provide for easy release of the adhesive rich filaments, or fibers, 72 which may allow for a higher level of tackifier in the filaments than possible with current horizontal wire processes, as explained in conjunction with FIG. 6 .
The die of the extruder 70 may be positioned with respect to the first roller so that the continuous filaments meet this first roller 74 at a predetermined angle 76 . This strand extrusion geometry is particularly advantageous for depositing a melt extrudate onto a rotating roll or drum. An angled, or canted, orientation provides an opportunity for the filaments to emerge from the die at a right angle to the roll tangent point resulting in improved spinning, more efficient energy transfer, and generally longer die life. This configuration allows the filaments to emerge at an angle from the die and follow a relatively straight path to contact the tangent point on the roll surface. The angle 76 between the die exit of the extruder 70 and the vertical axis (or the horizontal axis of the first roller, depending on which angle is measured) may be as little as a few degrees or as much as 90 degrees. For example, a 90 degree extrudate exit to roller angle could be achieved by positioning the extruder 70 directly above the downstream edge of the first roller 74 and having a side exit die tip on the extruder. Moreover, angles such as about 20 degrees, about 35 degrees, or about 45 degrees, away from vertical may be utilized. It has been found that, when utilizing a 12-filament/inch spinplate hole density, an approximately 45 degree angle (shown in FIG. 5 ) allows the system to operate effectively. The optimum angle, however, may vary as a function of extrudate exit velocity, roller speed, vertical distance from the die to the roller, and horizontal distance from the die centerline to the top dead center of the roller. Optimal performance can be achieved by employing various geometries to result in improved spinning efficiency and reduced filament breakage.
After the filaments 72 are quenched and solidified they are stretched or elongated using a first series of stretch rolls 78 . The first series of stretch rolls 78 may comprise one or more individual stretch rolls and suitably at least two stretch rolls 80 and 82 , as shown in FIG. 5 . Stretch rolls 80 , 82 rotate at a speed greater than a speed at which chill roll 74 rotates, thereby stretching the filaments 72 .
In one embodiment of this invention, each successive roll rotates at a speed greater than the speed of the previous roll. For example, referring to FIG. 5 , if the chill roll 74 rotates at a speed “x”; stretch roll 80 rotates at a still greater speed, for example about 1.15×; second stretch roll 82 rotates at a still greater speed, for example about 1.25× to about 7×. As a result, the filaments 72 may be stretched by about 100% to about 800% of an initial pre-stretched length.
After the filaments 72 are stretched, they are laminated to the first facing material 84 and desirably at the same time to a second facing material 86 . The first facing material 84 is unwound from a roller 88 and laminated to a first side of the filaments 72 . The second facing material 86 is unwound from a second roller 90 and laminated to a second side of the filaments 72 . Before the facing materials 84 , 86 are laminated to the filaments they may be necked by additional rollers (not shown). The laminate material is then passed through nip rolls 92 to bond the adhesive-surfaced elastic filaments to the facings 84 , 86 by contact adhesion. The nip rolls 92 , may alternatively be used in place of, or in addition to, the stretch rolls 80 , 82 to achieve stretching. The laminate material is then allowed to relax thereby allowing the retracting elastomers to form gathers in the material (see FIG. 8 ).
The nip rollers may be designed to provide a maximum bond area through the use of flat calender rolls in certain aspects of the invention. Alternatively, a patterned roller may yield certain benefits such as increased bulk or stretching of the laminate and may be used where the strength of the contact adhesion between and among the facings and the strands is not unduly effected. The calender rolls can be heated to a degree below the melting points of the various laminate components, or may be ambient, or chilled.
FIG. 6 illustrates a horizontal, continuous filament laminate (CFL) process for making another elastic laminate of the invention. A first extrusion apparatus 102 is fed with an elastomeric polymer or polymer blend from one or more sources (not shown) and provided with the necessary adhesive sheath or selectively migrating adhesive. In various embodiments, the extrusion apparatus 102 can be configured to produce meltblown or spunbond, and bicomponent or homofilament fibers. Techniques for fiber extrusion, such as modified meltblowing of the fibers, are further set forth in the previously mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,775 to Wright. Apparatus 102 extrudes filaments 104 directly onto a conveyor system, which can be a forming wire system 106 (i.e., a foraminous belt) moving clockwise about rollers 108 . Filaments 104 may be cooled using vacuum suction applied through the forming wire system, and/or cooling fans (not shown). The vacuum can also help hold the filaments 104 against the foraminous wire system. Tackifier loading of about 23 percent has been found to be a practical limit with certain forming wires. However, it is contemplated that this percentage maybe increased with modifications to the forming wires which are designed to enhance handling of the adhesive rich fibers. The tackifier may be present in amounts for about 5 percent to about 40 percent and desirably from about 15 percent to about 25 percent.
The filaments 104 are then stretched by tensioning rollers 110 to elongate and tension the filaments. Desirably the tension rollers 110 are provided with a surface having little to no affinity for the adhesive of the filaments 104 .
After the filaments 104 are stretched, they are laminated to the first facing material 112 and desirably at the same time to a second facing material 114 . The first facing material 112 is unwound from a roller 116 and laminated to a first side of the filaments 104 . The second facing material 114 is unwound from a second roller 118 and laminated to a second side of the filaments 104 . Before the facing materials 112 , 114 are laminated to the filaments 104 the facing materials may also be stretched by additional rollers (not shown). The laminate material is then passed through nip rolls 120 to bond the adhesive-surfaced elastic filaments to the facings 84 , 86 by contact adhesion to produce the elastic laminate 122 . The elastic laminate 122 is then allowed to relax, forming gathers therein (see FIG. 8 ) and collected on a collection roll 124 for further use.
As in the VFL process, the nip rollers 120 may be desirably designed to provide a 100% bond area through the use of flat calender rolls or may provide a patterned bond area. The rollers 120 can be heated to a degree below the melting points of the various laminate components, or may be ambient, or chilled.
Referencing FIGS. 7 and 8 , an exemplary elastic laminate material 47 appears in a stretched, or tensioned, condition in FIG. 7 showing the elastic strands, e.g. 62 , in phantom. FIG. 8 shows the elastic laminate material 47 in a relaxed, or untensioned, condition with gathers 126 formed in the material 47 by the contraction of the elastic strands (not shown).
Having thus described a light weight, flexible, easily manufactured, elastic laminate of good aesthetics it will be appreciated that many variations thereon may occur to the person having ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the invention is intended to be limited only by the appended claims and not by the exemplary embodiments and aspects put forth herein.
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A simplified elastic laminate is made from nonwovens and is especially suitable for side panels of training pant garments or the like. A plurality of thermoplastic adhesive elastomeric fibers are located between first and second facing webs. The fibers have an elastic core and adhesive surfaces. The facing webs, with the elastomeric fibers between them, are calendered together thus adhering the facing webs together via contact adhesion with the elastomeric fibers.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to European patent application 07101800.6 filed 6 Feb. 2007.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention is concerned with monitoring the condition of an industrial robot. The invention is particularly useful for detecting and predicting a malfunction of the robot.
BACKGROUND ART
An industrial robot comprises a manipulator and a control system. The manipulator comprises links movable relative to each other about a plurality of joints. The links are different robot parts such as a base, arms, and wrist. Each joint has joint components such as a motor, motor gear and motor bearings. The movements of the manipulator are driven by the motors. The control system comprises one or more computers and drive units for controlling the manipulator. The speeds and accelerations of the links are controlled by the control system of the robot that generates control signals to the motors.
Industrial robots are used in industrial and commercial applications to perform precise and repetitive movements. It is then important for a faultless functionality of the robot that the industrial robot is performing according to its nominal performance, that means that the links and joints has to bee in good condition and perform together in an expected way.
However it is difficult to detect or determine if an industrial robot is not performing according to its nominal performance. The operator, such as a service technician, has to rely on what he sees and information from the control system about the performance of the robot such as the position and speed of the motors taken from readings on sensors on the manipulator. The operator then analyse the current condition of the robot based on his personal experience resulting in a varying diagnosis due to subjective measures. In many cases the operator analysing the current condition and performance of the robot also needs to evaluate information from different sources, such as different motors at the same time or external conditions in the facility where the robot is located or is even faced with an emergency stop. To find the cause of a failure the operator may have to try different hypothesis and it is therefore time consuming and often results in long stand-still periods for the robot causing huge costs.
Also due to frequent personal rotation today, operators of robot service technician staff do not have sufficient experience to diagnose and isolate a failure in the performance of the robot.
Further, if a failure in performance causing an emergency stop occurs, it is difficult to isolate the problem cause and what link or part of the robot that needs special attention.
The document: Lee S et al:“Perception-net based geometric data fusion for state estimation and system self-calibration”, Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent Robot and Systems, Innovative Robotics for real-world application, IROS '97 (Cat. No. 97CH36108) IEEE New York, N.Y., USA, vol. 3,1997, pages 1375a-g, 1376, XP-002449427: 0-7803-4119-8, discloses a method of automatically reducing uncertainties and calibrating possible biases involved in sensed data and extracted features by a system based on the geometric data fusion. A perception net, as a structural representation of the sensing capabilities of a system, connects features of various levels of abstraction, referred to as logical sensors with their functional relationships as constraints to be satisfied. Data fusion is presented as a unified framework for computing forward and backward propagations through which the net achieves the self-reduction of uncertainties and self calibration of biases. Said document does not mention anything about the use of the results of the performed state estimation for predicting a residual lifetime of a specific component of a robot system or a whole robot system.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,202 discloses an apparatus for detecting an abnormality of a control system. An internal property calculating section of the control system calculates an internal property of the control system on the basis of a command value representing a position or a speed of the control system. Said document does not mention anything about the use of the detection of an abnormality for predicting a residual lifetime of a specific component of a robot system or a whole robot system.
Document US 2004/0260481 A1 provides a method for monitoring movable parts of a machine. At least two measuring devices for detecting different measured quantities are provided. A comparison unit compares a first measure result with at least a second measure result of the measured quantity. Said comparison is not used for any predicting a residual lifetime of a specific component of a robot system or a whole robot system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for automatically monitor an industrial robot and to predict potential malfunction of the robot.
According to the aspect of the invention it is possible to monitor multiple input signals with a condition analyzer to:
1. Detect condition changes in any combination of input signals. 2. Identify root cause of the detected condition change based on information in any combination of input signals. 3. Predict condition deterioration based on any combination of input signals See also FIG. 1C . A number of signals generated in the industrial robot are monitored by the condition analyzer. Each signal indicates a condition of a related property of the industrial robot system. The property of the industrial robot system can be related to the complete robot system (one or more industrial robots) or parts of the robot system such as controller unit or manipulator or components in the parts of the robot system such as motor, gearbox or ventilation fans or even parts of the component, such as bearings in a gearbox. The condition is the status of a property indicating whether the property behaves properly or not. Through an analysis of said signals in the condition analyzer, it is possible to perform the three measures listed according to the invention.
When the condition of the robot manipulator or the control system changes due to wear, for example, increased backlash and friction, and/or external disturbances, any of the input signals may change its information, whereupon the condition analyzer will capture a change in the condition.
One object of the invention is to: detect, isolate and/or predict a condition of a robot manipulator and/or control system using more than one condition signal in a condition analyzer as generally described above.
An idea is to use redundancy in a structured way to get a more accurate result in terms of a reduced false alarm rate and missed alarms rate.
Input to the condition analyzer is accomplished by means of an arbitrary number of more than two input signals, i.e. signals carrying information about the condition of the robot system. Herein input signals are defined as any of the alternatives below.
1. A signal consisting of more than one sample per measurement, i.e. y(tk,i, m), where k is the sample number in the measurement, i the signal number and m is the measurement number. Examples of such signals are torque or speed from the robot which are measured during a time window. 2. A signal consisting of a single value per measurement of a continuous signal, i.e. y(i, m) where i is the signal number and m is the measurement number. Such a signal is, for example, temperature, fan speed, friction or back-lash. 3. A signal consisting of a binary single value per measurement, i.e. yd(i, m) where i is the signal number and m is the measurement number. This can be either a binary signal, such as: fan on/off, temperature high/low, friction high/low.
The input signals may be derived from the robot control system or by any external equipment or other diagnostic methods. The condition analyzer may use any combination of available input signals to detect, isolate and predict the condition of the robot system. The term “any combination” means that two, three, four, and so on, up to all said available input signals can by used in the analysis.
The results obtained and outputted from the condition analyzer can be any combination of:
Detection, i.e., detect condition changes in the robot system. Identify, i.e., isolate root cause of condition changes in the robot system. Prediction, i.e., predict condition deterioration in the robot system.
The condition analyzer can further be provided with a notification arrangement, which is set to issue a notification if any of the described results are enabled. In case of isolation of a failure, the root cause is sent together with the notification and in case of a prediction of a failure, the remaining time of the component, e.g., is sent together with the notification. The notification can be implemented according to a proper arrangement, such as a message on a display, an sms, an e-mail, a warning-lamp, a phone call, an executed alarm, etc., for alerting a designated receiver of said result. It should further be understood that the condition analyzer is performed by hardware and/or software units.
Said signal modeling of the signals can use for example an analysis method from the group of:
a Boolean network of selected input signals and conditions indicated by said signals, Filtering of selected signals such as weighting the sum of conditions indicated by a selection of said signals, a Multivariate Data Analysis (MDA) to identify combinations of input signals and/or relations between the input signals, and a Multi Layer PCA data analysis approach.
It should be understood that said signal modeling analysis are examples creating a general protection for multi sensor data fusion in the technical field of industrial robots. Other signal modeling methods, than those listed here, for modeling said at least two input signals, as recognized by the man skilled in the art, are as well applicable for the fusion of said sensor data according to the aspect of the invention.
An advantage of the invention is that it is possible to overcome the drawbacks with respect to personnel judging the performance of the robot, as the invention provides a simple method for automatically monitor the current performance or condition of the robot.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A shows an industrial robot comprising a manipulator and a control system adapted to control the robot.
FIG. 1B shows two links movable relative to each other about a joint.
FIG. 1C shows the condition analyzer and the signals related to it according to aspects of the invention.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a part of a control system for monitoring an industrial robot.
FIG. 3 shows data points formatted in a Multivariate Data Analysis method.
FIG. 4A visualizes a plot of data points in two dimensions. In the figure there are four different clusters of data and by use of Multivariate Data Analysis it is possible to divide the data space into different regions.
FIG. 4B visualizes a plot of data points corresponding to the example of FIG. 4A , but where the data points from two signals indicate that a prediction of a failure is obtained.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart over the pre-processing of external sensor signals V i to be integrated in the condition analyzer.
FIG. 6 shows a scores plot in PC-space indicating how the abnormal behavior in the system can easily be identified by use of modeling according to an aspect of the invention.
FIG. 7 depicts an estimated condition severity factor of the whole system indicating the remaining life time for the system trended and predicted according to the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A number of embodiments of the present invention supported by the appended drawings are described below.
Primarily, an overview of an industrial robot system is presented to indicate examples of input signals assembled from different sensors distributed throughout the robot system, as well as calculators for providing the condition analyzer with selected signals.
FIG. 1A shows an example of an industrial robot 1 comprising a manipulator 2 and a control system. The industrial robot has a plurality of links movable relative to each other about a plurality of joints 3 A, 3 B, 3 C, 3 D, in this case rotatable in relation to each other around an axis of rotation. The links are in this case robot parts, such as a stand 4 , robot arms 6 , 7 , 8 , and a wrist 10 comprising a turn disc. The industrial robot comprises a plurality of motors 12 A, 12 B, 12 C and 12 D controlling the position and speed of the links. The control system is illustrated as a simplified block diagram. The control system comprises, in this case, a control unit 20 including one or more logic units 22 , a memory unit 23 and drive units 27 A, 27 B, 27 C, 27 D for controlling the motors. The logic unit comprises a microprocessor, or processors comprising a central processing unit (CPU) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or any a semiconductor device containing programmable logic components. The control unit is adapted to run a control program, stored in the memory unit 23 . The control unit is further adapted to generate a movement path based on movement instructions in the control program run by the logic units 22 . The drive units 27 A, 27 B, 27 C, 27 D are controlling the motors by controlling the motor current and the motor position in response to control signals from the control unit 20 . The control unit 20 comprises input/output interfaces (I/O) 30 . On the robot and in the environment surrounding the robot is also arranged a plurality of sensors. The sensors on the manipulator 2 and in the environment of the manipulator 2 are connected to the I/O 30 of the control unit 20 via a wired or wireless link 32 . The control unit 20 thereby receives signals comprising measured data MD. The measured data MD can be addressed to either the control unit, the manipulator, process application data, process quality data or external measurement devices. Control unit data can for example be ventilation fan speed, temperature, memory usage, battery, I/O and bus status etc. Process application data can for example be cycle time, current, flow and other measured process variables. Process quality data is variables measuring the robot operation result such as welding position accuracy, paint surface evaluation etc. External measurement devices can for example be vibration sensor such as accelerometer or microphone or electromagnetic acoustic emission sensor, gyroscope, strain gauge, global positioning such as cameras or laser etc. Manipulator data is for example motor angular, speed and torque, motor and gearbox temperature, link angular, position and torque. Other examples are cycle time, and energy consumption.
A model of the joints is established. FIG. 1B illustrates such an embodiment of a model of a joint 34 , wherein the model comprises, in this case, two links 36 , 38 movable relative to each other about the joint 34 . The model relates to an industrial robot that has rotational axes, linear axes or a mixture of both.
In the robot model the robot joint 34 is connecting a first link 36 and a second link 38 . The first link 36 is considered moving relative the second link 38 . In the figure a movement of the first link 36 from a first position P 1 to a second position P 2 is illustrated, which corresponds to an angular position q link . In order to get the angular position of the link, q link , it is necessary to transform the data from the angular position, q m , of the motor controlling the link. The transmission from the motor to the link in this case, is characterized by a gear ratio n and the moment of the rotational inertia of the link and motor. We therefore use the assumption that the angular position q link of the first link relative to the second link is considered corresponding to an angular position q m of the motor.
q m =n*q link (1)
In the embodiments of the method described below the measured data for the joint 34 in this case comprises information on the angular position q m , and the torque T m of the motor. The velocity q m ′ and the acceleration q m ″ of the motor are in this case derived from the angular position q m , for instance, using central difference calculations.
Velocity= v=q m ′ (2)
Acceleration= a=v′=q m ″ (3)
FIG. 2 shows a part of the control system for monitoring an industrial robot such as the industrial robot 1 described above. The control system comprises a pre-processing unit 39 and a monitoring unit 40 . The pre-processing unit 39 is used to calculate condition parameters S p from the measured data MD. This unit performs operation of varying complexity depending on the character of MD. In cases where MD consists of condition parameters, like battery status, the pre-processing unit will only forward the data to the monitoring unit. In other cases where MD consists of multiple valued signals the pre-processing can include more complex signal processing algorithms. It is to be understood that the part of the control system shown in FIG. 2 , herein referred to as: “condition analyzer”, FIG. 1C , comprises these units, 39 and 40 , either as hardware or software units.
The monitoring unit 40 is according to the present invention the condition analyzer adapted to monitor the condition of the robot, wherein the signal, in this case the condition parameter S p , can be one of the selected input signals to the condition analyzer.
As stated, the input signals provided to the condition analyzer of the present invention may be derived from the robot control system (as indicated above) or by any external equipment or other diagnostic methods. The condition analyzer may use any combination of available input signals to detect, isolate and predict the condition of the robot system. This is performed by the condition analyzer using any of the methods listed and described more in detail below. It must further be expressly stated that the unit (or logics) referred to as the: “condition analyzer” not necessarily has to be sited in the Control Unit (the controller) of the robot. The condition analyzer may as well be localized in an externally located device, such as a PC, or the like.
Method 1: Boolean Network of Input Signals and Condition Indication.
The prerequisite in this implementation is that only binary inputs are allowed, i.e. the input signals are singular values and can only be 1 or 0. In this case the binary signals carry information ok or not ok. This can be denoted as an example, if the temperature at any measured points is to high as: “temperature high-not ok” or if the temperature at that point is normal as: “normal-ok”. Another example could be a measurement of friction at a predetermined point, where it is stated if the friction has increased too much that: “friction-not ok” or if the friction is within an allowed range as: “normal-ok”.
Based on the properties of the signal in combination with prior knowledge, a logical scheme or network can be used to detect if the condition of the robot system is ok or not. In the table below is an example where three signals from one robot joint is used. In the example there are 4 situations where a condition change is detected (case 3, 4, 7 and 8). In two of the cases (4 and 7) the root cause is isolated. This would not have been possible without using information from all three signals.
Gear
Joint
Motor
Case
Decision
temp
friction
temp
1
Normal
0
0
0
2
Normal
0
0
1
3
Failure detected
0
1
0
4
Motor failure
0
1
1
5
Normal
1
0
0
6
Normal
1
0
1
7
Gear failure
1
1
0
8
Failure detected
1
1
1
There are different ways to generate the logical scheme. First, prior knowledge can be used, as in the example above. Second, it is possible to use statistic analysis and prior failures to recognize different failure modes. This is sometimes called training.
Method 2: Weighted Sum of Selected Signals.
In contrast to method 1 where binary input was used, this method uses continuous input signals. For example, the temperature value is not only ok or not-ok but the actual temperature value is used, i.e. as an example, 48° C.
This can also be used by a logical network or Principal Component Analysis (PCA) but here we will use standard weighting. In the equation below is the general formulation of a weighted sum which can be used in the network.
IndicatorValue
=
∑
i
w
i
y
i
Consider the following example where all input signals are normalized to be between 0 and 1 (for notation simplicity).
IndicatorValue
=
∑
i
w
i
y
i
=
1
4
GearTemp
+
1
2
JointFriction
+
1
4
MotorTemp
In the example above the signals are combined to detect condition changes. The selected weights can be interpreted so that “JointFriction” and at least one other signal must be close to one to detect a failure. This will increase the robustness of the detection and can also be used to reduce the number of false alarms.
If the purpose is to isolate a failing component, or failing element, it is possible to create more than one indicator value. Each indicator value will then be used to isolate different failure modes.
I
1
=
1
4
(
1
-
GearTemp
)
+
1
2
JointFriction
+
1
4
MotorTemp
I
2
=
1
4
GearTemp
+
1
2
JointFriction
+
1
4
(
1
-
MotorTemp
)
if
(
I
1
)
>
h
1
then
Motor
failure
detected
else
if
(
I
2
)
>
h
2
then
Gearbox
failure
detected
In the example above, I1 is used to isolate motor failure, while I2 is used to detect gearbox failure.
This can of course be extended to a more general approach but here it was only used to exemplify how to use the method.
Method 3: Multivariate Data Analysis.
Another way to implement the condition analyzer is to use MDA to identify combinations and/or relations to the different input signals. In MDA data are formatted in data points, i.e. [x1, y1; x2, y2; . . . ] where x1 and y1 are samples from two signals at time 1. This is different to classical methods where data are formatted in time plots (see FIG. 3 ).
An example plot of data points sampled from two different input signals (two dimensions) is visualized in FIG. 4A . In the figure there are four different clusters of data and in MDA it is possible to divide the data space into different regions. Each region is related to a known state, e.g., normal operation or failure X. Each data point will get the following properties:
Classification of state, Direction (see the arrow in the figure), Step size (speed in the direction).
Detection and isolation of a failure is solved by classifying each data point, while prediction is solved by using the direction of the data point. The direction will give information if the data are about to enter a failure state during the prediction horizon. An example of prediction by Multivariate Data Analysis is visualized in FIG. 4B . In the figure there are four different states, one normal and three failure states. The black circles represent all currently available data points. The data points, filled circles, have been recorded in chronological order, that is in the order 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , N where N is 10 in the figure. Now, future data points are predicted from the data point history ( 1 . . . N). In the figure the prediction is performed along the direction of the arrow and the four prediction steps are visualized in the figure by black squares. The prediction result is that failure state 2 will be reached within the prediction horizon (four steps). If information from only one signal is used, i.e. signal 1 or signal 2 , the result will be that, within the prediction horizon no failure state will be reached. In the figure this is visualized with diamonds (filled diamonds are data points and non-filled are prediction result).
Method 4: Multi Layer PCA Data Analysis Approach.
Suppose that the condition analyzer receives different types of input data. The input signals consist of an arbitrary number of external sensors signals V n , motion data M i and device data D j signals. The condition analyzer will then pre-process each data depending on signal and data type using different algorithms.
An example of such an analysis is described below (supported by FIG. 5 ).
Pre-processing of the external signals V n , in this example, consists of calculation of the overall High Frequency RMS, Peak-to-Peak, CrestFactor and Kurtosis as well as Peak-to-Mean values of the signals. These variables are then used primarily to train a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) model on the normal behaviour of the system seen by the external sensors. The condition severity factor Q, i.e. the deviation from the normal behavior in Principal Component space, is then calculated each time herein, whereupon a “new” single valued signal describing the system as seen from the view of one particular type of signal. This step of analysis is visualized in FIG. 5 . The, so called “new” input signal is then used as an input signal to the condition analyzer according to the invention.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart over the pre-processing of the external sensor signals V n to be integrated in the condition analyzer. The diagram at the beginning is shown as an example of a signal being processed in later steps. The diagram illustrates, as an example, an external signal from a fan included in the industrial robot system. The plot in the middle of the second row is an illustrative example of scores in two dimensions of the monitored component in the Principal Component space.
A second step of pre-processing is the estimation of friction and backlash measures using robot motion data. The estimated measure on friction and/or backlash will be a second group of the “new” single valued signals describing the system seen from another particular type of signals view.
To obtain such an estimation of, as an example, friction measurements in one embodiment this is performed by use of an assumption that only one link of the robot is moving. We construe the collecting of measuring data so that the components dependent on gravity cancel each other. This will give a simpler calculation. The embodiment comprises:
moving one of said links in the direction of gravity, moving said one link in a direction opposite the gravity direction, collecting measuring data during the movements of the link, keeping the velocity essentially constant while collecting the measured data, and calculating at least one friction value based on the collected measured data.
In said embodiment, when moving only one link so that components dependent on gravity cancel each other, the at least one friction value is the viscous friction (F v ).
The following equation is for instance used to solve the difference between the measured motor torque T mforward in a first direction and the measured motor torque T mfback in the opposite direction.
T fric =[T mforward −T mback ( q′ m , q )]/2,
wherein q′ m is the velocity of the motor rotating the robot link and q is its position.
This pre-processing of different types of data using different tools integrated in the condition analyzer, will end up with a certain decision on the fault detection and isolation followed by an estimation of the remaining lifetime of either the whole system or one special component in it.
In FIG. 6 it is shown how the abnormal behaviour in the system can easily be identified in a scores plot in PC-space. In this example the device data, friction measures as well as the calculated Q-factors for the external sensor signals are included in the analysis. It can easily be observed that some plots lies well outside the normal behavior of, e.g., the component analyzed.
The prediction of residual lifetime due to changes in system parameters is possible if there is a deterioration of the condition. In this case the Q, the distance of the current data and the developed model is gradually increasing. Thus it is possible to trend the increase of Q with a polynomial fit and with dQ/dt extrapolate until the breaching of a certain limit. FIG. 7 depicts the estimated condition severity factor of the whole system trended indicating the remaining life time for the system.
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An industrial robot diagnostic method including performing a condition analysis utilizing at least two selected input signals, wherein each selected input signal indicates a condition related to a property of the industrial robot, performing an analysis of any combination of the selected input signals utilizing a signal modeling of the signals and outputting from the condition analyzer a result being at least one of: a detection of a malfunction of the robot system, an identification of a root cause failure in the robot system and prediction of a potential malfunction in the robot system. Also an industrial robot system utilizing the method.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to and is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/307,027, filed Nov. 29, 2002 , now abandoned. The priority application is hereby entirely incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to improvements in the wash durability and discoloration levels for fabrics having topically applied silver-ion treatments (such as ion-exchange compounds, like zirconium phosphates, glasses and/or zeolites). Such solid compounds are generally susceptible to discoloration and, due to the solid nature thereof, are typically easy to remove from topical surface applications. The inventive treatment requires the presence of a specific polyurethane binder, either as a silver-ion overcoat or as a component of a dye bath mixture admixed with the silver-ion antimicrobial compound. In addition, specific metal halide additives (preferably substantially free from sodium ions) are utilized to combat the discolorations typical of such silver-ion formulations. As a result, wash durability, discoloration levels, or both, can be improved to the extent that after a substantial number of standard launderings and dryings, the inventive treatment does not wear away in any appreciable amount and the color of the treatment remains substantially the same as when first applied. The particular treatment method, as well as the treated fabrics, is also encompassed within this invention.
DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART
There has been a great deal of attention in recent years given to the hazards of bacterial contamination from potential everyday exposure. Noteworthy examples of such concern include the fatal consequences of food poisoning due to certain strains of Escherichia coli being found within undercooked beef in fast food restaurants; Salmonella contamination causing sicknesses from undercooked and unwashed poultry food products; and illnesses and skin infections attributed to Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae , yeast, and other unicellular organisms. With such an increased consumer interest in this area, manufacturers have begun introducing antimicrobial agents within various household products and articles. For instance, certain brands of polypropylene cutting boards, liquid soaps, etc., all contain antimicrobial compounds. The most popular antimicrobial for such articles is triclosan.
Although the incorporation of such a compound within liquid or polymeric media has been relatively simple, other substrates, including the surfaces of textiles and fibers, have proven less accessible. There is a long-felt need to provide effective, durable, and long-lasting antimicrobial characteristics for textile surfaces, in particular on apparel fabrics, and on film surfaces. Such proposed applications have been extremely difficult to accomplish with triclosan, particularly when wash durability is a necessity (triclosan easily washes off any such surfaces). Furthermore, although triclosan has proven effective as an antimicrobial compound, the presence of chlorines and chlorides within such a compound causes skin irritation which makes the utilization of such with fibers, films, and textile fabrics for apparel uses highly undesirable. Furthermore, there are commercially available textile products comprising acrylic and/or acetate fibers co-extruded with triclosan (for example Celanese markets such acetate fabrics under the name Microsafe® and Acordis markets such acrylic fibers, either under the tradename Amicor®). However, such an application is limited to those types of fibers; it does not work specifically for and within polyester, polyamide, cotton, spandex, etc., fabrics. Furthermore, this co-extrusion procedure is very expensive.
Silver-containing inorganic microbiocides have recently been developed and utilized as antimicrobial agents on and within a plethora of different substrates and surfaces. In particular, such microbiocides have been adapted for incorporation within melt spun synthetic fibers, as taught within Japanese unexamined Patent Application No. H11-124729, in order to provide certain fabrics which selectively and inherently exhibit antimicrobial characteristics. Furthermore, attempts have been made to apply such specific microbiocides on the surfaces of fabrics and yarns with little success from a durability standpoint. A topical treatment with such compounds has never been successfully applied as a durable finish or coating on a fabric or yarn substrate. Although such silver-based agents provide excellent, durable, antimicrobial properties, to date such is the sole manner available within the prior art of providing a long-lasting, wash-resistant, silver-based antimicrobial textile. However, such melt spun fibers are expensive to make due to the large amount of silver-based compound required to provide sufficient antimicrobial activity in relation to the migratory characteristics of such a compound within the fiber itself to its surface.
A topical coating is also desirable for textile and film applications, particularly after finishing of the target fabric or film. Such a topical procedure permits treatment of a fabric's individual fibers prior to or after weaving, knitting, and the like, in order to provide greater versatility to the target yarn without altering its physical characteristics. Such a coating, however, must prove to be wash durable, particularly for apparel fabrics, in order to be functionally acceptable. Furthermore, in order to avoid certain problems, it is highly desirable for such a metallized treatment to be electrically non-conductive on the target fabric, yarn, and/or film surface. With the presence of metals and metal ions, such a wash durable, non-electrically conductive coating has not been available in the past. Such an improvement would thus provide an important advancement within the textile, yarn, and film art. Although antimicrobial activity is one desired characteristic of the inventive metal-treated fabric, yarn, or film, this is not a required property of the inventive article. Odor-reduction, heat retention, distinct colorations, reduced discolorations, improved yarn and/or fabric strength, resistance to sharp edges, etc., are all either individual or aggregate properties which may be accorded the user of such an inventive treated yarn, fabric, or film.
Furthermore, topical applications of silver-ion based compounds generally exhibit aesthetically displeasing discolorations due to oxidation of the silver-ions themselves. Typically, a variety of hues (from yellow to grey to black) are prominent during and after exposure to atmospheric conditions. Thus, there remains a need to provide improvements for such topical treatments as well. To date, the difficulties with discoloration have gone noticed but unremedied.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a simple manner of effectively treating a textile with a highly wash-durable antimicrobial silver-ion containing treatment. Another object of the invention is to provide an aesthetically pleasing metal-ion-treated textile which is highly wash durable, substantially non-discoloring, non-irritating to skin, and which provides antimicrobial and/or odor control properties.
Accordingly, this invention encompasses a non-electrically conductive fabric substrate having a surface, a portion of which is coated with a finish, wherein said finish comprises at least one silver-ion containing compound, a binder, and at least one halide-containing compound, wherein said halide-containing compound is present in an amount measured as a molar ratio between the amount of halide ions present and the amount of silver ions present, wherein said range is from 5:1 to 1:10, and wherein said finish is substantially free from alkali metal (such as, preferably, sodium, ions). Also encompassed within this invention is a fabric substrate having a surface, a portion of which is coated with a non-electrically conductive finish, wherein said finish comprises at least one silver-ion containing compound and a binder; wherein said treated fabric exhibits a silver-ion release retention level of at least 50%, with an initial amount of available silver ion of at least 1000 ppb, as measured by an artificial sweat comparison test, wherein said silver-ion release retention level is measured after at least 20 washes, said washes being performed in accordance with the wash procedure as part of AATCC Test Method 130-1981. Further encompassed by this invention is a fabric substrate having a surface, a portion of which is coated with a finish, wherein said finish comprises at least one silver-ion containing compound, a binder, and at least a 1:1 molar ratio of said silver-ion containing compound to halide ions, wherein said finish is substantially free from sodium ions.
Also encompassed within this invention is a fabric substrate having a surface, a portion of which is coated with a non-electrically conductive finish, wherein said finish comprises at least one silver-ion containing compound and a binder; wherein said treated fabric exhibits a color stabilization rate of at least 50% wherein said color stabilization rate is measured after at least 20 washes, said washes being performed in accordance with the wash procedure as part of AATCC Test Method 130-1981.
The wash durability test noted above is standard and, as will be well appreciated by one of ordinary skill in this art, is not intended to be a required or limitation within this invention. Such a test method merely provides a standard which, upon 10 washes in accordance with such, the inventive treated substrate will not lose an appreciable amount of its electrically non-conductive metal finish.
Nowhere within the prior art has such a specific treated substrate or method of making thereof been disclosed, utilized, or fairly suggested. The closest art is a product marketed under the tradename X-STATIC® which is a fabric article electrolessly plated with a silver coating. Such a fabric is highly electrically conductive and is utilized for static charge dissipation. Also, the coating alternatively exists as a removable silver powder finish on a variety of surfaces. The aforementioned Japanese patent publication to Kuraray is limited to fibers within which a silver-based compound has been incorporated through melt spun fiber techniques. Nowhere has such a wash-durable topical treatment as now claimed been mentioned or alluded to.
Any fabric may be utilized as the substrate within this application. Thus, natural (cotton, wool, and the like) or synthetic fibers (polyesters, polyamides, polyolefins, and the like) may constitute the target substrate, either by itself or in any combinations or mixtures of synthetics, naturals, or blends or both types. As for the synthetic types, for instance, and without intending any limitations therein, polyolefins, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and polybutylene, halogenated polymers, such as polyvinyl chloride, polyesters, such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyester/polyethers, polyamides, such as nylon 6 and nylon 6,6, polyurethanes, as well as homopolymers, copolymers, or terpolymers in any combination of such monomers, and the like, may be utilized within this invention. Nylon 6, Nylon 6,6, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate (a polyester) are particularly preferred. Additionally, the target fabric may be coated with any number of different films, including those listed in greater detail below. Furthermore, the substrate may be dyed or colored to provide other aesthetic features for the end user with any type of colorant, such as, for example, poly(oxyalkylenated) colorants, as well as pigments, dyes, tints, and the like.
Other additives may also be present on and/or within the target fabric or yarn, including antistatic agents, brightening compounds, nucleating agents, antioxidants, UV stabilizers, fillers, permanent press finishes, softeners, lubricants, curing accelerators, and the like. Particularly desired as optional and supplemental finishes to the inventive fabrics are soil release agents which improve the wettability and washability of the fabric. Preferred soil release agents include those which provide hydrophilicity to the surface of polyester. With such a modified surface, again, the fabric imparts improved comfort to a wearer by wicking moisture. The preferred soil release agents contemplated within this invention may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,377,249; 3,540,835; 3,563,795; 3,574,620; 3,598,641; 3,620,826; 3,632,420; 3,649,165; 3,650,801; 3,652,212; 3,660,010; 3,676,052; 3,690,942; 3,897,206; 3,981,807; 3,625,754; 4,014,857; 4,073,993; 4,090,844; 4,131,550; 4,164,392; 4,168,954; 4,207,071; 4,290,765; 4,068,035; 4,427,557; and 4,937,277. These patents are accordingly incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, other potential additives and/or finishes may include water repellent fluorocarbons and their derivatives, silicones, waxes, and other similar water-proofing materials.
The particular treatment must comprise at least one type of silver-ion containing compounds, or mixtures thereof of different types. The term silver-ion containing compound encompasses compounds which are either ion-exchange resins, zeolites, or, possibly substituted glass compounds (which release the particular metal ion bonded thereto upon the presence of other anionic species). The preferred silver-ion containing compound for this invention is an antimicrobial silver zirconium phosphate available from Milliken & Company, under the tradename ALPHASAN®. Other potentially preferred silver-containing antimicrobials in this invention is a silver zeolite, such as those available from Sinanen under the tradename ZEOMIC® AJ, or a silver glass, such as those available from Ishizuka Glass under the tradename IONPURE®, may be utilized either in addition to or as a substitute for the preferred species. Generally, such a metal compound is added in an amount of from about 0.01 to about 40% by total weight of the particular treatment composition; more preferably from about 0.05 to about 30%; and most preferably from about 0.1 to about 30%. Preferably this metal compound is present in an amount of from about 0.01 to about 5% owf, preferably from about 0.05 to about 3% owf, more preferably from about 0.1 to about 2% owf, and most preferably about 1.0% owf. The treatment itself, including any necessary binders, leveling agents, adherents, thickeners, and the like, is added to the substrate in an amount of about 0.01 to about 10% owf. Of particular interest are anti-soil redeposition polymers, such as certain ethoxylated polyesters PD-92 and DA-50, both available from Milliken & Company, or Milease®, available from Clariant.
The binder material, although optional in some embodiments, does provide highly beneficial durability for the inventive yarns. Preferably, this component is a polyurethane-based binding agent, although other types, such as a permanent press type resin or an acrylic type resin, may also be utilized in combination, particularly, with the halide ion additive for discoloration reduction. In essence, such resins provide washfastness by adhering silver to the target yarn and/or fabric surface, with the polyurethane exhibiting the best overall performance for wash durability results.
The selected substrate may be any fabric comprising individual fibers or yarns of any typical source for utilization within fabrics, including natural fibers (cotton, wool, ramie, hemp, linen, and the like), synthetic fibers (polyolefins, polyesters, polyamides, polyaramids, acetates, rayon, acrylics, and the like), and inorganic fibers (fiberglass, boron fibers, and the like). The yarn or fiber may be of any denier, may be of multi- or mono-filament, may be false-twisted or twisted, or may incorporate multiple denier fibers or filaments into one single yarn through twisting, melting, and the like. The target fabrics may be produced of the same types of yarns discussed above, including any blends thereof. Such fabrics may be of any standard construction, including knit, woven, or non-woven forms. The inventive fabrics may be utilized in any suitable application, including, without limitation, apparel, upholstery, bedding, wiping cloths, towels, gloves, rugs, floor mats, drapery, napery, bar runners, textile bags, awnings, vehicle covers, boat covers, tents, and the like. The inventive fabric may also be coated, printed, colored, dyed, and the like.
The preferred procedures utilizing silver-ion containing compounds, such as either ALPHASAN®, ZEOMIC®, or IONPURE® as preferred compounds (although any similar types of compounds which provide silver ions may also be utilized), exhausted on the target fabric or film surface and then overcoated with a binder resin. Alternatively, the silver-ion containing compound may be admixed with a binder within a dye bath, into which the target fabric is then immersed at elevated temperatures (i.e., above about 50° C.).
In terms of wash durability, such a procedure was developed through an initial attempt at understanding the ability of such metal-ion containing compounds to attach to a fabric surface. Thus, a sample of ALPHASAN® was first exhausted from a dye bath on to a target polyester fabric surface. The treated fabric exhibited excellent log kill rate characteristics; however, upon washing in a standard laundry method (AATCC Test Method 130-1981, for instance), the antimicrobial activity was drastically reduced. Such promising initial results led to the inventive wash-durable antimicrobial treatment wherein the desired metal-ion containing compound would be admixed or overcoated with a binder resin on the target fabric surface.
It was initially determined that proper binder resins could be selected from the group consisting of nonionic permanent press binders (i.e., cross-linked adhesion promotion compounds, including, without limitation, cross-linked imidazolidinones, available from Sequa under the tradename Permafresh®) or slightly anionic binders (including, without limitation, acrylics, such as Rhoplex® TR3082 from Rohm & Haas). Other nonionics and slightly anionics were also possible, including melamine formaldehyde, melamine urea, ethoxylated polyesters (such as Lubril QCX™, available from Rhodia), and the like. However, it was found that the wash durability of such treated fabrics (in terms of silver-ion retention, at least) was limited. It was determined that greater durability was required for this type of application. Thus, these prior comparative treatments were measured against various other types. In the end, it was discovered that certain polyurethane binders (such as Witcobond® from Crompton Corporation) and acrylic binders (such as Hystretch® from BFGoodrich) permitted the best overall wash durability to the solid silver-ion compound adhesion to the target fabric surfaces, as discussed in greater detail below.
Within the particular topical application procedures, the initial exhaustion of the silver-ion compound (preferably, ALPHASAN®) is thus preferably followed by a thin coating of polyurethane-based binder resin to provide the desired wash durability characteristics for the metal-based particle treatment. With such specific polyurethane-based binder materials utilized, the antimicrobial characteristics of the treated fabric remained very effective for the fabric even after as many as ten standard laundering procedures.
Also possible, though less effective as compared to the aforementioned binder resin overcoat, but still an acceptable method of providing a wash-durable antimicrobial metal-treated fabric surface, is the application of a silver-ion containing compound/polyurethane-based binder resin from a dye bath mixture. The exhaustion of such a combination is less efficacious from an antimicrobial activity standpoint than the other overcoat, but, again, still provides a wash-durable treatment with acceptable antimicrobial benefits. In actuality, this mixture of compound/resin may be applied through spraying, dipping, padding, and the like.
In terms of discoloration, it was noticed that silver-ion topical treatments were susceptible to yellowing, browning, graying, and, possibly, blacking after exposure to atmospheric conditions. As silver ions are generally highly reactive with free anions, and most anions that react with silver ions produce color, a manner of curtailing if not outright preventing problematic color generation upon silver ion interactions with free anionic species, particularly within dye bath liquids, was required. Thus, it was theorized that inclusion of an additive that was non-discoloring itself, would not react deleteriously with the binder and/or silver-ion compound, and would, apparently, and without being bound to any specific scientific theory, react in such a manner as to provide a colorless salt with silver ions, was highly desired.
Halide ions, such as from metal halides (magnesium chloride, for example) or hydrohalic acids (HCl for example) provide such results, apparently, with the exception that the presence of sodium ions (which are of the same valence as silver ions, and compete with silver ions for reaction with halide ions) should be avoided, since such components prevent the production of colorless silver halides, leaving the free silver ions the ability to react thereafter with undesirable anions. Thus, the presence of such monovalent sodium ions (as well as other monovalent alkali metal ions, such as potassium, cesium, and lithium, at times) does not provide the requisite level of discoloration reduction to the degree needed. In general, amounts of 1000 ppm or greater of sodium ions within the finish composition, particularly within the solvent (water, for example) are deleterious to the discoloration prevention of the inventive topically applied treatments. Thus, this threshold amount is encompassed by the term “substantially free from sodium ions” as it pertains to this invention.
Furthermore, the bivalent or trivalent (and some monovalent) metal halide counteracts some effects of sodium ion exposure if present in a sufficient amount within the finish composition. Thus, higher amounts of sodium or like alkali metal ions are present within the finish composition, higher amounts of metal halide (magnesium chloride, for example) can counterbalance such to the extent that discoloration can be properly prevented. Furthermore, all other metal ions (bivalents, trivalents, and the like, with bivalents, such as magnesium, most preferred) combined with halide anions (such as chloride, bromides, iodides, as examples, with chlorides most preferred), as well as acids (again, HCl, as well as HBr, and the like) are potential additives for discoloration prevention within this invention. The amount of chloride ion (concentrations) should be measured in terms of molar ratios with the free silver ions available within the silver-ion containing compound. A range of ratios from 1:10 (chloride to silver ion) to 5:1 (chloride to silver ion) should be met for proper activity; preferably this range is from 1:2 to about 2.5:1. Again, higher amounts of metal halide in molar ratio to the silver ions may be added to counteract any excess alkali metal ion amounts within the finish composition itself.
The preferred embodiments of these inventive fabric treatments (whether it be wash durable, non-discoloring, or both) are discussed in greater detail below.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The following examples further illustrate the present invention but are not to be construed as limiting the invention as defined in the claims appended hereto. All parts and percents given in these examples are by weight unless otherwise indicated.
Initially, solutions of ALPHASAN® (silver-based ion exchange compound available from Milliken & Company) were produced for topical application via dye bath exhaustion to target fabrics. These solutions, with comparatives as well, were as follows:
Example 1
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
94.15
PD-92 (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
1.5
DA-50 (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
1.5
Witcobond
2.25
Alphasan
0.6
Acetic Acid
to adjust pH to 6.5
Example 2
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
97.8
PD-92
0.75
DA-50
0.75
Witcobond
1.12
Alphasan
0.3
Acetic Acid
to adjust pH to 6.5
Example 3
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
92.7
PD-92
1.5
DA-50
1.5
Hystretch
3.7
Alphasan
0.6
Acetic Acid
to adjust pH to 6.5
Example 4
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
93.1
Milease (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
3.4
Witcobond
2.74
Alphasan
0.71
Magnesium Chloride 1
0.008
Hydrochloric Acid
to adjust pH to 6.0
(for a ratio of chloride ions to silver ions of about 2.5:1)
1 Freecat MX ®, available from Noveon
Example 5
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
93.1
Milease (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
3.4
Witcobond
2.74
Alphasan
0.71
Magnesium Chloride 1
0.008
Hydrochloric Acid
to adjust pH to 6.0
(for a ratio of chloride ions to silver ions of about 1.3:1)
Example 6
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
93.1
Milease (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
3.4
Witcobond
2.74
Alphasan
0.72
Magnesium Chloride 1
0.005
Hydrochloric Acid
to adjust pH to 6.0
(for a ratio of chloride ions to silver ions of about 1:2)
Example 7
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
97.5
Milease (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
3.0
Witcobond
2.0
Alphasan
0.6
Hydrochloric Acid
to adjust pH to 6.0
(for a ratio of chloride ions to silver ions of about 1:10)
Comparative Example
Component
Amount (% by weight)
Water
93.1
Milease (anti-soil redeposition polymer)
3.4
Witcobond
2.74
Alphasan
0.73
Hydrochloric Acid
to adjust pH to 6.0
A control fabric was also utilized within the tests below having no treatment applied thereto.
These solutions were then applied to sample fabrics (colored “true” white) via pad and nip rolls to give a wet pick up of about 85-90% owf. The exhaustion level of the active ALPHASAN® compounds on the target fabrics was about 1.0% owf. The sample coated, control, and comparative fabrics were then analyzed for a number of different characteristics, mostly in terms of measurements taken prior to and after a certain number of washes. For each wash test below, the sample fabric was laundered in accordance with AATCC Test Method 130-1981, basically with a standard home-type washing machine (Sears Kenmore® Heavy Duty, Super Capacity) equipped with a temperature controller set to wash at 105+/−5° F. The rinse temperature was set to cold (70+/−5° F.). Tide® powder detergent was utilized in an amount of about 100 g for a medium load, on a normal cycle (10 minute wash cycle; 28 minute total cycle). The sample fabric was then removed and dried in a standard home dryer on the cotton setting for 10 minutes. None of the produced fabrics above exhibited any electrical conductivity.
In terms of wash durability, Examples 1-3 were tested for ion release after 20 standard washes under a biological solution test (artificial sweat test).
Artificial Sweat Test
Such a test measures the amount of active metal ion that freely dissociates from the substrate to perform a desired function (such as antimicrobial activity for odor control or reduction) and can be performed on washed or unwashed samples to monitor durability of the releasable active ingredient, in this case, silver ions. The test itself involves subjecting the sample (a swatch of fabric having 4 inch by 4 inch dimensions in this instance) to a solution that is representative of the solution to which a sample would be exposed to perform its desired function. Thus, for this test, the sample fabrics were exposed to a human body odor control standard in accordance with the solution of AATCC Test Method 15-1994 after first being weighed to four significant digits. The exposure was essentially immersion in a tenfold dilution of the artificial standard solution for 8 hours. After the exposure time, the sample was then dried and weighed again; any loss in weight was then representative of release of the silver ion active ingredient to combat the odor producing microbes within the standard solution. The calculations are reported as ppm active ingredient on the weight of the sample fabric. The results were as follows for Example 1 and certain comparative fabrics (A is fabric included fibers extruded with 180 ppm per fiber ALPHASAN®; B is fabric with fibers extruded with 60 ppm per fiber ZEOMIC®; C is X-STATIC® electrically conductive fabric with 8000 ppm silver thereon:
TABLE 1
Silver Ion Release Measurements Via Artificial Sweat Test
Number of Washes
Example 1 (ppb)
A (ppb)
B (ppb)
C (ppb)
0
1023
504
107
2080
10
890
154
91
788
20
880
210
84
883
Thus, the inventive example retained greater than 86% of active silver ion after 20 washes; whereas the comparative examples were either extremely low in available silver ion (B), below 80% retention (all three, with A and C below 50% retention), or electrically conductive in nature (C).
Another indication of the effectiveness of the new binder system for this topical application is the measure of antimicrobial activity of the topical finish after a certain number of washes. Such silver-ion based finishes exhibit excellent antimicrobial activity which can lead to desired odor control, microbe killing, among other benefits. Preferably, effective finish retention (silver-ion release retention) is available when the sample fabric exhibits a log kill rate for Staphylococcus aureus of at least 1.5, preferably above 2.0, more preferably above 3.0, and a log kill rate for Klebsiella pneumoniae of at least 1.5, preferably above 2.0, and more preferably above 3.0, both as tested in accordance with AATCC Test Method 100-1993 for 24 hour exposure, after at least 10 washes, preferably more, as defined above. The results for the above Examples 1-3 are as follows:
TABLE 2
Log Kill Rates for Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae
By Inventive Fabrics
Log Kill Rates
Example #
Washes
S. aureus
K. pneumoniae
1
0
3.31
3.67
1
1
2.03
4.25
1
5
2.83
4.65
1
10
2.87
4.65
1
20
2.21
4.65
2
0
3.81
3.49
2
1
3.37
4.65
2
5
3.12
3.37
2
10
1.67
3.08
2
20
1.13
3.03
3
0
3.69
4.65
3
1
2.50
2.69
3
5
1.67
2.48
3
10
2.08
1.61
3
20
1.57
1.43
Control
0
−0.04
−0.95
Control
3
0.03
−1.49
Thus, the retention of silver ions on the surface was, again, excellent for the inventive finishes.
Colorlightfastness
In terms of fabric discoloration, Examples 4-7 were analyzed under a colorlightfastness test measuring the sample in terms of the following equation:
Δ E *=(( L* initial −L* exposed ) 2 +( a* initial −a* exposed ) 2 +( b* initial −b* exposed ) 2 ) 1/2
wherein ΔE* represents the difference in color between the fabric upon initial latex coating and the fabric after the above-noted degree of ultra violet exposure. L*, a*, and b* are the color coordinates; wherein L* is a measure of the lightness and darkness of the colored fabric; a* is a measure of the redness or greenness of the colored fabric; and b* is a measure of the yellowness or blueness of the colored fabric. The lower the ΔE*, the better the colorlightfastness, and thus lower degree of color change, or in this situation, discoloration, of the fabric sample. The measurements on “true” white fabric (having initial measurements of L=93.93, a=2.10, and b=−10.68) were as follows for Examples 4-7, for exposure to a 225 kJ xenon light source for a specified amount of kilojoules in accordance with The Engineering Society for Advancing Mobility Land Sea Air and Space Textile Test method SAE J-1885, “(R) Accelerated Exposure of Automotive Interior Trim Components Using a Controlled Irradiance Water Cooled Xenon-Arc Apparatus”.
TABLE 2
L Values For Sample Fabrics
Hours
Example #
0
24
48
72
96
196
264
4
94.39
92.96
92.82
92.70
92.43
92.10
92.02
5
94.49
93.46
93.26
93.20
92.99
92.54
92.43
6
94.68
93.36
93.23
93.08
92.82
92.37
92.18
7
94.37
90.54
89.43
88.52
88.07
86.46
86.40
Comparative
94.74
88.28
87.07
86.12
85.78
84.52
84.69
Control
93.93
94.4
94.26
94.35
94.01
94.43
94.34
TABLE 3
a Values For Sample Fabrics
Hours
Example #
0
24
48
72
96
196
264
4
2.07
2.30
2.34
2.52
2.81
2.46
2.53
5
2.04
2.24
2.32
2.49
2.79
2.43
2.48
6
2.06
2.30
2.34
2.56
2.86
2.88
2.56
7
2.10
3.65
4.11
4.46
4.47
4.49
4.34
Comparative
2.07
4.02
4.25
4.60
4.16
4.47
4.64
Control
2.10
2.27
2.26
2.45
2.80
2.82
2.80
TABLE 4
b Values For Sample Fabrics
Hours
Example #
0
24
48
72
96
196
264
4
−10.56
−10.82
−10.73
−11.06
−11.04
−10.23
−10.08
5
−10.74
−10.86
−10.93
−11.19
−11.21
−10.55
−10.49
6
−10.80
−10.99
−10.92
−11.29
−11.33
−10.63
−10.65
7
−10.61
−9.02
−8.55
−8.92
−8.19
−8.25
−8.27
Comparative
−10.62
−6.93
−6.43
−6.25
−5.43
−5.76
−5.75
Control
−10.68
−11.22
−11.2
−11.65
−11.78
−11.24
−11.30
These values were then introduced into the equation above for a proper measurement in color change over time (as compared with the theoretical E value for “true” white fabrics) to determine the colorlightfastness of the inventive finished fabrics. The results were as follows:
TABLE 5
ΔE Values For Sample Fabrics
Hours
Example #
0
24
48
72
96
196
264
4
0.11
0.50
0.65
0.92
1.44
1.84
2.10
5
0.16
0.14
0.28
0.47
0.82
1.02
1.22
6
0.29
0.23
0.30
0.65
1.12
1.52
1.63
7
0.10
8.33
14.40
18.96
23.10
33.75
33.81
Comparative
0.33
24.84
34.90
43.46
49.10
59.19
58.04
Control
0.00
0.27
0.20
0.62
0.85
0.56
0.52
These final values were then taken as a percentage of the ΔE values of the inventive and comparative examples divided by the ΔE values of the control to give a color stabilization rate and were calculated to be as follows:
TABLE 6
Color Stabilization Rates
Example #
Percentage Color Change
4
96.7
5
97.4
6
97.8
7
51.9
Comparative
0.0
Control
100
Thus, a color stabilization rate of at least 50% is acceptable and heretofore unattained. Higher rates are clearly more preferable, and, with the presence of halide ions are available. Thus, rates of at least 55%, more preferably at least 60%, still more preferably at least 75%, and more preferred at least 85% (with even higher rates most preferred) are desired of this inventive finish.
In any event, these levels are excellent and show the ability of the inventive finishes to provide not only effective antimicrobial levels, but also excellent reduction in discoloration possibilities, particularly over time and after an appreciable number of standard launderings.
There are, of course, many alternative embodiments and modifications of the present invention which are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
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Improvements in the wash durability and discoloration levels for fabrics having topically applied silver-ion treatments (such as ion-exchange compounds, like zirconium phosphates, glasses and/or zeolites) are provided. Such solid compounds are generally susceptible to discoloration and, due to the solid nature thereof, are typically easy to remove from topical surface applications. The inventive treatment requires the presence of a specific polyurethane binder, either as a silver-ion overcoat or as a component of a dye bath mixture admixed with the silver-ion antimicrobial compound. In addition, specific metal halide additives (preferably substantially free from sodium ions) are utilized to combat the discolorations typical of such silver-ion formulations. As a result, wash durability, discoloration levels, or both, can be improved to the extent that after a substantial number of standard launderings and dryings, the inventive treatment does not wear away in any appreciable amount and the color of the treatment remains substantially the same as when first applied. The particular treatment method as well as the treated fabrics are also encompassed within this invention.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a United States National Phase Application of International Application PCT/EP2014/071739 filed Oct. 10, 2014 and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Patent Applications 10 2013 221 095.7 filed Oct. 17, 2013 and 10 2014 201 454.9 filed Jan. 28, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a rotational device for a vehicle seat having a base component and a seat part support which is rotatable about a rotation axis relative to the base component. The invention also relates to a vehicle seat having such a rotational device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A rotational device of the type in question and a vehicle seat of the type in question are known from DE 10 2011 012 973 B3. The vehicle seat comprises a base component and a seat part support which is rotatable relative to the base component about a rotation axis. The seat part support is rotatably mounted about a rotation axis by means of two roller bearings and a sliding bearing. Temporary deformations of the seat part support may occur due to excitations or oscillations occurring during driving, as a result of which balls of the roller bearings temporarily lose contact with the seat part support. This can give rise to disturbing noises.
A rotational device of the type in question and a vehicle seat of the type in question are also known from DE 10 2010 053 802 B3.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A problem addressed by the invention is that of improving a rotational device and a vehicle seat of the type mentioned at the outset, in particular that of increasing a pretensioning force by means of which the seat part support is braced relative to the base component and, as a result, avoiding disturbing noises, without increasing frictional forces which occur upon rotation of the seat part support.
According to of the invention a rotational device of the type in question for a vehicle seat comprises a base component and a seat part support which is rotatable about a rotation axis relative to the base component. The base component has a preferably plate-like shape and serves for fastening the vehicle seat in the vehicle. A seat unit can be fastened to the seat part support, which likewise has a preferably plate-like shape. At least three roller bearings are provided for the rotatable bearing of the seat part support.
In this way, a more uniform distribution of pressure and distribution of force to the roller bearings is achieved, and disturbing noises caused by vibrations are avoided.
The seat part support is preferably shaped like a plate, a first roller bearing being arranged on a flat face of the seat part support, and a second roller bearing and a third roller bearing being arranged on the opposite flat face of the seat part support.
Advantageously, the roller bearings are each arranged in a circular track, wherein the first roller bearing extends at a first bearing distance circularly around the rotation axis, the second roller bearing extends at a second bearing distance circularly around the rotation axis, and the third roller bearing extends at a third bearing distance circularly around the rotation axis. The bearing distances each define a radius of the corresponding circular track.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the first bearing distance is smaller than the second bearing distance and larger than the third bearing distance. In the radial direction with respect to the rotation axis, the first roller bearing thus lies between the second roller bearing and third roller bearing. A force introduced via the first roller bearing is thus distributed to the second roller bearing and the third roller bearing.
To secure the seat part support, a locking disk is advantageously provided, which is rigidly connected to the base component. The locking disk likewise has a preferably plate-like shape. The locking disk is preferably screwed onto the base component.
If the seat part support is arranged between the base component and the locking disk, the seat part support is secured, and a movement of the seat part support in the direction of the rotation axis is prevented.
It is preferable that exactly one roller bearing is arranged between the locking plate and the seat part support. Preferably, exactly two roller bearings are arranged between the base component and the seat part support.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the roller bearings are designed as ball bearings and have balls that run in circular ball raceways.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, a U-shaped catch hook is provided in order to prevent the seat part support being moved away from the base component.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the catch hook bears on the seat part support and is rigidly connected thereto.
According to another advantageous embodiment of the invention, the catch hook is arranged behind the seat part support as seen in the direction of travel x.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the catch hook is screwed onto the seat part support.
The problem is also solved by a vehicle seat having at least one rotational device according to the invention.
The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of an advantageous illustrative embodiment shown in the figures. However, the invention is not limited to this illustrative embodiment. The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a side view of a rotational device;
FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the rotational device according to FIG. 1 in a rotated position;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view through a central area of the rotational device according to FIG. 1 ; and
FIG. 4 is a sectional view through a side area of the rotational device according to FIG. 1 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A rotational device 10 is arranged in a vehicle (not shown here), in the present case in a utility vehicle, and supports a seat unit (not shown here). The seat unit and the rotational device 10 form a vehicle seat. The rotational device 10 is fastened, in the present case screwed, to a structure of the vehicle or to a podium-like console. In this case, the console is fastened to the floor of a passenger cell of the vehicle.
The arrangement of the vehicle seat and of the rotational device 10 inside the vehicle and the usual direction of travel x of the vehicle define the directional indicators used in the text below. A direction oriented perpendicularly with respect to the ground is designated below as the vertical direction, and a direction perpendicular to the vertical direction and perpendicular to the direction of travel x is designated below as the transverse direction.
The rotational device 10 has an approximately rectangular plate-like base component 20 . A front face of the base component 20 , situated to the front in the direction of travel, and lateral faces of the base component 20 are approximately rectilinear. A catch face 26 of the base component 20 , situated to the rear in the direction of travel x, is designed in the shape of an arc of a circle. By means of screws (not shown), the base component 20 is screwed onto the structure of the vehicle.
The rotational device 10 likewise has an approximately rectangular plate-like seat part support 30 of approximately the same size and shape as the base component 20 . The seat part support 30 is mounted on the base component 20 so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis S extending in the vertical direction. A front face of the seat part support 30 , situated to the front in the direction of travel x, and lateral faces of the seat part support 30 are approximately rectilinear. A rear face 36 of the seat part support 30 , situated to the rear in the direction of travel, is designed in the shape of an arc of a circle. By means of screws (not shown), the seat part support 30 is screwed onto the seat unit of the vehicle seat.
A geometric center point of the arc of the catch face 26 of the base component 20 lies on the rotation axis S. A geometric center point of the arc of the rear face 36 of the seat part support 30 likewise lies on the rotation axis S. When the rotational device 10 is located in the basic position, the seat part support 30 is oriented in the direction of travel x and the catch face 26 of the base component 20 is flush with the rear face 36 of the seat part support 30 .
A circular locking disk 40 is arranged in the vertical direction above the seat part support 30 and is rigidly connected to the base component 20 . The seat part support 30 thus lies, in the vertical direction, between the base component 20 and the locking disk 40 .
The base component 20 has a first through-opening 21 , which in the present case is designed as a circular bore. The seat part support 30 has a second through-opening 31 , which in the present case is designed as a circular bore. The locking disk 40 has a third through-opening 41 , which in the present case is designed as a circular bore.
The second through-opening 31 has a larger internal diameter than the first through-opening 21 . The third through-opening 41 has an internal diameter of approximately the same size as the first through-opening 21 . The rotation axis S extends centrally through the first through-opening 21 , the second through-opening 31 and the third through-opening 41 .
A locking mechanism (not shown here) is arranged on the seat part support 30 and comprises a two-armed locking lever, which is mounted rotatably about a locking axis arranged parallel to the rotation axis S. A projection is arranged on a first arm of the locking lever and, by means of a pretensioned draw spring engaged on the free end of the first arm, is loaded into a groove-shaped recess of the locking disk 40 with form-fit and force-fit engagement and, when engaged in the groove, locks the seat part support 30 is its momentary position of rotation. By acting manually on the free end of the second arm of the locking lever counter to the force of the draw spring, the projection is moved out of the groove and the locking of the seat part support 30 is canceled, as a result of which the seat part support 30 is rotatable relative to the base component about the rotation axis S.
A support ring 50 bears with a lower face on the base component 20 and passes through the second through-opening 31 coaxially with respect to the rotation axis S. The locking disk 40 bears on an upper face of the support ring 50 . The external diameter of the support ring 50 is larger than the internal diameter of the first through-opening 21 and larger than the internal diameter of the third through-opening 41 . The internal diameter of the support ring 50 is slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the first through-opening 21 and slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the third through-opening 41 .
On its lower face bearing on the base component 20 , the support ring 50 in the present case has a protruding annular shoulder which, for exact positioning of the support ring 50 , protrudes into the first through-opening 21 of the base component 20 . The support ring 50 can also have a protruding annular shoulder on its upper face bearing on the locking disk 40 , which annular shoulder, for exact positioning of the support ring 50 , protrudes into the third through-opening 41 of the locking disk 40 .
The locking disk 40 is fastened to the base component 20 by means of a plurality of bearing screws 42 , in the present case six bearing screws 42 . The bearing screws 42 extend through through-bores provided for them in the locking disk 40 and are screwed into threaded bores of the base component 20 .
The bearing screws 42 are arranged on a circumferential line of a circle whose center point lies on the rotation axis S, and they are distributed uniformly on the circumferential line of the circle. The bearing screws 42 are thus arranged at the same distance from the rotation axis S, this distance being greater that the outer radius of the support ring 50 but smaller than the inner radius of the second through-opening 31 . The bearing screws 42 are thus located radially between the support ring 50 and the seat part support 30 with respect to the rotation axis S.
A first roller bearing 61 is arranged in the vertical direction between the locking disk 40 and the seat part support 30 . The first roller bearing 61 extends circularly around the rotation axis S and is arranged, in the radial direction, at a first bearing distance 66 from the rotation axis S.
A second roller bearing 62 is arranged in the vertical direction between the seat part support 30 and the base component 20 . The second roller bearing 62 extends circularly around the rotation axis S and is arranged, in the radial direction, at a second bearing distance 67 from the rotation axis S.
A third roller bearing 63 is arranged in the vertical direction between the seat part support 30 and the base component 20 . The third roller bearing 63 extends circularly around the rotation axis S and is arranged, in the radial direction, at a third bearing distance 68 from the rotation axis S.
The second bearing distance 67 is greater than the first bearing distance 66 , which is greater than the third bearing distance 68 . The third bearing distance 68 is also greater than the inner radius of the second through-opening 31 .
By means of the roller bearings 61 , 62 , 63 , which in the present case are designed as ball bearings, the seat part support 30 is supported between the base component 20 and the locking disk 40 and is mounted rotatably about the rotation axis S relative to the base component 20 and to the locking disk 40 . For this purpose, the roller bearings 61 , 62 , 63 have suitable ball raceways and balls.
When the bearing screws 42 are screwed fast with a tightening torque, they exert a tightening force FS, which draws the locking disk 40 and the base component 20 toward each other and thus braces the locking disk 40 against the base component 20 .
On account of the tightening force FS of the bearing screws 42 , the locking plate 40 presses with a first bearing force F 1 on the first roller bearing 61 , which in turn presses with the first bearing force F 1 on the seat part support 30 .
The direction of action of the first bearing force F 1 depends on the configuration of the ball raceways of the first roller bearing 61 . In the present case, the first bearing force F 1 acts in the vertical direction. However, the first bearing force F 1 can also have a component in the vertical direction and a component in the radial direction with respect to the rotation axis S.
The seat part support 30 presses with a second bearing force F 2 on the second roller bearing 62 and with a third bearing force F 3 on the third roller bearing 63 . The second roller bearing 62 in turn presses with the second bearing force F 2 on the base component 20 , and the third roller bearing 63 in turn presses with the third bearing force F 3 on the base component 20 .
The directions of action of the second bearing force F 2 and of the third bearing force F 3 depend on the configurations of the ball raceways of the second roller bearing 62 and of the third roller bearing 63 . In the present case, the second bearing force F 2 and the third bearing force F 3 each act in the vertical direction. The second bearing force F 2 and the third bearing force F 3 can also each have a component in the vertical direction and a component in the radial direction with respect to the rotation axis S.
The ratio of the second bearing force F 2 to the third bearing force 63 can be chosen by suitable choice of the first bearing distance 66 in relation to the second bearing distance 67 and to the third bearing distance 68 .
In particular, the ratio of the vertically acting component of the second bearing force F 2 to the vertically acting component of the third bearing force F 3 can be chosen by suitable choice of the first bearing distance 66 in relation to the second bearing distance 67 and to the third bearing distance 68 .
By reducing the difference between the first bearing distance 66 and the second bearing distance 67 , while at the same time increasing the difference between the first bearing distance 66 and the third bearing distance 68 , the vertically acting component of the second bearing force F 2 is increased, and the vertically acting component of the third bearing force F 3 is reduced. By reducing the difference between the first bearing distance 66 and the third bearing distance 68 , while at the same time increasing the difference between the first bearing distance 66 and the second bearing distance 67 , the vertically acting component of the second bearing force F 2 is reduced, and the vertically acting component of the third bearing force F 3 is increased.
In the present case, the first bearing distance 66 is chosen in relation to the second bearing distance 67 and to the third bearing distance 68 in such a way that the vertically acting component of the second bearing force F 2 and also the vertically acting component of the third bearing force F 3 always have a sufficient magnitude. This avoids a situation where vibrations or oscillations acting on the rotational device 10 cause the seat part support 30 to be deflected in the vertical direction or to be bent in such a way that balls of the second roller bearing 62 or balls of the third roller bearing 63 lose contact with the seat part support 30 and/or the base plate 20 .
A catch hook 37 is mounted in a central area of the rear face 36 of the seat part support 30 . The catch hook 37 is U-shaped, with an upper limb of the catch hook 37 extending horizontally, bearing in the vertical direction on the seat part support 30 and being rigidly connected, in the present case screwed, onto the latter. Alternatively, the catch hook 37 can also be welded onto the seat part support 30 .
A base portion of the catch hook 37 , which is located behind the seat part support 30 in the direction of travel x, extends from the upper limb of the catch hook 37 downward in the vertical direction to a point below the base component 20 . In the basic position of the rotational device 10 , a lower limb of the catch hook 37 extends forward from the base portion of the catch hook 37 in the direction of travel and, parallel to the upper limb of the catch hook 37 , under the base component 20 .
Thus, in the vertical direction, the catch hook 37 engages around the base component 20 and the seat part support 30 . A slide element 38 , which in the present case is made of plastic, is mounted on the lower limb of the catch hook 37 , on the side facing toward the upper limb. When the rotational device 10 is located in the basic position, the slide element 38 is located in the vertical direction between the lower limb of the catch hook 37 and the base component 20 and bears on the base component 20 .
When the rotational device 10 is located in the basic position, the slide element 38 prevents the catch hook 37 from directly touching the base component 20 . In the event of vibrations or oscillations, this therefore avoids the creation of disturbing noise.
The catch hook 37 also constitutes a crash safeguard for the rotational device 10 , in particular in the event of a head-on collision. In the event of a crash, the catch hook 37 prevents the seat part support 30 and the base component 20 from being torn apart.
When the seat part support 30 , having been unlocked, is rotated from the basic position about the rotation axis S relative to the base component 20 , the catch hook 37 moves with the slide element 38 along the catch face 26 of the base component 20 . The catch hook 37 engages around the base component 20 as far as a rotation of in the present case approximately 30° from the basic position. Starting from a rotation of in this case more than 30° from the basic position, the catch hook 37 withdraws from the base component 20 .
The slide element 38 has beveled side faces. When the seat part support 30 is rotated back to the basic position from a position in which it has been rotated beyond 30°, the beveled side faces of the slide element 38 facilitate the insertion of the base component 20 into the catch hook 37 .
The features disclosed in the above description, in the claims and in the drawings may be of significance both individually and also in combination with one another for the implementation of the invention in the various embodiments thereof.
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.
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A rotational device ( 10 ) for a vehicle seat includes a base element ( 20 ) and a seat part support ( 30 ) which can be rotated about a rotational axis (S) with respect to the base element ( 20 ). At least three rolling bearings ( 61, 62, 63 ) are provided to rotationally support the seat part support ( 30 ).
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The field of the invention is separation devices for downhole use and more particularly valves responsive to flowing fluid properties.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Valves called chokes are commonly used in oil and gas service to throttle between pressure levels between a fully open and fully closed position. One way they operate is by having a movable sleeve in a stationary housing. The sleeve has a series of longitudinally spaced holes on a common circumference and is manipulated axially for alignment of different sized holes with the fixed port in the outer housing. While this arrangement allows for some setting variability it still leaves gaps in the control because of the step change in sizes between adjacent holes that are longitudinally spaced. Beyond that there are considerations of erosion from high velocity flows, particularly in gas service where solids can be entrained.
[0003] One way the present invention addresses this design issue it to move away from the prior design of overlapping openings by using a porous media with a quantifiable resistance per unit length to act as a resistance to flow. Access through the medium is increased or decreased between end positions where one defines the substantially no flow condition and another provides substantially full access over the length of the medium to define the fully open position.
[0004] In another aspect, the valve features an ability to respond to a property of the flowing liquid to vary its position responsive, for example, to flowing liquid viscosity. In a screen application, for example, multiple such valves can be in position. When the desired hydrocarbon that has a much higher viscosity than water is flowing, the movable member can leave more of the flow through valve member exposed to reduce resistance to flow. This encourages portions of a zone that are making pure hydrocarbons to continue to do so over other locations where the onset of water production has reduced viscosity. The reduced viscosity allows a closure device to cover more of the flow through the member so as to reduce or cut off flow from areas where water is being produced. This can be accomplished without even having to measure viscosity by making the mechanical components responsive in predetermined ways to an expected range of viscosities. Totally manual as well as totally automatic operations are also contemplated.
[0005] These and other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is given by the claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] A valve for downhole use has the ability to throttle between fully open and closed and is fully variable in positions in between. The valve is preferably responsive to flowing fluid viscosity and uses a three dimensional flow through restrictor in combination with a relatively movable cover. At a given flow, a higher viscosity fluid will create a greater relative movement and make it possible for flowing fluid to bypass more of the flow through member. In a particular application involving production from a zone, an array of such valves can allow more production where the viscosity is higher and less production where the viscosity drops due to, for example, water production.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a section view of a valve featuring a flow through media partially uncovered due to fluid flow of a low viscosity displacing a sleeve;
[0008] FIG. 2 is the view of FIG. 1 with a low viscosity fluid present that allows the flow through media sleeve to be spring biased to cover more of the flow through media;
[0009] FIG. 3 is an alternative embodiment to FIG. 1 showing the inverse of the FIG. 1 design where the blank sleeve is movable rather than the flow through media;
[0010] FIG. 4 is the view of FIG. 3 where a low viscosity fluid is flowing that allows the sleeve to advance over the flow through media to retard flow;
[0011] FIG. 5 is a manual design that allows moving the flow though media with respect to a surrounding stationary sleeve;
[0012] FIG. 6 is the reverse of FIG. 5 where the sleeve is movable with respect to a stationary flow through media.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0013] In the preferred embodiments the valve assemblies are arrayed in conjunction with an assembly of screens 10 that can span for thousands of feet depending on the configuration of the producing interval. The structural support for the screen assembly 10 is commonly known as a base pipe 12 which runs the length of the screen assembly 10 . The base pipe over its length has openings 14 . The openings 14 are generally disposed in arrays of multiple openings on a given spacing pattern. While some inflow balancing can be done by varying the cross-sectional area of the arrays along a length of screen 10 , another technique is to associate a valve 16 with a given array 14 . In the present invention the valve 16 associated with an array 14 is responsive to a fluid property for the fluid flowing through it. In one embodiment the fluid property is viscosity. When a high viscosity desirable hydrocarbon is being produced, the flow in combination with that higher viscosity produced a high enough force on the element 18 to displace it against spring 20 and to offset the element 18 from stationary sleeve 22 . Thus in the position of FIG. 1 the element 18 which preferably is made of a pack of beads of a known diameter yielding a network of passages though it of a known size configuration, winds up being short circuited as more flow can exit laterally through side 24 without having to flow to the end 26 . Thus the flow paths to end 26 have an axis that intersects with flow paths through side 24 , which, in the preferred embodiment, happens to be a cylindrical surface. To complete the structure, an outer tube 28 is used to create an annular space 30 between the screen 10 and the openings 14 . In order for flow represented by arrow 32 to reach the openings 14 it has to flow through the porous material element 18 which is movably mounted over sleeve 22 which is fixed. The flow passing through element 18 creates a pressure drop and a net force that compressed the spring 20 . As the spring 20 is compressed and the element 18 shifts to the left, more of the side 24 of element 18 comes out of alignment with sleeve 22 . The more viscous the material is that represents flow 32 the greater the force exerted on spring 20 , the more element 18 shifts left and as a result the less resistance to flow is offered to the viscous fluid as more of the flow entering the element 18 can make a fast lateral exit out the side surface 24 that is no longer in alignment with sleeve 22 .
[0014] On the other hand, if the viscosity drops, indicating the appearance of water, for example, or some other unwanted fluid, the net pressure exerted for a given flow rate against the element 18 will drop as that given flow rate can move through the porous element with less resistance. When that happens, the spring 20 can shift the element 18 to the right to an extreme position where the element 18 comes into alignment with sleeve 22 , as shown in FIG. 2 . The end 34 can be made impervious and depending on the strength of spring 20 the valve 16 in the FIG. 2 position can be fully closed to fluids. A seat 36 that also acts as a travel stop for the element 18 can be provided in the form of an inner and outer seal rings such that if combined with an impervious end 34 and a strong enough spring 20 can actually close the valve 16 if the viscosity drops low enough due to production of an unwanted fluid such as water.
[0015] FIGS. 3 and 4 are simply a reverse of the design of FIGS. 1 and 2 . The element 18 is now fixed to a retainer 38 . The sleeve 22 is movably mounted with a peripheral seal ring 40 . When the viscosity of the flowing fluid 32 is high the force against sleeve 22 will overcome the spring 20 and expose more of the side surface 24 of the element 18 which will mean a reduction of resistance to flow and enhanced flow of the desirable hydrocarbon through screen 10 . On the other hand, if the viscosity drops, for a given flow rate the force on sleeve 22 will decrease to allow spring 20 to shift element 18 to the FIG. 4 position such that the side surface 24 is substantially within the sleeve 22 and resistance to flow goes higher because all the flow has to go clean through the length of the element 18 to the only exit at end 26 . Optionally, end 34 can be impervious and come up against a seal ring 36 . Then, if the spring 20 is strong enough, the valve in the FIG. 4 position can exclude fluid.
[0016] FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate totally manual operation. In FIG. 5 , the element 18 is secured to an operator 46 with sleeve 22 held fixed. The sleeve 18 is movable relative to fixed sleeve 22 . In FIG. 6 the element 18 is held fixed by retainer 38 while the sleeve 22 is moved by the adjustment mechanism 46 . Optionally an impervious end cap 34 can be used to shut off flow while the resistance to flow is infinitely variable by simply positioning the element 18 either more in alignment with sleeve 22 or less so.
[0017] Element 18 is preferably a cylindrical shape of a bead pack or a sintered material or some other porous material. The passages or openings through it need not be uniform. Rather the structure needs to be responsive to a change in fluid property and respond to such a change for a given flow rate with a change in force applied to a closure device. In the preferred embodiment the fluid property that changes that affects the movement of the element 18 or its associated sleeve 22 is viscosity. The actual viscosity need not be locally measured but it can be and in association with a processor connected to an operator that replaces spring 20 can achieve the same result. The illustrated preferred embodiments are just simpler and cheaper and more reliable in that they need not literally measure the fluid property change that affects their performance. Instead, what needs to be known for a given configuration of porous element is its pressure versus flow characteristics for a given viscosity.
[0018] On the other hand using a system, schematically illustrated as S, that senses an actual fluid property and can convert that signal using a processor into a proportional movement, the same effect of keeping out undesirable ingredients can be accomplished if there is a fluid property that identifies the undesirable ingredient. For example pH may be used as a measured quantity to affect changes in relative position between the element 18 and the sleeve 22 .
[0019] While the element 18 has been depicted as a cylinder surrounded by a sleeve 22 the arrangement can be inverted using an impervious cylindrical plug surrounded by a porous annularly shaped member as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 . While a coil spring 20 is illustrated, equivalents such as pressurized chambers, Belleville washer stacks or other devices that store potential energy could be used. Alternatively a control system can use motors of various types such as a stepper motor or a ball screw assembly to create the relative movement responsive to fluid property change.
[0020] In another variation, the actual flowing fluid can be analyzed as it passes a sensor to specifically identify ingredients and operate the valve 16 to exclude the unwanted fluids.
[0021] The design of a pair of members where there is relative movement and flow though one of the members allows infinite variability in a throttling application such as a choke with a possibility of dramatically reducing or cutting off unwanted flows. Another advantage is better resistance to the erosive effects of high velocities and a cheaper way to rebuild the valve if necessary by simply replacing a porous element.
[0022] The above description is illustrative of the preferred embodiment and many modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention whose scope is to be determined from the literal and equivalent scope of the claims below.
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A valve for downhole use has the ability to throttle between fully open and closed and is fully variable in positions in between. The valve is preferably responsive to flowing fluid viscosity and uses a three dimensional flow through restrictor in combination with a relatively movable cover. At a given flow, a higher viscosity fluid will create a greater relative movement and make it possible for flowing fluid to bypass more of the flow through member. In a particular application involving production from a zone, an array of such valves can allow more production where the viscosity is higher and less production where the viscosity drops due to, for example, water production.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/011,876, filed Dec. 13, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,917,944, entitled SECURE AUTHENTICATION ADVERTISEMENT PROTOCOL, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technique for securely sharing authentication information between network nodes to facilitate user access. In particular, the invention relates to a system and method for automatically sharing client authentication information between switching devices and access points to permit the client to roam through the network without being re-authenticated at each network node.
BACKGROUND
Network with multiple edge devices or access points typically require that all clients be authenticated using a central authentication server. The authentication server thus becomes a bottleneck in the network through which all authenticated traffic must flow. Moreover, when a client moves from one access point or edge device to another, the client must be re-authenticated by the authentication server to establish connectivity to the core network again. The process of being re-authenticated consumes time, disrupts client connectivity, may result in loss of data, and is unnecessary where the client is merely moving between secure nodes in a private network, for example.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for securely distributing authentication information of a client between participating edge devices or access points, reduce the need to access the authentication server, and reduce time and effort to repeatedly re-authenticate clients that move within a network between different edge devices and or access points.
SUMMARY
The invention features a network device for distributing authentication information between authorized nodes for purposes of concurrently “pre-authenticating” a mobile user, for example, at a plurality of points throughout a local area network (LAN) or other network domain. The preferred embodiment is a network device for advertising security authentication in a network comprising one or more network nodes associated with an authentication group, an authentication server, and a client having an associated client identifier and credentials. The network device preferably comprises at least one port adapted to receive a packet and credentials from the client; a table for retaining the client identifier of one or more authenticated clients; and an authentication manager. The authentication manager is adapted to determine whether the client has been pre-authenticated by querying the table using information from the packet, e.g. the source MAC address; determine whether to authenticate the client from the authentication server based on the client credentials if not pre-authenticated; and transmit the client identifier to the one or more network nodes if the client is authenticated by the authentication server. Upon receipt of the client identifier, the one or more network nodes are authorized to admit the client to the network at those nodes, thereby concurrently pre-authorizing the client at multiple points across the network. The client credentials presented in the initial packet transmitted by the client generally comprises the client's user identifier and password. The network device may be selected from the group comprising a router, a bridge, a multi-layer switch, a network access point, a wireless network access point, and a combination thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, and in which:
FIG. 1 is a data communications network including a plurality of network devices adapted to exchange pre-authentication information, in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a multi-layer switching device for performing secure authentication advertisement, in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a switching module for performing secure authentication advertisement, in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a schematic of a shared admission table for preauthorizing clients within a network, in accordance with the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an authentication manager for pre-authorizing clients within a network, in accordance with the preferred embodiment; and
FIG. 6 is a message diagram produced within the network as a client is initially authenticated and then pre-authenticated within the network, in accordance with the preferred embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Illustrated in FIG. 1 is a data communications network including a plurality of network devices adapted to exchange pre-authentication information. The network 100 in the preferred embodiment may include or operatively couple to a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the Internet, or a combination thereof, for example. The network 100 includes a plurality of switching devices 102 - 105 , a plurality of clients 110 - 114 , an application server 130 , and an authentication server 120 . Any of the switching devices 102 - 105 may include or be operatively coupled to a wireless access point such as access points 108 - 109 . Similarly, one or more of the clients 110 - 114 may include wired or wireless capability permitting the device to migrate through the network 100 , as mobile client 110 migrates from the first switching device 110 to the access point 108 .
The first switching device 103 and third switching device 105 of the preferred embodiment are enabled with Ethernet and Internet Protocol (IP) protocol, although various other network layer protocols—including Connectionless Network Protocol (CLNP) or Internetwork Packet eXchange (IPX)/Sequenced Packet Exchange (SPX)—and link layer protocols—including token ring and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) WAN/serial protocols such as T1/E1—may be implemented.
As described in more detail below, the switching devices of the network 100 may be associated with one or more virtual pre-authentication networks (VPANs) authentication groups, each of which is designated by a unique VPAN identifier. The first VPAN 110 , for example, includes the first switching device 103 , the router 102 , the third switching device 105 , as well as the wireless access point 108 .
Illustrated in FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a multi-layer switching device for performing secure authentication advertisement. The switching device 103 preferably comprises a plurality of switching modules 210 operatively coupled to one another by means of a switch fabric 250 for transmitting protocol data units (PDUs) between switching modules. A switching module 210 may take the form of a switch processor, switching element, or switching blade adapted to detachably engage a slot or bus system (not shown) in the backplane 252 that operatively couples each of the switching modules 210 together.
Each of the plurality of switching modules 210 comprises a plurality of external ports 203 operatively coupled to the network 100 via a network communications link. Each switching module 210 in the preferred embodiment further includes at least one switching controller 206 generally capable of, but not limited to, Layer 2 (Data Link) switching and Layer 3 (Network) routing operations as defined in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. As such, each of the modules 210 is adapted to transmit protocol data units (PDUs) to and receive PDUs from the network via ports 203 , and to transmit PDUs to and receive PDUs from every other switching module by means of the switch fabric 250 .
For purposes of this application, PDUs flowing into a switching module 210 from a communications link toward the switch fabric 250 are referred to herein as ingress PDUs, and the switching module 210 through which the ingress PDUs enters the switching device 103 is generally referred to as an ingress switching module. PDUs flowing from the switching fabric 250 to a communications link are referred to herein as egress PDUs, and the switching module from which they are transmitted is referred to as an egress switching module. Each of the plurality of switching modules 210 of the present embodiment may serve as both an ingress switching module and an egress switching module depending on the flow and its direction. The switching device 103 is one of a plurality of network nodes that may be adapted to perform secure authentication advertisement including routers, bridges, traffic classifiers, rate policers, accounting devices, editing devices, and address look-up devices.
Illustrated in FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a switching module for performing secure authentication advertisement. The switching module 210 preferably comprises a plurality of network interface modules (NIMs) 304 , at least one switching controller 206 , a management module 320 , and a fabric interface module 308 . Each of the NIMs 304 is operatively coupled to one or more external ports 203 for purposes of receiving and transmitting data traffic. The NIMs 304 , preferably enabled with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3, IEEE 802.2 and or IEEE 802.11 for example, are adapted to perform physical layer and data link layer control that operably couple the switching device 103 to communication media including wired, wireless, and optical communications links.
Ingress PDUs received by NI Ms 304 are transmitted via an internal data bus 305 to the switching controller 206 where a routing engine 330 generally makes filtering and forwarding decisions before the PDUs are buffered in a queue manager 340 en route to the destination node. The routing engine 330 of the preferred embodiment comprises a classifier 332 , a forwarding processor 334 , and an egress processor 336 . The classifier 332 extracts one or more fields of the ingress PDUs, queries a content addressable memory (CAM) 333 using one or more properties associated with the ingress PDU including the extracted fields, and classifies the PDUs into one of a plurality of flows. The PDU properties generally include, for example, the destination and source addresses, ingress port number, protocol type, priority information, and virtual local area network (VLAN) information including 802.1Q tags.
The switching controller 206 in the preferred embodiment also employs an authentication manager 360 to perform admission testing prior to executing the applicable forwarding operations identified by classifier 332 . If the ingress PDU originated from an authenticated client that is currently logged into the switching device 103 , for example, the client identity and associated access privileges are recorded in a shared admission table (SAT) 362 retained internal to the switching device 103 . If the client has not been authenticated or is not currently logged in, the client is prompted to provide credentials, preferably a user name and password, for determining the client's access profile from an external database such as authentication server 120 . If the access privilege sought by the client is denied by the switching device's SAT 362 or the authentication server 120 , the ingress PDU is filtered.
If the access sought by the client is granted by the SAT 362 or the authentication server 120 , however, the classifier 332 retrieves the associated PDU forwarding instructions from the forwarding table 354 and transmits the instant PDU to the forwarding processor 334 . Subsequent PDUs originating from the same client are also admitted to the switching device 103 as long as the client is logged in or the session between the client and destination node maintained.
When a client entering the network 100 is authenticated by the authentication server 120 , the authentication manager 360 is adapted to update the SAT 362 with an associated client identifier (ID). In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the authentication manager 360 is further adapted to transmit a pre-authentication status message to one or more network nodes associated with the same VPAN authentication group as the switching device 103 . The pre-authentication status message in the preferred embodiment comprises the client identifier of the newly-authenticated client and its associated access privileges. Upon receipt of a pre-authentication status message, the recipients update their respective shared admission tables with the client identifier and the access privileges of the newly-authenticated client. In this manner, a client is effectively logged into each of the members of the VPAN security group once the client affirmatively logs into one member of the security group.
Once the client is authenticated at the node to which it is transmitting, the ingress PDU is transmitted to the forwarding processor 334 where the forwarding operations identified by the retrieved forwarding instructions are executed. If the destination media access control (MAC) address is known to and reachable through the switching device 103 , the PDU is generally switched to the appropriate egress port without alteration. If unknown, the source MAC address may be associated with the ingress port 203 by a source learning mechanism and the PDU broadcast to every other egress port within the VLAN associated with the ingress port. If the destination node of the PDU is within another network, the forwarding processor 334 generally decrements the time to live (TTL) counter and re-encapsulated the packet with a new data link layer header, for example, before routing the packet to the appropriate destination.
The forwarding processor 334 in some embodiments is also adapted to perform packet processing operations including, but are not limited to, header transformation for re-encapsulating data, VLAN tag pushing for appending one or more VLAN tags to a PDU, VLAN tag popping for removing one or more VLAN tags from a PDU, quality of service (QoS) for reserving network resources, billing and accounting for monitoring customer traffic, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) management, authentication for selectively filtering PDUs, access control, higher-layer learning including Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) control, port mirroring for reproducing and redirecting PDUs for traffic analysis, source learning, class of service (CoS) for determining the relative priority with which PDUs are allocated switch resources, and coloring marking used for policing and traffic shaping, for example.
After packet processing by the routing engine 330 , PDUs destined for nodes reachable through other switching modules of switching device 103 are temporarily buffered by the queue manager 340 within the priority queues 342 in accordance with their Class of Service (CoS) and or Quality of Service (QoS) requirements until the bandwidth is available to transmit the PDUs through the switching fabric 250 . The PDUs are then transmitted via the fabric interface module 308 to the appropriate egress switching module for transmission in the direction of the PDU's destination node.
In the preferred embodiment, the fabric interface module 308 is adapted to both transmit ingress PDUs to the switching fabric 250 as well as receive egress PDUs from each of the other one or more switching modules. In the preferred embodiment, the egress data received from the fabric interface module 308 are buffered in priority queues 342 , passed through the routing engine's egress processor 336 for statistical processing, for example, and transmitted from the appropriate egress port via one of the NIMs 304 .
Illustrated in FIG. 4 is a schematic of a shared admission table 362 for preauthorizing clients within a network. The SAT 400 comprises one or more fields that are used to identify an authenticated client and the associated access privileges of the client. In the preferred embodiment, an authenticated client is identified by its address, preferably the MAC source address (SA) 401 , although the address may also be an IP source address for example. The access privileges associated with the client preferably include one or more VLAN identifiers (VIDs) 402 , although the access privileges may also include one or a plurality of access controls specifying the right of the user to view, download, or change various files.
The client identifiers recited in the SAT 362 include those clients that directly logged into the network node hosting the SAT 362 , e.g., switch 103 , as well as the clients that directly logged into other network nodes associated with the same VPAN authentication group. As explained in more detail below, the client IDs of clients that directly logged into other network nodes in the VPAN are learned in one or more authentication status messages generated by the authorization manager 360 of those other network nodes. The SAT 362 is embodied in the authentication manager 360 in the preferred embodiment, although it may also be integrated with the bridging and routing information of the forwarding table 354 or in the central command processor 260 . The client may be a node within or external to the network 100 or an application running thereon, for example.
Illustrated in FIG. 5 is a function block diagram of an authentication manager 360 for pre-authorizing clients within a virtual pre-authentication area network. The authentication manager 360 of the preferred embodiment includes an authentication status module 502 , security module 506 , a SAT 362 , a pre-authentication message generator 510 , and a pre-authentication message receiver 512 . Upon receipt of a PDU from a client seeking to connect to the switching device 103 or a node reachable through the device 103 , the routing engine 330 determines whether the client is authenticated to do so. In particular, the routing engine 330 transmits one or more fields extracted from the ingress PDU to the status module 502 , which is adapted to first query the shared admission table 362 to determine the admission status of the client.
If the status manager 502 cannot authenticate the client based in the SAT 362 , the status manager 502 notifies the routing engine 330 that the client is provisionally denied authentication, causing the routing engine 330 to prompt the client for credentials, preferably a user identifier and password. Upon receipt of the user identifier and password, the status manager 502 , i.e., and more particularly the retrieval agents 504 , generates an authentication query transmitted to an external database, e.g., the authentication server 120 , to determine the admission status of the client. In the preferred embodiment, the authentication query and the subsequent response are encrypted and decrypted, respectively, by the security module 506 .
If the authentication server 120 issues a response granting the authentication, the status module 502 triggers the update control 508 to add the client identifier to the internal SAT 362 . The pre-authentication generator 510 in the preferred embodiment then determines the destination addresses of the each of the other members of the authentication group table (AGT) 514 to which the first switching device 103 belongs. The pre-authentication generator 510 then sends a pre-authentication grant message encrypted by the security module 506 to each member of VPAN authentication group. Similarly, the pre-authentication generator 510 also transmits a pre-authentication rescind message to each member of the authentication group when the clients logs-off or authentication otherwise revoked.
The update control 508 is also adapted to receive pre-authentication grant and rescind messages from other members of the authentication group. Upon receipt of pre-authentication grant message, the update control 508 , particularly the pre-authentication receiver 512 , causes the client identifier and associated access privileges therein to be added to the local SAT 362 . Similarly, the pre-authentication receiver 512 causes a client identifier and privileges to be removed from the local SAT 362 upon receipt of a pre-authentication direction to rescind privileges, that is, a rescind message from another member of the authentication group.
In this manner, a client is able to quickly gain access to each and every member of an authentication group without the formality of a user log-in procedure. Although the authentication manager 360 in the preferred embodiment is configured to provisionally deny authentication to each client not explicitly listed in the SAT 362 , one skilled in the art will appreciate that the authentication manager 360 may be configured with different default authentication rules.
Illustrated in FIG. 6 is a message diagram produced within the network as a client is initially authenticated and then pre-authenticated within the network. The first message transmitted by the mobile client 110 , for example, to a node within a VPAN is referred to herein as an access request message 602 . Upon receipt of the access request message 602 , the first switching device 103 queries its SAT 362 using the MAC source address of the mobile node 110 . If the source address is not present and the mobile client 110 provisionally denied authentication, the switching device 103 transmits an identifier request message 604 prompting the client 110 to enter a user ID and password 606 . If the authentication server 120 is able to authenticate the client 103 based on the received user ID and password 606 , the server 412 transmits an authentication message 610 - 611 including the authentication confirmation. Upon receipt of the authentication confirmation, the first switching device 103 permits the mobile client 110 to transmit to and establish a communications session 612 with the requested resource such as application server 130 .
In accordance with the preferred embodiment, the first switching device 103 also transmits a pre-authentication grant message 614 to each member of the VPAN authorization group 150 , including the router 102 which forwards the grant message 614 to the third switching device 105 which forwards it to the access point 108 . Each of the nodes in the VPAN 150 that receives the grant message updates its SAT 362 with the mobile user's client ID to signify that the mobile client 110 is logged in at that node.
At a later time, if and when the mobile client 110 migrates within the VPAN 150 as illustrated in FIG. 1 , the mobile client 110 can continue the ongoing session with the application server 130 in real-time without disruption. As the mobile client 110 swaps the connection to the first switching device 103 with the wireless connection to the access point 108 , for example, the mobile client 110 continues to transmit session messages 620 - 621 to and receive messages from the application server 130 as part of the pre-existing session 612 . As described above, the access point 108 authenticates the mobile user based on the MAC source address and VLAN association information extracted from the session messages 620 without prompting the mobile client 110 again for a user ID and password, which would disrupt the ongoing session with the application server 130 and result in the loss of data and inconvenience to the user.
Note that a network node consistent with the preferred embodiment is assigned at least one of a plurality of VPAN authentication group identifiers by the network administrator. In this manner, a network may be segmented into multiple virtual pre-authentication subnets. For example, a corporate network may be subdivided into separate, and to some degree overlapping, subnets for an engineering department, a financial department, and a sales department. A client that is authenticated in one portion of the network may then be required to log in at a different portion of the network if the node to which access is sought has a different VPAN authentication association than that portion of the network to which the client is currently authenticated. Referring to FIG. 1 as an example, the mobile client 110 would need to log in to connect to either the second switching device 104 or its associated access point 109 because the client's pre-authenticated is valid only among the first switching device 103 , router 102 , third switching device 105 , and access point 108 .
At a later time, if and when the mobile client 110 logs off the node to which it is connected, the node revokes the pre-authentication at the connected node and at each of the other nodes associated with the VPAN authentication group. If the mobile client 110 logs off 630 from the access point 108 , for example, the access point 108 generates a pre-authentication rescind message 632 transmitted to each of the other members of the VPAN 150 including the third switching device 105 which forwards the rescind message 632 to the router 102 which forwards it to the first switching device 103 . Upon receipt of the rescind message 632 , each of the nodes removes the mobile client ID from its SAT, thereby preventing the mobile client 110 from accessing the network 100 without logging in once again.
In the preferred embodiment, the network nodes associated with a particular VPAN, i.e., the members of a VPAN authentication group, are adapted to discover one another using a neighbor discovery protocol known to those skilled in the art. The neighbor discover protocol is preferably a Layer 2 protocol that employs “hello” messages transmitted to a reserved multicast MAC address to enable each network device to advertise its own identity, preferably an IP address, to other nodes in the LAN, discover the identities of its neighbors, determine which of the neighbors are running the same pre-authentication protocol of the present invention, and which of the one or more VPANs the neighbors support or which of the one or more VPANs are supported by nodes reachable through those neighbors. In the preferred embodiment, each device wanting to share authentication is provided an encryption key that is unique for the VPAN and the key used to open an encrypted communication stream between the network nodes over which the client identification information can be shared. An example neighbor discovery protocol with which the present invention may utilize is IEEE 802.1A/B, hereby incorporated by reference.
Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention.
Therefore, the invention has been disclosed by way of example and not limitation, and reference should be made to the following claims to determine the scope of the present invention.
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A network device for distributing authentication information between authorized nodes for purposes of concurrently “pre-authenticating” a mobile user at a plurality of points throughout a LAN is disclosed. When a client attempts to access the network through the network device, the network device attempts to authenticate the client based on the credentials presented by the user. If authenticated, the client is admitted into the network at the network device and the client's pre-authentication information transmitted to one or more network nodes associated with an authentication group. Upon receipt of the pre-authentication information, the one or more network nodes are authorized to admit the client into the network at those nodes in addition to the network device at which the client was initially authenticated, thereby concurrently pre-authorizing the client at multiple points across the network.
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REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to and is related to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/398,863, filed Jul. 25, 2002; and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/398,846, filed Jul. 25, 2002; each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates generally to the field of nucleic acids and more particularly to compositions and methods for treating diseases with regulated aptamer compositions of the present invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Aptamers are nucleic acid molecules having specific binding affinity to molecules through interactions other than classic Watson-Crick base pairing.
[0004] Aptamers, like peptides generated by phage display or monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), are capable of specifically binding to selected targets and, through binding, block their targets' ability to function. Created by an in vitro selection process from pools of random sequence oligonucleotides (FIG. 1), aptamers have been generated for over 100 proteins including growth factors, transcription factors, enzymes, immunoglobulins, and receptors. A typical aptamer is 10-15 kDa in size (30-45 nucleotides), binds its target with sub-nanomolar affinity, and discriminates against closely related targets (e.g., will typically not bind other proteins from the same gene family). A series of structural studies have shown that aptamers are capable of using the same types of binding interactions (hydrogen bonding, electrostatic complementarity, hydrophobic contacts, steric exclusion, etc.) that drive affinity and specificity in antibody-antigen complexes.
[0005] Aptamers have a number of desirable characteristics for use as therapeutics including high specificity and affinity, biological efficacy, and excellent pharmacokinetic properties. In addition, they offer specific competitive advantages over antibodies and other protein biologics, for example:
[0006] 1) Speed and control. Aptamers are produced by an entirely in vitro process. In vitro selection allows the specificity and affinity of the aptamer to be tightly controlled and allows the generation of leads against both toxic and non-immunogenic targets.
[0007] 2) Toxicity and Immunogenicity. Aptamers as a class have demonstrated little or no toxicity or immunogenicity. In chronic dosing of rats or woodchucks with high levels of aptamer (10 mg/kg daily for 90 days), no toxicity is observed by any clinical, cellular, or biochemical measure. Whereas the efficacy of many monoclonal antibodies can be severely limited by immune response to antibodies themselves, it is extremely difficult to elicit antibodies to aptamers (most likely because aptamers cannot be presented by T-cells via the MHC and the immune response is generally trained not to recognize nucleic acid fragments).
[0008] 3) Administration. Whereas all currently approved antibody therapeutics are administered by intravenous infusion (typically over 2-4 hours), aptamers can be administered by subcutaneous injection. This difference is primarily due to the comparatively low solubility and thus large volumes necessary for most therapeutic MAbs. With good solubility (>150 mg/ml) and comparatively low molecular weight (aptamer: 10-50 KD; antibody: 150 KD), a weekly dose of aptamer may be delivered by injection in a volume of less than 0.5 ml. Aptamer bioavailability via subcutaneous administration is >80% in monkey studies (Tucker, 1999).
[0009] 4) Scalability and cost. Aptamers are chemically synthesized and consequently can be readily scaled as needed to meet production demand. Whereas difficulties in scaling production are currently limiting the availability of some biologics (e.g., Ebrel, Remicade) and the capital cost of a large-scale protein production plant is enormous (e.g., $500 MM, Immunex), a single large-scale synthesizer can produce upwards of 100 kg oligonucleotide per year and requires a relatively modest initial investment (e.g., <$10 MM, Avecia). The current cost of goods for aptamer synthesis at the kilogram scale is estimated at $500/g, comparable to that for highly optimized antibodies. Continuing improvements in process development are expected to lower the cost of goods to <$100/g in five years.
[0010] 5) Stability. Aptamers are chemically robust. They are intrinsically adapted to regain activity following exposure to heat, denaturants, etc. and can be stored for extended periods (>1 yr) at room temperature as lyophilized powders. In contrast, antibodies must be stored refrigerated.
[0011] Diabetes Therapeutics.
[0012] Diabetes is a disease involving abnormal regulation of glucose in the bloodstream. The insulin receptor (IR) is a surface receptor and is a tetramer of 2 alpha and 2 transmembrane beta chains linked by disulfide bonds. The insulin receptor, which is activated by insulin, is a tyrosine kinase receptor. Its activation leads to an increase in the storage of glucose with a concomitant decrease in hepatic glucose release to the circulation. The insulin receptor induces a cellular response by phosphorylating proteins on their tyrosine residues. The IR is known to phosphorylate several proteins in the cytoplasm, including insulin receptor substrates (IRSs) and Shc. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PK13) is one signaling molecule that is activated by binding IRSs and is important in coupling the IR to glucose uptake. PK13 mediates glucose uptake by the IR as well as a variety of other cellular responses by generating PI(3,4)P 2 and PI(3,4,5)P 3 . PI(3,4)P 2 and PI(3,4,5)P 3 then function directly as second messengers to activate downstream signaling molecules by binding pleckstrin homology (PH) domains in these signaling molecules.
[0013] The major function of insulin is to counter the concerted action of a number of hyperglycemia-generating hormones and to maintain low blood glucose levels. Because there are numerous hyperglycemic hormones, untreated disorders associated with insulin generally lead to severe hyperglycemia and shortened life span. Insulin is synthesized as a preprohormone in the b cells of the islets of Langerhans. Its signal peptide is removed in the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum and it is packaged into secretory vesicles in the Golgi, folded to its native structure, and locked in this conformation by the formation of 2 disulfide bonds. Specific. protease activity cleaves the center third of the molecule, which dissociates as C peptide, leaving the amino terminal B peptide disulfide bonded to the carboxy terminal A peptide. Insulin secretion from b cells is principally regulated by plasma glucose levels, but the precise mechanism by which the glucose signal is transduced remains unclear. One possibility is that the increased uptake of glucose by pancreatic b-cells leads to a concommitant increase in metabolism. The increase in metabolism leads to an elevation in the ATP/ADP ratio. This in turn leads to an inhibition of an ATP-sensitive K + channel. The net result is a depolarization of the cell leading to Ca 2+ influx and insulin secretion. Chronic increases in numerous other hormones—including growth hormone, placental lactogen, estrogens, and progestins—up-regulate insulin secretion, probably by increasing the preproinsulin mRNA and enzymes involved in processing the increased preprohormone. In contrast, epinephrine diminishes insulin secretion by a cAMP-coupled regulatory path. In addition, epinephrine counters the effect of insulin in liver and peripheral tissue, where it binds to b-adrenergic receptors, induces adenylate cycles activity, increases cAMP, and activates PKA activates PKA similarly to that of glucagon. The latter events induce glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis, both of which are hyperglycemic and which thus counter insulin's effect on blood glucose levels. In addition, epinephrine influences glucose homeostasis through interaction with a-adrenergic receptors. Insulin secreted by the pancreas is directly infused via the portal vein to the liver, where it exerts profound metabolic effects. These effects are the response of the activation of the insulin receptor which belongs to the class of cell surface receptors that exhibit intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity. With respect to hepatic glucose homeostasis, the effects of insulin receptor activation are specific phosphorylation events that lead to an increase in the storage of glucose with a concomitant decrease in hepatic glucose release to the circulation.
[0014] In most other tissues insulin increases the number of plasma membrane glucose transporters, but in liver glucose uptake is dramatically increased because of increased activity of the enzymes glucokinase, phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1), and pyruvate kinase (PK), the key regulatory enzymes of glycolysis. The latter effects are induced by insulin-dependent activation of phosphodiesterase, with decreased PKA activity and diminished phosphorylation of pyruvate kinase and phosphofructokinase-2, PFK-2. Dephosphorylation of pyruvate kinase increases its' activity while dephosphorylation of PFK-2 renders it active as a kinase. The kinase activity of PFK-2 converts fructose-6-phosphate into fructose-2,6-bisphosphate (F2,6BP). F2,6BP is a potent allosteric activator of the rate limiting enzyme of glycolysis, PFK-1, and an inhibitor of the gluconeogenic enzyme, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. In addition, phophatases specific for the phosphorylated forms of the glycolytic enzymes increase in activity under the influence of insulin. All these events lead to conversion of the glycolytic enzymes to their active forms and consequently a significant increase in glycolysis. In addition, glucose-6-phosphatase activity is down-regulated. The net effect is an increase in the content of hepatocyte glucose and its phosphorylated derivatives, with diminished blood glucose. In addition to the latter events, diminished cAMP and elevated phosphatase activity combine to convert glycogen phosphorylase to its inactive form and glycogen synthase to its active form, with the result that not only is glucose funneled to glycolytic products, but glycogen content is increased as well.
[0015] Insulin therapy is the only treatment for Type 1 diabetic patients. Occasionally, Type 2 diabetic patients are also treated with insulin. Type 2 diabetic patients usually require larger doses of insulin to achieve the target blood glucose value. At present, two methods of insulin delivery are available in the USA; multiple daily insulin injections and an insulin pump. Nasal insulin therapy is currently undergoing clinical trials and is not yet approved by the FDA for general use. All insulins sold in the United States today are of U-100 strength, 100 units of insulin per cc of fluid. There are other dilutions in other countries. Dosing is at least three times a day with meals.
[0016] Insulin generates its intracellular effects by binding to a plasma membrane receptor, which is the same in all cells. The receptor is a disulfide-bonded glycoprotein. One function of insulin (aside from its role in signal transduction.) is to increase glucose transport in extrahepatic tissue is by increasing the number of glucose transport molecules in the plasma membrane. Glucose transporters are in a continuous state of turnover. Increases in the plasma membrane content of transporters stem from an increase in the rate of recruitment of new transporters into the plasma membrane, deriving from a special pool of preformed transporters localized in the cytoplasm. In addition to its role in regulating glucose metabolism, insulin stimulates lipogenesis, diminishes lipolysis, and increases amino acid transport into cells. Insulin also modulates transcription, altering the cell content of numerous mRNAs. It stimulates growth, DNA synthesis, and cell replication, effects that it holds in common with the IGFs and relaxin.
[0017] The most common method of insulin delivery is subcutaneous injection. Another method is an insulin pump. The biggest advantage of an insulin pump is greater flexibility in the timing of meals, the patient does not have to eat at a particular time as is the case with insulin injection therapy. Meals can be skipped without the fear of low blood sugar. The disadvantages of insulin pump delivery are the risk of skin infection at the needle site, insulin delivery can be halted due to mechanical problems which can result in severe hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) and even diabetic ketoacidosis (a life-threatening condition), and cosmetic problems.
[0018] Despite the benefits of insulin therapy to treat type 1 diabetes, there are difficulties with regulation of effective plasma levels of insulin therapeutics. There is therefore a need for a therapeutic that effectively regulates insulin therapeutics in vivo.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] [0019]FIG. 1 shows a schematic of the SELEX method.
[0020] [0020]FIG. 2 shows a schematic of a glucose activated therapeutic to regulate insulin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0021] The present invention provides regulated aptamers that can be used, e.g., to treat certain diseases. More specifically, the present invention provides aptamers wherein binding of the aptamer to a second ligand is regulated, i.e., activated or suppressed, by binding to a first (or effector) ligand.
[0022] In one embodiment, the present invention provides therapeutic aptamers whose binding activity is controlled by a first ligand which serves, e.g., as a disease marker. The first ligand activates the binding activity of the therapeutic aptamer.
[0023] In one embodiment, the present invention provides therapeutic aptamers whose binding activity is controlled by a first ligand which serves, e.g., as a disease marker. The first ligand suppresses the binding activity of the therapeutic aptamer.
[0024] In one embodiment, the present invention provides therapeutic aptamers that bind to the insulin receptor (thus triggering glucose uptake by cells) only after binding glucose.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0025] Definitions
[0026] As defined herein, aptamers are nucleic acid ligands which have the property of binding specifically to a desired target compound or molecule or a nucleic acid target through non-Watson-Crick base pairing.
[0027] As defined herein a regulated aptamer is an aptamer whose binding (or other biological) activity is controlled allosterically by an effector ligand which serves, e.g., as a disease marker. The effector ligand can either activate or suppress the binding (or other biological) activity of the aptamer.
[0028] As defined herein, an agonist-aptamer is an aptamer that activates the activity of a target when it binds thereto.
[0029] As defined herein, an antagonist-aptamer is an aptamer which inactivates the activity of a target when it binds thereto.
[0030] A suitable method for generating an aptamer to a target of interest is with the process entitled “Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential Enrichment” (“SELEX™”) depicted in FIG. 1. The SELEX™ process is a method for the in vitro evolution of nucleic acid molecules with highly specific binding to target molecules and is described in, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/536,428, filed Jun. 11, 1990, now abandoned, U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,096 entitled “Nucleic Acid Ligands”, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,163 (see also WO 91/19813) entitled “Nucleic Acid Ligands”. Each SELEX-identified nucleic acid ligand is a specific ligand of a given target compound or molecule. The SELEX™ process is based on the unique insight that nucleic acids have sufficient capacity for forming a variety of two- and three-dimensional structures and sufficient chemical versatility available within their monomers to act as ligands (form specific binding pairs) with virtually any chemical compound, whether monomeric or polymeric. Molecules of any size or composition can serve as targets. The SELEX™ method applied to the application of high affinity binding involves selection from a mixture of candidate oligonucleotides and step-wise iterations of binding, partitioning and amplification, using the same general selection scheme, to achieve virtually any desired criterion of binding affinity and selectivity. Starting from a mixture of nucleic acids, preferably comprising a segment of randomized sequence, the SELEX™ method includes steps of contacting the mixture with the target under conditions favorable for binding, partitioning unbound nucleic acids from those nucleic acids which have bound specifically to target molecules, dissociating the nucleic acid-target complexes, amplifying the nucleic acids dissociated from the nucleic acid-target complexes to yield a ligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids, then reiterating the steps of binding, partitioning, dissociating and amplifying through as many cycles as desired to yield highly specific high affinity nucleic acid ligands to the target molecule.
[0031] Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment, “SELEX™,” is a method for making a nucleic acid ligand for any desired target, as described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,475,096 and 5,270,163, and PCT/US91/04078, each of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference.
[0032] SELEX™ technology is based on the fact that nucleic acids have sufficient capacity for forming a variety of two- and three-dimensional structures and sufficient chemical versatility available within their monomers to act as ligands (i.e., form specific binding pairs) with virtually any chemical compound, whether large or small in size.
[0033] The method involves selection from a mixture of candidates and step-wise iterations of structural improvement, using the same general selection theme, to achieve virtually any desired criterion of binding affinity and selectivity. Starting from a mixture of nucleic acids, preferably comprising a segment of randomized sequence, the SELEX™ method includes steps of contacting the mixture with the target under conditions favorable for binding, partitioning unbound nucleic acids from those nucleic acids which have bound to target molecules, dissociating the nucleic acid-target pairs, amplifying the nucleic acids dissociated from the nucleic acid-target pairs to yield a ligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids, then reiterating the steps of binding, partitioning, dissociating and amplifying through as many cycles as desired.
[0034] Within a nucleic acid mixture containing a large number of possible sequences and structures, there is a wide range of binding affinities for a given target. A nucleic acid mixture comprising, for example a 20 nucleotide randomized segment can have 4 20 candidate possibilities. Those which have the higher affinity constants for the target are most likely to bind to the target. After partitioning, dissociation and amplification, a second nucleic acid mixture is generated, enriched for the higher binding affinity candidates. Additional rounds of selection progressively favor the best ligands until the resulting nucleic acid mixture is predominantly composed of only one or a few sequences. These can then be cloned, sequenced and individually tested for binding affinity as pure ligands.
[0035] Cycles of selection and amplification are repeated until a desired goal is achieved. In the most general case, selection/amplification is continued until no significant improvement in binding strength is achieved on repetition of the cycle. The method may be used to sample as many as about 10 18 different nucleic acid species. The nucleic acids of the test mixture preferably include a randomized sequence portion as well as conserved sequences necessary for efficient amplification. Nucleic acid sequence variants can be produced in a number of ways including synthesis of randomized nucleic acid sequences and size selection from randomly cleaved cellular nucleic acids. The variable sequence portion may contain fully or partially random sequence; it may also contain subportions of conserved sequence incorporated with randomized sequence. Sequence variation in test nucleic acids can be introduced or increased by mutagenesis before or during the selection/amplification iterations.
[0036] In one embodiment of SELEX™, the selection process is so efficient at isolating those nucleic acid ligands that bind most strongly to the selected target, that only one cycle of selection and amplification is required. Such an efficient selection may occur, for example, in a chromatographic-type process wherein the ability of nucleic acids to associate with targets bound on a column operates in such a manner that the column is sufficiently able to allow separation and isolation of the highest affinity nucleic acid ligands.
[0037] In many cases, it is not necessarily desirable to perform the iterative steps of SELEX™ until a single nucleic acid ligand is identified. The target-specific nucleic acid ligand solution may include a family of nucleic acid structures or motifs that have a number of conserved sequences and a number of sequences which can be substituted or added without significantly affecting the affinity of the nucleic acid ligands to the target. By terminating the SELEX™ process prior to completion, it is possible to determine the sequence of a number of members of the nucleic acid ligand solution family.
[0038] A variety of nucleic acid primary, secondary and tertiary structures are known to exist. The structures or motifs that have been shown most commonly to be involved in non-Watson-Crick type interactions are referred to as hairpin loops, symmetric and asymmetric bulges, pseudoknots and myriad combinations of the same. Almost all known cases of such motifs suggest that they can be formed in a nucleic acid sequence of no more than 30 nucleotides. For this reason, it is often preferred that SELEX procedures with contiguous randomized segments be initiated with nucleic acid sequences containing a randomized segment of between about 20-50 nucleotides.
[0039] The basic SELEX™ method has been modified to achieve a number of specific objectives. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,796 describes the use of SELEX™ in conjunction with gel electrophoresis to select nucleic acid molecules with specific structural characteristics, such as bent DNA. U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,177 describes a SELEX™ based methods for selecting nucleic acid ligands containing photoreactive groups capable of binding and/or photocrosslinking to and/or photoinactivating a target molecule. U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,588 and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/792,075, filed Jan. 31, 1997, entitled “Flow Cell SELEX”, describe SELEX™ based methods which achieve highly efficient partitioning between oligonucleotides having high and low affinity for a target molecule. U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,938 describes methods for obtaining improved nucleic acid ligands after the SELEX™ process has been performed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,337 describes methods for covalently linking a ligand to its target. Each of these patents and applications is specifically incorporated herein by reference.
[0040] SELEX™ can also be used to obtain nucleic acid ligands that bind to more than one site on the target molecule, and to nucleic acid ligands that include non-nucleic acid species that bind to specific sites on the target. SELEX™ provides means for isolating and identifying nucleic acid ligands which bind to any envisionable target, including large and small biomolecules including proteins (including both nucleic acid-binding proteins and proteins not known to bind nucleic acids as part of their biological function) cofactors and other small molecules. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,737 for a discussion of nucleic acid sequences identified through SELEX™ which are capable of binding with high affinity to caffeine and the closely related analog, theophylline.
[0041] Counter-SELEX™ is a method for improving the specificity of nucleic acid ligands to a target molecule by eliminating nucleic acid ligand sequences with cross-reactivity to one or more non-target molecules. Counter-SELEX™ is comprised of the steps of a) preparing a candidate mixture of nucleic acids; b) contacting the candidate mixture with the target, wherein nucleic acids having an increased affinity to the target relative to the candidate mixture may be partitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture; c) partitioning the increased affinity nucleic acids from the remainder of the candidate mixture; d) contacting the increased affinity nucleic acids with one or more non-target molecules such that nucleic acid ligands with specific affinity for the non-target molecule(s) are removed; and e) amplifying the nucleic acids with specific affinity to the target molecule to yield a mixture of nucleic acids enriched for nucleic acid sequences with a relatively higher affinity and specificity for binding to the target molecule.
[0042] For example, a heterogeneous population of oligonucleotide molecules comprising randomized sequences is generated and selected to identify a nucleic acid molecule having a binding affinity which is selective for a target molecule. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,475,096; 5,476,766; and 5,496,938) each of is incorporated herein by reference. In some examples, a population of 100% random oligonucleotides is screened. In others, each oligonucleotide in the population comprises a random sequence and at least one fixed sequence at its 5′ and/or 3′ end. The oligonucleotide can be RNA, DNA, or mixed RNA/DNA, and can include modified or nonnatural nucleotides or nucleotide analogs. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,958,691; 5,660,985; 5,958,691; 5,698,687; 5,817,635; and 5,672,695, PCT publication WO 92/07065).
[0043] The random sequence portion of the oligonucleotide is flanked by at least one fixed sequence which comprises a sequence shared by all the molecules of the oligonucleotide population. Fixed sequences include sequences such as hybridization sites for PCR primers, promoter sequences for RNA polymerases (e.g., T3, T4, T7, SP6, and the like), restriction sites, or homopolymeric sequences, such as poly A or poly T tracts, catalytic cores (described further below), sites for selective binding to affinity columns, and other sequences to facilitate cloning and/or sequencing of an oligonucleotide of interest.
[0044] In one embodiment, the random sequence portion of the oligonucleotide is about 15-70 (e.g., about 30-40) nucleotides in length and can comprise ribonucleotides and/or deoxyribonucleotides. Random oligonucleotides can be synthesized from phosphodiester-linked nucleotides using solid phase oligonucleotide synthesis techniques well known in the art (Froehler et al., Nucl. Acid Res. 14:5399-5467 (1986); Froehler et al., Tet. Lett. 27:5575-5578 (1986)). Oligonucleotides can also be synthesized using solution phase methods such as triester synthesis methods (Sood et al., Nucl. Acid Res. 4:2557 (1977); Hirose et al., Tet. Lett., 28:2449 (1978)). Typical syntheses carried out on automated DNA synthesis equipment yield 10 15 -10 17 molecules. Sufficiently large regions of random sequence in the sequence design increases the likelihood that each synthesized molecule is likely to represent a unique sequence.
[0045] To synthesize randomized sequences, mixtures of all four nucleotides are added at each nucleotide addition step during the synthesis process, allowing for random incorporation of nucleotides. In one embodiment, random oligonucleotides comprise entirely random sequences; however, in other embodiments, random oligonucleotides can comprise stretches of nonrandom or partially random sequences. Partially random sequences can be created by adding the four nucleotides in different molar ratios at each addition step.
[0046] The SELEX method encompasses the identification of high-affinity nucleic acid ligands containing modified nucleotides conferring improved characteristics on the ligand, such as improved in vivo stability or improved delivery characteristics. Examples of such modifications include chemical substitutions at the ribose and/or phosphate and/or base positions. SELEX-identified nucleic acid ligands containing modified nucleotides are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,985, which describes oligonucleotides containing nucleotide derivatives chemically modified at the 5′ and 2′ positions of pyrimidines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,703 describes oligonucleotides containing various 2′-modified pyrimidines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,737 describes highly specific nucleic acid ligands containing one or more nucleotides modified with 2′-amino (2′-NH 2 ), 2′-fluoro (2′-F), and/or 2′-O-methyl (2′-OMe) substituents.
[0047] The SELEX method encompasses combining selected oligonucleotides with other selected oligonucleotides and non-oligonucleotide functional units as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,459 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,867. The SELEX method further encompasses combining selected nucleic acid ligands with lipophilic or non-immunogenic high molecular weight compounds in a diagnostic or therapeutic complex, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,020. VEGF nucleic acid ligands that are associated with a lipophilic compound, such as diacyl glycerol or dialkyl glycerol, in a diagnostic or therapeutic complex are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,228.
[0048] VEGF nucleic acid ligands that are associated with a lipophilic compound, such as a glycerol lipid, or a non-immunogenic high molecular weight compound, such as polyalkylene glycol are further described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,698. VEGF nucleic acid ligands that are associated with a non-immunogenic, high molecular weight compound or a lipophilic compound are further described in PCT Publication No. WO 98/18480. These patents and applications allow the combination of a broad array of shapes and other properties, and the efficient amplification and replication properties, of oligonucleotides with the desirable properties of other molecules. Each of the above references, which describe modifications of the basic SELEX procedure are specifically incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0049] The identification of nucleic acid ligands to small, flexible peptides via the SELEX method has been explored. Small peptides have flexible structures and usually exist in solution in an equilibrium of multiple conformers, and thus it was initially thought that binding affinities may be limited by the conformational entropy lost upon binding a flexible peptide. However, the feasibility of identifying nucleic acid ligands to small peptides in solution was demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,214. In this patent, high affinity RNA nucleic acid ligands to substance P, an 11 amino acid peptide, were identified. This reference is specifically incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0050] To generate oligonucleotide populations which are resistant to nucleases and hydrolysis, modified oligonucleotides can be used and can include one or more substitute internucleotide linkages, altered sugars, altered bases, or combinations thereof. In one embodiment, oligonucleotides are provided in which the P(O)O group is replaced by P(O)S (“thioate”), P(S)S (“dithioate”), P(O)NR 2 (“amidate”), P(O)R, P(O)OR′, CO or CH 2 (“formacetal”) or 3′-amine (—NH—CH 2 —CH 2 —), wherein each R or R′ is independently H or substituted or unsubstituted alkyl. Linkage groups can be attached to adjacent nucleotide through an —O—, —N—, or —S— linkage. Not all linkages in the oligonucleotide are required to be identical.
[0051] In further embodiments, the oligonucleotides comprise modified sugar groups, for example, one or more of the hydroxyl groups is replaced with halogen, aliphatic groups, or functionalized as ethers or amines. In one embodiment, the 2′-position of the furanose residue is substituted by any of an O-methyl, O-alkyl, O-allyl, S-alkyl, S-allyl, or halo group. Methods of synthesis of 2′-modified sugars are described in Sproat, et al., Nucl. Acid Res. 19:733-738 (1991); Cotten, et al., Nucl. Acid Res. 19:2629-2635 (1991); and Hobbs, et al, Biochemistry 12:5138-5145 (1973). The use of 2-fluoro-ribonucleotide oligomer molecules can increase the sensitivity of a nucleic acid sensor molecule for a target molecule by ten- to- one hundred-fold over those generated using unsubstituted ribo- or deoxyribooligonucleotides (Pagratis, et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 15:68-73 (1997)), providing additional binding interactions with a target molecule and increasing the stability of the secondary structure(s) of the nucleic acid sensor molecule (Kraus, et al., Journal of Immunology 160:5209-5212 (1998); Pieken, et al., Science 253:314-317 (1991); Lin, et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 22:5529-5234 (1994); Jellinek, et al. Biochemistry 34:11363-11372 (1995); Pagratis, et al., Nat. Biotechnol 15:68-73 (1997)).
[0052] Nucleic acid aptamer molecules are generally selected in a 5 to 20 cycle procedure. In one embodiment, heterogeneity is introduced only in the initial selection stages and does not occur throughout the replicating process.
[0053] The starting library of DNA sequences is generated by automated chemical synthesis on a DNA synthesizer. This library of sequences is transcribed in vitro into RNA using T7 RNA polymerase and purified. In one example, the 5′-fixed:random:3′-fixed sequence is separated by a random sequence having 30 to 50 nucleotides.
[0054] Methods of Generating Regulated Aptamers
[0055] Selection methods for the isolation of aptamers that bind to a specific molecular target (‘the target’) only in the presence of a specific molecular effector (‘the effector’) are described.
[0056] Method (1):
[0057] Selection from Naïve Sequence Pools
[0058] Selection for ligand-regulated aptamers is performed with a nucleic acid pool containing 2′-fluoropyrimidines for additional serum stability. A DNA template with the sequence:
[0059] 5′-GCCTGTTGTGAGCCTCCTGTCGAA-(N 40 )-TTGAGCGTTTATTCTTGTCTCCCTATAGTGAGTCGTATTA -3′ is synthesized using an ABI EXPEDITE™ DNA synthesizer, and purified by standard methods (N 40 denotes a random sequence of 40 nucleotides built uniquely into each aptamer). Approximately 10 15 DNA molecules with unique sequences from the template pool can be PCR amplified using the primers YW.42.30.A (5′-TAATACGACTCACTATAGGGAGACAAGAATAAACGCTCAA-3′) and YW.42.30B (5′-GCCTGTTGTGAGCCTCCTGTCGAA-3′). Amplified pool PCR product is precipitated with ethanol, re-suspended in water and desalted on a Nap-5 column (Pharmacia). Approximately 4×10 15 DNA molecules from the pool PCR amplification are transcribed in vitro using a mutant Y639F T7 RNA polymerase which accepts 2′-fluoropyrimidines (Sousa, 1999), 2′-fluoropyrimidine and 2′-OH purine NTPs, to yield ˜3×10 16 RNA molecules with corresponding sequences. Stabilized 2′-fluoro-pyrimidine pools made up of 10 14 -10 5 random sequences in a total volume of approximately 100 μl are contacted with either biotinylated target immobilized in neutravidin coated plates (Pierce) or adherent target-expressing cells immobilized in plates. A typical binding buffer used for the positive and negative selection steps contains 20 mM HEPES, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 10 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, and 0.1 mg/ml tRNA (4 mM). Following a 10 min. negative incubation step at room temperature, RNAs which bind to the target alone will be removed in this negative selection step. The solution containing unbound RNA is then transferred to another identical well containing immobilized target and effector is added to the solution. The concentration of effector added can be adjusted to ultimately enrich molecules which respond to effector at the most appropriate concentration. Initially the effector is provided at saturating concentrations (typically millimolar for small molecule effectors such as glucose and high micromolar concentration for protein effectors) to ensure that molecules with any measure of effector dependence are isolated. In successive rounds of selection, the effector concentration can be reduced to preferentially isolate the most effector-dependent molecules. Following an equilibration period of 1 hour, wells are rinsed with excess binding buffer (typically washing four times with 120 ul of 1× ASB on a robotic plate washer with 30 sec. shakes). 50 μl of RT mix (RT primer, 4 μM; 5× “Thermo buffer”, 1×; DTT, 100 mM; mixed dNTPs, 0.2mM each; vanadate nucleotide inhibitor 200μM; tRNA 10 g/ml; 0.51 μl Invitrogen Thermoscript Reverse Transcriptase; brought to 50 μl with water) is added to the selection well and incubated at 65° C. for 30 min with tape over wells to reduce evaporation.
[0060] The RT reaction is diluted 10-fold into a 100 μl PCR reaction (containing 5′-primer, 1 μM; 3′-primer, 1 μM; 10× Invitrogen supplied PCR buffer (no Mg), 1×; dNTPs, 0.2mM each; MgCl 2 , 3 mM; 1 ul Invitrogen Taq; 10 μl incubated RT reaction and brought to 100 μl with water) and thermocycled with the following schedule: 94° C., 1 min; 62° C., 1 min; 72° C. 3 min. The PCR reactions are assayed at 10 cycles by agarose gel, and then each successive 5 cycles until defined amplification bands are visible via ethidium bromide staining. Completed PCR reactions are purified using a Centri-sep column and diluted 10-fold into a 50 μtranscription reaction (4× TK Transcription buffer, 1 ×; MgCl 2 , 25 mM; NTPs 5 mM each; NEB T7 RNA polymerase 2 ul; water to 50 μl). The transcription reaction is incubated overnight at 37° C. and the resulting transcription products are purified by denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (10% gel).
[0061] The entire selection process is repeated until the fraction of molecules surviving both positive and negative selection increases significantly above the original naïve pool fraction, typically >10% of the input. Typically >10 cycles of selection are required for enrichment. Individual molecules within the enriched pool are isolated and characterized by subcloning the pooled template DNA using the TOPO TA cloning system (Invitrogen). Individual clones are sequenced and unique clones screened for effector dependent binding.
[0062] Method (2):
[0063] Pre-Selection for Target Binding Followed by Effector-Dependent Selection.
[0064] Selection method (1) can be modified as follows if the probability that molecules with both target and effector binding properties exist in the starting pool is low. Instead of selecting initially for both target binding and effector dependence, in vitro selection can be used to isolate molecules with high affinity for the target. Following an optional diversification step (wherein the selected pool of target-binding sequences is partially randomized), effector-dependent selection can be applied. To isolate target specific aptamers, the previously described selection method is applied with the following modifications: (1) target is omitted from the negative selection step, and (2) effector is omitted from the positive selection step. 5-15 rounds of selection will typically yield a pool of target binding species containing 1-1000 unique sequences. Individual clones are screened for the ability to specifically bind to the target.
[0065] A diversified pool of sequences with increased likelihood of effector-dependent target binding activity can be generated by a number of means including the following:
[0066] (1) mutagenic PCR amplification of the enriched target-binding pool of sequences
[0067] (2) doped resynthesis of individual clone sequence(s) isolated from the target-binding pool, selecting clones that have high affinity and specificity binding. In this case, mutations are introduced at random across the sequence with 10-30% probability at each position or within specified regions of the sequence.
[0068] (3) resynthesis of a functionally important subdomain of individual clone sequence(s) isolated from the target-binding pool, flanked by random-sequence domains. Once individual aptamers are identified from the original pool, the minimal sequence element required for the biochemical activity can be identified through two parallel approaches: (1) truncation analysis by limited alkaline hydrolysis, and (2) doped reselection (methods are reviewed in Fitzwater & Polisky, 1996). In addition to helping to determine the minimal functional aptamer element, sequence variation introduced via doped reselection can provide mutants of the original clone with improved affinity or biochemical activity. The diversified pool is subjected to selection for effector-dependent target binding as described previously.
[0069] Method (3):
[0070] Pre-selection for effector binding followed by effector-dependent target binding selection.
[0071] Selection method (1) can be modified as follows if the probability that molecules with both target and effector binding properties exist in the starting pool is low. Instead of selecting initially for both target binding and effector dependence, in vitro selection can be used to isolate molecules with high affinity for the effector. Following an optional diversification step (wherein the selected pool of effector-binding sequences is partially randomized), effector-dependent, target-binding selection can be applied as described previously. To isolate effector-specific aptamers, the first selection method is applied with the following modifications: (1) target is omitted from the negative selection step, and (2) target is omitted from the positive selection step and instead effector is immobilized to the capture solid support. In the case of small molecule effectors such as glucose, conventional affinity chromatography using 200 μl agarose bead columns with 1-5 mM immobilized effector is the preferred immobilization format. 5-15 rounds of selection will typically yield a pool of effector binding species containing 1-1000 unique sequences. Individual clones are screened for the ability to specifically bind to the effector.
[0072] A sequence-diversified pool of effector-binding molecules can be generated by one of the following methods:
[0073] (1) mutagenic PCR amplification of the enriched effector-binding pool of sequences
[0074] (2) doped resynthesis of individual clone sequence(s) isolated from the effector-binding pool, selecting clones that have high affinity and specificity binding. In this case, mutations are introduced at random across the sequence with 10-30% probability at each position or within specified regions of the sequence.
[0075] (3) resynthesis of a functionally important subdomain of individual clone sequence(s) isolated from the effector-binding pool, flanked by random-sequence domains. The functionally important subdomain of the effector-binding sequences can be defined by truncation of the original clones, following by assays for effector binding.
[0076] The diversified pool is subjected to selection for effector-dependent target binding as described in selection method (1).
[0077] Method (4):
[0078] Pre-Selection for Effector Binding and Target Binding Motifs, Followed by Effector-Dependent Target Binding Selection.
[0079] Selection method (1) can be modified as follows if the probability that molecules with both target and effector binding properties exist in the starting pool is low. Instead of selecting initially for both target binding and effector dependence, in vitro selection can be used to isolate two separate pools of molecules, one with high affinity for the effector and the other with high affinity for the target. Subdomains within the two pools can be engineered to create a chimeric pool of molecules in which each molecule contains one copy of an effector-binding motif and one copy of a target binding motif. This chimeric pool is then subjected to effector-dependent, target-binding selection as described previously.
[0080] To isolate target specific aptamers, selection method (1) is applied with the following modifications: (1) target is omitted from the negative selection step, and (2) effector is omitted from the positive selection step. To isolate effector-specific aptamers, the selection method (1) is applied with the following modifications: (1) target is omitted from the negative selection step, and (2) target is omitted from the positive selection step and instead effector is immobilized to the capture solid support. In the case of small molecule effectors such as glucose, conventional affinity chromatography using 200 μl agarose bead columns with 1-5 mM immobilized effector is the preferred immobilization format.
[0081] In the preferred embodiment, functional subdomains of high affinity clones from each of the target- and effector-specific pools are used to create the chimeric pool for effector-dependent selection. The functional subdomains can be identified as described previously (selection method (2)). The chimeric pool can be generated by linearly concatenating the functional motifs together with an intervening random sequence domain. Alternatively, the motifs can be combined at the secondary structure level by coupling via linking helices as described previously for effector-dependent ribozymes (Soukup, G., and Breaker, R. (1999) Design of allosteric hammerhead ribozymes activated by ligand-induced structure stabilization. Structure Fold Des 7 (7): 783-91).
[0082] Glucose-Regulated Aptamers with Insulin-Like Bioactivity.
[0083] Self-regulating aptamers that can functionally substitute for insulin can be created by the following method.
[0084] Step 1.
[0085] Insulin-receptor (IR) binding activity. A pool of nucleic acid molecules is selected for the ability to bind to the extracellular portion of the insulin receptor using selection method (2). Previous studies have identified epitopes for IR-specific antibodies that are able to mimic the effect of insulin (Steele-Perkins, G, and Roth, R. A. (1990) Insulin-mimetic anti-insulin receptor monoclonal antibodies stimulate receptor kinase activity in intact cells. J. Biol. Chem. 265(16):9458-9463). Protein fragments containing these epitopes are suitable starting points for the isolation of aptamers with insulin-mimetic activity. Modified monomeric and dimeric forms of IR-specific aptamers can be assayed for the ability to stimulate the intrinsic receptor kinase activity of IR and thus identify molecules with intrinsic agonist activities.
[0086] Step 2.
[0087] Glucose Regulation.
[0088] The minimized functional domain of aptamers with insulin-like activity can be used to construct a pool of potentially glucose-dependent molecules by linear concatenation with a random sequence domain (e.g. N 20 ) and flanked by constant sequence primers to facilitate subsequent selection. Application of selection method (2) with high (e.g. 100 mM) initial concentrations of glucose as an effector yields glucose-regulator insulin-mimetic aptamers.
[0089] Pharmaceutical Compositions
[0090] The invention also includes pharmaceutical compositions containing regulated aptamer molecules. In some embodiments, the compositions are suitable for internal use and include an effective amount of a pharmacologically active compound of the invention, alone or in combination, with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers. The compounds are especially useful in that they have very low, if any toxicity.
[0091] In practice, the compounds or their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, are administered in amounts which will be sufficient to induce lysis of a desired cell.
[0092] For instance, for oral administration in the form of a tablet or capsule (e.g., a gelatin capsule), the active drug component can be combined with an oral, non-toxic pharmaceutically acceptable inert carrier such as ethanol, glycerol, water and the like. Moreover, when desired or necessary, suitable binders, lubricants, disintegrating agents and coloring agents can also be incorporated into the mixture. Suitable binders include starch, magnesium aluminum silicate, starch paste, gelatin, methylcellulose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose and/or polyvinylpyrrolidone, natural sugars such as glucose or beta-lactose, corn sweeteners, natural and synthetic gums such as acacia, tragacanth or sodium alginate, polyethylene glycol, waxes and the like. Lubricants used in these dosage forms include sodium oleate, sodium stearate, magnesium stearate, sodium benzoate, sodium acetate, sodium chloride, silica, talcum, stearic acid, its magnesium or calcium salt and/or polyethyleneglycol and the like. Disintegrators include, without limitation, starch, methyl cellulose, agar, bentonite, xanthan gum starches, agar, alginic acid or its sodium salt, or effervescent mixtures, and the like. Diluents, include, e.g., lactose, dextrose, sucrose, mannitol, sorbitol, cellulose and/or glycine.
[0093] Injectable compositions are preferably aqueous isotonic solutions or suspensions, and suppositories are advantageously prepared from fatty emulsions or suspensions. The compositions may be sterilized and/or contain adjuvants, such as preserving, stabilizing, wetting or emulsifying agents, solution promoters, salts for regulating the osmotic pressure and/or buffers. In addition, they may also contain other therapeutically valuable substances. The compositions are prepared according to conventional mixing, granulating or coating methods, respectively, and contain about 0.1 to 75%, preferably about 1 to 50%, of the active ingredient.
[0094] The compounds of the invention can also be administered in such oral dosage forms as timed release and sustained release tablets or capsules, pills, powders, granules, elixers, tinctures, suspensions, syrups and emulsions.
[0095] Liquid, particularly injectable compositions can, for example, be prepared by dissolving, dispersing, etc. The active compound is dissolved in or mixed with a pharmaceutically pure solvent such as, for example, water, saline, aqueous dextrose, glycerol, ethanol, and the like, to thereby form the injectable solution or suspension. Additionally, solid forms suitable for dissolving in liquid prior to injection can be formulated. Injectable compositions are preferably aqueous isotonic solutions or suspensions. The compositions may be sterilized and/or contain adjuvants, such as preserving, stabilizing, wetting or emulsifying agents, solution promoters, salts for regulating the osmotic pressure and/or buffers. In addition, they may also contain other therapeutically valuable substances.
[0096] The compounds of the present invention can be administered in intravenous (both bolus and infusion), intraperitoneal, subcutaneous or intramuscular form, all using forms well known to those of ordinary skill in the pharmaceutical arts. Injectables can be prepared in conventional forms, either as liquid solutions or suspensions. In particular, the materials of the present invention can be delivered to the ocular cavity with the methods described below. In addition, the materials of the present invention can be administered to subjects in the modalities known in the art as described below.
[0097] Parenteral injectable administration is generally used for subcutaneous, intramuscular or intravenous injections and infusions. Additionally, one approach for parenteral administration employs the implantation of a slow-release or sustained-released systems, which assures that a constant level of dosage is maintained, according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,795, incorporated herein by reference.
[0098] Furthermore, preferred compounds for the present invention can be administered in intranasal form via topical use of suitable intranasal vehicles, or via transdermal routes, using those forms of transdermal skin patches well known to those of ordinary skill in that art. To be administered in the form of a transdermal delivery system, the dosage administration will, of course, be continuous rather than intermittent throughout the dosage regimen. Other preferred topical preparations include creams, ointments, lotions, aerosol sprays and gels, wherein the concentration of active ingredient would range from 0.1% to 15%, w/w or w/v.
[0099] For solid compositions, excipients include pharmaceutical grades of mannitol, lactose, starch, magnesium stearate, sodium saccharin, talcum, cellulose, glucose, sucrose, magnesium carbonate, and the like may be used. The active compound defined above, may be also formulated as suppositories using for example, polyalkylene glycols, for example, propylene glycol, as the carrier. In some embodiments, suppositories are advantageously prepared from fatty emulsions or suspensions.
[0100] The compounds of the present invention can also be administered in the form of liposome delivery systems, such as small unilamellar vesicles, large unilamellar vesicles and multilamellar vesicles. Liposomes can be formed from a variety of phospholipids, containing cholesterol, stearylamine or phosphatidylcholines. In some embodiments, a film of lipid components is hydrated with an aqueous solution of drug to a form lipid layer encapsulating the drug, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,564. For example, the aptamer-toxin and/or riboreporter molecules described herein can be provided as a complex with a lipophilic compound or non-immunogenic, high molecular weight compound constructed using methods known in the art. An example of nucleic-acid associated complexes is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,020.
[0101] The compounds of the present invention may also be coupled with soluble polymers as targetable drug carriers. Such polymers can include polyvinylpyrrolidone, pyran copolymer, polyhydroxypropyl-methacrylamide-phenol, polyhydroxyethylaspanamidephenol, or polyethyleneoxidepolylysine substituted with palmitoyl residues. Furthermore, the compounds of the present invention may be coupled to a class of biodegradable polymers useful in achieving controlled release of a drug, for example, polylactic acid, polyepsilon caprolactone, polyhydroxy butyric acid, polyorthoesters, polyacetals, polydihydropyrans, polycyanoacrylates and cross-linked or amphipathic block copolymers of hydrogels.
[0102] If desired, the pharmaceutical composition to be administered may also contain minor amounts of non-toxic auxiliary substances such as wetting or emulsifying agents, pH buffering agents, and other substances such as for example, sodium acetate, triethanolamine oleate, etc.
[0103] The dosage regimen utilizing the compounds is selected in accordance with a variety of factors including type, species, age, weight, sex and medical condition of the patient; the severity of the condition to be treated; the route of administration; the renal and hepatic function of the patient; and the particular compound or salt thereof employed. An ordinarily skilled physician or veterinarian can readily determine and prescribe the effective amount of the drug required to prevent, counter or arrest the progress of the condition.
[0104] Oral dosages of the present invention, when used for the indicated effects, will range between about 0.05 to 1000 mg/day orally. The compositions are preferably provided in the form of scored tablets containing 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, 25.0, 50.0, 100.0, 250.0, 500.0 and 1000.0 mg of active ingredient. Effective plasma levels of the compounds of the present invention range from 0.002 mg to 50 mg per kg of body weight per day.
[0105] Compounds of the present invention may be administered in a single daily dose, or the total daily dosage may be administered in divided doses of two, three or four times daily.
[0106] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, suitable methods and materials are described above. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In the case of conflict, the present Specification, including definitions, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.
EXAMPLE 1
Controlling Protein Activity with Ligand-Regulated RNA Aptamers
[0107] Confirmation of the invention described herein has been demonstrated by the work of another group described in Vuyisich et al. Chemistry and Biology, Vol. 9, 907-913, August 2002.
[0108] Controlling the activity of a protein is necessary for defining its function in vivo. RNA aptamers are capable of inhibiting proteins with high affinity and specificity, but this effect is not readily reversible. We describe a general method for discovering aptamers that bind and inhibit their target protein, but addition of a specific small molecule disrupts the protein-RNA complex. A SELEX protocol was used to raise RNA aptamers to the DNA repair enzyme, formamidopyrimidine glycosylase (Fpg), and neomycin was employed in each round to dissociate Fpg-bound RNAs. We identified an RNA molecule able to completely inhibit Fpg at 100 nM concentration. Importantly, Fpg activity is recovered by the addition of neomycin. We envision these ligand-regulated aptamers (LIRAs) as valuable tools in the study of biological phenomena in which the timing of molecular events is critical.
[0109] Controlling the activity of a protein is necessary for defining its function in vivo. RNA aptamers are capable of inhibiting proteins with high affinity and specificity, but this effect is not readily reversible. We describe a general method for discovering aptamers that bind and inhibit their target protein, but addition of a specific small molecule disrupts the protein-RNA complex. A SELEX protocol was used to raise RNA aptamers to the DNA repair enzyme, formamidopyrimidine glycosylase (Fpg), and neomycin was employed in each round to dissociate Fpg-bound RNAs. We identified an RNA molecule able to completely inhibit Fpg at 100 nM concentration. Importantly, Fpg activity is recovered by the addition of neomycin. We envision these ligand-regulated aptamers (LIRAs) as valuable tools in the study of biological phenomena in which the timing of molecular events is critical.
[0110] One potential drawback of the RNA aptamer approach described above is that once the aptamer is expressed in the cell and the target protein is inhibited, activity can no longer be precisely controlled. Tight temporal regulation of protein activity may be desired in certain instances when the timing of events is critical, such as during the cell cycle or in early development. (McCollum, D., and Gould, K. L. Trends Cell Biol. 11, 89-95 (2001); Ambros, V. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 10, 428-433 (2000); Lee, R. C., and Ambros, V. Science 294, 862-864 (2001)). Having an expressed but nonfunctional (inhibited) gene product, then activating it at a desired point in time would be valuable in these cases. In such a system, one could monitor cellular activities or pathways while the target protein is inhibited, then activate the protein and detect changes.
[0111] We reasoned that this goal might be accomplished with an RNA aptamer whose binding to the protein was itself regulated by an organic small molecule. Thus, a selected RNA could bind and inhibit the target protein. At a desired point in time, addition of the small molecule (inducer) would disrupt the RNA-protein complex, leading to the functional protein. (See FIG. 1, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). Our approach was to employ a small molecule in an elution step during the SELEX protocol, leading to the amplification of RNAs that bind a target protein but dissociate from it in the presence of a small molecule. (See FIG. 2, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). We refer to these RNAs as “ligand-regulated aptamers,” or LIRAs. In systems that employ LIRAs, a functional protein can be inhibited for a specific period of time as the inhibition is temporally controlled by adding the inducer.
[0112] When considering the desired properties of a ligand regulated inhibitor, we realized that RNA structures should be capable of performing such tasks. In addition to aptamers' ability to bind a variety of proteins, in vitro selected RNAs are capable of recognizing small organic molecules with high affinity and specificity. (Wilson, D. S., and Szostak, J. W., Annu. Rev. Biochem. 66, 611-647 (1999); Hermann, T., and Patel, D. J., Science 287, 820-825 (2000); Jenison, R. D., et al., Science 263, 1425-1429 (1994)). Also, there are several examples of ribozymes whose activity can be regulated by the presence of small molecules called effectors. (Soukup, G. A., and Breaker, R. R., Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 3584- 3589 (1999); Robertson, M. P., and Ellington, A. D., Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 1751-1759 (2000); Piganeau, N., et al., Angew Chem. Int. Ed. 39, 4369-4373 (2000); Hartig, J. S., et al., Nat. Biotechnol. 20, 717-722 (2002)). These effector-regulated ribozymes have been discovered using SELEX, where a fixed catalytic domain and a known small molecule binding domain are connected via a randomized RNA “communication module.” Alternatively, the communication module and the catalytic domain can be fixed, and the small molecule binding domain can be randomized, thus selecting for new effector molecules. (Koizumi, M., et al., Nat. Struct. Biol. 6, 1062-1071 (1999)). In our approach, all parts of the LIRA are randomized, and we simultaneously select for an aptamer that can bind both the protein target and a small molecule.
[0113] For an Initial proof of principle experiment, we chose both a target protein and a potential inducer that are predisposed to bind nucleic acids. For the protein target, we employed the DNA repair enzyme formamidopyrimidine glycosylase (Fpg), also known as MutM. (Chestanga, C. J., and Lindahl, T. Nucleic Acids Res. 10, 3673-3684 (1979); Boiteux, S., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3916-3922 (1990)). This enzyme recognizes 8-oxo-dG lesions in DNA and removes the oxidized nucleotides from the strand, using its N-glycosylase and AP-lyase activities. (David, S. S., and Williams, S. D. Chem. Rev. 98, 1221-1261 (1998); Tchou, J., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 4690-4694 (1991)). Our choice for the small molecule was neomycin, which belongs to the aminoglycoside class of antibiotics. These molecules have been shown to bind many naturally occurring RNA ligands. (Moazed, D., and Noller, H. F. Nature 327, 389-394 (1987); Yoshizawa, S., et al., Biochemistry 41, 6263-6270 (2002); Carter, A. P., et al. Nature 407, 340-348 (2000)). In addition, neomycin was used as a SELEX target and shown to bind a specific sequence motif in RNA. (Wallis, M. G., et al., Chem. Biol. 2, 543-552 (1995)).
[0114] Results
[0115] SELEXResults
[0116] Recombinant E. coli formamidopyrimidine glycosylase (Fpg) enzyme was selected as our initial protein target. (Chestanga, C. J., and Lindahl, T. Nucleic Acids Res. 10, 3673-3684 (1979); David, S. S., and Williams, S. D. Chem. Rev. 98, 1221-1261 (1998)). This nucleic acid binding protein is readily over-expressed, easily purified, and has a simple, well established assay for activity. (Boiteux, S., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265,3916-3922(1990); Leipold, M. D., et al., Biochemistry 39, 14984-14992 (2000); Zharkov, D. O., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272, 5335-5342 (1997)). A sequence-randomized RNA library was allowed to bind Fpg in solution followed by separation of free RNA from the Fpg-bound species using filter paper. In the first six rounds, a nonspecific urea buffer was used for elutions of Fpg-bound RNAs. In round seven, the RNA pool was split and used for two parallel selections. In the N selection, neomycin was used in the elution step. Therefore, only the RNAs that bound Fpg but dissociated in the presence of the aminoglycoside were collected and amplified. In the U selection, urea continued to be used in the elution step, selecting any RNA structure with affinity for Fpg.
[0117] During the N selection, the progress by round was measured by calculating the ratio of the amount of RNA eluted with 5 mM neomycin in the wash buffer and RNA eluted with wash buffer alone. This ratio climbed to near six in round 15. (See FIG. 3, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). In round 18, the neomycin concentration was reduced to 1 mM in order to select for aptamers more sensitive to neomycin. The ratio dropped but quickly recovered. (See FIG. 3, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). Finally, 200 μM neomycin was used in the last four rounds, after which the cDNA library was cloned, and the RNAs from this pool were designated N aptamers.
[0118] The U selection was performed for a total of 14 rounds, after which the library was tested for its ability to inhibit Fpg. Under single-turnover conditions, 1 μM library from the U selection after fourteen rounds completely inhibited the enzyme, whereas the same concentration of the initial RNA pool had no effect on Fpg. We cloned the cDNA pool at this stage and refer to the RNA clones from this selection as U aptamers.
[0119] We tested the ability of the RNA pool from the 23 rd N selection to inhibit Fpg in the presence of neomycin. As a control, we used the RNA pool from the fourteenth round of the U selection. The pool from the N selection was indeed more sensitive to neomycin (by an order of magnitude) than the U selection pool, which was never pressured to dissociate from Fpg in the presence of the aminoglycoside. After cloning, we tested 5 N and 9 U aptamers for their ability to inhibit Fpg with and without neomycin. In general, N aptamers were more sensitive to neomycin than U selection aptamers.
[0120] Aptamer Binding to Fpg
[0121] We tested several aptamers from each selection for their ability to bind and inhibit Fpg. Based on these results, we selected two clones (one from each selection) which bound Fpg with similar affinities and possessed similar inhibitory activities. We designated these the neomycin regulated aptamer (N1) and the control aptamer (U1). Using a quantitative filter binding assay, the KD was determined to be 7.5±1.6 nM for N1 and 2.7±0.9 nM for U1. Our steady-state experiments revealed complete inhibition of Fpg activity by both N1 and U 1 aptamers at 100 nM concentration.
[0122] Effects of Neomvcin on Aptamer Inhibition of Fpg
[0123] We wished to determine the relative response of the two selected aptamers to the presence of neomycin. Reaction components (aptamer, Fpg, and an aminoglycoside antibiotic) were incubated together, followed by the addition of labeled Fpg substrate under steady-state conditions. Full inhibition of the Fpg activity is observed with the N1 aptamer present at 100 nM concentration. (See FIG. 4B, lane 1, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). As increasing concentrations of neomycin are added, the aptamer inhibition of Fpg is relieved (FIG. 4B, lanes 2-6, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). At 100 μM neomycin, the Fpg activity approaches its maximum, in which ˜2 nM product is observed (compare lanes 0 and 6, FIG. 4B, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). The neomycin rescue was not observed when the control aptamer (U1), which binds Fpg with similar affinity as N1, was used to inhibit the enzyme. (FIG. 4C, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). To determine if the disruption of the N1−Fpg complex is specific to neomycin, we repeated the experiment with the structurally similar aminoglycoside kanamycin. (FIG. 4F, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). Importantly, this related aminoglycoside is unable to interfere with the inhibitory activity of the N1 aptamer under these conditions. (FIG. 4D, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). The amount of product (nM) in FIGS. 4 B- 4 D of Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002) was quantified and plotted as a function of aminoglycoside concentration. (FIG. 4E, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)).
[0124] Secondary Structure of the Neomycin-Regulated Aptamer
[0125] Sequencing of eDNA for the NI aptamer allowed us to predict the RNA's secondary structure using the computer program MFOLD (http://bioinfo.math.rpi.edu/˜mfold/ma/form1.cgi). (FIG. 5B, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002); Mathews, D. H., et al., J. Mol. Biol. 288, 911-940 (1999)). To test the predicted model, we used ribonucleases specific for single-and double-stranded RNA, which included S1, V1, and T1. FIG. 5A of Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002) shows cleavage of N1 aptamer by S1 and V1 ribonucleases under native conditions. Major cleavage sites on the RNA are mapped onto the predicted secondary structure of the aptamer. (FIG. 5B, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). The mapping also includes the major cleavage sites of T1 ribonuclease digest under native conditions, which are shown in FIG. 6A, lane 4 of Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002). In general, the reactivity observed with the different ribonucleases agrees with the predicted secondary structure.
[0126] Footprinting of Fpg and Neomycin on the Neomycin-Regulated Aptamer
[0127] In order to locate the binding sites for Fpg and neomycin on the N1 aptamer, cleavage protection assays (foot-printing) were performed. We utilized several ribonucleases (S1, V1, T1, and P1) for this purpose, and the results can be best demonstrated by ribonuclease T1 footprinting. (FIG. 6, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). FIG. 6A of Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002) shows that cleavage by T1 diminishes at G27 as neomycin is added (lanes 5-13). Lanes 14-19 show a decrease in T1 cleavage from G27 to G35 in response to increasing amounts of Fpg. Thus, Fpg and neomycin bind the N1 aptamer at apparently overlapping sites at the junction between a stem structure and a single-stranded loop near the center of the RNA strand. (FIG. 6B, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). When protection from T1 cleavage is converted to fraction RNA bound by neomycin, the data can be fitted using a single-site binding equation, which results in a K d of 0.94±0.06 μM. (FIG. 6C, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)).
[0128] The Importance of the 3′ Stem-Loop of NI Aptamer
[0129] From the predicted secondary structure and the location of Fpg and neomycin binding sites on N1 aptamer, the 3′ stem-loop of the RNA (nucleotides 60-91) appeared to be dispensable. To test this idea, we prepared two deletion mutants of the N1 aptamer, comprising 59 or 66 nucleotides from the 5′ end. Neither of these RNAs was able to inhibit Fpg at 200 nM concentration. This result indicates that the 3′ stem-loop is important for the inhibitory effect of N1, perhaps in maintaining the aptamer's three-dimensional structure.
[0130] Discussion
[0131] Several chemical genetics methods have been developed to delineate the functions of gene products that complement existing functional genetics approaches. (Specht, K. M., and Shokat, K. M, Curr. Opin Cell Biol. 14:155-159 (2002); Verdugo, D. E., et al., Med. Chem. 44:2683-2686 (2001); Shen, K., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 276, 47311-47319 (2001); McKenna, J. M., et al., J. Med. Chem. 45, 2173-2184 (2002); Norman, T. C., et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 7430-7431 (1996); Kuruvilla, F. G., et al., Nature 416, 653-657 (2002); Belshaw, P. J., et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 34, 2129-2132 (1995); Famulok, M., et al., Chem. Biol. 8, 931-939 (2001)). One of these methods relies on the selection of an RNA aptamer inhibitor of the protein, which is then expressed inside the target cell.. (Famulok, M., et al., Chem. Biol. 8, 931-939 (2001)). These RNA molecules are able to specifically block the function of a gene product. In this work, we build on this idea and present a method for temporally controlling the activity of a gene product which involves an RNA aptamer as the inhibitor of the target protein and a small molecule capable of relieving that inhibition (the inducer).
[0132] We utilized the SELEX method to evolve RNA aptamers that bind the DNA repair protein formamidopyrimidine glycosylase, Fpg. (Wilson, D. S., and Szostak, J. W., Annu. Rev. Biochem. 66, 611-647 (1999)). In addition, we introduced a step in the selection where RNA was eluted from filter-bound protein using the aminoglycoside antibiotic neomycin. This was the critical step that allowed us to collect and amplify only the RNA structures that satisfied two criteria: (i) the RNA must bind Fpg, and (2) the Fpg-bound RNA must dissociate from the protein in the presence of neomycin. After 23 rounds of SELEX and initial characterization of five clones, we further investigated the properties of clone N1, a91-mer RNA aptamer. To ensure that the features of the NI RNA were not arrived at by chance, we also performed a selection with Fpg using a highly stringent, nonspecific elution buffer (see Experimental Procedures). One of the clones from this selection (designated U1) bound Fpg with an affinity similar to that of N1 and was used for comparison to N1.
[0133] Although both N1 and U1 aptamers bind and inhibit Fpg similarly, the two aptamers showed dramatically different inhibitory activities in the presence of neomycin. (FIG. 4, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). While most of the Fpg activity was rescued from inhibition by N1 in the presence of 100 μM neomycin the same concentration of the aminoglycoside had only a minimal effect on Fpg inhibition by the U1 aptamer. Furthermore, no appreciable rescue of Fpg activity was observed with 100 μM kanamycin, an aminoglycoside structurally related to neomycin. Thus, the ability of neomycin to rescue Fpg activity from the inhibitory effect of the N1 aptamer is dependent both on the structure of the evolved RNA aptamer and the small molecule used during the selection.
[0134] To shed light on the mechanism by which neomycin regulates the N1 aptamer, we carried out secondary structure prediction, structure probing studies, and foot-printing with this RNA. These experiments suggested a probable secondary structure as well as identified binding sites for Fpg and neomycin on the RNA. It is apparent that the selection carried out led to the isolation of an aptamer that had overlapping binding sites for Fpg and neomycin, suggesting the mode of action of neomycin is a competitive one. (FIG. 6, Vuyisich and Beal, Chem. & Biol. 9: 907-913 (2002)). Interestingly, the sequence at the neomycin binding site is similar to those previously implicated in binding aminoglycosides. For example, the 5′-GU-3′ step, which is present in N1 aptamer as G27 and U28, has recently been shown to bind the aminoglycoside deoxystreptamine ring. (Yoshizawa, S., et al., Biochemistry 41, 6263-6270 (2002)). In addition, neomycin binding aptamers contain G-rich regions adjacent to a bulge, which is similar to the 5′ end of N1 aptamer. (Wallis, M. G., et al., Chem. Biol. 2, 543-552 (1995)).
[0135] The method developed here for discovering a LIRA small molecule pair is potentially general for any target protein or protein domain. Such inhibitor/inducer pairs could be used to inhibit proteins in vivo, then relieve the inhibition at desired points in time. This would be valuable for the study of cellular phenomena in which the timing of molecular events is critical, such as in cell cycle regulation, circadian clocks, or controlling cell fates during early development. A system that includes neomycin as the inducer is probably not suitable for a cell biology application due to its toxicity. (Leach, B. E., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 73, 2797-2800 (1951)). However, we believe this proof of principle exercise will pave the way for applications involving proteins whose roles are poorly understood and small molecules that are cell permeable and nontoxic. In the example reported here, we chose to use the presence of a small molecule as the switch in protein activity. In principle, other conditions could also have been chosen. For instance, an aptamer that dissociates from the target protein in the presence or absence of a specific metal ion or by a change in pH could lead to other means by which the target protein could be regulated. (Ellington, A. D., and Szostak, J. W. Nature 346, 818-822 (1990)). This could lead to a method to regulate protein activity only in certain cellular compartments or only in cells responding to a specific environmental stimulus.
[0136] In addition to these chemical genetic applications, the discovery of new protein-RNA complexes that are disrupted by small molecules will lead to a better understanding of the inhibition mechanisms possible. Indeed, as more LIRA/protein/small molecule combinations are discovered and structurally, kinetically, and thermodynamically characterized, an opportunity will exist to identify features of the protein-RNA complexes that make them susceptible to regulation by small molecules. This information will be valuable to those designing small molecule inhibitors of naturally occurring and functionally important protein-RNA complexes. (Hermann, T. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 39, 1890-1905 (2000)).
[0137] Significance
[0138] Several chemical genetics techniques have been developed that complement functional genetics in deciphering the cellular function of gene products. (Specht, K. M., and Shokat, K. M, Curr. Opin Cell Biol. 14: 155-159 (2002); Verdugo, D. E., et al., Med. Chem. 44:2683-2686(2001); Shen, K., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 276, 47311-47319(2001); McKenna, J. M., et al., J. Med. Chem. 45, 2173-2184 (2002); Norman, T. C., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118, 7430-7431 (1996); Kuruvilla, F. G., et al., Nature 416, 653-657 (2002); Belshaw, P. J., et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 34,2129-2132 (1995); Famulok, M., et al., Chem. Biol. 8,931-939 (2001)). One of these approaches utilizes RNA aptamers that inhibit their target proteins in vivo. (Famulok, M., et al., Chem. Biol. 8, 931-939 (2001); Thomas, M., et al., J. Biol. Chem.272, 27980-27986 (1997)). We have extended the utility of this approach by demonstrating that RNA inhibitors of protein function can be discovered through in vitro evolution and are released from their targets in the presence of specific small molecules (inducers). This allows for greater temporal control of the targeted protein activity, as it can be reactivated upon addition of the inducer at a specific time point. This method should prove particularly useful in defining the function of gene products involved in phenomena where the timing of events is critical, such as the cell cycle, circadian clocks, or embryonic development. In addition, in-depth studies of ligand-regulated aptamers like those described here will identify features of protein-RNA complexes that make them susceptible to regulation by small molecules.
[0139] Experimental Procedures
[0140] General
[0141] Distilled, deionized water was used for all aqueous reactions and dilutions. Biochemical reagents were obtained from Sigma/Aldrich unless otherwise noted, Restriction enzymes and nucleic acid modifying enzymes were purchased from New England Biolabs. Oligonucleotides were prepared on a Perkin Elmer/ABI Model 392 DNA/RNA synthesizer with β-cyanoethyl phosphoramidites. 5′-Dimethoxytrityl protected 2′-deoxyadenoslne, 2′-deoxyguanoslne, 2′-deoxycytidine, and thymidine phosphoramidites were purchased from Perkin Elmer/AB 1. (K- 32 P]ATP (6000 Ci/mmol) and [ 32 P]pCp (3000 Ci/mmol) were obtained from DuPont NEN. Storage phosphor autoradiography was carried out using Imaging plates purchased from Kodak.
[0142] A Molecular Dynamics STORM 840 was used to obtain all data from phosphorimaging plates.
[0143] Fpg Purification
[0144] [0144] E. coli Fpg was overexpressed and purified as previously described. (Boiteux, S., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3916-3922 (1990); Leipold, M. D., et al., Biochemistry 39, 14984-14992 (2000); Zharkov, D. O., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272, 5335-5342 (1997)). We estimated that the enzyme was 70% active.
[0145] Random Library Preparation
[0146] A 105 nt DNA oligonucleotide (0.2 nmol) was used as the template for a three-cycle PCR reaction, which yielded a 130 bp dsDNA product consisting of a T7 promoter and a 60-mer random region flanked by EcoRl and Hindlll cloning sites. Transcription from this DNA generated a 105-nt-long random RNA pool. (Abelson, J. N. Methods Enzymol. 267, 291-335 (1996)).
[0147] Selections
[0148] In each round, ˜2 nmol of RNA pool was denatured at 95° C. in 0.5 ml of the selection buffer (1× SB: 10 mM Tris-HCI, 50 mM NaCI, 2.5 mM MgCI 2 (pH 7.0]) and allowed to slowly cool to room temperature. A single 13 mm filter paper disc (HAWPO1300, Millipore) was added to the RNA pool, and the tube was gently mixed for 20 min. This step excluded filter paper binding RNAs. The RNA pool was then transferred to a tube with 0.3 nmol of Fpg and allowed to bind for 20 min with gentle mixing. To separate Fpg.bound from free RNA, a vacuum manifold-mounted 96-well plate with filter paper bottoms (MAVMO96OR and MAHAS4510, Millipore) was used. The binding reaction was loaded into a well, and vacuum was applied for 1 min. Unbound RNAs passed through the filter, while Fpg and the bound RNAs were retained. The RNA-protein complexes were washed with 1 ml of 1×SB to remove weakly binding RNAs. In the first six rounds, the Fpg-bound RNAs were eluted with 0.2 ml of urea elution buffer (100 mM Na citrate, 7 M urea, 10 mM EDTA [pH 5.2]) which was preheated to 65° C. The eluted RNAs were washed three times with 0.5 ml water in a YM-10 microcon concentrator (Millipore), then treated with 5 units of RNase-free DNase I (Promega) for 3 hr at 37° C. Access RT-PCR kit (Promega) was used to amplify RNA winners from each round. After six rounds, the RNA pool was divided and used for two parallel selections. One selection utilized the same urea elution step as before and was performed for an additional eight rounds. The other selection employed elution buffer that consisted of 1×SB supplied with neomycin. The number of rounds in this selection (including the initial six rounds) was 23.
[0149] Cloning
[0150] The cDNA from final rounds of each selection was digested with EcoRl and HindIII (NEB), then cloned into pUC-19 vector and transformed into E. coil XL-1 Blue cells. Plasmids coding for individual RNA clones were isolated, sequenced, and used for production of aptamers. (Sambrook, J., et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (Cold Spring Harbor, NY; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press) (1989)).
[0151] Filter Binding Assays
[0152] Protein-RNA binding affinity was assessed using filter binding assays. These were carried out by mixing increasing concentrations of Fpg with small amounts (0.1 nM) of 5′ end-labeled aptamer, followed by incubation for 15 min at room temperature. Bound and free RNA were separated using filter paper under vacuum filtration and washing. Both the total and free (flow-through plus the wash) RNA were measured by scintillation counter, and fraction bound was calculated. The data were plotted as a function of Fpg concentration and fitted using a single-site binding equation: fraction bound=[Fpg]/([Fpg]+K d ).
[0153] Fpg Assays
[0154] Fpg activity assays were carried out at room temperature in 1×SB under steady-state conditions with 1 nM Fpg. An 18-mer dsDNA was used as the Fpg substrate. The 8-oxo-dG-containing strand was 5′ labeled and had the following sequence; d(5′-TCATGG GTC(8-oxo-G)TCGGTATA-3′), and the complementary strand contained a cytidine opposite 8-oxo-dG. Reaction components were mixed in 18 μl and incubated for 12 min, followed by the addition of 2 μl of 200 nM DNA substrate (20 nM final). After 7 min, reactions were quenched with 15 μl of 95° C. stop solution (97% formamide, 0.02% xylene cyanol in 0.2× TBE) and heated at 95° C. for an additional 5 mm. The reactions were resolved on 15% denaturing PAGE and visualized using phosphorimager screens. The amount of product was calculated as a percent of 20 nM substrate and without any inhibitors was measured to be approximately 2 nM under these conditions.
[0155] Secondary Structure Prediction and Testing
[0156] Secondary structure prediction was performed using the web-based MFOLD program on Dr. Michael Zuker's website, http://bioinfo.math.rpi.edu/˜mfold/ma/form1.cgi. (Mathews, D. H., et al., J. Mol. Biol. 288, 911-940 (1999)). Testing of the predicted structure was carried out using T1, S1, and V1 ribonuclease digests. All reactions were carried out for 10 min at room temperature in 1×SB under native conditions and in the presence of 10 μg/mL of yeast tRNA Phe . In the case of S1 ribonuclease, reactions were supplied with 0.1 mM ZnCI 2 for optimal activity.
[0157] T1 Quantitative Footprinting
[0158] Footprints for both Fpg and neomycin were obtained using T1 RNase under native conditions. The reactions were performed in 1× SB at room temperature with 10 μg/ml of tRNA Phe . Increasing amounts of Fpg or neomycin were incubated with 10 nM labeled aptamer for 10 min, followed by a 10 min enzyme digest. The reactions were quenched with 15 μl of stop solution, heat denatured, and 5 μl of each was resolved on 10% denaturing PAGE. After phosphorimaging the gel, the cleavage efficiency at G27 was calculated by subtracting the background band in the control lane and normalizing for the different loading per lane. The cleavage data were converted into binding data for neomycin, assuming that the maximum cleavage corresponds to 0% occupancy by neomycin and that the minimum cleavage corresponds to 100% occupancy by neomycin. Fraction of aptamer bound by neomycin was plotted as a function of neomycin concentration, and the data were fitted using a single-site binding equation: fraction bound=[neo]/([neo]+K d ). The results are reported as the average and standard deviation for three different experiments.
EXAMPLE 2
Glucose Regulated Aptamers
[0159] Glucose causes an insulin receptor agonist aptamer to become activated, binding the insulin receptor target and triggering glucose uptake by cells.
[0160] A method of preparing a glucose regulated aptamer includes the following steps: 1) separately isolate aptamers with insulin receptor agonist activity and glucose binding activity using SELEX, 2) engineer a diverse sequence pool of molecules that contains both functional motifs, and 3) select for aptamers whose receptor binding activity is dependent upon the presence of glucose.
[0161] Alternatively, a pool of nucleic acid molecules is selected for the ability to bind to the extracellular portion of the insulin receptor using selection method (2). Previous studies have identified epitopes for IR-specific antibodies that are able to mimic the effect of insulin (Steele-Perkins, 1990). Protein fragments containing these epitopes are suitable starting points for the isolation of aptamers with insulin-mimetic activity. Modified monomeric and dimeric forms of IR-specific aptamers can be assayed for the ability to stimulate the intrinsic receptor kinase activity of IR and thus identify molecules with intrinsic agonist activities.
[0162] The minimized functional domain of aptamers with insulin-like activity can be used to construct a pool of potentially glucose-dependent molecules by linear concatenation with a random sequence domain (e.g. N 20 ) and flanked by constant sequence primers to facilitate subsequent selection. Application of selection method (2) with high (e.g. 100 mM) initial concentrations of glucose as an effector yields glucose-regulator insulin-mimetic aptamers.
[0163] The invention having been described by way of illustration by the non-limiting examples is now defined by the spirit and scope of the following claims.
1
4
1
104
DNA
Artificial Sequence
Description of Artificial SequenceAptamer DNA
Template
1
gcctgttgtg agcctcctgt cgaannnnnn nnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnn 60
nnnnttgagc gtttattctt gtctccctat agtgagtcgt atta 104
2
40
DNA
Artificial Sequence
Description of Artificial SequenceAptamer
Template Primer YW.42.30.A
2
taatacgact cactataggg agacaagaat aaacgctcaa 40
3
24
DNA
Artificial Sequence
Description of Artificial SequenceAptamer
Template Primer YW.42.30.B
3
gcctgttgtg agcctcctgt cgaa 24
4
18
DNA
Artificial Sequence
Description of Artificial SequenceFPG
Substrate
4
tcatgggtcn tcggtata 18
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Materials and methods of use thereof are presented for the treatment of diabetes and other diseases. Therapeutic compositions including regulated aptamer therapeutic compositions with specificity to components of diabetes disease are presented with methods of administering these therapeutic compositions.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/062,018, filed Jan. 31, 2002. now U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,985 B1, issued Oct. 1, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/827,707, filed Apr. 6, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,136, issued Apr. 9, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/505,384, filed Feb. 16, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,228 B1, issued May 29, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a semiconductor package mounting technique and, more specifically, to high density vertical surface mount packages. More particularly still, the present invention relates to vertical surface mount devices having retention apparatus or devices for holding the package to a surface mount location.
2. State of the Art
Integrated circuit semiconductor devices are fabricated on wafers of silicon to generate semiconductor devices or chips. Each of these chips forms an integrated circuit semiconductor device that must be packaged in order to be utilized within a computer system. One type of package is to encapsulate the semiconductor device in a plastic package, in some instances, with the semiconductor device being bonded to a die paddle of a leadframe. The individual leads of the leadframe are then connected to bond pads on the active surface of the semiconductor device using wires with the units being encapsulated in a suitable plastic or similar material. This plastic encapsulated semiconductor device then undergoes a trim and form operation that separates the interconnected packages on leadframe strips into individual entities and then bends the exposed leads of the remaining leadframe extending from the package. This is the traditional and most recognized form of semiconductor device package and utilizes a highly automated manufacturing technology.
Several types of semiconductor device packages that have found favor include a package having dual in-line metal lead packages or DIP, which typically were through hole soldered onto a printed circuit board, and a pin grid array (PGA) package that includes a plurality of under-leads that are usually either through hole soldered to a substrate or inserted in a receiving unit. Additional types of semiconductor device packages include the ball grid array, which is soldered onto the surface of the printed circuit board. Additionally, a new type of dual in-line lead design has been provided and is known as the small outline J-Lead package or SOJ package. The SOJ lead package has advantages over the standard DIP design for the following reasons. First, the leads of an SOJ package are soldered to only one side of the circuit board, thus leaving the other side of the board free for the mounting of additional SOJ packages. Second, the leads are much less vulnerable to damage prior to board assembly; hence, there are fewer rejections. The SOJ package has extended to include a zig-zag in-line package or ZIP and provides advantages of allowing the package to be mounted vertically. Vertical packages have a narrow horizontal cross section than the horizontally attached DIP or SOJ or PGA packages. Vertical packages allow the distance between other vertical packages to be quite minimal to the horizontal packages.
In ZIP packages or in vertical packages, all leads exit through the lower edge of the package. Since the vertical packages with a single edge being attached to the printed circuit board must be held in place before a solder reflow operation is performed, they have a limited appeal because of the difficulty in maintaining the vertical packages in such vertical position.
Solutions have been provided to allow for the positioning of ZIP vertical packaging without the need for additional package support structure until the final attachment of the package to the circuit board during a solder reflow on operation.
One such example is described in U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 34,794, reissued Nov. 20, 1994. The '794 reissue patent describes a semiconductor package having a gull-wing, zig-zag, in-line lead configuration and package anchoring devices. The anchoring devices allow the semiconductor package to be rigidly fixed to a circuit board such that each lead resiliently contacts its associated mounting pad on the board. The particular anchoring device includes anchoring pins having fish-hook type bars that lock against the other side of the board when the pegs are inserted through the holes. Further, the anchoring pins can be adhesively bonded in recesses as provided in a circuit board. This type of arrangement has several disadvantages. The first disadvantage is that the printed circuit board or circuit board must include holes for receiving the anchoring devices. These holes may crack and cause the circuit board to split along such a fracture, thus ruining the board. Additionally, since the anchoring devices are inflexible, they too may fracture and break and thus release the semiconductor package that is in a bias tension against the circuit board because of the anchoring devices. Furthermore, the anchoring devices must extend out from either side of the semiconductor devices, which anchoring devices may require additional spacing, thus limiting the number of packages that can be vertically mounted on the circuit board is needed.
Accordingly, an improved type of vertical package of the ZIP where the anchoring apparatus overcomes the problems and inherent in the prior solution of the anchoring devices inserted into the circuit board.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to semiconductor package mounting techniques for high density vertical surface mount packages having retention apparatus for holding the package to a surface mount location.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a first embodiment of a gull-wing vertical surface mount package according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front plan view of a second embodiment of a gull-wing ZIP vertical surface mount package according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional front plan view of the gull-wing ZIP package of FIG. 1 as mounted to a circuit board;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the gull-wing ZIP package of FIG. 2 in a plurality mounted figuration; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the present invention connected to a computer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Drawing FIG. 1 depicts a first embodiment of a vertical surface mount package (VSMP) having a locking device for holding the VSMP in place on a circuit board by pressure. Package 10 , having a suitable integrated circuit device or semiconductor device therein which may include memory for a computer, includes a plurality of gull-wing, zig-zag, in-line package leads 12 , mounted to a bottom surface edge of package 10 . A pair of locking shoulders 14 of the package 10 each receive a locking pin that attaches to a circuit board or substrate. Drawing FIG. 2 depicts an alternative embodiment of package 10 still having the plurality of gull-wing, zig-zag, in-line package leads 12 . Instead of having locking shoulders 14 , locking openings 16 are provided into which J-shaped locking pins insert and hold package 10 in bias tension against a circuit board. In either embodiment, the gull-wing, zig-zag, in-line package leads 12 can extend the full length of the bottom of the package 10 to the very edge of package 10 . This allows a greater density of contacts to be provided than would otherwise be possible in the prior art systems of the anchoring pins as taught in U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 34,794, entitled Gull-wing, Zig-Zag, Inline-lead Package Having End-of-Package Anchoring Pins, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
Drawing FIG. 3 depicts in cross-sectional view a package connection assembly 18 where package 10 is mounted to a printed circuit board 22 , or any other suitable substrate 22 , using J-hooks (also called J-shaped locking pins) 20 . The package 10 includes one or more integrated circuit devices or semiconductor devices (shown in dotted outline) therein which may include memory type semiconductor devices or combination processor and memory type devices. The J-hooks 20 latch onto locking shoulders 14 of package 10 . Printed circuit board 22 can be any type of printed circuit board including a personal computer motherboard or a daughter card, or any other carrier card mounted to a motherboard.
J-shape locking pins 20 are mounted to printed circuit board 22 either by being soldered in place or resiliently press fitted into printed circuit board 22 . J-shape locking pins 20 are also designed to resiliently flex when inserting and locking in place semiconductor device package 10 or when removing package 10 . The gull-wing packages leads 12 are resiliently biased against matching bonding pads on printed circuit board 22 when the package 10 is secured in place with J-shaped locking pins 20 resiliently engaging locking shoulders 14 .
Package 10 , as shown in drawing FIG. 3, allows the gull-wing package leads 12 to extend the full length of the bottom of package 10 . This allows for a greater density of leads to be biased in connection to printed circuit board 22 . Further, since J-shaped locking pins 20 mount into printed circuit board 22 , rather than package 10 having anchoring pins inserted into openings in printed circuit board 22 , the tension or force acting on printed circuit board 22 is greatly reduced because either a much stronger mechanical connection is provided via the soldering of J-shaped locking pins 20 into printed circuit board 22 or J-shaped locking pins 20 are resiliently biased much more readily than any anchoring pins that would have been attached to package 10 as previously described in the prior art section. With the pins readily replaceable, should one break, the package 10 itself is not damaged but an inexpensive and easily replaceable anchoring device is thereby provided.
Drawing FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional side view of a plurality of packages 10 mounted to printed circuit board 22 . In the embodiment of drawing FIG. 4, the manner of locking is the same as that depicted in drawing FIG. 2 . In this instance, a locking pin 26 is fitted within printed circuit board 22 having a resilient biasing portion 30 , which fits and is received within opening 16 , and is retained in a biased position within opening 16 by N-hooks 32 . For removing J-shaped locking pin 26 from opening 16 , the end of the N-hook 32 of resilient biasing portion 30 is urged together sufficiently so that they may be removed through opening 16 . Once in position, the gull-wing package leads 12 are resiliently biased against lead contacting board traces 28 .
J-shaped locking pins 26 can be soldered in printed circuit board 22 or resiliently press fitted in printed circuit board 22 . Further, J-shaped locking pins 26 are able to resiliently flex when loading or removing package 10 .
Integrated circuit package 10 can be any type of circuit device contemplated for use within a computer system. For example, package 10 can be used to clear the memory devices of a computer system or be used to implement a memory storage device of a computer system. Other types of implementation may incorporate a processing unit that either provides the main functions of operation within a computer system or any preferable implantation processing capabilities such as for a video card or any other preferable device. An example of the manner in which the semiconductor device package 10 may be integrated into a computer system is illustrated in drawing FIG. 5 .
Referring to drawing FIG. 5, illustrated in block diagram form is a computer system 36 integrated with the semiconductor device package mounted to a printed circuit board 22 . Printed circuit board 22 further includes a central processing unit 38 , connected to a bus 40 , which further communicates through output data device 42 and input data device keyboard 44 . Additional preferable structures for a computer system 36 would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
Additional embodiments are possible with the concepts outlined in either drawing FIG. 1 or drawing FIG. 2 as well as in drawing FIGS. 3 and 4. One example would be to mount semiconductor device packages 10 on either side of the printed circuit board 22 in such a fashion to double the amount of surface mount vertical packages connected to the printed circuit board 22 .
Other embodiments will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. As such, any such changes or modifications that are apparent to those skilled in the art may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as claimed.
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A semiconductor package for vertically surface mounting to a printed circuit board having retention apparatus for holding the package thereto.
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This application claims benefit of No. 60/173,372, filed Dec. 28, 1999.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Imidazolinone compounds, for instance, those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,188,487; 4,798,619 and 5,334,576, are highly potent, broad spectrum, environmentally benign, herbicidal agents. In general, the herbicidal activity of the R-isomer is approximately 1.8 times that of the racemic imidazolinone compound. Stereospecific processes to prepare chiral imidazolinone herbicidal agents, either directly or indirectly, from (R)2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,324 and co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/304,401, filed on May 3, 1999.
Said nitrile is prepared by a two-step resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile using D-(−)-tartaric acid as the resolving agent. D-tartatic acid does not occur in abundance in nature, and methods for its production are limited. Although D-tartaric acid is commmercially available, it is expensive and is only available in limited quantities.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the recovery of D-tartaric acid from the two-step resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for the recycle of said recovered D-tartaric acid in the resolution process.
It is a feature of this invention that the processes provided thereby may be used for repeated recovery and reuse of D-tartaric acid in said two-step resolution.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a process for the recovery of essentially enantiomerically pure D-tartaric acid from a waste stream containing D-tartrate salts which comprises acidifying said waste stream to a pH of about 2.5 to 4.5 to obtain a crystalline alkali metal hydrogen D-tartrate; and reacting said alkali metal hydrogen D-tartrate with an acid, optionally in the presence of a solvent.
The present invention also provides a process for the recycle of recovered D-tartaric acid in the continuous resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethyl-butyronitrile.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Imidazolinone compounds such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,188,487, 4,798,619 and 5,334,576 are highly potent, broad spectrum, environmentally benign, herbicidal agents. Chiral imidazolinone compounds having the (R) configuration demonstrate an increase in herbicidal activity over the corresponding racemic mixture. The preparation of said chiral compounds by the resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile, hydrolysis of the resultant (R) 2-amino-2,3-dimethyl-butyronitrile to the corresponding (R)2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyramide intermediate, and subsequent elaboration of this intermediate to the (R)imidazolinone herbicidal product is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,324. The preparation of chiral imidazolinone compounds having substantially complete retention of enantiomeric purity directly from the (R)aminonitrile starting material to the final chiral imidazolinone herbicidal product is described in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/304,401, filed on May 3, 1999.
In general, the two-step resolution described comprises a first resolution step in which racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile (II) in C 1 -C 4 alkanol is treated with D-tartaric acid (I) to afford the D-tartrate salt of (R)2-amino-2,4-dimethylbutyronitrile (III), which crystallizes from solution. Because said aminonitrile partially decomposes in the process of this kinetic resolution, the methanol mother liquor contains varying amounts of ammonium D-tartrate (IV), which is ordinarily discarded. This first resolution step is shown in Flow Diagram I wherein the C 1 -C 4 alkanol is methanol.
In the second resolution step, (R)2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile (VI) is liberated from its D-tartrate salt (III) by treatment with an alkali metal hydroxide in the presence of a minimum amount of water and a water-immiscible solvent, such as toluene. This second resolution step yields an aqueous phase containing a full equivalent of the di(alkali metal) salt of D-tartaric acid (V), which is also ordinarily discarded. This second resolution step is illustrated in flow diagram II wherein M is an alkali metal and the water immiscible solvent is toluene.
Thus both resolution steps give rise to waste streams containing D-tartrate salts.
Although L-tartaric acid is natural tartaric acid which occurs widely in nature, either as the free acid or in combination with potassium, calcium or magnesium, D-tartaric acid does not occur widely in nature and is commercially available only in limited quantities. Further, existing methods for producing D-tartaric acid are limited. Surprisingly, it has now been found that D-tartaric acid may be recovered in high yield and in essentially enantiomerically pure form from the waste streams produced in the resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile. Advantageously, the recovered D-tartaric acid may be recycled for use in the same resolution of said aminonitrile. Beneficially, the processes of this invention may be run repetitively, i.e., D-tartaric acid may be repeatedly recovered and recycled in a continuous resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile, allowing for a sustainable resolution process.
In accordance with the process of the invention the di(alkali metal) D-tartrate or ammonium D-tartrate waste streams produced in the resolution of the above-said aminonitrile are acidified to a pH of about 2.5 to 4.5, preferably 3.0 to 4.0, most preferably about 3.0. The acidification is preferably conducted with hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, to form the crystalline mono-basic hydrogen D-tartrate (VII) and said hydrogen D-tartrate is treated with at least one molar equivalent of an acid, optionally in the presence of a solvent, preferably an aliphatic alkanol, more preferably methanol or ethanol, to give essentially enantiomerically pure D-tartarc acid (I). The process of the invention is illustrated in flow diagram III wherein M is an alkali metal.
The recovered D-tartaric acid (I) may then be utilized directly in the first resolution step by adding the recovered D-tartaric acid to a solution of racemic 2-amino-2,4-dimethylbutyronitrile in a water-immiscible solvent, such as toluene, to yield the corresponding D-tartrate salt (III) as shown hereinabove in flow diagram I.
It is also intended that the processes of this invention embrace the recovery and recycle of L-tartaric acid in a resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethyl-butyronitrile to produce (S)2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyro-nitrile, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,324.
Acids suitable for use in the process of the invention include mineral acids such as hydrogen halides, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, or the like, preferably hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid.
Solvents suitable for use in the inventive process include polar solvents, preferably water miscible. Preferable solvents include aliphatic alkanols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, or the like, preferably methanol or ethanol, more preferably ethanol.
Alkali metals include sodium, potassium, or lithium, preferably sodium or postassium.
In general, reaction temperatures for the inventive process are directly related to reaction rate, that is increased reaction temperature leads to increased reaction rate. However, excessively high reaction temperatures are to be avoided. Suitable reaction temperatures may be about 0° C. to 50° C., preferably about 5° C. to 35° C., more preferably about 10° to 30° C.
In actual practice, waste streams from a 2-step resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile, combined or individually, are acidified to a pH of about 3 to form crystalline alkali metal hydrogen D-tartrate and said hydrogen D-tartrate is reacted with at least one molar equivalent of acid, preferably hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid, optionally in the presence of a solvent, preferably an aliphatic alkanol, more preferably methanol or ethanol, to give the desired essentially enantiomerically pure D-tartartic acid. Advantageously, the crystalline alkali metal hydrogen D-tartrate may be isolated using conventional means such as filtration or, alternatively, may be carried on in the inventive process as is or as a concentrated slurry. Similarly, the recovered D-tartaric acid may be isolated using conventional techniques or recycled as is or as a concentrated slurry.
In order to facilitate a further understanding of the invention, the following examples are presented primarily for the purpose of illustrating certain more specific details thereof. The invention is not to be deemed limited thereby except as defined in the claims. HPLC designates high performance liquid chromatography. Unless otherwise indicated, all parts are parts by weight.
EXAMPLE 1
Recovery of D-sodium Hydrogen Tartrate from Aqueous Disodium Tartrate Waste
A mixture of (R)-2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile (2S,3S)-tartaric acid salt (89.9 g, 0.34 mmole), toluene, ice and 50% sodium hydroxide (68.5 g, 0.85 mmol) is shaken until no solid particles are observed. The phases are separated and the aqueous disodium tartrate waste produced (343.3 g, 15 wt % D-tartaric acid) is acidified to a pH of about 3 with concentrated hydrochloric acid over a 30 minute period at 8°-13° C., stirred for 15 minutes and filtered. The filtercake is washed with methanol and dried in vacuo to afford recovered D-sodium hydrogen tartrate as an off-white solid 53.2 g (91% recovery) in >99% purity and 100% optical purity as determined by HPLC analysis.
Using essentially the same procedure and employing concentrated sulfuric acid in place of concentrated hydrochloric acid, recovered D-sodium hydrogen tartrate is obtained as an off-white solid (279 g, 77% recovery) >99% purity and 100% optical purity as determined by HPLC analysis.
EXAMPLE 2
Recovery of D-sodium Hydrogen Tartrate from Combined Aqueous Disodium Tartrate and Methanolic Ammonium Tartrate Waste
A mixture of aqueous disodium tartrate waste produced as described in Example 1 (438.5 g, 14.5 wt % D-tartaric acid) and a methanolic mother liquor waste slurry of ammonium tartrate (278 g, 2.6 wt % D-tartaric acid) produced as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,324 is acidified to a pH of about 3 with concentrated hydrochloric acid over a 30 minute period at room temperature, stirred for 25 minutes and filtered. The filtercake is washed with methanol and dried in vacuo to afford recovered D-sodium hydrogen tartrate as an off-white solid, 73.7 g, (92% recovery) in >99% purity and 100% optical purity as determined by HPLC analysis.
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation of (R)-2-Amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile (2S,3S)-tartrate from Recovered D-sodium Hydrogen Tartrate
A slurry of recovered D-sodium hydrogen tartrate (20.6 g, 0.119 mol) in methanol is treated with concentrated sulfuric acid (6.1 g, 0.059 mol) at room temperature, stirred for one hour and filtered to remove inorganic salts. A portion of the filtrate is concentrated in vacuo to give a solution of recovered D-tartaric acid (13.6 g, 0.090 mol, 82%) in methanol. This solution is treated with a solution of racemic-2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile (12.4 g, 0.11 mol) in toluene, stirred for 16 hours and filtered. The filtercake is washed with methanol and dried to afford (R)-2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile (2S,3S)-tartrate, 22.3 g, (61% yield) 95/5 R/S isomer ratio as determined by HPLC analysis.
EXAMPLE 4
Preparation of Crystalline D-tartaric Acid from Recovered D-sodium Hydrogen Tartrate in Ethanol
A slurry of recovered D-sodium hydrogen tartrate (50.5 g, 0.293 mol) in ethanol is treated with concentrated sulfuric acid (15.0 g, 0.147 mol) at room temperature, stirred for 45 minutes and filtered to remove inorganic salts. The filtrate is concentrated in vacuo to afford a concentrated slurry of D-tartaric acid in ethanol. The slurry is diluted with toluene and filtered. The filtercake is washed with toluene and dried to afford D-tartaric acid as a crystalline solid, 37.3 g, (83% yield) 97.7% purity 100% optical purity as determined by HPLC analysis.
EXAMPLE 5
Recovery of D-potassium Hydrogen Tartrate from Aqueous Dipotassium Tartrate Waste
Aqueous dipotassium tartrate waste (137.0, 14.7% wt % D-tartaric acid) is acidified to a pH of about 3 with concentrated hydrochloric acid over a 30 minute period at 13-28° C., stirred for about 15 minutes and filtered. The filtercake is washed with methanol and dried in vacuo to afford recovered D-potassium hydrogen tartrate 24,8 g, (98% recovery) in >99% purity as determined by HPLC analysis.
EXAMPLE 6
Preparation of Crystalline D-tartaric Acid from Recovered D-potassium Hydrogen Tartrate in Ethanol
A slurry of recovered D-potassium hydrogen tartrate (22.1 g, 0.117 mol) in ethanol (148 g) is treated with concentrated sulfuric acid (6.0 g, 0.0588 mol) at room temperature, stirred for 45 minutes and filtered to remove inorganic salts. The filtrate is concentrated in vacuo to a viscous slurry. The slurry is diluted with acetonitrile and filtered. The filtercake is washed with acetonitrile and dried to afford crystalline D-tartaric acid, 4.7 g, (25% recovery), 92.3% purity as determined by HPLC analysis.
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There is provided a process for the recovery of essentially enantiomerically pure D-tartaric acid from aqueous and organic waste streams generated in the resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile via the formation and isolation of a crystalline monobasic tartrate salt.
The recovered optically pure D-tartaric acid may be efficiently recycled to provide a sustainable resolution of racemic 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a control method and control system for controlling an elevator, especially a variable speed low weight counterweightless elevator.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In many residential applications elevator cars and their hoisting systems are dimensioned far (a) maximum planned traffic capacity or maximum number of persons, (b) size of floor area to satisfy occasional large furniture removal and/or wheelchair access. Particularly in counterweightless or counterweightfree elevators, that is mainly hydraulic elevators and drum elevators, this leads to bulky motors and large fuses which can cause a lot of problems, especially when installing new elevators in older buildings or modernizing or upgrading old elevators. Naturally bulgy motors and large fuses and associated high current electric cables also cause higher costs.
However, in majority of trips the elevator carries typically less than 30% of the rated load. Approximately half of the trips, there are no persons in the elevator car (see FIG. 1 a hypothetical usage curve of a counterweightless elevator).
In the traction sheave elevators., the counterweight is generally dimensioned on the weight of the car and half the payload. This means that energy corresponding to the weight of the car is saved, both when the car is traveling full and empty. However on empty down trips, which is common in residential elevators, the hoisting system requires its maximum power, as it has to be able to lift the net difference between the counterweight and the unloaded car. This leads to unnecessary energy consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,052 discloses a counterweight elevator system which includes a control system that determines the amount of load of the car, and that determines the operating speed profile of the car based upon the amount of load in the car. In a particular embodiment, the control system includes a load weighing device and uses the weight of the car to determine the selection between two operating speed profiles: a normal operating speed profile and a reduced operating speed profile. The control system compares the measured live load to a pre-selected threshold, such as the car weight plus twice the percentage balancing multiplied by the rated full load of the elevator system. If this threshold is exceeded, then the reduced operating speed profile is selected. In this way, reduced balancing may be used. The selected percentage balancing may be determined empirically or estimated by taking into account the building size, usage and other operational characteristics. Thus, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,052 energy can be saved by dimensioning the counterweight based on less than half the payload and by reducing the speed of the hoisting system when the car is loaded closer to full capacity. This kind of a reduced counterweight system is difficult to realize in practice.
In many cases the counterweightless hydraulic or drum driven or screw driven or chain driven elevators are used because they offer certain advantages for example with respect to shaft space efficiency. A prior art solution to reduce the hoisting motor size in counterweightless elevators is to dimension the motor smaller than normally by a certain factor and limit the starts per hour. However, this means that the motor still needs to be dimensioned at approximately 70% of full capacity. On empty up trips this means that the motor consumes energy to carry the weight of the car and almost the full payload.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of prior-art solutions and to achieve a system that would allow that the elevator hoisting systems in counterweightless elevators to be dimensioned smaller than in prior art solutions. An additional object is to provide an economically dimensioned counterweightless traction sheave elevator. Further objects are indicated explicitly or implicitly in ibis specification. One can say tat one of the tasks of the invention is to enable underdimensioning of the machine and electric drive and possibly other components without compromising car size and capacity too much.
The present invention is based on the idea wherein a variable speed hoisting system is combined to a counterweightless elevator with a low weight car. The inventive content may also consist of several separate inventions, especially if the invention is considered in the light of explicitly expressed or implicit sub-tasks or from the point of view of advantages or categories of advantages achieved.
The advantageous combination of a low weight car, load weighing device or other means to estimate the elevator's current load, variable speed hoist and an optional regenerating system will enable (1) significant reduction in hoisting motor and drive size and cost, (2) smaller fuses, (3) significant improvements in energy consumption; with an optional regenerative system some energy produced on down trips may be saved and fed back to the electricity supply system; the use of a variable speed hoisting system combined with a counterweightless elevator allows that the system is tuned for any payload on every trip. The prior art system elevators, e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,052, have fixed counterweights and therefore the majority of trips will use some fixed balancing system. This means that for all empty down trips the motor still uses energy to lift the counterweight.
Further scone of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of die invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the following, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein;
FIG. 1 presents a hypothetical usage curve of a counterweightless elevator, and
FIG. 2 presents a counterweightless traction sheave elevator.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The counterweightless elevator may be a counterweightless traction sheave elevator according to FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 illustrates a counterweightless traction sheave elevator comprising an elevator car 1 and a hoisting device with a variable speed motor drive (e.g. frequency converter 12 and an AC motor 10 ), the traction sheave 11 , diverting pulleys 4 , 6 , 15 and hoisting ropes 3 .
The elevator in FIG. 2 is an elevator without machine room, in which the drive machine 10 is placed in the elevator shaft. The elevator shown in the figure is a traction sheave elevator with machine above. The passage of the hoisting ropes 3 of the elevator is as follows: One end of the ropes is immovably fixed to an anchorage 16 located in the upper part of the shaft. From the anchorage, the ropes run downward and are passed around a diverting pulley 14 on the car roof, from which the ropes 3 run further upward to a second diverting pulley 15 and back to a third diverting pulley 13 on the car roof. Therefrom the ropes run further upward to the traction sheave 11 of the drive machine 10 , passing around the traction sheave along rope grooves on the sheave. From the traction sheave 11 , the ropes 3 run further downward to the elevator car 1 moving along car guide rails 2 , passing under the car via a fourth diverting pulley 4 under the rail 2 , and going then upward again to a fifth diverting pulley 5 under the elevator car, again downwards to a sixth diverting pulley 6 , an again up to a seventh diverting pulley 7 under the car. From this pulley 7 the ropes are further anchored to the shaft floor 9 with a spring 8 tightening the ropes against the traction sheave and diverting pulleys.
The rope suspension acts in a substantially centric manner on the elevator car 1 , provided that the rope pulleys supporting the elevator car are mounted substantially symmetrically relative to the vertical centerline passing via the center of gravity of the elevator car. 1 .
The drive machine 10 placed in the elevator shaft is preferably of a flat construction, in other words, the machine has a small depth as compared with its width and/or height, or at least the machine is slim enough to be accommodated between the elevator car and a wall of the elevator shaft. The machine may also be placed differently, e.g. by disposing the slim machine partly or completely between an assumed extension of the elevator car and a shaft wall. A different rope pulley position may be used for traction sheave. Easily such different position can be arranged by having instead pulley 11 as the pulley that transmits the traction to the rope another pulley as a fraction sheave. Naturally the drive machine is in such case associated with this another pulley. In light of die machine dimensioning preferable are the pulley positions with highest rape speeds i.e. positions pulleys 11 and 4 . By increasing number of pulleys and rope stretches to the rigging above and below the elevator car the motor speed with respect to the elevator car speed can be increased and thus the motor torque requirement and size can be reduced correspondingly. For example, an traction sheave elevator according to the invention can be implemented using above and below the elevator car suspension ratio of 6:1, 7:1, 8:1, 9:1, 10:1 or even higher suspension ratios. By increasing the contact angle using a diverting pulley, the grip between the traction sheave and the hoisting ropes can be improved. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the weight of the car mid counterweight and their size can be reduced as well, thus increasing the space saving potential of the elevator. Alternatively or at the same time, it is possible to reduce the weight of the elevator car in relation to the weight of the counterweight. A contact angle of over 180° between the traction sheave and the hoisting rope is achieved by using one or more auxiliary diverting pulleys. The elevator shaft can be provided with equipment required for the supply of power to the motor driving the traction sheave 11 as well as equipment for elevator control, including an optional regenerative system 20 both of which can be placed in a common instrument panel 12 or mounted separately from each other or integrated partly or wholly with the drive machine 10 .
The drive machine may be of a geared or gearless type. A preferable solution is a geared machine. The drive machine may be fixed to a wall of the elevator shaft, to the ceiling, to a guide rail or guide rails or to some other structure, such as a beam or frame.
In the case of an elevator with machine below, a further possibility is to mount the machine on the bottom of the elevator shaft.
The system further includes load weighing means in the car 1 and a control unit controlling the operation of the elevator system. The car has lower total weight than generally, and especially much lower weight than a corresponding counterweight elevator would have. The speed drive is a variable speed drive. The variable speed hoisting system is dimensioned by power Pnom and torque Tnom, where
P nom= M total* V (1)
where V=speed and Mtotal=Mcar (mass of the car)+A*Maxpayload, and Tnom is defined by Mtotal, acceleration etc.
A is a coefficient formed for example by the reduction of the speed and acceleration of the motor, the increase in the idle time of the elevator etc., having values 0-0.5, defined experimentally by user studies.
If the payload supersedes A*Maxpayload:
1) the speed and/or acceleration of the motor is reduced accordingly 2) the idle time of the elevator is increased (e.g. by increasing the door opening and closing times)
so that the motor is allowed to cool for an enough long period to avoid thermal overloading.
Further, on empty trips the elevator could be slowed down significantly if the waiting time is acceptable for the residents, thus further saving energy.
It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that the embodiments of the invention are not restricted to the examples presented above, but that they can be varied within the scope of the following claims. Particularly in the case of an elevator with machine below, a further possibility is to use a drum elevator, whereby the car is suspended with hoisting ropes wound on a drum in the hoisting machinery. Elevator with chain drive and suspension system is also suitable to apply the invention. The load weighing device or other means to estimate the elevator's load can be associated with elevator car or with ropes or the hoisting machine or other suitable elevator component or drive motor or other component of elevator can be used to measure the load of elevator car or other respective load information.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
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Method and system of controlling a counterweightless elevator system provided with an elevator car and a variable speed drive with an electric motor. The elevator car load is weighed, and the elevator system is controlled in order to reduce the physical/electrical dimensions of the system. The total mass of the elevator is defined by the equation Mtotal=Mcar (mass of the car)+A*Maxpayload, wherein Mcar is the mass of the car, A is a coefficient and Maxpayload is the maximal payload. If the payload supercedes A*Maxpayload the elevator is controlled so that the speed and/or acceleration of the motor is reduced, and/or the idle time of the elevator is increased.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 14/308,462, entitled “Visual Axis Optimization for Enhanced Readability and Comprehension” filed on Jun. 18, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The ability to read and write is our greatest tool in education and transmission of ideas and the continuance of an evolving human culture. Readability and comprehension of printed text and figures is pivotal for education and communication. Historically, the text and images on a printed page are horizontally aligned over the past thousands of years without realizing that as we turn our face towards a right page or the left page, the axis of our eyes misaligns with the axis of the printed text or image stress in our brain. For most people with normal brain function, the misalignment is overcome by repeated practice but it may not be the case for those inflicted with dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
[0003] While most of the differences in the aptitude and the attitude of the people in reading are attributed to their training and intellect, one cause that has never been recognized is the stress produced by reading a text misaligned to the axis of the eye to cause aversion to reading.
[0004] There is no prior art to reduce the misalignment of the axis of the eye and the axis of a printed page to reduce stress on the brain; the instant invention resolves this inadequacy of the art by printing pages at an angle.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] Modern book printing follows the style developed a long time ago, a book bound at the spine with left and right pages. However, as we open the book, holding in front of our face, we are inevitably forced to turn our head to left or to right to read what is on the left of the right page, unless we are holding it and reading it as a single page placed aligned with the axis or our eyes. FIG. 1 shows the alignment of the eye axis with text on the left and right pages showing that the horizontal axis of the eye aligns only in the middle of the spine of the book. FIG. 2 shows the misalignment of the printed text and the axis of our eyes regardless of whether we are reading the left page of the right page. Whereas we may have become used to such reading style over years, this is not a natural scanning format of our eyes that are more capable of aligning objects vertically or horizontally.
[0006] While normal children and adults may become used to reading a text misaligned with the axis of their eyes, such may not be the case with those suffering from dyslexia or attention deficit disorder.
[0007] Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests itself as a difficulty with word decoding and/or reading fluency. Comprehension may be affected as a result of difficulties with decoding, but is not a primary feature of dyslexia. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction. It is estimated that dyslexia affects between 5-17% of the population. Dyslexia has been proposed to have three cognitive subtypes (auditory, visual and attentional), although individual cases of dyslexia are better explained by the underlying neuropsychological deficits and co-occurring learning disabilities (e.g. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, math disability, etc.). Although not an intellectual disability, it is considered both a learning disability and a reading disability. Nerve problems can cause damage to the control of eye muscles which can also cause diplopia.
[0008] Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development.
[0009] The prior art is silent on any suggestions to reduce this misalignment of the axis of the eye and the axis of the printed matter. There is, therefore, need to invent a method to reduce this misalignment to improve the readability of text and through that comprehension of the printed matter, especially for those suffering from dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 depicts the misalignment of the eye axis with the traditionally printed text on the left and right pages.
[0011] FIG. 2 depicts the alignment of the eye axis with rotated printed text on the left and right pages.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0012] Generally, books have left and right pages, which are invariably printed straight on a vertical axis. The human eyes have a horizontal axis, and when the face is rotated towards the left or the right page, the horizontal axis of the eyes is no longer aligned with the vertical axis creating a situation where the eyes scan the text not in alignment with eyes. While most of us have been trained to read this misaligned text, this exercise inevitably creates stress on the visual apparatus. Removing this stress is likely to improve the readability of the text, the speed of reading and above all, comprehension of the text—all of which will add to the productivity and efficiency of the reader. One aspect of the stress in reading can result in an aversion to reading, a phenomenon widely observed at all ages. Removing the stress in reading can reduce the aversion and thus increase literacy and wider use of books. More particularly, this may help children starting to read when they have not yet accustomed to accommodating this stress in reading. And above all, this would greatly assist dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder subject.
[0013] The stress in reading from accommodating to align the text with the axis of the eye may also result in various physiological phenomena such as headaches, and other outcomes that may have kept many from being fluent in reading books.
[0014] The extent of misalignment of the horizontal axis of the eye and the vertical axis of the text in a book depends on how far is the book held from the eyes. At a greater distance, this misalignment may be minimal but the recommended distance of about nine inches to 24 inches, this is significant. The closer is the book held to the eyes; the greater is the misalignment. Contrary to the popular belief, reading a book keeping it closer to the eye of reading in the dim light does not affect the eyes, in fact, it strengthens the muscles of the eye that control the eyes lens; this old wives' tale has been deeply embedded in our culture.
[0015] Reading a misaligned text is deeply embedded in our training. There is no prior art that suggests that this misalignment is of any importance; we have accepted the book design to be fundamental and published billions of books using this format. There is, therefore, need to correct this historic misunderstanding in our physiologic responses to reading the text.
[0016] It is obvious that the alignment of the axis of the eye and the axis of the printed text will continually change as one reads the book; therefore, the goal of the invention is not to create a perfect alignment, as such is not necessary. The stress will be proportional to misalignment and any change in the degree to which the text is rotated will reduce the stress; in most instances, a change of 1-10 degrees will be sufficient to be noticed by the reader.
[0017] How far can the text be rotated is limited by the dimension of the book; since the dimension of the field is fixed, rotation of text beyond a certain limit will make it impossible for the text to be printed in the lower part of the page. One way to increase the visibility while increasing the tilt is to reduce the font size allowing more text to be printed; ideally, the alignment will be limited to complete lines of text when the text is rotated to the left or the right axis. As a result, the extent of alignment will depend on the margins allowed on the page. This is further limited by the minimum margins required for the printing of the text. If for example, the printing bleed required is about a quarter of inches and the text is formatted for one-inch margins, there is only a ¾-inch adjustment that is available to change the rotation of the text. To keep the readability, this may well be the limiting condition of the text margin in the printed text.
[0018] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the text is printed on the left page at an angle less than 90 degrees and the text on the right page is printed at more than 90 degrees in the extremes.
[0019] In a second embodiment, the text on the right and the left pages is rotated to a degree ranging from 0.5 to 90 degrees. The angle of text on the left page is ideal between 45 and 89 degrees and between 91 and 134 degrees on the right page.
[0020] While the printers are generally designed to print text or pictures aligned with the horizontal and vertical margins of a paper, printing text of pictures is a simple task and can be accomplished in any word processing software such as Microsoft Word by creating a text box, typing the text in the box and rotating the text box. This may also be accomplished by converting a text into a picture and rotating the picture placed in the document to the desired angle. Other approaches include software to manipulate printers as described in the US Patent Application 2011/0286034 of Hirano. However, neither Hirano nor the word processing instruction discloses the use of angled printing to reduce the misalignment of the axis of the eye to the axis of the printed page.
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The printed text is vertically aligned at 90 degrees, the visual axis of the reader does not align properly when the head is moved to read the left or the right page resulting in difficulties in readability and comprehension. These difficulties are resolved by printing the text at an angle.
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/708,191 filed on Nov. 8, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,904. The nonprovisional application namely application Ser. No. 09/708,191 filed Nov. 8, 2000, claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/169,328 filed Dec. 6, 1999 and incorporates the same by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to Internet methodologies and systems generally and more particularly to systems and methodologies for displaying information received over the Internet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The following U.S. patents are believed to represent the current state of the art: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,101,510; 6,016,494; 6,011,537; 5,973,692.
The following disclosures are also believed to be relevant to the subject matter of the present invention:
R. J. Yarger, G. Reese, and T. King “MySQL & mSQL,” O'REILLY & Associates Inc, 1999, ISBN 1-56592-434-7;
B. Laurie, and P. Laurie “Apache the Definitive Guide, 2nd edition,” O'REILLY & Associates Inc, 1999, ISBN 1-56592-528-9;
C. Musciano, and B. Kennedy “HTML the Definitive Guide, 3rd edition,” O'REILLY & Associates Inc, 1998, ISBN 1-56592-492-4;
Libwww http://www.w3.org/Library;
T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding, and L. Masinter “Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax”, RFC 2396, August 1998.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention seeks to provide a particularly beneficial methodology and system for displaying information received over the Internet.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for presenting Internet information to a user. The method includes providing to a user a visual image of a web page containing at least one hyperlink, and at least partially concurrently providing a visual image of another web page of at least one web site which is represented by said at least one hyperlink.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of said another web page is displayed alongside the visual image of said web page.
Preferably the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of said another web page is displayed within the visual image of said web page. The visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual images of a plurality of other web pages represented by at least one hyperlink are displayed simultaneously along with said visual image of a web page containing at least one hyperlink.
Furthermore in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the web page comprises an HTML page.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method also includes providing a visual image of another web page includes employing a web browser including visualization functionality which interfaces via the Internet with an image server.
Preferably the visualization functionality is operative to download via the image server from an image database images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in the web page and to provide to a user, via the web browser, an annotated web page.
Additionally or alternatively the annotated web page includes the web page having alongside it images of homepages linked with the web page.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method includes providing a visual image of another web page and includes employing a web browser which interfaces via the Internet with a web server including visualization functionality.
Preferably the visualization functionality operates to embed commands to the web browser to download, via an image server, images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in the web page and to provide to a user, via the web browser, an annotated web page.
Additionally the annotated web page may include the web page having within it images of homepages linked with the web page.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visualization functionality includes generation of a list of hyperlinks from a web page, elimination of links which refer back to a web server sending said web page, determination of whether redirection links are present and if so, visualizing an ultimate destination thereof and visualizing remaining hyperlinks.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visualization functionality may also include receiving a list of hyperlinks, splitting a URL of each hyperlink into URL components including at least a path component and a host component, trimming a path component based on the consideration of finding the most representative image of a given web page and constructing a new URL including a trimmed path component.
There is also thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for generating a web page image database. The method includes receiving a list of URLs corresponding to web pages, the images of which it is desired to download into an image database, operating a multiplicity of downloaders simultaneously by supplying to each downloader one URL at a time, causing each downloader to retrieve from the Internet, a web page and embedded objects corresponding to the URL supplied to it, causing a thumbnail generator to render the web page and causing said thumbnail generator to shrink said rendered image of the web page and supply it to the downloader.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method also includes deleting executable content from the web page.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method includes causing each downloader to retrieve from the Internet, a web page and embedded objects corresponding to the URL supplied to it and causing a thumbnail generator to operate a corresponding web browser to render the web page employ a locally stored copy of said web page and said embedded objects.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method includes employing a web server for providing said locally stored copy of said web page and of said embedded objects to said web browser.
Furthermore in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
There is further provided in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention a system for presenting Internet information to a user including a first functionality providing to a user a visual image of a web page containing at least one hyperlink and a second functionality operative at least partially concurrently with said first functionality for providing a visual image of another web page of at least one web site which is represented by said at least one hyperlink.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of said another web page is displayed alongside the visual image of said web page.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of said another web page is displayed within the visual image of said web page.
Furthermore in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual images of a plurality of other web pages represented by at least one hyperlink are displayed simultaneously along with said visual image of a web page containing at least one hyperlink.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the web page comprises an HTML page.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the second functionality comprises third functionality employing a web browser including visualization functionality which interfaces via the Internet with an image server.
Preferably the visualization functionality is operative to download via the image server from an image database images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in the web page and to provide to a user, via the web browser, an annotated web page. Additionally or alternatively the annotated web page includes the web page having alongside it images of homepages linked with the web page.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the second functionality comprises fourth functionality employing a web browser which interfaces via the Internet with a web server including visualization functionality.
Preferably the visualization functionality is operative to embed commands to the web browser to download, via an image server, images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in the web page and to provide to a user, via the web browser, an annotated web page. Additionally or alternatively the annotated web page includes the web page having within it images of homepages linked with the web page.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visualization functionality includes the generation of a list of hyperlinks from a web page, the elimination of links which refer back to a web server sending said web page, the determination of whether redirection links are present and if so, visualizing an ultimate destination thereof and the visualizing remaining hyperlinks.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visualization functionality includes receiving a list of hyperlinks, splitting a URL of each hyperlink into URL components including at least a path component and a host component, trimming a path component based on the consideration of finding the most representative image of a given web page and constructing a new URL including a trimmed path component.
Furthermore in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
Additionally or alternatively the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink. Preferably the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
Furthermore the visual image of another web page may appear to hover over said hyperlink.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the visual image of another web page appears hovering over said hyperlink.
There is provided in accordance with yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention a system for generating a web page image database, the system includes at least one downloader receiving one URL at a time and retrieving from the Internet a web page and embedded objects corresponding to the URL received by it and at least one thumbnail generator operative to render the web page, shrink said rendered image of the web page and supply said rendered image to the downloader.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the at least one downloader is operative to delete executable content from the web page.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention each downloader retrieves from the Internet, a web page and embedded objects corresponding to the URL received by it and locally stores a copy of said web page and said embedded objects and causes said thumbnail generator to render the web page by employing said locally stored copy of said web page and said embedded objects.
Preferably the system also includes a web server providing said locally stored copy of said web page and of said embedded objects.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a simplified partially pictorial, partially block diagram illustration of a system and methodology for displaying information received over the Internet in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a simplified partially pictorial, partially block diagram illustration of a system and methodology for displaying information received over the Internet in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a simplified flow chart of part of visualization functionality employed in the system and methodology of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 4 is a simplified flow chart of visualization functionality employed in accordance with a preferred; embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a simplified flow chart of path component trimming functionality employed in the embodiment of FIG. 3 ;
FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram illustration of a system for generating an image database useful in the system and methodology of FIGS. 1 and 2 ;
FIG. 7 is a flown chart illustrating operation of a controller forming part of the system of FIG. 6 ;
FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a downloader forming part of the system of FIG. 6 ;
FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a process HTML algorithm employed in the downloader of FIG. 8 ;
FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a thumbnail generator forming part of the system of FIG. 6 ; and
FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating operation of a broker forming part of the system of FIG. 6 .
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A is a software listing in hexadecimal form of software suitable for providing the visualization functionality of FIG. 1 when installed in accordance with installation instructions set forth hereinbelow;
Appendix B is a software listing in hexadecimal form of software suitable for providing the functionality of FIG. 6 when installed in accordance with installation instructions set forth hereinbelow;
Appendix C is a software listing in hexadecimal form of software suitable for providing the functionality of an image server of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 when installed in accordance with installation instructions set forth hereinbelow.
The foregoing software listing are protected by copyright in the USA and in all other jurisdictions.
Appendix A, Appendix B and Appendix C are included on Copy 1 and Copy 2 of the CD-Rs attached herewith to the present application. Each CD-R includes the files GIRAFA.hex (Appendix A) of Nov. 7, 2000 and of length 3,052,711 bytes; ARANHA.hex (Appendix B) of Nov. 7, 2000 and of length 5,498,984 bytes and IMAGE.hex (Appendix C) of Nov. 7, 2000 and of length 217,154 bytes.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference is now made to FIG. 1 , which is a simplified partially pictorial, partially block diagram illustration of a system and methodology for displaying information received over the Internet in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As seen in FIG. 1 , a web browser 100 , such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, typically resident on a PC, such as a Dell Dimension L733 running Microsoft Windows 98, receives a web page 101 , such as an HTML page, over the Internet from a web server 102 . The web browser 100 preferably includes visualization functionality 103 which interfaces, typically via the Internet, with an image server 104 , such as a Dell Power Edge 2450 running Apache 1.3.12 on an OpenBSD 2.7 operating system.
The image server 104 interfaces with an image database 106 , which is preferably a Dell Power Edge 2450 running MySQL 3.23.25 on an OpenBSD 2.7 operating system which is preferably loaded by using functionality of the type described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 7 .
The visualization functionality 103 is operative to download via the image server 104 from the image database 106 images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in the web page 101 and to provide to a user, via the web browser 100 , an annotated web page 110 , which preferably includes the web page 101 having alongside it images 112 of homepages linked with web page 101 .
Reference is now made to FIG. 2 , which is a simplified partially pictorial, partially block diagram illustration of a system and methodology for displaying information received over the Internet in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention. As seen in FIG. 2 , a web browser 200 , typically resident on a PC, such as a Dell Dimension L733 running Microsoft Windows 98, interfaces, typically via the Internet, with a web server 202 , such as a Dell Power Edge 2450 running Apache 1.3.12 on an OpenBSD 2.7 operating system.
The web server 202 interfaces with a dynamic page generator 204 , such as a P.H.P. 4.0.2, in which is preferably installed a visualization functionality 206 , which is described hereinbelow in greater detail. The dynamic page generator 204 interfaces with a database 208 , such as a Dell Power Edge 2450 running MySQL 3.23.25 on an OpenBSD 2.7 operating system.
The web browser 200 preferably interfaces with an image server 210 , such as a Dell Power Edge 2450 running Apache 1.3.12 on an OpenBSD 2.7 operating system. The image server 210 interfaces with an image database 212 , which is preferably a Dell Power Edge 2450 running MySQL 3.23.25 on an OpenBSD 2.7 operating system, which is preferably loaded by using functionality of the type described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 7 .
The visualization functionality 206 is operative to embed within a dynamically generated web page, such as an HTML page, commands to the web browser 200 to download via the image server 210 from the image database 212 images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in a web page 213 and to provide to a user, via the web browser 200 , the web page 213 annotated to include therewithin images 216 of homepages linked therewith.
It is appreciated that either or both of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2 may provide images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in a web page either alongside or within that web page. It is also appreciated that either or both of the embodiments FIGS. 1 and 2 may provide images of web pages which are referenced in hyperlinks contained in a web page, which images hover either over or alongside the hyperlinks. It is appreciated that the visual image of another web page may function as a hyperlink.
Reference is now made to FIG. 3 , which is a simplified flow chart of part of visualization functionality employed in the system and methodology of FIG. 1 . The flow chart of FIG. 3 illustrates generation of a list of hyperlinks from a web page, such as web page 101 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 received from a web server 102 .
As each link is extracted from web page 101 , an examination is made in order to eliminate links which refer back to web server 102 and to determine whether redirection links are present. This is typically done by searching for the presence of a string “http://” encoded in the URL, which characterizes a redirection link. In the case of links, which appear to be redirection links, only the ultimate destination is listed In the case of links which do not appear to be redirection links, the links themselves are listed. The resulting list is employed as an input to the functionality of FIG. 4 .
In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3 , all of the hyperlinks are processed. Alternatively, not all of the hyperlinks need be processed. In such a case, a user may decide which hyperlinks to process.
Reference is now made to FIG. 4 , which is a simplified flow chart of visualization functionality employed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As seen in FIG. 4 , a list of hyperlinks is received. This list may be derived from a web page such as web page 101 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 using the functionality of FIG. 3 or may be provided by dynamic page generator 204 and obtained via database 208 in the embodiment of FIG. 2 .
If hyperlinks are present, the URL of each hyperlink is split into URL components. For example, if the URL of a hyperlink appears as follows: http://www.microsoft.com:80/windows2000/upgrade/compat/search/computers.asp?page=2&send=1&Order=Sort+by+Company&CN=Dell&PN=&PT=
The components thereof include the following:
Scheme: http Host: www.microsoft.com Port: 80 Path: /windows2000/upgrade/compat/search/computers.asp Query: page=2&send=1&Order=Sort+by+Company&CN=Dell&PN=&PT=
The path component may be trimmed based on the consideration of finding the most representative image of a given web page. A flow chart illustrating a preferred algorithm for making this determination appears in FIG. 5 and is described hereinbelow.
Thus, in the above example, the trimmed path component appears as follows:
/windows2000/upgrade
Following any trimming of the path component, a new URL is constructed from the scheme, host, port and trimmed path components. This URL is employed for outputting an http query to an image server, such as image server 104 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 or 210 in the embodiment of FIG. 2 .
A preferred form of http query in the above example appears as follows:
http://wb1.girafa.com/srv/i?
u=http://www.microsoft.com%2fwindows2000%2fupgrade
Reference is now made to FIG. 5 , which is a simplified flow chart of path component trimming functionality employed in the embodiment of FIG. 4 . As seen in FIG. 5 , the pith component trimming functionality comprises receipt of the URL components after splitting thereof as described hereinabove with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 . Information from the host component of the URL is employed in trimming of the path component of the URL. Each path component comprises a plurality of path segments.
If the last path segment in a path component is a file name, this path segment is removed. Determination whether a path component is a file name is typically carried out by examining the suffix thereof to determine whether it is a known suffix representing a file name.
If the first path segment starts with a “˜”, which typically designates a home directory in a Unix system, the path component is trimmed after that first path segment.
If the host is not www.geocities.com, the path component is trimmed after the second path segment.
If the host is www.geocities.com and any of the first three path segments consists of 4 digits, the path component is trimmed after the first segment that consists of 4 digits.
If the host is www.geocities.com and none of the first three path segments consists of 4 digits, the path component is trimmed after the second segment.
Reference is now made to FIG. 6 , which is a simplified block diagram illustration of a system for generating an image database useful in the system and methodology of FIGS. 1 and 2 . As seen in FIG. 6 , a controller 600 receives a list 602 of homepages, the images of which it is desired to download into an image database 604 , such as image database 106 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 or image database 212 in the embodiment of FIG. 2 .
The controller 600 operates a multiplicity of downloaders 606 simultaneously by supplying to each downloader one URL at a time. Each downloader 606 retrieves from the Internet, the homepage and the embedded objects corresponding to the URL supplied to it by the controller 600 and deletes therefrom executable block content. The resulting output of the downloaders 606 is supplied to a web server 608 via a database 610 .
Each downloader 606 establishes a connection with one of a plurality of thumbnail generators 612 via a broker 614 . Once this connection has been established, a URL of a locally stored copy of a downloaded homepage, which is stored in database 610 , is sent to the thumbnail generator 612 with which the connection has been established.
Each thumbnail generator 612 operates a corresponding web browser 616 to download via web server 608 the locally stored copy of the homepage, which is stored in database 610 . The thumbnail generators 612 each receive a rendered image of the homepage from a corresponding web browser 616 and shrink it and supply it to the downloader 606 with which the connection has been established.
It is appreciated that normally the number of downloaders exceeds the number of thumbnail generators by at least an order of magnitude. The broker 614 coordinates interaction between a thumbnail generator and a downloader.
Reference is no made to FIG. 7 , which is a flow chart illustrating operation of a controller forming part of the system of FIG. 6 . A list of homepages is received from database 602 ( FIG. 6 ). Each homepage is taken from the list and downloaded by a downloader 606 ( FIG. 6 ). The functionality of FIG. 7 ensures that a predetermined number of downloaders operate simultaneously, so long as the list of undownloaded homepages is sufficiently long.
Reference is now made to FIG. 8 , which is a flow chart illustrating operation of a downloader forming part of the system of FIG. 6 . As seen in FIG. 8 , each downloader maintains a download queue for the homepage which the downloader is, currently downloading. The download queue includes a list of URLs of objects in the homepage as well as the homepage object that require downloading in order to provide a local copy of the homepage.
For each URL in the download queue, an inquiry is made whether a local copy of the object corresponding thereto already exists. If so, a link to that local copy is created. If not, an attempt is made to download the object. If upon attempting to download the object, the downloader is informed that the object is located on another URL. i.e. by the receipt of redirection reply, that URL is placed in the download queue.
If, the download is successful, the downloaded object is stored in database 610 ( FIG. 6 ) as a local copy. If the downloaded object is an HTML page, then the HTML page is processed, preferably by an algorithm of the type described hereinbelow in FIG. 9 .
When the download queue is empty, a connection is established with thumbnail generator 612 ( FIG. 6 ) via broker 614 ( FIG. 6 ). The URL of the local copy of the homepage object is sent to the thumbnail generator 612 and a thumbnail image of the homepage is generated hereby. This thumbnail image is stored in image database 604 ( FIG. 6 ).
Reference is now made to FIG. 9 , which is a flow chart illustrating operation of a process HTML algorithm employed in the downloader of FIG. 8 . The HTML object which is downloaded is scanned, the executable content thereof is eliminated and embedded objects therein are recognized.
For each embedded object a decision is made whether to download it. This decision is made based on the nature of the embedded object and the nature of the reference thereto. Generally, images and HTML objects are downloaded.
URLs of objects to be downloaded are placed in the download queue referred to hereinabove in connection with FIG. 8 and the HTML object is modified to refer to the local copies of the objects to be downloaded. References to objects not to be downloaded are eliminated from the HTML object.
Reference is now made to FIG. 10 , which is a flow chart illustrating operation of a thumbnail generator, such as thumbnail generator 612 , forming part of the system of FIG. 6 . Initially, the thumbnail generator initializes a web browser functionality 616 ( FIG. 6 ). When a connection is established to the thumbnail generator 612 from a downloader 606 ( FIG. 6 ) via a broker 614 ( FIG. 6 ), the thumbnail generator 612 receives the URL of the local copy of the homepage.
The web browser navigates to that URL and renders the homepage. A snapshot of the homepage is taken, typically in bitmap form. This snapshot is resized to a desired thumbnail size and is then transmitted via the downloader 606 for storage in image database 604 .
Reference is now made to FIG. 11 , which is a flow chart illustrating operation of a broker, such as broker 614 , forming part of the system of FIG. 6 . The broker receives connection requests from both thumbnail generators 612 ( FIG. 6 ) and downloaders 606 ( FIG. 6 ). When simultaneous requests are pending from both a thumbnail generator and a downloader, the broker establishes a direct connection therebetween. When there exists a surplus of connection requests from either thumbnail generators 612 or downloaders 606 , queues of such connection requests may be maintained by the broker.
A preferred method for constructing A Framework For Providing Visual Context To WWW Hyperlinks in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:
1. Generate Binary file GIRAFA.hex from the computer listing of Appendix A. 2. Decode GIRAFA.hex using a MIME compliant decoder, creating Girafa-1-45.exe.
The method for starting the visualization functionality of FIG. 1 with the program in Appendix A includes the following steps:
1. Provide a computer terminal such as an Intel-based Pentium III 800 MHz computer, configured with Microsoft Windows 98 operating system, and Internet Explorer 5.5 Web Browser. 2. Load the file Girafa-1-45.exe to a temporary directory in the computer terminal provided in step 1. Execute the file Girafa-1-45.exe, and follow the installation instructions. When asked to register, press ‘cancel’. 3. Edit the file Girafa.ini in the installation directory, replacing every occurrence of the string ‘aranha.girafa.com’ with the hostname of the image server, and every occurrence of the number 8080 with the number 80. 4. Start the Internet Explorer browser. 5. In the Internet Explorer Window select the View Menu, in it select the Explorer Bars sub-menu, and in it choose GirafaBar. 6. Follow the registration procedure.
A further preferred method for constructing A Framework For Providing Visual Context To WWW Hyperlinks in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:
1. Generate Binary file ARANHA.hex from the computer listing of Appendix B. 2. Decode ARANHA.hex using a MIME compliant decoder, creating aranha.tgz.
The method for providing the functionality of FIG. 6 with the program in Appendix B includes the following steps:
1. Provide a computer server such as a Dell PowerEdge 2450, with at least 1 GB of main memory, configured with OpenBSD 2.7 operating system and MySQL 3.23.25 database, and connected to the Internet. 2. Create the directory /var/www/httpd/collect. 3. Create the directory /data1. 4. In /data1 extract the file aranha.tgz by using the command ‘tar xvfz aranha.tgz’, creating /data1/aranha/aranha.conf, /data1/aranha/capture.zip, /data1/aranha/db.def, /data1/aranha/mod_asis.so, /data1/aranha/bin/data 1/aranha/bin/broker, /data1/aranha/bin/controller, /data 1/aranha/bin/downloader, /data1/aranha/bin/downloader.real, and a skeleton image directory /data1/aranha/images. 5. Edit the file /data1/aranha/aranha.conf, replacing the string <SERVER_IP_ADRESS> with the server's IP address, the string <DBUSER> with a MySQL username that have full access to database named DATA, and the string <DBPASSWORD> with the password of that user. 6. Create the MySQL database, and initialize it by running the MySQL script /data1/aranha/db.def. 7. Set the environment variable ARANHA_CONF to /data1/aranha/aranha.conf. 8. Execute, in the background, the program /data1/aranha/bin/broker. 9. Install the apache module mod_asis.so by changing directory to /data1/aranha, and executing the command ‘apxs -a -i mod_asis.so’. 10. Set the handle_asis as the Apache web server handler for files with suffix ‘.y’. 11. Start the Apache web server. 12. Provide a computer server such as a Dell PowerEdge 2450, with a display adapter capable of displaying a resolution of 1600×280×32, such as an ATI ALL-IN-WONDER 128 32 MB PCI, and an ethernet adapter such as a Netgear FA310TX, configured with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP4, connected via Ethernet to the computer server provided in step 1. 13. Transfer the file data1/aranha/capture.zip to the computer server provided in step 12. 14. Extract capture.zip using a WinZip 7.0 compliant decoder, to the directory c:\appl.creating c:\appl\_ISource.dll, c:\appl\CaptureWeb.exe, c:\appl\CaptureWeb.ini, c:\appl\Mfc42d.dll, c:\appl\Mfcn42d.dll, c:\appl\Mfco42d.dll, c:\appl\Msvcrtd.dll, c:\appl\runCaptureWeb.exe. 15. Edit the File c:\appl\CaptureWeb.ini replacing the string <SERVER_IP_IP_ADDRESS> with the IP address of the OpenBSD server as provided by Step 1. 16. Execute the application c:\appl\runCaptureWeb.exe. 17. Create a list of hostnames the thumbnail of their home pages is to be created, and store in the file /tmp/list. 18. Execute the application /data1/aranha/bin/controller to download the thumbnail images of hosts listed in /tmp/list by running the command ‘/data1/aranha/bin/controller/tmp/list’.
Another preferred method for constructing A Framework For Providing Visual Context To WWW Hyperlinks in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:
1. Generate Binary file IMAGE.hex from the computer listing of Appendix C. 2. Decode IMAGE.hex using a MIME compliant decoder, creating image_server.tgz.
The method for providing providing the functionality of an image server of FIGS. 1 and 2 includes the following steps:
1. Provide a computer server such as a Dell PowerEdge 2450, with at least 1 GB of main memory, configured with OpenBSD 2.7 operating system, MySQL 3.23.25 database, and an image database created by the software provided in Appendix B, and Connected to the Internet. 2. Extract the binary file of Appendix C using the command ‘tar xvfz image_server.tgz’, creating the directories image_server and image_server/errs, and the files image_server/aranha.conf, image_server/mod_girafa.so, image_server/errs/empty, and image_servers/errs/notFL.gif 3. Change directory to image_server 4. Install the apache module mod_girafa.so by executing the command ‘apxs -a -i mod_girafa.so’ 5. copy the file aranha.conf to /data1/aranha/aranha.conf 6. Create the directory /var/www/htdocs/errs 7. Copy the files errs/empty and errs/notFL.gif to /var/www/htdocs/errs 8. Start the apache web server.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope or the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the specification and which are not in the prior art.
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A method and a system for presenting Internet information to a user including providing to a user a visual image of a web page containing at least one hyperlink, and at least partially concurrently providing a visual image of another web page of at least one web site which is represented by the at least one hyperlink.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to a technology of a navigation device. This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-179296, filed on Jul. 31, 2009, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-165964, filed on Jul. 23, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for designated states that accept the incorporation by reference.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Conventionally, in navigation devices, there have been used a technology in which designation of a destination is received and a route to the destination is searched, to thereby guide a direction. Patent Literature 1 describes a technology relating to such a navigation device.
CITATION LIST
Patent Literature
[0000]
[PTL 1] JP 2009-2826 A
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Technical Problem
[0004] However, navigation devices as those described above have difficulties in providing an effective assisting function when a user is drawing up a travel plan that includes visiting a plurality of destinations. To elaborate, a user intending to visit a plurality of destinations draws up in advance a rough travel plan about travel routes, the time required, and others in accordance with estimates that are based on experience or the like, and does not use a navigation device until it is time to input the designation of destinations following the travel plan. This is inconvenient particularly when the user is to travel around an unfamiliar region and in other similar cases where the advance planning of a trip is difficult.
[0000] An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation technology that assists a user in drawing up a travel plan that includes visiting a plurality of destinations.
Solution to Problem
[0005] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, according to the present invention, there is provided a navigation device, including: display unit; storage unit adapted to store facility information for identifying a facility, location information of the facility, and icon information of the facility; and event processing unit adapted to configure a display screen in a manner that causes the display unit to display a first display area for displaying the icon information and a second display area for displaying a time line of a given period, in which the event processing unit is configured to: when a plurality of pieces of the icon information displayed in the first display area are placed on the time line displayed in the second display area, use the location information of facilities that are associated with the plurality of pieces of the icon information to search for a route for visiting the facilities in order of the placement of the facilities, and identify a required time necessary to travel through the facilities; and when one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information placed on the time line is of a facility that cannot be reached at a date/time corresponding to a point on the time line where the one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information is placed, display the one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information as “incompatible”.
[0006] Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a program for a navigation device, the navigation device including: control unit; display unit; and storage unit adapted to store facility information for identifying a facility, location information of the facility, and icon information of the facility, the program causing the control unit to execute: a screen configuring step of configuring a display screen in a manner that causes the display unit to display a first display area for displaying the icon information and a second display area for displaying a time line of a given period; a required time identifying step of, when a plurality of pieces of the icon information displayed in the first display area are placed on the time line displayed in the second display area, using the location information of facilities that are associated with the plurality of pieces of the icon information to search for a route for visiting the facilities in order of the placement of the facilities, and identifying a required time necessary to travel through the facilities; and a compatibility displaying step of, when one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information placed on the time line is of a facility that cannot be reached at a date/time corresponding to a point on the time line where the one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information is placed, displaying the one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information as “incompatible”.
[0007] Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a display method for a navigation device, the navigation device including: display unit; storage unit adapted to store facility information for identifying a facility, location information of the facility, and icon information of the facility; and event processing unit adapted to configure a display screen in a manner that causes the display unit to display a first display area for displaying the icon information and a second display area for displaying a time line of a given period, the display method including: when a plurality of pieces of the icon information displayed in the first display area are placed on the time line displayed in the second display area, using, by the event processing unit, the location information of facilities that are associated with the plurality of pieces of the icon information to search for a route for visiting the facilities in order of the placement of the facilities, and identifying a required time necessary to travel through the facilities; and when one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information placed on the time line is of a facility that cannot be reached at a date/time corresponding to a point on the time line where the one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information is placed, displaying, by the event processing unit, the one of the plurality of pieces of the icon information as “incompatible”.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a navigation system.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a navigation device.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a link table.
[0011] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a POI card table.
[0012] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an input information table.
[0013] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a check result table.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a function configuration diagram of a computing unit.
[0015] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of travel plan processing.
[0016] FIG. 9 is a flow chart of plan checking processing.
[0017] FIG. 10 is a screen display example of the travel plan processing.
[0018] FIG. 11 is another screen display example of the travel plan processing.
[0019] FIGS. 12( a ) and 12 ( b ) are a display screen example of the travel plan processing for a case where an icon is moved.
[0020] FIGS. 13( a ) and 13 ( b ) are another display screen example of the travel plan processing for a case where an icon is moved.
[0021] FIGS. 14( a ) and 14 ( b ) are a display screen example of the travel plan processing for a case where an icon deleting operation is performed.
[0022] FIG. 15 is a display screen example of the travel plan processing for a case where an icon is touched.
[0023] FIGS. 16( a ), 16 ( b ), and 16 ( c ) are another screen display example of the travel plan processing for a case where an icon is touched.
[0024] FIG. 17 is a display screen example of a result of checking a plan of the travel plan processing.
[0025] FIG. 18 is still another screen display example of the travel plan processing.
[0026] FIG. 19 is a flow chart of icon operation receiving processing.
[0027] FIG. 20 is a flow chart of icon touch operation receiving processing.
[0028] FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a POI card table in a second embodiment.
[0029] FIG. 22 is a flow chart of travel plan modification suggestion processing.
[0030] FIG. 23 is a screen display example of the modification suggestion processing for a case where there is a delay to the plan.
[0031] FIGS. 24( a ) and 24 ( b ) are a screen display example of the modification suggestion processing for a case where passing points are switched.
[0032] FIGS. 25( a ) and 25 ( b ) are a screen display example of the modification suggestion processing for a case where the arrival is earlier than scheduled.
[0033] FIG. 26 is a screen display example of the modification suggestion processing for a case where a stop is added.
[0034] FIGS. 27( a ) and 27 ( b ) are a screen display example of the modification suggestion processing for a case where editing is performed.
[0035] FIG. 28 is a screen display example of the modification suggestion processing for a case where editing is finished.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0036] A navigation system at which a first embodiment of the present invention is applied is described below with reference to the drawings.
[0037] FIG. 1 illustrates the overall configuration of a navigation system 1000 .
[0038] The navigation system 1000 is a system that allows a navigation device 100 , a mobile device 510 , a computer 520 , and a point of interest (POI) management server machine 530 to communicate with one another over a network 500 . The navigation system 1000 includes at least one type selected from the navigation device 100 , the mobile device 510 , the computer 520 , and the POI management server 530 , and is provided with one or more of the type. However, the navigation system 1000 does not need to include more than one mobile device 510 and more than one computer 520 .
[0039] The navigation device 100 is a so-called navigator capable of displaying map information and presenting route guidance information about a route from a point that represents the current location of the navigation device 100 to a set destination. The navigation device 100 can communicate with the POI management server machine 530 over the network 500 to transmit a request for POI card data 532 to the POI management server machine 530 , and to receive the transmitted POI card data 532 . Receiving the POI card data 532 , the navigation device 100 performs such operations as using the POI card data 532 and processing the POI card data 532 . The navigation device 100 may include an image pickup device such as a digital camera, or a device similar to an image pickup device, to transmit picked-up image data to the POI management server machine 530 and request the POI management server machine 530 to register the image data as POI card information.
[0040] The mobile device 510 is an information processing device that is easy to carry around, for example, a cellular phone terminal, and can communicate with the POI management server machine 530 and other components over the network 500 . The mobile device 510 includes an image pickup device such as a digital camera, or a device similar to an image pickup device, to transmit a picked-up image to the POI management server machine 530 and request the POI management server machine 530 to register the image as POI card information.
[0041] The computer 520 is an information processing device, for example, a personal computer, and can request the POI management server machine 530 to register POI card information as the mobile device 510 does. The computer 520 includes an image pickup device such as a digital camera, or a device similar to an image pickup device, to transmit a picked-up image to the POI management server machine 530 and request the POI management server machine 530 to register the image as POI card information.
[0042] The POI management server machine 530 is an information processing device capable of receiving over the network 500 a request for the registration of POI card information and storing the POI card information in storage 531 as the POI card data 532 . Receiving a request for the POI card data 532 stored in the storage 531 , the POI management server machine 530 reads the POI card data 532 and transmits the POI card data 532 to the requester over the network 500 . One piece of POI card information is associated with one facility. However, associating a plurality of pieces of POI card information with one facility poses no problems.
[0043] The network 500 is a wide-area communication network that can be connected to the Internet or other open networks, and examples of the network 500 include a cellular phone communication network and a network of an internet provider. The network 500 may also be a communication network available to specific users, such as various local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).
[0044] FIG. 2 illustrates the configuration of the navigation device 100 .
[0045] The navigation device 100 includes a computing unit 1 , a display 2 , a storage 3 , an audio input/output device 4 (which includes a microphone 41 as an audio input device and a speaker 42 as an audio output device), an input device 5 , a ROM device 6 , a vehicle speed sensor 7 , a gyro sensor 8 , a global positioning system (GPS) receiving device 9 , an FM multiplex broadcast receiving device 10 , a beacon receiving device 11 , and a communication device 12 .
[0046] The computing unit 1 is a central unit that handles various types of processing. For example, the computing unit 1 detects the current location based on information output from various sensors including 7 and 8 , the GPS receiving device 9 , the FM multiplex broadcast receiving device 10 , and others. The computing unit 1 also reads map data necessary for display out of the storage 3 or the ROM drive 6 based on the obtained current location information.
[0047] The computing unit 1 develops the read map data into graphics, superimposes a mark that represents the current location on the graphics, and then displays the graphics on the display 2 . The computing unit 1 also uses map data stored in the storage 3 or the ROM drive 6 to search for an optimum route (a recommended route) connecting a departure site (the current location) and a destination (or a passing point or a stop) that are designated by the user. The computing unit 1 also uses the speaker 42 and the display 2 to guide the user.
[0048] The computing unit 1 performs processing of assisting the drawing of a travel plan that involves planning a route by combining a plurality of destinations. For instance, the computing unit 1 searches for a route for a travel between designated destinations, calculates a travel time necessary for the travel, determines whether or not a scheduled arrival time can be kept, and shows the result.
[0049] The computing unit 1 of the navigation device 100 is configured to connect its constituent devices to one another with a bus 25 . The computing unit 1 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 21 , which executes various types of processing such as numerical calculation and control of the constituent devices, a random access memory (RAM) 22 , which stores map data read out of the storage 3 , arithmetic data, and the like, a read only memory (ROM) 23 , which stores a program and data, and an interface (I/F) 24 , which connects various hardware components to the computing unit 1 .
[0050] The display 2 is a unit that displays graphics information generated by the computing unit or others. The display 2 is constituted of a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like.
[0051] The storage 3 is constituted of a storage medium capable of at least reading and writing, such as an hard disk drive (HDD) or a non-volatile memory card.
[0052] The storage medium stores a link table 200 , which is map data (including link data of links that constitute roads on a map) necessary for a normal route search device, a POI card table 250 , which stores location information and the like for each POI, an input information table 300 , which temporarily stores information in which POI points are placed on a time line, and a check result table 350 , which stores information for determining for each POI placed on a time line whether or not an arrival time can be kept.
[0053] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the link table 200 . For each identification code (mesh ID) 201 of a mesh which is a partitioned area on a map, the link table 200 contains link data 202 of each link that constitutes a road contained in the mesh area.
[0054] For each link ID 211 which is the identifier of a link, the link data 202 contains, among others, coordinate information 222 of two nodes (a start node and an end node) that constitute the link, a road type 223 , which indicates the type of a road that includes the link, a link length 224 , which indicates the length of the link, a link travel time 225 , which is stored in advance, a start connection link/end connection link 226 for identifying a link that is connected to the start node of the link in question and a link that is connected to the end node of the link in question, and a speed limit 227 , which indicates the speed limit of a road that includes the link.
[0055] Two nodes that constitute a link are discriminated here from each other as a start node and an end node in order to manage the up direction and down direction of the same road as separate links.
[0056] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the POI card table 250 . The POI card table 250 stores a POI card ID 251 , which is information for identifying each piece of POI card data 532 , a POI card display name 252 , which is information for identifying a POI card display name, POI location information 253 for identifying a POI location, and a display image 254 for identifying an image that is used to display the POI card in the form of an icon.
[0057] Stored as the POI card ID 251 is an identifier for identifying each piece of POI card data 532 . Stored as the POI card display name 252 is information for identifying what name is displayed when the POI card data 532 is displayed on the display 2 or the like. For example, when “Chinese Noodle Place ∘∘” is stored as the POI card display name 252 , it is an instruction that an icon or the like of this POI card be displayed as “Chinese Noodle Place ∘∘”.
[0058] Stored as the POI location information 253 is information for identifying where a POI is located. For example, information for identifying a given point (e.g., in front of the main gate) of a POI, namely, information for identifying the address or the latitude/longitude is stored as the POI location information 253 . Stored as the display image 254 is information for identifying an icon image that is displayed when the POI card data 532 is displayed on the display 2 or the like.
[0059] The information stored in the POI card table 250 may be predetermined information, or information that is maintained by updating as the need arises based on received information which is transmitted from the POI management server machine 530 via the communication device 12 .
[0060] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the input information table 300 . The input information table 300 stores a POI card ID 301 , which is an identifier for identifying each piece of POI card data 532 , a placed date/time 302 for identifying a date/time on a time line where the POI card is placed, a lock field point 303 for identifying a display point on the time line where the POI card is placed, an arrival date/time 304 for identifying a scheduled arrival date/time on the time line for this POI, a staying period 305 for identifying a scheduled length of stay at this POI, and a departure date/time 306 for identifying a date/time at which the user leaves this POI for the next destination.
[0061] Stored as the POI card ID 301 is an identifier for identifying each piece of the POI card data 532 . Stored as the placed date/time 302 is information that indicates a time on a time line where this POI card data is placed, for example, information for identifying a time.
[0062] Stored as the lock field point 303 is information that indicates a lateral point on the time line where this POI is placed. For example, information such as “0”, “1”, “2”, or “3” is stored as the lock field point 303 . In this example, the value “0” of the lock field point 203 means that this POI is placed in a free area which is indicated as “Free” on the time line, and the value “1” of the lock field point 203 means that this POI is placed in a left-end area (column) of a lock area which is indicated as “Lock” on the time line. Similarly, the value “2” or “3” of the lock field point 203 means that this POI is placed in the second or third area (column) from the left end of the lock area on the time line. Identifying an area (column) within the lock area prevents an overlap in which a POI and display information incidental to this POI are displayed for other POI points.
[0063] Stored as the arrival date/time 304 is information for identifying a scheduled arrival date/time on the time line for this POI. Stored as the staying period 305 is information for identifying a scheduled length of stay at this POI. Stored as the departure date/time 306 is information for identifying a date/time at which the user leaves this POI for the next destination.
[0064] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the check result table 350 . The check result table 350 stores a departure site 351 , which is information for identifying a POI card ID that indicates a departure site, a destination 352 , which is information for identifying a POI card ID that indicates a destination, a departure time 353 , which is a time when the user departs from the departure site, a required time 354 required to travel from the departure site to the destination, and an arrival time 355 at which the user arrives at the destination.
[0065] Stored as the departure site 351 is information for identifying one of two successive POI card IDs of POI points placed on a time line that has an earlier placed date/time (a time on a time line) than the other. Stored as the destination 352 is information for identifying one of the POI points placed on the time line that follows the POI stored as the departure site 351 (the next POI in the order of placed date/time). Stored as the departure time 353 is information for identifying a date/time at which the user departs after a stay at the POI stored as the departure site 351 . Stored as the required time 354 is a length of time necessary to travel along a route from the POI stored as the departure site 351 to the POI stored as the destination 352 . Stored as the arrival time 355 is information for identifying a date/time at which the user arrives at the POI stored as the destination 352 .
[0066] Returning to FIG. 1 , the audio input/output device 4 includes the microphone 41 as an audio input device and the speaker 42 as an audio output device. The microphone 41 picks up sounds outside the navigation device 100 , such as the voice of the user or passengers.
[0067] The speaker 42 outputs in an audio form a message to the user which is generated by the computing unit 1 . The microphone 41 and the speaker 42 are separately disposed in given parts of a vehicle. Alternatively, the microphone 41 and the speaker 42 may be housed in a unitary housing. The navigation device 100 may include a plurality of microphones 41 and a plurality of speakers 42 .
[0068] The input device 5 is a device that receives an instruction from the user when operated by the user. The input device 5 is constituted of a touch panel 51 , a dial switch 52 , and other hardware switches (not shown) such as a scroll key and a scale changing key.
[0069] The touch panel 51 is mounted on the display screen side of the display 2 and the display screen is visible through the touch panel 51 . The touch panel 51 identifies a touch point that corresponds to the X-Y coordinates of an image displayed on the display 2 , converts the touch point into coordinates, and outputs the coordinates. The touch panel 51 is constituted of a pressure-sensitive or electrostatic input sensing device or the like.
[0070] The dial switch 52 is configured in a manner that allows the dial switch 52 to turn clockwise and counterclockwise, generates a pulse signal each time the dial switch 52 turns by a given angle, and outputs the pulse signal to the computing unit 1 . The computing unit 1 obtains the turning angle from the count of pulse signals.
[0071] The ROM drive 6 is constituted of a storage medium capable of at least data read, such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or other read-only memories (ROMs), or an integrated circuit (IC) card. The storage medium stores, for example, video data or audio data.
[0072] The vehicle speed sensor 7 , the gyro sensor 8 , and the GPS receiving device 9 are used by the navigation device 100 to detect the current location (own-vehicle location).
[0073] The vehicle sensor 7 is a sensor that outputs a value used to calculate the vehicle speed.
[0074] The gyro sensor 8 is constituted of a fiber optic gyro, a vibrating structure gyro, or the like, and detects an angular velocity caused by the rotation of a moving object.
[0075] The GPS receiving device 9 receives a signal from a GPS satellite, and measures for each of three or more GPS satellites the distance between a moving object and the GPS satellite and the rate of change in distance, to thereby measure the current location, traveling speed, and traveling direction of the moving object.
[0076] The FM multiplex broadcast receiving device 10 receives an FM multiplex broadcast signal transmitted from an FM multiplex broadcast station. An FM multiplex broadcast includes, among others, summarized current traffic information, traffic control information, service area/parking area (SA/PA) information, parking information, weather forecast information, and the like of vehicle information communication system (VICS: registered trademark) information, and text information provided by a radio station as FM multiplex general information.
[0077] The beacon receiving device 11 receives summarized current traffic information, traffic control information, service area/parking area (SA/PA) information, parking information, weather forecast information, emergency warning information, and the like of VICS information or other sources. For example, the beacon receiving device 11 is a device for receiving an optical beacon which is communicated by way of light or a radio beacon which is communicated by way of radio waves.
[0078] The communication device 12 connects to the network 500 . This communication device 12 is a device that connects to, for example, a cellular phone network to communicate data with other devices over the network 500 . Examples of the communication device 12 include a device that is capable of communication when attached to the user's cellular phone.
[0079] FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the computing unit 1 . As illustrated, the computing unit 1 includes a main control module 101 , an input receiving module 102 , an output processing module 103 , a time line operation processing module 104 , a POI card management module 105 , a POI event processing module 106 , and a check processing module 107 .
[0080] The main control module 101 is a central function module which handles various types of processing, and controls other processing modules in accordance with what processing is to be performed. The main control module 101 also obtains information of various sensors, the GPS receiving device 9 , and others to identify the current location by map matching or the like. As the need arises, the main control module 101 stores for each link a drive history which associates the date and time of a drive with a location in the storage 3 . The main control module 101 further outputs the current time in response to requests from the processing modules. The main control module 101 also searches for an optimum route (recommended route) connecting a departure site (the current location) and a destination that are designated by the user, and guides the user with the speaker 42 and the display 2 to keep the user from straying from the recommended route.
[0081] The input receiving module 102 receives an instruction from the user which is entered via the input device 5 or the microphone 41 , and controls the components of the computing unit 1 so that processing that meets what is requested by the instruction is executed. For example, when the user's request is to search for a recommended route, the input receiving module 102 requests the output processing module 103 to execute processing of displaying a map on the display 2 in order to set a destination.
[0082] The output processing module 103 receives screen information to be displayed, for example, polygon information, converts the screen information into signals for drawing on the display 2 , and instructs the display 2 to draw.
[0083] The time line operation processing module 104 receives an operation that is made to a time line display area on a screen displayed on the display 2 (e.g., placing POI icons), and then performs various types of processing such as identifying a time that corresponds to the place of a POI icon.
[0084] The POI card management module 105 is configured to request, as the need arises, from the POI management server machine 530 , POI card information that represents destinations to be included in a travel plan drawn up on the navigation device 100 , and to place the received POI card information in the time line display area.
[0085] The POI event processing module 106 receives the input of an operation performed on a POI icon and processes an event for the POI icon. For example, when a touch to a POI icon is detected, processing associated with the touch operation, for example, displaying a handle object for designating a staying period, is performed to reflect the operation entered by the user.
[0086] The check processing module 107 determines for each POI displayed in the time line display area whether or not the scheduled arrival date/time of the POI can be kept when the user travels in the order of the placement of POI points on the time line, and displays the result.
[0087] The function modules of the computing unit 1 described above, namely, the main control module 101 , the input receiving module 102 , the output processing module 103 , the time line operation processing module 104 , the POI card management module 105 , the POI event processing module 106 , and the check processing module 107 , are constructed by the CPU 21 reading and executing a given program. The RAM 22 therefore stores a program for implementing the processing of the respective function modules.
[0088] The components described above are classified by their main processing specifics to make it easy to understand the configuration of the navigation device 100 . Accordingly, how the components are classified or the names of the components do not limit the present invention. The configuration of the navigation device 100 may be broken into more components based on their processing specifics, or into components each of which executes more types of processing.
[0089] The function modules may instead be constructed by hardware (an ASIC, a GPU, and the like). The processing of the respective function modules may be executed by a single hardware component or a plurality of hardware components.
[0090] [Description of Operation]
[0091] The operation of the navigation device 100 is described next.
[0092] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of travel plan processing in which the time line of a travel is edited upon the user's instruction to start drawing up a travel plan. This flow is executed when a given operation, for example, a start-up instruction on an operation menu, is received while the navigation device 100 is in operation.
[0093] First, the input receiving module 102 receives a travel period entered by the user and the designation of POI points that are destinations (Step S 001 ). Specifically, the input receiving module 102 receives the designation of information for identifying a plurality of destinations and the designation of a travel date.
[0094] Next, the time line operation processing module 104 creates time line display information that corresponds to the designated period (Step S 002 ). Specifically, in the case where the received travel period is one-day long, the time line operation processing module 104 creates time line information that divides a period from 0 o'clock of the day of travel to 0 o'clock of the next day into unit-length (e.g., thirty minutes) segments. The created time line information may be for a given period containing the day of travel (for example, three days including the day before and the day after), instead of just the day of travel. The time line information in this embodiment has a time axis in the longitudinal direction of the screen (the longitudinal direction of the navigation device 100 that is used in a normal manner), and has a free area and a lock area in the lateral direction of the screen. The information in the longitudinal direction of the screen and the information in the lateral direction of the screen may be switched as long as similar elements are provided. In other words, the time line information may have a time axis in the lateral direction and a free area and a lock area in the longitudinal direction of the screen.
[0095] Next, the POI card management module 105 collects pieces of POI card data that correspond to the designated destinations and displays the data as POI icons (Step S 003 ). Specifically, the POI card management module 105 obtains pieces of POI card information stored in the POI card table 250 that are identified by the information for identifying a plurality of destinations designated in Step S 001 . In this step, the POI card management module 105 may obtain latest POI card information by requesting the latest information of the relevant POI card information from the POI card management server machine 530 over the network 500 . For instance, when the information for identifying a plurality of destinations is “one-day drive to and from Hakone”, the POI card management module 105 identifies relevant POI card information from information for identifying a plurality of destinations (not shown) that is associated with the “one-day drive to and from Hakone”, identifies a POI card ID, and requests latest location information, icon-use display image information, and the like for the POI card ID from the POI management server machine 530 . The POI card management module 105 uses the latest POI card data 532 received from the POI management server machine 530 to update information in the POI card table 250 , creates icon information that represents the display image 254 of this POI card, and displays the information in a POI card display area (described later) of a screen displayed on the display 2 .
[0096] Next, the time line operation processing module 104 receives input information of an operation performed on the time line (Step S 004 ). Specifically, the time line operation processing module 104 receives the specifics of an operation performed by the user on the time line information, and executes processing that reflects the operation specifics. For example, as will be described later, the time line operation processing module 104 executes icon moving processing in response to a drag-and-drop operation performed on an icon that is associated with the POI card information.
[0097] The POI event processing module 106 performs, for example, handle processing for designating the staying period in association with an operation in which an icon placed on the time line is touched. Details of this processing, too, are described later.
[0098] Next, the check processing module 107 determines whether or not an instruction to execute plan checking processing has been received (Step S 005 ). Specifically, the check processing module 107 determines whether or not a touch operation has been made in which a check button is touched on a screen 400 described later. The check processing module 107 moves the processing to Step S 006 in the case where the touch operation has been performed on the check button, and, in the case where the touch operation has not been performed, returns the processing to Step S 004 to receive more time line operation inputs.
[0099] In the case where an instruction to execute plan checking processing has been received (“Yes” in Step S 005 ), the check processing module 107 executes plan checking processing described later (Step S 006 ).
[0100] The check processing module 107 next determines whether or not an incompatible part, namely, a POI placement that makes the user late for the arrival time of a locked POI, is found as a result of a check made by the plan checking processing (Step S 007 ). Specifically, if there is an incompatible part on the time line, the check processing module 107 determines that the whole plan is incompatible and returns the processing to the time line operation input receiving processing of Step S 004 in order to prompt an adjustment of the plan.
[0101] When there is no incompatible part, in other words, when there is no problem that affects the time of arrival at a locked POI (“No” in Step S 007 ), the check processing module 107 constructs a screen by superimposing the route on a map and displays the screen to ask the user whether the user approves this plan or not (Step S 008 ).
[0102] The check processing module 107 then determines whether or not an approval has been input as a result of the inquiry about approving the plan (Step S 009 ). The check processing module 107 ends the travel plan processing in the case where the approval input has been received. In the case where the approval input has not been received, the check processing module 107 returns the processing to the time line operation input receiving processing of Step S 004 in order to prompt an adjustment of the plan.
[0103] Specifics of the travel plan processing have been described. Through the travel plan processing described above, the navigation device 100 searches for a specific route and provides an actually needed travel time and other types of reference information for a travel plan which conventionally is drawn up by the user by making a rough calculation on paper or in his/her head. In the travel plan processing, the main control module 101 may set destinations and a recommended route using POI information and route information of a travel plan to which the user has given the final approval, to present route guidance to the user.
[0104] FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating processing details of the plan checking processing executed in Step S 006 of the travel plan processing.
[0105] The check processing module 107 first identifies POI points chronologically from the placement of POI icons arranged on the time line (Step S 101 ).
[0106] The check processing module 107 next searches for a route to the next POI for each POI except the last POI, and calculates the time required to travel the route (Step S 102 ). In this route search, the check processing module 107 requests the main control module 101 to perform, for each POI, processing of searching for a route that has the POI as the departure site and the next POI as the destination. The main control module 101 conducts the search by selecting traffic statistics information appropriate for the departure date/time of the POI and using the traffic statistics information for the route search and the calculation of the required time.
[0107] For example, the main control module 101 searches for a route by identifying a link cost that reflects the degree of traffic jam of the date/time of departure from the departure site POI. Alternatively, the main control module 101 searches for a route by identifying a link cost based on the date/time of arrival at a given point along the searched-for route from the departure site POI to the destination POI. In this case, the main control module 101 identifies the degree of traffic jam of, for example, a highway along the route based on a time at which the user gets on the highway, and conducts a route search by Dijkstra's algorithm or the like in a manner that reflects the degree of traffic jam on the cost of a link that constitutes the highway. A more precise route search is thus conducted and the concreteness of a travel plan is enhanced further.
[0108] The check processing module 107 next sets, as the current POI, a POI at the head of the travel plan laid out along the time line (Step S 103 ).
[0109] The check processing module 107 next determines whether or not a POI next to the current POI is locked (Step S 104 ). Specifically, the check processing module 107 checks whether or not the POI next to the current POI has a value “1” or a larger value as the lock field point on the time line.
[0110] In the case where the next POI is locked (“Yes” in Step S 104 ), the check processing module 107 determines whether or not a date/time obtained by adding a length of time that is required for the travel from the current POI to the next POI to the departure date/time of the current POI falls before or on the arrival date/time of the next POI on the time line.
[0111] In the case where the obtained date/time falls before or on the arrival date/time of the next POI on the time line (“Yes” in Step S 105 ), the check processing module 107 sets the POI next to the current POI as “compatible”, and moves the processing to Step S 108 (Step S 106 ).
[0112] In the case where the obtained date/time falls after the arrival date/time of the next POI on the time line (“No” in Step S 105 ), the check processing module 107 sets the POI next to the current POI as “incompatible” and, if the current POI is the head POI, sets the current POI as “incompatible” as well. The check processing module 107 then moves the processing to Step S 108 (Step S 107 ).
[0113] The check processing module 107 next determines whether or not every POI placed on the time line has been set as one of “compatible” and “incompatible” (Step S 108 ). When every POI has been set, the check processing module 107 ends the plan checking processing.
[0114] When not every POI has been set (“No” in Step S 108 ), the check processing module 107 sets, as the current POI, the last POI that has been set as one of “compatible” and “incompatible”, and returns the control processing to Step S 104 (Step S 109 ).
[0115] In the case where the POI next to the current POI is not locked, the check processing module 107 determines whether or not a date/time obtained by adding the total time required to reach a next locked POI (if there is a plurality of POI points preceding the next locked POI, the total required time includes the staying periods of the plurality of POI points as well) to the departure date/time of the current POI falls before or on the arrival date/time of the next locked POI (Step S 110 ). In the case where the obtained date/time falls before or on the arrival time (“Yes” in Step S 110 ), the check processing module 107 moves the control processing to Step S 106 described above.
[0116] In the case where the obtained date/time falls after the arrival date/time (“No” in Step S 110 ), the check processing module 107 sets the next locked POI and all POI points that are included between the current POI and the next locked POI as “incompatible” and, if the current POI is the head POI, also sets the current POI as “incompatible”. The check processing module 107 then moves the processing to Step S 108 (Step S 111 ).
[0117] Specifics of the plan checking processing have been described. By performing the plan checking processing, the navigation device according to the present invention determines with high precision whether or not a drawn-up plan is executable. The navigation device according to the present invention provides information that is helpful particularly to a user who is unfamiliar with the geography around the destination in determining whether or not the plan is practicable, and the user can therefore check the practicability in the planning stage.
[0118] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the screen 400 displayed in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing. Displayed on the screen 400 are a POI icon display area 410 , a time line display area 420 , and a check start instruction input area 430 .
[0119] The POI icon display area 410 displays a plurality of POI icons 411 and display names 412 of POI cards represented by the POI icons 411 . The display images of the POI icons 411 are the display images 254 read out of the POI card table 250 , and names displayed as the display names 412 are the POI card display names 252 read out of the POI card table 250 . The POI icon display area 410 also displays a trash icon 413 . The trash icon 413 is an icon having a function of deleting a POI icon that is dropped on top of the trash icon 413 . The POI icons 411 displayed in the POI icon display area 410 are sorted in advance by the POI event processing module 106 . The POI icons 411 are sorted in, for example, ascending order of distance from the current location of the navigation device. However, once the POI icons 411 are arranged in the time line display area 420 , the displayed POI icons 411 are re-sorted by the POI event processing module 106 in the chronological order of the POI icons' placement on the time line.
[0120] The time line display area 420 displays time markers 421 , which indicate given times that constitute segments of the time line, a free field 422 , and a lock field 423 . The time markers 421 are displayed in association with, for example, horizontal lines provided at one-hour intervals. The free field 422 and the lock field 423 are fields in which the POI icons 411 are arranged. The free field 422 is a field for designating as a destination the POI icon 411 that has no limitations on arrival time and departure time. The lock field 423 is a field for designating as a destination the POI icon 411 that has limitations on arrival time and departure time. Whichever field the POI icon 411 is placed in, if a staying period is designated, staying at this POI for the designated staying period is treated as a given. In other words, a staying period designated for one POI icon 411 is fixed and is not extended or shortened irrespective of which field the POI icon 411 is placed in. The free field 422 and the lock field 423 are displayed side by side in the lateral direction of the screen, and the time markers 421 are arranged in the top-bottom direction of the screen along the passage of time.
[0121] A check button is disposed in the check start instruction input area 430 . The check button is a button for receiving an instruction to start the plan checking processing and, receiving the start instruction, the check processing module 107 starts the plan checking processing.
[0122] The POI icons 411 displayed in the POI icon display area 410 are aligned in ascending order of distance from the current location in the same direction as the direction of the passage of time indicated by the time markers 421 in the time line display area 420 . Displayed in this manner, the POI icons 411 can be arranged in the time line display area by a lateral drag-and-drop operation, which makes it easier to avoid planning a route that is low in travel efficiency, without sacrificing the ease of operation.
[0123] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation example of the screen 400 displayed in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing. FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 10 in that the POI icon display area 410 , the time line display area 420 , and the check start instruction input area 430 are displayed on the screen 400 . In the screen 400 of FIG. 11 , the POI icon 411 that has a display name “HOME” and displayed in the POI icon display area 410 which occupies the left half of the screen 400 in FIG. 10 is placed at a point “9:30” in the lock field 423 of the time line display area 420 .
[0124] While the POI icon 411 that has a display name “HOME” is placed in the lock field 423 , a reduced POI icon 413 that is a reduction of this POI icon 411 is displayed in the time line display area 420 . A dotted line 414 L links the POI icon 411 and the reduced POI icon 413 to each other to display that “HOME” POI icon 411 and the reduced POI icon 413 are associated with each other. A time at which the POI is placed on the time line (“9:30” in the example above) is further displayed along with the display name of the POI icon 411 . The displayed time is, being associated with a time at which the reduced POI icon 413 is placed, changed when there is a change to the placed time. A plurality of POI icons displayed in the POI icon display area 410 are displayed in the chronological order of the POI icons' placement on the time line in the time line display area 420 . In other words, the displayed POI icons are aligned in ascending order of placed times on the time line to prevent the dotted line 414 L of one POI icon from intersecting with the dotted line 414 L of another POI icon.
[0125] FIGS. 12( a ) and 12 ( b ) are diagrams illustrating another operation example of the screen 400 displayed in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing. FIGS. 12( a ) and 12 ( b ) are similar to FIG. 10 in that the POI icon display area 410 , the time line display area 420 , and the check start instruction input area 430 are displayed on the screen 400 .
[0126] In the screen 400 of FIG. 12( a ), a POI icon 415 A which is displayed in the POI icon display area 410 and has a display name “BBBBB” is being dragged (moving on the screen while selected). The POI icon 415 A is displayed in the same size as that of icons displayed in the POI icon display area 410 while moving through the POI icon display area 410 .
[0127] In the screen 400 of FIG. 12( b ), the POI icon 415 A having a display name “BBBBB” which is displayed in the POI icon display area 410 in FIG. 12( a ) has been moved and displayed in the time line display area 420 . In this situation, the pre-move POI icon 415 A is reduced and displayed as a reduced POI icon 416 . A POI icon 415 B of FIG. 12( b ) is for illustrating the size of the pre-move POI icon as a comparison with the change to the icon, and is not illustrated on the actual screen. Displaying a reduced icon in the time line display area 420 in this manner makes it easy for the user to designate a time to the minute in the time line display area.
[0128] To make it easy for the user to designate a time to the minute in the time line display area as in FIGS. 12( a ) and 12 ( b ), a display method illustrated in FIGS. 13( a ) and 13 ( b ) may be employed.
[0129] FIGS. 13( a ) and 13 ( b ) are diagrams illustrating still another operation example of the screen 400 displayed in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing. FIGS. 13( a ) and 13 ( b ) are similar to FIG. 10 in that the POI icon display area 410 , the time line display area 420 , and the check start instruction input area 430 are displayed on the screen 400 .
[0130] FIGS. 13( a ) and 13 ( b ) illustrate a case in which an operation mode different from the one in FIGS. 12( a ) and 12 ( b ) is used. In this embodiment, a choice is made between the display method of FIGS. 12( a ) and 12 ( b ) and the display method of FIGS. 13( a ) and 13 ( b ).
[0131] In the screen 400 of FIG. 13( a ), as in FIG. 12( a ), a POI icon 415 A which is displayed in the POI icon display area 410 and has a display name “BBBBB” is being dragged (moving on the screen while selected). The POI icon 415 A is displayed in the same size as that of icons displayed in the POI icon display area 410 while moving through the POI icon display area 410 .
[0132] In the screen 400 of FIG. 13( b ), the POI icon 415 A having a display name “BBBBB” which is displayed in the POI icon display area 410 in FIG. 13( a ) has been moved and displayed in the time line display area 420 . In this situation, the pre-move POI icon 415 A is displayed without changing the size. Instead, the time axis of the time line display area 420 is displayed enlarged. Placing a POI icon at an objective point in the time line display area is thus made easy without impairing the visibility of the icon.
[0133] FIGS. 14( a ) and 14 ( b ) illustrate an operation and display in which one of POI icons displayed in the POI icon display area 410 is dropped on top of the trash icon 413 , to thereby delete the icon along with its associated icon which has been placed in the time line display area 420 .
[0134] FIGS. 14( a ) and 14 ( b ) are diagrams illustrating yet still another operation example of the screen 400 displayed in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing. FIGS. 14( a ) and 14 ( b ) are similar to FIG. 10 in that the POI icon display area 410 , the time line display area 420 , and the check start instruction input area 430 are displayed on the screen 400 .
[0135] In the screen 400 of FIG. 14( a ), a POI icon 417 A which is displayed in the POI icon display area 410 and has a display name “HOME” is being dragged (moving on the screen while selected).
[0136] In the screen 400 of FIG. 14( b ), the POI icon 417 A having a display name “HOME” which is displayed in the POI icon display area 410 in FIG. 14( a ) has been moved and dropped on the trash icon 413 . In this situation, a POI icon 417 B which corresponds to the pre-move POI icon 417 A is no longer displayed (deleted). A reduced icon 417 C which is associated with the POI icon 417 B and which has been displayed in the time line display area 420 is no longer displayed (deleted) as well. An icon is deleted not only when a POI icon displayed in the POI icon display area 410 is dropped on the trash icon 413 but also when a reduced icon displayed in the time line display area 420 is dropped on the trash icon 413 . In this case, however, the POI icon displayed in the POI icon display area 410 is not deleted.
[0137] Described next with reference to FIG. 15 is an operation and display for receiving the designation of a staying period for a reduced POI icon which is placed in the time line display area 420 .
[0138] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating yet still another operation example of the screen 400 displayed in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing. FIG. 15 is similar to FIG. 10 in that the POI icon display area 410 , the time line display area 420 , and the check start instruction input area 430 are displayed on the screen 400 . A POI icon that has a display name “AAAAA” is placed at a point “12:45” in the free field 422 of the time line display area 420 . In the lock field 423 of the time line display area 420 , a POI icon that has a display name “HOME” is placed at a point “9:30” and a POI icon that has a display name “BBBBB” is placed at a point “11:30”. The “HOME” POI icon and the “BBBBB” POI icon that are displayed in the time line display area 420 are staggered laterally (with the “HOME” POI icon on one side of a line 418 , which is not displayed on the screen, and the “BBBBB” POI icon on the other side of the line 418 ). This is because the lock field point of the “HOME” POI icon has a value “1” whereas the lock field point of the “BBBBB” POI icon has a value “2” and, consequently, the two POI icons are displayed staggered.
[0139] When a touch input operation made to the reduced POI icon that has a display name “BBBBB” is received in this state, the POI event processing module 106 displays a handle object 419 A for receiving the designation of a staying period, and receives the designation of a staying period. The received designated staying period is displayed in a staying period display area 419 B, which is displayed near a POI icon.
[0140] FIGS. 16( a ) to 16 ( c ) are diagrams illustrating a handle object operation and display for receiving the designation of a staying period. FIG. 16( a ) is a display example for a case where a touch input operation made to the reduced POI icon 415 A is received. FIG. 16( b ) is a diagram illustrating a display example of the screen immediately after the touch input operation is received. The POI event processing module 106 displays the handle object 419 A below the reduced POI icon 415 A, displays the staying period display area 419 B, which uses numbers to display a designated staying period, to the left of the reduced POI icon 415 A, and further displays a staying period display bar 419 C, which has a length varied in accordance with the staying period to help the user intuitively grasp the designated length of stay, between the reduced POI icon 415 A and the handle object 419 A. When a drag operation that drags the handle object 419 A downward is received, the POI event processing module 106 identifies the length of the staying period based on the amount of the drag operation, and makes the identified length reflected on the staying period display area 419 B and on the displayed length of the staying period display bar 419 C (by extending the bar length).
[0141] As illustrated in FIG. 16( c ), when a touch input of a touch to the reduced POI icon 415 A is received in FIG. 16( a ), the POI event processing module 107 displays a handle object 419 E above the reduced POI icon 415 A, and displays a staying period display bar 419 D, which has a length varied in accordance with the staying period to help the user intuitively grasp the designated length of stay, between the reduced POI icon 415 A and the handle object 419 E. When a drag operation that drags the handle object 419 E upward is received, the POI event processing module 106 identifies the length of the staying period based on the amount of the drag operation, and makes the identified length reflected on the staying period display area 419 B and on the displayed length of the staying period display bar 419 D (by extending the bar length). The staying period display area 419 E displays a total staying period which is the sum of the staying period received by way of the handle object 419 A and the staying period received by way of the handle object 419 E.
[0142] FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of the screen 400 that is displayed when an incompatible POI icon is found as a result of the plan check processing. FIG. 17 is similar to FIG. 10 in that the POI icon display area 410 , the time line display area 420 , and the check start instruction input area 430 are displayed on the screen 400 .
[0143] In FIG. 17 , a pop-up message display area 440 for informing the user of the presence of a POI icon determined as “incompatible” is superimposed on the screen 400 . The pop-up message display area 440 displays a message 441 , which points out that there is an incompatible POI icon, and an OK button 442 , which is for receiving a message confirmation operation from the user. The message 441 reads as, for example, “Arriving at the following facility at the set time is not possible. (line feed) “EBBBB” (line feed) Unlock and re-calculate.” In addition, a “x” mark 443 which indicates that a POI icon is incompatible is displayed in association with the incompatible POI icon or the like.
[0144] FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a travel plan check screen 450 which is displayed in Step S 008 when a plan is found to be free of problems (i.e., when any of the POI icons arranged on the time line is determined as “compatible”) as a result of the travel plan processing. Route information which high-lights the route on a map is displayed in a route information display area 451 on the right-hand side of the travel plan check screen 450 . The displayed route information includes a “HOME” POI icon 452 and its departure time 461 , a “BBBBB” POI icon 453 and its arrival time 462 , an “AAAAA” POI icon 454 and its arrival time 463 , and a “CCCCC” POI icon 455 and its arrival time 464 which are placed on the time line 420 .
[0145] POI icons 471 are displayed on the left-hand side of the screen as in the POI icon display area 410 of FIG. 10 . A POI icon description 472 (including a display name, an arrival time, and a staying period) is displayed around each of the POI icons.
[0146] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating the flow of processing for receiving a POI icon moving operation when a time line operation input is received in Step S 004 of the travel plan processing.
[0147] First, the POI event processing module 106 determines whether or not the moved POI icon is located in the time line display area (Step S 201 ). In the case where the moved POI icon is not in the time line display area (“No” in Step S 201 ), the POI event processing module 106 moves the processing to Step S 203 .
[0148] In the case where the moved POI icon is in the time line display area (“Yes” in Step S 201 ), the POI event processing module 106 displays the POI icon in a reduced display size (Step S 202 ). Specifically, the POI event processing module 106 displays the POI icon reduced to the same size as that of the reduced POI icon 413 of FIG. 11 .
[0149] The POI event processing module 106 next determines whether or not the POI icon has been dropped on the time line (Step S 203 ). Specifically, the POI event processing module 106 determines whether or not the moved POI icon has been dropped in the free field 422 or lock field 423 of the time line display area 420 . In the case where the moved POI icon has not been dropped on the time line (“No” in Step S 203 ), the POI event processing module 106 moves the processing to Step S 205 .
[0150] In the case where the moved POI icon has been dropped on the time line (“Yes” in Step S 203 ), the POI event processing module 106 identifies a point in the lock field at which the POI icon has been dropped, and recognizes a date/time that corresponds to the icon point as a placed date/time (Step S 204 ). Specifically, the POI event processing module 106 identifies which of “0” (the free field), “1”, “2”, and “3” is the value of the point in the lock field at which the POI icon has been dropped, recognizes a date/time that corresponds to the icon point as a placed date/time, and stores the icon point and the placed date/time as the lock field point 303 and the placed date/time 302 , respectively, in the input information table 300 . The POI event processing module 106 assigns values “1”, “2”, and “3” to other lock field points than “0” in ascending order of placed dates/times of the POI icons placed in the lock field 423 . If more than three POI icons are placed in the lock field 423 , the value of a lock field point is identified based on the order in which the assigned values are repeated: “1”, “2”, “3”, “2”, “1”, “2”, “3”, “2” . . . . The value of a lock field point may also be identified based on a different repetition order: “1”, “2”, “3”, “1”, “2”, “3”, “1” . . . . The POI event processing module 106 then ends the icon moving operation receiving processing.
[0151] Next, the POI event processing module 106 determines whether or not the POI icon has been dropped on the trash (Step S 205 ). Specifically, the POI event processing module 106 determines whether or not the point at which the moved POI icon has been dropped at least partially overlaps with the trash icon 413 . In the case where the POI icon has not been dropped on the trash (“No” in Step S 205 ), the POI event processing module 106 moves the processing to Step S 207 .
[0152] In the case where the POI icon has been dropped on the trash (“Yes” in Step S 205 ), the POI event processing module 106 erases the POI icon from the screen by deleting the POI icon that is displayed in the POI display area and the POI icon that is displayed in the time line display area as illustrated in FIGS. 14( a ) and 14 ( b ) (Step S 206 ). The POI event processing module 106 then ends the icon moving operation receiving processing.
[0153] The POI event processing module 106 next determines whether or not the POI icon has been dropped around its original point (Step S 207 ). Specifically, the POI event processing module 106 determines whether or not the point at which the moved POI icon has been dropped at least partially overlaps with the original POI icon. In the case where the moved POI icon has been dropped on the original POI icon (“Yes” in Step S 207 ), the POI event processing module 106 ends the icon moving operation receiving processing.
[0154] In the case where the moved POI icon has not been dropped on the original POI icon (“No” in Step S 207 ), the POI event processing module 106 deletes the POI icon placed in the time line display area if the moved POI icon is an icon placed on the time line (Step S 208 ). The POI event processing module 106 then ends the icon moving operation receiving processing.
[0155] Specifics of the icon moving operation receiving processing have been described. Through the icon moving operation receiving processing, event editing processing that is suited to where a POI icon is moved to is performed.
[0156] FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating processing specifics of icon touch operation receiving processing for performing editing processing that is suited to what touch operation is made to a POI icon.
[0157] First, the POI event processing module 106 determines whether or not the touched POI icon is a POI icon placed in the time line display area (Step S 301 ). In the case where the touched POI icon is not a POI icon placed in the time line display area (“No” in Step S 301 ), the POI event processing module 106 ends the icon touch operation receiving processing.
[0158] In the case where the touched POI icon is a POI icon placed in the time line display area (“Yes” in Step S 301 ), the POI event processing module 106 displays the handle objects for designating a staying period as illustrated in FIGS. 16( a ) to 16 ( c ), and receives an operation (Step S 302 ).
[0159] The POI event processing module 106 next displays the sum of staying periods that are designated by the operation received in Step S 302 (Step S 303 ). Specifically, the POI event processing module 106 displays, in the staying period display area 419 B of FIG. 16( c ), a staying period equivalent to the sum of the amount of a downward handle object operation received in Step S 302 and the amount of an upward handle object operation received in Step S 302 .
[0160] The POI event processing module 106 next determines whether or not a touch input of a touch to this POI icon has been received again (Step S 304 ). In the case where the touch input has been received again (“Yes” in Step S 304 ), the POI event processing module 106 returns the processing to Step S 302 .
[0161] In the case where the touch input has not been received again (“No” in Step S 304 ), the POI event processing module 106 sets, as the time of arrival at this POI, a time corresponding to the upper one of 1) a point for which a staying period has been designated via the upward handle object and 2) a point on the time line at which the POI icon is placed, and stores as the arrival date/time 304 of the input information table 300 (Step S 305 ).
[0162] The POI event processing module 106 next sets, as a departure time at which the user departs this POI, a time corresponding to the lower one of 1) a point for which a staying period has been designated via the downward handle object and 2) a point on the time line at which the POI icon is placed, and stores as the departure date/time 306 of the input information table 300 (Step S 306 ).
[0163] The POI event processing module next sets, as a period in which the user stays at this POI, a length of time equivalent to the difference between the arrival time and the departure time, and stores as the staying period 305 of the input information table 300 (Step S 307 ). The POI event processing module 106 then ends the icon touch operation receiving processing.
[0164] By receiving an icon touch operation in this manner, the designation of detailed settings of a placed POI icon is received interactively.
[0165] The first embodiment of the present invention has now been described.
[0166] According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the navigation device 100 can assist the user in drawing up a travel plan that includes visiting a plurality of destinations. In other words, the user can draw up an adequate plan for traveling around places in an unfamiliar region.
[0167] While the plan check processing of the first embodiment determines whether a plan is adequate or not, the present invention is not limited thereto and the navigation device 100 may instead correct an incompatible part of the plan and advise the user on how to adjust the plan. This includes showing the user how much the departure time should be moved backward and giving the user an indication of how much the arrival time should be moved forward. This way, the navigation device 100 can give the user a hint on what adjustment is to be made to turn an inadequate plan into an adequate plan, and improves the convenience of the user even more.
[0168] The present invention is not limited to the first embodiment described above. Various modifications can be made to the first embodiment within the technical concept of the present invention. For example, while the travel plan processing of the first embodiment uses an algorithm that is included in advance in the navigation device 100 to search for a route and calculate a required time, the navigation device 100 may request a not-shown external organization that provides a route search service to search for a route and calculate a required time. This way, a more precise plan can be drawn up.
[0169] A second embodiment of the present invention is described next. The navigation device 100 in the second embodiment has a configuration that is almost the same as the one in the first embodiment described above but slightly differs, and exerts different functions. The following description focuses on the differences.
[0170] The navigation device 100 in the second embodiment has the POI card table 250 that is substantially the same as the POI card table 250 in the first embodiment, except that the POI card table 250 in the second embodiment has items in addition to those of the POI card table 250 in the first embodiment. Specifically, the POI card table 250 in the second embodiment has an additional item, a staying period 255 , plus the items of the POI card table 250 in the first embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 21 . The POI card stored in the POI card table 250 stores a record for each POI and a length of stay at the POI is stored as the staying period 255 . The length of stay stored as the staying period 255 of a POI card is designated by the creator of this POI card at the time of creation. The staying period 255 therefore is the actual length of stay at the POI in some cases, a scheduled length of stay in other cases, and an estimated length of stay in still other cases.
[0171] The computing unit 1 of the navigation device 100 in the second embodiment further includes a plan adjustment processing module 108 . The plan adjustment processing module 108 is a processing module that manages the predicted progress and the actual progress after the vehicle starts driving following a travel plan and, if an adjustment is needed such as when there is a significant deviation from the plan, performs processing of editing the travel plan.
[0172] The navigation device 100 in the second embodiment performs modification suggestion processing after the vehicle starts driving to suggest a modification to the travel plan based on the vehicle's location, driving state, and the like. The modification suggestion processing performed by the navigation device 100 in the second embodiment is described with reference to FIG. 22 . The modification suggestion processing is executed by the plan adjustment processing module 108 by controlling other processing modules.
[0173] FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating the processing flow of the modification suggestion processing. The modification suggestion processing is started when the vehicle starts driving in accordance with a travel plan planned in the travel plan processing.
[0174] First, the plan adjustment processing module 108 obtains current location information and traffic state information (Step S 401 ). Specifically, the plan adjustment processing module 108 requests the main control module 101 to provide current location information, namely, information for identifying the coordinates of the current location, and traffic state information such as information about a traffic jam along the planned route. The main control module 101 hands over, as the traffic state information, latest traffic information obtained through VICS or the like.
[0175] The plan adjustment processing module 108 next predicts the time of arrival at each passing point and the destination (Step S 402 ). Specifically, the plan adjustment processing module 108 calculates a required time for each passing point with the use of the traffic state information and route information, and predicts the arrival time by adding an accumulation of required times to the current time. The plan adjustment processing module 108 also predicts the time of arrival at the destination via the passing points in the same manner.
[0176] The plan adjustment processing module 108 then determines for each passing point and the destination whether or not there is a given change in the predicted arrival time (Step S 403 ). Specifically, for each time of arrival at a passing point or the destination that is predicted in Step S 402 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 compares the predicted arrival time with a past prediction of the arrival time of the passing point or destination In the case where the predicted arrival time is later or earlier than the previous prediction of arrival time by a given amount of time (for example, thirty minutes) or more, the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines that there is a given change. In the case where there is not a given change, the plan adjustment processing module 108 returns the control processing to Step S 401 .
[0177] In the case where there is a given change (“Yes” in Step S 403 ), the plan adjustment processing module 108 displays the amount of change in the predicted arrival time (Step S 404 ). Specifically, the plan adjustment processing module 108 constructs a screen illustrated in FIG. 23 and requests the output processing module 103 to output the screen to the display 2 .
[0178] FIG. 23 is an example of a delay display screen 600 which is displayed in Step S 404 when it is determined in Step S 403 that there is a given delay or more. The delay display screen 600 is a screen for displaying information on a delay of a predicted time of arrival at a passing point or the destination from the previous prediction of arrival time. A half map display area 610 and a time line display area 620 are displayed on the delay display screen 600 .
[0179] Displayed in the half map display area 610 are a car mark 611 , which indicates the current location of the navigation device 100 , a guided route 612 , a direction image 613 , which indicates the direction, and a progress check button 614 , which is for receiving an instruction to check the progress. The car mark 611 is superimposed on a map of the surroundings of the current location. The route 612 is a route searched for based on a travel plan. The direction image 613 is an image that shows the north, south, east, and west directions and has an appearance designed after, for example, a compass. The progress check button 614 is for receiving an instruction to output the current delay status in an audio form. When an input from the progress check button 614 is received, the plan adjustment processing module 108 generates audio information based on the amount of delay that is identified in Step S 403 , for example, information indicating the length of delay, and requests the output processing module 103 to output the audio information from the speaker 42 .
[0180] In the time line display area 620 , time markers 624 , which indicate given times that constitute segments of the time line are displayed. The time markers 624 are displayed in association with, for example, horizontal lines provided at one-hour intervals. At the time marker 624 that corresponds to the current time, a car mark icon 625 which indicates the current time is displayed. At the time markers 624 that correspond to given times, marks 622 T and 623 T are placed to give an indication to scheduled or predicted times of arrival at passing points 622 and 623 . The difference between the scheduled time of arrival and the predicted time of arrival at the passing point 622 , namely, the length of delay from the scheduled arrival time, is displayed in a delay amount display area 628 . The time markers 624 are arranged in the top-bottom direction of the screen along the passage of time. An example of the delay display screen 600 has been described. The delay display screen 600 is not limited to this configuration and may instead be a screen 700 of a modification example described later.
[0181] Returning to the description of the flow, the plan adjustment processing module 108 displays an action selection screen to receive a choice of action (Step S 405 ). Specifically, the plan adjustment processing module 108 requests the output processing module 103 to display on the delay display screen 600 a message area 630 for prompting the user to choose how to deal with a delay and receiving the choice as illustrated in FIG. 24( a ). Receiving the choice, the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines subsequent processing based on the received choice.
[0182] FIG. 24( a ) is a display example for displaying selections for how to deal with a delay and receiving a choice on the delay display screen 600 . FIG. 24( a ) illustrates an example of the message display area 630 for receiving the input of a chosen action against a delay. A message 631 is displayed in the message display area 630 to inform the user of the amount of delay in reaching the next passing point and to ask the user to determine whether to stick to the plan of stopping at this passing point. Also displayed in the message display area 630 are a “Yes” button 632 for giving a positive response to the message, a “No” button 633 for giving a negative response, and a “suggest a different passing point” button 634 for giving another response which is an instruction to switch to a different passing point.
[0183] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via the “Yes” button 632 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines that the user has chosen to stick to the plan of stopping at the passing point, in other words, stopping at the passing point is not to be changed, and returns the control processing to Step S 401 .
[0184] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via the “No” button 633 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines that the user has chosen not to stick to the plan of stopping at the passing point, in other words, the passing point is to be skipped, and searches for a route anew after removing the next passing point from among the scheduled passing points (Step S 406 ). Specifically, the plan adjustment processing module 108 requests the main control module 101 to search for a route anew and provide route guidance. The plan adjustment processing module 108 then returns the control processing to Step S 401 .
[0185] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via the “suggest a different passing point” button 634 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines that the user has chosen to stop at an alternative passing point, in other words, the passing point is to be replaced, searches for an alternative facility through which the user can arrive at the next passing point in the plan at the scheduled arrival time, and presents the alternative facility in the time line display area 620 as illustrated in FIG. 24( b ) (Step S 407 ). FIG. 24( b ) illustrates an example in which a first alternative facility 626 and a second alternative facility 627 have been found through the search and are displayed. Each of the alternative facilities 626 and 627 can be designated in a received instruction. An alternative facility is a facility that belongs to the same genre as that of the next passing point and that does not cause a delay for the subsequent plan when 1) the length of drive along a route to this alternative facility, 2) the length of drive along a route from the alternative facility to a passing point that is next to the next passing point, or to the destination, and 3) the length of stay at this alternative facility, namely, information stored as the staying period 255 in the POI card table 250 , are accumulated.
[0186] FIGS. 25( a ) and 25 ( b ) are an example of an early arrival display screen 600 which is displayed when it is determined in Step S 403 that the arrival is earlier by a given amount or more. The early arrival display screen 600 is a screen for displaying information on an early arrival when the predicted time of arrival at a passing point or the destination is earlier than the previous prediction of arrival time. The half map display area 610 and the time line display area 620 are displayed on the early arrival display screen 600 as on the delay display screen 600 . An example of the early arrival display screen 600 has been described. The early arrival display screen 600 is not limited to this configuration and may instead be the screen 700 of a modification example described later.
[0187] FIG. 25( a ) is a display example for displaying selections for how to deal with an early arrival and receiving a choice on the early arrival display screen 600 . FIG. 25( a ) illustrates an example of a message display area 640 for receiving the input of a chosen action against an early arrival. A message 641 is displayed in the message display area 640 to inform the user of an amount of time that indicates how much the arrival at the next passing point is ahead of the previous prediction of arrival time, and to ask the user to determine whether to stop at another facility on the way to this passing point. Also displayed in the message display area 640 are a “Yes” button 642 for giving a positive response to the message and a “No” button 643 for giving a negative response.
[0188] On the early arrival display screen 600 of the FIGS. 25( a ) and 25 ( b ), the time markers 624 , which indicate given times that constitute segments of the time line, are displayed in the time line display area 620 . The time markers 624 are displayed in association with, for example, horizontal lines provided at one-hour intervals. At a point on the time marker 624 that corresponds to the current time, the car mark icon 625 which indicates the current time is displayed. At points on the time markers 624 that correspond to given times, marks 651 T and 652 T are placed to give an indication to scheduled or predicted times of arrival at passing points 651 and 652 . The difference between the scheduled time of arrival and the predicted time of arrival at the passing point 651 , namely, the length of time by which the arrival is ahead of schedule, is displayed in an early arrival amount display area 653 . The half map display area 610 of FIGS. 25( a ) and 25 ( b ) has the same display configuration as that of the half map display area illustrated in FIGS. 24( a ) and 24 ( b ).
[0189] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via the “No” button 643 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines that the user has chosen to stick to the plan of stopping at the passing point, in other words, stopping at the passing point is not to be changed, and returns control processing to Step S 401 .
[0190] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via the “Yes” button 642 of FIG. 25( a ), the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines that the user has chosen to stop at an additional passing point, in other words, a passing point is to be added, searches for facilities that the user can stop at before the time of arrival at the next passing point in the plan, and presents the facilities in the time line display area 620 as illustrated in FIG. 25( b ) (Step S 408 ). The presented facilities, such as a first addition candidate facility 654 and a second addition candidate facility 655 which are illustrated in FIG. 25( b ), are placed near their associated time markers in the time line display area 620 as icons that can be selected. Each of the first addition candidate facility 654 and the second addition candidate facility 655 can be designated in a received instruction. An addition candidate facility is a facility that belongs to a different genre from that of the next passing point, and that does not cause a delay to the arrival plan for the next and subsequent passing points when 1) the length of drive along a route to the addition candidate facility, 2) the length of drive along a route from the addition candidate facility to the next passing point, or to the destination, and 3) the length of stay at this addition candidate facility, namely, information stored as the staying period 255 in the POI card table 250 are accumulated.
[0191] Next, the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines whether or not the designation of a presented facility has been received (Step S 409 ). Specifically, if there is a delay to the travel plan, the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines whether or not an instruction to choose one of the alternative facilities to stop at has been received. If there is an arrival earlier than scheduled in the travel plan, the plan adjustment processing module 108 determines whether or not an instruction to choose one of the addition candidate facilities to stop at has been received. In the case where the designation of a presented facility has not been received, the plan adjustment processing module 108 returns the control processing to Step S 401 .
[0192] In the case where the designation of a presented facility has been received and the facility designated in Step S 409 is an alternative facility, the plan adjustment processing module 108 replaces the next passing point with the presented facility designated. In the case where the designated facility in Step S 409 is an addition candidate facility, the plan adjustment processing module 108 inserts the presented facility designated in the plan before the next passing point (Step S 409 ). The plan adjustment processing module 108 then requests the main control module 101 to search for a route once more and returns the control processing to Step S 401 .
[0193] In the case where the designated facility is an addition candidate facility, the plan adjustment processing module 108 instructs the output processing module 103 to output the screen 600 that is illustrated in FIG. 26 until the control processing is returned to Step S 401 .
[0194] FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a screen that is displayed when the input receiving module 102 receives an instruction to choose one of the addition candidate facilities presented in FIG. 25( b ). In this screen 600 , an additional facility 662 chosen in the received instruction is placed in the time line display area 620 , and the additional facility 662 is displayed in association with a mark 662 T which corresponds to the time of arrival at the facility. The plan adjustment processing module 108 constructs a screen by displaying a next destination 661 at which the user has been expected to arrive earlier than scheduled in association with a mark 661 T which corresponds to the original arrival time, and by disabling the display of the early arrival amount display area.
[0195] The processing flow of the modification suggestion processing has been described. According to the modification suggestion processing described above, if the prediction of the time of arrival at a passing point or the destination is expected to be changed greatly while the navigation device 100 is giving route guidance information following a travel plan, the navigation device 100 can suggest the user to delete a passing point, to replace a passing point, to add a passing point, or the like. For example, in the case where a large delay to the arrival at a destination is expected due to a traffic jam or the like, the navigation device 100 can omit one of facilities that the user has planned to stop at, and start route guidance of a route that leads to the subsequent passing point or the destination.
[0196] The modification suggestion processing described above uses a screen example in which a modification is suggested on a screen that displays the half map display area and the time line display area. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and the screen display may be as illustrated in FIGS. 27( a ) and 27 ( b ) and FIG. 28 .
[0197] FIG. 27( a ) is an example of a delay display screen 700 which is displayed in Step S 404 when it is determined in Step S 403 of the modification suggestion processing that there is a given delay or more. The delay display screen 700 is a screen for displaying information on a delay of the predicted time of arrival at a passing point or the destination from the previous prediction of arrival time. An initial travel plan display area 710 , a current travel plan display area 720 , and a current travel plan editing instruction receiving button 730 are displayed on the delay display screen 700 . The plan adjustment processing module 108 constructs the delay display screen 700 in Step S 404 and instructs the output processing module 103 to output.
[0198] An initial travel plan is displayed in the initial travel plan display area 710 . In the initial travel plan display area 710 , a time axis stretching from the left-hand side of the screen to the right-hand side of the screen is displayed, and passing points to stop at in the travel plan and the destination are displayed in the form of icons at corresponding points along the time axis. For example, an icon 711 which represents a passing point BBB (eatery), an icon 712 which represents a passing point AAA (tourist site), and an icon 713 which represents the destination are placed at corresponding points along the time axis to be displayed.
[0199] A current travel plan and a travel plan predicted based on the current situation are displayed in the current travel plan display area 720 . In the current travel plan display area 720 , a time axis stretching from the left-hand side of the screen to the right-hand side of the screen is displayed, and passing points to stop at in the travel plan and the destination are displayed in the form of icons at corresponding points along the time axis. For example, an icon that represents the passing point BBB (eatery), an icon that represents the passing point AAA (tourist site), and an icon that represents the destination are placed at corresponding points along the time axis to be displayed. For each passing point and the destination, the amount of delay, namely, the length of delay, from the scheduled arrival time is predicted and displayed in delay amount display areas 721 , 722 , and 723 along with the icons of the passing points and the destination placed in the current travel plan display area 720 . In the case where the length of stay at a passing point is prolonged (when there is a delay due to a traffic jam or the like), the icon of this passing point is expanded forward on the time axis by an amount that corresponds to the amount of delay, and the expansion is displayed as an overstay area 724 .
[0200] The editing instruction receiving button 730 is used to receive an instruction to start an editing operation for modifying the current travel plan. When the input processing module 102 receives an instruction via the editing instruction receiving button 730 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 displays buttons for editing a travel plan in the current travel plan display area 720 as illustrated in FIG. 27( b ). For example, when an input is made from the editing instruction receiving button 730 , the plan adjustment processing module 108 constructs a screen that displays buttons 731 to 733 for receiving an instruction to add a passing point to stop at between a point in the current travel plan display area 720 that represents the current time and a point in the current travel plan display area 720 that represents the time of arrival at the next passing point, and between every two passing points in the current travel plan display area 720 that are to be visited in succession after the current time. The plan adjustment processing module 108 also displays in a part of the icons of the respective passing points, for example, the upper right corners, delete buttons 734 and 735 for receiving an instruction to delete the passing points from the current travel plan. The plan adjustment processing module 108 also displays an “end editing” button 750 for receiving an instruction to end the editing of the travel plan as illustrated in FIG. 27( b ).
[0201] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via one of the passing point adding instruction receiving buttons 731 to 733 , which are displayed on the editing screen of FIG. 27( b ), the plan adjustment processing module 108 searches for and present addition candidate facilities in the same manner as in Step S 408 for a segment to which the button used to receive the input belongs.
[0202] When the input receiving module 102 receives an input via one of the delete buttons 734 and 735 , which are displayed on the editing screen of FIG. 27( b ), the plan adjustment processing module 108 deletes from the route a passing point that is associated with the button used to receive the input, and conducts a search again in the same manner as in Step S 406 .
[0203] FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen that is displayed when an input is received from the “end editing” button 750 of FIG. 27( b ). In this screen example, the passing point BBB has been deleted, which makes the arrival at the destination as well as the arrival at the passing point AAA earlier. Amounts of time, namely, lengths of time by which the predicted time of arrival at the passing point AAA and the predicted time of arrival at the destination are ahead of schedule are displayed in early arrival amount display areas 761 and 762 on this screen. The plan adjustment processing module 108 calculates and displays the early arrival amounts. The plan adjustment processing module 108 uses the same processing as in Steps S 401 and S 402 of the modification suggestion processing to calculate the early arrival amounts.
[0204] A different display screen example in the second embodiment has been described. According to this display screen example, the user can intuitively edit a travel plan while comparing the travel plan against an initial travel plan, and can thus adjust the travel plan with ease. In addition, after editing the travel plan, the user can view at a glance changes in predicted arrival times based on the edited travel plan, and can therefore quickly determine whether re-editing is necessary or not.
[0205] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. Further, all or some of the technologies of the invention described above may be used in combination.
[0206] The present invention has now been described through embodiments.
[0207] While the embodiments described above deal with examples in which the present invention is applied to a navigation device, the present invention is applicable to all kinds of mobile device, not just navigation devices.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
[0208] 1 . . . computing unit, 2 . . . display, 3 . . . storage, 4 . . . audio input/output device, 5 . . . input device, 6 . . . ROM drive, 7 . . . vehicle speed sensor, 8 . . . gyro sensor, 9 . . . GPS receiving device, 10 . . . FM multiplex broadcast receiving device, 11 . . . beacon receiving device, 12 . . . communication device, 21 . . . CPU, 22 . . . RAM, 23 . . . ROM, 24 . . . I/F, 25 . . . bus, 41 . . . microphone, 42 . . . speaker, 51 . . . touch panel, 52 dial switch, 100 . . . navigation device, 101 . . . main control module, 102 . . . input receiving module, 103 . . . output processing module, 104 . . . time line operation processing module, 105 . . . POI card management module, 106 . . . POI event processing module, 107 . . . check processing module, 200 . . . link table, 250 . . . POI card table, 300 . . . input information table, 350 . . . check result table, 500 . . . network, 510 . . . mobile device, 520 . . . computer, 530 . . . POI management server machine, 531 . . . storage, 532 . . . POI card data
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Provided is a navigation technique for aiding a user to develop a plan for traveling around a plurality of destinations. The navigation device causes a display unit to display a first display area and a second display area. The first display area displays icon information for specifying a facility and positional information thereof. The second display area displays a time line of a predetermined period. When the user disposes a plurality of pieces of icon information on the time line, the navigation device retrieves a route for traveling around the disposed facilities in order. As to icon information of a facility at which the user cannot arrive at the time corresponding to a position where the icon information is disposed, the navigation device indicates that the icon information is inappropriate.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a heating amount adjusting device for a preheater used in a corrugated cardboard producing machine.
In general, a corrugated cardboard producing machine operates as follows. As shown in FIG. 9, an original paper 2 fed out of a mill roll stand 1 is supplied as a liner paper to a single facer 5 through a splicer 3 and a preheater for paper splicing. On the other hand, an original paper 9 is fed as a central core paper from another mill roll stand 6 to the single facer 5 through a splicer 7 and a preconditioner 8 for wetting and adjusting a humidity. In the single facer 5, the original paper 9 is corrugated and formed into the central core paper, and the original paper 2 for the above-described liner paper is attached to the central core paper, thereby producing a single face corrugated cardboard sheet 10, i.e., a one-sided corrugated cardboard. In the corrugated cardboard producing machine, there is provided another producing system 12 having the same structure as that of the foregoing system for producing a corrugated cardboard sheet 11. The respective corrugated cardboard sheets 10 and 11 of the single face type are bonded together through an overhead bridge conveyor 13, a preheater 14 and a gluing machine 15. In addition, a liner paper 16 is also bonded to the corrugated cardboard sheets, to thereby produce a double face type corrugated cardboard sheet, i.e., a so called two-sided corrugated cardboard sheet. This double-face corrugated cardboard sheet will be subjected to various processes such as a folding or turning line formation by using a slitter scorer and will be cut into a predetermined length.
As described above, the preheaters 4 and 14 and the preconditioners 8 are interposed in predetermined positions of the corrugated cardboard producing machine. As shown in FIG. 10, each of the preheaters 4 and 14 and the preheater portions of the preconditioners 8 are structured to supply a steam into a cylindrical roll 17 which is drivingly rotated, thereby heating the interior of the roll 17. Since it is difficult to adjust the heat amount of the roll 17, i.e., the temperature thereof by the supply amount of the steam, a contact length, i.e., a lap amount with the respective single face type cardboard sheets 10 and 11 or the original papers 2 and 9 is adjusted. In other words, large diameter gears 19 and 20 are rotatably mounted on bearing portions of the roll 17 relative to a frame 18, and an adjusting roll 21 is pivoted to the respective gears 19 and 20. The respective gears 19 and 20 are engaged with gears 22 and 23. A rotary shaft 24 of the gears 22 and 23 is connected to a motor 27 through a worm gear 25 and a worm 26. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the adjusting roll 21 is moved along the outer circumference of the roll 17 by rotating the gears 19 and 20 using the motor 27, to thereby change the lap amount between the roll 17 and the original paper 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheet 10, 11 in accordance with the conditions such as a thickness and a paper quality of the original paper 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheet 10, 11. Thus, the heating amount of the original paper 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheet 10, 11 is set. It is also noted that the preconditioner 8 includes the unit for providing a moisture as well as the above-described heater.
However, in each of the foregoing conventional preheaters 4, 14 and preheater portions of the preconditioners 8, if the adjusting roll 21 is angularly moved in order to change the lap amount with each of the original papers 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11, as is apparent from FIG. 11, a length of the original papers 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 from guide rolls 28 on the introduction side to the adjusting roll 21 is changed. On the other hand, the recent corrugated cardboard producing machine as a whole is automated by computers. Accordingly, if the length of the original papers 2, 9 and the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 is changed in the preheaters 4, 14 and the preconditioners 8 as described above, a stagnant length is changed as the original papers or the like are stagnant and conveyed on the overhead bridge conveyor 13 in a corrugated and curved manner. The change of the stagnant length causes an error in final production length when a lot changing operation is effected by an order change. For this reason, in the prior art, the angular movement range of the adjusting roll 21 is divided into four parts. In accordance with the situation as to whether or not the adjusting roll 21 for the above-described lap amount falls within any one of the four-divided parts, a suitable correction value substantially corresponds to the length of the original papers 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 which are changed within the preheaters 4, 14 and the preconditioners 8. The correction value is inputted into the subsequent devices for control. Since the correction value is set only at one of the four parts, the value is rough. Accordingly, if the various devices are controlled in accordance with the correction value, the resultant control involves a large error.
Furthermore, if the stagnant length of the original papers 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 is changed in correspondence with the lap amount in the preheaters 4, 14 and the preconditioners 8, a tension of the original papers 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 is also changed. As a result, a position of a dancer roll provided in the splicer 3 or 7 is changed so that the stagnant length within the splicer 3 or 7 which would be inherently controlled as a constant value is changed, and so that as described above, a further error is generated in the final production length. It is also difficult to incorporate, into a softwear of a production control system (not shown) for controlling the subsequent devices such as the overhead bridge conveyor 13, the correcion value representative of any undue length change of the original papers 2, 9 or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 within the splicers 3, 7.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing defects inherent in the prior art, an object of the invention is to provide, in a corrugated cardboard producing machine, a heating amount adjusting device for a preheater, in which, even if the lap amount between the roll of the preheater and an original paper or a single face type corrugated cardboard sheet to be produced into a corrugated cardboard is changed, the introduction length of the sheet into the preheater is kept substantially unchanged, so that it is unnecessary to incorporate the correction value for the introduction length in the subsequent devices as well as the former devices for controlling the various controlling means, thereby reducing the errors in the final production length.
According to the invention, there is provided, in a corrugated cardboard producing machine having at least one preheater for heating a corrugated cardboard sheet of original paper or single face type corrugated cardboard sheet in each of processing stages for producing a corrugated cardboard by bonding a liner paper onto a corrugated central core paper, said machine being characterized in that said preheater includes a lap amount adjusting means whose insertion amount between a circumference of a roll of said preheater and the original paper or the single face type corrugated cardboard is adjustable, said lap amount adjusting means being movable along the circumference of said roll of the preheater.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a heating amount adjusting device of a preheater in a corrugated cardboard producing machine in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, showing a primary part of the structure in the case where the lap amount between the sheet and the roll is kept at a maximum level;
FIG. 2 is a view showing a state where the lap amount is reduced to half the lap amount shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view showing a state where the lap amount is reduced to a zero level relative to the state shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a second embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a third embodiment of the invention, in which the lap amount is kept at a maximum level;
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a state where the lap amount is reduced to half the lap amount shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a state where the lap amount is kept at a zero level;
FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a fourth embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an overall corrugated cardboard producing machine according to the prior art;
FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a primary part of the preheater according to the prior art; and
FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a state where the lap amount between the original paper or the single face type corrugated cardboard is changed to change the introduction length of the sheet in the preheater shown in FIG. 10.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A heating amount adjusting device in accordance with embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment in which a reference numeral 17 denotes a roll which is the same as that of the conventional preheater shown in FIG. 9, and reference numerals 19, 20 denote gears which are the same as those of the conventional system. Small diameter rolls 31a to 31d are equiangularly and rotatably carried between the respective gears 19 and 20. The small diameter rolls 31a and 31d are arranged so that the distance between the foremost small diameter roll 31a and the rearmost small diameter roll 31d is somewhat smaller than half the circumference of the roll 17 or equal to the substantially half the circumference. Also, it is preferable that the diameter of the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d is as small as possible since the change of the length of the original papers or the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets (hereinafter referred to as sheets A) is as small as possible, as described later. It is also preferable that the small diameter rolls are kept out of engagement with the roll 17. However, if the small diameter rolls would be kept in contact with the roll 17, in the case where the small diameter rolls are made of material which is likely to be slidable with respect to the roll 17 or the sheet A, there is no problem. Guide rolls 32 are arranged close to the roll 17 for guiding the introduction and feed-out of the sheet A relative to the roll 17. The guide rolls 32 are carried to the above-described conventional frame 18 to be rotatable but positionally unmovable.
In the case where the heating amount adjusting device for the preheater in accordance with the first embodiment needs a large amount of heat quantity for the sheet A in response to the various condition such as a moisture content, a thickness and paper quality of the sheet A, a temperature of the atmosphere, the humidity thereof and a production rate, the gears 19 and 20 are rotated by the operation of the motor 27 in the same manner as in the prior art so that the device is kept out of contact with the sheet A and the roll 17 as much as possible as shown in FIG. 1. As a result, the contact angle between the roll 17 and the sheet A over the entire circumference angle (360 degrees) is kept at a maximum possible angle that may be adjusted by the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d, that is, the maximum lap amount. Accordingly, the heating amount which is determined by the lap amount and the production rate of the sheet A is kept at a maximum level. On the other hand, in the case where half the above-described maximum heating amount is desired in accordance with the manufacturing factors such as paper quality of the sheet A, in the same manner as in the prior art, the motor 27 is driven so that the gears 19 and 20 are rotated through about 90 degrees As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d are rotated through about 90 degrees relative to the center axis of the roll 17, so that the small diameter rolls are interposed between the roll 17 and the sheet A. Thus, it is possible to reduce the lap amount to half the level of the former case, where the sheet A and the roll 17 are in direct contact with each other. Accordingly, the heating amount of the sheet A is half the heating amount at the maximum level determined by the production rate and the like. Also, in the case where it is unnecessary to heat the original paper A by the preheater, as described above, the motor 27 is driven so that the gears 19 and 20 are rotated through 180 degrees from the position of the maximum lap amount. As a result, the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d are interposed between the roll 17 and the sheet A, so that the sheet A is not in contact with the roll 17 at all. For this reason, the sheet A is not heated by the roll 17 at all, as shown in FIG. 3.
As described above, according to the first embodiment, by rotating the gears 19 and 20 by the action of the motor 27, it is possible to continuously adjust the lap amount between the roll 17 and the sheet A in response to the paper quality, the manufacture condition and the like as desired. It is thus possible to set the heating amount of the sheet A in response to the various conditions such as the paper quality of the sheet A. Even if the heating amount of the sheet A is set as desired, there is the change of the sheet A in the preheater only in correspondence with the change of the length caused by the diameter of the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d interposed between the sheet A and the roll 17. Therefore, there is no considerable change that is inherent in the prior art and it is unnecessary to input the correction value, corresponding to the change of the sheet A, into the subsequent devices.
FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment in which the heating amount adjusting device in accordance with the first embodiment is applied to each of the preheaters 14 of the three-stage type shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 4, there are shown upper small diameter rolls 31a to 31d, intermediate small diameter rolls 31a to 31d and lower small diameter rolls 31a to 31d which are adjusted, respectively, to the minimum position (zero position) the intermediate position and the maximum position of the adjustable lap amount. Namely, of the upper stage rolls, the single face type corrugated cardboard sheet 10 of the sheets A is introduced onto the roll 17 by the guidance of the guide rolls 32 but is not in contact with the roll 17 at all while fed out to the gluing machine 15, since the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d are located on the upper half circumference of the roll 17. On the other hand, since the intermediate small diameter rolls 31a to 31 d are adjusted to the position where the small diameter rolls are rotated back through 90 degrees from the position of the upper state small diameter rolls, the single face type corrugated cardboard sheet 11 is heated by the intermediate level between the zero to the maximum value of the adjustable lap amount. Since the lower stage small diameter rolls 31a ti 31d are located on the lower half circumference of the roll 17, the paper 16 as the line paper is heated at the maximum lap amount between the paper and the roll 17. The upper, intermediate and lower small diameter rolls 31a to 31d may be independently subjected to position adjustments as desired, so that the desired heating amounts may be obtained for the single face type corrugated cardboard sheets 10, 11 or the original papers 16 of the sheets A by the control of the rotational angles of the gears 19 and 20 in accordance with the various conditions as described above.
FIGS. 5 through 7 show a third embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, a half-arcuate shutter blade 33 is used as a lap amount adjusting tool B instead of the small diameter rolls 31a to 31d in accordance with the first embodiment. The shutter blade 33 is fixed to the gears 19 and 20 so as to cover substantially half the circumference of the roll 17. It is preferable that the shutter blade 33 is made of a material having a possible smallest thickness and that a sufficient gap is provided between the shutter blade 33 and the roll 17. However, if the shutter blade is made of a material having a sufficient heat-resistant property, a sufficient friction-resistance and a sufficient sliding property, it is possible to provide the shutter blade 33 in contact with the roll 17.
In the heating amount adjusting device according to the third embodiment, in the case where the maximum heating amount that may be set for the sheet A in accordance with the various conditions such as the paper quality of the sheet A is needed, the gears 19 and 20 are rotated by the action of the motor 27 in the same manner as in the prior art, so that the shutter blade 33 is kept at the position where the sheet A and the roll 17 are substantially separated from each other. As a result, the lap amount between the sheet A and the roll 17 is kept at a maximum level in the range adjustable by the shutter blade 33. Accordingly, the heating amount of the sheet A is kept at a maximum level determined by the lap amount and the production rate of the sheet A. On the other hand, in the case where the heating amount must be one half of the maximum heating amount in accordance with the various conditions such as the paper quality of the sheet A, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the motor 27 is driven to rotate the gears 19 and 20 through about 90 degrees, so that as shown in FIG. 6, substantially half the overall portion of the shutter blade 33 is interposed between the sheet A and the roll 17 to thereby reduce the lap amount to half the maximum level between the sheet A and the roll 17. Accordingly, the heating amount of the sheet A is reduced to half the heating amount determined by the 1/2 lap amount and the production rate of the sheet A. Also, in the case where the sheet A is subjected to no heat, as shown in FIG. 7, if the gears 19 and 20 are rotated by the motor 27 through about 90 degrees from the situation shown in FIG. 6, the shutter blade 33 as a whole is interposed between the sheet A and the roll 17. As a result, the sheet A is not contacted with the roll 17 at all. Thus, the sheet A is not heated by the roll 17 at all.
As described above, it is appreciated that also in the third embodiment, it is possible to adjust, as desired, the lap angle between the sheet A and the roll 17 by the shutter blade 33 from the maximum level to the zero level, whereby it is possible to set, as desired, the heating amount for the sheet A in correpondence with the various conditions such as the paper quality of the sheet A. In addition, according to the third embodiment, even if the heating amount is reset by the shutter blade 33, the length of the sheet A is just changed corresponding to the thickness of the shutter blade 33. This change in length is very small unlike the prior art according to which the correction value must be inputted to the subsequent various devices.
Also, according to the third embodiment, since the lap amount is adjusted by the shutter blade 33, the radiation of heat from the roll 17 is reduced by the shutter blade 33 to thereby suppress the loss of heat of the roll 17 and to keep the heat efficiency at a good level.
FIG. 8 shows a fourth embodiment in which the heating amount adjusting device according to the third embodiment is applied to each of the preheaters 14 of the three-stage type shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 8, for the sake of explanation, the respective positions of the upper shutter blade 33, the intermediate shutter blade 33 and the lower shutter blade 33 are adjusted to the minimum (zero) position, the intermediate position and the maximum position in the adjustable lap amount range. Namely, in the upper stage, the single face type corrugated cardboard 10 of the sheet A is introduced into the roll 17 but is not heated while fed to the subsequent gluing machine 15 since the shutter blade 33 is located on the upper half circumference of the roll 17 without contacting the single face type corrugated cardboard with the roll 17. On the other hand, the intermediate shutter blade 33 is adjustingly rotated back through about 90 degrees from the upper stage position, whereby the single face type corrugated cardboard is 11 is heated at the intermediate amount between the zero level and the maximum level of the adjustable lap amount. Also, of the lower stage, since the shutter blade 33 is located on the lower half of circumference of the roll 17, the original paper 16 as the liner paper is subjected to the maximum lap amount with the roll 17 and the heating amount is kept at the maximum level in the adjustable range. The shutter blade 33 of the upper, intermediate and lower stages may be independently adjusted by the control of the rotational angle of the gears 19 and 20 so as to obtain the desired heating amounts in conformity with the various conditions for the single face type corrugated cardboard 10, 11 and the original paper 15 of the sheet A, respectively.
It is also apparent that the heating amount adjusting device according to each of the embodiments may be applied to the preheater portion of the preconditioners 8 for controlling both the heating temperature and humidity for the sheet A.
As described above, in the heating amount adjusting device according to the present invention, even if the lap amount between the preheater and the original paper or the single face type corrugated cardboard for the final cardboard is changed, the introduction length of the original paper or the single face type corrugated cardboard into the preheater is kept substantially unchanged. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to incorporate the correction values for the change of the introduction length into the subsequent various devices as well as the former devices. It is thus possible to reduce the error in the final production length.
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A corrugated cardboard producing machine has a preheater for heating a corrugated cardboard sheet of original paper or single face type corrugatd cardboard sheet in each of various processing stages for producing a corrugated cardboard by bonding a liner paper onto a corrugated central core paper. The preheater is provided with a lap amount adjusting tool whose insertion amount between a circumference of a roll of the preheater and the original paper or the single face type corrugated cardboard is adjustable. The lap amount adjusting tool is movable along the circumference of the roll of the preheater.
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