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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention is broadly concerned with the mounting and positioning of heating elements in appliances, particularly tubular sheathed electric heating elements in dishwashers.
The elements must be precisely positioned, both vertically and horizontally, to prevent the exposure of portions of the appliance assembly to excess heat. This is of special concern when such portions are of synthetic resinous materials.
It is also essential, as a part of the safety control of the appliance, that the element be maintained against a temperature sensing probe to closely monitor the temperature of the heating element sheath. The maintaining of appropriate temperature sensing contact between the temperature probe and the heating element can be a problem as there is a tendency for relative movement between the temperature probe and heating element as the temperature of the heating element varies.
Difficulties are also encountered in providing for a stable support for the heating element in a manner which will not lead to structural damage to the heating element, and will not affect the efficiency and operating capability of the heating element.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The locator clip of the present invention is intended to comprise the sole means, between the mounted contact ends of the heating element, for locating and stabling positioning the heating element. In conjunction therewith, the locator clip is to retain the heating element both vertically and horizontally.
Another and equally important function of the locator clip is as a means for maintaining constant intimate contact between the heating element sheath and the temperature probe to ensure the desired close monitoring of the temperature of the element sheath as a part of the safety control of the appliance.
The locator clip is preferably formed from a single elongate sheet or strip of relatively thin stainless steel configured to engage about the heating element sheath and in turn receive the temperature probe therethrough to lie transversely across the sheath and in intimate contact therewith.
The clip is configured to receive the heating element sheath laterally within a central portion arcuately or otherwise configured to form a sleeve-like portion to conform to the sheath. A pair of end panels integrally project from the central portion laterally of each other and, through the inherent flexible resiliency of the sheet, particularly the central portion thereof, are manipulated to overlie each other in face to face relation after introduction of the heating element sheath in the central portion. Edge clips or ears on one of the end panels fold over and engage the other end panel to retain the clip in its folded or closed position.
The end panels include apertures transversely therethrough which align in the closed position and receive the temperature probe therethrough. The apertures are of a size to expose the heating element sheath for direct intimate engagement of the temperature probe with the sheath. Intimate engagement is assured by an integral spring flap on one of said end panels overlying and downwardly inclined relative to the aligned apertures for engagement and a constant downward biasing of the introduced temperature probe toward the underlying heating element sheath.
The central portion of the clip in the open position of the clip before mounting can be considered a split sleeve with a laterally directed mouth into which the sheath is freely laterally introduced. In the closed position, the sleeve fully encircles and retains the sheath. Small dimples can be formed in the closed sleeve which in turn slightly inwardly deform the sheath. This slight inward deformation has no effect either structurally or functionally on the heating element, and is provided to prevent total freedom of movement of the clip on the element sheath. As a practical matter, the clip will have limited freedom to rotate slightly around the sheath to facilitate introduction of the temperature probe into the aligned clip openings.
The locator clip of the invention is unique in that only a single clip is required for the mounting of the heating element with the clip stabilizing the heating element both horizontally and vertically, and, through a direct engagement with the temperature probe, additionally and significantly functioning as a means for effectively maintaining intimate engagement between the temperature probe and the element sheath.
The clip itself is an economically practical item both from a manufacturing standpoint and from an installation standpoint.
Other details, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the more specific disclosure of the invention following hereinafter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the locator clip from one side thereof;
FIG. 2 is a rotated perspective view of the locator clip;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the locator clip folded to engage a heating element;
FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of the heating element, with portions broken away, mounted in operative position utilizing the locator clip;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially on a plane passing along line 5--5 in FIG. 4; and
FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially on a plane passing along line 6--6 in FIG. 4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The locator clip 10 is formed from a single sheet or strip of foldable sheet material which is shape-sustaining and has a degree of flexibility or flexible resiliency. A preferred material is thin stainless steel.
The locator clip 10, noting FIGS. 1 and 2 and assuming the orientation of the clip as illustrated therein, includes an upper upperwardly extending first planar end panel 12 having inner and outer faces 14 and 16. A central portion 18, forming a generally semicircular arc extending outwardly beyond the outer face 16 of the upper panel 12, terminates in a lower second planar end panel 20 which projects beyond the inner face 14 of the first upper panel 12 at approximately 75 degrees to the plane of this first panel. The central portion 18 is elongate transversely across the clip 10 and defines what might be considered a split sleeve or a sleeve with a mouth opening laterally toward the inner side of the clip for the reception of a tubular heating element 22, or more particularly the sheath 24 thereof.
The first or upper end panel 12, along the opposed side edges thereof, include integral inwardly extending bendable retaining ears 26. In addition, and in order to accommodate a projecting temperature probe 28 therethrough, the first upper end panel 12 has a central opening 30 defined therethrough. This opening 30 commencing in downwardly spaced relation to the upper edge 32 of the end panel 12, extends for the full height of the panel 12 and partially along the upper leg or extent 34 of the central portion 18 to and slightly into the arcing bight section 36.
A biasing flap 38 is integrally formed with the first end panel 12 centrally along the upper edge of the opening 30 and extends outwardly from the outer face 16 and at a slight downward inclination, for example approximately 69 degrees to the plane of the panel 12 so as to partially restrict the full height of the opening 30 for reasons to be described subsequently. The flap 38 terminates in a slightly upturned outer lip 40 and is, because of the nature of the material of the sheet or strip, inherently flexibly resilient. As desired, a rigidifying gusset 42 can be defined centrally along the joinder between the flap 38 and end panel 12.
The lower end panel 20 also has an opening 44 defined centrally therethrough. This opening 44 is of equal width with the opening 30.
Noting FIG. 3, it will be appreciated that the locator clip 10 is mounted to the heating element sheath 24 by engaging the sheath within the split sleeve or central portion 18 through the laterally opening mouth thereof, after which the lower or second end panel 20 is upwardly bent to lie against the inner face of the upper first end panel 12 to which it is clamped by an inward bending of the opposed ears 26. The element sheath 24 is thus snugly received and frictionally retained in the now completely encircling or closed sleeve 18. Further stabilization of the sheath 24 within the closed sleeve 18 is provided by inwardly dimpling the closed sleeve 18, as at 46 in FIG. 5, to form corresponding slight inward deformations in the sheath. Such dimples, while allowing a limited relative rotation movement of the clip and sheath to facilitate mounting within the appliance, substantially fix the locator clip to the sheath.
When mounted to the sheath, the end panel opening 44 aligns with the end panel opening 30 on an axis transverse of the sleeve, with corresponding upper and side edges of the openings laterally aligning with each other. However, the lower edge 48 of the second end panel opening 44 is positioned slightly below the lower edge of the first end panel 12 where this end panel 12 integrally joins the upper leg 34 of the central portion or sleeve 18. As such, and as shall be explained in more detail subsequently, the lower edge 48 of the opening 44 does not interfere with the free and intimate engagement of the temperature probe 28 with the sleeve-retained heating element sheath 24.
After a mounting of the locator clip to the element sheath 24, the locator clip with attached heating element mounts to the temperature probe 28. This is effected in a manner whereby the heating element is precisely positioned both vertically and horizontally, and retained in intimate engagement with the temperature probe. More specifically, the locator clip is positioned to align the temperature probe with the overlying openings 30 and 44, after which the locator clip is pressed onto the temperature probe 28. The width of the openings 30/44 is such as to allow passage of the temperature probe 28 therethrough while precluding lateral shifting of the probe between the side edges of the openings. Similarly, the height of the openings 30/44 is so restricted by the downwardly inclined retaining flap 38 as to require a positive upward flexing of this flap 38 as the probe is introduced through the openings. The biasing force of the flap in turn effects a positive and constant downward force on the temperature probe and a relative upward movement of the heater element sheath into engagement with the temperature probe through that portion of the opening 30 which extends along the upper leg 34 of the sleeve 18. In other words, the extension of the opening 30 fully exposes a transverse portion of the element sheath which is in turn engaged directly and intimately by the temperature probe 28. The probe is in turn retained in intimate engagement, not withstanding such expansion and contraction as may be encountered during use of the heater element, by the constant biasing force of the overlying flap 38. This intimate engagement will be best noted in FIGS. 5 and 6, and is particularly significant in providing for a close monitoring of the temperature of the element sheath as a part of the safety control of the appliance.
With reference to FIG. 4, an installation within a dishwasher or the like is illustrated wherein the heating element 22 has the free contact ends 50 thereof downturned, extended through and engaged to a base wall 52 in any conventional manner, as by retaining collars 54 and nuts. Preferably the only other mount for the heating element 22 is the locator clip 10 which is centrally mounted on the heating element sheath 24 and, in the manner previously described, engaged with a projecting temperature probe 28 affixed to and extending through the side or back wall 56 of the appliance tub or internal chamber. An inherent degree of flexibility within the heating element 22 allows for an initial mounting of either the contact ends 50 or the sheath mounted locator clip 10, or in fact a simultaneous engagement and seating of both in the operative position within the dishwasher or the like appliance.
The foregoing is illustrative of the features of the invention, and should not be considered as limitations on the scope of the invention as other embodiments incorporating such features may occur to those skilled in the art.
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A locator clip including a central sleeve engageable about a heating element sheath. The clip includes a pair of overlying end panels integral with the sleeve and centrally aperatured to accommodate a temperature probe transversely across the sleeve received sheath. The clip sleeve opens upwardly to expose the sheath to the overlying probe for intimate contact therebetween encouraged by a resilient retaining flap engaging the probe.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001]
[0000]
4640314
February 1987
Mock
4160880
July 1979
Brey
4423284
December 1983
Kaplan
4255610
March 1981
Textoris
5220600
June 1993
Chouanard, et al.
5326934
July 1994
LeMaster, et al.
5683001
November 1997
Masuda, et al.
6223909
May 2001
Mendoza
D440210
April 2001
Larsen, et al.
6215069
April 2001
Martin, et al.
2002/0197045
December 2002
Schmidt, et al.
20070227755
Oct. 27, 2006
Wu; Hsinhan; et al.
7,043,543
May 9, 2006
Ewing, et al.
7,165,687
Jan. 23, 2007
Stevens, et al.
7,178,679
Feb. 20, 2007
Canty, et al.
7,277,273
Oct. 2, 2007
Smith, et al..
20070215375
Mar. 15, 2007
Peng; Robin
20070221775
Sep. 27, 2007
Richardson; Ron
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not Applicable.
REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX
[0003] Not Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The primary utility of this invention (the Cord Board) is an open-faced, wall-mounted or convertible-type rack as defined under sections 2, 18, and 26 of CLASS 211. The primary component is the Cord Board, which holds the Cord Hooks on which cords are wound and includes space for mounting a properly configured surge suppressor.
[0005] The secondary utility of this invention (the Electrical Cabinet) is as a mountable cabinet, as largely described under section 246 of CLASS 312, which can be mounted to plaster or wood walls, office cubicles, entertainment centers and computer desks. The secondary utility is the result of adding the sides, top/bottom and front door to the Cord Board. (Note: this was not categorized under Class 174 because the intention is to also route/store television cables and phone lines as well as electrical power cords.)
[0006] Issues with current designs. Existing electrical cord stowage units and organizers are not generally made for working (electrically charged) surge protectors or excess cords, and they do not present a desirable appearance in living rooms or offices. Every office and home entertainment system uses surge protectors, and many of them end up with large amounts of excess cable that is stuffed haphazardly under desks or behind drawers.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] This invention is a cabinet that is designed to safely organize and hide a surge protector, electrical cords and television or internet cables. It can be made from various types of durable material, depending on the surface on which it may be mounted, and when the door is closed, the cords and surge protector will be completely hidden. It will be only slightly bigger than a typical medicine cabinet, with ten sets of cord hooks to stow excess cable.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 (sheet 1 / 5 ) provides an overview of the Cord Board, and is recommended to be the Front Page view, with FIG. 2 . The Cord Board consists of a mountable board with four holes for mounting screws, several sets of opposing pairs of hooks, and open space in the center.
[0009] FIG. 2 (sheet 1 / 5 ) portrays the Cord Board with the hinged-door cabinet, and is recommended to be included with FIG. 1 in the Front Page view.
[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates one style of Cord Hooks that resemble and function like a nautical two-headed bit found on most harbor_piers, where cords can be wrapped in a figure 8 or circular fashion. FIG. 3A illustrates a frontward view, as would be seen when the Cord Board is mounted to a wall. Another style of hook that could be used as well would be a nautical cleat. The excess cable of one cord will wrap neatly around each set of 2 posts the way a halyard would wrap around a cleat, either in a figure 8 or in a circle.
[0011] FIG. 4 shows the front view of the fully assembled Cord Board, with 10 Cord Hooks attached. The measurements illustrated are in inches, and are only for example purposes and will not be specified in the claim. The other figures illustrate the Cord Board without the Cord Hooks.
a. FIG. 4A is the top view, looking down the board. b. FIG. 4B is the bottom view. c. FIG. 4C is the left view. Note that the higher half of the lip is nearer the front. d. FIG. 4D is the right view. e. FIG. 4E is the back view.
[0017] FIG. 5 features the assembled four sides of a cabinet designed for use with a hinged door. Again, the measurements are in inches and only for example purposes.
a. FIGS. 5A and 5B depict the top and right views (respectively) of the top piece of the cabinet. FIG. 5A shows the hole (cableway) needed to route cables (and varied sizes of household electrical plugs) and the lip required at the back of the top piece that is needed to hold the cabinet to the Cord Board. b. FIG. 5C illustrates the top view of the bottom piece with the cableway. Note that the back end of the cableway is open. c. FIG. 5D illustrates the right view of the left piece, and in order to save space on the sheet is also the mirror image of the right piece. d. FIGS. 5E and 5F portray the back and front views (respectively) of the cabinet door, including hinges and magnetic latch. The hinges and latch are intended to maintain a slight gap between the door and the cabinet walls in order to allow air flow and the door style used here is only one example.
[0022] FIG. 6 features the assembled four sides of a cabinet designed for use with a sliding door.
a. FIGS. 6A and 6B depict the top and right views (respectively) of the top piece of the cabinet. FIG. 6A shows the hole (cableway) needed to route cables (and varied sizes of household electrical plugs) and the lip required at the back of the top piece. b. FIG. 6C illustrates the top view of the bottom piece with the cableway with a groove cut to accommodate the sliding door. Note that the back end of the cableway is open. c. FIG. 6D illustrates the right view of the left piece, with a groove cut to guide the sliding door up and down. In order to save space on the sheet, FIG. 6D is also the mirror image of the right piece. d. FIGS. 6E and 6F portray the sliding cabinet door, the edges of which must be thin enough to fit in the grooves illustrated in FIGS. 6C and 6D . The door style featured here is only one example.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0027] Improvements Invented.
a. The Cord Board ( FIG. 4 ) is a variation on other cord stowage and garage organizing systems, particularly in that it is meant to store the excess cord on cords that are actually charged and in operation. b. Although the appearance of the cabinet is not new, the use of the cabinet to hide and protect the surge protector and the lengths of excess cords and cables is new ( FIG. 1 ).
[0030] Making the Cord Board.
a. Step 1: Fabricate a 16″×24″×½″ piece for the back piece, with the ¼″×¼″×16″ notch in the rear of the top edge as shown in FIG. 4 and four holes for mounting screws, one in each corner. b. Step 2: On the back piece, center and mount one Cord Hook set 4″ from the top and 3″ from the left side. Mount 4 more sets at the same height evenly spaced every 2½″. Repeat step 2 from bottom left ( FIGS. 3 & 4 ).
[0033] Making the Cabinet.
a. Step 1: Material chosen does not matter as long as it is sturdy and inflexible, but appearance and durability are important. Preferred material is ½″ thick wood of all types and shades. b. Step 2: Fabricate the top, bottom, and side pieces as illustrated in FIGS. 5A through 5D . The interior measurements of the movable cabinet will be 23½″×16″×4″. Cut the pieces accordingly, allowing ½″ excess on the top and back edges of the side pieces and on the back edges of the top piece to ensure those measurements will be from inner edge to inner edge. Specifically, the top piece will be 16″×4½″×½″; and side pieces, 24½″×4½″×½″ ( FIG. 5A ). The top piece will also require a ½″×½″×16″ lip to be mounted along the back edge, in such a way as will allow it to point downward when affixed to the Cord Board. c. Step 2a: If using the sliding door option, cut ½″ off the front of the top piece, and cut ⅛″×⅛″ grooves ¼″ from the front of the left and right pieces and ¼″ from the front of the bottom piece ( FIGS. 6A through 6D ). d. Step 3: Cut one 3″×4″ hole in the back and center of the top and bottom pieces ( FIGS. 5A and 5C or 6 A and 6 C). e. Step 4 : Attach the top piece (hole and lip to the rear) to the top left side (flush to the top) of the right side piece, then attach the bottom piece (hole to the rear) to the bottom left side (flush to the bottom) of the right side piece. f. Step 5: Attach the left side pieces to the top and bottom pieces (flush). g. Step 6: Make the door.
i. Hinged door: Cut one 26″×17″×¼″ piece for the door, using various designs, and attach hinges and magnetic latch as depicted in FIG. 5E . Continue to Step 7. ii. Sliding door: Cut one 24″×16¼″×¼″ piece for the door, using various designs; then, cut ⅛″ square strips off the front of the left, right and bottom edges as depicted in FIG. 6E . Slide the door into place and skip steps 7 and 8.
h. Step 7: Attach the hinges to the right piece and ensure door swings smoothly. i. Step 8: Attach metal plate to the left piece and ensure magnetic latch operates properly.
[0045] Using the Electrical Cabinet.
a. Step 1: Choose the desired position on a wall, cabinet, desk or cubicle. The cabinet can be mounted (with screws or appropriately heavy duty, double-sided tape) on any type of vertical structure (i.e., wall, cubicle, desk, entertainment center or larger cabinet) larger than 26″ tall and 17″ wide. It can also be used without being mounted (i.e., in a leaning or lying down position). Choose the position according to appearance and efficiency. It should be placed where it can hold and hide not only the largest number of cords, but also the largest segments of as many cords as possible. b. Step 2: Mount or position the Cord Board where it is intended to remain.
i. To mount with ⅛″×2″ round-headed screws, hold the Cord Board in the position and mark the wall through the mounting holes in the back piece and then use a ¼″ screw anchor for a plaster wall or drill (using a 1/16″ drill bit) directly into wood. Screw in the mounting screws, leaving at least ½″ for the Cord Board thickness. If intention is to use Cabinet, skip to Step 3 below. Otherwise, mount the Cord Board on the screws and tighten as needed and if desired. ii. If mounting with heavy-duty double-sided tape, simply mount as desired. However, do not use double-sided tape if mounting directly on fabric (i.e., the type found in many cubicles). Tape works best on smooth, solid finish and when using only the Cord Board without the cabinet. iii. If mounting against a fabric-covered metal wall (like a common cubicle), the best method is to sit the Cord Board up on the floor or desk and lean it against the wall and, if desired, use a fabric clip to hold the Cord Board against the wall.
c. Step 3: Put the cabinet (with door) over the Cord Board, ensuring the cabinet lip is inserted into the notch at the back top Cord Board. If desired, use ⅛″×1½″ screws to secure the left and right side pieces to the Cord Board. d. Step 4: Mount the surge protector on the mounting screws inside the cabinet. e. Step 5: Run the cords (including internet or TV cable) through either the top or bottom cabinet holes, then plug into the surge protector's sockets. After each cord is plugged in, wind the excess cord around the Cord Hooks (one cord per) in a figure 8 and/or circular motion. f. Step 6: Plug surge protector into wall socket. g. Step 7: Turn on one unit at a time until all of them are energized and ensure all systems operate properly. h. Step 8: Close the cabinet door and continue using or modify as desired.
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The technical disclosure of this invention (the Electrical Cabinet with Cord Board) is a particular way to use already existing equipment for the purpose of safely holding and hiding an operational surge protector and all of the excess cords from view. Specifically, the Cord Board provides space to mount a surge protector and up to ten (10) sets of Cord Hooks on which excess household or office cords can be wrapped and hidden from view.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is the employment of damping means to support structures for controlling vibration caused by external forces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Laminated rubber supports for structures have been developed as illustrated in the Nikkei Architecture issue of Jul. 14, 1986, pp. 54-75. The conventional prior art laminated rubber support comprises vertically arrayed layers of solid rubber between which steel plates are interposed. The resultant lamination is sandwiched between upper and lower steel plates, which provide means for securing the lamination to upper and lower structures, such as a building superstructure and its foundation.
Conventionally, a solid laminated rubber support used in a structure's base isolation substructure deforms in proportion to its height. However, the diameter of the support must be reduced in order to reduce shearing stiffness. Therefore, two desirable physical properties of a solid prior art laminated rubber support, i.e., high deformation and low shearing moduli, have heretofore been difficult to obtain simultaneously.
As shown in prior art FIGS. 23 and 24, reduction of shearing modulus and increase in deformation modulus have been attempted by forming a hollow laminated rubber support. In so doing, however, the resistance of the support against buckling is reduced.
With reference to laminated rubber supports for uses other than as base isolation means, they have been known for use as springs in passive type vibration control devices and as spring elements or supporting devices in active type vibration control devices for controlling the vibration of a structure by applying a control force such as with oil pressure or electromagnetic force. In these vibration control devices, normally the natural period of the spring is synchronized with the natural period of a structure or it is set to be a period longer than the natural period of the structure (e.g., in cases where the vibration control device is used as a supporting device). A large stroke becomes necessary for getting a large seismic response control from a compact device. For example, an active-type vibration control device as disclosed in Japanese Pat. Laid-open No. 1-275866 is constructed with a weight which is hung from an upper steel frame and supported horizontally by pulleys and hanging members and in a way that the weight is capable of making relative movement against a building. The weight is connected to the building through a hydraulic cylinder. With direction from a control device, the weight pushes the cylinder through a hydraulic servo valve. The center of the cylinder is supported by a pin at the center of gravity of the weight and a piston of the cylinder is fixed to the building. However, there is a problem with this device in that the resulting movement in a vertical direction is also increased accordingly as the stroke becomes longer. In addition, when the natural period of a structure as a seismic response control object becomes longer, it becomes harder to use the laminated rubber supports having the period matching to such a device as described above. There is still a further problem, when vibrating the weight by means of the actuator as described, that the vibration due to the drive is transmitted to the building, resulting in the transmission of noise and undesirable vibration in the floor upon which the device is installed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The damping device of the present invention comprises a plurality of vertically stacked rubber dampers. Each rubber damper includes a plurality of vertically arrayed, ring-shaped, hollow rubber pads between which are interposed steel bonding plates. Steel end plates are also bonded to the upper and lower surfaces of each of the rubber dampers, which facilitates vertical stacking and provides the means for securing the stack as an integral unit.
Each inventive damping device has the advantage that the shearing stiffness thereof is minimal, and the deformation capacity thereof is great, in comparison with prior art solid laminated rubber supports. The rubber dampers may have the same diameters, or the diameters may be graduated from damper to damper so as to provide a pyramidal-configured damping device.
In another embodiment of the invention, the stacking may include a mix of prior art solid rubber dampers with the inventive hollow rubber dampers in order to obtain a particular desired shearing stiffness and/or length of stroke. In either event, the vibration control damping device of the present invention functions as a spring element as well as a supporting device, for keeping the damping device in a neutral position whether the device is active or passive.
In use as a dynamic damping device (hereinafter DD), the device is positioned with like devices at predetermined positions relative to a supported structure as seismic response control means in conjunction with an additional body of predetermined mass m d mounted on the damping device. It is considered that the mass m d of the additional mass body is within the normal range of 1/50 to 1/100 of a mass m 1 of the structure. The damping device functions as a spring with a spring constant k d , having great deformability in a horizontal direction and a long period corresponding to the natural period of the supported structure.
The subject inventive damping device may be used, for instance, with:
(a) An actuator for applying a control force u(t) corresponding to the vibration of the structure between the structure having a mass m 1 and the additional mass body having a predetermined mass m d (designated as AMD hereinafter).
(b) A spring having a predetermined spring constant k d between the structure and the additional mass body in the construction of (a) above synchronizes the period in the case of freely vibrating the additional mass body with the natural period of the structure (designated as HMD hereinafter).
(c) A double mass damper (designated as DMD hereinafter) provides a second additional mass body having a predetermined mass m d for an additional mass body having a predetermined mass m a which allows a control force u(t) between the first additional mass body and the second additional mass body, and synchronizes the periods of the first additional mass body m a and the second additional mass body m d with the natural period of the structure using a spring with a constant k b , in which a control force u(t) is applied between the first and second additional mass bodies. A plurality of damping devices are installed at predetermined positions on the structure as a seismic response control device, and the additional mass body having the predetermined mass m d (or m a ) is mounted on the damping devices. In the case of active mass dampers (AMD), the damping devices are preferably used to support the additional mass body in a vertical direction and to function as springs for keeping the additional mass body in a neutral position with respect to horizontal deflection. The damping devices should have longer periods than the natural period of the structure so as not to be counter-productive when the control force u(t) is applied.
As to the noise and vibration problems associated with AMD, these problems are reduced when the additional mass body is supported by the inventive damping devices.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a damping device having little shearing stiffness and a long period highly stabilized against deformation by the stacking of hollow laminated rubber dampers in multi-stages by means of connection plates.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a readily producible damping device with an easily adjustable spring constant in a horizontal direction by means of the number of laminated rubber dampers stacked in a vertical direction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a passive or active type vibration damping device which comprises a spring element having a long period and a large stroke, and is suitable to a structure having a long period, such as a tall building.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a vibration damping device which can reduce noise and vibration in the structure, particularly on the floor on which the device is installed, by supporting an additional mass body using the above-described laminated rubber damping device as a spring element and/or a supporting device.
Finally, it is another object of the present invention to provide a compact vibration control device having simplified construction by using the above-described damping device as a spring element and/or as a supporting device for structures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the inventive damping device in which the stacked laminated rubber dampers of the device are of uniform diameter;
FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the inventive damping device in which the stacked laminated rubber dampers of the device, from top to bottom of the stack, have increasing diameters;
FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention in which a plurality of inventive damping devices are secured together with steel plates;
FIG. 4 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a passive mass damper using inventive damping devices as supports and springs;
FIG. 6 is an elevational view of a passive mass damper similar to FIG. 5 and including reinforcing steel plates to interconnect the inventive damping devices;
FIG. 7 is an elevational view of an active mass damper using inventive damping devices as springs to support a vibratable mass with an actuator;
FIG. 8 is an elevational view of an active mass damper using inventive damping devices as springs to support first and second vibratable masses with an actuator;
FIG. 9 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow laminated rubber damper with an arcuate concave exterior wall assembled in an inventive damping device;
FIG. 10 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 10--10 of FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow laminated rubber damper with an arcuate concave interior wall assembled in an inventive damping device;
FIG. 12 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 12--12 of FIG. 11;
FIG. 13 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow laminated rubber damper with arcuate concave exterior and interior walls assembled in an inventive damping device;
FIG. 14 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 14--14 of FIG. 13;
FIG. 15 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper with polygonal exterior and interior walls;
FIG. 16 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper in which reinforcing ribs are integral with the interior wall;
FIG. 17 is a partially sectioned plan view of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 17--17 of FIG. 16;
FIG. 18 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper in which reinforcing ribs are integral with the exterior wall;
FIG. 19 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 19--19 of FIG. 18;
FIG. 20 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper in which reinforcing ribs are integral with the exterior and interior walls;
FIG. 21 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 21--21 of FIG. 20;
FIG. 22 is a partially sectioned plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper with rib-reinforced polygonal exterior and interior walls;
FIG. 23 is a sectional elevational view of a prior art laminated rubber damper;
FIG. 24 is a partially sectioned plan view of a prior art laminated rubber damper taken along the line 24--24 of FIG. 23;
FIG. 25 is a schematic elevational view of a solid rubber damper showing its potential lateral deformation;
FIG. 26 is a schematic elevational view of a hollow rubber damper showing its potential lateral deformation;
FIG. 27 is a sectional elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper similar to FIG. 9, but with solid disk-type steel laminated plates;
FIG. 28 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 28--28 of FIG. 27;
FIG. 29 is an elevational view in section of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper similar to FIGS. 9 and 27, but reinforced with both ring-shaped steel plates and disk-shaped steel plates;
FIG. 30 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 30--30 of FIG. 29;
FIG. 31 is an elevational view in section of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper similar to FIG. 16, but reinforced with disk-shaped steel plates;
FIG. 32 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 32--32 of FIG. 31;
FIG. 33 is an elevational view in section of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper similar to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 16 and 31, but reinforced with both ring-shaped steel plates and disk-shaped steel plates; and
FIG. 34 is an elevational view in section of a preferred embodiment of a hollow rubber damper taken along the line 34--34 of FIG. 33.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
As used in this description of the invention, the term "ring" shall mean not only a flat circular member with a center opening but also a flat polygonal-sided member with a center opening. The term "disk" shall mean not only a flat circular member with no opening, but also a flat polygonal-sided member with no opening.
FIG. 1 shows a vertical stacked three-stage laminated hollow rubber damping device A as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, comprising three hollow laminated rubber dampers 1 connected to each other by interposed steel plates 6 and fasteners 7. A prior art monolithic laminated rubber damping device of the same height as the inventive device of FIG. 1 will buckle before the inventive device of FIG. 1, thereby reducing the effective stroke of the monolithic damping device compared to the effective stroke of the inventive multi-stage damping device. Furthermore, the use of the inventive hollow laminated rubber damping device provides a longer stroke in fewer stages than solid multi-stage laminated rubber damping devices. In addition, since fewer stages are required for a hollow laminated rubber damping device than for a solid laminated rubber damping device, less vertical clearance is required for the inventive damping device without sacrificing the benefits of a long period. FIGS. 25 and 26 compare the deformation potential of a solid laminated rubber damper, FIG. 25, with the deformation potential of a hollow laminated rubber damper, FIG. 26. As shown in FIG. 26, Delta 1 (δ 1 ) exceeds Delta 0 (δ 0 ) by Delta 2 (δ 2 ), which is depicted as substantially thirty percent.
FIG. 2 shows a pyramidal-configured laminated hollow rubber damping device as another preferred embodiment of the present invention in which the diameter of each stage of laminated rubber dampers increases from top damper 1A to bottom damper 1C. With this configuration, horizontal deformation is maximized while at the same time improving stability and anti-buckling strength.
FIGS. 3 and 4 show a further preferred embodiment of the present invention in which a plurality of spaced-apart hollow laminated rubber damping devices are connected to each other by means of horizontal connection plates 8. Connection plates 8 provide a parallelogram-type mechanism wherein the plates 8 shift horizontally as the damper 1 of damping devices C laterally deforms.
FIG. 5 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention in which an additional mass body 11 is supported by four laminated damping devices A on a structure 10. The damping devices have large strokes and long periods corresponding to the natural period of the structure 10 obtained by vertically stacking single hollow laminated rubber dampers 1 in a plurality of stages.
Where the mass of the structure 10 is expressed as m 1 , the mass of the additional mass body 11 is expressed as m d , the spring constant of the main body of the structure is expressed as k 1 , the spring constant of the hollow laminated rubber damping device A is expressed as k d , and a damping coefficient is expressed as c d , the intrinsic angular frequency of the structure 10, comprising a main vibration system may be expressed as:
ω.sub.1 =(k.sub.1 /m.sub.1).sup.1-2
The mass m d of the additional mass body 11, comprising a vibration absorption system, is selected so that the ratio μ of the mass m d to the main m 1 of the structure 10 may be
μ=m.sub.d /m.sub.1 ≧0.01
and at this time, the intrinsic angular frequency of the vibration absorption system ω d is given by:
ω.sub.d =(1/1+μ)ω.sub.1
Then, the damping coefficient c d and the damping factor h d are expressed by:
c.sub.d =2m.sub.d ω.sub.d h.sub.d
h.sub.d =[3μ/8(1+μ)].sup.1/2
FIG. 6 shows an additional mass 11, with steel connection plates 9 to give mass 11 high stability such as described with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4.
FIG. 7 shows a mass 11 mounted on the inventive damping devices A, such as shown in FIG. 5, and including an actuator 12 which applies a vibration control force u(t) to mass 11 to control the vibration of the structure 10. The actuator may be hydraulic, electromagnetic, or the like.
The stacked hollow laminated rubber dampers 1, in combination to form the inventive damping device, function as springs between the main body of the structure 10 and the additional mass body 11, wherein:
ω.sub.d ≦(1/2)ω.sub.1
and the control force u(t) may be expressed as:
u(t)=G.sub.1 (dx.sub.1 /dt)+G.sub.2 (dx.sub.d /dt)
in which x 1 is a displacement of the structure 10 and x d is a displacement of a first added mass body. G 1 shows a gain in a circuit including an AGC circuit or the like to the response speed of the structure. Furthermore, the second term in the above equation gives a damping property to the additional mass body side by adding a product resulting from multiplying a gain G 2 (minus sign) by the vibration speed of the additional mass body side to the control force, wherein more stabilization is attained.
In the case of HMD, the spring constant k d may be set so that the vibration of the additional mass body 11 is synchronized with the vibration of the structure 10, wherein:
ω.sub.d =ω.sub.1
and the control force u(t) may be expressed as:
u(t)=G.sub.1 (dx.sub.1 /dt)+G.sub.2 (dx.sub.d /dt)+G.sub.3 (x.sub.1 -x.sub.d)
wherein G 3 is a gain having a minus sign, and a part of the intertial force acting on the additional mass body 11 at the vibration time is canceled by the third term so as to allow the additional mass body 11 to vibrate by a small control force.
FIG. 8 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein a second additional mass body 13 having a predetermined mass m b is further provided to the additional mass body 11 having a predetermined mass m a and the control force u(t) is added by an actuator 14 between the first additional mass body 11 and the second additional mass body 13 to actively control the vibration of the structure. With this arrangement, application to a structure 10 having a long period is possible when the additional mass body 11 is supported by the inventive hollow laminated rubber damping devices A. Since hollow laminated rubber supports have great deformability, the resulting vibration control is very effective.
FIGS. 9 through 22 show modifications of the hollow laminated rubber damper supports preferred for use in the present invention.
FIGS. 9 through 15 show hollow laminated rubber dampers with arcuate concave walls for use in preferred embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 9 and 10 show a hollow laminated rubber damper having a plurality of ring-shaped steel plates 3 embedded between arcuately concave exterior wall 2A and vertical interior wall 4. Upper and lower steel plates 6A and 6B are rigidly secured to the upper and lower ends of the hollow laminated rubber damper 1. Upper and lower plates 6A and 6B may be vertically secured to upper and lower plates 6A and 6B of other laminated rubber dampers, such as with threaded fasteners 7, FIG. 2, or the like.
In contrast to FIGS. 9 and 10, in the device of FIGS. 11 and 12 the interior wall 4A is arcuately concave, whereas it is the exterior wall 2 which is vertical. In the embodiment of FIGS. 13 and 14, both the exterior wall 2A and the interior wall 4A are arcuately concave, although not as pronouncedly so as walls 2A and 4A of FIGS. 9 and 11, respectively.
FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of the invention where the outer periphery of the laminated rubber support is rectangular. In cases where the outer shape is circular, the shearing stiffness of the hollow laminated rubber dampers are all the same. On the other hand, where the outer shape of the laminated rubber damper is made rectangular or elliptic, the shearing stiffness can be varied depending on the direction of the seismic force. For example, where the natural period of the structure as a base isolation or seismic response control object varies greatly depending on the direction thereof, effective base isolation and seismic response control become possible by altering the shearing stiffness depending on the direction. Even with respect to the non-uniform sections of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 9 through 14, it is possible to make the outer periphery of the hollow laminated rubber damper 1 rectangular or elliptic to give the hollow laminated rubber damper 1 directionality.
The steel plates 3 are ring shaped and embedded between the hollow rubber pads 2, but disk-type steel plates may be used so as to divide the hollow portion 4B within the rubber pads 2. It is within the contemplation of the invention to use all disk-type plates instead of ring-type steel plates in the hollow laminated rubber dampers 1. It is also within the contemplation of the invention to use disk-type steel plates interposed between the ring-shaped steel plates. By interposing some disk-type steel plates, a more stable construction will be obtained.
The hollow laminated rubber dampers shown in FIGS. 16 through 22 include vertical reinforcing ribs 5 to improve anti-buckling strength.
The device of FIG. 15 illustrates that in one embodiment of the inventive device, the horizontal cross section of the device may be rectangular, rather than circular, in certain applications. In the case where the outer shape of the device is circular, the shearing stiffness of the laminated rubber is the same in all directions. On the other hand, when the outer shape of the laminated rubber is made rectangular or elliptic, the shearing stiffness can be varied depending on the direction of the seismic impact. For example, where the natural period of the laminated support as a base isolation or seismic response control device varies depending on the direction of the seismic force, effective base isolation and seismic response control become possible by altering the shearing stiffness depending on the direction of stress. Even with respect to the annular cross-sections of the inner and outer walls of FIGS. 9, 11, and 13, these walls may be rectangular or elliptic to give the laminated rubber support customized shearing stiffness.
As shown in FIGS. 27, 28, 31, and 32, disk-type plates 3A may be used in lieu of ring-shaped plates 3. In the alternative, as shown in FIGS. 29, 30, 33, and 34, disk-type plates 3A may be interposed between the ring-shaped plates 3.
By selectively interspersing disk-type steel plates between ring-shaped plates, localized deformation may be controlled, resulting in more stable construction.
FIGS. 16 through 22 and 31 through 34 show preferred embodiments of the hollow laminated rubber dampers 1A with reinforcing ribs 5 and 5A.
The preferred embodiment of the hollow laminated rubber damper used in the invention, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, includes a plurality of vertical, circumferentially evenly spaced apart reinforcing ribs 5 projecting laterally from the interior wall 4 to stiffen the hollow laminated rubber damper support against buckling. By improving the buckling strength in this manner, it is possible to more fully make use of the deformability of a hollow laminated rubber damper structure having little shearing stiffness. In like manner, a plurality of vertical reinforcing ribs 5A are formed on the external wall surface 2 of the hollow laminated rubber damper 1 in the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 18 and 19.
In the preferred embodiment of the hollow laminated rubber damper support shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, reinforcing ribs 5 are formed on the internal wall surface 4 and reinforcing ribs 5A are formed on external wall surface 2 of the laminated rubber support.
FIG. 22 shows a rectangular hollow laminated rubber damper support similar to FIG. 15, but in addition having internal and external wall reinforcing ribs 5 and 5A, respectively.
The inventive devices shown in FIGS. 16 through 22 are also reinforced with ring-shaped plates 3.
It will occur to those skilled in the art, upon reading the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with a study of the drawings, that certain modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the intent or scope of the invention. It is intended, therefore, that the invention be construed and limited only by the appended claims.
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A plurality of laminated rubber or rubber-like elastoplastic ring-configured pads vertically stacked and secured together to provide seismic damping for a building structure. The laminated pads include ring-like steel plates or solid disk-like steel plates to form one laminated stage of a multi-stage seismic damping device. A plurality of damping devices are used to support a vibratable mass on a building structure. The combination of stacked ring-configured elastoplastic pads and steel plates provides a damping device having a high lateral deformation capacity with a long period and high resistance to buckling. The damping device is suitable for protecting building structures having long natural periods, such as multi-storied buildings.
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[0001] This application claims the priority of German application 10 2005 028 584.8, filed Jun. 21, 2005, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention pertains to a coaxial valve including a valve box, having at least one fluid inlet opening, at least one fluid outlet opening, and a common flow channel connecting the fluid inlet and fluid outlet openings together. A tubular shaped valve casing, which is prevented from turning but permitted to be axially pivotable, features a fluid inlet port and an outlet port, which join inside the common flow channel. A shutoff mechanism, located inside of the valve box, is coaxial to the valve casing and designed to shut off the fluid inlet port or the outlet port of the valve casing, and a drive is provided to produce axial movement of the valve casing. The valve may be used with cryogenic fluids.
[0003] Special requirements must be met with valves that serve for the regulating and sealing off of a liquid or gaseous medium under extreme conditions, such as chemical aggressiveness, very high or very low temperatures, or very high pressure. Fields of application for valves that serve to seal off a fluid or gaseous medium are found in power trains in air and space travel. These valves are exposed to extreme temperatures and extreme temperature changes. For valves used for fluid and gaseous rocket fuels, there are additional parameters which increase certain demands on this type of valve, such as demands relating to mass flow, high pressure, and short switching time for opening and closing of the valve or for getting the valve into a special position.
[0004] A valve with these specifications is known from German document DE 199 60 330 C2. The valve shaft of this valve is moved axially in relation to the valve closing mechanism within the flow by a lever which is activated by an electric servo motor from the outside of the valve body.
[0005] Since this servo motor is mounted externally, this valve has relatively large mounting dimensions. In addition, operation using a lever mechanism is complicated and therefore presents increased risks for malfunctioning to an extent which is unacceptable in applications in space aviation.
[0006] It is one object of this invention to design a valve with these specifications which is extremely reliable in its operation because of its compact construction, low friction, low energy requirements, and light weight.
[0007] This object is achieved by way of a valve in which the valve casing is provided, at least in sections, with at least one threaded external nut at an outer circular groove, in which the valve casing is enclosed by a coaxial drive casing at a location of the outer circular groove, in which the drive casing is provided with at least one threaded inner circular groove adapted to the outer circular groove so that ball bearings running along the inner and outer circular grooves create tension against one another, thus forming a ball planetary gear of a ball rotary spindle drive, and in which the drive casing is located inside of the valve box, is pivotable but firmly seated axially, and is made to pivot by a drive motor inside of the valve box.
[0008] The valve shaft is therefore equipped, section by section, on its outer surface with at least one external adjusting nut with threads and surrounded in each section of this external adjusting nut by a drive sleeve which is coaxial to the valve shaft. The drive sleeve is equipped on its interior with at least one threaded internal adjusting nut, which fits against the outer adjusting nut in such a way that the inner and outer threads match and thus perform the ball screw-driven propulsion of a linear integrated ball screw drive. The drive shaft can turn within the valve casing but is axially secured and rotated by a driving motor installed on the inside of the valve shaft. The driving motor and the driving shaft actuate the drive for the valve shaft by taking into consideration the section of the threaded outer nut and the bearings which are integrated into the valve shaft.
[0009] The valve shaft is thus identical with the spindle of the screw-driven propulsion. The advantage of the construction described is the compact structure of this coaxial valve which is achieved by the integration of the valve shaft with the screw driven propulsion, and the resulting light weight.
[0010] Further advantages of this invention will also be apparent.
[0011] It is especially of advantage when the drive casing is surrounded by the rotor of the drive shaft and is connected to prevent any rotation. Configuring the motor coaxially with the valve shaft provides for a particularly compact construction of the coaxial valve. It is advantageous that the rotor is surrounded by a stator from the driving motor and that the stator is prevented from turning within the valve casing.
[0012] It is also beneficial when the stator's position allows for at least a certain amount of axial shifting because this design will compensate for thermal expansion of the various elements of the drive.
[0013] In another advantageous design the rotor can turn inside the stator by means of at least two radial roller bearings. The provision of this roller bearing ensures that the space between the rotor and the stator remains constant during operation, especially under temperature fluctuations.
[0014] An electrically driven driving motor presents an advantage. It is also conceivable that, for example, a hydraulic driving motor could be used.
[0015] In another advantageous embodiment, the drive shaft is positioned above two axial roller bearings. This placement promotes the attachment of the drive shaft within the valve casing and thus ensures a definite axial positioning of the ball screw driven propulsion.
[0016] Optimally, the two axial roller bearings are each provided with a circular, domed convex outer surface within their respective outer bearing rings. These convex outer surfaces are supported in turn by a corresponding concave inner surface on the interior of the valve casing where the respective spherical and concave and convex surfaces share the same central point on the axis of the valve casing. With this design, the entire drive system, including the ball screw propulsion, is at least to some degree pivotable in all directions around the central point, so that tensions caused in the drive, especially by temperature fluctuations, are counter-balanced in the casing and/or in the drive. As a result, a secure valve seal is guaranteed, and an abrasion-free operation of the valve shaft is enabled even in the presence of tension within the valve casing and/or in the drive.
[0017] These features are improved, in an enhanced modification of the invention, by providing the closing mechanism with a first part which has a domed concave surface pointing toward the valve shaft, and by having a domed convex surface of a second part which can be pivoted in such a way that these two parts are connected in an axial direction, but can move relative to each other along the domed surfaces, while the central point of the domed surfaces of the closing mechanism is aligned with the central point of the two domed axial roller bearings. In this way, the second part of the closing mechanism with a tight seal is positioned in a way that allows for pivoting around the same central point, thereby further improving the reliability of the seal even where there is tension within the valve casing and/or in the drive.
[0018] In a preferred embodiment, the closing mechanism is equipped on the second part with a valve seat which, together with the front-sided rim around the valve port of the neighboring end of the valve shaft, effects an even better seal when the valve is closed.
[0019] The invention will now be described by way of an example shown in the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES
[0020] FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of a coaxial valve according to the invention;
[0021] FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a detail A of FIG. 1 ; and
[0022] FIG. 3 is a enlarged view of a detail B of FIG. 1 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of a coaxial valve. In the valve box 1 , a flow channel 10 with a fluid inlet opening 12 and a fluid outlet opening 14 is provided. The fluid inlet opening 12 and the fluid outlet opening 14 on opposite ends of the valve box 1 are constructed in such a way that the flow channel 10 from the fluid inlet opening 12 is level with the fluid outlet opening 14 . In the cross-sectional view, flow channel 10 , the fluid inlet opening 12 and the fluid outlet opening 14 are arranged in a circular fashion and coaxially to each other, whereby they share a common center line X. In the area of the fluid inlet opening 12 , the flow channel 10 is formed by a first cylindrical bore section 16 . The first cylindrical bore section 16 is provided with a first frontal lid section 11 of valve box 1 . The fluid outlet opening 14 is provided with a second frontal lid section 13 on the side opposing the first frontal lid section of the valve casing. A cylindrical mid section 15 is situated between the first frontal lid section 11 and the second frontal lid section 13 of the valve box 1 . Both lid sections 11 , 13 are screwed together with the cylindrical mid section, as illustrated in FIG. 1 .
[0024] The second frontal lid section 13 shows a cylindrical casing connection 17 protruding forward in the direction of the center line X which has been provided with a fluid outlet opening 14 . On the inside of the cylindrical casing connection 17 , a basically cylindrical second bore section 18 of the flow channel 10 is built, whereby this bore section possesses a diameter which is greater than that of the first cylindrical bore section 16 . Between the first cylindrical bore section 16 and the second basically cylindrical bore section 18 of the flow channel 10 , a cylindrical internal space 19 is located in the area of the mid section 15 of the valve box 1 , the diameter of which is considerably larger than the diameter in the second basically cylindrical bore section 18 .
[0025] In the flow channel 10 there is a tubular valve casing 2 coaxial to flow channel 10 between the first cylindrical bore section 16 and the second basically cylindrical bore section 18 . The valve casing 2 is made circular in cross-section and free to travel along its axis, which is identical with the center line X. The valve casing 2 is constructed as a straight tube and surrounds an inner channel 20 , which is provided with a front-sided inlet port 22 next to inlet opening 12 and a front-sided outlet port 24 , which faces toward fluid outlet opening 14 . Thus the inner channel 20 provides a central section of flow channel 10 between the first cylindrical bore section 16 and the second basically cylindrical bore section 18 .
[0026] On the internal space 19 , a drive 3 is provided. The drive acts on the valve casing 2 to move toward the center line X and will be further described hereafter.
[0027] The drive 3 surrounds a drive motor 30 , which is arranged inside the internal space 19 , is constructed as an electric motor, and surrounds valve casing 2 , and a ball planetary gear 4 which couples the drive of the motor 30 and the valve casing 2 . The motor 30 and the ball planetary gear 4 are also arranged coaxially around the valve casing 2 , so that the rotation axis of the motor 30 and the ball planetary gear 4 align with the center line X under normal circumstances when no deformation of the valve casing 2 , caused by mechanical tension, has taken place.
[0028] The motor 30 is constructed as an internal rotor motor and has an external radial stator 32 as well as an internal radial rotor 34 . The stator 32 is prevented from turning by means of at least one radial outward protruding nib 31 on a radially inward turned rib 15 ′ of the cylindrical mid section 15 , but can be axially displaced. This possibility for axial displacement facilitates a minimal relative movement in axial direction between the valve box 1 and the drive 3 , thus avoiding tensions within drive 3 and in the valve box 1 on account of varying thermal expansion of drive 3 and valve box 1 . For the same reason a nib 31 ′ is allowed in addition between the radial outer edge of the nib 31 and the inner wall of the cylindrical mid section 15 which also facilitates a radial relative movement between the drive 3 and the valve box 1 .
[0029] The stator 32 of the drive motor 30 is equipped with an electrical winding familiar to those skilled in the art. The rotor 34 inside the stator 32 is equipped with permanent magnets familiar to those skilled in the art around the outer surface. The rotor 34 is pivotable without friction by means of two radial ball bearings 33 , 35 inside stator 32 . This positioning of rotor 34 inside stator 32 by means of ball bearings 33 , 35 ensures that a constant radial distance is maintained between rotor 34 and stator 32 , even when extreme thermal influences have an effect on drive 3 .
[0030] A cylindrical drive shaft 40 which is part of the ball planetary gear 4 has been provided inside the rotor 34 . The shaft is also prevented from turning and is axially tightly connected with rotor 34 . The drive shaft 40 is also arranged in coaxial order with the valve casing 2 , and the middle axis of the drive shaft 40 is identical with the center line X of the valve casing 2 .
[0031] The drive shaft 40 is provided with at least one threaded inner circular groove 42 . The drive shaft 40 surrounds a central radial, outwardly tapering section 25 of the valve casing 2 . This middle section 25 of the valve casing 2 forms an inner drive element 44 , which is integrated with the valve casing 2 and which exhibits a threaded outer circular groove 46 on its exterior circumference which extends in axial direction across almost the entire length of the middle section 25 which is longer in axial direction than the section of the drive shaft 40 , which is connected with the inner circular groove 42 .
[0032] Between the radial outer circumference of the drive element 44 which has been constructed by the section 25 of the valve casing 2 and the inner circumference of the drive shaft there is only a very small space, so that the inner circular groove 42 and the outer circular groove 46 shown in the covering of the ball bearing channel 47 in FIG. 1 form a basically circular cross-section, which contains numerous balls 48 . In this way, the inner drive element 44 , the balls 48 , and the drive casing 40 will form the ball planetary gear 4 . The drive 3 and the ball planetary gear 4 will create a ball rotary spindle drive 5 for the valve casing 2 , which is integrated into the ball rotary spindle drive.
[0033] The valve casing 2 is constructed within the area of its flow inlet port 22 which has been inserted in the first frontal lid section 11 and has been sealed off with a slide ring gasket sealing washer 6 . In the same way the valve casing 2 is constructed in the area of its opposite flow outlet port 24 and has been sealed off with a second slide ring gasket sealing washer 7 axially, whereby the second slide ring gasket sealing washer 7 is inserted in the second frontal lid section 13 .
[0034] The first slide ring gasket sealing washer 6 consists of a first ring-shaped insert element 60 , which surrounds the valve casing 2 and is equipped with a circular seal 62 with a sealing lip 64 fitted to the outer surface of the valve casing 2 and seals it. Axially inward from the sealing lip 64 , turned away from the inlet port 22 , that is, in the first insert element 60 , there is a slide ring 66 , which surrounds the outside of the valve casing 2 and turns this with minimal friction.
[0035] In an analogous fashion the second slide ring gasket sealing washer 7 shows a second insert element 70 , which is tied to the second frontal lid section 13 . The second insert element 70 is equipped with a ring-shaped seal 72 which has a radially inward turned sealing lip 74 and surrounds and seals the outer circumference. In the second insert element 70 , axially inward from the sealing lip 74 , turned away from the flow outlet port 24 , there is an slide ring 76 , which surrounds the valve casing 2 and turns it with absolutely minimal friction.
[0036] The ball rotary spindle drive 5 , consisting of the drive motor 3 and the ball planetary gear 4 including the valve casing 2 , is situated inside the valve box 1 and can be turned a little in all directions around the ball central point M, so that this ball central point M is positioned on the center line X, as outlined below. This positioning is achieved by means of two ball bearings 52 , 56 coaxial to the center line X which have corresponding axial inner bearing ring 53 , 57 and which have been installed on opposite front sides of the rotor 34 . The corresponding bearing rings 54 , 58 of the axial ball bearings 52 , 56 are supported by the first frontal lid section 11 and/or the second frontal lid section 13 in a way that will be described later on. In addition, there is a support ring 55 in place coaxially to the center line X and similarly on the second frontal lid section, a support ring 59 is located coaxially to the center line X.
[0037] The positioning of the ball rotary spindle drive 5 inside the valve box 1 , shown in detail A in FIG. 1 , will now be described by means of FIG. 2 . The description is given by reference to the upper axial ball bearing 56 in FIG. 1 , while the support of the lower axial ball bearing 52 is achieved in the first frontal lid section 11 in the same way.
[0038] The support ring 59 is affixed to the second insert element 70 , which is connected with the frontal lid section 13 in a manner familiar to those versed in the art. On its axially and radially inward side, the support ring 59 is equipped with a supporting spherical, concave inner surface 59 ′ which has a corresponding ring-shaped, spherical, convex outer surface 58 ′ which is found on the axial and radial outer area of the axial outer support ring 58 of the axial ball bearing 56 . In the same way, the axially outer bearing ring 54 of the axial ball bearing 52 is equipped with a ring-shaped, spherical, convex outer surface 54 , as is the support ring 55 , which is affixed to the first insert element 60 of the first frontal lid section 11 with a spherical, concave inner surface 55 ′, as shown in FIG. 3 .
[0039] The convex surfaces 54 ′ and 58 ′ are ring-shaped segments of spheres in a virtual sphere with a central point M on the center line X. Even the concave surfaces 55 ′ and 59 ′ are ring-shaped spherical segments of a virtual sphere with the same central point M. In this manner the entire rotary spindle drive 5 can rotate a little around the center point M with relative movement between inner and outer surfaces 54 ″ and 55 ″, as well as surfaces 58 ″ and 59 ″.
[0040] Furthermore, FIG. 3 shows that the valve casing 2 in the area of the first frontal cover section 11 is fitted with a pivot 26 projecting radially outwards, and a ball bearing 27 is connected to the pivot. Both the pivot 26 and the ball bearing 27 then catch a longitudinal slot 11 ″ of the first frontal lid section 11 that runs parallel to the center line X, and the ball bearing 27 , including its outer ring 27 ″, will roll off a side wall of the longitudinal slot 11 ″. In an analogous manner, on the valve casing 2 on the opposite side there is a pivot 28 projecting radially outwards. As shown in FIG. 1 , a ball bearing 29 is connected to the pivot and will be steered in the same manner through a longitudinal slot 11 ″ designated for this side of the first frontal lid section 11 . Both these sideways guiding methods in the valve casing 2 will prevent the valve casing 2 from rotating relative to the valve box 1 , and will assure that the valve casing 2 —with the exception of a minimal swiveling action around the ball central point M—can only move in the direction of the center line X. Using ball bearings 27 and 29 as guide rollers will minimize any friction in the respective axial guide ways.
[0041] The second frontal lid section provides for a shutoff mechanism 8 inside the cylindrical casing connection 17 , i.e. in the second mainly cylindrical bore section 18 of the flow channel 10 . To open and close the valve, this shutoff mechanism will work in conjunction with the outlet port 24 of the valve casing 2 . The shutoff mechanism 8 includes a ring-shaped base section 80 positioned coaxially to the center line X in the area of the fluid outlet opening 14 in the second frontal lid section 13 . Connected to the ring-shaped base section 80 is a cylindrical tubular pedestal section 81 which is also positioned coaxially to the center line X. It forms the first part 82 of the shutoff mechanism 8 and extends into the mainly cylindrical bore connection 18 in the direction of the axial flow.
[0042] The cylindrical pedestal section 81 is provided in its perimeter wall with a majority of openings 89 , which produce a fluid connection between the mainly cylindrical bore section 18 of the flow channel 10 and the fluid outlet opening 14 .
[0043] The axial front wall 83 of the cylindrical pedestal section 81 pointing inwards into the valve box 1 is designed as a concave wall and is provided with a concave front surface 83 ″, which is designed dome-shaped and constitutes a spherical segment of a virtual sphere with the central point M. An adapted convex outer surface 84 ″ of a support element 84 for a valve unit 86 rests in the concave front surface 83 ″. The support element 84 and the valve unit 86 together form a second part 85 of the shutoff mechanism 8 . Also the support element 84 and the valve unit 86 are ordered co-axially to the central line X, whereby the convex outer surface 84 ″ of the support element 84 likewise forms a dome-shaped spherical segment of a virtual ball with the central point M.
[0044] The valve unit 86 is ordered to the side of the support element 84 turned away from the convex outer surface 84 ″ and points to the outlet port 24 of the valve casing 2 . The valve unit 86 is designed conically, whereby in the area of its greatest perimeter it is provided with a circular step 86 ″ forming a valve seat, which in sealing works together with the valve seat formed from the perimeter edge of the outlet port 24 of the valve casing 2 near the closed valve.
[0045] By means of a screw 87 centrally penetrating the concave front wall 83 , which is braced against the front wall via a support element 88 provided on the back side of the concave front wall 83 of the cylindrical pedestal section 81 , the valve unit 86 and the support element 84 , and the first part 82 are braced against the second part 85 of the shutoff mechanism 8 . The support element 88 is thereby provided with a concave front surface 88 ″ pointing to the front wall 83 , which forms a spherical sector of a virtual sphere with the central point M. The convex back surface 83 ″ of the front wall 83 , which is pointing towards the fluid outlet opening 14 , is also part of a spherical surface with the central point M.
[0046] This shutoff mechanism 8 design, with its spherical surfaces showing the same central point M as the spherical surfaces of the ball rotary spindle drive 5 bearing inside the valve box, also allows the valve unit 86 to pivot a little around the center line M. Therefore, no significant uneven load will occur on the circular step 86 ″ of the valve unit 86 which controls the valve location of the sealing element 8 . That means, even in cases where there is a slight pivoting of the ball rotary spindle drive 5 and the valve unit 86 , a dependable seal regarding the valve in the area of the valve unit 86 and the outlet port 24 is guaranteed. Furthermore, this way any external constraining forces will be kept away from the ball rotary spindle drive 5 .
[0047] Any reference item numbers listed in any claims, descriptions, and drawings are solely provided to better understand the invention. They are in no way intended to limit the scope of protection.
[0048] The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
[0000] The following is a list of Reference Items
REFERENCE ITEM NO
[0000]
1 Valve Box
2 Valve Casing
3 Drive
4 Ball Planetary Gear
5 Ball Rotary Spindle Drive
6 First Slide Ring Gasket Sealing Washer
7 Second Slide Ring Gasket Sealing Washer
8 Shutoff Mechanism
10 Flow Channel
11 First Frontal Lid Section
11 ′ Longitudinal Slot
11 ″ Longitudinal Slot
12 Fluid Inlet Opening
13 Second Frontal Lid Section
14 Fluid Outlet Opening
15 Cylindrical Mid Section
15 ′ Rib
16 First Cylindrical Bore Section
17 Cylindrical Casing Connection
18 Second Bore Section, Mainly Cylindrical
19 Internal Space
20 Inner Channel
22 Inlet Port
24 Outlet Port
25 Middle Section of 2
26 Pivot
27 Ball Bearing
27 ′ Outer Ring
28 Pivot
29 Ball Bearing
30 Drive Motor
31 Nib
31 ′ Gap
32 Stator
33 Radial Ball Bearing
34 Rotor
35 Radial Ball Bearing
40 Drive Casing
42 Inner Circular Groove
44 Inner Drive Element
46 Outer Circular Groove
47 Ball Bearing Channel
48 Balls
52 Axial Ball Bearing
53 Axial Inner Support Ring
54 Axial Outer Support Ring
54 ′ Convex Outer Surface
55 Support Ring
55 ′ Concave Inner Surface
56 Axial Ball Bearing
57 Axial Inner Support Ring
58 Axial Outer Support Ring
58 ′ Convex Outer Surface
59 Support Ring
59 ′ Concave Inner Surface
60 First Insert Element
62 Circular Seal
64 Sealing Lip
66 Slide Ring
70 Second Insert Element
72 Ring-shaped Seal
74 Sealing Lip
76 Slide Ring
80 Ring-shaped Base Section
81 Cylindrical Tubular Pedestal Section
82 First Part of 8
83 Front Wall
83 ′ Concave Front Surface
83 ″ Convex Back Surface
84 Support Element
84 ′ Convex Outer Surface
85 Second Part of 8
86 Valve Unit
86 ′ Circular Step
87 Screw
88 Support Element
88 ′ Concave Front Surface
89 Openings
X Center Line
M Ball Central Point
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A coaxial valve includes a valve box having at least one inlet opening, at least one outlet opening, and a common flow channel. A cylindrical valve casing, which is prevented from turning at one segment of the flow channel, but is intended to be axially movable, features an opening for a fluid inlet port as well as an opening for a fluid outlet port, both of which are joined up in the flow channel. A shutoff mechanism is located inside the valve box, is positioned coaxially to the valve casing, and is designed to close off the inlet port or the outlet port of the valve casing. To provide for axial movement, the valve casing, at least in sections at its outermost surface, has at least one external circular groove. The valve casing, at the segment of the external circular groove, is enclosed by a drive casing which is coaxial to the valve casing. At its internal diameter, the drive casing has at least one inner circular groove, which is adapted to the outer circular groove so that the inner and outer grooves are engaged, via inside ball bearings, to create a ball planetary gear and ball rotary spindle drive. The drive casing in the valve box is turnable, but firmly seated axially, and forced to turn by a drive motor inside of the valve box.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention generally relates generally to security systems, and in particular relates to a method and system for dynamically adjusting a password expiration period based on access patterns of a user accessing a password-protected resource such as a data processing system.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Many types of systems have security mechanisms in place that require a user of the system to provide a password in order to access resources of the system. Many of these systems also maintain an expiration time or count that is used to prompt a user to change their password when the expiration time/count occurs. For example, a user may be prompted to change their password after 30, 60 or 90 days from the last time the password was changed.
[0005] The location of a user, when accessing a system having a password security mechanism, is in many instances an indicator of how high a degree of risk there is that the security system/password may be compromised. For example, a user who only accesses their employers' computer system and resources within the confines of the employer's physical place of business generally has a lower risk of password compromise that a user who accesses their employers' computer system and resources from home using a telecommunication network to gain access. Similarly, a user who frequently accesses their employers' computer system on the road, such as a frequent business traveler who accesses their employers' computer system and resources from hotels, coffee shops, airports/airplanes, etc. generally has a higher risk of password compromise than either the at-home access or the place-of-business access.
[0006] Today's password expiration periods are arbitrarily set to a given period of time, typically by a system administrator, for an entire population of user's of the resource. It would be desirable to provide an automated password expiration method based on the connection and usage risk of a given user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention is directed to a system and method for dynamically adjusting or modifying the password expiration period for a given user based upon how a user accesses the password-protected resource. The tighter the physical control of how a user can access a resource results in a loosening or maintaining of the password expiration period to be a relatively long period of time, whereas the looser the physical control of how a user can access a resource results in a tightening of the password expiration period to be a relatively short period of time. The password expiration period is adjusted based on both actual usage patterns as well as variances in such usage patterns.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] 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:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of a data processing environment in which the present invention may be implemented;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented;
[0011] FIG. 3 depicts an environment where a user accesses computer resources from within the confines of an employer's physical place of business;
[0012] FIG. 4 depicts an environment where a user accesses computer resources from outside the confines of an employer's physical place of business; and
[0013] FIG. 5 depicts a flow diagram of a methodology for adaptive modification of a password expiration period based upon a user's network connect/usage patterns.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0014] With reference now to the figures and in particular with reference to FIGS. 1-2 , exemplary diagrams of data processing environments are provided in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. It should be appreciated that FIGS. 1-2 are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in which aspects or embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0015] With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which aspects of the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system 100 is a network of computers in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system 100 contains 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.
[0016] In the depicted example, server 104 and server 106 connect to network 102 along with storage unit 108 . In addition, clients 110 , 112 , and 114 connect to network 102 . These clients 110 , 112 , and 114 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 110 , 112 , and 114 . Clients 110 , 112 , and 114 are clients to server 104 in this example. Network data processing system 100 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown.
[0017] 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 Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (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, governmental, 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 different embodiments of the present invention.
[0018] With reference now to FIG. 2 , a block diagram of a data processing system is shown in which aspects of the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system 200 is an example of a computer, such as server 104 or client 110 in FIG. 1 , in which computer usable code or instructions implementing the processes for embodiments of the present invention may be located.
[0019] In the depicted example, data processing system 200 employs a hub architecture including north bridge and memory controller hub (NB/MCH) 202 and south bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (SB/ICH) 204 . Processing unit 206 , main memory 208 , and graphics processor 210 are connected to NB/MCH 202 . Graphics processor 210 may be connected to NB/MCH 202 through an accelerated graphics port (AGP).
[0020] In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 212 connects to SB/ICH 204 . Audio adapter 216 , keyboard and mouse adapter 220 , modem 222 , read only memory (ROM) 224 , hard disk drive (HDD) 226 , CD-ROM drive 230 , universal serial bus (USB) ports and other communication ports 232 , and PCI/PCIe devices 234 connect to SB/ICH 204 through bus 238 and bus 240 . PCI/PCIe devices may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-in cards, and PC cards for notebook computers. PCI uses a card bus controller, while PCIe does not. ROM 224 may be, for example, a flash binary input/output system (BIOS).
[0021] HDD 226 and CD-ROM drive 230 connect to SB/ICH 204 through bus 240 . HDD 226 and CD-ROM drive 230 may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. Super I/O (SIO) device 236 may be connected to SB/ICH 204 .
[0022] An operating system runs on processing unit 206 and coordinates and provides control of various components within data processing system 200 in FIG. 2 . As a client, the operating system may be a commercially available operating system such as Microsoft® Windows® XP (Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both). An object-oriented programming system, such as the Java™ programming system, may run in conjunction with the operating system and provides calls to the operating system from Java™ programs or applications executing on data processing system 200 (Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both).
[0023] As a server, data processing system 200 may be, for example, an IBM® eServer™ pSeries® computer system, running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX®) operating system or the LINUX® operating system (eServer, pSeries and AIX are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both while LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both). Data processing system 200 may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors in processing unit 206 . Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed.
[0024] Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as HDD 226 , and may be loaded into main memory 208 for execution by processing unit 206 . The processes for embodiments of the present invention are performed by processing unit 206 using computer usable program code, which may be located in a memory such as, for example, main memory 208 , ROM 224 , or in one or more peripheral devices 226 and 230 .
[0025] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIGS. 1-2 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash memory, equivalent non-volatile memory, or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIGS. 1-2 . Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.
[0026] In some illustrative examples, data processing system 200 may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is configured with flash memory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.
[0027] A bus system may be comprised of one or more buses, such as bus 238 or bus 240 as shown in FIG. 2 . Of course, the bus system may be implemented using any type of communication fabric or architecture that provides for a transfer of data between different components or devices attached to the fabric or architecture. A communication unit may include one or more devices used to transmit and receive data, such as modem 222 or network adapter 212 of FIG. 2 . A memory may be, for example, main memory 208 , ROM 224 , or a cache such as found in NB/MCH 202 in FIG. 2 . The depicted examples in FIGS. 1-2 and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system 200 also may be a tablet computer, laptop computer, or telephone device in addition to taking the form of a PDA.
[0028] The invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.
[0029] Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any tangible apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
[0030] The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.
[0031] A discussion of the details of an Internet Protocol (IP) address is now in order. In the most widely installed level of the Internet Protocol today, and as defined by Internet Protocol Version 4, an IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent across the Internet. This information is sent in the form of data packets. When particular information is requested from the internet, such as requesting an HTML page from a server, or when particular information is sent onto the internet, such as sending an e-mail, the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP includes the originator's IP address in the message, which is included in each of the packets if more than one is required, and the request for information or the sending of information is sent to a particular IP address. This IP address is obtained by looking up the domain name for the logical name (a.k.a. Uniform Resource Locator or URL) that was requested or in the e-mail address that a note was sent to. An example of such logical name or URL is www.ibm.com, which is used to avoid having to remember long strings of numbers which are meaningless to most users. The ‘looked-up’ IP address would be an address of the form 129.42.16.99. An IP address has two parts: the identifier of a particular network on the Internet and an identifier of the particular device (which can be a server or a workstation) within that network. The Internet is really an interconnection of many different individual networks, and the Internet Protocol (IP) is basically the set of rules for one network communicating with any other network. Each network must know its own address on the Internet and that of any other networks with which it communicates. To be part of the Internet, an organization needs an Internet network number. This unique network number is included in any packet sent out of the network onto the Internet, and is the network address portion of the IP address.
[0032] In addition to the network address or number, information is needed about which specific machine or host in a network is sending or receiving a message. So the IP address needs both the unique network number and a host number which is unique within the network (the host number is sometimes called a local or machine address). Part of the local address can identify a subnetwork or subnet address, which makes it easier for a network that is divided into several physical subnetworks (for examples, several different local area networks) to handle many devices.
[0033] Since networks vary in size, there are four different address formats or classes to consider:
[0034] Class A addresses are for large networks with many devices; Class B addresses are for medium-sized networks. Class C addresses are for small networks (fewer than 256 devices); and Class D addresses are multicast addresses. The first few bits of each IP address indicate which of the address class formats it is using. The address structures look like this:
[0000] Class A
[0000] 0 Network (7 bits) Local address (24 bits)
[0000] Class B
[0000] 10 Network (14 bits) Local address (16 bits)
[0000] Class C
[0000] 110 Network (21 bits) Local address (8 bits)
[0000] Class D
[0000] 1110 Multicast address (28 bits)
[0035] The IP address is usually expressed as four decimal numbers, each representing eight bits, separated by periods. For Class A IP addresses, the numbers would represent “network.local.local.local”; for a Class C IP address, they would represent “network.network.network.local”.
[0036] It should also be noted that the machine or physical address used within an organization's local area networks may be different than the Internet's IP address. The most typical example is the 48-bit Ethernet address. TCP/IP includes a facility called the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) that lets the administrator create a table that maps IP addresses to physical addresses. The table is known as the ARP cache.
[0037] As can be appreciated, because of the explosive growth of the Internet, the number of available addresses is quickly being exhausted. In order to provide more available IP addresses, a new Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is being defined for newer 128-bit IP address.
[0038] The details of such new addressing scheme are not critical to the present invention, but it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to 32 bit versions of an IP address. Rather, what is needed by the present invention is a tool that allows for tracing the path a message traverses between two devices, such as a message sent by a client computing device to a host system. A utility program known as traceroute, or similar, tool is what is used herein to enable the tracing of a communication session between two devices using a public network for interconnection therebetween.
[0039] Traceroute is a utility that records the route (the specific gateway computers at each hop) through the Internet between a computing device and a specified destination device such as a computer server. This utility also calculates and displays the amount of time each hop took. The traceroute utility comes included with a number of operating systems, including Microsoft's Windows operating system and Unix-based operating systems (such as IBM's AIX/6000 or Linux) or as part of a TCP/IP package. There are also freeware versions that can be downloaded from the Internet.
[0040] When the traceroute command is issued, the utility initiates the sending of a packet (using the Internet Control Message Protocol or ICMP), including in the packet a time limit value (known as the “time to live” (TTL) that is designed to be exceeded by the first router that receives it, which will return a Time Exceeded message. This enables traceroute to determine the time required for the hop to the first router. Increasing the time limit value, it resends the packet so that it will reach the second router in the path to the destination, which returns another Time Exceeded message, and so forth. Traceroute determines when the packet has reached the destination by including a port number that is outside the normal range. When it's received, a Port Unreachable message is returned, enabling traceroute to measure the time length of the final hop. As the tracerouting progresses, the records are displayed hop by hop. Actually, each hop is measured multiple times (and an asterisk (*) indicates a hop that exceeded some limit or time-out value).
[0041] Now that basic IP addressing and the traceroute utility have been described, a representative traceroute trace will now be shown, where the network route between two points is shown. In this particular example, a route is listed from a source home computer connected to an Internet Service Provider, via high-speed cable modem, to the destination URL of www.usatoday.com. The network route that was determined by the traceroute tool is as follows:
[0042] Tracing route to www.usatoday.com [167.8.128.41] over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 * * * Request timed out. 2 * * * Request timed out. 3 12 ms 14 ms 11 ms 68.86.105.145 4 12 ms 14 ms 13 ms 68.86.103.65 5 13 ms 13 ms 11 ms 68.86.103.117 6 23 ms 37 ms 24 ms 68.86.103.17 7 14 ms 17 ms 15 ms 68.86.103.138 8 36 ms 14 ms 13 ms 12.124.158.17 9 38 ms 44 ms 36 ms 12.123.36.138 10 36 ms 35 ms 41 ms 12.122.1.37 11 36 ms 37 ms 34 ms 12.122.10.97 12 35 ms 35 ms 33 ms 12.123.142.21 13 33 ms 34 ms 36 ms 12.127.141.26 14 37 ms 35 ms 40 ms 204.155.172.35 15 37 ms 36 ms 35 ms 167.8.128.41
Trace complete.
[0043] As can be seen in this example, the first two attempts to access the first ‘hop’ along the route timed out. Then, thirteen hops are listed, beginning at IP address 68.86.105.145 and ending at address 167.8.128.41.
[0044] A host or server system can similar perform the traceroute function to devices that it is in communication with, in order to determine the physical location of such devices. This information can then be used, as described further below, to determine where the accessing-device, and its associated user, is located. For example, a determination can be made if the user is connected to an internal or external network, with respect to the host or server system, and whether the accessing-device, and associated user, has connected to the host/server from the same location a number of times, which may be an indication that the user is connecting from a relatively safe location, such as a remote field office or home.
[0045] Many types of systems require a user to enter a password to obtain access to certain system resources. As a part of such password security mechanism, many security systems also require that a user periodically change their password to help mitigate certain types of password compromise, where a user's password is no longer secret to that user, but rather is known to another who could then use such password to masquerade as the user of the password and improperly access system resources. For example, such security systems may force a user to arbitrarily modify their password every thirty (30), sixty (60) or ninety (90) days. In certain types of situations, such as when a user is only accessing system resources in a physically secure environment with little risk of password compromise, such a mandatory password change can itself cause password compromise, as a user may begin to resort to writing their passwords done on paper due to the large number of, and associated frequent changing of, passwords they are required to remember. The present invention monitors a user's network usage when accessing system resources, in order to determine usage patterns, and adaptively modifies the time interval for forcing a user to modify their password based upon such detected network pattern usage and the associated risk.
[0046] FIG. 3 shows an example of a user accessing computer resources from within the confines of his/her employer's physical place of business—which is a relatively secure environment. For example, the Traceroute utility would reveal that the source and destination address, as well as all routes in between, are contain within the protection of the corporate network. As shown at 300 , an end user (not shown) operates an end user device 302 to access resources provided by server 304 . A network 306 , such as a local area network (LAN), is used to interconnect the user device 302 to the server 304 , and since this LAN 306 is fully contained within the physical confines of the employer's physical place of business, this environment is relatively safe from malicious hacking into the network by would-be outside intruders. In this type of environment, the password expire period can be set to be a relatively long period of time with respect to other user-access environments.
[0047] Turning now to FIG. 4 , there is shown an example of a user accessing computer resources from outside the confines of his/her employer's physical place of business—which is a relatively insecure environment. As shown at 400 , an end user (not shown) operates an end user device 402 to access resources provided by server 404 . A network 406 , such as a local area network (LAN), is used to interconnect the server 404 to an outside network 408 by way of network interface 410 , such as a router, modem, or gateway interface, which connects the private LAN 406 to an outside network 408 such as the internet. The end user device connects to the external internet 408 using traditional communication techniques such as a modem (dial-up, DSL or cable). This environment is relatively unsafe from malicious hacking into the network 408 by would-be outside intruders as it is a publicly accessible network. In this type of environment, where an external internet is used to gain access to requested resources, the password expire period can be set to be a relatively short period of time with respect to other user-access environments that only use an internal network.
[0048] Turning now to FIG. 5 , there is shown at 500 a flow diagram for modifying the password expiration period for a user based upon the user's physical location when accessing a networked resource such as a server computer system (e.g. server 104 , 304 or 404 shown, respectively, in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 ). Processing begins at 502 and continues to 504 where a request for resource access by an end-user is received. From the request, a determination is made as to who the particular user is that is requesting access to the resource. In addition, a determination is made (using a utility such as traceroute previously described) as to where the user is physically attached to the network by identifying the IP address of the user device that the user is using to access the network. Then, at step 506 a determination is made as to whether the user is attempting to access the requested resource locally within the confines of their employer's physical place of business. For example, if the subnet portion of the identified IP address matches the subnet address for the requested resource, the user and requested resource are connected to the same, local subnet. If so, nothing further needs to be done with respect to password expiration modification, and processing ends at 518 . If the user is not attempting to access the resource using a local IP address, a determination is made at 508 as to whether the user is attempting to access the requested resource from a known location such as their home or remote office. Such a determination can be based on statistically analysis of past access attempts, where the same IP address has previously been identified as being from the user's home or remote office. If this is a known IP address such as that of the user's home or remote office which is a medium security environment, a determination is made at 510 as to whether the password expiration period has already been modified to account for this medium security environment. If it has, no further processing is required and processing of the password expiration modification routine ends at 518 . If it has not, then the password expiration period is modified at 512 to conform to this medium security environment, such that the previous password expiration period of X is modified to be X′=X−Y, with Y being a period of time commensurate with this medium security environment. For example, a normal password expire time of ninety (90) days may be decreased to only be thirty (30) days, so in this instance X is ninety (90) and Y is sixty (60) such that the new password expire period X′=X−Y=90−60=30. Processing then ends at 518 . Returning back to block 508 , if the user is not attempting to access the resource using a known IP address, the user must be accessing the network using an unknown (or infrequently used) IP address, so it is assumed the user is attempting to access the resource from a high risk, remote location. This is an example of using deviations/variances from previously detected usage patterns of a user accessing a network to selectively adjust the password expiration period. A determination is made at 514 as to whether the password expiration period has already been modified to account for this high risk security environment. If it has, no further processing is required and processing of the password expiration modification routine ends at 518 . If it has not, then the password expiration period is modified at 516 to conform to this high risk security environment, such that the previous password expiration period of X is modified to be X′=X−(Y+Z), with Z being a period of time commensurate with this high risk security environment. For example, a normal password expire time of ninety (90) days may be decreased to only be ten (10) days, so in this instance X is ninety (90), Y is sixty (60) and Z twenty (20), such that the new password expire period X′=X−(Y+Z)=90−(60+20)=10. Processing then ends at 518 .
[0049] Thus, there has been described a technique for dynamically modifying the password expiration time period for a given user based upon patterns of network access, and deviations from such patterns of network access, so that the period of time transpires before a user is mandated to change their password is reduced, and this reduction in time is reduced based on the perceived security risk associated with the network access.
[0050] 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. For example, these password expiration modification techniques could be used in a banking environment, where a user accesses their bank account from a home computer and a remote ATM machine. The remote ATM machine may be connected to the financial institution using a dedicated, private network. Alternatively, or in addition, ATM machines that can be used by the user are connected to the financial institution using a public network. In this scenario, the dedicated, private network would be the low risk environment, the user's access from their home computer would be the medium risk environment, and the user's access from an ATM terminal connected to the financial institution by way of a public network would be the high risk environment, with password expiration periods for the user being modified according to their particular technique for accessing the financial institution.
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A system and method for dynamically adjusting or modifying the password expiration period for a given user based upon how a user accesses the password-protected resource. The tighter the physical control of how a user can access a resource results in a loosening or maintaining of the password expiration period to be a relatively long period of time, whereas the looser the physical control of how a user can access a resource results in a tightening of the password expiration period to be a relatively short period of time. The password expiration period is adjusted based on both actual usage patterns as well as variances in such usage patterns.
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RELATION TO OTHER APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 502,954, filed June 10, 1983 now abandoned, for Underpad Holder.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to a holder for disposable underpads for incontinent persons and is particularly suitable for use in hospitals. The underpads have the ability to contain excess excretion from an occupant of a bed and thus prevent the excretion from dirtying sheets and ruining mattresses.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
It is well known that persons confined to a bed, namely, incontinent persons, are often unable to control bodily excretions. Said excretions dirty sheets, causing the changing of sheets and a correspondingly higher frequency of laundering. These functions are labor intensive, are very expensive, and inconvenience the patient.
In addition, continued wetting of the sheets eventually causes the mattress to be ruined irrespective of plastic and/or rubber covers on the mattresses. This all caused undue and unnecessary economic hardships on hospitals and institutions as well as on individuals.
Prior to this invention, some solutions have been proposed to solve these problems. However, for one reason or another, these prior art proposals left something to be desired.
Industry has developed disposable underpads made of highly absorbent materials to collect the excretions. These disposable underpads generally come in several sizes. A problem with these pads is that they are moved around and become dislodged from under the patient thus defeating their intended purpose. The larger disposable pads covering a larger area are somewhat helpful in this respect; however, there is an increasingly and corresponding higher cost and they still move about the mattress. Today in hospitals and institutions, all means are being used to lower costs.
Therefore in practice hospitals and institutions order the smaller sizes to save money. At bedside however, the attendant will often use more than one disposable underpad to cover the mid-portion of the bed, because of the movements of the patient causing the underpad not to be in the right place at the right time. Of course, this procedure again causes waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,577, issued to Ronald D. Walters on Dec. 27, 1977, shows an improved bedding drawsheet having a textile base portion 26, large enough to tuck around and under the sides of a mattress 14, a panel 28 which is bonded to the base portion, and a removable moisture absorbent pad 32, attached to said panel 28 using VELCRO, registered trademark, attachment means. The latter attachment means provides bumps at least 1/8 inch thick which annoys a bed occupant. Furthermore, VELCRO® attachment means must be applied in two strips along aligned elongated areas in the interfacial surfaces between the underpad and the underpad holder. It is an expensive and impractical technique to apply VELCRO® attachment means in the precise alignment needed and also, it is difficult for hospital personnel to align the VELCRO® means properly because one of the two strips to be aligned is always invisible to the person replacing a disposable underpad. In addition, the base portion 26 of the Walters device is of textile material that is too expensive to be disposable. Therefore, the textile base portion 26 must be laundered when dirty before it can be reused for another patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,624 to Frederick W. Zipf III issued on Mar. 7, 1972, discloses a plastic drawsheet 14 having an absorbent portion 22 secured by adhesive 24. Mr. Zipf's device does not easily accommodate changing of the water absorbent portion, if at all. Furthermore there is heat build-up caused by the plastic drawsheet. The present invention uses industry standard disposable underpads, which are quickly and easily changed without the need for adhesives.
French Pat. No. 403,237 to Vialard discloses a rubber pocket fully open in its upper median part so that a disposable absorbent cloth may be laid out flat between its edges and its bottom. However, Vialard requires a pair of safety pins at each of the four corners of the pocket to secure the cloth to the pocket. The use of pins is unacceptable under any patient in the medical field. Furthermore, the pins must be removed before a soiled disposable cloth can be removed from the pocket and a fresh cloth must be pinned to each corner of the Vialard pocket to be considered secured. Such pinning and unpinning is inefficient and annoying to hospital personnel.
Other methods show plastic sheets, which create a build-up of body heat causing the skin to break down resulting in decubitus ulcers forming on the patient's body. This is the result of a lack of air circulation. The present invention eliminates the heat build-up by placing openings in the base sheet to circulate air.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a novel underpad holder for use in combination with a disposable underpad and bedding mattress. The novel underpad holder needs no pins to secure the disposable underpad thereto and includes a thin continuous closed frame that is bonded at its outer edge portion to a plastic base sheet to maintain the latter in flat unwrinkled condition and has its inner edge portion free of any attachment or bonding to the plastic base sheet to define a peripherally extending uninterrupted inwardly facing groove between the inner edge portion of the frame and the plastic base portion. The outer portion of the groove is equal to or only a small fraction of an inch larger than the disposable underpad, so that the underpad may be inserted therein and the frame is sufficiently wide to cause its inner portion to overlap the disposable underpad sufficiently to maintain the underpad within the groove until a conscious force is applied to remove the underpad.
The groove is adapted to receive the perimeter portion of the disposable underpad and uses the weight of a patient occupying a bed to hold the underpad in flat unwrinkled condition under the thin frame without requiring any pins to maintain the underpad in position. The weight of the bed occupant keeps the inner frame peripheral portion in overlying relation over the peripheral portion of the disposable underpad until the incontinence of the occupant requires removal of the disposable underpad and its replacement. Neither unpinning nor pinning is required to replace a soiled underpad, nor is any thick attachment means that would annoy a bed occupant be needed with an underpad holder conforming to this invention.
It is the main object of this invention to provide an inexpensive and practical means to hold a disposable underpad in a place on a mattress without requiring any pinning or unpinning of the disposable underpad relative to the underpad holder or the use of attachment means between the disposable underpad and holder that is thick enough to annoy an occupant of the bed.
It is another object of this invention to provide each patient with a fresh underpad holder which can be reused for that patient and then disposed.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an underpad holder of the type described that also minimizes heat build-up under the body.
It is another object of this invention to provide an underpad holder that is easy to wipe down and clean.
Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
With the above and other related objects in view, the invention comprises the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bed and mattress provided with an underpad holder conforming to this invention.
FIG. 2 is a top view of the underpad holder.
FIG. 3 is a section along lines 3--3 of FIG. 2 of the underpad holder and disposable underpad.
FIG. 4 is an exploded view along line 4--4 of FIG. 2, showing the frame, base sheet and disposable underpad.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to FIG. 1, where an underpad holder conforming to this invention is referred to generally as reference number 10, it can be seen that the underpad holder 10 has a length that traverses the width of bed 20. The latter includes a mattress 21, box spring 22, pillow 23, head board 24 and base 25.
Referring to FIG. 2, the underpad holder 10 includes a base sheet 30 and a thin continuous rectangular frame 31 that is about one mil thick and two inches wide. The outside perimeter portion of frame 31 is bonded along a width of about 1/4 inch to base sheet 30 along one-quarter inch wide edge at joints 32, 33, 34 and 35. The outer edge portion of frame 31 is bonded to the base sheet 30 using a standard heat process. Frame 31 has an inside perimeter consisting of elongated areas 46, 47, 48 and 49. The inside perimeter portion cooperates with base sheet 30 to form an inwardly facing uninterrupted peripheral groove about 13/4 inches wide. Base sheet 30 has a series of circular openings 36 allowing air to circulate, preventing heat build-up under the body when the underpad is used, namely between the plastic base sheet 30 and the patient and the bed.
Base sheet 30 extends from both ends of the frame, a distance laterally of the bed great enough such that the opposite sheet ends 37 and 38 can be securely tucked under the mattress 21. Other means not desirable to secure frame 31 to base sheet 30 can be used to secure the base sheet 30 to the underside of mattress 21 such as by pinning or taping.
Disposable underpads such as disposable underpad 51 are readily available in the market place by several vendors. These disposable underpads are made of highly absorbent materials, absorbing more than their weight. They are also manufactured in various sizes. The frames 31 are so sized relative to the underpads that the frame 31 overlaps at least 11/2 inches of the perimeter of the underpad to insure keeping an underpad 51 within and below frame 31 without requiring any other fastening means such as pins or adhesive.
As can be seen in FIG. 3, frame 31 releasably secures a disposable underpad 51 relative to the base sheet 30 by receiving the marginal portion of said disposable underpad within said 13/4 inch wide, inwardly facing peripheral groove formed between the inside perimeter portion of frame 31 and base sheet 30. Said disposable underpad 51 is tucked in a flat unwrinkled arrangement below frame 31. The outside perimeter shown at edge joints 32 and 34 of frame 31 being slightly larger than the outside perimeter of the disposable underpad 51, and the inside perimeter of frame 31 shown at the inner margins of elongated areas 46 and 48 of frame 31 being smaller than disposable underpad 51, result in a flat, unwrinkled secure fit for the disposable underpad 51 on base sheet 30, within the inwardly facing peripheral groove.
FIG. 4 shows the disposable underpad 51 held in place by frame 31. It can now be noted that the outside perimeter of frame 31 shown at loci 39 along edge joint 35 is bonded to base sheet 30 leaving the remainder of frame 31 free from any bond to base sheet 30 to form the groove that receives the edges of disposable pad 51 in such a secure manner that no pinning or other attachment is needed to maintain underpad 51 in flat, unwrinkled relation when tucked therein as shown.
The nature of the underpad holder 10 makes it a necessity that it be easy to clean and be accessible to all parts. The patient can roll over far enough while remaining in the bed to all parts. The patient can roll over far enough while remaining in the bed to allow cleaning of base sheet 30 and insertion of a new disposable underpad after cleaning without being removed from the bed. It should be observed that it is easier for the patient to roll over than to have a complete and new base sheet installed. It can be noted that frame 31 can be raised along elongated areas 46, 47, 48 and 49 of the perimeter of frame 31, thus allowing for access to the base sheet 30 for hygenic cleaning with a disinfectant at bedside.
Instead of requiring unpinning and repinning procedures of the prior art, a soiled disposable underpad may be readily removed from the peripheral groove between the frame 31 and the plastic base 20 by a conscious force involving simple inward sliding of the peripheral portion of the soiled underpad 51 from a portion of the peripheral groove and a fresh disposable underpad can be inserted in tucked, flat, unwrinkled relation within the portion of the peripheral groove vacated by the soiled underpad. These steps are repeated for different portions of the groove until the soiled underpad is removed from all portions of the inwardly facing peripheral groove and replaced in all said groove portions by a fresh underpad If an occupant cannot be removed from the bed, it is a simple matter to roll the occupant in one direction to install one side of the fresh disposable underpad in a flat unwrinkled condition by tucking said one side within the groove and then to roll the occupant in the opposite direction over the partly installed underpad to tuck in the remainder of the underpad within the remainder of the groove.
In use, when a new patient is in the bed, a new underpad holder 10 is employed on the bed. Inserted into the continuous groove formed under the inner marginal portion of frame 31 of underpad holder is a disposable underpad 51 with the periphery of the underpad closely spaced from the bonded outer portion of frame 31. The underpad holder has an inner unbonded portion of frame 31 of sufficient width that overlaps the entire margin of the underpad so that it prevents and minimizes the disposable underpad from moving around and avoids having the marginal portion of the underpad released from its overlapping relation below frame 31 as the patient turns in bed. The underpad holder 10 being made of plastic can be re-used with the same patient and is disposed of after use by said patient is ended. Each new patient receives a new underpad holder.
The peripherally extending, inwardly facing groove formed between the elongated areas 46, 47, 48 and 49 of the frame 31 and the base sheet 30 is completely uninterrupted, even at the four corner portions. This freedom from interruption, such as would result from the presence of pins at each of the corners, makes it possible to insert the entire peripheral portion of a disposable underpad within the entire extent of the peripherally extending, inwardly facing groove in a flat unwrinkled condition tucked between the frame 31 and the base sheet 30 including all four corner portions of the frame. Once the disposable underpad 51 is tucked within frame 31 in flat unwrinkled condition, it is not necessary to pin the underpad 51 to any portion of the underpad holder to maintain the underpad in its desired position. The overlapping of the frame insures that the underpad does not move relative to the frame. In addition, the weight of a bed occupant when the latter is on the bed further insures no movement of the underpad until its removal is desired even when the occupant moves. Then, a conscious positive force is need to separate the pad from the peripherally extending inwardly facing groove.
The bonding between the outer marginal portion of the frame 31 and the upper surface of the plastic base sheet 30 improves the rigidity of the plastic base sheet in the region of heat bonding. Therefore, plastic base sheet 30 tends to remain unwrinkled. The disposable underpad is tucked in unwrinkled relation within the inwardly facing, uninterrupted peripheral groove formed under the inner peripheral portion of frame 31. The dimensions of frame 31 are so related to the dimensions of the disposable underpad 51 that even when two consecutive sides of the underpad 51 abut the bonded outer peripheral edge portion of frame 31 that sufficient overlap remains below the free inner edge portion of the frame 31 over the entire marginal portion of the disposable underpad that the latter remains in fixed position within the uninterrupted peripheral groove until such time as a conscious effort is made to remove a soiled underpad. The free inner marginal edge portion of the frame is also free of wrinkles when an underpad is inserted thereunder and within the continuous, uninterrupted peripheral groove. The lack of wrinkles and the thinness of the frame 31 cause a minimum of discomfort to an occupant of the bed.
It is believed the foregoing description conveys the best understanding of the objects and advantages of the present invention. Different embodiments may be made of the inventive concept of this invention. It is to be understood that all matter disclosed herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense, except as set forth in the following appended claims.
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A plastic underpad holder, for use by generally incontinent patients has its ends secured to a mattress. The underpad holder having a rectangular frame to securely receive a disposable underpad to contain excess excretions. The underpad holder also has circular perforations providing ventilation to minimize heat build-up between the patient and the underpad holder.
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REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/630,165, filed on Nov. 22, 2004.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automated devices for drying clothing and laundry. More specifically, the ambient air clothes dryer is a clothes dryer devoid of any dedicated heating elements or systems for heating the air.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of the automatic clothes dryer has been a great labor saving device for most households and, along with the automatic washing machine, has served to facilitate the commercial laundry industry as well. Automatic clothes dryers were initially developed when energy costs were relatively low, and accordingly make use of gas or electrical heat to accelerate the drying process. As a byproduct of the heat developed, the home or other structure is also heated, even though most of the heat is ducted to the exterior of the structure during dryer operation. Still, the residual heat output into the structure was not considered to be particularly undesirable, even in warmer conditions, as the energy costs required to operate air conditioning systems were much lower in the past.
However, with ever-increasing energy costs, the cost of operation of such conventional dryers has climbed considerably over the years, and even more so when the energy required to dissipate their heat output is considered. While conventional hot air clothes dryers have their place in very damp and/or cool climates, the heat they develop is an undesirable side effect of the drying operation in many parts of the country during much of the year. The alternative of the conventional clothes line is not suitable for many households due to the frequency of damp weather in many areas and seasons, and the time and labor required to tediously pin up each garment or article to the line and remove them, perhaps several hours later, when they are dry.
While some clothes dryers have been developed in the past that do not provide a source of heat during the drying operation, such dryers have not been found entirely satisfactory. Thus, an ambient air clothes dryer solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The ambient air clothes dryer is an automated device including a motor-powered rotating drum having a fan providing axial airflow through the drum. No dedicated heating element is provided. Some embodiments include a fan motor and an additional motor to rotate the drum, while other embodiments utilize a belt or other drive from the fan output shaft to drive a jackshaft to rotate the drum, thereby saving weight, complexity, and energy. Yet another embodiment may be devoid of any fan or air circulation device, and may include only a motor to rotate the drum. This embodiment includes means for the removable and temporary installation of a conventional “box fan” therewith, to provide the air circulation required. Any or all of the embodiments may include a timer and/or humidity detector to provide for automatic shutoff of the fan and drum when the laundry is dry and/or a predetermined time has been reached.
The portability of the device allows it to be used indoors or outdoors, as desired. The device may take advantage of ambient heating sources within the home or other structure if so desired, e.g., a heat register, radiator, Franklin stove, etc., to provide some heating of the air, which then passes through the dryer drum. This also provides the beneficial effect of humidifying the air within the structure in colder weather. The device may be constructed to utilize twelve-volt power, if so desired, for use in camping when an automotive electrical system is available.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a partially broken away perspective view of a first embodiment of an ambient air clothes dryer according to the present invention, showing various details thereof.
FIG. 2 is a simplified side elevation view of an alternative embodiment of the present dryer, illustrating an alternative drum drive system.
FIG. 3 is another simplified side elevation view showing another alternative embodiment of a drum drive system.
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment of the present dryer, in which a separate portable box fan is used to provide airflow through the drum.
FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram of an exemplary electrical and control system that may be incorporated with the present dryer.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention comprises various embodiments of an ambient air clothes or laundry dryer, in which unheated air at ambient temperature is blown through the dryer drum to dry clothing therein. While some slight amount of heat may be provided from the fan motor, the present ambient air dryer device does not include any form of dedicated, specific heating apparatus, as is found in conventional clothes dryers.
FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates a first embodiment of the present dryer 10 , in which a separate fan motor 12 and drum rotation motor 14 are employed. The dryer 10 includes a housing or shell 16 having a hollow dryer drum 18 therein. The drum 18 rotates within the housing 16 , and is supported by drum support wheels 20 or other mechanism installed internally within the housing 16 . The dryer drum 18 has an impervious, generally cylindrical wall 22 having a diameter D. A screened airflow inlet end 24 is positioned adjacent the fan motor 12 with its fan 26 and fan drive shaft 28 , with a screened airflow outlet end door 30 located opposite the inlet end 24 of the drum 18 . The two screened ends 24 and 30 are preferably of a sufficiently fine mesh or gauge as to preclude the passage of small articles (e.g., loose change, buttons, etc.) therethrough, and have diameters closely approaching the diameter D of the dryer drum 18 . The screen of the outlet door 30 may have a mesh or gauge sufficiently fine to serve as a lint trap for the dryer.
The fan drive motor 12 with its fan drive shaft 28 and circular, rotary fan 26 are concentrically disposed externally to the airflow inlet end 24 of the dryer drum 18 , but within the housing 16 . The fan 26 preferably has a diameter closely approaching the diameter D of the dryer drum 18 and the inlet and outlet ends 24 and 30 of the drum 18 , in order to maximize airflow through the drum 18 . A fan guard 32 is preferably installed across the air inlet opening of the dryer housing 16 , with at least the blades of the fan 26 being captured between the guard 32 and the screened inlet opening 24 of the drum 18 .
The separate drum drive motor 14 of the embodiment 10 of FIG. 1 drives an output shaft 34 , which in turn causes the drum 18 to rotate when the drum drive motor 14 is in operation. A common switch may be used to simultaneously actuate and deactivate the fan motor 12 and drum drive motor 14 , if so desired. In the case of the embodiment 10 of FIG. 1 , the output shaft 34 has a drum belt pulley 36 at its distal end, with a drum drive belt 38 extending around the pulley 36 and around a circumferential groove 40 in the dryer drum 18 .
The configuration of the ambient air clothes dryer 10 , as well as the configurations of other embodiments disclosed herein, requires no heavy, stiff high voltage and/or high amperage electrical cable, as is universally required for the heating elements of conventional electric clothes dryers. Moreover, no gas line connection is required, as there is no use of a gas heater for the incoming air of the present dryer. Thus, the present dryer is relatively lightweight in comparison to conventional dryers with their heating systems, and requires no more power than is capable of being supplied by a conventional household electric cord. (In some embodiments, the motor(s) may be 12-volt DC, enabling them to be powered from a motor vehicle electrical system if so desired.) The light weight and simple power requirements of the present ambient air dryer allow it to be moved about readily to various locations as desired. Accordingly, external transport wheels 42 may be provided beneath one or both ends of the housing 16 , with a pair of support legs 44 being shown beneath the opposite end of the housing 16 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 . A handle 46 may be provided across one side of the housing shell 16 , to facilitate lifting of that side for rolling the device 10 as desired by means of the wheels 42 .
FIG. 2 provides a side elevation view of an alternative drum drive system, in which the fan drive is also used to rotate the drum. In FIG. 2 , the fan motor 112 drives an output shaft 128 to which the fan 126 is connected, as in the corresponding components 12 , 28 , and 26 of the embodiment 10 of FIG. 1 . However, the fan motor output shaft 128 may include a drive belt pulley 129 thereon, with a jackshaft drive belt 131 extending from the fan motor shaft pulley 129 to a driven pulley 133 on a radially offset jackshaft or drum drive shaft 134 . The shaft 134 includes a drum drive belt pulley 136 at its distal end, with a drum drive belt 138 extending around the pulley 136 and riding in a circumferential groove 140 around the dryer drum 118 . It will be seen that the dryer drum 118 and drum drive belt 138 may be identical to the corresponding components 18 and 38 illustrated in FIG. 1 and described further above. The distinction between the configuration of FIG. 1 and that of FIG. 2 is the use of a shaft and belt system driven from the concentric fan motor to rotate the dryer drum in the embodiment of FIG. 2 .
FIG. 3 provides a side elevation view of an embodiment similar to that of FIG. 2 , differing in the means used to impart rotary motion directly to the drum. In FIG. 3 , the fan motor 212 drives an output or fan drive shaft 228 and fan 226 , with the shaft 228 having a drive belt pulley 229 thereon, just as in the case of the equivalent components 112 , 128 , 126 , and 129 of the embodiment of FIG. 2 . The pulley 229 , in turn, drives a jackshaft or drum drive shaft 234 by means of a jackshaft driven pulley 233 on one end of the shaft 234 , just as in the embodiment of FIG. 2 . However, rather than driving the drum 218 by means of a belt extending around the drum, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the jackshaft or drum drive shaft 234 has a friction wheel 236 (rubber-coated, etc.) at its distal end which bears against a circumferential friction band 238 surrounding the dryer drum 218 . Rotation of the friction wheel 236 imparts rotational motion to the dryer drum 218 by means of the friction between the wheel 236 and friction band 238 around the drum. It will be seen that such a drum drive system may also be incorporated in the embodiment of FIG. 1 , with the drum drive shaft 34 having a friction wheel 236 at the distal end thereof in lieu of the pulley 36 shown, and the dryer 10 incorporating the drum 218 of FIG. 3 with its friction band 238 .
FIG. 4 provides an illustration of an additional embodiment of the present ambient air dryer, in which a portable fan is used to supply the air through the dryer drum. The dryer 310 of FIG. 4 includes a housing 316 which contains the drum 18 and drum drive mechanism comprising motor 14 , drum drive shaft 34 , shaft output pulley 36 , and drum drive belt 38 , just as in the embodiment illustrated fully in FIG. 1 . However, rather than incorporating a fan integrally therewith, as in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 3 , the housing 316 of the dryer 310 includes a fan receptacle 317 in the rear wall thereof, i.e., adjacent the screened air inlet end 24 of the drum. The fan receptacle 317 is configured to fit a conventional portable fan F, commonly known as a “box fan,” therein. The fan receptacle 317 may be configured to accept other types of fans, as desired. A suitable electrical outlet 319 may be provided on the housing 316 , allowing the fan F to be plugged in for operation. Power to the outlet 319 may be provided through appropriate control circuitry on or in the dryer housing or cabinet 316 , as desired, to provide control of the fan F from the ambient air dryer controls.
FIG. 5 provides a basic electrical schematic diagram of circuitry that may be incorporated with the present ambient air clothes dryer in its various embodiments. In FIG. 5 , a conventional electrical power source 410 , e.g., 115-volt ac power from the power grid, or perhaps 12-volt dc power from an automotive or other electrical source when the ambient air dryer is manufactured to accept such power, provides electrical power to the dryer through a master switch 412 . The master switch provides power to the fan motor, e.g., motor 12 of FIG. 1 , and the drum drive motor, e.g., motor 14 of FIG. 1 , through a solenoid or other appropriate switch 414 . The switch 414 may incorporate the electrical outlet 319 for incorporation in the portable fan embodiment of FIG. 3 , if so desired.
The solenoid switch 414 is not required in the simplest embodiments of the present ambient air dryer. However, the dryer in any of its embodiments may include a timer and/or humidity sensor 416 , if so desired. These components are conventional in clothes and laundry dryers, and need not be described in detail herein. The timer may be incorporated in combination with a rotary on/off switch to serve the function of the master switch 412 , if so desired. In any event, the timer and/or humidity sensor 416 is normally closed when electrical power is applied for operation of the dryer, with the electrical contacts opening when a predetermined time is reached (for the timer) or when the air flow from the dryer reaches a predetermined low level of humidity (for the humidity sensor). If either of these conditions occurs, power to the solenoid switch 414 is interrupted, thereby interrupting power to the fan and drum drive motors 12 and 14 and shutting off the dryer. The opening of the solenoid switch 414 may also trigger the operation of a buzzer, bell, or other audible or visual signaling means to alert the user of the dryer that the drying operation is complete, much as in the case of conventional clothes dryers. Where the circuit of FIG. 5 is incorporated with the portable fan embodiment of FIG. 4 , the switch 414 may control power to the outlet 319 to shut off power to the outlet 319 , thereby shutting off the fan F plugged into the outlet 319 .
In conclusion, the present ambient air laundry and clothes dryer in its various embodiments provides a significant advance in efficiency for such machines, particularly in relatively warm and/or dry environments where the device may take advantage of the ambient air conditions.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
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The ambient air clothes dryer is an automated device providing axial flow of unheated ambient air through the dryer drum. The dryer may include different drum drive systems, timer and/or humidity detector controls, and a configuration utilizing a separate, portable fan for temporary, removable installation with the dryer housing to provide airflow through the drum. The ambient air dryer greatly reduces energy requirements for drying laundry when compared to conventional heated air dryers, and is quite effective in warm and/or dry climates. The ambient air dryer is portable and may be used indoors or outdoors. The device may be configured to use twelve-volt power from a motor vehicle for use in camping. When used indoors, the device may be placed with a heat source (heat register, etc.) to draw warm air through the drum while humidifying the air as it passes through damp laundry in the drum.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in time-resolved fluorometers, particularly those useful for determining delayed fluorescence emission in clinical and other samples. More particularly, it relates to time-resolved fluorometers having diminshed instrument-produced background fluorescence.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Fluorescent compounds are frequently used as labeling compounds in a broad range of assay systems, particularly those used for determining analytes of clinical interest. It has been recognized that many types of biological specimens in which such analytes are to be detected naturally fluoresce, thereby creating a natural background fluorescence which limits the sensitivity of the assay systems used to detect such analytes.
One approach to avoiding this problem has been the use of fluorescent labels, such as lanthanide chelates, which produce a time-delayed or time-resolved fluorescence which is measurable after the decay of the natural fluorescence of the biological sample. See, for example, Syvanen, et al.,Time-resolved fluorometry: a sensitive method to quantify DNA-hybrids, Nuc. Ac. Res., 14:1017-1028(1986).
Instruments have been developed to measure the time-resolved fluorescence produced by these assay systems. For example, Soini, et al., Time-Resolved Fluorometer for Lanthanide Chelates-A New Generation of Nonisotopic Immunoassays, Clin. Chem., 29:65-68(1983) discloses a manually operated fluorometer for assays using lanthanide chelates as labels.
Another such instrument is disclosed by Wieder, U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,732. The fluorometer disclosed here, like the one described by Soini, uses a laser light source to excite a reagent in a fluorescent assay composition and reads the time-delayed fluorescent signal with a photomultiplier tube.
Notwithstanding the avoidance of autofluorescence in biological samples achieved by time-delayed or time-resolved fluorescence, recognition of the limitations of instruments in this field in their own production of background fluorescence has not been documented, addressed or overcome.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In contrast, the present invention has resulted from a recognition of and solution to the problem of fluorescence resulting from instruments so far used to measure time-delayed or time-resolved. The full sensitivity of presently available time-delayed fluorescence reagent compositions can now be realized with the limitations of associated instrumentation having been overcome.
The invention provides a time-resolved fluorometer for detecting the presence of an analyte in a sample, which fluoromete comprises a light tight enclosure having therein:
means for emitting a beam of excitation light;
a light tight sample excitation station for a sample which has been reacted with a reagent composition excitable by said excitation light to produce a delayed fluorescence in the presence of said analyte, which excitation station comprises a light tight sample enclosure provided with an excitation beam inlet and a delayed fluorescence outlet;
a fused silica lens system for delivering said excitation beam to said sample in said sample enclosure;
sample handling means capable of positioning the so-reacted sample in the path of said excitation beam within said sample enclosure;
means for measuring delayed fluorescence emitted from the so-reacted sample; and
a fused silica lens system for delivering the delayed fluorescence emitted from the sample to said delayed fluorescence measuring means.
In a further aspect of the invention, the means for measurement of delayed fluorescence is a thermoelectrically cooled photomultiplier.
Using the sensitivity calculation method adopted in the literature cited above, the invention makes it possible in preferred embodiments to count 1,300 times more photons per pulse than has previously been possible. An additional reduction in background counts by a factor of 100 is made possible by cooling the photomultiplier.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one preferred embodiment of the time-resolved fluorometer of the invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a preferred embodiment of the sample excitation assembly and components of the fussed silica lens systems.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Although specific terms are used in the following description for clarity, they refer only to the particular embodiment(s) selected for illustration and are not a limitation of the scope of the invention.
Referring now to FIG. 1, controller 10 is a general purpose digital computer with a stored (fixed) program which is connected with user console 12 and recorder 14. User console 12 conventionally includes a printer for recording the test data of each analysis. Controller 10 instructs, monitors and controls the sequence and coordination of system operations, as more fully described below, as well as calculates and monitors the quality of results and provides data output in a variety of formats.
Light tight enclosure or housing 16 contains, inter alia, laser assembly 20 which includes trigger 22, pulsed dye laser unit 25, laser beam spreader 28 and laser output monitor 29. Pulsed dye laser unit 25 is activated by laser trigger 22, as controlled by controller 10, and includes nitrogen laser 24, dye laser 26 and interferometer 27. Nitrogen laser 24 consists essentially of a sealed nitrogen plasma cartridge and associated excitation electronics (not shown) that produce a 5 nanosecond(ns) pulse of light at 337 nanometers(nm) upon activation by an external trigger signal from laser trigger 22. Dye laser 26 is excited by the pulse so-produced to emit a laser light pulse at about 405 nm. This lasing is produced in dye laser 26 when an excitation pulse strikes a saturated solution of p-diphenylstilbene in dioxane, which is strongly fluorescent when excited. The 405 nm wavelength is selected by interferometer 27, a component of dye laser 26 that permits passage of light having multiples of the 405 nm wavelength. A suitable embodiment of laser unit 24 is the LSL Dye Laser (Laser Science, Inc., Cambridge, MA). The 405 nm laser light pulses produced by dye laser 26 are referred to as laser beam A, a 0.8 millimeter (mm) wide laser beam that passes into beam spreader 28. Beam spreader 28 comprises a microscope objective lens having a 4 mm focal length (not shown) and a collimating lens (not shown). A suitable objective lens is the Nikon MSK 10401 40X objective lens. A suitable collimating lens is an Ealing 34-6734 plano-convex lens (Ealing Optical, Needham, MA) having a 38.3 mm focal length and 25.4 mm diameter. Beam spreader 28 produces sample excitation beam B which is monitored by laser output monitor 29 under the control of controller 10.
Sample excitation assembly 30 includes light tight housing 32 having sample inlet 33, excitation beam inlet 34, sample outlet 35 and delayed fluorescence outlet 38. Excitation beam inlet 34 and delayed fluorescence outlet 38 are provided with interference filter 36 and convergent lens 39, respectively. A particularly preferred embodiment of sample excitation assembly 30 is shown in more detail in FIG. 2, as described below.
As a component of the fused silica lens system for delivery of sample excitation light of the invention, interference filter 36 is of metal on a fused silica base, passes 405 nm sample incident beam B and reflects sample emission of 565 nm or more. A suitable interference filter is a 1.0 cm diameter 405 nm interference filter (Omega Optical, Inc., Brattleboro, VT).
As a component of the fused silica lens system for delivering delayed fluorescence emission from the sample for measurement, convergent lens 39 is an Ealing 34-6809 fused silica plano-convex lens (Ealing Optical, supra) having a 100 mm focal length and 50.8 mm diameter.
As a further component of the fused silica lens system for delivering sample emission for measurement, interference filter 56 is comprised of an outer edge filter 56a and an inner narrow pass interference filter 56b. Outer edge filter 56a is constructed on a fused silica substrate, permits a band pass of 565-750 nm wavelength, and is 50.8×50.8 mm in size (Omega Optical Co., Brattleboro, VT). Outer filter 56a is so-constructed to prevent scattered incident radiation or direct fluorescence from reaching inner filter 56b, thereby causing it to autofluoresce. Inner filter 56b is deposited on a conventional glass substrate and is also 50.8×50.8 mm in size. Inner filter 56b permits selection of an advantageous wavelength for observing delayed fluorescence. For example, a 620 nm band-pass filter (Ealing #35-3870) is preferred for delayed fluorescence emanating from europium.
Sample handling assembly 40 includes sample delivery station 42 and endless loop 44 comprising a sequence of sample holder units 46. The sample handling assembly can be any of a number of conventional formats (not shown), such as those in which the endless belt is formed of sample holder units designed to position for excitation a sample-containing analytical element or vessel. Such analytical element or vessels can include test strips, slides, capillary tubes or the like, preferably formed of fused silica rather than conventional materials, to reduce or eliminate system background fluorescence in accordance with the invention. Alternatively, the sample handling assembly can be at least a portion of the fluid handling conduits (not shown) of a continuous flow analyzer, such as that described in Smith, et al., EPO Patent Publication No. 0 200 235. In any of these embodiments, sample handling, positioning within sample excitation assembly 30 and coordination with the operation of other components of the instrument is under control of controller 10.
Detector assembly 50 includes photomultiplier tube 52, amplifier/discriminator 60 and pulse counter 62. Pulse counter 62 is connected and delivers data to controller 10 through a parallel interface board (not shown). Photomultiplier tube 52 includes photomultiplier tube inlet 54 provided with interference filter 56 and thermoelectric solid state cooler 58.
In accordance with the invention, photomultipliers having high sensitivity in the red range and a broad dynamic range are used. These can count an exceptionally high number of counts per second (up to 10-12 million) as compared with those conventionally used. An appropriate photomultiplier tube 52 is the Hammamatsu PMT(R943-02), having a gallium arsenide photocathode (Hammamatsu Corporation, Bridgewater, NJ). Photomultiplier tube 52 is powered by a conventional D.C. power supply (not shown).
Further in accordance with the invention, photomultiplier tube 52 is cooled to a constant temperature of about -40° C. during operation. Temperature is monitored by a copper-constantan thermocouple in contact with the inner wall of the phototube container and maintained constant under the control of controller 10. This reduces spurious counts from thermal electrons inside photomultiplier tube 52 to about 1-3 Hz as compared to 100 Hz reported by others in the literature, thereby increasing sensitivity potential by a factor of about 100.
Referring now to FIG. 2, sample excitation assembly 30 includes an Edmund #E42,842 front surface parabolic mirror 132 (Edmund Scientific, Barrington, NJ) having a 50 mm diameter, -23 mm focal length and, also, aperture 134 at the center thereof. Parabolic mirror 132 is positioned in excitation assembly 30 such that aperture 134 is adjacent to and coextensive with excitation beam inlet 34. In this way, parabolic mirror 132 does not interfere with the light entering through interference filter 36. Focal point 133 of parabolic mirror 132 is along the path of sample excitation beam B and between the position where the sample S is held for reading and secondary interference filter 136, as further discussed next below.
Still referring to FIG. 2, excitation assembly 30 also includes a secondary 405 nm band pass interference filter 136, which is identical to interference filter 36 (described above), and a 1.0 cm diameter, 0.3 cm thick aluminum beam-stopper disc 138 which are positioned between interference filter 36 and convergent lens 39 along the path of the sample incident beam. Aluminum beam-stoper disc 138 has a concave surface 139 facing the source of the sample incident beam.
The time-delayed fluorometer of the invention is particularly suitable for use in conjunction with specific binding assys, such as immunoassays and nucleic acid hybridization assays, on body fluid, tissue section or other physiological samples. Such samples can include biological fluids, such as whole blood, serum, plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, saliva, milk, culture media and supernatants as well as fractions of any of them. Tissue sections can be, for example, fresh, frozen or paraffin embedded. Other sources of sample fluid which are tested by conventional methods are contemplated and can also be assayed in accordance with the invention.
The analyte can be any substance, or class of related substances, whose presence in the sample is to be qualitatively or quantitatively determined. The fluorometer of the invention can operate in conjunction with assay compositions for the detection of analytes for which there is a specific binding partner and, conversely, for the detection of the capacity of a sample to bind an analyte (usually due to the presence in the sample of a binding partner for the analyte). The analyte usually is an oligo- or polynucleotide, oligo- or polypeptide, oligo- or polysaccharide, steroid or other organic molecule for which a binding partner exists or can be provided by immunological or synthetic means. Functionally, the analyte is usually selected from an RNA or DNA for which a complementary nucleic acid sequence exists or can be made, antigens or haptens and antibodies thereto, and hormones, vitamins, metabolites and pharmacological agents and their receptors and binding substances.
The specific binding partner for the analyte can be any compound or composite capable of recognizing a particular spatial and polar organization of a molecule, such as an epitopic site, or a particular informational sequence, such as a nucleic acid sequence, in preference to other substances. In the majority of embodiments, the specific binding partner will be a specific binding assay reagent, such as a nucleic acid hybridization assay probe, a mono- or polyclonal antibody, other specific binding protein or saccharide-specific lectin.
COMPARATIVE BACKGROUND FLUORESCENCE REDUCTION
In accordance with the invention, it has now been recognized that ordinary glass lenses and interference filters are unsuitable for this purpose because of their unacceptable high autofluorescence.
During the considerable efforts that have gone into research on and development of preferred embodiments of the instrument disclosed in accordance with the invention, it was found that replacing optical components of the instrument which had been made of conventional materials, such as those taught for use by the prior art in this field, with fused silica optical components greatly improved the performance of such instruments by reducing the number of background or non-specific counts of fluorescence.
When the filter identified as element 56a was replaced by a 50.8×50.8 mm, 570 mm long pass filter (Schott OG-570), 2410 counts/second were recorded from a 0.45 micron filtered distilled water sample in a 1.0 cm path length fused silica cell which was placed in the optical train at a point equivalent to the position of sample holder 40 in an otherwise identical instrument. Under the same conditions of measurement, the instrument having the filter formed on a fused silica substrate 56a typically gave 3-40 counts/second.
In another comparison, interference filter 36 was removed and replaced with a conventional 405 nm interference filter (Ealing #35-8069). With the conventional filter in place, a 30-times-higher counting rate (76,100 counts/second) was measured than when no filter was present at this position.
When fused silica convergent lens 39 was replaced with an otherwise-equivalent crown glass lens (Ealing #30-8858), 23,500 counts were produced from filtered distilled water.
The excess counts reported above decayed after the end of the laser pulse, following first order kinetics, within a characteristic time of 470 microseconds. This is too long for the fluorescence to be ascribed to a dissolved species in the water samples at room temperature. These counts are therefore attributed to autofluorescence associated with trace metal ion impurities present in conventional glass used in conventional lens systems and which is absent in fused silica.
The results of these comparative experiments, performed with different lens system components on the exact same instrument, dramatically demonstrate the improvement in performance of the instrument system and thus its availability to take full advantage of the sensitivity of the best fluorescent assay reagent technologies available now and in the future.
Although the invention has been described with particularity, numerous changes in the details, combinations and arrangement of elements can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as conceived, described and claimed.
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A time-resolved fluorometer, having a light tight enclosure, for detecting the presence of an analyte in a sample. Within the light tight enclosure are a pulsed dye laser that produces a pulsed light beam for sample excitation, a light tight sample excitation station through which samples, treated with a reagent composition, are passed into the path of the pulsed light excitation beam to produce a delayed fluorescence emission, a fused silica lens system through which the delayed fluorescence emission passes and an assembly which selectively amplifies, counts and characterizes the resulting emissions. The operation and coordination of the time resolved fluorometer are under computerized control as are the readings reported. Significant improvements relate to the fused silica lens systems and interference filters, cooling of the emission measurement apparatus and particularly the improved performance resulting from the combination of these aspects.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to pick-&-place robotics, and more particularly to end effectors used on such equipment.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the packaging industry, many of the tasks that had been carried out manually are now performed by industrial robots. As an example, such robots have been designed to pick up individual products from a first conveyor exiting a high-speed wrapping machine and transporting the wrapped products to a box or carton traveling along a second conveyor. A problem results, however, if the product size and/or shape are such that it can fit into a carton only if oriented precisely in a certain disposition. Then, too, if the robot is to simultaneously pick up a plurality of products from a conveyor, rather than one at a time, and the products are traveling down a flighted conveyor, it presents a problem of how to deposit the products as a group into a carton in a contiguous relationship.
For purposes of example only, assume for the moment that the products leaving the wrapping machine are candy bars of a defined length, width and thickness dimension and that they are traveling between lugs or fins of a flighted conveyor that maintains a predetermined gap between products. Assume further that it is desired to deposit a predetermined count of the candy bars, say, one dozen, in an open top rectangular carton as the carton moves down a second conveyor running parallel to the first. The robot employed must be able to simultaneously pick up plural bars from the flighted conveyor, squeeze the several bars together to eliminate the spacing therebetween and then deposit the plural bars as a group in the carton and then repeat the process until the desired count has been boxed. Depending on the dimensions of the candy bars and the dimension of the carton, it may also be necessary to rotate the group of bars while in transit, via the robot, so that they will be properly aligned for deposit into the box.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved end effector for an industrial robot for use in pick & place applications.
Another object of the invention is to provide an end effector capable of compressing and expanding the spacing between plural product grasping devices comprising the end effector.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an end effector for a robot having a rotatable head capable of both rotating plural products and expanding and contracting the spacing between the plural products picked up by the end effector as the products are being carried by a robot.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing objects are realized by providing an end effector for an arm of an industrial robot that comprises a plurality of suction tubes coupled in fluid communication to a vacuum manifold where each of the suction tubes is capable of grasping a product. The end effector also includes a means for varying the spacing between the plurality of suction tubes as well as a means for rotating the vacuum manifold and the means for varying the spacing between the plurality of suction tubes relative to the arm of the industrial robot carrying the end effector.
Without limitation, the means for varying the spacing between the plurality of suction tubes may comprise a lazy tong linkage assembly that is coupled to a linear actuator such that extension of the linear actuator results in a spreading of the distance between the suction tubes and retraction of the linear actuator results in a squeezing of the plurality of suction tubes together.
The means for rotating the vacuum manifold preferably comprises a pneumatically operated rotary actuator having a rotary platform journaled to a body member where the rotary actuator is disposed between the arm of the industrial robot and the vacuum manifold.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, especially when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an end effector constructed in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the end effector of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 3 is an end view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 ; and
FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a rotary actuator employed in the embodiment of FIG. 1 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only and will not be limiting. The words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the device and associated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words above specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.
Referring first to FIG. 1 , there is indicated generally by numeral 10 an end effector for use on an industrial robot such as a Delta Robot of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,582 to Raymond Clavel (the Clavel '482 patent). The patent describes a robot for handling products in a three-dimensional space and those skilled in the art may refer to that patent for a description of a robot with which the present invention may be utilized. Such a robot is designed for high-speed and high-accuracy pick-&-place applications, such as may be effectively used in the packaging machine industry, for picking products from a conveyor belt and placing them in cartons or to the infeed of a high-speed wrapping machine with a predetermined orientation and spacing between products.
Referring to FIG. 2 of the Clavel '482 patent, the Delta Robot includes a generally triangular-shaped main casting 1 having three rotatable shafts 2 journaled for rotation about horizontal axes extending generally parallel to the three sides of the triangular casting 1 . Each of the three shafts is arranged to be driven by a servo motor 3 for rotating the arms 4 in a vertical plane. Rotary encoders 7 on the servo motor 3 feed positional information to a main controller module 12 . At the free ends of the arms 4 are crossbars of a predetermined length dimension and carrying a detachable connector, such as ball & socket joints 26 , at a opposed ends thereof. The detachable ball & socket joints 26 couple the cross bars to a pair of rods comprising a total of six forearms 5 , all of equal length.
Suspended from the lower ends of the six forearms 5 is a triangular-shaped base plate member 8 . More particularly, cross rods project laterally from the base plate 8 proximate the three vertices thereof and detachable connectors, e.g., ball & socket joints 27 , are used to join the lower ends of the forearm members 5 to the cross rods. Supported from the underside of the base plate 8 is an end effector 9 which may comprise a vacuum cup or other type of gripping member. In that the forearms 5 are of equal length, as the respective servo motors impart rotation to the arms 4 , the base plate 8 carrying the end effector 9 undergoes pure translation without rotation in first swinging to pick up a product located in a first area and transporting it to a second area for release.
In FIG. 1 hereof, the base plate 8 of the Delta Robot is shown with the end effector 10 of the present invention attached to the undersurface thereof by a series of bolts, as at 12 , which extend into threaded bores formed in the top surface 14 of a rotary actuator 16 . Without limitation, the rotary actuator 16 may be of a type manufactured and sold by Numatics Incorporated of Highland, Mich. As will be explained in greater detail herein below with the aid of FIG. 4 , the rotary actuator 16 includes a rotary platform 18 ( FIG. 2 ) journaled to a body member 20 where the body member 20 is affixed to the underside of the base plate 8 of the Delta Robot. Under pneumatic forces, the rotary platform 18 can be made to swivel through a predetermined arc.
The rotary actuator 16 is mounted on a frame structure that is indicated generally by numeral 22 in FIG. 1 . More particularly, a series of standoffs as at 24 , secure the rotary actuator 16 to the frame 22 so as to maintain a predetermined distance between the underside of the rotary platform 18 and the upper surface of the frame 22 .
The frame 22 comprises first and second tubular vacuum manifolds 26 and 28 that are held in parallel, spaced-apart relationship by opposed end plates 30 and 32 . As can be seen in FIG. 1 , the tubular manifold 28 has a vacuum inlet port 34 adapted to be connected by flexible tubing, not shown, to a vacuum source. The tubular manifold member 26 also has a vacuum inlet port 36 that is hidden from view in FIG. 1 , but visible in the end view of FIG. 3 . A vacuum can be selectively applied to one or both manifolds. Each of the manifold members 26 and 28 has a plurality of vacuum outlet ports, as at 38 .
As perhaps best seen in FIG. 2 , bolted to the underside of the rotary platform 18 are first and second linear actuators 40 and 42 . Each comprises a pneumatic 2-way cylinder whose reciprocally movable outlet shafts 44 and 46 terminate in fittings 48 and 50 . These fittings are pivotally connected by a pin 52 that passes through a standoff 54 to end linkages 56 and 58 of a lazy tong linkage assembly that is indicated generally by numeral 60 . The lazy tong linkage assembly 60 comprises a plurality of pairs of diagonal linkages, where the members of each pair are pivotally joined at their centers and are also pivotally joined to an adjacent pair of diagonal linkages at their respective ends, as perhaps best seen in the perspective view of FIG. 1 .
Turning momentarily to FIG. 2 , attached to the lazy tong assembly 60 proximate the center of the diagonal linkages thereof are product graspers, here shown as downwardly extending rigid tubes, as at 62 , each supporting a pair of suction cups, as at 64 , that are in fluid communication with the central lumen of the rigid tubes 62 by way of tubular stubs, as at 66 . While the illustrated embodiment uses pneumatic graspers, it is to be understood that other mechanical or electrically operated graspers may also be used.
Short lengths of flexible plastic tubing as at 67 in FIG. 3 are used to connect the manifold outlet ports 38 to corresponding input ports 68 near the upper ends of the rigid tubes 62 . Thus, when a vacuum source is connected to the manifolds 26 and 28 by way of the vacuum inlet ports 34 thereof, suction forces are developed proximate the lower ends of all of the suction cups 64 . If a vacuum is applied to only one of the manifolds, only those suction cups associated with that manifold will be active to grasp a product.
Turning now to FIG. 4 , the constructional features of the rotary actuator 16 will be described. The body member 20 thereof includes a pair of bores 70 and 72 that receive generally cylindrical pneumatic pistons 74 and 76 therein. The piston members include a gear rack 78 machined into a flattened portion of the periphery of the otherwise cylindrical pistons. O-rings, as at 80 , fit into circumferential grooves 82 formed proximate the opposed ends of the pistons and serve as seals between the pistons and the walls of the bores in which they reside.
The body member 20 includes a centrally located vertical cylindrical bore 84 for receiving a pinion gear 86 and bearings 88 and 90 therein. The gear teeth on the pinion 86 are arranged to mate with the gear rack 78 on the pistons 74 and 76 such that when the pistons are made to move reciprocally in the bores 70 and 72 , the pinion gear 86 will rotate about its central axis.
Once the pistons 74 and 76 have been inserted into the respective bores 70 and 72 , tubular caps as at 92 are screwed into threads formed the bores 70 and 72 of the body member 20 . Thus, when air, under pressure, is introduced through the central bore 94 of the end caps 92 , the pistons can be made to move toward the center of the body member 20 , rotating the spur gear 86 in a first direction. With a pressure applied through the bore 95 , the alternate pistons will be forced toward the periphery of the body member 20 causing the pinion gear 86 to rotate in the opposite direction.
A retainer ring 96 is fastened by screws 98 to the surface face of the body member 20 holding the bearings 88 , 90 and 100 that journal the pinion gear 86 in place.
The rotary platform 18 is secured to an upwardly projecting shaft 102 of the pinion gear 86 so as to rotate with the pinion gear. Formed in the undersurface of the rotary platform 18 is an annular groove (not shown) into which a projection 104 on the body member 20 is arranged to fit. Threaded bores 106 and 108 extend radially into the peripheral surface of the rotary platform 18 and intersect with the annular groove. Setscrews 110 and 112 are inserted into the threaded bores 106 and 108 to cooperate with the stop 104 to define the end points of the arc through which the rotary platform 18 may rotate.
Having described the construction features of the preferred embodiment, attention will now be directed to the mode of operation.
With the rotary actuator 16 affixed to the robot's base plate 8 at the lower ends of the robot's arms and with pressure hoses (not shown) connected to the end caps 94 of the rotary actuator and with a source of negative pressure connected through tubing (not shown) to the manifold inlet ports 34 and 36 , a suction can be drawn through the suction cups 64 to grip and hold a plurality of products at the lower ends of the rigid tubes 62 . With valving (not shown), the linear actuators 40 and 42 can have their piston rods 44 and 46 extended or retracted, thereby varying the spacing between the plurality of rigid tubes and the products carried thereby by virtue of the lazy tong linkage mechanism that is operatively coupled to the reciprocally movable piston rods 44 and 46 .
At the same time, by controlling the air pressure acting on the pistons 74 and 76 , the rotary platform 18 can be made to spin through a predetermined arc as set by the adjustment screws 110 and 112 to thereby rotate the frame 22 , the lazy tong assembly 60 and the rigid tubes 62 relative to the base plate 8 of the robot arm with which the end effector 10 of the present invention is used.
As has been explained in the Background of the Invention section hereof, a plurality of objects may simultaneously be picked up from a conveyor belt for placement in a carton traveling along an adjacent conveyor belt. The spacing between the objects can be varied in transit. Likewise, all of the objects can be rotated through a present arc while the objects are in transit under control of the robot arm from a “pick” position to a “place” position.
This invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required. However, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices, and that various modifications, both as to the equipment and operating procedures, can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself.
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An end effector ( 10 ) for an industrial robot has the ability to pick up plural objects, selectively rotate same and adjusts the spacing between the plural objects as the products are being carried by the robot to a desired deposit location. This functionality is achieved by locating a rotary actuator ( 16 ) at the end ( 8 ) of a robot arm and providing a lazy tong linkage assembly ( 60 ) to which plural product graspers ( 62 ) are affixed where the lazy tong assembly is carried by a rotatable platform ( 18 ) of the rotary actuator. The rotary actuator, the lazy tong assembly and the product graspers are preferably pneumatically actuated.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/187,989, filed Jul. 2, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,692.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
a. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a wheelchair navigation system, and more particularly to a computer-controlled power wheelchair navigation system that allows a person to navigate through a location with pre-established paths, and with voice or manually activating the computer.
b. Description of Related Art
A significant population of severely disabled people require mobility assistance in daily living activities beyond what is available in conventional powered wheelchairs. The present invention is aimed at a segment of that population, those unable to manually guide the movements of powered wheelchairs, to provide them with autonomous navigation capabilities in repetitively used environments such as homes, offices, hospitals, and public buildings and spaces.
There are a number of navigational methods that already exist for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. Current navigational systems for semi-autonomous vehicles usually have controls such as a joystick or an ocular device, and employ overriding features such as obstacle or collision avoidance. Some autonomous systems utilize path-following methods such as a magnetic strip, optical strip or targets to provide paths from an origin to a destination. These methods have difficulty handling multiple and intersecting paths, if they can handle them at all.
There are three systems specifically identified in the prior art, all of which differ from the present invention. A robotic wheelchair system, commonly known as the WHEELSELSY, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, operates as a semi-autonomous system that is capable of being controlled by head and eye movements of the rider.
Another wheelchair system known as NavChair® is an adaptive shared control system that is semi-autonomous. The NavChair® uses guidance command from the rider and exerts control in areas such as obstacle avoidance or object approach.
The Wheelchair Project also has a system that uses landmark recognition and obstacle avoidance as well as interaction across a spectrum of automations from low level motion guidance to selection of destination wherein the wheelchair delivers the rider.
None of these known assistance devices are fully autonomous operations. Moreover, none of these known assistance devices permit avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory while allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of teaching functions. They do, however, share many common features, including adaptability to a multitude of different vehicles, varying levels of operator control authority, and obstacle avoidance.
The autonomous navigation system of the present invention was developed for use in rehabilitative or therapeutic environments as well as domestic and vocational circumstances. It can also be modified for use in independent mobile circumstances for the severely disabled such as public access buildings like museums and airports. Secondary applications for autonomous transport are also foreseeable, although not specifically identified herein.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation system that will enable independent mobility for handicapped people.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer-controlled wheelchair that is capable of navigating in various spaces via pre-determined paths of travel, based upon the approach disclosed in the article, “Extending Teach-Repeat to Nonholonomic Robots,” Skaar, S. B. and Yoder, J. D.
Yet another object of the present invention is to permit avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of teaching functions.
The present navigation system utilizes a commercially available powered wheelchair that has been modified to include hardware, encoding devices to provide odometry, video capture devices to provide absolute position information, ultrasonic sensors to detect obstacles, as well as drive and navigation systems. The computer's software has the function of path and destination learning, recognition of obstacles, and navigation to a selected destination.
The computer-controlled power wheelchair of the present system is a learning, autonomous, obstruction avoiding, navigation system for motorized wheelchairs. The system learns by being driven over the desired routes to the selected destinations and committing the routes and destination to memory via the computer system. After learning the route, the wheelchair is capable of autonomously navigating any of the learned routes which is selected by the rider. The ‘teach and learn’ system of route establishment is unique within this field of application. The present system is also capable of easily and accurately maneuvering through doorways.
The present computer-controlled power wheelchair navigation system provides the physically disabled rider with means of ‘on command’ navigation over frequently used paths. The system was designed to operate either with guidance from the rider or with rider input consisting of a destination command (autonomous operation). This system utilizes any commercially available motorized wheelchair as its base, and is powered by three onboard batteries. A battery charger is also included to keep the batteries charged and operable.
Navigation within the system is carried out by use of a known filter-based estimator, such as that by Kalman®. The estimator is used in conjunction with interface software running on an onboard laptop computer. Dual cameras, proximity sensors, microphones, and rotation sensors for the wheels are all mounted to the wheelchair. These electronic components are used with the specialized software in conjunction with small visual markers placed on the walls of the location to be navigated which provide an accurate path over which the wheelchair travels.
The wheelchair is ‘taught’ or has pre-programmed paths to various destinations by having an able-bodied person push the chair once, with or without the rider, along any desired route of travel while the computer records information from the sensors. Once destinations have been established, the rider can then select any of these locations and the navigation system will steer the wheelchair to that location. Paths can be reversed and/or merged to reach a desired location, or in order to avoid an obstacle. The system will choose the shortest uninterrupted path to its destination.
The computer can be operated by two modes of operation: voice mode and switch mode. In the voice mode, the rider controls the navigation system by speaking commands into a microphone that is attached to the wheelchair and connected to the computer. If the rider cannot address the correct command, they can request a scan of all available commands. A list is simultaneously displayed on the screen and spoken by the text-to-speech converter, when the correct command is selected.
In switch mode, the computer reads the available locations aloud through a speech synthesizer and earphone. When the desired location is spoken, the rider triggers a switch identifying the location. Switching mechanisms have been mounted in various locations on the chair and can be activated by virtually any part of the rider's body.
The rider can give commands to the computer controlling the chair at any time during navigation. Such commands can be issued by speaking words or by switching triggers. Some common commands that may be used include: stop, continue travel, return to the last starting point, go faster or slower, and pause the navigation system; however such commands are not limited to these particular commands, but may be customized to fit the rider's needs.
When the rider chooses a destination, they will receive feedback from the computer either by a visual display or by synthesized speech. Proximity sensors located on the wheelchair locate obstacles that are in the path of the wheelchair during travel. The sensors trigger the computer to stop the wheelchair if travel is obstructed. The system does not allow the wheelchair to continue to the selected destination until the object is removed, and the wheelchair can be directed to return to a previous point so that it may travel to an alternate destination.
With respect to alternative navigation technologies, fixed track systems pose numerous disadvantages: difficult and inflexible implementation, undue complexity as the number of intersecting paths grows larger, and inability of the wheelchair to depart from and return to the prescribed path without outside intervention. Use of sonar for point-to-point navigation presents such problems as specular reflection (spurious measurements obtained when sonar ‘bounces’ off multiple surfaces) and the likelihood of multiple chairs intercepting each other's navigation signals in institutional settings.
In contrast, multiple chairs fitted with the vision-based navigation technology may readily share wall-mounted cues without difficulty, and the navigation system's use of sonar to locate obstacles within 2-3 feet of the chair is significantly less challenging than employing sonar for navigation. Finally, some researchers are investigating autonomous navigation via video detection of ‘natural landmarks’, i.e. locating and steering toward a door by identifying a doorknob. In comparison, the present navigation system relies on images with a distinctive ‘signature.’ This lends itself to significantly simpler and more straightforward implementation with negligible danger of the estimator becoming ‘confused’. Of course, the navigation system technology is inherently limited to modified environments, those defined by cue placement and taught paths.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The invention achieves the aforementioned exemplary objects by providing a wheelchair navigation system including, a motorized wheelchair, and at least one computer having software that performs navigational functions, teaching functions, obstacle detection, supervisory tasks, and diagnostic analysis. The navigation system may further include at least one camera, at least one proximity sensor, at least one rotation sensor, at least one visual sensor, at least one visual marker, and an input device including a switch or a microphone. The rotation sensor, visual sensor and the input device may be interfaced to the computer which runs specialized software, and the proximity sensor performs sensing operations during performance of the teaching functions for thereby permitting avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of the teaching functions.
For the wheelchair navigation system described above, the computer may include a screen with a visual display, and receive information from the cameras and the sensors, process the information and determine a path of travel for the wheelchair from such information. The computer may further be voice or manually activated.
The invention yet further provides a wheelchair navigation system including a motorized wheelchair, at least one battery, a battery charger, a filter-based estimator with interface software, a computer having software that performs navigational functions and teaching functions, at least one camera, at least one proximity sensor, at least one microphone, at least one rotation sensor for the wheels, the at least one sensor is mounted on the wheelchair, and a plurality of visual markers capable of being placed on the walls of a specific location. The proximity sensor may perform sensing operations during performance of the teaching functions for thereby permitting avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of the teaching functions.
The invention also provides method of navigation using a powered wheelchair including the steps of, providing a motorized wheelchair, the wheelchair being powered by at least one onboard battery, and a battery charger and having dual cameras, proximity sensors, a microphone and rotation sensors for sensing wheel rotation, providing a filter-based estimator with interface software running that is operated on at least one computer including a control system, and providing markers at various locations within a specific area. The method may further include the steps of teaching at least one path by walking the wheelchair through the at least one path prior to the wheelchair navigation system being used for independent travel, and recording the at least one path in the computer, sensing the markers with the proximity sensors and the cameras during performance of the teaching for thereby permitting avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of the teaching, and providing information about the markers from the proximity sensors and the cameras to the at least one computer. The method may yet further include the steps of operating the software to determine the location of various objects within a location, creating a path for the wheelchair to avoid the objects with the software, recalling the at least one taught path, and directing the wheelchair on the path via the software.
For the method described above, the method may include the steps of establishing ultrasound profiles at various junctures throughout a path during performance of the teaching, simplifying the profiles in a postprocessed computer event, and comparing the profiles during tracking through a taught path with current ultrasound sensed profiles. The method may yet further include the step of comparing disparities between the current ultrasound sensed profiles of objects to determine if a configuration of an object close to the taught path has changed since the teaching, and if the configuration has changed by a predetermined threshold, halting the wheelchair.
Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the invention may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the detail description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the computer-controlled power wheel chair of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a partial front elevation view of the undercarriage of the computer-controlled power wheel chair;
FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the computer screen on the computer-controlled power wheel chair;
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a sample room showing the various paths;
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a sample room showing various paths; and
FIG. 6 is a schematic chart of parallel user-interface processes.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The computer-controlled power wheelchair navigation 10 is comprised of a wheelchair 20 with the traditional amenities such as a seat 30 , a back support portion 40 , arms 50 , a head rest 60 , elevating leg-rests 71 including foot rests 70 and leg supports 80 , front wheels 90 , rear wheels 100 , rear storage space 110 , and an undercarriage 120 . The wheelchair 20 is powered by a power supply such as batteries 130 . There are a variety of means available to control the wheelchair, such as a chin switch 140 shown in FIG. 1 , however other conventional control means such as joysticks, buttons, voice control and etc, all known in the art, may be incorporated into the present system.
The wheelchair navigation system 10 also has at least one computer 150 that is seated in a computer docking station within the rear storage space 110 . At least one video camera 160 is connected to the computer 150 and aids in identifying the location of the wheelchair 20 when in use. Any of the video cameras 160 detect cues 170 that are strategically placed throughout a given location. Input to the navigation system's estimation algorithm in the computer 150 is provided by at least one digital shaft encoder 180 mounted at the wheelchair's drive wheel to sense wheel rotation, and by at least one monochrome video camera which detects wall-mounted cues 170 via video 160 . The cues 170 provide information to the computer 150 so that the computer 150 can identify the location of the wheelchair 20 and provide a pre-programmed or taught path for the wheelchair 20 to follow.
The basic components of a filter and a differential equation model of nonlinear dynamics of the wheelchair 20 combined with a sequence of incoming sensor information, wheel rotations and video images, produce ongoing best estimates of the position and orientation or ‘state’ of the wheelchair 20 in the two-dimensional space of the floor.
The computer-controlled wheelchair navigation system 10 relies on a unique ‘teach-repeat’ paradigm of control in which a person manually pushes the wheelchair 20 along each path to be included in the system's 10 repertoire. New destinations or routes of travel made obsolete by changes in the environment are easily ‘retaught’ in the same way. The system uses an estimator that is based on a Kalman® filter. The estimator is activated throughout the pre-programming or teaching episodes, and a compact record of the position and orientation histories of each trajectory is stored in the computer 150 , establishing a reference path for each desired destination. In subsequent autonomous navigation, the wheelchair navigation system 10 chooses the point toward which to steer based on the geometric relationship between the filter's current estimate of the actual position of the wheelchair 20 and the previously ‘learned’ reference path.
In one embodiment, inputs as well as the output voltage to the wheelchair controller 190 are interfaced with the computer 150 . All user input to the system is via a standard keyboard (not shown). Ultrasonic proximity sensors 162 are interfaced to a second computer 152 (not shown) which analyzes the time rate of change in the distance of near objects so as to assess the likelihood of a collision. The second computer 152 generates a digital proceed/halt signal serially interfaced to the full-sized navigation computer 150 . By continuously polling this signal, the navigation system 10 can bring the wheelchair 20 smoothly to a rest to avert collision with an obstacle, resuming travel along the reference path once the obstacle is removed.
The base for the navigation system is a commonly known wheelchair 20 . The wheelchair 20 can be adjustable and such amenities will not interfere with the wheelchair navigation system 10 . A pneumatic back support system 40 , adjustable headrest 60 , and elevating leg supports 80 may also be added to the wheelchair 20 to provide maximum flexibility with respect to riders with limited postural stability.
The wheelchair's undercarriage 120 , as shown in FIG. 2 , provides the support base for the navigation system components. The undercarriage 120 accommodates the video cameras or sensors 160 which are mounted below the wheelchair seat 30 and positioned in such a way that their view is unobstructed by the rider when they are seated in the wheelchair 20 . The undercarriage 120 also houses, in addition to at least one wheelchair battery 130 , a separate battery 132 and a DC/AC inverter 200 for powering the components of the navigation system 10 . In this particular embodiment of the wheelchair navigation system, there are two 24 volt wheelchair batteries 130 , with an additional 12 volt separate battery 132 , however it is understood that various types and sizes of other batteries known in the art may be used within this system.
A second embodiment of the navigation system uses a single computer 150 . The computer 150 must accommodate interfacing with a variety of hardware components. The second embodiment also has digital encoders 180 and upgraded video cameras or sensors 160 . The second embodiment uses PCMCIA cards for capturing digital encoder signals, and for providing the output voltage to the wheelchair controller 190 . Since no suitable ‘frame grabber’ board having either a PCMCIA or USB interface can be found, the present system incorporates a full-sized PCI frame grabber, and interfaces it with the computer 150 via a docking station 210 . Video cameras 160 are serially interfaced to the computer 150 .
Navigation and obstacle detection software modules use various types of programming language such as C and C++, but are not limited thereto. The software module is also designed to run as ‘threads’ or processes controlled by the user interface software. At the same time, the navigation software is extensively modified to reflect the newly-modeled system dynamics of the wheelchair 20 as well as the upgraded components such as cameras and PC cards.
User interface software, such as Windows-95 based visual C++ programming is used in the present embodiment, however it is foreseeable that other comparable software can be used. The software enables the rider to control the navigation system 10 by speaking commands and/or switch activation. The determination of whether to commence navigation in voice or switch mode is made when the main software module is launched.
A dialog window 230 , shown in FIG. 3 , governs which mode the navigation system 10 is going to operate in. Other characteristics of the rider's ensuing navigation session is input via a number of checked boxes, radio buttons, and a slider control shown in the dialog window 230 . The values of these controls are saved to disk in the computer 150 from session to session so that if the rider is using the chair with the same configuration of options as they used previously, an able-bodied individual may launch the main software module, ensure the rider has access to their switch and/or microphone, position the wheelchair 20 in such a way that it can detect its initialization cues 170 , and start the program. From this point forward, no further intervention on behalf of an able bodied non-rider is required other than perhaps to shut the system down after use and recharge the batteries, if such is not accessible to the rider.
In both voice and switch modes, feedback to the rider is provided by synthesized speech. For example, if the rider requests travel to a desk as a location, the computer will inquire if the rider is ready to engage the path ‘Desk’. The rider must always confirm their intention to travel with a specific command, either spoken or manually input, at which time motion along the chosen path commences.
If the rider issues a command not to travel, the travel is canceled leaving the rider free to select another destination. During travel, the rider may stop the travel of the wheelchair 20 by issuing a command to discontinue travel, such as to wait or stop. These commands interrupt the wheelchair's motion (without confirmation), and the chair 20 remains stationary until a command is issued for the wheelchair 20 to proceed. The rider is informed when the wheelchair 20 arrives at its final destination (or retraces its path completely back to its starting point) with a message that the travel has been completed. Such commands can be either audio commands or switch activated commands.
In the switch input mode, the rider wears either a headset or an earplug to facilitate aural scanning (not shown). In this mode, a text-to-speech (TTS) engine sequentially ‘speaks’ a list of available destinations or commands. When the rider activates the switch, the most recently articulated destination or command is selected. The speed with which the synthesized voice scans the rider's options maybe adjusted at any time during the navigation session by lengthening or shortening the pause separating each utterance. The scanning rate is set by a slider control 240 on the initial dialog screen 230 ( FIG. 3 ). This dialog window 230 also contains an options section wherein there is a box designated for scanning after a specified number of utterances 250 as well as another box designated to allow for sleep during travel 260 of the wheelchair 20 . If the sleep during travel box is checked, scanning is suspended once the rider chooses and confirms a destination, and motion commences. Otherwise, scanning is continuous during travel. In either case, the rider may suspend scanning at any time by issuing a command to shut the navigation system 10 down.
Once navigation has been suspended, either by explicit command or because travel has commenced, scanning can be resumed at any time by activating the switch. Any switch 140 may be used as an input mechanism for the device. Examples include but are not limited to: a bite switch (a small plastic pipette interfaced to a pneumatic switch), a sip-puff switch, a “twitch” switch, or any “universal” switch (stick, pillow, pneumatic cushion, etc.) which can be activated by virtually any part of the body. These switches 140 can be mounted to any part of the wheelchair 20 and may be swapped in and out of the system via a small modularized electronics or switch input box 220 ( FIG. 1 ) interfaced to the parallel port of the computer 150 .
In voice mode, the rider wears a headset with a small microphone (not shown) which are commonly known in the art. A voice recognition computer program, also commercially available, is used to facilitate the spoken commands. Prior to operating the navigation system by voice for the first time, the rider must “train” the speech recognition software to recognize their individual voice. Nevertheless, the navigation system user interface software provides for optional supplementary switch input to handle recognition errors. For example, if the check box “Scan after 4 unrecognized utterances” 250 is left unchecked on the setup dialog window 230 ( FIG. 3 ), unrecognized speech, such as conversation, is ignored by the navigation system 10 . If this box 250 is checked, the system will respond to each unrecognized utterance with either a voice then synthesized message or a typed response that the command is unclear. Then the computer 150 will either prompt the rider for another command, or wait until another command is given. After a series of unrecognized utterances (i.e. three if the number of utterances is set for four), the software can “read” to the rider a list of available destinations. After yet another a unrecognized utterance (i.e. the fourth), the software enters scanning mode and the rider makes their selection via switch activation. After a successful selection by switch, the software returns to voice mode. Regardless of the status of the options box 250 , 260 , the rider has the option to suspend voice recognition any time by rendering a command for the system to close down. Once suspended, the navigation system user interface software will only respond to a pre-selected activation command (i.e. the spoken word “Navigate”), which reactivates the voice recognition. As a final feature in voice mode, the rider may elicit an aural listing of the available choices at any time by asking for their options.
The rider is also capable of changing between the voice and scanning modes. This is facilitated by another options box 290 , labeled “Allow mode changes” on the setup dialog screen ( FIG. 3 ). Therefore, as conditions vary the rider can direct the navigation system either verbally by spoken words or by switch activation. This feature is optional since not all riders will be able to use both modes. In other cases, the rider may have a preference for a given mode but may choose to change modes when they encounter changing conditions. The rider changes operating modes in the same way that other commands are issued: by manually selecting the specified mode while scanning, or by speaking a designated phrase identifying the scanning mode while in voice mode. The rider may move between operating modes as often as desired.
The rider may use the dialog window 230 as an aid in identifying the various destinations known to the navigation system 10 by viewing a box 310 listing a tree structure list of the various destinations. Names at the root level may represent separate environments (i.e. home). The next level of destinations may represent rooms or other areas of interest within the given environment (i.e. the kitchen), with the lowest level representing specific locations within rooms or areas (i.e. the sink or stove).
Using this tree structure 310 , only destinations reachable from a given location are available when the rider is at that location. For example, if the rider is in the kitchen at home, the elevator at work is not an available destination. This type of organization produces the shortest possible list of options to scan in switch mode, and minimizes recognition errors in voice mode by limiting the active vocabulary to a logical subset of possible destinations. It also allows use of destination names that would otherwise be ambiguous. For example, there may be a table in the rider's kitchen as well as in their bedroom. Knowledge of the rider's current location resolves the ambiguity. If paths have been taught in multiple environments, the environment for the ensuing navigation session may be chosen from the drop-down box 320 .
With the first embodiment, initial position estimates were either entered manually from the keyboard or were read from the first path file to be executed. This demanded exact placement of the wheelchair 20 at these coordinates prior to commencing travel, an inconvenient and potentially difficult task with a rider in the chair. Therefore, an additional software module can be used to estimate the wheelchair's initial position based on each camera's 160 ability to locate a unique configuration of cues 170 . To enable autonomous navigation for the rider, the wheelchair 20 need only be placed anywhere in the vicinity of these cues 170 when the main software module is launched.
One of the first tasks of the locator module is to call the initialization routine in a loop. If either camera 160 cannot detect its initialization cues 170 , the caregiver/attendant is notified accordingly by both a synthesized voice message and a message box (not shown). The message instructs the rider to verify that the cameras 160 are turned on, to ascertain that the cues 170 are not obstructed, and if necessary, to reposition the wheelchair 20 . Having done so, the caregiver/attendant merely touches a key to repeat initialization.
It may be possible for the rider to control velocity of the wheelchair 20 with commands. However, it may also be controlled automatically by the navigation algorithm which slows the chair when position estimate errors are high, so that it may process more video information per inch traveled. The navigation algorithm may increase speed gradually as estimates improve.
The rider also has the ability to stop the wheelchair 20 completely and then either continue along the selected path or retrace the path back toward its starting point.
If a conversation takes place within the vicinity of the wheelchair 20 , the rider may suspend the voice activated user interface to prevent speech recognition from being confusing, or so that those in the conversation will not be distracted by continued aural scanning. The wheelchair 20 may remain stopped for any length of time, and may continue along the selected path simply by the rider issuing a command to continue.
Alternatively, the rider may issue the command to go back, and the wheelchair will commence retracing its path. Hence, the rider may change their decision of travel to a particular destination at any time and return to the point of departure. The command to go back or return is also useful if the rider has issued a command to stop late in the process, and has actually passed the point where they wished to stop. After issuing the command to go back, the rider may back up to the desired stopping point, issue a command to stop again, and then continue at the rider's discretion. This combination of features, in effect, provides a virtually infinite number of destinations along taught paths.
It should be noted that the halt command is intended only for the rider's convenience and operating functionality. It is recognized that any rider in any particular situation may or may not have the ability to stop the wheelchair 20 quickly enough to avoid an obstacle. The chair's proximity sensors 162 are intended for this purpose.
The original navigation software of the first embodiment is provided for execution of only one pre-programmed path at a time. With the updated software of the second embodiment, if no pre-programmed path exists between the rider's current location and the requested destination, the system seeks to construct a path by joining first two, then three, then four or five pre-programmed paths. The shortest possible path is constructed, and the process is seamless to the rider.
The navigation system also has a utility that takes an existing pre-programmed path and creates a new path with all segments reversed. This utility and the path joining capability are of significant benefit to the rider and their caregiver since it is no longer necessary to teach or pre-program a specific path from each location in the environment to every other location in the environment. The utility becomes increasingly important as the number of locations increases since the number of possible paths connecting n destinations is n*(n−1) (i.e. 90 paths for 10 destinations).
The path utility is only appropriate in certain circumstances since the rider does not generally wish to travel in reverse. However, the placement of furniture and fixtures together with the need for a specific terminal orientation of the wheelchair 20 may dictate that the most expedient route of travel is in the reverse. This is particularly true when distances are short. For example, in FIG. 4 , the best route from the desk D to the window W may be the reverse of the path from the window W to the desk D. Similarly, if the chair is at the couch C, there may be insufficient space to turn the wheelchair 20 around so the best path to the window W is in reverse, and the most expedient path to the desk D is to back up to the window W and proceed to the desk D using the path already taught (path W-D from the window W to the desk D).
If all these conditions were true, the six possible paths connecting all three destinations W,D,C are implemented by teaching only the two paths shown, path W-D and path W-C. Even when the path reversal utility is not appropriate, the path joining capability may significantly reduce teaching time and effort, depending on the geometry of the environment and the fact that paths may be taught to intermediate locations which are not true destinations of interest.
As shown in FIG. 5 , a person other than the rider may teach or pre-program paths to an intermediate node X which is central to four desired locations W, D, C, T. With path joining, all 12 possible paths between these four locations may be realized using only the 8 pre-programmed or taught paths shown, X-T, T-X, X-C, C-X, X-D, D-X, X-W, and W-X.
As previously discussed, the first embodiment has navigation software running on a computer 150 interfaced with a second computer 152 . The second computer 152 runs obstacle detection software. All user input to the system is done via a keyboard.
The second embodiment has a single computer 150 . The main module has a user-interface (U/I) thread which, after all setup and initialization functions have been performed, the thread monitors the microphone or switch for user commands. Once the rider has selected and confirmed a destination for travel, the U/I thread initiates the navigation thread which, in turn, initiates the sonar thread for obstacle detection. During travel, the U/I thread continues to monitor the microphone or switch in the event the rider wishes to stop the wheelchair 20 . When travel is completed, the navigation and sonar threads are suspended until the rider requests further travel. Under these circumstances, resources are consumed only as needed, ensuring maximum responsiveness of the user interface to the rider's actions. The threads communicate with each other by setting and reading a status variable. FIG. 6 represents a schematic chart of these parallel processes.
The navigation system 10 can navigate through an area using a single camera 160 . However, by using a single camera 160 , the system's position estimates are increasingly uncertain, which causes the wheelchair 20 to reduce speed. This could occur at precisely the moment more power is needed to cross from one location into another (i.e. from linoleum to carpet). To solve this problem, when the wheelchair 20 fails to produce nonzero wheel rotations for a specified number (i.e. 200 ) of consecutive processing cycles, a brief burst of power is delivered to the wheelchair controller 190 , enabling the wheelchair 20 to overcome its inertia. This refinement allows the navigation system to reliably transition from one location to another location which may have a different type of surface (e.g. tile vs. carpet).
Errors in the system's position estimates are calculated from video images in units of pixels. If an error is within a given tolerance, the location of the identified cue 170 is incorporated into the algorithm's estimate of the chair's position. If not, the cue 170 is rejected and the position estimate incorporates only odometry information (dead reckoning). Since the cameras 160 are close to the cues 170 in certain situations such as a narrow hallway, errors in this region are magnified to such an extent that the wheelchair 20 is forced to dead reckon even when cues 170 are properly identified. The generalized solution to this situation is to associate dynamic error tolerances to individual path segments within the files that define each route of travel.
Initialization cues 170 are strategically placed within a specific location wherein all travel within that location commences from that starting point. A variety of paths are pre-programmed in this location.
The current navigation system is a vision-based system in which video detection of wall-mounted cues 170 is combined with odometery information to obtain accurate ongoing estimates of the wheelchair's position and orientation.
The navigation software sends to the power wheelchair controller 190 a signal simulating that of a joystick and guides the wheelchair 20 accurately along paths which the system has previously been pre-programmed or taught by an able bodied human instructor. The ‘teach-repeat’ paradigm of control, in which human teacher manually pushes the wheelchair 20 along any desired route of travel, obviates the need to fully characterize the geometry of the environment. Such characterizations, normally required for automatic trajectory planners, are difficult to acquire and maintain. The navigation system's 10 only use of ultrasound is to detect near obstacles with which it might otherwise collide.
The navigation system provides fully autonomous navigation. That is, the principal responsibility for steering is delegated to the navigation system 10 with the rider retaining the ability to, at their own discretion, halt and resume travel, or halt and retrace the current path toward the point of departure.
Because the paths are pre-programmed or taught by a human instructor, they readily incorporate close approach to furniture, passage between objects with minimal clearance, and complex motions such as the multiple changes of direction required to maneuver into tight spaces. The human judgment inherent in the original teaching episode is brought to bear in each repetition of the taught path.
The present system extends existing theoretical development for making use of a sequence of incoming, imperfect information combined with a nominal, also imperfect, differential equation model of the ‘plant’ or system, to produce ongoing best estimates of the ‘state’ of the system. For nonlinear system dynamics such as those of a motorized wheelchair, a numerical-integration-based filter is used, and described in detail in the article “An Autonomous Vision-Based Mobile Robot,” by E. T. Baumgartner and S. B. Skaar. Because only nominal kinematic rather than kinetic equations are used, the navigation system 10 dispenses with time, the usual independent variable, and uses instead a kinematic independent variable: the average forward rotation of the two actuated drive wheels 100 of the wheelchair 20 . Since time is no longer the independent variable for control, new means of advancing forward along the reference path must be devised. As with human control of vehicles, it has proven possible and natural to advance the ‘target’ juncture on the reference path via estimated location rather than time. That is, the point along the path toward which to steer is chosen based on the geometric relationship between the current estimate of actual position and the previously ‘learned’ reference path.
Several advantages attend the use of forward average wheel rotation as the independent variable. First, since the differential equations are now time-independent, it becomes convenient to control the speed of the vehicle entirely independently of the estimation and tracking algorithms. Hence, vehicle speed may be altered in response to any set of conditions without affecting the position-estimation or tracking algorithm.
Secondly, the vehicle will not ‘cut corners’ which could jeopardize rider safety in order to “catch-up” with the time-based reference.
Finally, the rider may choose to assert manual control of the wheelchair 20 at any time, taking it from the actual reference path. Since the system's estimator within the computer 150 is activated whether or not it is in control of the chair's motion, and since the control loop is time independent, the navigation system 10 is capable of re-engaging the target path without resorting to any special estimation or control algorithm even though an unplanned detour takes the wheelchair 20 some distance away.
Wheel rotation measurements are taken by the digital shaft encoder 180 and supplemented by observation of visual cues 170 placed in convenient locations throughout the environment of interest. Use of these cues 170 offers a major advantage over the more commonly used ultrasound or sonar in that the ‘signature’ of the image is distinct, and the frequency of corroborating input is high; hence, there is negligible danger that the system's estimator will become ‘confused.’ Also, any number of navigation vehicles 20 may navigate the same environment, referencing the same cues 170 , without interfering with each other.
The rider may control the navigation system by a single, discrete input such as a spoken word, activation of any simple switch, or touchscreen input. The system provides feedback to the rider via synthesized speech, visual cues, or aural cue. To facilitate path selection, destinations known to the navigation system are stored in a data structure such that only the destinations reachable from a given location are available when the rider is at that location. Once the rider selects an available destination and confirms their intention to travel, motion along the chosen path commences. During travel, the rider may use their input device to assert such supervisory functions as influencing travel speed, halting motion at any point, resuming the original reference path, changing destinations, retracing the path to return to the point of departure, or reasserting manual control of the wheelchair, to the extent the rider is able.
In order to avoid unforeseen obstacles that (by definition) were not there when the tracked trajectory was taught, ultrasonic proximity sensors 162 may be used as described below. Specifically, as described above, sensors 162 may be interfaced to second computer 152 (not shown) which analyzes the time rate of change in the distance of near objects so as to assess the likelihood of a collision. The second computer 152 generates a digital proceed/halt signal serially interfaced to the full-sized navigation computer 150 . By continuously polling this signal, navigation system 10 can bring wheelchair 20 smoothly to a rest to avert collision with an obstacle, resuming travel along the reference path once the obstacle is removed.
In order to further utilize sensors 162 , enabling use can be made of the record of ultrasound readings acquired during trajectory teaching in order to permit discrimination between actual obstacles and solid objects that are simply in place (were in place during teaching) but that are not a concern with respect to the trajectory currently being tracked.
In this manner, ultrasound sensing may be applied to avoid collisions with obstacles while at the same time allowing for the close approach to solid bodies as part of the trajectory objective (e.g. approaching an appliance in the kitchen or bathroom, or approaching a bed.)
In this regard, in addition to the aforementioned vision-based repeat strategy, the “teach-repeat” disclosed herein may entail the use of complementary ultrasound sensing by means of sensors 162 in an important and essential way, for many real-world applications. Unlike any prior art teach-repeat strategies or the teach-repeat strategy disclosed above, ultrasound sensors 162 may be operated during teaching, not simply during tracking, in order to avoid obstacles. While the existing disclosure of Steven B. Skaar “Extending Teach-Repeat to Nonholomonic Robots,” Structronic Systems, 1998, 316-342, does mention using proximity sensing including ultrasound as a supplement to vision for pose assessment during both teaching and tracking, this is not the implication of the disclosure herein, and indeed use of the ultrasound data during teaching serves a very different purpose from this: Ultrasound signals from sensors 162 are well known to create imprecise representations of the current surroundings due to such sensor attributes as specular reflection. However, given similar sensor/object juxtapositions, signals from ultrasound sensors 162 are highly repeatable. Use of sensors 162 during teaching, then, is an excellent way to ensure that in the immediate vicinity of travel objects before wheelchair 20 during a tracking or “repeat” event are as they were when teaching occurred.
The aforementioned feature of ultrasound sensing during teaching is therefore particularly enabling when the task requires very close approach to a solid object such as when nearing a bathroom fixture. Moreover, the aforementioned feature of ultrasound sensing during teaching is by definition a strategy unavailable outside of the teach/repeat approach to navigation.
Based upon the aforementioned, during motion of wheelchair 20 , ultrasound sensors 162 may be used to avoid obstacles as wheelchair 20 proceeds through its taught trajectory. Obstacles, including humans or animals, may be introduced in the path of wheelchair 20 after teaching and thereby interfere with execution of a taught path. Ultrasound sensors are inexpensive proximity sensors capable of automatically determining the distance between the sensor and the closest solid object. Given that wheelchair navigation system 10 as part of its operation keeps track of the current coordinates of wheelchair 20 , including those when the ultrasound pulse is emitted, and given that the path being executed has already been taught and is therefore known to the controlling computer, it would follow that signals from sensors 162 would be sufficient to compute whether continued execution of the path should result in collision. However, properties associated with ultrasound do not support this simple conclusion. In practice, the well-known specular reflections of ultrasound echoes, together with the progressive spread of the emitted sound reduce the accuracy of any such calculation. Combined with the fact that many of the practical paths or trajectories of interest may require close proximity to solid objects this fact precludes this simple use of sensors 162 .
Nevertheless, there is a synergy between the teach/repeat operation of the basic navigation capability and the application of ultrasound for effective obstacle avoidance. This synergy is based upon the fact that ultrasound responses where sensors are similarly placed with respect to solid objects of the same geometry are highly repeatable. As a consequence, with regard to the aforementioned teach-repeat strategy, there is the prospect of using the teaching event to establish ultrasound profiles at various junctures throughout the current path. These profiles are simplified in a postprocessed computer event and compared during tracking with the current ultrasound profiles. It is significant disparities or discrepancies between the local (to the path segment in question) profiles that becomes the criterion for determining whether or not it is likely that the configuration of objects close to the taught path have changed significantly since the teaching event.
If there has been such a change, and if the aforementioned calculation indicates a nearing of near-future path to any such new object, then the probability of contact of wheelchair 20 with the object can be regarded as high. Such a means of tolerating very close proximity to unchanged objects while avoiding new, introduced bodies is critically dependent upon the teach/repeat mode of navigation. Additionally, in the event that autonomous system 10 determines that the probability of contact is too high to continue, another capability of teach/repeat can be drawn upon: Once system 10 halts forward progress along the path in order to prevent contact, it is then able to identically reverse its progress along the portion of the path executed up until the point of coming to rest. This is essentially a reversal of all previously executed motions and its feasibility is guaranteed provided, over the short time period since the current tracking event began, no additional obstacles were introduced to block that recently executed portion.
Ultrasound sensors 162 , provided their location is permanent, may be placed at any locations on wheelchair 20 . This results in a virtual shield for the rider without the impractical consequence of being unable to execute the wide range of potentially crucial motions that entail close approach to various solid bodies such as sinks, toilets, furniture, doors and so on.
Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those particular embodiments, and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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A wheelchair navigation system for a motorized wheelchair includes dual cameras, proximity sensors, microphones, and rotation sensors for the wheels. Small markers are placed on the walls of a location or room. The navigation system uses the proximity sensors, rotation sensors and cameras in conjunction with the specialized software to determine where objects or impediments are located in the room and thereby redirect the path of the wheelchair so as to avoid such objects. The wheelchair is walked through the marked location thereby ‘teaching’ various paths which are recorded in the computer and recalled later when the wheelchair is in use. The proximity sensor perform sensing operations during performance of the teaching functions for thereby permitting avoidance of wheelchair collision with obstacles during navigation of the wheelchair through a taught trajectory and allowing for close approach of the wheelchair to solid bodies present during performance of the teaching functions.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This invention relates to a method of controlling microorganisms responsible for degrading hydrogen peroxide in hydrogen peroxide pulp bleaching processes using a synergistic combination of one or more organic peracid biocides and one or more chelating agents.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] One of the factors which can reduce the efficiency of hydrogen peroxide pulp bleaching processes is the presence of the enzyme catalase in the process liquors. The micro-organisms which produce these enzymes are commonly found in all areas of pulp and paper mills. During respiration, various toxic oxygen derivatives are produced within the bacterial cell. To destroy these toxic substances, bacteria produce enzymes, the most common being catalase, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide to oxygen and water. The destruction of hydrogen peroxide by catalase can lower bleaching efficiency and decrease the brightness levels in finished paper. The problems of inefficient hydrogen peroxide usage caused by the presence of catalase are particularly prevalent where the paper mill is producing paper from recycled waste paper. Accordingly, there exists an ongoing need for treatments that reduce the number of catalase producing microorganisms present in the process liquors.
[0003] Various chelating agents are known to enhance brighness, an example of which is hydroxylamine, an established product known for its brightening effects and degradation of enzymes that can affect the brightening process. See, for example, GB-A-2 269 191 and GB-A-846 079, EP 686 216 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,354. However, hydroxylamine alone does not reduce bacteria populations.
[0004] Peracetic acid based biocides are known to be effective for controlling microbiological populations in industrial water systems, including papermaking process water. See GB 2,269,191 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,588. Furthermore, a process for bleaching cellulose by means of an organic peracid in the acid region followed by peroxide in the alkaline region is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,237. None of these references, however, disclose a dual treatment program comprising hydroxylamine and an organic peracid biocide.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] We have unexpectedly discovered a synergistic effect between a hydroxylamine based product and peracetic acid based biocides, with higher reductions in bacterial total counts than with either biocide or hydroxylamine alone. The result is less biofilm build-up in the de-inking mill, which is known to harbor very high levels of micro-organisms and associated enzymes together with a perceptible brightening effect, which could result in either reduced peroxide or sulfite usage for bleaching.
[0006] Accordingly, this invention is a method of controlling micro-organisms during peroxide bleaching of cellulose pulp comprising adding to the pulp an effective micro-organism controlling amount of
[0007] a) an aqueous biocide solution comprising one or more organic peracids, and
[0008] b) an aqueous solution comprising one or more chelating agents.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The method of this invention is suitable for controlling microbiological populations in programs for bleaching all manner of cellulose pulps, including pulp made from recycled paper, pulps from sulfite or sulfate cooking, mechanical pulp, thermomechanical pulp and chemothermomechanical pulp. The method is especially suitable for controlling microbiological populations responsible for degrading hydrogen peroxide during the bleaching process in de-inking plants.
[0010] As used herein “controlling” encompasses both reducing microbiological populations and inhibiting the growth of microbiological populations.
[0011] The aqueous biocide solution of this invention typically comprises about 5 to about 60 percent by weight of one or more organic peracids, about 5 to about 60 percent by weight of the corresponding organic carboxylic acids and about 10 to about 20 percent by weight hydrogen peroxide. The aqueous biocides solution may also contain stabilizers to prolong the storage stability of the peracid. Representative stabilizers include ethyleneaminopolymethylenephosphonic acids, hydroxyethylidene diphosphonic acid or salts thereof, and heterocyclic carboxylic acids such as dipicolinic acid, quinolinic acid, and the like.
[0012] “Organic peracid” means a compound of formula RC(O)OOH where R is straight or branched C 1 -C 6 alkyl or phenyl. Representative organic peracids include peracetic acid, perpropionic acid, perbenzoic acid, and the like.
[0013] In a preferred aspect of this invention, the organic peracid is peracetic acid.
[0014] As used herein “corresponding organic carboxylic acid” means an acid of formula RCO 2 H where R is a defined above and the same as the R group of the percarboxylic acid. By way of example, acetic acid is the corresponding carboxylic acid of peracetic acid.
[0015] The aqueous biocide solution may be prepared by mixing the corresponding carboxylic acid and hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution in the presence of any desired stabilizers. Suitable aqueous biocide solutions are available commercially from several sources including Ondeo Nalco Company, Naperville, Ill.
[0016] A preferred aqueous biocide solution comprises about 5 to about 15 percent by weight of peracetic acid, about 10 to about 20 percent by weight hydrogen peroxide and about 8 to about 35 percent by weight of acetic acid.
[0017] The aqueous biocide solution is used in conjunction with an aqueous solution comprising about 10 to about 50 weight percent of one or more chelating agents in order to control microbiological populations.
[0018] “Chelant” and “chelating agent” mean an agent capable of complexing metals such as iron and manganese. Preferred chelants include hydroxylamine compounds, phosphonic acids and polyhydroxycarboxylic acids.
[0019] Representative phosphonic acids include N,N-bis-(carboxymethyl)-1-aminoethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid, N-2-carboxyethyl-1-aminoethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid, N,N-bis-(hydroxymethly)-1-aminoethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid, 1,2,1-tricarboxybutane-2-phosphonic acid, diethylenetriamine-pentamethylenephosphonic acid (DTPMP), hydroxyethanediphosphonic acid (HEDP) and aminotrismethylenephosphonic acid (ATMP), and the like and salts thereof.
[0020] Representative polyhydroxycarboxylic acids include gluconic acid, citric acid, N,N-dihydroxyethyleneglycine, diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (DTPA), ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and the like and salts thereof.
[0021] “Hydroxylamine compound” means hydroxylamine and alkyl hydroxylamine and salts thereof. Alkyl groups are straight chain or branched C 1 -C 10 alkyl. A representative alkyl hydroxylamine is N-methylhydroxylamine. Representative hydroxylamine salts include hydroxylamine hydrochloride, hydroxylamine sulfate and hydroxylamine salts of ammonium thiocyanate, salts of organic acids such as formic acid, ascorbic acid, salicylic acid, and the like and salts of nitrites such as sodium nitrite, potassium nitrite, calcium nitrite, magnesium nitrite, and the like.
[0022] In a preferred aspect of this invention, the hydroxylamine compound is hydroxylamine sulfate.
[0023] In another preferred aspect, the chelating agent is a mixture of one or more hydroxylamine compounds and one or more phosphonic acids or polyhydroxycarboxylic acids.
[0024] In another preferred aspect, the chelating agent is a mixture of hydroxylamine sulfate and one or more phosphonic acids or polyhydroxycarboxylic acids.
[0025] In another preferred aspect, the chelating agent is a mixture of hydroxylamine sulfate and diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid.
[0026] In another preferred aspect, the organic peracid is peracetic acid and the chelating agent is a mixture of hydroxylamine sulfate and diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid.
[0027] The aqueous biocide solution and the aqueous hydroxylamine solution can be added anywhere in the pulp bleaching process including to the pulp prior the bleaching step. In particular, the aqueous biocide solution and aqueous hydroxylamine solution may be added at the mixing screw before the bleaching tower, at the flotation, at the pulper and in the incoming white water from the press and in the white water tanks. Preferably, the solutions are added to pulper fill water.
[0028] The amount of aqueous biocide solution and aqueous hydroxylamine solution are determined by measuring residual hydrogen peroxide in the process water and pulp and with regard to the brightness of the pulp. The brightness depends on the pH, temperature, to what extent the process water is recirculated and the used pulp, especially when recycled paper is used, because the pulp can contain varying amounts of microorganisms depending on the conditions under which it is stored.
[0029] Typical doses of aqueous biocide solution and aqueous hydroxylamine solution are about 50 ppm to about 200 ppm based on active organic peracid and hydroxylamine compound. Both solutions may be added continuously or intermittently, preferably at the same point of addition.
[0030] Preferably, the aqueous hydroxylamine solution is added continuously to the pulper fill water at a dose of about 50 ppm and the aqueous biocide solution is added to the pulper fill water at 4-hour intervals at a dose of about 75 ppm.
[0031] The foregoing may be better understood by reference to the following Example, which is presented for purposes of illustration and is not intended to limit the scope of this invention.
EXAMPLE 1
[0032] Pulper Fill Tank water from a de-inking plant is allowed to stand overnight to allow any residual hydrogen peroxide to be degraded and allow the existing microbiological populations to proliferate. The pH of the water is 8.5 and the ORP (Oxidative-Reductive Potential) is around +100 mV (slightly oxidative conditions).
[0033] Varying amounts of an aqueous biocide solution (Composition A) and an aqueous hydroxylamine solution (Composition B) are then added to aliquots of the pulper fill water and the samples are left to stand for one hour. After this time, the waters are tested for various parameters as described below.
[0034] In this Example, Composition A is 12% active by weight peracetic acid blended with hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid. Composition B is a mixture of hydroxylamine sulphate (12% by weight) and inorganic salts with aminocarboxylic acids. Both compositions are available from Ondeo Nalco Company, Naperville, Ill.
[0035] Toxicity is measured using the Ondeo-Nalco Tra-cide™ system, a diagnostic tool, which measures TOX (toxicity) and ATP (adenosine-tri-phosphate). Toxicity is a test based on the response of luminescent bacteria to toxic compounds and is measured in RTU (Relative Toxicity Units). As the toxic compounds kill or inhibit the luminescent bacteria, the light output decreases. Therefore, a high RTU reading indicates high toxicity.
[0036] Total viable count is measured by diluting the sample and plating out onto Total Aerobic Petrifilms™ (available from 3M, 3M House, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK). The resulting count is multiplied by the dilution factor applied.
[0037] To define true synergy the following equation is applied:
Q=A
c
/A
a
+B
c
/B
a
[0038] Where:
[0039] Q=synergy, must be less than 1 for synergy and the lower the figure, the greater the synergy
[0040] A c =value of endpoint (concentration) for compound A when combined with compound B
[0041] A a =value of endpoint for compound A when used alone
[0042] B c =value of endpoint (concentration) for compound B when combined with compound A
[0043] B a =value of endpoint for compound B when used alone
TABLE 1 Toxicity Measurement Product CFU Concentration Toxicity ATP ml-1 Control 0.16 33738 1.00E+07 Product A 50 137.71 9722 3.90E+05 100 235.00 2730 3.60E+05 200 358.32 1934 3.40E+04 Product B 50 0.02 22460 1.43E+06 100 0.10 19868 1.29E+06 200 0.29 15706 1.23E+06 “A” + 50 ppm “B” 50 138.92 6723 2.90E+05 100 262.13 2245 9.70E+04 200 436.19 1534 1.02E+04 “A” + 100 ppm “B” 50 139.68 2438 2.30E+05 100 421.89 1954 4.30E+04 200 466.33 1042 5.40E+03 “A” + 200 ppm “B” 50 193.45 1934 1.60E+05 100 301.27 1120 1.20E+04 200 498.23 902 1.30E+03 “B” + 50 ppm “A” 50 138.23 6812 2.80E+05 100 142.21 2496 2.27E+05 200 197.23 1968 1.61E+05 “B” + 100 ppm “A” 50 136.42 2558 6.00E+04 100 420.08 2160 3.40E+04 200 471.17 1666 3.06E+04 “B” + 200 ppm “A” 50 440.21 1512 1.10E+04 100 467.59 1002 4.90E+03 200 501.16 898 1.20E+03
[0044] As shown in Table 1, treatment with both Composition A and Composition B shows a higher toxicity than treatment with either composition alone. The data in Table 1 also demonstrate synergy in that the measured toxicity for the combination treatment is greater than would be expected from calculating the arithmetic mean toxicity based on each component individually.
[0045] Tables 2 and 3 show the synergy achieved for defined endpoints, 3-log 10 reduction in total viable count and reduction in ATP to less than 2000 RLU, respectively, for the combination treatment of this invention.
TABLE 2 Synergy where the Endpoint is a 3-log 10 Reduction in Total Viable Count: A c A a A c /A a B c B a B c /B a Synergy 100 ppm “A” + 100 ppm “B” 100 200 0.50 100 1000 0.10 0.60 50 ppm “A” + 200 ppm “B” 50 200 0.25 200 1000 0.20 0.45 100 ppm “A” + 200 ppm “B” 100 200 0.50 200 1000 0.20 0.70
[0046] [0046] TABLE 3 Synergy where the Endpoint is a Reduction in ATP to less than 2000 RLU A c A a A c /A a B c B a B c /B a Synergy 100 ppm “A” + 50 ppm “B” 100 200 0.50 50 1000 0.05 0.55 100 ppm “A” + 100 ppm “B” 100 200 0.50 100 1000 0.10 0.60 100 ppm “A” + 200 ppm “B” 100 200 0.50 200 1000 0.20 0.70
[0047] Changes can be made in the composition, operation and arrangement of the method of the present invention described herein without departing from the concept and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims:
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A method of controlling micro-organisms during peroxide bleaching of cellulose pulp comprising adding to the pulp an effective micro-organism controlling amount of
a) an aqueous biocide solution comprising one or more organic peracids; and
b) an aqueous solution comprising one or more chelating agents.
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[0001] The present invention relates to an admixture for a cementitious composition and a method using said admixture for manufacturing a durable cementitious solid, in particular a concrete, in cold weather conditions, such as in winter time or in cold geographical areas. The admixture comprises at least two different nitrate salts and a superplasticizer, and optionally an air entraining agent and a corrosion inhibitor. The method comprises the use of the admixture according to the invention which has been added to a cementitious composition for casting cementitious solids such as concrete.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Concrete is a composite construction material composed primarily of aggregate, cement, and water. There are many formulations, which provide varied properties. The aggregate is generally a coarse gravel or crushed rocks such as limestone, or granite, along with a fine aggregate such as sand. The cement, commonly Portland cement, and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, serve as a binder for the aggregate. Various chemical admixtures are also added to achieve varied properties. Water is mixed with the dry concrete mixture, which enables it to be shaped (typically poured or casted) and then solidified and hardened (cured, set) into rock-hard strength concrete through a chemical process called hydration. The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together, finally creating a robust stone-like material. Concrete can be damaged by many processes, such as the freezing of water trapped in the concrete pores.
[0003] Concrete is widely used for making architectural structures, foundations, brick/block walls, pavements, bridges/overpasses, motorways/roads, runways, parking structures, dams, pools/reservoirs, pipes, footings for gates, fences and poles and even boats.
[0004] Within the scope of this application, a cementitious composition should be interpreted as comprising anyone of a mortar composition, a concrete composition, and a cement paste composition, which has not been casted, cured, hydrated, set and/or hardened. A mortar composition comprises at least a fine aggregate, such as sand, cement and optionally water. A cement paste composition comprises at least cement and optionally water. A cementitious composition not containing water in such amounts that the setting is initiated is called a cementitious composition in the dry state. According to a preferred embodiment, a cementitious composition is produced by adding all ingredients together and thoroughly mixing said ingredients until a homogeneous composition is obtained.
[0005] Within the scope of this application, a cementitious solid should be interpreted as the casted, cured, hydrated, set and/or hardened cementitious composition, comprising anyone of a mortar, a concrete and a cement paste, and water. A cementitious solid is usually obtained by adding water to a cementitious composition, which initiates the curing process. According to a preferred embodiment, the cementitious solid is produced by adding water to the cementitious composition.
[0006] Casting and curing concrete in cold weather, in particular at or below a—sustained—freezing temperature is challenging. The most common problem is that concrete freezes and/or goes through freeze/thaw cycles before acquiring adequate strength during curing.
[0007] Within the context of this application, “cold weather” is defined when the following conditions exist for at least three consecutive days:
[0008] the average daily temperature falls below 4° C., and
[0009] the air temperature does not rise above 10° C. for more than half a day in any 24-hour period.
[0010] At said cold weather conditions, water starts to freeze in capillaries of concrete at −2° C., it expands up to 9% of its volume when it freezes causing cracks in the concrete matrix, and up to 50% of compressive strength reduction may occur if concrete freezes before reaching at least a compressive strength of 500 psi.
[0011] Casting concrete in cold weather follows the recommendations by ACI (American Concrete Institute) Guideline 306R-88. Insulation of the cast concrete, the use of setting accelerators (SA) and of water-reducing agents, also known as superplasticizer (SP), are described as measures to ensure a proper curing of the concrete.
[0012] A widely known approach is to add sodium nitrate to the concrete at dosages of up to 5 weight % relative to the concrete composition, comprising at least aggregate, cement, and water. This approach usually delivers a quick-setting cement. U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,028 (Charles J. Korhonen et al., 1994) discloses an antifreeze composition consisting of sodium nitrate and sodium sulphate at a ratio of 3:1, wherein the antifreeze composition is present in the concrete at a dosage of 2 weight % to 8 weight %, relative to the weight of the concrete composition. However, the high alkali addition due to sodium increases the risk of alkali-aggregate-reactions (AAR) and in addition, sodium nitrate is known to significantly reduce compressive strength. Hence, this kind of concrete has a reduced durability, especially when it comes to freeze/thaw-resistance.
[0013] Some commercially available products combine several components in one admixture, such as a superplasticizer (SP) and a setting accelerator (SA). Water reduction using a superplasticizer (SP) is a common technique to reduce free water and increase salinity of the pore fluids (which also reduces the freezing point of water). For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,753 or the equivalent patent GB 2,195,328 (Sandoz, John W. Brook, 1993) describes the combined use of (1) a mineral freezing point depressant, for example calcium nitrate, (2) a superplasticizer, for example the sodium salt of naphthalene sulphonate-formaldehyde resin, (3) an inorganic set accelerator, for example sodium thiocyanate, and (4) an organic set accelerator, for example tetra (N-methylol) glycoluril.
[0014] In order to obtain a very quick setting of the concrete, the prior art literature indicates that three-valent ions like aluminium (Al 3+ ) or iron (Fe 3+ ) might be beneficial. This is documented especially for shotcrete (concrete conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface, as a construction technique). U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,593 discloses ferric nitrate blends for rapid setting. WO97/36839 (Tjugum, 1997) discloses aluminium-based salts, in particular aluminium nitrate. Shotcrete is not linked to cold weather concreting, as the concrete is, for example, applied in tunnels where no cold weather conditions prevail, in particular no temperatures below the freezing point of water.
[0015] Harald Justnes in Concrete, Volume 44, Number 1, February 2010 “ Calcium nitrate as a multi - functional concrete admixture ”, discloses the use of calcium nitrate as a set accelerator when used with a plasticiser counteracting the retardation by the plasticiser while maintaining rheology, as long-term strength enhancer, in anti-freeze admixtures or winter concreting admixtures, and as a corrosion inhibitor for the protection of embedded steel.
[0016] Standards are available describing how to cast concrete that needs to have increased freeze-thaw-resistance, for instance by adding an air-entraining-admixture (AEA).
[0017] There is still a need for an admixture that ensures a quick and sufficient hydration of a cementitious composition and improves long term behaviour rather than reducing durability.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] It is the primary goal of the present invention to provide an admixture for a cementitious composition, the cementitious solid made thereof and a method for casting a cementitious composition that ensures a quick and sufficient hydration and improves long term behaviour.
This goal is met by the admixture for a cementitious composition of the present invention according to claim 1 , comprising a) calcium nitrate, b) aluminium nitrate, c) a superplasticizer (SP), and d) optionally, an air entraining agent (AEA). Obviously, and known to the skilled person, the amounts of components a), b), c) and d) are within the normal working range of additive amounts, further specified below.
[0021] The admixture according to the invention focuses on the effective and synergetic combination of specific chemicals to ensure sufficient hydration in order to support casting a cementitious composition, in particular concrete in cold weather conditions with the benefit of increased durability. Especially heat development, sufficient hydration and prevention of freezing of water is focused. The admixture according to the invention comprising at least two nitrate salts and a superplasticizer surprisingly proved to deliver satisfying results in a lab scale test. Furthermore, in order to increase durability, also an air entraining agent was used.
[0022] The first component in the admixture is calcium nitrate, used a as setting accelerator, strength enhancer and corrosion inhibitor. Calcium nitrate is an inorganic compound with the formula Ca(NO 3 ) 2 . This colourless salt absorbs moisture from the air and is commonly found as a tetrahydrate. It is mainly used as a component in fertilizers. A variety of related salts are known including calcium ammonium nitrate decahydrate and calcium potassium nitrate decahydrate. Preferably, pure calcium nitrate is used. However, pure calcium nitrate is difficult to handle due to its hygroscopic properties. Different calcium nitrate salts are available from Yara International ASA (Oslo, Norway) under the brand names NitCal (a solid with a concentration of about 78 weight % of calcium nitrate), NitCal/K (a solid with a concentration of about 76 weight % of calcium nitrate) and NitCal Sol (an aqueous liquid with a concentration of 50 weight % calcium nitrate), all of them marketed as a chlorine-free multifunctional concrete admixture. It may be used as a dry material (granulated or prilled) or as a liquid (for example, as an aqueous liquid in a concentration of 50 weight % calcium nitrate). It may also be used (and it acts) as a corrosion inhibitor, since the nitrate ion leads to formation of iron hydroxide, whose protective layer reduces corrosion of the concrete reinforcement.
[0023] In one embodiment, the invention relates to a cementitious composition, wherein the calcium nitrate is present at a concentration of 2.5 to 3.5 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement.
[0024] The second component is aluminium nitrate, used as a fast-reacting and high heat developing setting accelerator. Initial heat “on site” is important to quickly obtain hydration reactions. Thus, initial heat needs to be generated quickly. It was shown that nitrates containing one- and two-valent anions like sodium or calcium perform slowly in cold environments. Experiments showed that trivalent ions, such as aluminium react far quicker. Aluminium nitrate is commonly used in shotcrete at non-freezing conditions. Additionally, aluminium nitrate delivers more nitrate per mol (87%) than calcium nitrate (74%), and therefore, the nitrate-based corrosion inhibiting effect is increased, as well as the salinity in pore liquid. Aluminium nitrate is a salt of aluminium and nitric acid, existing normally as a crystalline hydrate, most commonly as aluminium nitrate nonahydrate, Al(NO 3 ) 3 .9H 2 O. It is, for example, available from Sigma-Aldrich as a solid with different purities.
[0025] In one embodiment, the invention relates to a cementitious composition, wherein the aluminium nitrate is present at a concentration of 0.5 to 1.0 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement.
[0026] As third component, a superplasticizer is used to reduce the water content, preferably down to a water/cement weight ratio (w/c) of 0.3, leading to an increase of the salinity in comparison with untreated cementitious composition. The use of superplasticizers has become quite a common practice. They are used as dispersants to avoid particle aggregation in applications where well-dispersed particle suspensions are required. Superplasticizers are linear polymers containing sulfonic acid groups attached to the polymer backbone at regular intervals. Most of the commercial formulations belong to one of four families: sulphonated melamine-formaldehyde condensates (SMF), sulphonated naphthalene-formaldehyde condensates (SNF), modified lignosulphonates (MLS), and polycarboxylate derivatives. In the present invention, any superplasticizer can be used, depending on the type of application. According to one embodiment, a modified lignosulphonate (MLS) is used.
[0027] In one embodiment, the invention relates to a cementitious composition, wherein the superplasticizer is present at a concentration of 0.25 to 0.5 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement.
[0028] Optionally, as fourth component, an air entraining agent (AEA) may be used to improve freeze-thaw resistance. Construction structures exposed to winter conditions like building are most likely exposed in the same manner during their life time. Usually, the resistance of hydrated concrete is increased by adding an AEA to provide pore volume for freezing water. Air entrainment is the intentional creation of tiny air bubbles in concrete. The bubbles are introduced into the concrete by the addition to the mix of an air entraining agent, which is a surfactant (surface-active substance). The air bubbles are created during mixing of the plastic (flowable, not hardened) concrete, and most of them survive to be part of the hardened concrete. The primary purpose of air entrainment is to increase the durability of the hardened concrete, especially in weather conditions subject to freeze-thaw; the secondary purpose is to increase workability of the concrete while in a plastic state. Calcium nitrate shows no significant effect on porosity, but increases strength. As a consequence calcium nitrate is able to counteract strength changes from the AEA without reducing porosity. In the present invention, any air entraining agent can be used, depending on the type of application. According to one embodiment, a modified lignosulphonate (MLS) is used.
[0029] Preferably, an air entraining agent (AEA) is used in the admixture according to the invention.
[0030] In one embodiment, the invention relates to a cementitious composition, wherein the air entraining agent is present at a concentration of 0 to 0.04 weight %, preferably 0.02 to 0.04 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement.
[0031] According to one embodiment of the invention, the SP and the AEA is the same compound, as some SP are also foaming and therefore are able to deliver the required porosity. According to one embodiment of the invention, the superplasticizer and the air entraining agent are the same compound which is present at a concentration of 0.25 to 0.54 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement.
[0032] The cementitious composition comprising the admixture according to the invention can be prepared by adding each component a), b), c) and d) separately to the cementitious composition, or can be prepared by adding the admixture as a read-to-use admixture comprising components a), b), c) and d) to the cementitious composition. In that case, a ready-to-use admixture may be prepared comprising
[0033] a) 62 to 82 weight %, relative to the total weight of the admixture, of calcium nitrate,
[0034] b) 10 to 36 weight %, relative to the total weight of the admixture, of aluminium nitrate,
[0035] c) 5 to15 weight %, relative to the total weight of the admixture, of a superplasticizer (SP), and
[0036] d) 0 to 1 weight %, relative to the total weight of the admixture, of an air entraining agent (AEA),
[0000] wherein the sum of components a), b), c) and d) adds up to 100 weight %, which is subsequently added in the appropriate amounts to the cementitious composition.
[0037] The main challenge in the present invention is the unused water within the cementitious composition. For pure hydration, a water to cement ratio of 0.26 to 0.29 is required. Standard cementitious compositions, in particular concrete, are produced with water to cement ratios of 0.45 to 0.55. As a consequence, in standard concrete, plenty of water is still available after hydration which can potentially freeze up and damage the concrete. The main issue to prevent freezing is therefore the reduction of water down to ratios of 0.35 or less, which can be achieved by a water reducer. As setting retardation is not acceptable, the water reducing agent should be a superplasticizer (SP). By reducing the amount of unused water, the resulting concentration of salts is high enough to produce a saline solution that does not freeze at temperatures down to −20° C. Synergetic effects of calcium nitrate and SP have been shown by Justnes in Concrete, Volume 44, Number 1, February 2010 “ Calcium nitrate as a multi - functional concrete admixture ” in terms of strength development for ambient temperatures of 5° C. However, this effect was related to the strength development and setting time, but the freezing behaviour was not investigated. Our experimental results show that calcium nitrate, aluminium nitrate, an SP and a low water to cement ratio provide a cementitious composition that does not freeze up in cold weather conditions as a temperature as low as −20° C. As opposed to standard cementitious solid samples, the cementitious solid samples according to the invention cool down without the temperature plateau, due to the avoidance of water freezing.
[0038] The admixture for a cementitious composition according to the invention can be provided a physical mixture containing the components according to the invention, or it may be provided as a kit of part. Furthermore, two or more components may be premixed and provided separately from the other components according to the invention.
[0039] According to a preferred embodiment, the cementitious composition according to the invention comprises:
[0040] a) 2.5 to 3.5 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement, of calcium nitrate,
[0041] b) 0.5 to 1.0 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement, of aluminium nitrate,
[0042] c) 0.25 to 0.5 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement, of a superplasticizer (SP), and
[0043] d) 0 to 0.04 weight %, preferably 0.02 to 0.04 weight %, relative to the weight of the cement, of an air entraining agent (AEA).
[0044] The admixture for a cementitious composition according to the invention has several synergetic effects. The casted cementitious composition according to the invention, in particular concrete, is not freezing on the first day, as the water content is low enough to provide a high salinity in the pore water, shows increased freeze-thaw resistance, shows increased reinforcement corrosion inhibition due to high nitrate dosage and have increased long term strength.
[0045] The benefits of the components are summarized in the following synergy matrix (Table 1).
[0000]
TABLE 1
Synergy matrix
Calcium
Aluminium
Superplasticizer with
Nitrate
Nitrate
air entraining effect
Setting
X (Calcium)
X (Aluminium)
acceleration
Water
X
X
reduction
without
retardation
Initial
X (setting)
X (temperature)
X (water reduction)
freezing
prevention
Freeze-thaw-
X (strength)
X (porosity increase)
resistance
Reinforcement
X (Nitrate)
X (Nitrate)
corrosion
inhibition
[0046] In another aspect, the invention relates to a cementitious solid obtained from hardening (curing) the cementitious composition according to the invention.
[0047] In another aspect, the invention relates to a cementitious solid obtained from hardening (curing) the cementitious composition according to the invention wherein the cementitious solid is selected from the group of a mortar, a cement paste and a concrete.
[0048] Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for casting a cementitious solid comprising the steps of:
I) preparing a cementitious composition comprising mixing water, cement, the concrete admixture according to the invention, and optionally an aggregate; II) casting the cementitious composition into a form; and III) having the cementitious composition hardened into a cementitious solid.
[0052] According to a preferred embodiment, the invention further relates to a method for casting a cementitious solid comprising the steps of:
I) preparing a first composition comprising mixing water, calcium nitrate, a superplasticizer and, optionally, an air entraining agent; II) preparing a second composition comprising cement, the first composition and optionally an aggregate; III) preparing a third composition by mixing aluminium nitrate with the second composition, shortly before casting the concrete; IV) casting the third composition into a form. V) having the third composition hardened into a cementitious solid. The advantage of the latter method is that the heat generated by the addition of aluminium nitrate to the second composition is only generated right before the casting of the cementitious composition when it is most needed.
[0058] The listing or discussion of an apparently prior-published document in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge.
[0059] The invention is further elucidated by means of the following examples and the accompanying figures. The following non-limiting examples only serve to illustrate the invention and do not limit its scope in any way. In the examples and throughout this specification, all percentages, parts and ratios are by weight unless indicated otherwise. It will be appreciated that the various percentage amounts of the different components that are present in the products of the invention, including any optional components, will add up to 100%.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Experimental
[0060] FIG. 1 : Temperature profile versus time for two samples exposed to freezing conditions directly after preparation, one with insulation and one without insulation.
[0061] FIG. 2 : Time-to-freeze curve for differently sized samples exposed to freezing conditions directly after preparation.
[0062] FIG. 3 a : Temperature profile versus time for samples exposed to freezing conditions directly after preparation.
[0063] FIG. 3 b : Cumulative heat production versus time for samples exposed to freezing conditions directly after preparation.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1
[0064] A cement paste (500 ml) was prepared from standard fly ash cement (CEM II/A 42.5 FA) with a w/c ratio=0.45 and cubic samples are cast. Sample (1) was exposed to freezing conditions directly after preparation. Sample (2) was placed in an insulation container (wall thickness 1 cm) before being exposed to freezing conditions. In FIG. 1 it can be seen that the insulation extends the time before freezing of the sample starts but only slightly in comparison with an unprotected sample. Due to a slower heat release, the crystallization of water takes longer, as shown by the temperature plateau. Hence, the main effect of an insulation is only effective in an early stage of the curing and especially in close surface layers, there is a certain risk for freezing and hence, destruction of the concrete.
COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 21
[0065] Concrete has a heat transfer coefficient of about 2 W/m/K, which is lower than steel (about 50 W/m/k) and higher than porous mineral materials (about 0.2 W/m/K). As a consequence, temperature adjustments in a concrete element take time and depend on hydration temperature (heat source) as well as ambient temperature (heat sink). Especially in cold ambient conditions, there is a risk that the limitation in energy flow from core to surface can lead to freezing of the outer layers with destructive effects. In addition, reinforcement (most commonly iron bars) is placed mostly in the outer layers and therefore increases heat loss to the environment.
[0066] Cement paste samples of different volumes (4000, 2000, 1000, 500, 250, and 100 ml) were prepared from standard fly ash cement (CEM II/A 42.5 FA) with a w/c ratio=0.45 and cubic samples were cast. The temperature was measured in the core. Samples were cured at −15° C. directly after preparation. This experiment simulates different distances to the surface of a concrete structure. Temperature developments of the different samples are given in FIG. 2 , which shows the time it takes for a core temperature to reach freezing temperature (0° C.) at ambient conditions, plotted versus size of the samples. The smaller samples freeze within a few hours, and samples of 2-liter cubes were hydrating for at least 8 hours. Hence, it can be derived that an unprotected surface layer will freeze quickly.
EXAMPLE 1
[0067] Four cement paste samples (500 ml) were prepared from standard fly ash cement (CEM II/A 42.5 FA) with a varying w/c ratio.
[0000] Sample (1) according to the prior art contains no additives (used as a reference) and has a w/c=0.45.
Sample (2) according to the prior art contains 4 weight % of added calcium nitrate (Nitcal from Yara International, Oslo, Norway) and has a w/c=0.45.
Sample (3) according to the invention contains 3 weight % of added calcium nitrate (Nitcal from Yara International, Oslo, Norway) and 1 weight % of aluminium nitrate and has a w/c=0.45.
Sample (4) according to the invention contains 3 weight % of added calcium nitrate (Nitcal from Yara International, Oslo, Norway), 1 weight % of aluminium nitrate, and 0.5 weight % of a modified lignosulphonate (Ultrazin from Borregaard Industries Ltd, Sarpsborg, Norway) as superplasticizer and has a w/c=0.30.
All weight % are given relative to the total amount cement.
[0068] The addition of aluminium nitrate leads to an increased initial hydration heat, as is shown in FIG. 3 a . The water reduction leads to an even lower tendency of freezing, and especially the heat production during the first 8 hours was highest (sample (3) and (4). Additionally, FIG. 3 b shows that the heat release and therefore hydration takes place during a period of 18 hours. However, most intense in all cases is the reactivity within the first 3 hours. In this period, the heat release in sample (4) was 5 to 8 times higher than in the reference sample (1).
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The present invention relates to an admixture for a cementitious composition and a method using said admixture for manufacturing a durable cementitious composition, in particular a concrete, in cold weather conditions, such as in winter time or in cold geographical areas.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a gas turbine system burning heavy-oil modified fuel and a method of operating the gas turbine system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a gas turbine system in which heavy oil is modified by reaction caused upon mixing with water and an obtained light component is burnt as fuel in a gas turbine for electric power generation, and to a method of operating the gas turbine system.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Heavy oil contains considerable amounts of heavy metals and is not suitable as fuel for a gas turbine to generate electric power. Methods of removing metals from heavy oil for conversion to a useful energy source are therefore proposed so far. One of those methods includes the step of contacting high-temperature and high-pressure water with heavy oil under reaction conditions of not lower than 350° C. and not lower than 20 MPa, thereby decomposing the heavy oil (see, e.g., Patent Document 1; JP,A 2003-49180 (Abstract)). Hydrocarbon gas, a light oil component, a heavy component, and metal compounds, such as metal oxides, are obtained through decomposition of the heavy oil. Among them, the hydrocarbon gas and the light oil component are dissolved in the high-temperature and high-pressure water to obtain modified oil as gas turbine fuel. The metal compounds present in the heavy oil are removed in the form of calcium compounds or by combining them with a trapping agent, e.g., coke.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] Hitherto, many reports have been made regarding methods of modifying heavy oil and gas-turbine power generation systems using modified oil as fuel while discussing them as separate issues. There are however few reports regarding a system including a heavy oil modifying line and a gas-turbine power generation line in a combined manner.
[0006] Controlling the heavy oil modifying line in link with the operation of a gas turbine is very important from the viewpoint of carrying out the modification of the heavy oil and the operation of the gas turbine with safety on a site.
[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide a combined system of a heavy oil modifying line and a gas turbine, in which the gas turbine can be safely operated, including startup, ordinary shutdown, and emergency shutdown.
[0008] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a gas turbine system burning heavy-oil modified fuel, the system comprising a reactor for mixing heavy oil and water to cause reaction, thereby separating and removing a heavy component from the heavy oil; a gas-liquid separator for separating a light component obtained in the reactor into hydrocarbon gas and modified oil; a line for supplying the hydrocarbon gas separated by the gas-liquid separator to a gas turbine combustor; the gas turbine combustor for burning the hydrocarbon gas supplied through the line; a gas turbine driven by combustion gas produced in the gas turbine combustor; and another line for extracting the hydrocarbon gas separated by the gas-liquid separator externally of a relevant system region before the separated hydrocarbon gas is supplied to the gas turbine combustor.
[0009] In the present invention, the gas turbine system may further comprise a modified oil tank for storing the modified oil separated by the gas-liquid separator. The modified oil tank preferably has a capacity enough to store the modified oil in amount required for operating the gas turbine by using the modified oil stored in the modified oil, as fuel, during a period from startup of the reactor to a time when the hydrocarbon gas is produced in the gas-liquid separator.
[0010] The hydrocarbon gas extracted externally of the relevant system region before being supplied to the gas turbine combustor can be used to produce heating gas for heating the reactor.
[0011] The present invention also provides a method of operating a gas turbine system burning heavy-oil modified fuel, the method comprising the steps of mixing heavy oil and water in a reactor to cause reaction, thereby producing a heavy component and a light component; separating the light component per phase of gas and liquid into hydrocarbon gas and modified oil; and operating a gas turbine by using the separated hydrocarbon gas as fuel, wherein the method further comprises the steps of stopping supply of the hydrocarbon gas as fuel to the gas turbine at the time of stop of the operation of the gas turbine and extracting the hydrocarbon gas supplied from the reactor externally of a relevant system region.
[0012] In the method of operating the gas turbine system, the modified oil obtained by subjecting the light component to the gas-liquid separation may be stored and used as the gas turbine fuel at startup of the gas turbine during a period until the hydrocarbon gas is produced in the reactor and the gas-liquid separator.
[0013] Further, a process for stopping the operation of the reactor may be started after detecting a level of the modified oil in a tank at the time of stop of the operation of the gas turbine and confirming that the liquid level in the tank is enough to provide fuel in amount consumed by the gas turbine during the period until the hydrocarbon gas is produced in the reactor and the gas-liquid separator.
[0014] According to the present invention, in a system covering processes from modification of heavy oil to generation of electric power, i.e., in a system including stages of reacting heavy oil with high-temperature and high-pressure water to modify the heavy oil and using an obtained light component as main fuel for a gas turbine to generate electric power, it is possible to realize superior operability in startup, ordinary shutdown, emergency shutdown, etc. of the gas turbine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a gas turbine system burning heavy-oil modified fuel according to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a startup method;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a control system for a reactor and a gas-liquid separator;
[0018] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an ordinary shutdown method; and
[0019] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an emergency shutdown method.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.
Embodiment
[0021] In this embodiment, a system for mixing heavy oil with water to separate and remove heavy component from the heavy oil and supplying obtained heavy-oil modified fuel to a gas turbine for electric power generation will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 .
[0022] In this embodiment, heavy oil stored in a heavy oil tank 101 is pressurized by a heavy oil supply pump 31 and is then divided into two lines. The heavy oil in one line is supplied to a heavy oil combustion furnace 74 in which the heavy oil is mixed with air supplied from a blower 36 associated with the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 and is burnt, to thereby produce heating gas 116 . The heavy oil in the other line is supplied through a heavy oil supply valve 25 to a desalination apparatus 10 in which water-soluble impurities, such as sodium, potassium and chlorine, are removed, followed by being stored in a desalinated heavy-oil tank 102 . The desalinated heavy oil in the desalinated heavy-oil tank 102 is pressurized to 10-25 MPa by a desalinated heavy-oil pressurizing pump 32 .
[0023] Water stored in a water tank 100 is pressurized to 10-25 MPa by a water pressurizing pump 30 and is supplied to a water preheater 41 . In the water preheater 41 , the temperature of the pressurized water is raised through heat exchange with modified oil 108 that is obtained as a liquid component after gas-liquid separation performed in a gas-liquid separator 5 . Because the temperature of the modified oil 108 varies in the range of room temperature to about 400° C., the temperature of the pressurized water at an outlet of the water preheater 41 is also changed depending on the temperature of the modified oil 108 .
[0024] The water having the raised temperature and the desalinated heavy oil are mixed with each other into a fluid mixture that is sent to a mixing preheater 42 for heat exchange with the heating gas 116 generated in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 . The temperature of the fluid mixture at an outlet of the mixing preheater 42 is raised to 430-460° C. by adjusting the opening of a preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 and controlling the flow rate of the heating gas 116 supplied to the mixing preheater 42 .
[0025] The fluid mixture preheated to 430-460° C. is supplied to a reactor 1 . The reactor 1 is heated and held in a heated state by supplying the heating gas 116 generated in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 to a heating furnace 52 surrounding the reactor 1 . The inner temperature and pressure of the reactor 1 are set to 430-460° C. and 10-25 MPa, respectively, by adjusting the opening of a heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 and controlling the flow rate of the combustion gas supplied to the heating furnace 52 . By setting an average residing time to 1.5-2.5 minutes in terms of density of steam under those temperature and pressure conditions, the heavy oil and the water in the fluid mixture react with each other to become a heavy component and a light component including steam. The light component is carried out of the reactor 1 , and the heavy component is subjected to gravity separation in the reactor 1 . Metals contained in the heavy oil are enriched in the heavy component and are extracted out of the reactor 1 by selectively opening and closing a reactor outlet valve 13 or an under-reactor valve 29 which are disposed in a heavy component extraction line 2 . When the heavy component is extracted through the reactor outlet valve 13 , a liquid level in a heavy component recovery tank 3 is measured. When the liquid level is high, the heavy component is extracted externally of the recovery tank 3 before supplying the extracted heavy component to the recovery tank 3 by opening a heavy component extraction valve 14 and closing the reactor outlet valve 13 . The extracted heavy component is supplied as fuel to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 . On the other hand, when the heavy component is extracted through the under-reactor valve 29 , the extracted heavy component is directly supplied to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 to be mixed with air and burnt therein.
[0026] The pressure in the reactor 1 is adjusted by a depressurizing valve 12 and a depressurizer 4 . To reduce pressure variations caused by variations in properties of the light component and the supply amounts of the water and the heavy oil, the opening of the depressurizing valve 12 is adjusted and an orifice is employed in the depressurizer 4 for depressurization. After having been depressurized to 2.5 MPa through the depressurizer 4 , the light component is supplied to the gas-liquid separator 5 where it is separated into hydrocarbon gas 107 containing steam, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbon gases (hydrocarbons with the carbon number up to about 15), etc. and modified oil 108 as a liquefied component. The gas-liquid separator 5 has a water spray nozzle 54 through which water stored in the water tank 100 is supplied to the gas-liquid separator 5 after being pressurized by a spray water pump 34 . The temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is adjusted by regulating the amount of spray water by a spray water regulator 55 . The temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is preferably set to a value at which steam contained in the light component is not liquefied. More specifically, the temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is desired to be not lower than a value given by adding the boiling point of water under the pressure of 2.5 MPa in the gas-liquid separator 5 , i.e., 224 ° C., and a temperature drop caused in a line downstream of the gas-liquid separator 5 . If the temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is too high, the amount by which the modified oil 108 is evaporated is increased, and the amount of the modified oil 108 remaining as a liquid in the gas-liquid separator 5 is reduced. The modified oil 108 in the form of liquid fuel is used as fuel at the startup of the gas turbine. It is therefore required that the modified oil 108 be stored in a modified oil tank 6 in an amount sufficient for operating the gas turbine at least for a period from the startup of the gas turbine to a time when the modified oil 108 is produced and flows into the modified oil tank 6 . Because a time of about 2-3 hours is taken to raise the inner temperature in the reactor 1 and the mixing preheater 42 to about 450° C., the capacity of the modified oil tank 6 is required to be triple or more the amount of fuel consumed per hour. Also, from the viewpoint of liquefying the hydrocarbon gas and increasing a production rate of the modified oil 108 , the temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is preferably set to the lowest possible value within a controllable range at a level higher than the boiling point of water under the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 . On the other hand, a further rise of the liquid level in the modified oil tank 6 is suppressed by increasing a production rate of the hydrocarbon gas. Accordingly, when a liquid level in the modified oil tank 6 is high during the ordinary operation, for example, the temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 may be raised to reduce the amount of the modified oil 108 produced.
[0027] The pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 is controlled to be held constant by using a gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 . Between the gas-liquid separator 5 and a gas turbine combustor 60 , a line 50 is disposed for supplying the hydrocarbon gas 107 separated by the gas-liquid separator 5 to the gas turbine combustor 60 . The hydrocarbon gas 107 flowing through the line 50 is controlled in flow rate by a hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 and then supplied to the gas turbine combustor 60 . In the gas turbine combustor 60 , the supplied hydrocarbon gas 107 is mixed with air compressed by a compressor 62 and is burnt, thus producing combustion gas 114 that drives a gas turbine 61 . Resulting combustion exhaust gas is released to the atmosphere through a stack 53 .
[0028] A liquid level of the modified oil 108 in the gas-liquid separator 5 is measured by a gas-liquid-separator level gauge 73 , and the opening of a liquid level adjusting valve 22 is adjusted so that the liquid level of the modified oil 108 is held constant. The modified oil 108 is extracted from the gas-liquid separator 5 through the liquid level adjusting valve 22 and is supplied to the water preheater 41 . After being cooled in the water preheater 41 to 60° C. through heat exchange with water pressurized by the water pressurizing pump 30 , the modified oil 108 is stored in the modified oil tank 6 . Alternatively, by changing over a ground flare combustion valve 28 to the side communicating with a ground flare 75 , the cooled modified oil 108 is supplied as fuel to the ground flare 75 .
[0029] The modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 is pressurized by a modified oil pump 33 and is supplied to the gas turbine combustor 60 while the flow rate of the modified oil 108 is controlled. Like the hydrocarbon gas 107 , the modified oil 108 is mixed with air compressed by the compressor 62 and is burnt, thus producing the combustion gas 114 that drives the gas turbine 61 . Resulting combustion exhaust gas is released to the atmosphere through the stack 53 .
[0030] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a startup method. The startup method for the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 along with FIG. 1 .
[0031] In the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel, a time of about 2-3 hours is taken to raise the temperature in the reactor 1 for modifying the heavy oil or the temperature in the mixing preheater 42 for heating the heavy oil and water to a predetermined value. If the time of about 2-3 hours is required to start the gas turbine, applications of this system are limited for users desiring output power to be quickly changed. In the present invention, to avoid such a disadvantage, the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel is started in accordance with the following steps.
[0032] In step S 1 , the liquid level of the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 is measured by a modified-oil-tank level gauge 72 to confirm that the modified oil tank 6 stores fuel in amount required by the gas turbine during a period from the startup of the system to the production of the modified oil 108 . Because about 2-3 hours are taken to start the system including the heating of the reactor 1 , etc., the amount of the modified oil 108 necessary for operating the gas turbine 61 for 3 hours or longer has to be stored in the modified oil tank 6 . If the amount of the modified oil 108 necessary for operating the gas turbine 61 for 3 hours or longer is stored in the modified oil tank 6 , the startup process advances to step S 2 , and if not so, it advances to step S 3 to produce the modified oil 108 while skipping step S 2 .
[0033] In step S 2 , the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 is supplied as fuel to the gas turbine combustor 60 by the modified oil pump 33 . The gas turbine 61 is thereby started to start generation of electric power in a similar manner to that in an ordinary gas turbine system burning liquid fuel.
[0034] In step S 3 , the heavy oil in the heavy oil tank 101 is supplied to the desalination apparatus 10 by the heavy oil supply pump 31 for removal of alkali metals such as sodium and potassium, alkali earth metals such as magnesium and calcium, and halogens such as chlorine and fluorine, which are mixed in the heavy oil. The desalinated heavy oil is stored in the desalinated heavy-oil tank 102 . The amount of the desalinated heavy oil stored in the desalinated heavy-oil tank 102 is not specified to a particular value. If the processing capacity of the desalination apparatus 10 exceeds the amount of fuel consumed by the gas turbine per hour, the startup process can advance to step S 4 at the same time when the desalinated heavy oil starts to be produced. As an alternative, it is also possible to advance the startup process to step S 4 at the same time when the heavy oil supply pump 31 is started, by always storing the desalinated heavy oil in the desalinated heavy-oil tank 102 in such an amount as enabling the gas turbine to be operated for the time required to heat the reactor 1 to the predetermined temperature, i.e., for about 2-3 hours. Further, in the case of purchasing the heavy oil that is already desalinated, the desalination apparatus 10 , the heavy oil tank 101 , and the heavy oil supply pump 31 can be dispensed with, and it is just required to store the desalinated heavy oil in the desalinated heavy-oil tank 102 .
[0035] In step S 4 , the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 is started to generate the heating gas 116 for heating the reactor 1 and the mixing preheater 42 . The heavy oil extracted from the heavy oil tank 101 is pressurized by the heavy oil supply pump 31 and is supplied to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 while the flow rate of the heavy oil is adjusted by a heavy-oil flow adjusting valve 26 . In the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 , the heavy oil is mixed with air supplied from the blower 36 associated with the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 and is burnt, to thereby produce the heating gas 116 . The temperature of the heating gas 116 is adjusted to about 525° C. by controlling the amount of air supplied from the heavy-oil combustion furnace blower 36 . From the viewpoint of shortening the startup time, it is preferable to raise the temperature of the heating gas 116 for increasing a temperature rising rate. However, a lower temperature is preferable in consideration of a corrosion rate causing a shortening of the life of the reactor 1 and the mixing preheater 42 and a rate of ash deposition causing a reduction of the heat transfer rate. In other words, if vanadium and sodium in the heavy oil form composite oxides, there is a possibility that those composite oxides are liquefied at temperatures near 525° C. and ash deposition progresses on external surfaces of heat transfer pipes of the mixing preheater 42 and an external surface of the reactor 1 . For that reason, the temperature of the heating gas 116 is preferably not higher than 525° C.
[0036] In order to hold constant the pressure in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 , a pressure gauge is provided to measure the furnace pressure. The measured furnace pressure is taken into a pressure controller, and the opening of a valve 27 is adjusted in accordance with the pressure information so as to properly regulate the flow rate of the heating gas 116 . As a result, the pressure in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 can be held constant. The heating gas 116 discharged through the valve 27 is released to the atmosphere via the ground flare 75 .
[0037] In step S 5 , the fluid temperatures in the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 are raised to 430-460° C. by using the heating gas 116 produced by the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 of which operation has been started in step S 4 . The preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 is opened for supply of the heating gas 116 to the mixing preheater 42 . At the same time or thereafter, the heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 is opened, whereupon the heating gas 116 is supplied to the heating furnace 52 for heating the reactor 1 . If the temperature difference between the interiors of the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 and the interior of the heating furnace 52 to be heated by the heating gas 116 is increased, there is a risk that stresses may be concentrated in welds, etc. to such an extent as causing cracks. In particular, a thick wall portion has a possibility that larger stress is generated therein. To avoid such a risk, substantially in match with the start of heating by the heating gas 116 , the water stored in the water tank 100 is supplied to the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 by opening a water supply valve 24 and operating the water pressurizing pump 30 and the desalinated heavy-oil pressurizing pump 32 . The water heated by the mixing preheater 42 is supplied to the reactor 1 , thus heating the reactor 1 from the interior, which also contributes to increasing the temperature rising rate of the reactor 1 that has a large heat capacity.
[0038] The openings of the preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 and the heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 may be fully opened. If temperature adjustment of the heating gas 116 is required, it is also possible to reduce the openings of the preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 and the heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 . As in step S 4 , the opening of the valve 27 is similarly adjusted in step S 5 so that the pressure in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 is held constant.
[0039] The water supplied to the reactor 1 is extracted from the reactor 1 by opening the under-reactor valve 29 disposed under the reactor 1 and is sprayed to a heavy oil burning zone in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 , followed by becoming a part of the heating gas 116 . After heating the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 , the water (steam) in the heating gas 116 is released to the atmosphere via the ground flare 75 .
[0040] After confirming that the fluid temperatures in the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 have reached near the critical temperature of water, the startup process advances to step S 5 in which the temperature and pressure in the reactor 1 are adjusted respectively to 430-460° C. and 10-25 MPa, the gas-liquid separator 5 and the water preheater 41 are heated, and the temperature and pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 are adjusted.
[0041] A thermometer is placed in the outlet of the mixing preheater 42 to measure the fluid temperature in that outlet. The fluid temperature in the outlet of the mixing preheater 42 is taken into a temperature controller, and the temperature controller adjusts the opening of the preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 to control the flow rate of the heating gas 116 so that the interior in the outlet of the mixing preheater 42 is held at a predetermined temperature.
[0042] Similarly to the temperature control for the mixing preheater 42 , a thermometer is disposed inside the reactor 1 to measure the fluid temperature therein. The fluid temperature in the reactor 1 is taken into a temperature controller, and the temperature controller adjusts the opening of the heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 to control the flow rate of the heating gas 116 so that the interior of the reactor 1 is held at a predetermined temperature.
[0043] In step S 6 , before or at the same time as the startup of the water pressurizing pump 30 and the desalinated heavy-oil pressurizing pump 32 in step S 5 , a ground flare blower 37 and a ground flare pump 35 are started in operation to supply the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 to the ground flare 75 for burning therein. The level of the water having been condensed to a liquid in the gas-liquid separator 5 after passing through the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 is measured by the gas-liquid-separator level gauge 73 , and the liquid level in the gas-liquid separator 5 is held constant by adjusting the opening of the liquid level adjusting valve 22 with a liquid level controller. The water having passed through the liquid level adjusting valve 22 is supplied to the ground flare 75 via the ground flare combustion valve 28 (a three-way valve) shifted to a position communicating with the ground flare 75 .
[0044] The water supplied to the ground flare 75 contains a small amount of oil. Therefore, the supplied water is mixed with the modified oil 108 and burnt in the ground flare 75 such that the small amount of oil contained in the water is also burnt.
[0045] In step S 7 , the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 is adjusted to about 2.5 MPa and the pressure upstream of the reactor 1 is adjusted to 10-25 MPa by regulating the depressurizing vale 12 . Thus, the pressures in the lines are adjusted to respective setting pressures. A method of controlling the various valves and devices in step S 7 will be described below with reference to FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 shows, in enlarged scale, the lines including the reactor 1 , the gas-liquid separator 5 , the gas turbine combustor 60 , and the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 , shown in FIG. 1 , along with various controllers.
[0046] The fluid mixture of the high-temperature and high-pressure heavy oil and water is supplied to the reactor 1 in which the heavy component is separated for removal. The separated heavy component is recovered into the heavy component recovery tank 3 through the reactor outlet valve 13 . On the other hand, the light component is depressurized through the depressurizing valve 12 and the depressurizer 4 and is then supplied to the gas-liquid separator 5 . In the gas-liquid separator 5 , the light component is separated into a liquid and gas. The level of the separated liquid component is measured by the gas-liquid-separator level gauge 73 , and the measured value is taken into a liquid level controller 121 , and the liquid level is controlled to be held constant by the liquid level adjusting valve 22 . The modified oil having passed through the liquid level adjusting valve 22 is supplied to the modified oil tank 6 . The separated gas component is supplied to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 through the gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 or supplied to the gas turbine combustor 60 through the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 .
[0047] When the gas turbine 61 is not yet started, the hydrocarbon gas 107 supplied to the gas turbine is directly leaked to the exterior. In that state, therefore, the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 is not opened to block passage of the steam and the hydrocarbon gas 107 through it.
[0048] Variations of the pressure and temperature change the states of the reactor 1 and the gas-liquid separator 5 , thus changing not only a removal rate of vanadium from the heavy oil and a gas-liquid separation ratio of the modified oil, but also the compositions of the modified oil 108 and the hydrocarbon gas 107 . From the limitation in response speed of the pump and controller, it is impossible to control an abrupt change of the fuel composition by changing the flow rate of the modified oil supplied by the modified oil pump 33 . Stated another way, the abrupt change of the fuel composition may impair combustion stability of the gas turbine combustor 60 and may extinguish fire, thus making unstable the operation of the gas turbine 61 to generate electric power. A method of properly controlling the temperatures and pressures in the reactor 1 and the gas-liquid separator 5 will be described below.
[0049] In order to adjust the pressure upstream of the reactor 1 to the setting value (10-25 MPa), a pressure gauge 211 is disposed at the outlet of the reactor 1 , and the measured value is taken into a reactor pressure controller 122 . Then, the reactor pressure controller 122 outputs, to the depressurizing valve 12 , a command for adjusting its opening so as to hold the pressure upstream of the reactor 1 at the setting value. As a result, the pressure upstream of the reactor 1 can be held constant at the setting value.
[0050] Also, in order to adjust the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 to the setting value (about 2.5 MPa), a pressure gauge 212 is disposed at the outlet of the gas-liquid separator 5 , and the measured value is taken into a gas-liquid-separator pressure controller 120 . Then, the gas-liquid separator pressure controller 120 outputs, to the gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 , a command for adjusting its opening so as to hold the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 at the setting value. As a result, the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 can be held constant at the setting value. Further, when the gas turbine 61 is already started, the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 is opened to allow the hydrocarbon gas 107 containing the steam to flow into the gas turbine combustor 60 in which the hydrocarbon gas 107 is burnt. Higher efficiency is obtained in the generation of electric power by burning the hydrocarbon gas 107 in the gas turbine combustor 60 to drive the gas turbine 61 as compared with the case of burning the same in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 . Therefore, the gas-liquid separator pressure controller 120 controls the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 so that the flow rate of the hydrocarbon gas 107 passing through the gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 is minimized and the flow rate of the hydrocarbon gas 107 supplied to the gas turbine combustor 60 is maximized. In other words, the opening of the gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 is set to zero, and the opening of the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 is decided by the gas-liquid-separator pressure controller 120 such that the measured value of the pressure gauge 212 is held at the setting pressure.
[0051] In order to hold the gas-liquid separation ratio constant and to stabilize the fuel properties, the temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is held at constant. In this embodiment, the spray water pump 34 is actuated to spray water through the water spray nozzle 54 so as to hold the temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 at constant. The liquid temperature in the gas-liquid separator 5 is measured by a thermometer 202 , and the measured temperature value is taken into a gas-liquid-separator temperature controller 123 . The flow rate of the water supplied from the spray water pump 34 is controlled in accordance with a command from the gas-liquid-separator temperature controller 123 so that the internal liquid temperature is not lower than the boiling point of water under the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 , thereby adjusting the amount of the spray water. Further, one or both of the temperatures measured by thermometers 201 and 203 are taken into the gas-liquid-separator temperature controller 123 . When there is a possibility that moisture contained in the hydrocarbon gas is condensed at the inlet of the gas turbine combustor 60 , the gas-liquid-separator temperature controller 123 outputs a command for reducing the amount of the water sprayed from the water spray pump 34 .
[0052] If the temperatures and pressures in the reactor 1 and the gas-liquid separator 5 are increased to and stabilized at the setting temperatures and the setting pressures in step S 7 , the startup process advances to step S 8 . In step S 8 , the water supply valve 24 is closed, a desalinated heavy-oil supply valve 18 is opened, and the heavy oil is supplied by operating the desalinated heavy-oil pressurizing pump 32 . When the heavy oil passes through the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 , the temperature in the outlet of the mixing preheater 42 and the temperature in the outlet of the reactor 1 are changed due to the difference in specific heat between the heavy oil and water. Responsively, the openings of the preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 and the heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 are adjusted so that the internal temperatures are adjusted to fall in the predetermined range of 430 to 460° C.
[0053] After confirming that the internal temperatures have become steady, the under-reactor valve 29 is closed and the opening of the reactor outlet valve 13 is increased, thus causing the heavy component 105 to be extracted through the heavy component extraction line 2 and recovered into the heavy component recovery tank 3 . The liquid level in the heavy component recovery tank 3 is controlled such that 0.5-10 wt % of the desalinated heavy oil having been supplied by the desalinated heavy-oil pressurizing pump 32 is extracted as the heavy component 105 . By opening the heavy component extraction valve 14 , the heavy component 105 is supplied to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 in which it is mixed with air supplied from the heavy-oil combustion furnace blower 36 and is burnt.
[0054] In step S 9 , after confirming that the mixing preheater outlet temperature, the reactor outlet temperature, and the liquid temperature and the gas temperature in the gas-liquid separator have been stabilized, a flow of the modified oil 108 having been supplied to the ground flare 75 through the heat exchange in the water preheater 41 is changed to direct toward the modified oil tank 6 by operating the ground flare combustion valve 28 . For the ground flare 75 for which the supply of the modified oil 108 after being subjected to the heat exchange is stopped, the supply of the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 and the operation of the ground flare blower 37 are also stopped. After confirming that the liquid level in the modified oil tank 6 supplied with the modified oil 108 has elevated, the startup process advances to step S 10 .
[0055] In step S 10 , when the gas turbine 61 is already started, the operation mode shifts to the ordinary operation at once. When the gas turbine 61 is not yet started, the gas turbine 61 is started using the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 , followed by shifting to the ordinary operation. After coming into the ordinary operation, supply of the hydrocarbon gas 107 to the gas turbine combustor 60 is started and all the amount of the hydrocarbon gas 107 is supplied to the gas turbine combustor 60 . The gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel is started through the above-described steps.
[0056] An ordinary shutdown method for the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel will be described below. Because the hydrocarbon gas is generated by thermal decomposition of the heavy oil in this system, the generated hydrocarbon gas has to be released from the gas turbine combustor 60 to another place when the gas turbine 61 is stopped. Also, if the heavy oil is left remaining in the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 at high temperatures, there is a possibility that the heavy oil may cause coking and clogging may occur in pipes, etc. in the system. Therefore, the system has to be completely shut down after purging the heavy oil. To that end, the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel is shut down in the ordinary case in accordance with a flowchart shown in FIG. 4 .
[0057] In step S 1 , the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 is closed and the opening of the gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 is adjusted so that the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 5 is about 2.5 MPa, thereby releasing the hydrocarbon gas 107 to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 . The gas turbine 61 is thus brought into the state where only the modified oil 108 is burnt.
[0058] If the modified oil 108 remains in the modified oil tank 6 in amount capable of operating the gas turbine for 3 hours or longer, this means that the gas turbine can be immediately started at the next startup of the system. By measuring the liquid level in the modified oil tank 6 , it is confirmed whether the modified oil 108 remains in amount capable of operating the gas turbine for 3 hours or longer. If remains, the shutdown process advances to step S 8 in which the ground flare 75 is started, and if not so, it advances to step S 2 to start the operation for stopping the gas turbine.
[0059] In step S 8 , the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 is supplied to the ground flare 75 by the ground flare pump 35 , in which the modified oil 108 is mixed with air supplied from the ground flare blower 37 and is burnt.
[0060] In step S 9 , the ground flare combustion valve 28 is operated to allow the modified oil 108 to flow toward the ground flare 75 , whereby the modified oil 108 supplied from the gas-liquid separator 5 through the water preheater 41 is introduced to the ground flare 75 and is burnt therein.
[0061] After step S 1 or step S 9 , the operation of stopping the gas turbine 61 is commenced in step 2 . First, the supply of the modified oil 108 stored in the modified oil tank 6 to the gas turbine combustor 60 is stopped in the ordinary shutdown process. At the same time, the modified oil pump 33 is stopped.
[0062] In step S 3 , the liquid level in the modified oil tank 6 is checked again to confirm that the modified oil 108 remains in amount capable of operating the gas turbine for 3 hours or longer. If confirmed, the water supply valve 24 is opened and the desalinated heavy-oil supply valve 18 is closed to stop the supply of the heavy oil, thereby purging the heavy oil, the heavy component 105 , and the modified oil 108 which are remained in the lines including the mixing preheater 42 , the reactor 1 , the gas-liquid separator 5 , and so on. At the same time, the desalination apparatus 10 is stopped to stop the production of the desalinated heavy oil.
[0063] If the ground flare 75 has not been started in step S 8 , the ground flare 75 is started in steps S 10 and S 11 in the same manner as that in steps S 8 and S 9 . If the ground flare 75 has already been started, the shutdown process advances to step S 4 .
[0064] In step S 4 , the heavy oil, the heavy component 105 , and the modified oil 108 remaining in the lines including the mixing preheater 42 , the reactor 1 , the gas-liquid separator 5 , etc. are purged by operating the desalinated heavy-oil pressurizing pump 32 and the water pressurizing pump 30 . To purge the oil components remaining in the lines, the reactor outlet valve 13 is closed and simultaneously the opening of the under-reactor valve 29 is set to such an extent as not lowering the pressure in the reactor 1 , whereby the heavy component 105 is supplied to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 and is burnt therein.
[0065] By monitoring the combustion temperature of the ground flare 75 , it is confirmed that the modified oil 108 has been replaced with water. Similarly, by monitoring the combustion temperature of the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 , it is confirmed that the heavy component 105 and the hydrocarbon gas 107 have been replaced with water. The steam sole operation in step S 4 is continued until the above two points are confirmed.
[0066] After the end of step S 4 , the operation of cooling the entire system is started in step S 5 . The depressurizing valve 12 is closed to stop the flow toward the line downstream of the gas-liquid separator 5 for cooling it. Also, the preheater gas-flow adjusting valve 19 and the heating furnace gas-flow adjusting valve 20 are closed and the heating gas 116 is released through the valve 27 , thus stopping the supply of the heating gas 116 produced by the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 to the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 .
[0067] In step S 6 , the steam remaining in the lines and containing a small amount of the oil components mixed therein is released for depressurization. The steam cannot be directly released to the atmosphere because of containing the small amount of the oil components. Therefore, the under-reactor valve 29 is opened, whereby the steam flows into the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 and the pressure in the reactor 1 is dropped to a level about twice that in the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 . After confirming the drop of the pressure in the reactor 1 , the supply of the heavy oil to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 is stopped in step S 7 and the heavy-oil combustion furnace blower 36 is also stopped. As a result, the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 is stopped and all the lines are completely shut down. The ordinary shutdown of the system can be performed through the above-described steps.
[0068] An emergency shutdown method for the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel will be described below. Because the hydrocarbon gas is generated by thermal decomposition of the heavy oil in this system, the generated hydrocarbon gas has to be released from the gas turbine combustor 60 to another place at the same time as when the gas turbine 61 is stopped. Also, as in the ordinary shutdown, if the heavy oil is left remaining in the mixing preheater 42 and the reactor 1 at high temperatures, there is a possibility that the heavy oil may cause coking and clogging may occur in pipes, etc. in the system. Therefore, the system has to be completely shut down after purging the heavy oil. To that end, the gas turbine system burning the heavy-oil modified fuel is shut down in the emergence case in accordance with a flowchart shown in FIG. 5 .
[0069] In the emergency shutdown, the gas turbine 61 is emergently stopped in step S 1 . In step S 2 , the hydrocarbon gas flow control valve 16 is closed to emergently cut off the fuel, and the modified oil pump 33 is stopped to stop the supply of the modified oil 108 from the modified oil tank 6 . At that time, the opening of the gas-liquid-separator pressure adjusting valve 17 is adjusted so as to emergently release the hydrocarbon gas 107 to the heavy oil combustion furnace 74 .
[0070] After step S 2 , the emergency shutdown process is executed through the same steps as those in the ordinary shutdown process, whereby the system can be safely shut down.
[0071] According to this embodiment, in the gas turbine system burning heavy oil as fuel, it is possible to eliminate restrictions imposed on the operation of the gas turbine, which are caused by a time delay until the modified oil is produced in the heavy oil modifying line and a time delay until the heavy oil is purged, and to perform the startup and shutdown of the system in a smooth and quick manner. Further, the system can be safely shut down in both the cases of the ordinary shutdown and the emergency shutdown.
[0072] Thus, since the system including the heavy oil modifying line and the gas-turbine electric power generating line can be safely operated including the startup, the ordinary shutdown and the emergency shutdown, the present invention is applicable to a wide range of fields with very valuable advantages.
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A gas turbine system burning heavy-oil modified fuel and a method of operating the gas turbine system, which covers from a stage of modifying heavy oil and producing gas turbine fuel to a stage of operating a gas turbine, including startup, ordinary shutdown and emergency shutdown of the gas turbine. The gas turbine system burning heavy-oil modified fuel comprises a reactor for mixing heavy oil and water to cause reaction, thereby separating and removing a heavy component from the heavy oil, a gas-liquid separator for separating hydrocarbon gas and modified oil obtained in the reactor from each other, a gas turbine combustor for burning the hydrocarbon gas supplied from the gas-liquid separator, and a gas turbine driven by combustion gas produced in the gas turbine combustor. The system further comprises another line for extracting the hydrocarbon gas externally of a relevant system region. The other line is branched from a line for supplying the hydrocarbon gas from the gas-liquid separator to the gas turbine combustor.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for optimizing performance in a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring execution of a software program through performance instrumentation.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Effective management and enhancement of data processing systems requires knowing how and when various system components are operating. In analyzing and enhancing performance of a data processing system and the applications executing within the data processing system, it is helpful to gather information about a data processing system as it is operating.
[0005] In order to minimize the undesired effects of instrumentation, the execution of instrumentation code is controlled in some manner. Typically, the performance instrumentation is toggled on or off through the use of one or more globally addressable variables that bracket sections of instrumentation code within the instrumented application. As performance instrumentation code is encountered, the global variable is tested to determine whether or not the instrumentation code should be executed. However, even when the instrumentation is turned off, the overhead of testing a global variable may add unacceptable delay to the performance of the application; the execution of the instructions for testing a global variable not only consumes CPU time but may cause the flushing of the instruction cache or instruction pipeline within the processor. Hence, production software is generally shipped without any installed performance instrumentation, and when a performance problem arises at a later time, a version of the production software that contains performance instrumentation must be built and installed before performance problems can be diagnosed, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming process.
[0006] The above issues are particularly important when instrumentation code is inserted into an operating system kernel. In a production environment, such as an on-line transaction processing system accepting orders over the Internet, it can be impossible to introduce a new version of the kernel, i.e. an instrumented version, without considerable testing to make sure that the instrumented version is as reliable as the current production version. This is due to the high cost of a kernel failure in a production environment. Similarly, in a production environment, efficiency of the kernel is extremely important, since the required processing rate of the system may be very high. For both of these reasons, it is advantageous to have the instrumentation installed in the original production kernel in such a way that its effect on performance of the kernel when it is installed, but disabled, is minimal. If the production system is unable to meet its performance goals at some subsequent point in time, then it is an acceptable risk to enable the instrumentation and the associated measurement overhead in order to fix the performance problem so that the system can meet its performance goals.
[0007] One type of system that is common in high-performance online transaction processing is a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system. An SMP system consists of several processors, each sharing access to a single memory store; data in the shared store is accessed by each of the processors. An SMP system has more processing power than a single processor system for servicing user requests. However, adding additional processors is not without an associated cost: additional synchronization instructions must be executed by the processors in order to make sure that the data shared among the processors is manipulated in a consistent manner.
[0008] Performance of an SMP system is generally determined by two factors: instruction path-length and synchronization overhead. Instruction path-length is the number of instructions that the kernel must perform in order to accomplish a particular task. Typically, this is the same on a kernel designed for single processor hardware as it is for SMP hardware with the exception of the additional instructions required for synchronization. Instruction path length can be measured and optimized with instruction counting software, hardware, or other well known tools, such as profilers.
[0009] The second factor that can limit the performance of a multiprocessor kernel is synchronization overhead. A common method of SMP synchronization at the software level is for all of the processors to follow a locking protocol when accessing or updating data shared between the processors. Typically, this means that a lock must be acquired before accessing a shared resource, such as a shared data structure, and then released after the access. Contention arises when more than one process in the system tries to acquire a lock at the same time. Correct execution requires that only one of the processes can succeed; the other processes must be delayed until the lock is released.
[0010] A delay can be implemented either by “spinning”, i.e., executing a tight instruction loop that constantly tries to acquire the lock, or by suspending the task that is attempting to access the shared resource and dispatching that task's processor to run some other task in the system. Locks can thus be classified as either “spin” locks or “suspend” locks depending on how a conflicting-lock access is delayed. Each class of lock has its advantages and disadvantages—acquiring or releasing a spin lock can be very inexpensive but waiting for a lock in a spin loop wastes time that could be devoted to useful work. A task that is suspended while waiting for a lock does not consume processor time, but the cost of acquiring or releasing a suspend lock is much higher than it is for a spin lock. For these reasons, both spin locks and suspend locks are typically present in a multiprocessor operating system kernel.
[0011] Spin locks, however, are more primitive and are normally used to implement suspend locks. In either case, excessive contention for a lock can lead to poor system performance, either because too many tasks are suspended, or because too much time is wasted by spinning and waiting for a lock to become available.
[0012] Given the complexities of designing and implementing an SMP system, one should be able to instrument various operations of the operating system kernel, and given the importance of spin locks in an SMP system, one might desire to insert instrumentation code into a kernel spin lock in order to gather performance information related to the operation of spin locks. Due to the nature of kernel operations, one would especially desire to minimize the overhead associated with instrumentation code within the kernel, including spin locks.
[0013] Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a method and a system for minimizing overhead effects caused by the execution of instrumentation code associated with kernel spin locks. It would be particularly advantageous to provide an efficient methodology that allows the instrumentation code to be present within a production-quality operating system kernel. Additionally, since only those locks for which contention occurs have a significant impact on performance, it would be advantageous to limit instrumentation so that instrumentation is only enabled for those locks for which contention occurs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] A method, a system, and a computer program product are presented for (1) controlling operating system kernel spin lock instrumentation for a spin lock in a data processing system that has a cache that results in virtually no overhead when the instrumentation is installed but disabled, (2) restricting enablement of the instrumentation to only those locks for which contention occurs, and (3) dynamically detecting when contention occurs and enabling spin lock instrumentation for locks so detected. A lock flag represents a busy state for the spin lock; a first instrumentation flag is a global variable that represents an enablement state for the spin lock instrumentation. A second instrumentation flag, stored within the same cache line as the lock flag, is also maintained as an updateable indication of the first instrumentation flag. Prior to each acquirement of the spin lock, the second instrumentation flag is checked to see if it indicates that spin lock instrumentation is enabled for this particular spin lock. Although a reading of the lock flag may generate a cache miss, the lock flag is necessarily checked upon attempting to acquire the lock; the check of the second instrumentation flag cannot generate a superfluous cache miss because the second instrumentation flag is in the same cache line as the lock flag. At some point, the second instrumentation flag must be updated to reflect the enablement state that is stored within the first instrumentation flag; the update is delayed until it is determined that the spin lock is in a busy state when a new lock request is made, thereby inducing entry into a spin loop that necessarily wastes execution cycles. Therefore, prior to entering the spin loop, the first instrumentation flag can be read without regard to a cache miss, and the second instrumentation flag is then updated to reflect the value of the first instrumentation flag.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, further objectives, and advantages thereof, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0016] [0016]FIG. 1A depicts a typical distributed data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented;
[0017] [0017]FIG. 1B depicts a typical computer architecture that may be used within a client or server in which the present invention may be implemented;
[0018] [0018]FIG. 1C depicts typical software components within a computer system illustrating a logical relationship between the components as functional layers of software;
[0019] [0019]FIG. 2A is a prior art diagram depicting various processing phases that are typically used to develop instrumentation-derived information;
[0020] [0020]FIG. 2B depicts a known manner for acquiring and releasing a spin lock through a set of pseudo-code instruction statements;
[0021] [0021]FIG. 2C depicts a known manner for acquiring and releasing an instrumented spin lock through a set of pseudo-code instruction statements; and
[0022] [0022]FIG. 3 depicts a method for acquiring and releasing an instrumented spin lock through a set of pseudo-code instruction statements in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1A depicts a typical distributed data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented. Distributed data processing system 100 contains network 101 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within distributed data processing system 100 . Network 101 may include permanent connections, such as wire or fiber optic cables, or temporary connections made through telephone or wireless communications. In the depicted example, server 102 and server 103 are connected to network 101 along with storage unit 104 . In addition, clients 105 - 107 also are connected to network 101 . Clients 105 - 107 may be a variety of computing devices, such as personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Distributed data processing system 100 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown. In the depicted example, distributed data processing system 100 may include the Internet with network 101 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. Of course, distributed data processing system 100 may also be configured to include a number of different types of networks, such as, for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).
[0024] [0024]FIG. 1A is intended as an example of a heterogeneous computing environment and not as an architectural limitation for the present invention. The present invention could be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms, such as server 102 or client 107 shown in FIG. 1A. Requests for the collection of instrumentation information may be initiated on a first device within the network, while a second device within the network receives the request, collects the instrumentation information for applications executing on the second device, and returns the collected data to the first device.
[0025] With reference now to FIG. 1B, a diagram depicts a typical computer architecture that may be used within a client or server, such as those shown in FIG. 1A, in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system 110 employs a variety of bus structures and protocols. Processor card 111 contains processor 112 and L2 cache 113 that are connected to interprocessor bus 115 . System 110 may contain a plurality of processor cards; processor card 116 contains processor 117 and L2 cache 118 .
[0026] Interprocessor bus 115 supports system planar 120 that contains bus bridge 121 and memory controller 122 that supports memory card 123 . Memory card 123 contains local memory 124 consisting of a plurality of dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) 125 and 126 .
[0027] Interprocessor bridge 121 connects to PCI bridges 130 and 131 via system bus 132 . PCI bridges 130 and 131 are contained on native I/O (NIO) planar 133 which supports a variety of I/O components and interfaces. PCI bridge 131 provides connections for external data streams through network adapter 134 and a number of card slots 135 - 136 via PCI bus 137 . PCI bridge 130 connects a variety of I/O devices via PCI bus 138 . Hard disk 139 may be connected to SCSI host adapter 140 , which is connected to PCI bus 138 . Graphics adapter 141 may also be connected to PCI bus 138 as depicted, either directly or indirectly.
[0028] ISA bridge 142 connects to PCI bridge 130 via PCI bus 138 . ISA bridge 142 provides interconnection capabilities through NIO controller 153 via ISA bus 144 , such as serial connections 145 and 146 . Floppy drive connection 147 provides removable storage. Keyboard connection 148 and mouse connection 149 allow data processing system 110 to accept input data from a user.
[0029] Non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) 150 provides non-volatile memory for preserving certain types of data from system disruptions or system failures, such as power supply problems. System firmware 151 is also connected to ISA bus 144 and controls the initial BIOS. Service processor 154 is connected to ISA bus 144 and provides functionality for system diagnostics or system servicing.
[0030] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIG. 1B may vary depending on the system implementation. For example, the system may have one or more processors, and other peripheral devices may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIG. 1B. The depicted examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention. However, it should be understood that the present invention would most commonly be applicable to an SMP system.
[0031] In addition to being able to be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms, the present invention may be implemented in a variety of software environments.
[0032] With reference now to FIG. 1C, a prior art diagram shows software components within a computer system illustrating a logical relationship between the components as functional layers of software. The kernel (Ring 0) of the operating system provides a core set of functions that acts as an interface to the hardware. I/O functions and drivers can be viewed as resident in Ring 1, while memory management and memory-related functions are resident in Ring 2. User applications and other programs (Ring 3) access the functions in the other layers to perform general data processing. Rings 0-2, as a whole, may be viewed as the operating system of a particular device. Assuming that the operating system is extensible, software drivers may be added to the operating system to support various additional functions required by user applications, such as device drivers for support of new devices added to the system.
[0033] The present invention may be implemented on a variety of hardware and software platforms, as described above. More specifically, though, the present invention is directed to a methodology for reducing overhead effects of performance instrumentation when the execution of the instrumentation code is unnecessary, and the methodology allows the performance instrumentation to be present within production-quality software. In particular, the present invention provides (1) a technique for controlling, i.e., enabling and disabling, the instrumentation of kernel spin locks, e.g., the spin locks in the Linux 2.4 kernel, such that the kernel spin lock instrumentation has minimal performance impact when it is installed but disabled and (2) a method of instrumenting only those locks for which there is contention and a dynamic method of detecting those locks during execution of the operating system kernel.
[0034] In the prior art, production-quality kernels are generally shipped without any installed instrumentation code due to overhead associated with the execution of instrumentation code, and if a performance problem arises at a later time, a version of the production kernel that contains instrumentation code must be built and installed before performance problems can be diagnosed, which is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Since the spin lock instrumentation of the present invention has virtually no overhead when it is installed but not enabled, one may ship a production kernel containing the spin lock instrumentation of the present invention and then enable the execution of the spin lock instrumentation code when problems are detected that require spin lock analysis data rather than switching between instrumented and uninstrumented versions of the kernel.
[0035] Additionally, in the prior art, instrumentation was typically applied to all of the spin locks in the kernel, with the result that instrumentation overhead was introduced for those locks for which there is no contention. This is unnecessary overhead because such locks cannot be a performance problem in the system. By only instrumenting locks for which there is contention, the current invention provides the same level of information as instrumentation in the prior art at a lower measurement overhead than was possible in the prior art.
[0036] First, a typical manner for instrumenting an application or an operating system kernel is described below with respect to FIG. 2A. The known process depicted in FIG. 2A shows the various phases for instrumenting an application and using the instrumented application.
[0037] Second, a typical code sequence for acquiring/setting a spin lock in a known manner is then described below with respect to FIG. 2B. It should be noted that the description of the prior art and the description of the present invention refers to spin lock instrumentation within the Linux operating system. However, the Linux operating system is merely used as an example, and the present invention is applicable to spin locks within a variety of operating systems.
[0038] Third, a typical code sequence for acquiring an instrumented spin lock in a known manner is described below with respect to FIG. 2C.
[0039] Finally, the novel manner in which the present invention provides for acquiring or setting an instrumented spin lock is described with respect to FIG. 3.
[0040] With reference now to FIG. 2A, a prior art diagram depicts various processing phases of instrumented code. When the code is compiled, only certain types of syntax errors can be found by the compiler as compile-time errors. However, when the code is executed, the code may experience run-time issues or errors based on the manner in which the code was written and the input data that is processed by the code. Instrumented code is typically used to develop performance information or to resolve run-time issues or errors.
[0041] The flowchart in FIG. 2A shows a general process for instrumenting some portion of code, executing the code, and processing the performance information generated during the execution of the instrumented code. Instrumented code is not typically present in production quality kernel because instrumentation changes the size and performance of the code to be analyzed; hence, instrumented code is typically not delivered within a final version of an operating system kernel.
[0042] After a kernel has been instrumented, the kernel may be executed. After the code has been “instrumented”, then performance monitoring may be performed. An initialization phase 202 may be used to configure the code for capturing the state of a machine or an application at the time that measurement is initiated.
[0043] Next, during the measurement phase 204 , measurement data is recorded in a kernel buffer set aside for this task at initialization time. In the post-processing phase 206 , the collected measurement data is analyzed and made available in a human readable form. By dividing the instrumentation into initialization, measurement, and analysis phases, execution of the measurement phase can be made more efficient, since the intermediate measurement data can be stored in the most efficient manner necessary, and conversion of that data to a human-readable format can be done off-line, i.e., after the measurement experiment has completed.
[0044] With reference now to FIG. 2B, a known manner for acquiring and releasing a spin lock is depicted through a set of pseudo-code instruction statements. Some run-time performance issues may involve the use of kernel spin locks. A spin lock is used to guarantee mutually exclusive access to some resource. If a spin lock is not available, the calling thread is not blocked; instead, the calling thread busy waits or “spins” until the lock becomes available. This facility is intended for use when the delay caused by spinning is expected to be smaller than the delay caused by performing a context switch to another thread and back.
[0045] This facility is also used as the most basic synchronization primitive in a multiprocessing system. More complicated locking mechanisms, such as those that involve performing a context switch to another thread, are implemented using spin locks as an underlying synchronization primitive. Spin locks are not normally required on a uniprocessor machine; instead, it is sufficient on such machines to disable interrupts for the duration of the basic synchronization operation.
[0046] Pseudo-code instruction sequence 210 contains a series of instructions for acquiring a spin lock. The terms “acquiring” and “setting” a spin lock may be considered synonymous because, in this example, a spin lock is acquired by setting a logical flag within the computer, and the spin lock flag is only set when it is acquired. In this example, the flag is implemented as a single bit within a specially designated word or global variable.
[0047] After executing some previous instructions, the execution flow reaches an instruction with label 212 ; in this case, label 212 is “lock”. The result of atomic test-and-set-bit instruction 214 is that bit 0 of the spin lock flag is set to “1” and the previous value of the bit is returned such that a logical operation can immediately be performed to check the previous value.
[0048] The atomic test-and-set-bit instruction 214 is required to be an instruction that guarantees that only one processor of the multiprocessor complex will be able to set the bit and find that it was previously zero, even if one or more processors attempt to execute the atomic test-and-set-bit operation at the same time. Using the Intel Pentium™ processor “lock” prefix to the test-and-set-bit Intel Pentium™ instruction is one way to implement such an atomic operation. Other implementations of the test-and-set-bit operation are possible; for example, one may use the load_and_reserve_address, store_and_check_reservation sequences of the PowerPC™ processor or similar sequences.
[0049] Instruction 216 checks the previous value of the bit; if it was “0”, then execution continues at instruction statement 218 at label 220 . Since the appropriate bit has been set with instruction 214 , the lock has been acquired, and the processing associated with the lock can proceed.
[0050] If the previous value of the bit was “1”, i.e., it was already set, then the lock is already in use, and the requesting section of code shown in FIG. 2B must wait for the lock to be relinquished. Hence, the execution flow branches to instruction 222 at label 224 ; in this case, label 224 is “spin_loop”. Instruction 222 tests a bit of the spin lock flag and returns the bit's value. Instruction 226 checks whether or not the bit is “1”, which would indicate that the lock is still in use. If so, then execution branches back to instruction 222 at label 224 . If the bit is “0”, which would indicate that the lock is no longer in use, then instruction 228 causes the execution flow to branch back to instruction 214 at label 212 , at which point instruction code sequence 210 can again attempt to acquire the lock.
[0051] The spin loop code fragment at label 224 is placed out of the normal code execution path to avoid the requirement of an additional branch around the spin loop code. In the Linux operating system, the locking code is substituted in-line into the program text to avoid requiring the overhead of a subroutine call in order to set the lock. In other words, the code fragment is replicated at each point that a lock is required. Other systems, such as OS/ 2 , use a single subroutine with common locking code for all spin locks in the kernel.
[0052] To release a spin lock in a manner that matches the example shown above for acquiring the lock, the Linux system uses code such as that shown in pseudo-code instruction sequence 230 . In this example, pseudo-code instruction sequence 230 contains a single instruction statement at label 232 ; in this case, label 232 is “unlock”. Similar to the locking code fragment at label 224 , the unlocking code fragment at label 232 is placed out of the normal code execution path to avoid the requirement of an additional branch around the unlock code.
[0053] Instruction 234 clears a single bit of the lock word in an atomic operation. For an Intel Pentium™ processor-based machine, a simple “move immediate zero to byte” is sufficient to implement the atomic clear-bit operation. For an Intel 386 processor-based machine, a “locked move immediate zero to byte” is required. Similar implementations exist for other machines.
[0054] As noted previously, instrumenting an application to enable tracing may undesirably disturb the execution of the application because, as the instrumented application executes, the instrumentation code may cause significant overhead. In order to reduce the overhead of performance instrumentation, the prior art teaches that the execution of instrumentation code should be limited or controlled in some manner. Typically, the performance instrumentation is toggled on or off through the use of one or more globally addressable variables that bracket sections of instrumentation code within a larger section of instrumented code. As performance instrumentation code is encountered, the global variable is tested to determine whether or not the instrumentation code should be executed.
[0055] With reference now to FIG. 2C, a known manner for acquiring and releasing an instrumented spin lock is depicted through a set of pseudo-code instruction statements. Similar reference numbers in FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C correspond to similar elements in the figures. In contrast to FIG. 2B, however, pseudo-code instruction sequence 240 in FIG. 2C contains instructions for obtaining an instrumented spin lock in addition to the previously described series of instructions for acquiring a non-instrumented spin lock. Pseudo-code instruction sequence 260 in FIG. 2C also contains instructions for releasing an instrumented spin lock in addition to the previously described instruction(s) for releasing a non-instrumented spin lock.
[0056] A known manner for controlling the state of performance instrumentation is to maintain a global variable that indicates whether or not instrumentation is enabled. If the global variable is non-zero, instrumentation is enabled, and if it is zero, then instrumentation is disabled. In the example shown in FIG. 2C, the global variable is called “lock_control_state”. The following examples assume the existence of an instrumented lock routine, which is termed “instrumented_lock( )”, and an instrumented unlock routine, which is termed “instrumented_unlock( )”. These routines contain the instructions that are necessary to record the desired statistics associated with acquiring and releasing kernel spin locks, which are essentially a type of performance instrumentation data, as well as the instructions for implementing the actual locking and unlocking (acquiring and releasing) of the kernel spin lock. The internal operations of these types of routines are well known in the art, hence these routines are not herein described in further detail.
[0057] Prior to acquiring a spin lock, the execution flow reaches instruction 244 with label 242 ; in this case, label 242 is “instr1”. Instruction 244 performs a check on “lock_control_state”, and instruction 246 determines whether or not instrumentation is enabled. If it is zero, which indicates that instrumentation is disabled, then execution continues at label 212 . At that point, execution continues by acquiring a non-instrumented lock, as described above with respect to FIG. 2B.
[0058] If the global variable is non-zero, which indicates that instrumentation is enabled, then execution continues at instruction 248 , which calls “instrumented_lock( )”. Upon completion of the routine, instruction 250 causes the execution flow to branch to label 220 , at which point execution continues with other instructions that rely upon acquiring of the lock.
[0059] To release a spin lock in a manner that matches the manner in which the spin lock was acquired, pseudo-code instruction sequence 260 contains instructions for determining whether or not instrumentation is enabled. Prior to releasing a spin lock, the execution flow reaches instruction 264 with label 262 ; in this case, label 262 is “instr2”. Instruction 264 performs a check on “lock_control_state”, and instruction 266 determines whether or not instrumentation is enabled. If it is zero, which indicates that instrumentation is disabled, then execution continues at label 232 . At that point, execution continues by releasing a non-instrumented lock, as described above with respect to FIG. 2B.
[0060] If the global variable is non-zero, which indicates that instrumentation is enabled, then execution continues at instruction 268 , which calls “instrumented_unlock( )”. Upon completion of the routine, instruction 270 causes the execution flow to branch to instruction statement 274 at label 272 , at which point normal program execution continues.
[0061] It should be noted that instrumentation may be controlled by one or more global variables; in other words, a single global variable may be used for controlling all instrumentation, or each type of instrumentation may have its own global variable. In the examples described above, a specially dedicated global variable is employed to control all spin lock instrumentation. Alternatively, each lock may have its own global variable.
[0062] Instead of using one or more global variables, the present invention introduces a novel approach for minimizing the overhead effects of enabling and disabling performance instrumentation code associated with spin locks. The present invention is able to implement low overhead lock instrumentation as a result of an observation that execution time for modern RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) or CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) microprocessors with clock speeds in the 500 MHz and above range depends more on the number of cache misses by the microprocessor rather than the number of instructions executed by the microprocessor.
[0063] Once a cache line has been fetched into the processor's L1 cache, the processor can execute a number of instructions almost for free compared to the overhead associated with fetching another cache line. This fact is exploited when there is contention for a lock. The time that is spent spinning in the spin loop, such as that shown in FIG. 2B or FIG. 2C, can be effectively exploited to do instrumentation work at no additional overhead to the executing program. In contrast, checking a global variable, such as “lock control state” in FIG. 2B or FIG. 2C, requires an additional cache access that adds unacceptable overhead if the check is performed as part of each lock request.
[0064] In addition, as is well known in the prior art, branches within the execution flow of an application can decrease performance by consuming hardware resources for branch prediction at execution time and by restricting instruction scheduling freedom during compilation. Hence, one also desires to postpone any branching operations until necessary.
[0065] For the purposes of this invention, one can assume that bit 0 of the lock word is used to contain the lock state, and one can also assume that bit 9 , i.e., the lowest order bit of the next byte of the lock word, is used to record whether instrumentation is enabled for this particular lock. The choice of bit 9 is guided by the operational characteristics of an Intel Pentium™ processor in which the unlock instruction is typically implemented as a “move immediate zero to byte” instruction; if the instrumentation-enabling bit were stored in the same byte as the lock bit, then the value of the instrumentation bit would be lost each time that the lock was released. This potential problem is avoided by choosing a bit in some other byte of the lock word. For other processor architectures, some other bit of the lock word may be chosen that is dependent on the lock and unlock implementation on that particular architecture.
[0066] With reference now to FIG. 3, a method for acquiring and releasing an instrumented spin lock is depicted through a set of pseudo-code instruction statements in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In a manner similar to that described above with respect to other figures, a global variable called “lock_control_state” in FIG. 3 holds the flag for controlling spin lock instrumentation. Again, the example shown in FIG. 3 assumes the existence of an instrumented lock routine, termed “instrumented_lock( )”, and an instrumented unlock routine, termed “instrumented_unlock( )”. These routines contain the instructions that are necessary to record the desired statistics associated with acquiring and releasing kernel spin locks as well as the instructions for acquiring and releasing the kernel spin lock.
[0067] Pseudo-code instruction sequence 310 contains a series of instructions for acquiring a spin lock. After executing some previous instructions, the execution flow reaches the instruction at label 312 ; in this case, label 312 is “lock”. Instruction 314 performs a test of bit 9 of the lock word to check whether or not bit 9 (the bit of the lock word that corresponds to instrumentation enablement) has been set. Instruction 316 determines whether or not bit 9 was set by checking the condition generated by the test operation. If bit 9 of the lock word was set to one, which indicates that “lock_control_state” has already been checked and lock instrumentation is enabled, then execution continues at instruction 318 , which calls “instrumented_lock( )”. Upon completion of the routine, instruction 320 causes the execution flow to branch to label 328 , at which point execution continues with other instructions that rely upon the lock acquired within the “instrumented_lock( )” routine.
[0068] If bit 9 of the lock word is zero at instruction 316 , either lock instrumentation is disabled or “lock control state” has not yet been checked, as described in more detail further below, and execution continues at instruction 322 . At that point, execution continues by attempting to acquire a non-instrumented lock. The result of atomic test-and-set-bit instruction 322 is that bit 0 of the lock word is set to “1” and the previous value of the bit is returned such that a logical operation can immediately be performed to check the previous value. Instruction 324 checks the previous value of the bit; if it was “0”, then execution continues at instruction statement 326 at label 328 . At that point, since the appropriate bit has been set with instruction 322 , the lock has been acquired, and the processing associated with the lock can proceed.
[0069] If the previous value of bit 0 of the lock word was “1” at instruction 324 , i.e., it was already set, then the lock is already in use, and this section of code must wait for the lock to be relinquished. Hence, the execution flow branches to instruction 330 at label 332 ; in this case, label 332 is “spin_loop_entry”.
[0070] At this point, the execution flow is about to enter the spin loop. Since this section of code must wait for the lock to be released, it does not matter whether or not this section of code incurs any overhead associated with checking a global variable. The main operation within this section of code is to spin in an execution loop while waiting for the release of the lock, so any performance penalty associated with fetching another cache line while checking a global variable is immaterial.
[0071] Instruction 330 performs a check on global variable “lock_control_state” to determine whether or not instrumentation is enabled. The check of the global variable may or may not induce a cache miss, but if it does, the delay associated with the cache miss is immaterial as it is known that the lock was busy during the check at instruction 322 . If the global variable is non-zero, which indicates that instrumentation is enabled, then execution continues at instruction 334 , which sets bit 9 of the lock word to correspond to the enabled instrumentation state of the global variable “lock_control_state”. In this manner, a check of the global variable is delayed until the execution flow is about to enter the spin loop, and the state of the global variable is then reflected in the lock word so that subsequent checks can be made efficiently by accessing the lock word, which is obviously also necessary for determining the state of the lock and will not cause an unnecessary cache miss. Instruction 336 then calls the “instrumented_lock( )” routine. Upon completion of the routine, instruction 338 causes the execution flow to branch to label 328 , at which point execution continues with other instructions that rely upon acquiring of the lock.
[0072] If the global variable is zero, which indicates that instrumentation is disabled, then execution continues at instruction 340 . At this point, execution is continuing by waiting for the release of the lock so that an attempt can be made to acquire the lock along a non-instrumented execution path. Instruction 340 tests bit 0 of the lock word and returns the bit's value. Instruction 344 checks whether or not the bit is “1”, which would indicate that the lock is still in use. If so, then execution branches back to instruction 340 at label 342 ; in this case, label 342 is “spin_loop”. If the bit is “0”, which would indicate that the lock is no longer in use, then instruction 346 causes the execution flow to branch back to instruction 314 at label 312 , at which point instruction code sequence 310 can again attempt to acquire the lock. If bit 9 of the lock word has been set by instruction 334 , then on the second and subsequent passes through instruction 314 , an attempt to obtain a lock along an instrumented path will immediately fall along the execution path through instructions 316 - 320 . Again, it should be noted that the spin loop code fragment at label 332 is placed out of the normal code execution path to avoid the requirement of an additional branch around the spin loop code.
[0073] To release a spin lock in a manner that matches the manner in which the spin lock was acquired, pseudo-code instruction sequence 350 contains instructions for determining whether or not instrumentation is enabled. Prior to releasing a spin lock, the execution flow reaches instruction 352 with label 354 ; in this case, label 354 is “unlock”. Instruction 352 performs a test of bit 9 of the lock word to check whether or not bit 9 (the bit of the lock word that corresponds to instrumentation enablement) has been set. Instruction 356 determines whether or not bit 9 was set by checking the condition generated by the test operation. If bit 9 of the lock word was set to one, which indicates lock instrumentation is enabled, then execution continues at instruction 358 , which calls the “instrumented_unlock( )” routine. Upon completion of the routine, instruction 360 causes the execution flow to branch to instruction statement 364 at label 366 , at which point normal program execution continues.
[0074] If bit 9 of the lock word is zero at instruction 356 , lock instrumentation is disabled, and execution continues at instruction 362 . At that point, execution is continuing by releasing the lock along a non-instrumented execution path. Instruction 362 clears bit 0 of the lock word to release the lock, and normal program execution may continue at instruction statement 364 . Alternatively, instruction statement 364 may contain a branch instruction to return execution flow elsewhere within the executing program. Similar to the spin loop code fragment at label 332 , the unlock code fragment at label 354 is placed out of the normal code execution path to avoid the requirement of an additional branch around the unlock code.
[0075] As noted previously, it is assumed that the “instrumented_lock( )” routine and the “instrumented_unlock( )” routine contain the instructions that are necessary to record the desired statistics associated with acquiring and releasing spin locks as well as the instructions for implementing the actual locking and unlocking (acquiring and releasing) of the spin lock.
[0076] In the example shown in FIG. 3, it would also be assumed that the instrumented lock and unlock routines will clear bit 9 of the lock word if one of these routines detects that lock instrumentation has been disabled. In other words, it may be assumed that the lock instrumentation state can be dynamically modified while the instrumented kernel is executing. For example, this may occur in response to a user command selection in a ring 3 application, which then makes a permissible call to an appropriate ring 0 routine that can reset the “lock_control_state” global variable. The instrumented lock and unlock routines may check the state of the global variable at some point within the execution of the routine, such as upon entering the routine or prior to exiting the routine. If instrumentation has been disabled, then the routine is responsible for resetting the appropriate bit in the lock word to prevent the instrumented routines from being called unnecessarily.
[0077] It should be noted that, when instrumentation is enabled, i.e. “lock_control_state” is non-zero, instrumentation code will be executed only for those locks that experience lock contention, i.e., only those locks for which spinning for the lock occurs. If there is no contention for a lock, statistics are not recorded because instrumentation code is not executed. However, since non-contentious locks are not execution bottlenecks in the system, these locks can be ignored for instrumentation purposes.
[0078] The advantages of the present invention should be apparent in view of the detailed description of the present invention that is provided above. The overhead of the instrumented locks is minimal when the instrumentation is present within the executable code yet disabled. The flag that controls the lock instrumentation is contained in the same word as the lock itself, and therefore, the lock word and the instrumentation flag are stored in the same cache line. Since the cache line must be pulled into the processor to execute the atomic test-and-set-bit instruction, no additional cache line references are introduced by the lock instrumentation in the case in which the lock is available and the instrumentation is present but disabled. The overhead of the additional instructions to test a lock word bit representing instrumentation enablement (e.g., bit 9 of the lock word) is trivial when compared to the overhead of fetching the cache line containing the lock word.
[0079] If the lock is not available, then instructions will be wasted in the spin loop in any case, even in the case of the non-instrumented lock. The overhead of fetching the global variable representing instrumentation enablement (e.g., “lock_control_state”) is “hidden” within the instruction and cache cycles that would normally be wasted anyway.
[0080] 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 instructions in a computer readable medium and a variety of other forms, regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include media such as EPROM, ROM, tape, paper, floppy disc, hard disk drive, RAM, and CD-ROMs and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links.
[0081] The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments were chosen to explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention in order to implement various embodiments with various modifications as might be suited to other contemplated uses.
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A method and system is presented for controlling spin lock instrumentation for a spin lock in a data processing system that has a cache. A lock flag represents a busy state for the spin lock; a first instrumentation flag is a global variable that represents an enablement state for the spin lock instrumentation. A second instrumentation flag, stored within the same cache line as the lock flag, is also maintained as an updateable indication of the first instrumentation flag. Prior to each acquirement of the spin lock, the second instrumentation flag is checked to see if it indicates that spin lock instrumentation is enabled. Although a reading of the lock flag may generate a cache miss, the lock flag is necessarily checked upon attempting to acquire the lock; the check of the second instrumentation flag cannot generate a superfluous cache miss because the second instrumentation flag is in the same cache line as the lock flag. At some point, the second instrumentation flag must be updated to reflect the enablement state that is stored within the first instrumentation flag; the update is delayed until it can be determined that the spin lock is in a busy state, thereby inducing entry into a spin loop that necessarily wastes execution cycles. Therefore, prior to entering the spin loop, the first instrumentation flag can be read without regard to a cache miss, and the second instrumentation flag is then updated to reflect the value of the first instrumentation flag.
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BACKGROUND
[0001] The present invention relates to a hydro turbine retrofit, and more particularly to a system and method for retrofitting a multi-runner hydro unit.
[0002] Hydro turbines are used to generate electricity and control the flow of water on rivers throughout the world. Older hydro stations and particularly stations that include multi-runner units are subject to control difficulties and inefficiencies due to the arrangement of the controls and the flow through the various runners.
SUMMARY
[0003] In one construction, the invention provides a turbine replacement unit for replacement of at least one double runner horizontal submersible installation for a hydroelectric plant including at least one submerged coupling and at least one submerged bearing supported by a submerged bearing pedestal in which each of the two runners discharge a flow into a common draft tube. The replacement unit includes a single runner positioned to replace each of the two runners, the single runner receiving a flow and discharging the flow into the existing common draft tube. A dry pit assembly is positioned to surround the submerged pedestal and define an air space around the submerged pedestal and an oil-flooded bearing is positioned on the pedestal to replace the submerged bearing. A shaft supports the runner for rotation and is at least partially supported for rotation by the oil-flooded bearing. A generator is coupled to the shaft and is operable to produce an electrical power in response to rotation of the shaft.
[0004] In another construction, the invention provides a turbine replacement unit for replacement of a horizontal submersible unit for a hydroelectric plant wherein the unit includes at least two double runners including synchronized wicket gates, the runners supported on a preexisting foundation and coupled to a common shaft supported by at least two submerged bearings supported by a first submerged bearing pedestal and a second submerged bearing pedestal in which a first existing runner and a second existing runner discharge into a first draft tube and a third existing runner and a fourth existing runner discharge into a second draft tube. The replacement unit includes a first dry pit assembly positioned around the first bearing pedestal and defining an air space around the first bearing pedestal and a first oil-flooded bearing positioned on the pedestal to replace one of the submerged bearings. A first replacement runner assembly is connected to the first dry pit and includes an inlet positioned to receive a first flow and an outlet positioned to discharge the first flow into the first draft tube. The first flow is the only flow into the first draft tube. The first replacement runner assembly includes a first replacement runner. A second dry pit assembly is positioned around the second bearing pedestal and defines an air space around the second bearing pedestal and a second oil-flooded bearing is positioned on the pedestal to replace the other of the submerged bearings. A second replacement runner assembly is connected to the second dry pit and includes an inlet positioned to receive a second flow and an outlet positioned to discharge the second flow into the second draft tube. The second flow is the only flow into the second draft tube. The second replacement runner assembly includes a second replacement runner. A shaft supports the first replacement runner and the second replacement runner for rotation and is at least partially supported for rotation by the first oil-flooded bearing and the second oil-flooded bearing. A generator is coupled to the shaft and is operable to produce an electrical power in response to rotation of the shaft.
[0005] In another construction, the invention provides a method of replacing a horizontal submersible installation for a hydroelectric unit including at least two double runners including synchronized wicket gates, the runners supported on a preexisting foundation and coupled to a common shaft supported by at least two submerged bearings supported by a first submerged bearing pedestal and a second submerged bearing pedestal in which a first existing runner assembly and a second existing runner assembly discharge into a first draft tube and a third existing runner assembly and a fourth existing runner assembly discharge into a second draft tube. The method includes removing the first existing runner assembly and the second existing runner assembly, positioning a first dry pit assembly around the first submerged bearing pedestal to produce an air space around the first submerged bearing pedestal, and connecting a first new runner assembly including a first new runner to the first dry pit assembly. The first new runner assembly is arranged to receive a first flow and discharge the first flow into the first draft tube, the first flow being the only flow into the first draft tube. The method also includes positioning a first oil-flooded bearing on the first bearing pedestal, removing the third existing runner assembly and the fourth existing runner assembly, and positioning a second dry pit assembly around the second submerged bearing pedestal to produce an air space around the second submerged bearing pedestal. The method further includes connecting a second new runner assembly including a second new runner to the second dry pit assembly, the second new runner assembly arranged to receive a second flow and discharge the second flow into the second draft tube, the second flow being the only flow into the second draft tube. The method also includes positioning a second oil-flooded bearing on the second bearing pedestal, supporting the first new runner and the second new runner on a shaft, and supporting the shaft on the first oil-flooded bearing and the second oil-flooded bearing.
[0006] In another construction, the method includes a turbine replacement unit for replacement of a horizontal submersible installation for a hydroelectric plant including at least two opposed double runners including synchronized wicket gates, a first existing runner and a second existing runner discharge flow into a first draft tube, and a third existing runner and a fourth existing runner discharge flow into a second draft tube. The replacement unit includes a first dry pit assembly, a second dry pit assembly, and a first replacement runner assembly connected to the first dry pit assembly and including an inlet positioned to receive a first flow and an outlet positioned to discharge the first flow into the first draft tube, the first flow being the only flow into the first draft tube, the first replacement runner assembly including a first replacement runner. A second replacement runner assembly is connected to the second dry pit assembly and includes an inlet positioned to receive a second flow and an outlet positioned to discharge the second flow into the second draft tube, the second flow being the only flow into the second draft tube, the second replacement runner assembly including a second replacement runner. A first series of wicket gates are positioned adjacent the first replacement runner and are operable to control the first flow into the first replacement runner and a second series of wicket gates are positioned adjacent the second replacement runner and are operable to control the second flow into the second replacement runner. The first series of wicket gates and the second series of wicket gates are movable independent of one another.
[0007] Other aspects of the invention will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a top schematic view of a hydro power unit including four double opposed runner horizontal submerged turbines;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a side view of one of the double opposed runner horizontal submerged turbines of FIG. 1 ;
[0010] FIG. 3 is a side view of a replacement unit suitable to replace the hydro power unit of FIG. 1 and embodying the invention;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a side view of a dry pit suitable for use in the replacement unit of FIG. 3 ;
[0012] FIG. 5 is a front view of the dry pit of FIG. 4 ; and
[0013] FIG. 6 is a partially broken away side view of a thrust bearing suitable for use in the replacement unit of FIG. 3 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0014] 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.
[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an existing arrangement for a portion of hydro electric plant 10 . The illustrated arrangement includes a power house 15 that is constructed as part of or adjacent to a dam on a river or stream. The power house 15 contains a generator 20 , controls, switch gear, and other equipment that must be kept dry or that must be frequently maintained.
[0016] A shaft 25 is connected to the generator 20 at one end and extends through a wall 30 of the power house 15 . In the illustrated construction, the shaft 25 extends to and interconnects four double opposed runner horizontal submerged turbines 35 . Thus, the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1 , includes eight runners 23 (shown in FIG. 2 ) connected to a common shaft 25 that is connected to the single generator 20 . In preferred arrangements, several shaft segments are connected to one another using bolted couplings 40 to allow for easier assembly, disassembly, and maintenance. As one of ordinary skill will realize, arrangements exist with many different runner configurations. However, the invention described herein is particularly suited to double opposed horizontal runner arrangements and more particularly to arrangements that include multiple double opposed horizontal runner turbines 35 .
[0017] With continued reference to FIG. 1 , each of the double opposed runner horizontal submerged turbines 35 discharges flow into a centrally-located draft tube 45 . Thus, each draft tube 45 receives flow from two different runners 23 or turbines.
[0018] The submerged turbines 35 are supported on a submerged turbine deck 50 that includes apertures 55 formed to receive the draft tubes 45 and to direct the flow to a tailrace or other discharge. A number of bearing pedestals 60 are supported by the turbine deck 50 and provide a stable platform to support shaft radial bearings 65 . In the illustrated construction, the pedestals 60 and bearings 65 operate while submerged in water. Thus, the use of oil-flooded bearings is prohibited. Rather, sacrificial bearings such as wood bearings are often employed. This bearing arrangement generally requires significant maintenance and frequent realignment to function properly. If the frequent realignments are not performed or are not performed properly, premature shaft failure and other problems can occur.
[0019] In addition to the radial bearings 65 , a thrust bearing (not shown) is positioned at some point along the length of the shaft 25 to accommodate the thrust load produced by the operation of the runners 23 or turbines. While the illustrated system 10 is substantially balanced and would ideally produce little or no thrust, a thrust bearing is still required.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a section view of one of the double opposed runner horizontal submerged turbines 35 of FIG. 1 and is representative of each of the double opposed runner horizontal submerged turbines 35 of FIG. 1 . Each of the turbines 35 includes a runner 23 (sometimes referred to as a turbine) arranged to receive an inlet flow of water around the outer circumference and in a substantially radial flow direction and to discharge the flow of water from the center in a substantially axial direction. The runner 23 is attached to the shaft 25 for rotation such that as the runner 23 rotates, rotational torque is applied to the shaft 25 to rotate the generator 20 . The illustrated runner 23 is a Z-type Leffel turbine or a Francis turbine. However, other types of turbines could be employed if desired (e.g., Kaplan, Propeller, etc.).
[0021] A gate casing 70 surrounds the outer circumference of the runner 23 and supports a plurality of movable wicket gates 75 . The wicket gates 75 can be moved from a closed position to a full open position to control the quantity of flow through the runner 23 .
[0022] A draft chest 80 attaches to the gate casing 70 and directs the water from the discharge of the runner 23 to the draft tube 45 below. As illustrated in FIG. 2 , both runners 23 discharge flow toward one another and into the common draft chest 80 that then directs that flow to the draft tube 45 and out through the tail race of the dam.
[0023] A governor shaft 85 extends above the runners 23 and is supported by a series of bearings 65 . As with the shaft 25 , the governor shaft 85 is preferably assembled from a number of shaft segments to simplify assembly, disassembly, and maintenance. The governor shaft 85 extends the full length of the various runners 23 and controls each set of wicket gates 75 for each runner 23 . Thus, a single control system positions all of the wicket gates 75 in substantially the same position during operation. In preferred constructions, a sensor senses the speed and/or load of the generator 20 and adjusts the wicket gate position to adjust that speed or load to a desired set point.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a view of the turbine deck 50 of FIG. 1 following the implementation of the present invention. As can be seen, there are no significant structural changes to the turbine deck 50 , the power house 15 or any foundations. Rather, the present invention is installed using these existing features. For example, the pre-existing draft tube apertures 55 remain unchanged following the implementation of the present invention.
[0025] Three dry pit assemblies 90 similar to the one illustrated in FIG. 4 are positioned on the turbine deck 50 with each dry pit assembly 90 surrounding one of the bearing pedestals 60 . The dry pit assemblies 90 include an egress tunnel 95 that extends above a high water line 100 and provides access to the interior of the dry pit 90 during operation. Each of the dry pits 90 thus defines an air space 105 around the bearing 65 that is accessible during operation.
[0026] With the pedestal 60 now positioned in an air environment, the existing sacrificial bearing 65 can be replaced with a fluid bearing 110 and preferably with an oil-flooded bearing 110 such as an oil-flooded babbitted bearing 110 . The use of oil-flooded bearings 110 greatly reduces the maintenance requirements and increases the life of the bearings 110 and the shafts 25 . In addition, if necessary, maintenance can be performed on one of the bearings 110 without dewatering the unit and without disassembly of the shaft 25 . In preferred arrangements, the shaft couplings 40 are also positioned within the dry pits 90 to provide access to the couplings 40 if necessary.
[0027] A runner assembly 115 is attached to each of the dry pits 90 and includes a replacement runner 120 or turbine and a series of wicket gates 125 supported for movement between an open and a closed position. The replacement unit includes four single-flow runners 120 with each single-flow runner 120 replacing one set of the prior double opposed runners 23 . Thus, while a similar runner design could be employed (e.g., Francis, Kaplan, Propeller, etc.) the runner 120 is typically larger to accommodate the additional flow through the runner 120 as each runner 120 must accommodate twice the flow of each of the prior runners 23 .
[0028] As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 , the wicket gates 125 are positioned around the outer circumference of the runner 120 and include a portion that extends into the adjacent dry pit 90 to provide for inspection during maintenance cycles or during operation. In addition, the linkage and hydraulic or electrical actuator 130 used to move the wicket gates 125 can be positioned within the dry pit 90 . For example, in one arrangement each wicket gate 125 is supported on a shaft that extends through the wall of the dry pit 90 . A common ring interconnects each shaft such that rotation of the ring produces a common rotation of each of the wicket gates 125 about their shaft axis. The ring, a portion of the wicket gate 125 , and the linkages therebetween are disposed within the dry pit 90 to facilitate periodic lubrication and maintenance.
[0029] As illustrated in FIG. 4 , the wicket gates 125 are movable between a closed position and an open position. After the flow of water passes through the wicket gates 125 and the runner 120 , the flow is discharged into a draft chest assembly 135 (shown in FIG. 3 ) that receives only the flow from that particular runner 120 . The draft chest 135 then discharges the water to the draft tube 45 and out through the tailrace.
[0030] Each of the draft chests 135 includes a pipe 140 that operates as a vacuum breaker as will be discussed. One end of the pipe 140 is positioned within the draft chest 135 and the opposite end is positioned above the water line 100 . A valve 145 is positioned between the two ends to selectively provide fluid communication between the draft chest 80 and the atmosphere above the water line 100 .
[0031] A powerhouse dry pit 150 is positioned adjacent the outer wall of the powerhouse 15 to enlarge the space available for an improved thrust bearing 155 . The powerhouse dry pit 150 defines an air space 160 sized to receive a coupling 165 and the improved thrust bearing 155 . In preferred constructions, the thrust bearing 155 shown in FIG. 6 , includes a dual action thrust bearing 155 that includes babbitted surfaces and oil lubrication. The thrust bearing 155 is larger than the prior thrust bearing due to an increase in operational flexibility as will be discussed below.
[0032] Once the replacement is complete, the new unit arrangement is able to operate more efficiently across a larger load range and requires less maintenance than the prior unit 10 . The replacement is accomplished with virtually no changes being made to the existing foundation, thereby reducing the cost of implementing the replacement.
[0033] The replacement of eight runners 23 that discharged through four draft tubes 45 with four runners 120 that discharge through four draft tubes 45 improves the overall efficiency of the runners 120 and reduces turbulence downstream of the runners 120 .
[0034] In addition, the operation of the wicket gates 125 for the individual runners 120 is separated with the upgraded design. Thus, all of the wicket gates 125 do not have to move in unison, thereby greatly enhancing the efficient operating range of the unit. In one construction, the control signal for the individual wicket gates 125 is transmitted to the individual wicket gate actuators 130 via an electrical signal or wireless signal, while others include a hydraulic connection or a combination thereof. For example, the prior arrangement was operable between 20 percent and 100 percent of full load. Following the replacement, the unit is operable between 20 percent of the load of one runner 120 (i.e., 5 percent of the total unit output) and 100 percent of full load. Thus, the unit can operate efficiently at much lower loads, such as may be desirable when water levels are low.
[0035] In addition to a wider load range, the unit can operate using only one runner 120 , two runners 120 , three runners 120 , or all four as may be desired. The separate vacuum breakers 140 allow a runner 120 to operate in air. With the wicket gates 125 closed, the valve 145 in the vacuum breaker pipe 140 is opened to allow the water within the runner 120 and draft chest 135 to drain. In some arrangements, compressed air is directed to the runner 120 to assure that all of the water is removed and the runner 120 is operating in air. Depending on which runners 120 are operating, the thrust load can change significantly thereby requiring the larger dual acting thrust bearing 155 . For example, if the two end runners 120 are receiving flow with the remaining runners 120 operating in air, the thrust would be somewhat balanced. However, if only the first end runner 120 or the first and second runners 120 from the left are operating, the trust would be significantly larger.
[0036] Thus, the invention provides, among other things, a replacement hydro turbine arrangement suited for replacing a multi-runner hydro turbine. Various features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following claims.
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A turbine replacement unit for replacement of at least one double runner horizontal submersible installation for a hydroelectric plant including at least one submerged coupling and at least one submerged bearing supported by a submerged bearing pedestal in which each of the two runners discharge a flow into a common draft tube. The replacement unit includes a single runner positioned to replace each of the two runners, the single runner receiving a flow and discharging the flow into the existing common draft tube. A dry pit assembly is positioned to surround the submerged pedestal and define an air space around the submerged pedestal and an oil-flooded bearing is positioned on the pedestal to replace the submerged bearing. A shaft supports the runner for rotation and is at least partially supported for rotation by the oil-flooded bearing. A generator is coupled to the shaft and is operable to produce an electrical power in response to rotation of the shaft.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/665,314 filed Jun. 17, 1996, now abandoned.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to compositions and methods of treating pulmonary abnormalities such as adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), and/or sepsis syndrome, and the prevention thereof. More particularly, the invention provides the treatment of patients by the treatment with protease inhibitors and/or oxygen metabolite scavengers directly into the lungs, particularly by aerosolization.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The physiologic abnormalities that are characteristic of ARDS are largely due to the direct effects of collapsed and fluid-filled alveoli. In particularly, lung volumes are decreased and static lung compliance is reduced. Pulmonary vascular resistance is increased because of a) hypoxemic vasoconstriction, b) vascular occlusion from platelets, leukocytes or fibrin aggregates, or c) the presence of vasoactive inflammatory mediators.
The lungs of ARDS patients have capillaries which contain neutrophils, platelets and fibrin clots. The role of neutrophils in ARDS in substantial. The increased accumulation of neutrophils and their activation results in enhanced chemotaxis, release of neutrophil granules and generation of abnormally high levels of oxygen metabolites. Also many inflammatory cascades are activated and many interactions between pathways. Activation of complement, especially complement fragments C3 a and C5 a play a role between the initiating and the actual occurrence of alveolar injury. Cytokine release from mast cells and macrophages results in the presence of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), elastase, endotoxin, complement C5 a , IL-1, cathepsin and platelet activating factors.
Partially reduced species of oxygen metabolites represent another group of agents that have been implicated as a cause of lung injury in humans with ARDS. Some of these agents are the result of high tensions of inspired oxygen so that there is also predisposition for sepsis syndrome. Cyclooxygenase synthetase, superoxide, H 2 O 2 and myeloperoxidase by themselves or with other agents have been implicated in lung injury, for example, interstitial fibrosis. However, the combination of oxidants and proteases are more toxic to endothelial cells than either one alone.
"Sepsis syndrome" refers to the clinical condition in which patients with infection manifest severe, adverse systemic response, e.g., hypotension, or disseminated intravascular coagulation.
Since ARDS also involves non-pulmonary organs, treatment can also involve the injection or infusion of protease inhibitors.
The risks for subsequent development of ARDS is highest in pulmonary aspiration, diffuse intravascular coagulation, severe pneumonia, hypertransfusion, long bone or pelvic fractures, bacteremia, cutaneous burns and cardiopulmonary surgery.
Early intervention before ARDS or sepsis occurs is critical to a positive outcome and suggests that therapeutic treatment should occur prior to onset of the disease.
Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is commonly found in premature infants beginning a few hours after their birth. Premature infants are exposed to hyperoxia shortly after birth which causes an elastolytic activity imbalance with resulting toxic effects on lung parenchymal and vascular developments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,316 to Lezdey et al, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of the aerosolization of alpha 1-antitrypsin in the treatment of pulmonary diseases where elastase and cathepsin G are involved.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,117 to Lezdey et al discloses the aerosolization of alpha 1-antichymotrypsin in the treatment of pulmonary diseases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to methods and compositions for the prevention or treatment of inflammatory lung diseases such as RDS, ARDS and/or sepsis syndrome in patients. The method provides for the administration directly into the lungs an effective amount of a composition comprising a) at least one protease inhibitor capable of inhibiting the activation of inflammatory cascades and b) an oxygen metabolite scavenger. The composition is administered in particle form or droplets having a size of about 0.5 to 5 microns, preferably, less than 3 microns. The administration in adults and small children is preferably by aerosolization.
Advantageously the protease inhibitor is one which covalently but irreversibly binds with elastase. The protease inhibitor may be synthetic, natural, or a mutated recombinant protein.
It is preferred to monitor the disease as well as the administration of the compositions of the invention by monitoring the desmosine levels in the urine of the patients.
It is therefore an object of the invention to treat patients who may be susceptible to RDS, ARDS and/or sepsis syndrome or those who have acquired the disease. The treatment comprises administering directly into the lungs a composition comprising a protease inhibitor alone or in combination with an oxygen metabolite scavenger. Preferably, administration is performed by aerosolization.
It is a further object of the invention to monitor and treat pulmonary diseases by determination of desmosine levels in the urine of patients.
It is a still further object of the invention to monitor the ARDS patient by means of the desmosine level in their urine.
The term "microcrystalline" relates to particle of a size visible under an atomic force microscope which are either formed as particles or in a solution.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In accordance with the present invention a patient who is susceptible to RDS, ARDS or sepsis syndrome or one who has acquired the disease is treated by inhalation of a composition comprising a) a natural or synthetic protease inhibitor which is capable of inhibiting the activation of inflammatory cascades and b) an oxygen metabolite scavenger. The composition is administered in the form of particles or droplets having a particle size of about 0.5 to 5 microns, preferably less than 3 microns. A suitable inhalation device for administering droplets of the composition in the desired size is the PARI JET INHALER of the Pari Corporation.
In infants, aerosolization is not easily performed so that it may be necessary to administer the composition directly by droplets.
Protease inhibitors which are most suitable for use in the invention are the inhibitors which irreversibly bind with neutrophil elastase, for example, alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 2-macroglobulin and bronchial mucus inhibitor or those which bind tightly with neutrophil elastase and are slowly removed such as secretory leucocyte protease inhibitor.
Alpha 1-antitrypsin is most preferable of the protease inhibitors because it plays many roles in the treatment of the pulmonary diseases. Besides being a natural binder of neutrophil elastase, alpha 1-antitrypsin is known to inhibit the degranulation of lung mast cells, inhibit histamine release factors, inhibit the release of (TNF) tumor necrosis factor and inhibit the release of leukotriene B 4 from alveolar macrophages and mast cells.
Alpha 1-antichymotrypsin is particularly useful because it is a natural binder of cathepsin-G and superoxide. Consequently, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin has a multiple role in the treatment of pulmonary diseases since it deactivates a major oxygen metabolite which causes lung injury as well as deactivating alpha 1-antitrypsin and binds with cathepsin which also causes lung injury and is antibasophilic.
The preferred protease inhibitors are the native human proteins such as bronchial mucus inhibitor, alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 2-macroglobulin, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, and secretory leucocyte protease inhibitor which do not attract antibodies so that they can be used over long periods of time. A combination of the protease inhibitors is most effective. However, where elastase is a major problem small molecule protease inhibitors which bind with elastase may be used. The low molecular weight inhibitors are preferably used with human deoxyribonuclease I.
The problems with utilizing low molecular weight protease inhibitors, namely, those less than 20,000 daltons is that they are not easily removed from the body after binding with elastase. However, the problem may be solved by also using DNase, especially, immediately after inhalation with the protease inhibitor.
Other inhibitors or stabilizers such as cromolyn or nedocronil sodium may be used adjunctively. However, it is essential that the compositions are administered in microcrystalline form, that is in the form of small particles or droplets having a particle size generally about 0.5 to 5 microns or smaller, preferably less than 3 microns.
The oxygen metabolite scavengers which can be used in the invention include ceruloplasmin, glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase and the like.
It has also been found that radioimmunoassay for desmosine is a valuable tool for use in the treatment of pulmonary diseases which are characterized by elevated elastase levels in the lungs. High levels of urine desmosine suggests that active elastin catabolism has occurred. The proteolysis that occurs in diseased lungs is caused by elastase released by pseudomonas aeruginosa and by degranulation of neutrophil releasing elastase and cathepsin G. During treatment with a protease inhibitor, there is an initial release of high levels of elastase-protease inhibitor complex and thereby a significant elevation of desmosine. The desmosine level decreases as the level of elastase in the lungs decreases. By comparison with desmosine levels of healthy persons in different age groups as well as those with diseased lungs, it is possible to detect the seriousness of the disease. After treatment with a protease inhibitor by inhalation therapy there is an initial rise in urine desmosine. The amount of desmosine decreases with continued use of the inhibitor. After discontinuance of the administration of the protease inhibitor, the desmosine level can revert to normal as compared with the standard or still be elevated through normal alpha 1-antitrypsin activity and elevated elastase in the lung. If the party is still suffering, a greater than normal rise of urine desmosine can be seen after renewed continuance of the treatment. This form of monitoring is most effective with infants to avoid invasive monitoring such as by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).
The active ingredients of the invention may be incorporated into a metered-dose aerosol unit containing a microcrystalline suspension of the drug in a mixture with propellants alone or with a carrier such as water or oleic acid. Preferred propellants are compressed air, trichloromonofluoromethane and dichlorodifluoromethane or mixtures thereof. Each unit may have a molecular proportion of active ingredient to the propellant between 3:1 and 3:2. Each actuation of the aerosol canister may deliver a quantity of drug equivalent to 42-90 mcg for multiple use daily.
It is preferred to generate aerosol droplets less than 3 microns in aerodynamic diameter using 4 ml of the composition at a concentration of about 25 mg/ml and wherein the nebulizer is driven by compressed air. A ratio of about 1:1 to about 3:1 of inhibitor to oxygen metabolite scavenger can be used. The administration is generally twice daily for the first week and then decreased as the disease decreases. The administration can take place prior to exposure to oxygen metabolite generation to avoid the onset of ARDS.
The PARI JET inhaler is useful for prophylactic use as well as for direct treatment of pulmonary diseases or inflammations. It can be used to administer the protease inhibitor and/or DNase.
The genetic form of emphysema and alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency is currently being treated by infusion of a composition containing alpha 1-antitrypsin marketed by Miles Laboratories, Inc. under the trademark PROLASTIN. However, such form of administration delivers only about 2% of the drug to the lungs.
ARDS also results in the occurrence of the neutrophil cathepsin G and elastase release which cause destruction of the tissues. Alpha 1-antitrypsin only controls the elastase in such cases. It is also advisable to utilize other serine protease inhibitors such as alpha 1-antichymotrypsin which binds with cathepsin in order to obtain a broader spectrum of therapy for use in treatment and control of the disease. The administration of the useful serine protease inhibitors directly to the site of the disease, such as by inhalation, has been found to provide a rapid relief for the patient with a smaller drug requirement.
The following examples further illustrate the practice of this invention, but are not intended to be limiting thereof. It will be appreciated that the selection of actual amounts of specific alpha 1-antitrypsin or other serine protease inhibitors to be administered to any individual patient will fall within the discretion of the attending physician and will be prescribed in a manner commensurate with the appropriate dosages will depend on the patient's age, weight, sex, stage of disease and like factors uniquely within the purview of the attending physician.
EXAMPLE 1
To evaluate its potential for inhibiting neutrophil elastase in airways, a study of aerosolized PROLASTIN was performed using 100, 200 and 350 mg delivered by PARI LL nebulizer BID. Patients with PEV>60% of predicted were studied. They were not stratified by pre-treatment elastase activity. Sputum was obtained and BAL was performed at baseline and 12 hours after the last dose. The mean concentration of α 1 -PI in epithelial lining fluid (ELF) obtained by BAL increased from 3.78±0.68 μM (mean±SEM) to 13.29 ±1.75 μM (p<0.001) . In all patients except one, elastase activity decreased and/or the capacity to inhibit added exogenous elastase increased. Before Prolastin, the mean elastase activity in ELF was 5.10±1.59 μM. After PROLASTIN, the mean was an inhibitory capacity of 2.09±2.28 μM, a difference of 7.19 μM (p=0.003). There was a trend towards greater elastase inhibition at the higher doses of Prolastin (0.93 μM at 100 mg, 1.99 μM at 200 mg and 6.87 μM at 350 mg, p>0.1). Patients with the greatest change in elastase activity/inhibitory capacity (>15 μM) received 350 mg of drug. The mean concentration of elastase α 1 -PI complex in ELF increased from 1.48±0.18 μM before PROLASTIN to 2.54±0.41 μM after PROLASTIN (p=0.01). There was no significant change in the IL-8, total cells, or PMN in the ELF.
EXAMPLE 2
The procedure of Example 1 is followed expect that prior to aerosolization with alpha 1-antitrypsin the patients are aerosolized with 2.5 mg rh DNase (sold by Genentech under the trademark PULMOZYME).
There is improved clearance of airway obstruction and reduction of pseudomonas infection.
The use of DNase is particularly important to obtain protein clearance when lower molecular weight protease inhibitors are utilized.
It is apparent that when the disease is severe, DNase may be administered before and after inhalation with the protease inhibitors.
EXAMPLE 3
Seven men, 25-37 years old, were placed in a hyperbaric chamber and were given 100% oxygen at 2 atm for 12 h. Another group of 8 men (ages 28-35) were placed in the chamber and given 100% oxygen at 2.5 atm for 6 h. Twenty-four hour urine samples were collected 1 day prior to the study, during the exposure, and for 2 consecutive days following exposure.
Creatinine was measured using a kit (Gilford, Oberlin, Ohio, USA) according to the manufacturer's specifications. Urine was either assayed immediately or stored frozen at -20° C. until assayed.
The desmosine RIA was modified by attaching the antibody to magnetic particles. The desmosine antibody was affinity purified and attached to amine-terminated magnetic particles according to the manufacturer's instructions (PerSeptive Diagnostics, Cambridge, Mass., USA). The probe was made from labeled des-Bolton-Huriter with the following exceptions. Unbound was separated from the bound using a small column of Dowex-50 and diluted in 0.2M bis-tris propane buffer pH 7.6 containing 1.25% powdered DMEM (Sigma) to prevent nonspecific absorption. The sample was incubated in 200 μl of the probe (100,000 cpm) and 50 μl of the magnetic antibody (sufficient to bind 30-40% of the total counts) overnight and the bound separated from the unbound by placing the tubes in a Corning magnetic separating rack for 1 min. The rack was inverted to remove the unbound probe and the particles washed 3 additional times with 0.02M bis-tris propane buffer containing 0.02% Tween 20, allowing 1 min each time for the particles to stick to the magnets before inverting the rack. Urine desmosine was expressed as picomoles per milligram creatinine. These values were converted to nanograms by multiplying by 0.526Assays were performed in duplicate on two separate days and the results averaged. Samples that varied by more than 10% between assays were repeated. The precision of the RIA was usually within 6-10% for both intra- and interassay variation. Whole, unhydrolyzed urine (50 μl) was assayed directly in the RIA or the sample was hydrolyzed and extracted as described previously 8!.
The statistical significance of differences between means was tested using a two-tailed Student t test for unpaired data. Linear regression curves were calculated using the Mackintosh StatWorks package (Cricket Software, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., USA).
The reproducibility and sensitivity of the magnetic antibody RIA was identical with the original desmosine RIA. Intra- and interassay variation were less than 10%. The use of antibody bound to magnetic particles significantly reduced the time required to perform the RIA. A bis-tris propane buffer was used for the assay since it is a stronger buffer in the 7.4 pH range. It was essential to add the powdered DMEM to the probe, which lowered the non-specific binding to 1% or less of the bound counts.
The desmosine RIA from whole, unhydrolyzed urine was compared to hydrolyzed urine that had been solvent extracted to remove cross-reacting substances for all the subjects in this study. With only a few exceptions, there was excellent agreement between desmosine values for whole unhydrolyzed urine and the extracted, hydrolyzed urine. Even when the absolute value for desmosine differed somewhat between whole and hydrolyzed urine, any change or trend in desmosine levels was mirrored by both procedures. This relationship between whole urine and hydrolyzed, solvent-extracted urine was true for all urines assayed in this study. The study showed that pulmonary diseases characterized by elevated elastase levels could be monitored by desmosine studies.
To more effectively treat the disease an oxygen metabolite scavenger could be used in a ratio of about 3:1 of the inhibitor to the oxygen metabolite scavenger. Glutathione has been found to be most effective.
EXAMPLE 4
An aerosol composition for administration by PARI JET was prepared by admixing.
200 mg of recombinant of alpha 1-antitrypsin
100 mg of glutathione
8 ml of water
The composition is useful for the treatment of ARDS with a nebulizer capable of delivery of small particle or droplet size.
The same composition can be used to treat premature babies by direct administration to the lungs prior to incubation.
The same composition can be used to treat premature babies by direct administration to the lungs prior to incubation.
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The invention relates to methods and compositions for the prevention or treatment of patients suffering from respiratory distress syndrome and/or sepsis syndrome by administering directly into the lungs small or nicrocrystalline particles or droplets of at least one protease inhibitor alone or with an oxygen metabolite scavenger. The method can also include the treatment in combination with the monitoring of the urine desmosine level of the patients and the use of DNase.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-352242, filed Dec. 6, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a heat transporting apparatus for transporting heat with utilizing a refrigerating cycle having a refrigerant compressing and expanding processes.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Refrigerators or heat pumps have been known as apparatuses that utilize a refrigerating cycle to transport heat. Among the refrigerators serving as heat transporting apparatuses, Stirling refrigerators are gathering much attention for their high energy efficiency. The Stirling refrigerator is essentially expected to offer a very high refrigerating efficiency. However, the Stirling refrigerator is actually used mainly to provide very low temperatures (which are almost equal to liquid helium temperature). On the other hand, the Stirling refrigerator can use helium as a refrigerant; helium is a natural refrigerant which is harmless to human beings and which is not involved in ozone layer destruction or global warming.
[0006] The Stirling refrigerator operates in accordance with a Stirling refrigerating cycle including four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating. To implement the Stirling refrigerating cycle, a high- and low-temperature cylinder sections are provided in which a refrigerant is sealed. A higher-temperature heat exchanger, a thermal accumulator or heat storage device, and a lower-temperature heat exchanger are disposed between the cylinder sections. Compression and expansion of the refrigerant are repeated in the cylinder sections to transport heat from the lower-temperature heat exchanger to the higher-temperature heat exchanger. Of the four basic processes of the Stirling refrigerating cycle, the isovolumetric heating and cooling are mainly based on the heat exchange between the heat exchanger and the thermal accumulator. The heat radiation and absorption by the higher- and lower-temperature heat exchangers occur during the isothermal compression and expansion processes.
[0007] However, the efficiency of the Stirling refrigerating cycle used for the Stirling refrigerator is mainly limited by the heat conducting performance of the higher- and lower-temperature heat exchangers and thermal accumulator. Consequently, in spite of the theoretical high efficiency, actual apparatuses are disadvantageously inefficient and fail to achieve the desired performance.
[0008] Thus, to improve the performance of the refrigerator, it is important to increase the heat exchanging efficiency during the Stirling refrigerating cycle. To increase the heat exchanging efficiency, it is necessary to improve the heat exchanging performance of the higher- and lower-temperature heat exchangers and thermal accumulator.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat transfer apparatus comprising:
[0010] a container filled with a refrigerant;
[0011] an operation unit which compresses the refrigerant to produce heat and expands the refrigerant to absorb heat in the container, alternately;
[0012] a generating unit configured to generate a magnetic field which is increased and decreased, alternately;
[0013] a thermal accumulator received in the container, to which the magnetic field is applied, and which produces heat depending on one of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the time of compression of the refrigerant and absorbs heat depending on the other of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the time of expansion of the refrigerant; and
[0014] first and second heat transfer units, the first heat transfer unit transferring the heat produced in the refrigerant and the thermal accumulator to the outside of the apparatus, and the second heat transfer unit transferring external heat to the refrigerant and the thermal accumulator.
[0015] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat transporting apparatus comprising:
[0016] a cylindrical container provided with compression and expansion chambers communicating with each other and filled with a refrigerant;
[0017] a compression piston received in the cylindrical container, which compresses the refrigerant in the expansion chamber and an expansion piston which expands the refrigerant in the expansion chamber;
[0018] a generating unit configured to generate a magnetic field which is increased and decreased, alternately;
[0019] a thermal accumulator received in the cylindrical container, to which the magnetic field is applied, and which produces heat depending on one of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the time of compression of the refrigerant, and absorbs heat depending on the other of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the time of expansion of the refrigerant; and
[0020] first and second heat transfer units, the first heat transfer unit transferring the heat produced in the refrigerant and the thermal accumulator to the outside of the apparatus, and the second heat transfer unit transferring external heat to the refrigerant and the thermal accumulator.
[0021] According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat transporting apparatus comprising:
[0022] a cylindrical container filled with a refrigerant;
[0023] pistons received in the cylindrical container, which compress and expand the refrigerant;
[0024] a generating unit configured to generate a magnetic field which is increased and decreased, alternately;
[0025] a thermal accumulator received in the cylindrical container, to which the magnetic field is applied, and which produces heat depending on one of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the time of compression of the refrigerant and absorbs heat depending on the other of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the time of expansion of the refrigerant; and
[0026] first and second heat transfer units, the first heat transfer unit transferring the heat produced in the refrigerant and the thermal accumulator to the outside of the apparatus, and the second heat transfer unit transferring external heat to the refrigerant and the thermal accumulator.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
[0027] FIGS. 1A to 1 D are schematic diagrams schematically showing a refrigerator that is applied to a first embodiment, to describe the basic operation and structure of the refrigerator;
[0028] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram specifically and three-dimensionally showing a refrigerator that is applied to a second embodiment;
[0029] FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing the general configuration of a magnetic material for a thermal accumulator in the refrigerator shown in FIG. 2 ;
[0030] FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams showing the general configuration of a mechanism used in the refrigerator shown in FIG. 2 to increase or reduce the magnitude of a magnetic field;
[0031] FIGS. 5A to 5 D are schematic diagrams illustrating operations of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 2 ;
[0032] FIGS. 6A to 6 D are schematic diagrams showing the general configuration of a refrigerator that is applied to a third embodiment;
[0033] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram specifically and three-dimensionally showing a refrigerator that is applied to a fourth embodiment;
[0034] FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams illustrating operations of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 7 ;
[0035] FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic diagrams showing the general configuration of a refrigerator that is applied to a fifth embodiment;
[0036] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the general configuration of a refrigerator that is applied to a sixth embodiment; and
[0037] FIGS. 11A and 11B are schematic diagrams illustrating operations of the refrigerator shown in FIG. 10 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0038] With reference to the drawings, description will be given of heat transporting apparatuses according to embodiments of the present invention.
FIRST EMBODIMENT
[0039] FIGS. 1A to 1 D show a basic configuration of a heat transporting apparatus such as a refrigerator, which utilizes a Stirling refrigerating cycle.
[0040] In FIG. 1 , reference numeral 1 denotes a cylinder that is a cylindrical container. The cylinder 1 is open at its opposite ends and is filled with a gas refrigerant, for example, helium or nitrogen. The cylinder 1 has a heat storage device 2 in the center of its hollow portion; the heat storage device 2 serves as a thermal accumulator. The heat storage device 2 is composed of a magnetic material 3 having its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. In this embodiment, the magnetic material 3 is a positive one, for example, a GD-based material, which has its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field, while having its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field.
[0041] Inside the cylinder 1 , a higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 is placed in proximity to one end of the heat storage device 2 . A lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 is placed in proximity to the other end of the heat storage device 2 . The higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 radiates heat from the refrigerant and heat storage device 2 to the exterior of the apparatus. The lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 absorbs external heat on the basis of heat absorption by the refrigerant and heat storage device 2 .
[0042] A compression piston 6 is provided in an opening of the cylinder 1 which is closer to the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 . An expansion piston 7 is provided in an opening of the cylinder 1 which is closer to the lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 . The compression piston 6 and expansion piston 7 constitute an operation unit. The compression piston 6 moves in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 1A to compress a refrigerant inside the cylinder 1 . The expansion piston 7 moves in the direction of arrow C shown in FIG. 1C to compress the refrigerant inside the cylinder
[0043] A mechanism 8 for generating a magnetic field and increasing and reducing the magnetic field is placed outside the cylinder 1 around the periphery of the heat storage device 2 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 8 increases and reduces the magnitude of a magnetic field that is applied to the magnetic material 3 in the heat storage device 2 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 8 is not limited to a particular one shown in FIGS. 1A to 1 D. The mechanism may be modified or altered to various units or apparatuses that provide a function for increasing and reducing the magnitude of a magnetic field that is applied to the magnetic material 3 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 8 may be an electromagnet that can be turned on and off, or a magnetic field generating unit, for example, a permanent magnet.
[0044] Now, description will be given of the operation of the refrigerator configured as described above.
[0045] First, the compression piston 6 is moved in a direction A, that is, from the left to right of the figure, to compress the refrigerant in the cylinder 1 as shown in FIG. 1A . During the compression process, actuation of the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 radiates heat generated from the refrigerant by compression, in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 . An isothermal refrigerant compressing process is thus executed. Simultaneously with the compression of the refrigerant, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 8 applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 2 . Here, the heat storage device 2 is composed of the magnetic material 3 having its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. However, this embodiment uses a positive magnetic material which has its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field and which has its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. The temperature of the heat storage device 2 thus rises. The higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 is in operation even during the application of the magnetic field. Thus, heat generated from the heat storage device 2 is also radiated in the direction of arrow B to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 . In other words, during the refrigerant compressing process shown in FIG. 1A , not only heat from the refrigerant but also heat generated from the magnetic material 3 can be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 .
[0046] Then, as shown in FIG. 1B , with the volume of the cylinder 1 between the compression piston 6 and the expansion piston 7 remaining fixed, the compression piston 6 and expansion piston 7 are simultaneously moved rightward to move the refrigerant rightward in the cylinder 1 .
[0047] Then, as shown in FIG. 1C , the expansion piston 7 is moved in a C direction, that is, from the right to left of the figure, to expand the refrigerant in the cylinder 1 . At this time, actuation of the lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 allows the refrigerant cooled by expansion to absorb external heat in the direction of arrow D. An isothermal refrigerant expansion process is thus executed. Simultaneously with the expansion of the refrigerant, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 8 removes the magnetic field applied to the heat storage device 2 . The heat storage device 2 is composed of a positive magnetic material that has its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. The temperature of the heat storage device 2 thus lowers. The lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 is in operation even during the decrease in temperature. Consequently, external heat can further be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 . In other words, during the refrigerant expansion process shown in FIG. 1C , heat is absorbed not only by the refrigerant but also by the magnetic material 3 . Under these conditions, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 .
[0048] Then, as shown in FIG. 1D , with the volume of the cylinder 1 between the compression piston 6 and the expansion piston 7 remaining fixed, the compression piston 6 and expansion piston 7 are moved leftward in the figure to move the refrigerant leftward in the cylinder 1 .
[0049] The process shown in FIGS. 1A to 1 D is repeated as described above to repeatedly execute the four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating. The Stirling refrigerating cycle is thus implemented. Specifically, repetition of the compression and expansion processes allows the refrigerant to generate and absorb heat. The heat storage device 2 , composed of the magnetic material 3 , is caused to repeat a heat generating and absorbing reactions by increasing and reducing the magnitude of the magnetic field simultaneously with the repeated compression and expansion processes. This allows the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 to radiate heat, while allowing the lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 to absorb heat.
[0050] Accordingly, in the refrigerating cycle having the refrigerant compression and expansion processes, the compression process not only allows the refrigerant to generate heat but also applies a magnetic field to the magnetic material 3 constituting the heat storage device 2 to allow the magnetic material 3 to make a heat generating reaction. The heat from the magnetic material 3 is radiated via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 . Consequently, this refrigerator can radiate more heat to the exterior of the apparatus. The expansion process not only expands the refrigerant to allow it to absorb heat but also removes the magnetic field to allow the magnetic material 3 to make a heat absorbing reaction. This enables more external heat to be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 . Thus, simultaneously with the heat generation and absorption by the refrigerant, the heat storage device 2 composed of the magnetic material 3 is caused to make heat generating and absorbing reactions. The present refrigerating cycle having the compression and expansion processes offers a drastically increased heat exchanging efficiency. Therefore, a Stirling refrigerating cycle with a good heat transporting capability can be implemented.
[0051] The above first embodiment repeats the four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating, to implement a Stirling refrigerating cycle. An Ericsson cycle can be implemented by substituting isobaric processes for the two isovolumetric processes in the Stirling refrigerating cycle. A Brayton cycle can be implemented by substituting adiabatic processes for the compression and expansion processes in the Stirling refrigerating cycle and substituting isobaric processes for the two isovolumetric processes.
SECOND EMBODIMENT
[0052] FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional cross sectional view showing a refrigerator of a second embodiment which is realized in accordance with the first embodiment.
[0053] In FIG. 2 , reference numeral 11 denotes a cylindrical casing. A compression cylinder 12 and an expansion cylinder 13 are arranged in parallel inside the casing 11 . Each of the compression cylinder 12 and expansion cylinder 13 is open at one end and is closed at the other end. The closed ends are connected together via a communication pipe 14 that allows the interior of the compression cylinder 12 to communicate with the interior of the expansion cylinder 13 . The compression cylinder 12 and expansion cylinder 13 are filled with a gas refrigerant, for example, helium or nitrogen.
[0054] A heat storage device 15 is placed in the compression cylinder 12 . The heat storage device 15 is provided with a magnetic material 16 having its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. In this embodiment, the magnetic material 16 is a positive one, for example, a GD-based material, which has its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field, while having its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. As the magnetic material 16 , generally spherical magnetic materials 16 a of diameter about 1 mm or less may be filled in to the heat storage device 15 to form a porous member containing a large number of voids as shown in FIG. 3A . Alternatively, a bulk material may be used which contains communication holes 16 b which consist of small holes and which communicate with the exterior as shown in FIG. 3B .
[0055] A higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 is placed in proximity to the heat storage device 15 . The higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 is placed opposite the communication pipe 14 across the heat storage device 15 . The higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 radiates heat from the refrigerant and heat storage device 15 to the exterior of the apparatus.
[0056] A compression piston 18 is provided in the compression cylinder 12 . The compression piston 18 is inserted into the compression cylinder 12 through its opening to compress the refrigerant in the compression cylinder 12 . A piston shaft 19 is connected to the compression piston 18 . A connecting bar 20 is connected to the piston shaft 19 and to a flywheel 21 at a position away from its rotating center. The connecting bar 20 thus constitutes a crank mechanism that converts a rotating motion of the flywheel 21 into a reciprocating motion to reciprocate the piston shaft 19 in the direction of arrow E in FIG. 2 . The flywheel 21 has its rotating center connected to a rotating shaft 221 of a driving motor 22 . The flywheel 21 is rotated at a predetermined speed.
[0057] A lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 is placed inside the expansion cylinder 13 . The lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 absorbs external heat on the basis of heat absorption by the refrigerant and heat storage device 15 . An expansion piston 24 is provided in the expansion cylinder 13 . The expansion piston 24 is inserted into the expansion cylinder 13 through its opening to compress the refrigerant in the expansion cylinder 13 . A piston shaft 25 is connected to the expansion piston 24 . A connecting bar 26 is connected to the piston shaft 25 and to a flywheel 27 at a position away from its rotating center. The connecting bar 26 thus constitutes a crank mechanism that converts a rotating motion of the flywheel 27 into a reciprocating motion to reciprocate the piston shaft 25 in the direction of arrow F in FIG. 2 . The flywheel 27 has its rotating center connected to the rotating shaft 221 of the driving motor 22 . The flywheel 27 is rotated at a predetermined speed.
[0058] A disk-like support plate 28 is integrally provided on the piston shaft 19 . A mechanism 30 for generating a magnetic field and increasing and reducing the magnetic field is provided on the support plate 28 via a support arm 29 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 has a cylindrical shape with the compression cylinder located in its hollow portion. The piston shaft 19 reciprocates in the direction of arrow E to allow the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 to increase or reduce the magnitude of a magnetic field that is applied to the heat storage device 15 .
[0059] In the refrigerator shown in FIG. 2 , the connecting bar 20 is attached to the flywheel 21 , located closer to the compression piston 18 , so as to rotate about 90° earlier in rotation phase than a connecting bar 26 attached to the flywheel 27 , located closer to the expansion piston 24 . The connecting bars 20 and 26 are arranged so as to meet the above relationship, and the piston shafts 19 and 25 reciprocate on the basis of this positional relationship. This serves to implement the four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating, described above and shown in FIGS. 1A to 1 D.
[0060] The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 may be, for example, a double cylindrical magnet called a Halbach magnet, such as the one shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B . This double cylindrical magnet is composed of an outer cylindrical magnet 302 and an inner cylindrical magnet 301 placed in a hollow portion of the outer cylindrical magnet 302 at a predetermined spacing from the magnet 302 . In the cylindrical magnets 301 and 302 , the directions of magnetic anisotropy at different areas are denoted by reference numerals 303 and 304 . As shown in FIG. 4A , when the direction of a magnetic field 305 generated in the hollow portion by the inner cylindrical magnet 301 coincides with the direction of a magnetic field 306 generated in the hollow portion by the outer cylindrical magnet 302 , a strong magnetic field is generated in a space 307 in the hollow portion of the inner cylindrical magnet 301 . In this state, the whole double cylindrical magnet is moved coaxially with the compression piston 18 by the piston shaft 19 . This enables an increase or reduction in the magnitude of a magnetic field that is applied to the heat storage device 15 .
[0061] Further, a weak magnetic field can be generated in the hollow portion of the inner cylindrical magnet 301 by making the direction of the magnetic field 305 generated in the hollow portion by the inner cylindrical magnet 301 , opposite to the direction of the magnetic field 306 generated in the hollow portion by the outer cylindrical magnet 302 so that the magnetic fields 305 and 306 cancel each other, as shown in FIG. 4B . With this double cylindrical magnet, the magnitude of the magnetic field for the heat storage device 15 can be increased or reduced by rotating one of the inner cylindrical magnet 301 and outer cylindrical magnet 302 in conjunction with the reciprocating motion of the piston shaft 19 to establish the conditions shown in FIG. 4A or 4 B.
[0062] FIGS. 5A to 5 D are diagrams illustrating the operation of the refrigerator configured as described above. In FIGS. 5A to 5 D, the same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
[0063] A cylinder main body 31 shown in FIGS. 5A to 5 D comprises the above compression cylinder 12 and expansion cylinder 13 . The cylinder main body 31 is filled with a refrigerant. The heat storage device 15 , higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 , and lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 are arranged inside the cylinder main body 31 ; the heat storage device 15 is provided with the magnetic material 16 , which has its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. The compression piston 18 is placed in one of the openings of the cylinder main body 31 . The expansion cylinder 24 is placed in the other opening. The mechanism 30 is placed outside the cylinder main body 31 to increase and reduce the magnitude of a magnetic field that is applied to the periphery of the heat storage device 15 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 is connected to piston shaft 19 of the compression piston 18 via the support arm 29 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 8 can reciprocate in conjunction with the compression piston 18 .
[0064] In this refrigerator, first, as shown in FIG. 5A , the compression piston 18 is moved in the direction A, that is, from the left to right in FIG. 5A , to compress the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 31 (compression cylinder 12 ). At this time, actuation of the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 radiates heat generated from the refrigerant by compression, in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 5A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . An isothermal refrigerant compressing process is thus executed. Simultaneously with the compression of the refrigerant, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 , connected to the piston shaft 19 , moves, as the compression piston 18 moves, to a position where it applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 15 . In this case, the heat storage device 15 has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 15 is composed of the magnetic material 16 having its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field and lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. At this time, the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 is in operation. Thus, heat generated from the heat storage device 15 can also be radiated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 5A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . In other words, during the refrigerant compressing process shown in FIG. 5A , not only heat from the refrigerant but also heat generated from the magnetic material 16 can be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 .
[0065] Then, as shown in FIG. 5B , with the volume of the cylinder main body 31 between the compression piston 18 and the expansion piston 24 remaining fixed, the compression piston 18 and expansion piston 24 are simultaneously moved rightward in FIG. 5B to move the refrigerant rightward in the cylinder main body 31 .
[0066] Then, as shown in FIG. 5C , the expansion piston 7 is moved in a direction C, i.e., from the right to left in FIG. 5C , to expand the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 31 (expansion cylinder 13 ). At this time, actuation of the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 allows the refrigerant cooled by expansion to absorb external heat in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 5C via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 . An isothermal refrigerant expansion process is thus executed.
[0067] Then, as shown in FIG. 5D , with the volume of the cylinder main body 31 between the compression piston 18 and the expansion piston 24 remaining fixed, the compression piston 18 and expansion piston 24 are moved leftward to move the refrigerant leftward in the cylinder main body 31 . At this time, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 , connected to the piston shaft 19 , moves away from the heat storage device 15 as the compression piston 18 moves. This removes the magnetic field for the heat storage device 15 . The heat storage device 15 is composed of a positive magnetic material that has its temperature (heat absorption) lowered in response to a decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. The temperature of the heat storage device 15 thus lowers. At this time, the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 is in operation. Consequently, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 . In other words, during the refrigerant expansion process shown in FIG. 5D , heat is absorbed not only by the refrigerant but also by the magnetic material 16 . Under these conditions, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 .
[0068] The process shown in FIGS. 5A to 5 D is repeated as described above to repeatedly execute the four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating. The Stirling refrigerating cycle is thus implemented.
[0069] Therefore, the above embodiment can produce effects similar to those of the first embodiment. Moreover, the compression piston 18 , expansion piston 24 , and magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 perform the series of operations using the driving motor 22 as a driving source. This enables the Stirling refrigerating cycle to be executed both automatically and stably. Furthermore, the rotation speed of the driving motor can be increased to achieve high-speed refrigeration.
[0070] The magnetic material 16 constituting the heat storage device 15 is a porous member containing a large number of voids or a bulk material containing communication holes which consist of small holes and which communicate with the exterior. The refrigerant can thus pass through the interior of the magnetic material 16 . This makes it possible to increase the contact area between the magnetic material 16 and the refrigerant as well as the rate of heat transfer between the magnetic material 16 and the refrigerant. The magnetic material 16 and the refrigerant can thus efficiently exchange heat with each other to further improve the heat generating and absorbing effects of the heat storage device 15 .
[0071] Moreover, a strong magnetic field required to operate the magnetic material 16 can be easily obtained by using a cylindrical magnet called a Halbach magnet as the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 and composed of the outer cylindrical magnet 302 and the inner cylindrical magnet 301 , located in the hollow portion.
THIRD EMBODIMENT
[0072] FIGS. 6A to 6 D show the general structure of another example of a refrigerator using a Stirling refrigerating cycle according to the present invention. In FIGS. 6A to 6 D, the same components as those in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
[0073] In the refrigerator shown in FIGS. 6A to 6 D, a cool storage section 32 , the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 , and the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 are arranged inside the cylinder main body 31 . The compression piston 18 is placed in one of the openings of the cylinder main body 31 . The expansion cylinder 24 is placed in the other opening. The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 is placed outside the cylinder main body 31 along the circumference of the heat storage device 32 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 is connected to piston shaft 19 of the compression piston 18 via the support arm 29 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 can reciprocate in conjunction with the compression piston 18 .
[0074] The cool storage section 32 includes a heat storage device 321 composed of a positive magnetic material 331 which has its temperature raised in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field and which has its temperature lowered in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field, and a storage device 322 composed of a negative magnetic material 332 which has its temperature lowered in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field and which has its temperature raised in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. The positive magnetic material 331 is what is called a ferromagnetic substance or a meta-magnetic substance which is in a paramagnetic state (magnetic spins are disordered) with no magnetic field applied to the material and which is brought to a ferromagnetic state (magnetic spins are ordered) when a magnetic field is applied to the material (a substance that exhibits a order-disorder transition from the ferromagnetic state to paramagnetic state in response to application and removal of a magnetic field). The negative magnetic material 332 exhibits different ordered states depending on whether or not a magnetic field is applied and exhibits an order-order transition between the two ordered states in response to application and removal of a magnetic field; the degree of order is higher (the degree of freedom of the system is lower) when no magnetic field is applied to the segments. Specific examples of the positive magnetic material 331 include ferromagnetic substances such as Gd and Gd-based alloys, that is, Gd-Y, Gd-Dy, Gd-Er, and Gd-Ho alloys, and meta-magnetic substances and ferromagnetic substances based on La(Fe, Si) 13 or La(Fe, Al) 13 . Specific examples of the negative magnetic material 332 include substances such as a FeRH alloy which exhibit an order-order transition from the ferromagnetic state to an antiferromagnetic state in response to application and removal of a magnetic field. With the FeRh alloy, the magnitude of magnetic moment of Rh changes significantly between the two states owing to a difference in the polarization of Rh. This changes the entropy of an electron system.
[0075] In this refrigerator, first, as shown in FIG. 6A , the compression piston 18 is moved in the direction A in this figure, that is, from the left to right of the figure, to compress the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 31 (compression cylinder 12 ). At this time, actuation of the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 radiates heat generated from the refrigerant by compression, in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 6A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . An isothermal refrigerant compressing process is thus executed. Simultaneously with the compression of the refrigerant, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 , connected to the piston shaft 19 , moves, as the compression piston 18 moves, to a position where it applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 321 . The heat storage device 321 has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 321 is composed of the magnetic material 331 having its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field and lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. At this time, the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 is in operation. Thus, heat generated from the heat storage device 321 can also be radiated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 6A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . On the other hands, the magnetic field from the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 is removed from the cools storage device 322 . The cools storage device 322 thus has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 322 is composed of the negative magnetic material 332 having its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to removal of the magnetic field. Since the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 is in operation, heat from the heat storage device 322 can also be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . Thus, during the refrigerant compressing process shown in FIG. 6A , not only heat from the refrigerant but also heat generated from the magnetic materials 331 and 332 can be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . More heat can thus be radiated.
[0076] Then, in FIG. 6B , with the volume of the cylinder main body 31 between the compression piston 18 and the expansion piston 24 remaining fixed, the compression piston 18 and expansion piston 24 are simultaneously moved rightward in FIG. 6B to move the refrigerant rightward in the cylinder main body 31 .
[0077] Then, as shown in FIG. 6C , the expansion piston 7 is moved in the direction C in this figure, from the right to left of the figure, to expand the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 31 (expansion cylinder 13 ). At this time, actuation of the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 allows the refrigerant cooled by expansion to absorb external heat in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 6C via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 . An isothermal refrigerant expansion process is thus executed.
[0078] Then, as shown in FIG. 6D , with the volume of the cylinder main body 31 between the compression piston 18 and the expansion piston 24 remaining fixed, the compression piston 18 and expansion piston 24 are moved leftward to move the refrigerant leftward in the cylinder main body 31 . At this time, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 , connected to the piston shaft 19 , moves 15 , as the compression piston 18 moves, to a position where it applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 322 . This removes the magnetic field for the heat storage device 321 and now applies it to the heat storage device 322 . The heat storage device 321 is composed of the positive magnetic material 331 that has its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. The temperature of the heat storage device 321 thus lowers. However, at this time, the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 is in operation. Consequently, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 . The heat storage device 322 , to which the magnetic field is applied, is composed of the negative magnetic material 332 that has its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to application of a magnetic field. The temperature of the heat storage device 322 thus lowers. However, since the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 is in operation, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 23 . In other words, during the process shown in FIG. 6D , heat is absorbed not only by the refrigerant but also by the magnetic materials 331 and 332 . More heat can thus be absorbed.
[0079] The process shown in FIGS. 6A to 6 D is repeated as described above to repeatedly execute the four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating. The Stirling refrigerating cycle is thus implemented.
[0080] Therefore, the above embodiment can produce effects similar to those of the second embodiment. Moreover, the cool storage section 32 includes the heat storage device 321 composed of the positive magnetic material 331 which has its temperature raised in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field and which has its temperature lowered in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field, and the storage device 322 composed of the negative magnetic material 332 which has its temperature lowered in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field and which has its temperature raised in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. When heat is radiated from the refrigerant, heat can also be radiated from the magnetic materials 331 and 332 . When the refrigerant absorbs heat, the magnetic materials 331 and 332 can also absorb heat. This enables more heat to be radiated and absorbed to further improve the heat exchanging efficiency of the refrigerating cycle.
FOURTH EMBODIMENT
[0081] In the description of the above embodiments, the refrigerator uses the Stirling refrigerating cycle having the four basic processes, isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating. However, the fourth embodiment shows a refrigerator to which a refrigerating cycle of two basic processes, isothermal compression and isothermal expansion is applied.
[0082] FIG. 7 three-dimensionally shows an embodiment of this refrigerator.
[0083] In the figure, reference numeral 41 denotes a cylindrical casing in which a cylindrical cylinder main body 42 is placed. The cylinder main body 42 is open at one end and is closed at the other end. The cylinder main body 42 is filled with a gas refrigerant, for example, helium or nitrogen.
[0084] A heat storage device 43 is placed inside the cylinder main body 42 closer to the closed end. The heat storage device 43 is composed of a magnetic material 44 having its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. In this embodiment, the magnetic material 44 is a positive one, for example, a GD-based material, which has its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of the magnetic field, while having its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. As the magnetic material 44 , a porous member or a bulk material with a plurality of communication holes for external communication is used as described in FIGS. 3A and 3B .
[0085] A higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 and a lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 are arranged on the respective sides of the heat storage device 43 . In this case, the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 is placed closer to the opening of the cylinder main body 42 . The higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 radiates heat from a refrigerant and the heat storage device 43 . The lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 is placed closer to the closed end of the cylinder main body 42 . The lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 absorbs external heat on the basis of heat absorption by the refrigerant and heat storage device 43 .
[0086] A piston 47 is provided in the cylinder main body 42 . The piston 47 is inserted into the cylinder main body 42 through its opening to compress the refrigerant inside the cylinder main body 42 . A piston shaft 48 is connected to the piston 42 . A connecting bar 49 is connected to the piston shaft 48 and to a flywheel 50 at a position away from its rotating center. The connecting bar 49 thus constitutes a crank mechanism that converts a rotating motion of the flywheel 50 into a reciprocating motion to reciprocate the piston shaft 48 in the direction of arrow H in FIG. 48 . The flywheel 50 has its rotating center connected to a rotating shaft 52 of a driving motor 51 . The flywheel 50 is rotated at a predetermined speed.
[0087] A disk-like support plate 53 is integrally provided on the piston shaft 47 . A magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 is provided on the support plate 53 via a support arm 54 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 is cylindrical with the cylinder main body 42 located in its hollow portion. The piston shaft 48 reciprocates in the direction of arrow H to allow the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 to increase or reduce the magnitude of a magnetic field that is applied to the heat storage device 43 . Also in this case, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 30 may be a double cylindrical magnet called a Halbach magnet, described with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B .
[0088] FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating the operation of the refrigerator configured as described above. In FIGS. 8A and 8B , the same components as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
[0089] In the refrigerator shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B , the cylinder main body 42 is filled with a refrigerant. The heat storage device 43 , higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 , and lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 are arranged inside the cylinder main body 42 ; the heat storage device 43 is composed of the magnetic material 44 , which has its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. The piston 47 is placed in the opening of the cylinder main body 42 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 is placed outside the cylinder main body 42 around the heat storage device 43 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 is connected to the piston shaft 48 of the piston 47 via the support arm 54 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 can reciprocate in conjunction with the piston 47 .
[0090] In this refrigerator, first, as shown in FIG. 8A , the piston 47 is moved in direction A, that is, from the left to right in FIG. 8A , to compress the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 42 . At this time, actuation of the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 radiates heat generated from the refrigerant by compression, in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 8A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 . An isothermal refrigerant compressing process is thus executed. Simultaneously with the compression of the refrigerant, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 , connected to the piston shaft 48 , moves, as the piston 47 moves, to a position where it applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 43 . In this case, the heat storage device 43 has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 43 is composed of the positive magnetic material 44 having its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field and lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. At this time, the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 is in operation. Thus, heat generated from the heat storage device 43 can also be radiated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 8A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 . In other words, during the refrigerant compressing process shown in FIG. 8A , not only heat from the refrigerant but also heat generated from the magnetic material 44 can be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 .
[0091] Then, as shown in FIG. 8B , the piston 47 is moved in a direction C in this figure, that is, from the right to left of the figure, to expand the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 42 . At this time, actuation of the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 allows the refrigerant cooled by expansion to absorb external heat in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 8B via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 . An isothermal refrigerant expansion process is thus executed. At the same time, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 , connected to the piston shaft 48 , moves, as the piston 47 moves, to a position where it removes the magnetic field from the heat storage device 43 . The heat storage device 43 has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 43 is composed of the positive magnetic material 44 having its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field and lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. At this time, the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 is in operation. This enables external heat to be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 . In other words, the refrigerant expansion process shown in FIG. 8B excites not only heat absorption by the refrigerant but also heat absorption by the magnetic material 44 . In this state, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 .
[0092] The process shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B is similarly repeated to enable the implementation of a refrigerating cycle of two basic processes, isothermal compression and isothermal expansion; heat is radiated to the exterior via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 , and external heat is absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 .
[0093] Therefore, also with the refrigerating cycle of two basic processes, isothermal compression and isothermal expansion, when the refrigerant generates heat, the magnetic material 44 is also allowed to radiate heat. Further, when the refrigerant absorbs heat, the magnetic material 44 is also allowed to absorb heat. This enables a refrigerating cycle with an increased heat exchange efficiency to be implemented. Such a refrigerating cycle can be implemented using the cylinder main body 42 and piston 47 . This makes it possible to simplify the entire configuration of the apparatus to reduce costs.
FIFTH EMBODIMENT
[0094] FIGS. 9A and 9B show the general configuration of another exemplary refrigerator that uses a refrigerating cycle of two basic processes, isothermal compression and isothermal expansion. In FIGS. 9A and 9B , the same components as those in FIGS. 8A and 8B are denoted by the same reference numerals.
[0095] In the refrigerator shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B , a cools storage section 56 and the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 and lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 are arranged inside the cylinder main body. The piston 47 is placed in the opening of the cylinder main body 42 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 is placed outside the cylinder main body 42 along the periphery of the heat storage device 56 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 is connected to the piston shaft 48 of the piston 47 via the support arm 54 . The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 can reciprocate in conjunction with the piston 47 .
[0096] The cool storage section 56 has a heat storage device 431 and a heat storage device 432 arranged in parallel; the heat storage device 431 is composed of a positive magnetic material 441 having its temperature raised in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field, while having its temperature lowered in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field, and the heat storage device 432 is composed of a negative magnetic material 442 having its temperature lowered in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field, while having its temperature raised in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. The positive magnetic material 441 and negative magnetic material 442 are similar to those described in the third embodiment.
[0097] In this configuration, first, as shown in FIG. 9A , the piston 47 is moved in a direction A, that is, from the left to right in FIG. 9A , to compress the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 42 . At this time, actuation of the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 radiates heat generated from the refrigerant by compression, in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 9A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 . An isothermal refrigerant compressing process is thus executed. Simultaneously with the compression of the refrigerant, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 , connected to the piston shaft 48 , moves, as the piston 47 moves, to a position where it applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 431 . In this case, the heat storage device 431 has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 431 is composed of the positive magnetic material 441 having its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to an increase in the magnitude of a magnetic field and lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. At this time, the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 is in operation. Thus, heat generated from the heat storage device 431 can also be radiated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 8A to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 . On the other hand, the magnetic field from the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 has been removed from the heat storage device 432 . In this case, the heat storage device 432 has its temperature raised. This is because the heat storage device 432 is composed of the negative magnetic material 442 that has its temperature raised (heat generation) in response to removal of the magnetic field. Since the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 is in operation, heat from the heat storage device 432 can be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 . Thus, during the refrigerant compressing process shown in FIG. 9A , not only heat from the refrigerant but also heat generated from the magnetic materials 441 and 442 can be radiated to the exterior of the apparatus via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 17 . Therefore, more heat can be radiated.
[0098] Then, as shown in FIG. 9B , the piston 47 is moved in a direction C, that is, from the right to left in FIG. 9B , to expand the refrigerant in the cylinder main body 42 . At this time, actuation of the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 allows the refrigerant cooled by expansion to absorb external heat in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 8B via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 . An isothermal refrigerant expansion process is thus executed. At the same time, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 55 , connected to the piston shaft 48 , moves, as the piston 47 moves, to a position where it applies a magnetic field to the heat storage device 432 . This removes the magnetic field from the heat storage device 431 , while a magnetic field is applied to the heat storage device 432 . The heat storage device 431 has its temperature lowered. This is because the heat storage device 431 is composed of the positive magnetic material 441 that has its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to a decrease in the magnitude of the magnetic field. However, since the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 is in operation, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 . At the same time, the heat storage device 432 has its temperature lowered. This is because the heat storage device 432 is composed of the negative magnetic material 442 that has its temperature lowered (heat absorption) in response to application of a magnetic field. However, since the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 is in operation, external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 . During the refrigerant expanding process shown in FIG. 9B , external heat can be absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 on the basis of not only heat absorption by the refrigerant but also heat absorption resulting from a decrease in the temperature of the magnetic materials 441 and 442 . Therefore, more heat can be absorbed.
[0099] Similar repetition of the process shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B enables the implementation of a refrigerating cycle of two basic processes, isothermal compression and isothermal expansion; external heat is absorbed via the lower-temperature heat exchanger 46 , and heat is radiated to the exterior via the higher-temperature heat exchanger 45 .
[0100] This also makes it possible to exert effects similar to those of the fourth embodiment. Further, when the refrigerant radiates heat, the magnetic materials 441 and 442 are also allowed to radiate heat. When the refrigerant absorbs heat, the magnetic materials 441 and 442 are also allowed to absorb heat. This enables more heat to be radiated and absorbed, further increasing the heat exchange efficiency of the refrigerating cycle.
SIXTH EMBODIMENT
[0101] In the above embodiments, the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism is moved to enable an increase or reduction in the magnitude of a magnetic field for the heat storage device. However, a sixth embodiment keeps the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism stationary while enabling an increase or reduction in the magnitude of a magnetic field for the heat storage device.
[0102] FIG. 10 shows the general configuration of the sixth embodiment. The same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and their description is omitted.
[0103] In this case, the compression piston 6 , expansion piston 7 , heat storage device 2 , higher-temperature heat exchanger 4 , and lower-temperature heat exchanger 5 are arranged in the cylinder 1 filled with a refrigerant; the heat storage device 2 is composed of the magnetic material that has its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field.
[0104] A magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 61 is placed outside the cylinder 1 in association with the heat storage device 2 . As shown in FIG. 11A , the magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 61 is composed of a pair of permanent magnets 62 a and 62 b and a pair of yokes 63 a and 63 b . In this case, the permanent magnets 62 a and 52 b are arranged so that the cylinder 1 (heat storage device 2 ) is sandwiched between the magnets 62 a and 62 b . The yokes 63 a and 63 b can open and close a magnetic path between the permanent magnets 62 a and 62 b . As shown in FIG. 11A , with the magnetic path between the permanent magnets 62 a and 62 b closed, the magnitude of a magnetic field for the heat storage device is increased. As shown in FIG. 11B , with the magnetic path between the permanent magnets 62 a and 62 b open, the magnitude of the magnetic field for the heat storage device is reduced.
[0105] This refrigerator can increase or reduce the magnitude of a magnetic field for the heat storage device by moving the yokes 63 a and 63 b with the permanent magnets 62 a and 62 b remaining stationary to open or close the magnetic path between the permanent magnets 62 a and 62 b . Consequently, effects similar to those of the first embodiment can be produced by repeatedly increasing or reducing the magnitude of the magnetic field in association with the isothermal compression, isovolumetric cooling, isothermal expansion, and isovolumetric heating processes, described in the first embodiment.
[0106] The magnetic field increasing and reducing mechanism 61 configured as described above is also applicable to the above second to fifth embodiments.
[0107] In the above embodiments, the magnetic material constituting the heat storage devices in the above embodiments consists of a uniform component with a fixed operating temperature. However, for example, the heat storage devices may each be composed of different components such that the operating temperature sequentially decreases from the higher-temperature heat exchanger toward the lower-temperature heat exchanger. Such a magnetic material makes it possible to emphasize the different operations of the higher- and lower-temperature heat exchangers, that is, heat generation and heat absorption. This enables more efficient heat radiation and absorption. Further, the higher-temperature heat exchanger and lower-temperature heat exchangers in the above embodiments may be composed of a magnetic material that has its temperature changed in response to an increase or decrease in the magnitude of a magnetic field. Moreover, the above embodiments all relate to the refrigerator. However, the present invention is of course applicable to a heat pump that transfers heat from a lower temperature side to a higher temperature side.
[0108] As described above, the present invention can provide a heat transporting apparatus which has good heat transporting capability and which enables an increase in heat exchange efficiency.
[0109] Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
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In a heat transporting apparatus, a cylinder is filled with a refrigerant and pistons are arranged in the cylinder, which compress and expand the refrigerant in the cylinder. A magnet unit is movably provided around the cylinder to apply a magnetic field to the cylinder, which is alternately increased and decreased in accordance with a movement of the magnet unit. A thermal accumulator is received in the cylinder, which produces heat depending on one of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the compression of the refrigerant, and absorbs heat depending on the other of the increasing and decreasing of the magnetic field at the expansion of the refrigerant. Heat exchangers are located in the cylinder, which radiates the heat from the refrigerant and thermal accumulator to an exterior of the apparatus, and absorbs external heat and transfers the heat to the refrigerant and thermal accumulator.
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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
[0001] This invention was made with U.S. Government support under Agreement No. N00019-99-3-1366 awarded by the Naval air Systems Command. The U.S. Government has certain rights in the invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to masks used for charged particle lithography. It relates more specifically to electron lithography systems employing thin membrane masks used to scatter electrons.
[0003] Masks for charged particle lithography, in particular electron beam projection lithography (EPL), are formed from thin membrane masks. It has been found that if the membrane or scattering material has some intrinsic stress and is patterned, the placement of the images distorts as the stress is relieved due to removal of the stressed layers. This effect is largest when a large gradient exists in the pattern density, such as half of the membrane being patterned with a dense pattern and the other half being unpatterned. This leads to a large membrane distortion that is impossible to correct in the e-beam optics. Patterning the entire membrane also leads to a large distortion, but this can be corrected by a magnification correction in the e-beam optics.
[0004] This problem is illustrated by FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a half-patterned region on a membrane. FIG. 2 shows a corresponding image placement distortion pattern for a 1×1 mm stencil mask. See Lercel et al., J. Vac. Sci Technol. B. 19(6), pp. 2671-2677 November/December (2001) for a further explanation of pattern-induced image placement distortions.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] One way to overcome distortion in EPL is to add dummy shapes (also known as fill) in the unexposed region. This is often practiced in wafer fabrication to reduce micro-loading during etch or CMP. However, these shapes could print during the EPL exposure leading to undesirable patterning of the wafer. Alternatively, the shapes may be added only in allowable regions (those outside of the printing area), but this limits the usability of this compensation technique.
[0006] This invention describes methods of producing a mask and mask structures to allow for the use of dummy fill shapes but which will alleviate printability problems. This invention overcomes distortion in by adding a dummy shape in regions that are exposed to the electron beam and applying a blocking layer to cover the dummy shape and prevent the dummy shape from being printed on the wafer. The blocking layer is comprised of an aperture or additional mask mounted close to the mask or can be added to the mask itself.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] [0007]FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a half-patterned region on a membrane.
[0008] [0008]FIG. 2 shows a schematic of a distortion pattern for a 1×1 mm stencil mask induced by a half-patterned region.
[0009] [0009]FIG. 3 illustrates in diagram form an E-beam projection system with a blocking plane.
[0010] [0010]FIG. 4 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of an aperture in the e-beam stepper below the mask that to cover regions containing fill.
[0011] [0011]FIG. 5 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of a coarse mask 50 that would be placed immediately above (or below) the patterning mask 40 .
[0012] [0012]FIG. 6 illustrates in schematic diagram form a blocking layer fabricated into the scattering mask itself.
[0013] [0013]FIG. 7 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of an alternative monolithic starting substrate.
[0014] [0014]FIG. 8 illustrates in schematic diagram form a method of fabricating a structure similar to the of FIG. 7 from a standard stencil mask substrate.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] In order to understand how this invention solves the problem of fill shapes printing on a wafer a schematic diagram of an E-beam projection system with a blocking plane is illustrated in FIG. 3. The simplified E-beam projection system and apparatus depicted in FIG. 3 has as key physical elements an electron source 1 , a condenser lens 2 , a scattering mask 3 , an objective lens 4 , a back focal plane filter 5 , a projection lens 6 and target 7 carrying an electron-sensitive resist layer. Scattering mask 3 has clear regions 31 and scattering regions 32 and fill region 33 . Fill region 33 is added to reduce stress and is not intended to be printed. Objective lens 4 images source 1 at aperture 51 while projection lens 6 images mask 3 at target 7 .
[0016] [0016]FIG. 3 also depicts the flow of energy, identified as rays 9 , for source 1 to target 7 . Net energy at target 7 is depicted by exposed regions 71 and unexposed regions (no electron flux) 72 . Rays passing undisturbed through mask opening 31 are identified as 9 a . This electron trajectory goes through aperture 51 and exposes region 71 . The electron trajectory for rays 9 b go through an opaque region 32 on the mask. The electron is scattered by opaque region 32 and is absorbed by aperture S.
[0017] Rays 9 c represents the electron trajectory for electrons headed for fill region 33 . Normally these electrons on this trajectory would pass through region 33 and continue on trajectory 9 d and expose resist at 73 . However, blocking plane 8 , which may be a part of or near the mask, absorbs these electrons, so they do not unintentionally expose resist on target wafer 7 .
[0018] There are several ways blocking plane 8 may be formed.
[0019] [0019]FIG. 4 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of an aperture in the e-beam stepper below the mask 40 that is to cover regions containing fill. The aperture 45 is adjustable (in both lateral dimensions) to cover the appropriate region. In FIG. 4 the fill shapes 44 are the coarser shapes on the left, and the desired device patterns 46 are on the right. The aperture 45 slides to occlude the fill shape region. Note that the aperture may be located in other locations of the e-beam column and may be fixed and the e-beam steered over the edges of the fixed aperture. Note that in this (and all figures) only a single subfield (membrane) is shown for clarity. Actual masks have a large plurality of subfields. Each subfield is printed independently, and the exposure beam is stepped from subfield to subfield. Note also that the mask is typically inverted during use in the stepper (as shown).
[0020] [0020]FIG. 5 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of a coarse mask 50 that would be placed immediately above (or below) the patterning mask 40 . This coarse mask would be opaque in the regions where fill 44 exist and clear in regions where device patterns 46 exist. The size of the compensation (fill) regions are likely to be >100 um so this coarse mask has large features and is easy to produce by inexpensive patterning methods. This allows for more general occlusion of fill patterns, i.e., ones that are located in arbitrary regions of the membrane. This requires the fabrication of a second mask (although an easy one). FIG. 5 demonstrates the concept where the top mask, with device patterns on the right and fill patterns on the left, is fabricated from an SOI mask substrate with silicon layer 55 , buried oxide layer 52 , substrate layer 53 , and backside layer 54 . The bottom mask is opaque except in the area where the device patterns are to be printed. This second mask may have the same structure (as shown in FIG. 5) or another structure.
[0021] The third method shown in FIG. 6 involves depositing an opaque layer over (or under) the dummy fill structures. The opaque layer only needs to scatter the electrons enough for them to be absorbed by the aperture 5 in FIG. 3 so the opaque layer need not be completely absorbing. FIG. 6 illustrates in schematic diagram form a blocking layer fabricated into the scattering mask itself. The disadvantage of this method is the opaque layer must be of very low stress but still opaque to the high energy electronics. The layer may be deposited on the top or bottom of the mask. In FIG. 6, the opaque layer 65 is shown on the front surface of the mask over the coarse fill regions. The opaque region may be low stress silicon, SiON, silicon nitride, silicon oxide, or a metal layer. Or diamond, diamond-like carbon, or hardened polymer.
[0022] The first three methods utilize an existing mask format. The fourth method of FIG. 7 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of an alternative monolithic starting substrate. A mask is fabricated with multiple membrane layers. The front surface membrane 74 is patterned with the device and fill structures. A second membrane 75 is patterned with the desired opaque regions 78 to block the fill structures. One embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. 7. A typical silicon-on-insulator starting substrate of silicon membrane layer 74 , buried oxide layer 76 , and silicon substrate 77 is modified by the addition of a second SOI layer formed from a second silicon membrane layer 75 and buried oxide layer 79 . The starting substrate would be formed with standard SOI fabrication techniques of wafer bonding and release as are well known in the art. The use of a SOI layer as a starting substrate is desirable because of film stress control, but alternative techniques of forming this substrate are within the spirit of the invention. For example, the buried oxide layers and silicon layers could be formed by chemical vapor deposition. The mask blank would be fabricated by standard techniques by etching the substrate 77 and stopping on the buried oxide 79 . The mask would be patterned by normal processes to form the desired device patterns 46 (in FIG. 7 the mask is shown front surface up) and fill patterns 44 (on the right) in silicon layer 74 , stopping on buried oxide 76 . The back of the mask would then be patterned with the coarse opaque blocking region 76 over the fill patterns into silicon membrane layer 75 (note that buried oxide layer 79 would be removed first). Then the buried oxide layer 76 would be removed using standard oxide removal techniques to form the mask structure as shown (the oxide would not need to be removed entirely from under the fill shapes).
[0023] [0023]FIG. 8 illustrates in schematic diagram form a method of fabricating a structure similar to that of FIG. 7 from a standard stencil mask substrate. After the stencil mask of layers 81 - 84 is formed by standard techniques. A thin layer 86 , such as low stress SiON, SiO 2 , or a polymer, is deposited over the finished mask. Subsequently an electron opaque layer 85 , such as silicon, is deposited over layer 86 . The opaque layer 85 is coarsely patterned to block the fill shapes. The layer 86 is removed from the membrane area such as through a wet chemical etch of the SiON, SiO 2 , or polymer to leave a free-standing opaque blocking membrane formed from layer 85 . The support layer 86 would not have to be removed from the fill region 46 , but would advantageously be removed to eliminate extra stress on the device patterned layer 81 .
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A method of producing a particle beam mask and mask structures to allow for the use of dummy fill shapes. This invention overcomes distortion in by adding a dummy shape in unexposed regions and applying a blocking layer to cover the dummy shape. The blocking layer is comprised of an aperture or additional mask mounted close to the mask or can be added to the mask itself.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/043,723 filed Mar. 6, 2008, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/893,140, filed Mar. 6, 2007. Application Ser. No. 12/043,723 is co-pending at the time of filing of the present continuation-in-part, and the priority thereof is specifically claimed. The specification of Ser. No. 12/043,723 is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to vehicles and, more particularly, methods of producing carpeting utilized within vehicles.
[0003] In the automotive industry, carpeting is used for multiple purposes. One such purpose is noise attenuation since it is desirable to reduce the noise within a vehicle compartment. Various acoustical materials are used to reduce that noise which may be outside noises such as road noise, engine noise, vibrations, etc. These materials are used in dashboards, wheel wells, trunk compartments, under hoods, headliners, and especially carpeting floor panels. The acoustic properties of the carpeting floor panels are not the only considerations or functionality taken into account with respect to the carpeting panels. Such other considerations include the weight of the carpeting, the look of the carpeting, the cost of the carpeting and the feel (or the “hand”) of the carpeting. There are two main types of carpeting constructions used to attain these desired features.
[0004] Carpeting used in the automotive industry is typically tufted or nonwoven needle punch constructions. Tufted carpeting generally includes a composite structure in which tufts, or bundles of carpet fibers are introduced (such as by stitching) into a primary backing, such as a woven or non-woven fabric. These carpet fibers are typically a yarn consisting of nylon, polyester, wool or polypropylene, with nylon being the most common. A primary back coating of thermoplastic material is then applied to the underside of the carpet construction in order to securely retain the tufted material in the primary backing. This back coating not only dimensionally stabilizes the construction but may also provide greater abrasion and wear resistance, and may serve as an adhesive for an additional layer of material. Nonwoven carpet is composed of fiber that is mechanically entangled by needling, water jet, or other processes. Tufted nylon carpet has superior wear characteristics and as a result is generally preferred in North American automotive applications versus the less superior wear of the non-woven needle punch constructions which is generally preferred in European and Asian production markets.
[0005] Nylon has drawbacks however and there is always a desire to improve automotive carpet technology without increasing the cost of the carpet. This desire has lead to the development of alternative fibers being used in such carpet applications. One such alternative is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET fiber is made from PET chips, some of which come from recycled plastic containers. While PET is technically a polyester, it has a much higher melting point than polyester, which has been a drawback to the use of other polyesters. The melting point of PET is comparable to that of nylon. PET also has the potential to be recycled over and over. PET fiber also has a natural stain resistance quality which avoids the problem of nylon needing an application of a stain resistance chemical due to being inherently highly susceptible to staining. Additionally, PET stronger tear strength than nylon which is advantageous as it provides better scuff and tear resistance than traditional nylon carpets. For these and other reasons, PET seems to be a logical replacement for nylon in tufted automotive carpets. Unfortunately, though, current methods of forming PET carpet with PET as the face fiber (the top layer) result in carpeting that is not as durable as nylon or polypropylene carpet and is usually recommended only for light to moderate wear conditions and therefore is a drawback and preventing its acceptance and use for automotive applications. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/043,723, which is co-pending and incorporated herein by reference, discloses a PET carpet assembly and a method for forming the same that improves upon the many benefits and feature of nylon and non-woven needle punch constructions, however the appearance and feel of the PET carpet may not match some of the “luxury” nylon carpet assemblies.
[0006] Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method that results in a PET carpet that combines and improves upon the many benefits and features of nylon and non-woven needle punch constructions without increasing the cost to manufacture and yet matches or exceeds the appearance and feel of nylon and non-woven needle punch constructions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] In view of the above discussion, a tufted PET carpet assembly and methods of forming the same are provided. According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a tufted PET carpet assembly comprising a face layer comprised of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarn comprised of PET fibers and tufted at a pre-determined gauge, the face layer having a face weight, a first backing layer adjacent the face layer, and a first back coating layer adjacent the first backing layer.
[0008] According to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a tufted PET carpet assembly comprising a face layer comprised of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarn comprised of PET fibers and tufted at a pre-determined gauge, the face layer having a face weight, a first backing layer adjacent the face layer, a first back coating layer adjacent the first backing layer, a second backing layer adjacent the first back coating layer, and an underlayment layer adjacent the second backing layer.
[0009] According to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method of forming a tufted PET carpet assembly with PET yarn comprising the steps of tufting the PET yarn at a pre-determined gauge onto a backing, applying a back coating to the tufted PET via extrusion to lock the tufted PET to the backing, and applying heat to the tufted PET to enhance the look and feel of the PET.
[0010] According to yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method of forming a carpet made from recycled material comprising the steps of utilizing tufted recycled PET fibers for the carpet facing, providing recycled PET for the primary backing, using a back coating formed of PE or latex in one of powder or sheet form, adding a scrim comprised of recycled PET, and attaching an insulator pad comprised of recycled PET.
[0011] It is one object of the present invention that the tufted PET carpet have wear characteristics that are superior to non-woven needle punch constructions and competitive with traditional nylon constructions.
[0012] It is another object of the present invention that the tufted PET carpet be naturally stain resistant and have moisture resistancy that is competitive with comparable nylon fibers.
[0013] It is yet another object of the present invention that the tufted PET carpet have color retention and fade resistance characteristics superior to or competitive with existing nylon fibers.
[0014] It is another object of the present invention that the tufted PET carpet consist at least partially of recycled materials.
[0015] It is yet another object of the present invention that the tufted PET carpet have competitive or superior sound absorption characteristics compared to traditional carpets.
[0016] It is another object of the present invention that the tufted PET carpet have the same of superior appearance and feel characteristics of convention nylon carpets.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] The above, as well as other, advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when considered in the light of the accompanying drawings in which:
[0018] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of a carpet in accordance with the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment of a carpet in accordance with the present invention; and
[0020] FIG. 3 is a schematic showing one exemplary method of forming tufted PET carpeting in accordance with the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0021] The present invention relates generally to vehicles and, more particularly, tufted polyethylene terephthalate (PET) carpets and methods of producing the same for use within vehicles.
[0022] Referring to FIG. 1 , an embodiment of a tufted carpet, generally illustrated at 10 , is illustrated in accordance with the present invention. The carpet 10 has a carpet facing 12 that is backed by a primary backing 14 . The carpet facing 12 which is the outward most layer that is seen and felt by the consumer is preferably formed of tufted PET while the primary backing 14 is preferably polyester, a polymer fiber such as a polyolefin (PE) or any other suitable synthetic fiber. The primary backing 14 to the carpet facing 12 is preferably formed of a polyester or spun bonded polyester blend scrim of 100-130 gsm. Adjacent to the primary backing 14 is a back coating 16 that is preferably in powder or sheet form, or any other suitable material commonly used in the art such as frothed latex, PE or acrylic. The next layer of the carpet 10 in the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a secondary backing 18 which is preferably a lightweight scrim formed of polyester such as a PET. This secondary backing 18 is optional and may be included depending on various requirements placed on the carpeting such as moldability and sound attenuation. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the secondary backing 18 could be omitted without straying from the scope of this disclosure.
[0023] Finally, the carpet 10 preferably includes an underlayment 20 . The underlayment 20 functions as an insulator pad as is commonly known in the art and is also preferably formed of PET. The cross-section for each layer 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 , and 20 is preferably uniform but may be varied. Further, the thickness of each particular layer is also preferably uniform across the entire carpet 10 , however each layer may have a thickness that is different from the thickness of the other layers. Additionally, any number of additional layers may be added without straying from the scope of this disclosure. For example, referring to FIG. 2 , to satisfy certain requirements a secondary back coating 22 could be utilized. This secondary back coating 22 could be located between the primary backing 14 and the second backing 18 and could consist of many types of materials such as PE or an EVA blend.
[0024] PET fiber as used in this invention can be manufactured from either virgin (nonrecyled) or recycled sources. For a variety of reasons, recycled PET sources are preferred for the scope of this invention even though one skilled in the art will appreciate that virgin PET sources may also be used with similar results. Further, PET fiber that ranges from 10-100% post consumer recycled material is preferred over 100% virgin sources because the recycled material is composed of high quality resins if derived from plastic beverage containers due to the fact that the United States Food and Drug Administration requires top quality resins to be used in the manufacturing of such plastic containers. Due to these high quality resins which improve the strength of the fiber, PET fiber that is manufactured from recycled plastic beverage containers typically results in a better quality tufted carpet when formed in accordance with the present invention. This distinguishes recycled PET from virgin PET and makes the use of recycled PET advantageous. Testing of yarn derived from such sources has exhibited that the fibers have exceptional strength and durability, which is important for its use in the automotive carpet industry. Further, these characteristics are not lost during the recycling process.
[0025] In addition to the typical considerations for automotive carpet systems such as durability, weight, cost sound absorption, etc., the use of recycled PET for the carpet of the present invention comes with an additional bonus feature over nylon—environmental friendliness. Utilizing the method disclosed herein, it is possible to create a “green” carpet 10 that is mainly comprised of post consumer recycled face fiber and materials which are readily recyclable at the endlife of the automotive carpet. An example of such a carpet 10 would mean that the carpet facing 12 is derived from recycled PET, the back coating 14 of PE, the second backing also of PET or a spun bound polyester scrim, and the underlayment 20 also from recycled PET. Finally, the use of recycled PET is not cost-prohibitive. Recycled and virgin PET is readily available in the material stream and provides cost advantages over nylon.
[0026] While the use of the recycled PET material is optimal and contemplated herein, this disclosure is not meant to limit the use of PET to only PET fiber that is made from 100% post consumer recycled material and anticipates that many different blends of source material may be utilized. Further, one skilled in the art will appreciate that sources of recycled material other than plastic beverage containers may also be utilized to carry out the invention.
[0027] Tufted PET for automotive carpets can be manufactured utilizing fiber diameters preferably ranging from about 800 to about 2400 denier and having filament counts ranging from about 40 to about 300. The most preferred combination, however, is a 1000 denier, 140 filament count construction which is 7.14 dpf (denier/fiber). The preferred face weight of the tufted PET can range from about 9.0 oz. per square yard to over 50.0 oz. per square yard. The carpet 10 can be manufactured on conventional tufting equipment as described herein, but the process preferably requires the use of a heating process after the carpet has been tufted in order to develop the “hand,” or the feel, of the material. Typical nylon carpet usually either does not need a special heating step due to the heat involved in the extrusion process or uses a steam box to steam the carpet. U.S. Ser. No. 12/043,723 discloses the use of a steam box to steam PET carpet to develop the hand of the carpet, but this method of heat is insufficient to fully develop the finer denier, higher filament count yarns contemplated for use by this disclosure. The traditional steam box typically reaches temperature of approximately 212° F. and only for a duration of about 10 to about 20 seconds. Tufted PET applications utilizing a fine denier and/or high filament count yarn require much more heating to “bulk” and develop the fibers than supplied by the steam box. Further, simply increasing the amount of time exposed to a steam box and/or using a super heated steam raises the risk of excess moisture being absorbed by the carpet.
[0028] Therefore, the heating step as disclosed herein is preferably utilizes an inferred heat or a convention heat source although one skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of heat sources may be used without straying from the scope of this disclosure. For example, it is anticipated that a form of contact heat could be utilized to develop the carpet. The carpet 10 is preferably exposed to heat in the range of about 212-300° F. for a period of between about 20-40 seconds. One skilled in the art will appreciate that these ranges may vary depending on the characteristics of the fiber being used and/or the heat source being used. The ability to fully develop the finer denier blend PET yarns allows for a larger diversification of carpet constructions and enhanced appearance capabilities than possible with U.S. Ser. No. 12/043,723. For example, the PET can be tufted in finer gage constructions such as 5/32 and 5/64 in order to provide a carpet assembly that has more detail and carpet pattern capabilities and improved wear characteristics.
[0029] As described hereinabove, the preferred method involves the introduction of a heating medium to fully develop the carpet facing 12 . During processing, the PET yarn can be tufted into any gauge, for example ⅛, 1/10, 5/32, or 5/64. The finer denier blends provide for a more luxurious hand appearance. At comparable carpet face weights, tufted PET has approximately 20% more tufts per square inch than conventional tufted nylon. This higher density results in improved elimination of corn rowing (or ridging) as often experienced in carpets of lower density. Additional fiber strength and wear performance can be achieved with the tufted PET by adding additional geometry, such as looped and twisted yarns, to the fiber. Further, the carpet facing 12 could be cut-pile. Preferably, the filament count of the PET fiber is around 80-140 however that could vary without straying from the scope of the present invention. The fiber diameters of the tufted PET are typically finer than traditional nylon carpet and as a result, significant acoustical sound absorption advances are also anticipated by use of PET versus nylon. Micro-denier fiber technology may also allow the ability to tune interior vehicle acoustic performance at specific frequency ranges. For example, a micro-denier fiber layer (not shown) could be placed between the second backing 18 and the underlayment 20 to achieve different acoustic tendencies.
[0030] The tufting of specialized PET fibers, and preferably recycled PET fibers, is advantageous in the manufacturing of automotive carpet systems, including carpeted floors, inserts and auxiliary mats. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the carpeting 10 and the methods of forming tufted PET carpeting as disclosed herein are not limited to automotive applications and may also be applied for non-automotive applications such as commercial carpets, residential carpets, or airplane carpets.
[0031] The present disclosure also provides for a preferred method for forming the carpet 10 . Referring now to FIG. 2 , in accordance with the preferred method of manufacture as disclosed herein, in the first step 30 , the PET chip (either virgin or recycled) is extruded into PET yarn and then wound onto yarn cones or spools. Then in 32 , if not already there, the yarn cones or spools are sent to the tufting location. The next step of the method at 34 involves loading the yarn cones onto a tufting creel or rewinding the yarn onto tufting beams. Then, in 36 the yarn is pulled off of the tufting creel or beam and indexed into a tufting machine. Next, in step 38 , the yarn is tufted onto a primary backing. Then, in step 40 , the carpet 10 is heated to develop the hand of the material. This heating step 40 preferably involves the use of inferred heat, convection heat, contact heat, or another similar heating medium. After tufting and steaming, in step 42 a back coating such as a thin latex or frothed PE layer that is preferably 40-120 gms is applied to the yarn. This step 42 “tuftlocks” the PET yarn into the primary backing. Depending on the moldability and acoustic requirements for the carpet, an optional next step is applying a secondary back coating in step 44 . This secondary back coating may consist of a polyethylene (PE) or ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) blend. If a PE blend it preferably ranges from 200-800 gsm and if an EVA blend it preferably ranges from 800-2000 gsm. In step 46 , an underlayment 20 is attached to the assembly. Finally, in step 48 , once the carpet is completed, it can be prepared as necessary for the specific application. This step 48 may involve cutting the carpet and other necessary steps.
[0032] One skilled in the art will appreciate that the steps as listed above may vary or the order may change depending on the specific requirements of the carpet application. For example, the heating step 40 may occur earlier in the process. In addition, steps may be added to the process. For example, depending on moldability and acoustic requirements for the carpet, a secondary backing 18 can also be added. Such a secondary backing 18 typically consists of a lightweight scrim polyester or synthetic blend and preferably ranges from 15-100 gsm.
[0033] In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, the present invention has been described in what is considered to represent its preferred embodiment. However, it should be noted that the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described without departing from its spirit or scope.
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A tufted PET carpet assembly and a method of forming the same. The carpet assembly comprising a face layer comprised of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) yarn comprised of PET fibers and tufted at a pre-determined gauge, the face layer having a face weight, a first backing layer adjacent the face layer, and a first back coating layer adjacent the first backing layer. A method of forming a tufted PET carpet assembly with PET yarn comprising the steps of tufting the PET yarn at a pre-determined gauge onto a backing, applying a back coating to the tufted PET via extrusion to lock the tufted PET to the backing, and applying heat to the tufted PET to enhance the look and feel of the PET.
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BACKGROUND
Sudden opening or closure of a control valve, or tap, can cause a pressure surge or spike in plumbing as a result of forcing a fluid in motion (or, in some conditions, a gas) to stop or change direction suddenly. This phenomenon is called water or fluid hammer, and it can cause ruptures and leaks in pipes and fittings. Water hammer creates pressure waves that travel upstream and downstream of the closed/opened taps at nearly the speed of sound. There are a number of standard techniques that attempt to minimize the pressure spikes resulting from water hammer. In pipe networks, for example, common techniques to address water hammer include use of surge vessels, equilibrium tanks, pressure relief valves, and suction lines around the booster pump. In residential and light commercial/industrial applications, an air chamber and water hammer arrestor may be used for water hammer control.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art pipe network that employs an air chamber to address undesirable pressure surges associated with water hammer. As shown in FIG. 1 , this is a conventional technique wherein a short vertical section of pipe is filled with trapped air. In this scenario, when a valve is suddenly closed, the air chamber acts as a shock absorber. Air in this chamber compresses and cushions the resulting shock. The disadvantage of this conventional technique/device is that after time, the air pocket is eventually absorbed into/by the water, which renders the device ineffective. To remedy this limitation, one must drain water out of the system to recreate the air pocket. Referring to FIG. 2 , a prior art arrestor device designed to address water hammer in a pipe network is shown. As shown in FIG. 2 , this solution to water hammer is similar to that of the air chamber of FIG. 1 , with the exception that the air pocket in the arrestor is separated and sealed from the water by a piston with an “O” ring or diaphragm so that the air cannot be absorbed by water. The air pocket for this type of water hammer control device is pressurized to a certain limit. One disadvantage of this “arrestor” technique/device is that the pressure level of the air pocket is typically too high for the device to work properly for low pressure applications. Another disadvantage of this device is that the moving piston generally makes it noisy. Furthermore, both the air chamber and water hammer arrestor devices have the disadvantage of being metallic (usually copper); thus, they are susceptible to corrosion and erosion.
SUMMARY
Systems and apparatus for suppressing/controlling pressure spikes in a fluid pipe system are described. In one aspect, an apparatus for controlling pressure spikes in a fluid pipe system includes, for example, a fluid pressure spike suppression pipe (“damper pipe”) portion with multiple openings for connecting to at least two network pipes in a fluid system pipe network. The damper pipe has a diameter that is larger than respective diameters of the network pipes within which fluid pressure spikes are to be suppressed. First and second openings for connecting to the network pipes are respectively positioned at proximal and distal ends of the damper pipe. The first opening in the damper pipe is for fluid ingress into the damper pipe via a first pipe network pipe. The second opening in the damper pipe is for fluid egress out of the damper pipe and into a second network pipe.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a prior art pipe network that employs an air chamber to address undesirable pressure surges associated with water hammer.
FIG. 2 shows a prior art water pipe network that employs an arrestor device to compensate for sudden water pressure surges associated with water hammer phenomena.
FIGS. 3( a ) and 3 ( b ) show exemplary embodiments of novel water/fluid pressure spike suppression pipe portions (“damper pipes”) in respective pipe networks.
FIG. 4 shows a pipe network that includes a novel fluid hammer damper pipe (e.g., a “fluid pressure spike damper pipe”) with balloons installed in a typical residential or commercial plumbing network comprising a main pipe and a control valve, according to one embodiment.
FIGS. 5( a ) through 5 ( d ) show a set of exemplary data showing how a plastic embodiment of the fluid pressure spike suppression (“FPSS”)/damper/control pipe of FIG. 3 performs as compared to a large commercial water hammer arrestor. Specifically:
FIG. 5( a ) shows water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment without using FPSS pipe device 302 ;
FIG. 5( b ) shows water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment using a standard prior art large water hammer arrestor;
FIG. 5( c ) shows exemplary water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment using a plastic embodiment of the FPSS pipe 302 of this disclosure without compressible inserts (e.g., balloons filled with air/gas), according to one embodiment; and
FIG. 5( d ) shows exemplary water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment using a FPSS pipe 302 with three balloon inserts 306 encapsulating air at a pressure equal to the normal pressure in the fluid pipe network, according to one embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
An Exemplary Plastic Water Hammer Damper
FIGS. 3( a ) and ( b ), which are collectively referred to hereinafter as FIG. 3 , show exemplary embodiments of a fluid pressure spike suppression (“FPSS”)/damper (“FPSD”)/control pipe 302 . In this particular implementation, the novel FPSS device 302 is for suppressing fluid (e.g., water) hammer in residential and commercial fluid systems comprising plastic and/or metallic pipes—although, in another implementation, the concepts disclosed in this specification can also be used in gas systems, as compared to fluid systems, to dissipate sudden gas pressure spikes. In this implementation, the device comprises the FPSS pipe/vessel portion 302 (e.g., made from Polychloroethene or “uPVC” or “PVC”). FPSS 302 , which is hereinafter often referred to as a “damper pipe,” has a larger pipe diameter than the connecting pipes 304 ( 304 - 1 and 304 - 2 ) for which pressure spikes in fluids that typically result in water hammer are to be controlled/suppressed. To this end, and referring to either of FIG. 3( a ) or 3 ( b ), first and second network pipe portions 304 - 1 and 304 - 2 are operatively coupled to the damping pipe 302 in a substantially perpendicular orientation to the length of the damping pipe 302 . Network pipe 304 - 1 serves for fluid ingress (an “inlet”) to provide fluid flow into the damper pipe 302 . Please note that as the fluid enters the damper pipe 302 from inlet pipe 304 - 1 , the fluid is substantially perpendicularly redirected along the length of the damper pipe 302 for egress out the opposite end of the damper pipe 302 via network pipe 304 - 2 (“outlet”). Please note that in this exemplary implementation, the second portion is also perpendicular to the orientation of the damping pipe 302 . This network pipe 304 orientation to the damping pipe, which results in fluid flow through the length of the damping pipe (ingress at a proximal end 306 and egress at a distal end 308 ) in normal fluid flow operation, as well as during operation to suppress a fluid pressure spike, serves to dampen any fluid pressure spike in a substantially optimal manner. In this particular implementation, fluid ingress or egress at location(s) other than a proximal or distal end (e.g., a centralized location with respect to the length of the damper pipe) of the damper pipe 302 will not as effectively mitigate fluid pressure surges in system 300 .
Although the diameter of pipe 304 - 1 may be the same as the diameter of pipe 304 - 2 , the diameter of a pipe 304 need not be the same and the diameter of a different pipe 304 . Additionally, although pipe 304 - 1 is labeled as an “outlet” and pipe 304 - 2 is labeled as an “inlet,” these labels illustrate but one exemplary embodiment of fluid flow direction. Different complementary inlet/outlet (fluid flow) configurations can be used for pipes 304 without departing from the scope of the described FPSS 302 . Damper pipe 302 does not rely on use of any bladder or water permeable screen. Moreover, damper pipe 302 is always filled with fluid, meaning that it has different characteristics and does not operate as a conventional air or vacuum chamber to alleviate pressure spikes resulting from fluid hammer. As such, the mechanism (e.g., gas) used in mitigating fluid pressure spikes will not be absorbed over time by the fluid, as in the case of an air chamber.
Referring to FIG. 3( a ) and TABLE 1, the following exemplary design parameters of TABLE 1 pertain to but one embodiment of many possible embodiments of the damper pipe 302 . As such, these design parameters offer preliminary guidelines, but damper pipe 302 can work properly to dissipate pressure spikes resulting from water hammer conditions outside the parameters of TABLE 1.
TABLE 1
EXEMPLARY FPSS/FPSD PIPE DESIGN PARAMETERS
D O > 4D n
L T ≧ 4D O
wherein,
D O = damper pipe inside diameter;
D n = diameter of the network pipe for which water hammer is to be
controlled; and
L T = total length for the damper pipe.
In this implementation, the damper pipe (pipe 302 ) diameter is large enough so as to expand easily under water pressure. This allows damper pipe 302 to swell in the radial direction; thus it would be able to store additional fluid resulting from fluid pressure spikes for a time period long enough to allow the pressure spike to travel to the boundary and to be reflected back with negative pressure spike, resulting in a reduction of pressure and relief to the main pipe(s) 304 . Thus, the system 302 absorbs a fluid pressure spike to quickly restore normal pressure to network pipes 304 .
Alternate Embodiments
Configurable Balance between Pressure Spike Suppression Materials and Various Operating Pressure Environments
In one implementation, for example, and to enhance the performance of the device 302 , a number of air-filled balloon(s) 310 (e.g., balloons 310 - 1 through 310 -N) of spherical shape are inserted into the damper pipe 302 . Each balloon 310 is comprised of a non-porous plastic or rubber material (not a cellular foam or foam-like material) that is inflated with gas (e.g., air or other gas). Since the gas inside each of the one or more balloons 310 is highly elastic, the balloon(s) will shrink when subjected to fluid pressure surge(s) during water hammer occurrence and expand when fluid pressure is reduced. Because the non-porous balloons 310 are not foam, the gas in the balloons will not be absorbed by the substantially continuous presence of liquid in the chamber 302 , wherein the presence is independent of fluid pressure spike(s).
In this embodiment, a balloon 310 is inflated with gas (e.g., air) to a select target and configurable pressure that is based on characteristics of the selected balloon material and the operating pressure of the pipe network 300 . In one implementation, for example, the gas pressure inside these balloon(s) is greater than local atmospheric pressure (absolute) but less than the normal water pressure just upstream of a control valve (e.g., control valve 404 of FIG. 4 ) plus the additional expected pressure spike (if no water hammer control is used). Low gas pressure inside the balloons may be suited to low pressure applications. High gas pressure inside the balloons may be suited for high pressure applications and applications where there may be high fluid pressure spikes, including systems that typically operate at low pressures. At the limit, when the gas pressure inside the balloon is equal to the pipe network normal pressure plus the expected pressure spike, the balloon itself will not shrink. For this reason, the gas pressure inside the balloons is selected so that it is not low enough to be reduced significantly during normal operational conditions and not high enough to reach levels beyond the maximum pressure levels recommended for the pipe(s).
The following exemplary design parameters shown in TABLE 2 pertain to but one embodiment of the possible alternate embodiments of the FPSS/FPSD device 302 (please see FIG. 3( a )) comprising one or more balloons 310 or balloon-like devices, which are referred to collectively as “balloon(s).” As such, these design parameters offer preliminary guidelines, but this alternative embodiment of the damper pipe 302 can work properly to dissipate pressure spikes resulting from water hammer conditions outside these parameters.
TABLE 2
EXEMPLARY FPSS/FPSD PIPE
BALLOON DESIGN PARAMETERS
L b < 0.8L T
D b ≦ 0.9D O
P atm ≦ P b ≦ P n + N
wherein,
D b = Balloon diameter,
L b = Summation of balloon diameters,
P atm = Local atmospheric pressure (absolute),
P b = Air pressure inside balloon (absolute),
P n = Normal network pressure just upstream of control (absolute), and
N = Pressure increase at the location of the damper due to the spike
from water hammer if no pressure spike suppression device is used. The
magnitude of this variable is obtained by subtracting the normal pressure
before spike from the maximum pressure level after pressure spike due
to fluid transient.
In one implementation, and because different materials have corresponding elastic or tensile strength properties, respective ones of the balloon(s) 310 are comprised of material that is particularly selected to correspond to target in-balloon gas pressure level(s) to respectively allow or to constrain volume contraction or expansion of the respective balloons. This provides for the balloon material(s) to be selectively matched with target internal gas pressures when configuring the design of the damper device 302 for a particular fluid network application (e.g., high, low, and/or medium pressure application(s)).
Retaining Mesh to Encapsulate Balloon in High Pressure Operations
In one embodiment, and as shown in FIGS. 3( a ) and 3 ( b ), one or more balloons 310 is/are encapsulated in a retaining mesh 312 . Such a retaining mesh 312 is shown as a matrix of intersecting lines on a balloon 310 . A balloon 310 without the retaining mesh 312 is shown as balloon 310 -N in FIG. 3( b )). The retaining mesh 312 maintains a fixed balloon volume even when the gas pressure that has been configured inside the balloon would otherwise expand the balloon's diameter (i.e., if the mesh were not there to constrain such expansion). This is in contrast to conventional water hammer suppression systems, wherein pressure in such conventional systems may be limited to a maximum, which is when the balloon diameter is equal to the inner diameter of the water hammer suppression chamber.
In one embodiment, the retaining mesh 312 comprises wire and/or other non-elastic material. A balloon 310 encapsulated in a retaining mesh is hereinafter often referred to as a “caged balloon.” The mesh 312 is constructed such that it has holes between respective portions of the mesh, wherein each hole allows a configurable portion of fluid pressure in the FPSS chamber 302 to influence a configurable portion of the surface of the balloon for corresponding contraction of the balloon in desired circumstances (e.g., fluid pressure spikes of configurable magnitude). In one implementation, the size of the holes in the encapsulating mesh is configured based on one or more of: (a) elastic and/or tensile characteristics of the balloon material; (b) normal operating pressure of the pipe network that includes the FPSS device 302 ; and (c) internal pressure of the gas inside the balloon. One exemplary use of one or more caged balloons is in a fluid pipe network that operates normally at high pressure and wherein corresponding fluid pressure spikes will be high pressure. In this scenario, and to suppress fluid hammer in such a system, the gas pressure inside the balloon(s) 310 is increased to accommodate for corresponding fluid pressure spikes in the system.
In one implementation, low gas pressure in the balloons 310 is used to suppress fluid hammer in a low pressure system. In this scenario, one or more caged balloons 310 may or may not be used, as desired, in the same suppression chamber 302 to address a range of system conditions. For example, in one implementation, a combination of non-caged balloons 310 and caged balloons 310 are used in a damper pipe 302 that is targeted/installed for/in a low pressure system to address any occurrence of a high pressure fluid pressure spike in the system. In another example, caged balloons and balloons without cages could be used in the same chamber 302 so that the caged balloons take care of positive pressure spikes (pressure increases) and balloons without cages take care of low pressure spikes (negative pressures) by expanding according to Boyle's law.
The described implementations of system 300 , wherein a retaining mesh 312 is used to constrain expansion of a balloon 310 , are in contrast to conventional water hammer suppression devices that may not be useful; for example, to address water hammer in high and/or low pressure systems. This is because, in such standard systems, pressurizing a balloon may cause corresponding balloon volume expansion, and de-pressurizing a balloon may cause corresponding balloon volume collapse. For instance, a conventional system for water hammer suppression may prescribe use of crushable plastic foam (or cellular plastic) in a pressure vessel to address negative effects of water hammer. Cellular foam is generally considered to be a substance formed by trapping many gas bubbles in a liquid or solid. In such a standard system: (a) the inside pressure of bubbles in cellular foam or other container is generally limited; (b) elasticity of the foam and its response to loading and unloading conditions is generally too poor/limited to handle surge pressures in pipelines; (c) air bubbles in the foam will likely dissipate over time responsive to water hammer shock (or otherwise be absorbed into the fluid in the system); and (d) a prohibitively large volume of foam may be required to provide a desired air (bubble) volume.
FIG. 4 shows an exemplary FPSS/FPSD device 302 with balloons 310 installed in a typical residential or commercial plumbing network comprising a main pipe 402 and a control valve 404 , according to one embodiment.
Plastic Water Hammer Damper
In one implementation, damper pipe 302 is made of plastic. In this implementation, there are no corrosion/erosion problems that occur for metallic dampers/arrestors. Since there are no moving parts in this particular implementation of damper pipe 302 , the device will not result in noise or bangs, as compared to the noise generally associated with a conventional water hammer arrestor.
Exemplary Performance
An exemplary set of parameters that effect the following are described: (a) pressure spike suppression when using a plastic chamber without balloons; and (b) pressure spike suppression when using air-filled balloons inserted in a steel chamber. As described, steel chamber response to pressure spike is negligible. Isolating the effect of chamber enables quantifying the effect of the balloons only.
Plastic Pressure Spike Damper (Plastic Chamber Without Balloons)
The parameters that affect the performance of this device are pipe diameter (D), pipe length (L), fluid velocity or discharge (Q), Young's modulus of elasticity for the damper material (E D ), damper length (L D ), damper diameter (D D ), damper wall thickness (e D ), pressure spike in pipe network due to water hammer (when no pressure surge control device is used) (N), fluid modulus of elasticity (K), Young's modulus of elasticity for the pipe (E), and pipe wall thickness (e). The following equations relate the reduction of pressure spike by the spike suppression device as a function of these parameters:
R = Δ V D Δ V D - max = ( N π D D 3 L D 4 e D E D ) 1 + K D E e 2840 Q L ( 1 ) Δ p w o - Δ p w Δ p w = f ( R ) ( 2 )
wherein ΔV D is the extra volume available due to damper pipe expansion from pressure spike, ΔV D-max is the fluid volume admitted for complete water hammer elimination and is equal to the volume of fluid that enters the pipe in a time equal to 2Q/a, Δp wo is the pressure spike in the pipe when no damping device is used, and Δp w is the pressure spike in the pipe when the spike suppression device is used.
Using different values for all the above parameters, more than 80 points were investigated. The left hand side of Eq. 2 is multiplied by 100 and plotted against the right hand side of Eq. 2 as shown in TABLE 3. If one knows the different parameters on the right-hand side of Eq. 2, that means the R value is known and it is possible to estimate the expected reduction; or, if there is a target reduction of pressure spike, one could enter the graph and obtain R from which it is possible to decide about which parameters values could be used to result in the desired R value:
TABLE 3
Air-Filled Balloons Inserted in a Steel Chamber
The parameters that affect the performance of the pressure spike suppression device are: local atmospheric pressure (p atm ), gas pressure inside the balloon (p b ), pipe pressure during normal system operation (p p1 ), maximum pressure spike in the pipe if no spike control device is used (p p2 ), pipe length (L), fluid modulus of elasticity (K), pipe diameter (D), Young's modulus of elasticity for the pipe (E), pipe wall thickness (e), discharge in the pipe (Q), caged balloon volume (V 0 ), and balloon initial pressure (the pressure necessary to inflate the balloon until it just starts pressing the cage) (p 0 ). The equations analogous to Eqs. (1) and (2) above are:
R
=
Δ
V
D
Δ
V
D
-
max
=
(
(
p
atm
+
p
b
-
p
0
)
V
0
(
1
p
p
2
+
p
atm
-
1
p
p
1
+
p
atm
)
1
+
K
D
E
e
2840
Q
L
)
(
3
)
Δ
p
wo
-
Δ
p
w
Δ
p
w
=
f
(
R
)
(
4
)
Ten tests were carried out with a range of values for all the parameters mentioned above. The left-hand side of Eq. 4 is multiplied by 100 and plotted against the right-hand side of Eq. 3 to obtain FIG. 4 . With all the values of the pipe and balloon parameters known, one could estimate the reduction in pressure spike from TABLE 4; or if it is desired to have a given target reduction, one could enter the curve from the reduction % axis and read the value of the volume ratio. When this value is used in Eq. 3, one could decide which parameters take which values to reach this value of volume ratio, as shown in TABLE 4:
TABLE 4
An Exemplary Plastic Water Hammer Damper with Balloons
One could use balloons inside a plastic chamber to obtain the performance of the device as indicated; for example, in TABLES 3 and 4. For instance, if the desired spike reduction is 80%, one could use 70% of this value for the balloons and the remaining 30% would be for the plastic chamber to absorb. These are target reductions.
FIGS. 5( a ) through 5 ( d ) show a set of exemplary data to compare exemplary performance of the disclosed plastic water hammer damper 302 with performance of a large commercial water hammer arrestor in a substantially similar plumbing network. For purposes of exemplary comparison, a test, the information and results of which are shown in respective ones of FIGS. 5( a ) through 5 ( d ), was carried out in the ground floor of a residential building with an elevated storage tank that supplies water to the building by gravity. In this example, the elevation difference between the control valve and the water level in the elevated storage tank was about 10-12 m. The water hammer damper 302 for this test was having a damper pipe diameter of 101.6 mm and damper pipe length of 750 mm. FIG. 5( a ) shows water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment without using damper pipe device 302 . FIG. 5( b ) shows water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment using a commercially available large water hammer arrestor. FIG. 5( c ) shows exemplary water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment using the plastic water hammer damper 302 of this configuration without balloons 310 , according to one embodiment. FIG. 5( d ) shows exemplary water hammer results following valve closure in the test environment using a FPSS 302 with three balloons 310 with pressure equal to the normal pressure in the network, according to one embodiment. As shown, in FIGS. 5( a ) through 5 ( d ), the FPSS 302 provides substantially better reduction of water hammer pressure than the commercial water hammer arrestor (please see FIG. 5( b )). Additionally, use of the FPSS 302 with a set of balloons 310 substantially enhances performance of the device 302 to address fluid pressure surges responsive to the water hammer. Please note that fluid pressures responsive to the water hammer were further reduced as the number of balloons 310 used in the device 302 is increased.
Although the above sections describe systems and methods for a FPSS 302 in language specific to structural features and/or methodological operations or actions, the implementations defined in the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described. Rather, the specific features and operations for the FPSS 302 are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.
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Systems and apparatus for suppressing/controlling pressure spikes in a fluid pipe system are described. In one aspect, an apparatus for controlling pressure spikes in a fluid pipe system includes, for example, a fluid pressure spike suppression pipe (“damper pipe”) portion with multiple openings for connecting to at least two network pipes in a fluid system pipe network. The damper pipe has a diameter that is larger than respective diameters of the network pipes within which fluid pressure spikes are to be suppressed. First and second openings for connecting to the network pipes are respectively positioned at proximal and distal ends of the damper pipe. The first opening in the damper pipe is for fluid ingress into the damper pipe via a first pipe network pipe. The second opening in the damper pipe is for fluid egress out of the damper pipe and into a second network pipe.
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PRIORITY AND RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/829,412 filed Nov. 5, 2004 for “Pivotable Towing Arrangement,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates generally to towable travel luggage, and more particularly to a towing arrangement with a pivotal handle which allows a user to position the handle more comfortably than would otherwise be possible with a conventional towing arrangement.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
[0003] Many varieties of luggage today come equipped with wheels from the manufacturer to enable a user to roll rather than carry or drag his or her luggage when traveling. Typically, such bags come equipped with a towing arrangement, which is sometimes simply a strap attached to the bag but is more often a handle attached to an extendable tubular member which is extended when the luggage is being towed. When the luggage is not being towed, the extendable tubular member is generally left in the retracted position, and thus generally does not affect the outer dimensions of the bag. The length of the tubular member is typically such that it prevents the luggage from coming into contact with the user's legs and feet while it is extended and the luggage is being towed.
[0004] The typical conventional towing arrangement is depicted in FIG. 1 . A piece of luggage 110 includes two telescoping poles 116 , connected by a towing handle 118 , which slide into receptacles attached to the piece of luggage 110 . This type of luggage generally also has a receptacle for the towing handle such that the towing handle lies flush with an exterior surface of the piece of luggage when the towing arrangement is retracted.
[0005] Extendable towing arrangements generally include a mechanism for locking the towing arrangement in the extended and in the retracted positions. Such mechanisms can include spring loaded detents, cam locks, and other interference locks and interference fits. Some mechanisms require manual operation of the release mechanism to extend and/or retract the tubular member. Some mechanisms are automatically released by a sufficient amount of force to extend and/or retract the tubular member.
[0006] Conventional towing arrangements have some drawbacks despite their convenience over simply carrying the piece of luggage. The positioning and shape of the towing handle of most towing arrangements can make towing a piece of luggage awkward and uncomfortable. This is primarily because the person towing the bag must tow the bag with his or her wrist turned to its extreme in either one direction or the other when gripping the towing handle. Thus, maneuverability of the luggage becomes limited by the person's ability to further twist his or her wrist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] One approach to overcoming the shortcomings of the prior art is disclosed in commonly assigned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/392,522 filed on Mar. 20, 2003, entitled “Selectively Rotatable Handle Assembly for Towable Luggage,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. One of the objects of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned problems and deficiencies and to provide further improvements to the invention disclosed in application Ser. No. 10/392,522.
[0008] For example, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a towing arrangement in which the handle can be pivotally connected to the tubular member. The relative motion between the handle and the tubular member can allow a person to tow the piece of luggage in a more comfortable position than in the prior art. This is because the person can grasp the handle with his or her wrist facing his or her waist, rather than facing the ground or the ceiling as with conventional towing arrangements. The relative motion can also increase the maneuverability of a piece of luggage by eliminating the need for a person to reposition his or her hand on the handle when attempting to redirect the piece of luggage. The relative motion that can allow the handle to be oriented so that a person gripping it has his or her wrist facing his or her waist, also can permit the handle to be rotated approximately 90 degrees from that direction when the towing arrangement is retracted for storage. This orientation may be preferred for the retracted position, because towing arrangements are generally placed immediately adjacent to an exterior surface of the luggage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of a conventional towing arrangement.
[0010] FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of a first exemplary embodiment of a towing arrangement according to the present invention.
[0011] FIG. 3 shows a more detailed isometric view of the towing arrangement of FIG. 2 .
[0012] FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of certain components of the towing arrangement of FIG. 2 .
[0013] FIG. 5 shows a more detailed view an isometric view of of certain components of the towing arrangement of FIG. 2 .
[0014] FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of the collar assembly that may be used with the towing arrangement of FIG. 2 .
[0015] Throughout the figures, the same reference numerals and characters, unless otherwise stated, are used to denote like features, elements, components or portions of the illustrated embodiments. Moreover, while the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures, it is done so in connection with the illustrative embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0016] FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment according to the present invention. A towing arrangement 12 may include a handle 14 , a tubular member 16 , and a handle mechanism 18 . The towing arrangement 12 may be attached to a wheeled piece of luggage 20 . The handle mechanism 18 may permit the handle to be rotated with the respect to the tubular member 16 , and may also permit the tubular member 16 to retract into the luggage 20 . The handle 14 may be of a generally oval shape. All of the individual components of the towing arrangement 12 may be fabricated from a material to provide sufficient strength, for example steel or aluminum. Optionally, the towing arrangement 12 may be attached to a cart used to transport a piece of luggage.
[0017] FIG. 3 depicts a magnified and more detailed view than FIG. 2 . A button 50 may be used to actuate a locking member 52 which may be in the passageway of the handle 14 . The locking member 52 may include one or more first protrusions 54 a , 54 b which may communicate with second protrusions 56 of support locking member 58 . In a preferred embodiment, only one first protrusion 54 a is provided. The first protrusions 54 may pass through a coverback member 60 . The coverback member 60 may be attached to the handle 14 via screws 62 . A joint lock 64 may be used to permit rotation between the coverback member 60 and a joint member 66 , while also preventing complete separation of the coverback member 60 and the joint member 66 in the direction of the axis of the joint member. The joint member 66 may be attached to the tubular member 16 by a press fit or via a pin connection. The joint member 66 also has a raised portion 110 which results in depressed end portions 110 a and 110 b.
[0018] Thus, because the coverback member 60 may be attached to the handle 14 , and because the joint member 66 may be attached to the tubular member 16 , the joint lock 64 may permit rotation of the handle 14 with respect to the tubular member 16 while also preventing complete separation of the handle 14 and the tubular member 16 in the direction of the axis of the joint member.
[0019] As depicted in FIG. 4 , the towing arrangement 12 may be assembled using the following steps. The joint lock 64 may be passed through a through-hole 70 of the coverback member 60 . The first protrusion 54 a of the locking member 52 may be placed in one of corresponding holes 72 in the coverback member 60 . The coverback member 60 may be placed into one end of the handle 14 and may be attached thereto via screws (not shown) through holes 98 . A button 50 may be placed into another end of the handle 14 and may be attached to the locking member 52 via a screw (not shown).
[0020] A torsional locking member 100 may be placed over the coverback member 60 with two springs 102 , 104 and a strengthening member 103 therebetween. The springs 102 , 104 may rest on protrusions 106 , 108 on internal ledges 116 and 118 of the base of the torsional locking member 100 , as further depicted in FIG. 5 . Referring back to FIG. 4 , the handle 14 may include notches 112 , 114 to provide clearance for the ledges 116 and 118 of the base of the torsional locking member 100 when the torsional locking member 100 is in a first position.
[0021] A wear plate 71 may be placed over the joint lock 64 . The joint lock 64 may be placed in a through hole 74 of the joint member 66 . The torsional locking member 100 , especially the ledges 116 and 118 , may cooperate with the raised portion 110 and the depressed portions 110 a and 110 b of the joint member 66 in order to permit or prevent rotation of the handle 14 relative to the tubular member 16 . A pin 76 may be assembled though hole 78 in joint member 66 and pressed fit into hole 80 of joint lock 64 . The pin 76 may prevent relative motion between the joint lock 64 and the joint member 66 . The second protrusions 56 of the support locking member 58 may be passed through corresponding holes 82 in the joint member 66 . The joint member 66 may be placed into one end of the tubular member 16 and may be attached thereto via a press fit or via pins. Other components related to the release mechanism are not shown and may be assembled in the tubular member 16 prior to the assembling of the joint member 66 thereto.
[0022] The release mechanism (not shown) may keep the support locking member 58 as far as it will fit into the joint member 66 in the direction of the handle 14 because of a spring force, for example, exerted in the release mechanism and will not extend into the coverback member 60 . Thus, supporting locking member 58 does not prevent rotation of handle 14 relative to tubular member 16 . The locking member 52 may be kept as far as it will fit into the handle 14 in the direction toward the button 50 by a spring, for example (not shown). Except when button 50 is depressed, no part of locking member 52 extends into joint member 66 .
[0023] A latching member 90 may be slidably attached to the exterior of the tubular member 16 and may be used to fill a gap between the tubular member and the corresponding receptacle 22 in the piece of luggage the tubular member retracts into. The latching member 90 may include a hook feature 92 that keeps the latching member 90 near the top of the receptacle 22 .
[0024] In operation, when the button 50 is activated, the force therefrom is transferred to the first protrusion 54 a of the locking member 52 , which may communicate with one of the second protrusions 56 of the support locking member 58 . These protrusions 54 a , 56 do not make contact through the axis of the joint lock 64 . The support locking member 58 may communicate with another release mechanism (not shown) to permit extension or retraction of the tubular member 16 from the wheeled piece of luggage 20 .
[0025] As shown in FIG. 6 , the torsional locking member 100 may be used to prevent the towing arrangement from rotating, thus allowing ease of storage when the towing arrangement is placed in the retracted position. The torsional locking member 100 is slidably mounted on the coverback member 60 between a first position, at which a user slides the torsional locking member 100 against the force of the springs 102 , 104 to move the torsional locking member 100 away from the raised portion 110 of the joint member 66 and thus permit rotation of the handle 14 relative to the tubular member 16 , and a second position, at which the springs 102 , 104 force the torsional locking member 100 to overlap the raised portion 110 of the joint member 66 and thus prevent rotation of the handle 14 relative to the tubular member 16 . The strengthening member 103 may cooperate with the torsional locking member 100 during rotation of the handle 14 , by adding rigidity to the the torsional locking member 100 . When the handle 14 is “aligned” with the tubular member 16 in either of two angular orientations (180 degrees apart from each other), the torsional locking member 100 (and thus the handle 14 and the tubular member 16 ) may automatically lock in place due to the force exerted by the springs 102 , 104 in conjunction with the shape of the ledges 116 , 118 of the base of the torsional locking member 100 and the raised portion 110 and depressed portions 110 a and 110 b of the joint member 66 .
[0026] The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems and methods which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the invention.
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A towing arrangement includes a pivotal handle which allows a user to position the handle more comfortably that would otherwise be possible with a conventional towing arrangement. The relative motion of the handle can also increase the maneuverability of a piece of luggage by eliminating the need for a person to reposition his or her hand on the handle when attempting to redirect the piece of luggage.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0122129, filed on Oct. 14, 2013, entitled “Smartcard Interface Conversion Device, Embedded System Having The Same Device And Method For Transferring Data Signal Used In The Same Device”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interface conversion device and method, and more particularly, to an interface conversion device, an embedded system having the same, and a method for transferring a data signal used in the same device capable of transferring a data signal between a smartcard interface and an interface of a processor within the embedded system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile terminal which is a representative type of an embedded system is equipped with various smart cards, such as a universal subscriber identification module (USIM) card, a user identification module (UIM), and a subscriber identification module (SIM), for user authentication. Further, a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) equipped with various service applications, such as banking, securities, and electronic money, in addition to the user authentication has been frequently used as a new type of smart card. The UICC uses a smartcard IC chip to ensure security which is the most important factor, in which the smartcard IC chip has excellent security enough to satisfy a physical security level.
Generally, the smartcard IC chip is inserted into a slot within the embedded system (for example, mobile terminal) to perform data communication with a processor within the embedded system (hereinafter, ‘embedded processor’) for user authentication, and the like. The smartcard IC chip performs the data communication in half-duplex based on an ISO 7816 interface which is specified as a standard of a contact type card.
Therefore, in order for the smartcard IC chip to communicate with the embedded processor through various interfaces, such as UART, SPI, and I2C, in addition to the ISO 7816 interface, a need exists for a device and a method for converting a signal between the ISO 7816 interface of the smartcard and the interface of the embedded processor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in an effort to provide an interface conversion device and method to convert a signal input and output through a smartcard interface into a signal which may be input and output through an interface of an embedded processor.
Further, the present invention has been made in an effort to provide an interface conversion device and method to convert a signal input and output through a smartcard interface into a signal which may be input and output through an interface of an embedded processor depending on a control of the embedded processor, while minimizing power consumption.
In addition, the present invention has been made in an effort to provide an interface conversion device and method to convert a half-duplex signal which is input and output through a smartcard interface into a full-duplex signal which may be input and output through an interface of an embedded processor depending on a control of the embedded processor, while minimizing power consumption.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an interface conversion device communicating between a processor and a smartcard IC chip, including: an input/output signal conversion logic configured to transfer a signal between a first interface of the processor and a second interface of the smartcard IC chip; a clock generator configured to generate a clock signal driving the smartcard IC chip depending on a first control signal received from the processor and provide the generated clock signal to the smartcard IC chip; and a reset controller configured to generate a reset signal depending on a second control signal received from the processor and provide the generated reset signal to the smartcard IC chip.
The first interface may be a full-duplex universal asynchronous receiver transmitter interface.
The second interface may be a half-duplex asynchronous receiver transmitter interface.
The first and second control signals may be received through a universal input/output signal line of the processor.
The clock generator may be activated or inactivated depending on the first control signal.
The clock signal generated by the clock generator may be provided as a reference clock of the input/output signal conversion logic.
The processor may control the smartcard IC chip using the first and second control signals.
The input/output signal conversion logic may include an input terminal and an output terminal connected to the first interface of the processor and an input/output common terminal connected to the second interface of the smartcard IC chip.
The input/output signal conversion logic may keep a logical value of the input terminal and the output terminal connected to the first interface of the processor and a logical value of the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface of the smartcard IC chip in ‘1’ and when the logical value of the terminal connected to any one of the interfaces is ‘0’, may transfer the logical value to the terminal connected to the other interface.
The input/output signal conversion logic may output the logical value ‘1’ to the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface of the smartcard IC chip when the logical value ‘0’ is input to the input terminal connected to the first interface of the processor and may output a logical value ‘Z’ state to the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface when the logical value ‘1’ is input to the input terminal connected to the first interface.
The input/output signal conversion logic may output the logical value ‘1’ to the output terminal connected to the first interface of the processor when the logical value of the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface of the smartcard IC chip is ‘1’.
The input/output signal conversion logic may test the logical value of the input terminal connected to the first interface when the logical value of the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface of the smartcard IC chip is ‘0’, output the logical value ‘1’ to the output terminal connected to the first interface when the logical value of the input terminal is ‘0’, and output the logical value ‘0’ to the output terminal connected to the first interface when the logical value of the input terminal is ‘1’.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an embedded system, including: a processor configured to include a full-duplex first interface; a slot configured to be equipped with a smartcard IC chip including a half-duplex second interface; and an interface conversion chip configured to transfer a data signal between the first interface of the processor and the second interface of the smartcard IC chip equipped in the slot and generate at least one of a clock signal and a reset signal for controlling an operation of the smartcard IC chip under a control of the processor.
According to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for transferring a data signal between a full-duplex first interface and a half-duplex second interface, the method including; outputting a logical value ‘0’ to an input/output common terminal connected to the second interface when a logical value ‘0’ is input to an input terminal connected to the first interface; and outputting a logical value ‘Z’ state to the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface when a logical value ‘1’ is input to the input terminal connected to the first interface.
The method for transferring a data signal between a full-duplex first interface and a half-duplex second interface may further include: outputting the logical value ‘1’ to an output terminal connected to the first interface of the processor when the logical value of the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface is ‘1’.
The method for transferring a data signal between a full-duplex first interface and a half-duplex second interface may further include: testing the logical value of the input terminal connected to the first interface when the logical value of the input/output common terminal connected to the second interface is ‘0’; outputting the logical value ‘1’ to the output terminal connected to the first interface when the logical value of the input terminal is ‘0’; and outputting the logical value ‘0’ to the output terminal connected to the first interface when the logical value of the input terminal is ‘1’.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure in which a smartcard IC chip equipped in an embedded system communicates with an embedded processor.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in which an embedded processor and the smartcard IC chip within the embedded system are connected to each other by using a smartcard reader chip.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in which the embedded processor and the smartcard IC chip are connected to each other by using an interface conversion device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an internal configuration diagram of an interface conversion device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for converting an output signal of an embedded processor into an input/output signal of the smartcard IC chip according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for converting an input/output signal of a smartcard into an input signal of an embedded processor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
The present invention may be variously modified and have several exemplary embodiments. Therefore, specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be illustrated in the accompanying drawings and be described in detail in the present specification. However, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to a specific exemplary embodiment, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and substitutions without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.
Further, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known art related to the present invention may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.
A singular form used in the present description and the following claims is to be interpreted to generally mean “one or more” unless mentioned to the contrary.
Further, “module”, “part”, “interface”, and the like, among terms used in the present specification generally means computer-related objects, for example, hardware, software, and a combination thereof.
First, prior to describing exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a general structure in which an embedded processor and a smart card IC chip within an embedded system are connected to each other will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 . FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a structure in which a smartcard IC chip equipped in an embedded system communicates with an embedded processor.
As illustrated in FIG. 1 , a smartcard (USIM card) 110 is inserted into a slot 120 of an embedded system (for example, mobile terminal) 100 and thus communicates with an embedded processor 140 . A smartcard IC chip 130 includes eight signal terminals (Vcc, GND, reset, SWP, clock, I/O, USB+, and USB−) which are an ISO7816 interface. However, most of the smartcard IC chips do not actually use the USB+ and USB− signals due to a power problem. A data input and output between the embedded processor 140 and the smartcard IC chip 130 is performed by mainly using a half-duplex data input/output terminal (I/O terminal).
The embedded processor 140 needs to include an ISO7816 interface 150 , which is a standard interface of a smartcard, to communicate with the smartcard 110 . However, when the embedded processor 140 does not include the ISO7816 interface or when the embedded processor 140 is previously connected to another USIM card for a user authentication function even though the embedded processor 140 has the ISO7816 interface, another method for connecting the smartcard IC chip to the embedded processor is required. In other words, in the case of using the separate smartcard IC chip to improve security of the embedded system, there is a need to connect the smartcard IC chip to the embedded processor using another standard interface of the embedded processor 140 . For example, the smartcard IC chip may be connected to the embedded processor using a standard interface, such as UART, SPI, and I2C, of the embedded processor 140 . Therefore, in this case, a device for converting signals input and output through these standard interfaces into signals input and output through the ISO7816 interface of the smartcard IC chip is required.
FIG. 2 illustrates a configuration in which the embedded processor and the smartcard IC chip within the embedded system are connected to each by using a smartcard reader chip. As illustrated in FIG. 2 , when an embedded processor 230 and a smartcard IC chip 220 are connected to each other using a smartcard reader chip 210 , the smartcard reader chip 210 directly controls all the signals of a smartcard IC chip 220 and is connected to an embedded processor 230 through an interface 240 , such as UART, SPI, and I2C.
The smartcard reader chip 210 includes a separate processor (not illustrated) and a memory (not illustrated) for connecting between the embedded processor 230 and the smartcard IC chip 220 . For example, when the embedded processor 230 transfers a signal to the smartcard IC chip 220 , a processor (not illustrated) in the smartcard reader chip 210 stores the corresponding signal value in an internal memory of the smartcard reader chip 210 in a byte unit and then converts the corresponding signal value into a signal type again and transfers the converted signal type to the smartcard IC chip 220 . As described above, since the processor, the memory, and the like are included in the smartcard reader chip 210 , power consumption becomes large. Generally, the power consumption of the smartcard reader chip is larger than that of the smartcard IC chip.
Further, even when the embedded processor 230 changes an operation state of the smartcard IC chip 220 , for example, resetting the smartcard IC chip 220 or changing a baud rate which is an input/output communication rate, the embedded processor 230 may not directly control the smartcard reader chip 210 but can transfer predefined command languages corresponding to each function through the input/output interface 240 and allow the smartcard reader chip 210 to adjust the operation state of the smartcard IC chip 220 depending on the predefined command languages.
Therefore, the exemplary embodiment of the present invention proposes the connection between the embedded processor and the smartcard IC chip by the method of enabling the embedded processor to directly control the operation of the smartcard IC chip while minimizing the power consumption.
Hereinafter, the connection method between the embedded processor and the smartcard IC chip according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 .
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configuration in which the embedded processor and the smartcard IC chip are connected to each other by using the interface conversion device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
An interface conversion device 400 serves to connect a smartcard IC chip 310 to the embedded processor 320 in a general embedded system 300 .
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interface conversion device 400 is implemented in a chip type and may be mounted in the embedded system 300 . The interface conversion device 400 serves to convert a data signal which may be input to and output from the smartcard IC chip 310 through the interface included in the embedded processor 320 . According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interface conversion device 400 may convert a half-duplex data input/output signal depending on the standard interface of the smartcard IC chip into a full-duplex universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) signal in real time and transfer the full-duplex UART signal to the embedded processor 320 .
Further, the interface conversion device 400 does not include a separate processor and a memory. Instead, the interface conversion device 400 generates a clock and reset signal for operating the smartcard IC chip 310 under the control of the embedded processor 320 and transfers the generated clock and reset signal to the smartcard IC chip 310 , such that the embedded processor 320 may directly control the smartcard IC chip 310 .
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating in more detail an internal configuration of the interface conversion device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 4 , the interface conversion device 400 includes an input/output signal conversion logic 410 , a clock generator 420 , and a reset controller 430 .
The input/output signal conversion logic 410 serves to transfer a signal between an interface 330 included in the embedded processor 320 and the interface of the smartcard IC chip 310 . That is, the input/output signal conversion logic 410 serves to transfer a data signal output through the interface 330 included in the embedded processor to an input/output terminal included in the smartcard IC chip 310 or transfer the signal output from the input/output terminal of the smartcard IC chip 310 to the interface 330 of the processor 320 .
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the interface included in the embedded processor is the full-duplex universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) interface 330 in which an input terminal (Rx) and an output terminal (Tx) are separated from each other.
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the smartcard IC chip is the half-duplex asynchronous receiver transmitter interface.
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the input/output signal conversion logic 410 transfers a signal by determining only the logic state (logic ‘1’ or ‘0’) of the input signal without having the separate processor embedded therein.
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the input/output signal conversion logic 410 may include an input terminal (Rx) 411 and an output terminal (Tx) 412 connected to the interface of the processor and an input/output command terminal 413 connected to the interface of the smartcard IC chip.
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the input/output signal conversion logic 410 keeps a logical value of the input terminal (Rx) 411 and the output terminal (Tx) 412 connected to the interface of the embedded processor and a logical value of the input/output common terminal 413 connected to the interface of the smartcard IC chip in ‘1’ and when the logical value of the terminal connected to any one of the interfaces is ‘0’, may transfer the corresponding logical value to the terminal connected to the other interface. An operation principle of the input/output signal conversion logic 410 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 .
The clock generator 420 generates the clock signal which drives the smartcard IC chip 310 depending on the control signal received from the processor 320 and transfers the generated clock signal to the smartcard IC chip 310 . Further, the clock generated from the clock generator 420 is internally input to the input/output signal conversion logic 410 and thus may be used as a reference clock for generating the UART signal. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a clock frequency is generally 3.6864 MHz.
Further, the clock generator 420 may be controlled by the embedded processor 320 so that the operation of the clock generator 420 may be activated or deactivated and therefore when the clock generator 420 is not used, the power consumption may be minimized by stopping the operation of the clock generator 420 .
According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the signal used to control the clock generator 420 may be provided through a general purpose input/output (GPIO) 340 of the embedded processor 320 . As described above, the embedded processor 320 may directly control the clock signal of the smartcard IC chip 310 by using the clock generator 420 in the interface conversion chip 400 .
The reset controller 430 may generate the reset signal depending on the control signal received from the embedded processor 320 and transfer the generated reset signal to the smartcard IC chip 310 . The reset controller 430 may generate the reset signal required by the smartcard IC chip 310 by using the signal received from the embedded processor 320 and perform a control to make a reset period be a sufficient time. The signal input to the reset controller 430 may be provided through a general input/output (GPIO) 340 of the embedded processor 320 . As described above, the embedded processor 320 may directly control the reset signal of the smartcard IC chip 310 by using the reset controller 430 in the interface conversion chip 400 .
FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for allowing the interface conversion device to convert the output signal of the embedded processor into the input and output signal of the smartcard IC chip according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
When the data signal is input to the input terminal (Rx) of the input/output signal conversion logic (step S 510 ), the logical value of the input data signal is confirmed (step S 520 ). As the confirmation result, when the logical value is ‘0’, the logical value ‘0’ is output to the input/output common terminal connected to the smartcard interface (step S 530 ).
On the other hand, if it is confirmed that the logical value of the input terminal (Rx) is ‘1’, a logical value ‘Z’ state, that is, a high impedance state is output to the input/output common terminal connected to the smartcard interface (step S 540 ). Since an I/O line between the input/output signal conversion logic and the smartcard IC chip is pulled-up in the state in which the logic ‘Z’ is output to the input/output common terminal of the input/output conversion logic, the input of the smartcard IC chip is in a logic ‘1’ state and the output of the smartcard IC chip may be transferred to the input/output signal conversion logic.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for allowing the interface conversion device to convert the input and output signal of the smartcard into the input signal of the embedded processor according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
When the data signal is input to the input/output common terminal of the input/output signal conversion logic (step S 610 ), the logical value of the input data signal is confirmed (step S 620 ). As the confirmation result, when the logical value of the input/output common terminal is ‘1’, the logical value ‘1’ is output to the output (Tx) terminal of the input/output signal conversion logic (step S 630 ).
Meanwhile, as the confirmation result of the logical value of the input/output common terminal of the input/output signal conversion logic, when the logical value is ‘0’, the logical value of the input terminal (Rx) of the input/output signal conversion logic connected to the interface of the processor is confirmed (step S 630 ).
When the logical value of the input terminal (Rx) is ‘0’ (step S 650 ), the logical value ‘1’ is output to the output terminal (Tx) (step S 640 ) and when the logical value of the Rx terminal is ‘1’, the logical value ‘0’ is output to the Tx terminal (step S 650 ).
Since the case in which the logical value of the input/output common terminal of the input/output signal conversion logic is ‘0’ and the logical value of the input terminal (Rx) is ‘0’ corresponds to the case in which the signal of the input terminal (Rx) is transferred to the input/output common terminal as described with reference to FIG. 5 , the output of the output terminal (Tx) is output as the logical value ‘1’ so as to prevent the data signal input from the input terminal (Rx) from feeding-back to the output terminal (Tx). Meanwhile, since the case in which the logical value of the input terminal (Rx) is ‘1’ and the logical value of the input/output common terminal is ‘0’ corresponds to the state in which the data signal is output from the smartcard IC chip, the logical value ‘0’ input to the input/output common terminal is transferred to the output terminal (Tx). That is, the logical value ‘0’ is output to the output terminal (Tx).
As described above, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to smoothly perform the data communication between the smartcard and the embedded processor by adding only the interface conversion device to the embedded system while holding the existing smartcard IC chip type as it is. Therefore, the USIM of the existing mobile terminal or the smartcard IC chip used in the credit card may be used as a chipset for security of various embedded devices, such as household equipment (for example, a smart TV, a refrigerator, a robot cleaner) and a set top box.
Further, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, since the interface conversion device does not include the separate processor, it is possible to reduce the power consumption and the burden on the battery consumption.
Hereinabove, the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains that the present invention may be implemented in a modified form without departing from essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein should be considered in an illustrative aspect rather than a restrictive aspect. The scope of the present invention should be defined by the following claims rather than the above-mentioned description, and all technical spirits equivalent to the following claims should be interpreted as being included in the present invention.
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The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for transferring a data signal between a smartcard interface and an interface of a processor within an embedded system.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an interface conversion device communicating between a processor and a smartcard IC chip includes: an input/output signal conversion logic configured to transfer a signal between a first interface of the processor and a second interface of the smartcard IC chip; a clock generator configured to generate a clock signal driving the smartcard IC chip depending on a first control signal received from the processor and provide the generated clock signal to the smartcard IC chip; and a reset controller configured to generate a reset signal depending on a second control signal received from the processor and provide the generated reset signal to the smartcard IC chip.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Exercise machines, more specifically, an exercise machine designed to exercise the abdominal muscles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] An important feature to help in good health, longevity is regular, proper exercise. Exercise may take a number of forms. Exercise may be done through calisthenics, through the use of free weights for providing resistance, or through the use of exercise machines. Exercise machines are often very useful for effective exercise, if they are properly designed and used. They may, for example, focus on a specific set of muscles and a range of movement through an exercise cycle. They may also provide for adjustment of resistive forces, so as to accommodate different users or the changing requirements of a single user.
[0003] Exercise machines have been designed to exercise the abdominal muscles. For example, muscles of the abdominal wall, including rectus abdominis, internal oblique and external oblique muscles of the abdominal region, may be beneficially exercised by what can generally described as a sit-up or “crunch” type motion wherein an angle defined by the longitudinal axis of the upper torso and the thighs is varied during the act of contraction and relaxation of the abdominal muscles. Done without free weights or machines, the sit-up style crunch exercise is typically done with the user holding his knees and feet in the air and crunching up to bring his nose toward the knees.
[0004] Free weights may be used for sit-up exercise by, for example, the exerciser clutching a light weight to the chest area during the performance of the sit-up.
[0005] The abdominal exercise machines typically position the user on the machine to provide limited movement of the limbs but a range of movement of the torso, while providing some form of resistance. The resistance is typically provided through weights, springs, pulleys and, in some cases, a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder.
[0006] The aim of an exercise machine should be to provide the proper amount of resistance through the proper range of motion while maintaining proper body position, so as to provide a most beneficial movement with a minimal risk of harm. Harm can result from exercises done improperly or without proper resistance forces. Sloppy technique or too much weight in using an abdominal machine may result in injury to the muscles, such as a pulled muscle or hernia.
[0007] Sometimes an exercise machine is designed to emulate a certain movement, for example, a sit-up style crunch. Sometimes exercise machines are designed to provide a level of resistance that is more suitable to one category of users, say women or children, rather than the athletes. A view of the prior art of abdominal exercise machines reveals a deficiency in at least one or more design objectives set forth herein: proper position of the body of the user through a proper range of motion, and the use of a proper resistance force. Prior art exercise machines either do not properly define the objectives or, if the objectives were defined, have not adequately addressed these objectives.
[0008] The prior art abdominal machines tend to use adjustable weights stack, the user's body weight, elastic members or hydraulic/pneumatic cylinder mechanisms to provide resistance. However, the prior art abdominal exercise machines do not provide for a balanced combination of the user's body weight with the advantages of hydraulic and/or pneumatic resistance. As such, Applicant has endeavored to provide an effective, efficient and safe abdominal exercise machine to achieve proper body position and the proper application of resistance force over a range of motion suitable for the effective exercise of the target muscle groups.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0009] It is an object of Applicant's present invention to provide an exercise machine to exercise the abdominal muscles which will provide for the balanced application of a resistance force over the proper range of motion, specifically with the needs of non-athletic women in mind.
[0010] It is another object of the present invention to provide an exercise machine which, while focusing on abdominal muscles, is also capable of facilitating multiple body positions for targeting specific muscles within the abdominal group.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] This and other objects are provided in an abdominal exercise machine that uses a balanced combination of the user's body weight and hydraulic (or pneumatic) resistance. The user's objectives may be achieved in an abdominal exercise machine which consists of a fixed base, including a seat and a lower back (lumbar) support and a pivotally attached upper backrest which rotates about a pair of hinge mounts located to either side of the seated user. The axis of the hinged mount runs horizontally from side-to-side through the lower lumbar region of the seated user in alignment with the user's pivot axis for a sit-up style crunch style exercise.
[0012] This and other objects are provided in the above described machine, further including a pair of handles which rise upward and outward alongside the user's head, to be grasped by the user during the movement of the upper backrest through the simulated crunch style exercise.
[0013] This and other objects are provided in an exercise machine as set forth in the paragraphs above, further including a hydraulic and/or pneumatic device typically attached behind the user to span between the fixed base and the upper backrest and provide resistance as the backrest is rotated by the user. The user is normally seated against the backrest lumbar support and seat, and grasping the handles alongside the head performs the cyclic exercise motion involving the contraction of abdominal muscles to pull the backrest, along with the torso, up and forward.
[0014] This and other objects are provided in an exercise machine, wherein the seat, lumbar support and backrest are angled so that in the starting position, gravity tends to pull the user backward against the backrest and thus provides resistance against the crunch exercise movement. However, the backward tilting angle decreases as the user, approximately halfway through the range of motion, has moved “over the top” so that gravity begins to work in the direction assisting the user to pull the torso forward and downward (e.g., center of gravity “falling”).
[0015] This and other objects are achieved in the exercise machine set forth herein, wherein the cylinder is positioned so as to provide minimal resistance at the start of the forward crunch stroke and to gradually increase resistance as the stroke progresses over the top. In this way, both gravity and the cylinder combine to provide an effective level of resistance over the range of motion taking into account the effect of the weight of the upper torso of the user's body over the range of motion and the speed at which the exercise is performed.
[0016] This and other objects are provided in the exercise machine, which includes a seat with a perimeter which is semi-circular or delta in shape so as to permit the user to sit, with torso facing forward, but with the legs in a range of positions from straight forward to angled to either side, thus emphasizing exercise of the internal/external oblique muscles, and thus providing versatility in a design that permits a single machine to be used to work different muscle groups within the abdominal region.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of Applicant's abdominal exercise machine.
[0018] FIGS. 2A , 2 B, and 2 C are side elevational views of Applicant's abdominal exercise machine showing the position of the upper seat backrest with respect to the frame assembly in a user's start ( FIG. 2A ), over the top ( FIG. 2B ), and end positions ( FIG. 2C ) as the user simulates a crunch style abdominal exercise.
[0019] FIG. 3 illustrates a user on the abdominal exercise machine just after the user has gone over the top and that is just past the position illustrated in FIG. 2B .
[0020] FIG. 4 illustrates a user with legs shifted to one side.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0021] With reference to the Figures, it is seen that Applicant provides an abdominal exercise machine 10 comprising two components, one pivotal about the other, the two components attached through the use of a cylinder assembly. Here, it is seen that Applicant provides a rigid, stationary, floor mounted frame assembly 12 to which is engaged a pivoting upper seat back assembly 14 . Frame assembly 12 and pivoting seat back assembly 14 are engaged to one another through a piston/cylinder assembly 16 . Frame base 18 is designed to provide secure support for the exercise machine against a base, such as a floor. Frame base 18 may be seen to comprise at least one longitudinal member 18 a and, typically, a multiplicity of lateral members 18 b (here, three shown). The lateral members typically provide lateral support, as well as vertical support, to the seated user in the abdominal exercise machine set forth more fully below.
[0022] A support arm 20 is seen in the side elevational views to transcribe an acute angle with respect to the plane of the horizontal support surface, at the angle, for example, in between 45 and 89 degrees above horizontal. Moreover, the support arm 20 is seen to provide support structure for a number of components more specifically set forth below. While a single support arm is shown, two or more could be utilized or a tabular member may be provided, which Applicant intends to be included within the term “support arm.”
[0023] More specifically, it is seen that support arm 20 supports a lumbar support 22 , in the form of a tabular padded member laying in the plane of the support arm and above a seat member 24 , which may be disposed generally perpendicular, but is preferably disposed at an angle greater than 90 degrees and most preferably between 100 to 110 degrees to the plane of support arm 20 and below the lumbar support to provide for significant support to the bottom and upper thighs of the user as illustrated in FIG. 3 . Seat member 24 is typically padded in a manner known in the art, but has a leading edge 24 a that is curved to allow the user to more easily assume positions set forth in FIG. 4 , for example, and thus focus on different muscle groups than if the user were in position as set forth in FIG. 3 , for example.
[0024] A pair of spaced apart pivot arm standoffs 26 a , 26 b are provided spaced apart to either side of support arm 20 , as best seen in FIG. 1 , through the use of pivot arm location member 28 , which is rigidly attached to support arm 20 and extends from either side thereto. Through the use of pivot arm location member 28 and a pair of pivot arm standoffs 26 a , 26 b , seat back assembly 14 may be pivotally attached to frame assembly 12 through the use of, for example, bearing assemblies 30 a , 30 b.
[0025] Turning now to the nature of the pivoting seat back assembly, it is seen to comprise uprights 32 a , 32 b , which are attached to the bearing assemblies, the uprights include typically a pair of cross members here 36 (lower) and 38 (upper), the cross members locating upper back support member 34 , which is typically tabular and padded and set in a position aligned, or nearly aligned, with the support arm 20 when seat back assembly 14 is in the starting position. A pair of handles 40 a , 40 b are typically provided moving up and forward from the plane of back support member 34 , as seen, for example, in FIG. 2B . Piston assembly engagement bracket 42 is provided having a near end 42 a and removed end 42 b . The near end 42 a may be located and rigidly attached to one or more members of seat back assembly 14 , but here is seen attached to cross member 36 . It is seen here that piston assembly engagement bracket 42 is provided to engage piston cylinder assembly 16 . More specifically, it is seen that piston cylinder assembly 16 , which may optionally engage one or more members of frame assembly 12 for the use of a vertical standoff 17 , is comprised of a cylinder 16 a and a rod member 16 b . It is attached at the removed end of the rod and at the removed end of the cylinder to the frame assembly 12 and pivoting seat back assembly 14 and frame assembly 12 , respectively, so they are engaged one to the other.
[0026] Further detail of Applicant's abdominal exercise machine 10 may be appreciated with reference to FIGS. 1 , 2 B, and 3 defining an axis on which the seat back assembly 14 pivots with respect to the frame. This pivot axis is located in the lower abdominal region of the user as the user is seated and located on seat member 24 and lower lumbar support member 22 . Thus the seats properly position the user's lower torso during exercise movement while user's hands are located on the handles holding the pivoting seat back assembly with the upper back support member 34 against the upper back. The use of the combination of a properly positioned seat and lower lumbar support and pivoting axis, as well as a properly positioned upper back support member on the pivoting back assembly, will help maintain the proper position of the user throughout the range of movement in the crunch style abdominal exercise.
[0027] Another advantage of Applicant's abdominal exercise machine 10 may be appreciated with reference to the longitudinal cylinder axis CA as illustrated in FIG. 2B . To appreciate the preferred positioning of piston cylinder assembly 16 with respect to frame assembly 12 and pivoting seat back assembly 14 , reference is made in FIGS. 2A , 2 B, and 2 C, with further reference to the location of removed end 42 b of piston assembly engage bracket 42 , and noting more specifically how removed end 42 b locates the end of rod 16 b with respect to the pivot axis PA.
[0028] It is further seen that the movement of removed end 42 b is a partial fixed radius arc about pivot axis PA. Second, it may be appreciated with reference to FIG. 2A , that in the initial start position, cylinder axis CA is aligned almost so that it actually or nearly intersects pivot axis PA at a distance being in the most preferred embodiment between about 0 cm and about 3 cm. Therefore, initial movement of the backrest along the arc only minimally extends the rod, whereas the same distance of movement over the top extends the rod to a greater degree. Thus, as the user moves from the position illustrated in FIG. 2A , through the top as illustrated in FIG. 2B and approaches the position in FIG. 2C , the resistance provided by the cylinder moves from a minimum to a maximum to the top of the arc back to a minimum. Over the same range of motion, the user's torso center of gravity moves from a position behind, to above, and then in front of the PA. As a result, the force of gravity varies from one of resisting to one of slightly assisting the forward crunch exercise motion. Thus, the increasing cylinder resistance works in concert with the decreasing gravity resistance to provide a balanced effect over the range of motion. At or near the position shown in FIG. 2C , the perpendicular distance from PA to CA approaches maximum, typically about 20 cm. Thus, the preferred range of distance between the CA and PA (measured along the perpendicular) is 0 cm at the closest to about 20 cm at the greatest
[0029] Turning to FIG. 4 , it is seen that the user may position herself in position similar to FIG. 3 , with respect to the lower back and upper seat back position, but may rotate the legs to either side and emphasize the contraction of the internal and external oblique muscles to either side of the rectus abdominis muscle set. The use of the position seen in FIG. 4 , or its counterpart to the opposite side, is facilitated through the use of a curved leading edge 24 a about the perimeter of seat 24 .
[0030] The use of resistance in the form of a piston and cylinder assembly, either hydraulic or pneumatic, is preferred as is the position of the cylinder with respect to the arc of movement of the upper back rest assembly 14 , so as to balance the increasing resistance force of the cylinder against the decreasing resistance force of the weight of the upper torso through the range of motions indicated. However, an elastic member or members may be used in place of the piston and cylinder assembly. Thus the term resistance assembly is used to include elastic member(s) or pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders, these structures for the application of a mechanical resistance. The elastic member(s) would attach between the frame and seat back assembly so that there is, when in the back position, some optional but preferable nominal tension in the elastic member.
[0031] Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.
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An exercise machine, more specifically, an abdominal exercise machine. The abdominal exercise machine consists of a frame upon which the user sits, the frame having a support arm tilted backward from vertical with the lower lumbar region against a seat member. Pivotally attached to the frame is an upper seat rest assembly that has a pair of handles and a pad designed to lay against the upper back of the user. The seat back assembly moves with the upper body of the user, the hands of the user assisting in maintaining the upper seat back member against the upper back, while the user moves from a tilted back position to a crunch position, and simulating a traditional sit-up movement.
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REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
[0001] This patent application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/013,150 filed Dec. 10, 2001, and Ser. Nos. 09/892,385 and 09/892,258 each filed Jun. 26, 2001. In turn: Ser. No. 10/013,150 is a division of Ser. No. 09/398,611 filed Sep. 17, 1999, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/673,255 filed Jun. 28, 1996 and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,227; and each of Ser. Nos. 09/892,385 and 09/892,258 claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/240,480 filed Oct. 13, 2000 and 60/274,575 filed Mar. 9, 2001. This patent specification hereby incorporates by reference said prior applications and patent in their entireties, as though fully set forth herein. This patent specification further incorporates by reference the Scopeware User Guide from Mirror World Technologies, Inc. of New Haven, Conn., submitted with an IDS concurrently with the filing this patent application.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL ON COMPACT DISC
[0002] This patent specification incorporates by reference the contents of the compact disc (CD-ROM) attached hereto in duplicate (Copy 1 and Copy 2), containing an object code program that is an example of an implementation of preferred embodiments described in this patent specification. Each disc is labeled in accordance with Rule 1.53(e)(6), with the collective names Scopeware 2.2. The date of creation of the files on the disc is Aug. 9, 2002. The computer code on the compact disc was generated from correspondingly named source code. The names of individual files on the disc within these collective names, as well as the size of the individual files, are identified in the list of files attached to the Transmission Letter In Accordance with 37 C.F.R. § 1.52(e)(ii). The contents of the compact disc submitted herewith in duplicate and the contents of the list of files attached to said Transmission Letter are hereby incorporated by reference in this application as though fully set forth herein.
FIELD
[0003] This patent specification is in the field of information storage and retrieval, and specifically relates to an enhanced system and process that automatically capture, manage, and safeguard information in a way that enables users to conveniently share, discover, and act through an intuitive interface.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
[0004] A desktop metaphor, involving hierarchical systems of directories, files, folders and icons that people use to manage information on office or home computers, is decades old and increasingly unable to meet today's needs. When using computers with vastly more storage than those for which the desktop metaphor was designed, and a vastly greater number and variety of stored information, the burden of remembering the name of a file or the folder in which it was put, is simply too great for effective use of the information that should in theory be available but in reality may not be because it is too hard to find.
[0005] Separate electronic documents—files and emails, calendar and address book entries, scans, bookmarks, spreadsheets, photos, etc.—may contain all the information the user needs, but it is scattered in folders, on desktops, in mailers and browsers and other special applications, on the office computer, the home computer, the other home computers, the server, the laptop, the palmtop, etc. The information is all there, but not necessarily when and where needed, or in the appropriate form. A picture on a computer screen is made up of separate pixels, arranged in a certain way. But, take the same pixels and mix them up at random, or organize them cleverly into pixel folders so all the red pixels are together on the left side of the screen, and all the green pixel are neatly on the right, and there is no picture. The information may all be there, perhaps each pixel in the folders will be stored together with the x-y coordinates it had in the picture, so they can be reshuffled back to their places eventually, but the user no longer sees a picture. The information that the picture conveyed no longer comes from looking at the screen. In the right order on the screen, the pixels are a picture; in the wrong order, they are not information that the user perceives.
[0006] There is a natural way to arrange pixels in a screen image, characters in a word, words in a speech or in a book, There also is a natural way to arrange a collection of electronic documents—in time order, in a narrative order, in a way that mirrors life and experience. In a natural order, there is a story, a narrative: the pixels are arranged to show a picture, the words make sense, and the electronic documents tell a story. If the documents are scattered so some are in drive C and some in drive D, some in folder A and some in folder B or on a desktop, in a mailer or browser, some on PCs, some on wireless platforms, then it looks like information but lacks context, something critical is missing.
[0007] Real-life computerized information needs to be continuous, heterogeneous, and dynamic. An organization creates and receives information all the time, as an ongoing event, continuously. The information is heterogeneous—word processing files, emails, spreadsheets, and many other kinds of documents. If someone needs to know about the process that led to a sale, she needs to see many different kinds of information, arranged in the right order: the initial emails or contact reports, followed by internal discussion notes, a first meeting date, reports on the meeting, contact information, more emails, maybe another meeting, purchase orders, invoices . . . . Before computers all documents dealing with a sale may have been in a single cardboard folder, but in desktop metaphor days emails are in an email folder, photos go in a different folder, purchase orders in a third folder, so none of these folders by itself tells the story. In the desktop metaphor of systems such as Windows, text files are stored one way, email another way, contacts yet another way, other types on information in yet other ways, the file structure can be unmanageable for many people, and a search in contacts may not reach information in email that could be just as important. That is increasingly unsuitable for real-life information.
[0008] Real-life information is dynamic because the information world keeps changing. New information arrives or is created: new emails and memos, bookmarks, calender updates, scans, news reports. The user should be able to see real-life information in context, arranged in a way that makes it useful and gives it meaning. The user should be able to access the information structure from any device he uses, through a wired or a wireless connection. The same information structure should be accessible from all devices.
[0009] A stream, as used in the system disclosed here, is a natural way to organize information that is continuous, heterogeneous, and dynamic. For an organization, a stream is the history of the ordinary, day-by-day business experience, in the form of a narrative stream of documents—all of the electronic documents that tell what the organization is doing, moment by moment, the contacts it is making, meetings it is planning, projects it is working on, topics it is discussing, transactions being made—all configured into a single narrative stream. It is a virtual stream of information that lives in cyberspace. Anyone with access permission can tune in from anywhere. A user can tune in from her desktop PC, from a laptop, a palmtop, a cell phone, or any other device with access. The stream looks like a parade of documents, all sorts of documents in one parade. In principle the parade begins when the company is born, continues until now, and then stretches into the future, as plans for the future also are information and also are part of the organization's story. Public and private documents are in the stream; naturally, private documents are visible only to their owners, group documents are visible to the respective group, and public documents can be visible to everyone. All of the organization's structured and unstructured information can go into the stream and tell the organization's story.
[0010] Each new documents appears at the head of the stream automatically; the stream grown constantly. A user can tune in and watch it grow, but would see only the part of the stream she is entitled to see. The whole stream is there and each user sees a piece of it. Each new piece of contact information, message, memo, email, file, proposal, bookmark, scanned image, and so on appears automatically at the head of the stream. If a user is about to call Bob Schwartz and ask a question, it might be useful to know that someone else has called and asked a similar question a year ago, and that someone called with a similar question two years ago, and that Schwartz wrote to the organization three years ago complaining about something. This information may all be public within the organization, and the user may be entitled to know it, and might need to know it, but that does not mean she is going to know it unless she has the right knowledge management software. But if all information is in a stream, the organization's life story is there, in one stream, and all the user has to do is search on Bob Schwartz—type his name in the search box and hit return. This gets a new stream. The old one represented the whole organization's story, all of the history the user was entitled to see, growing constantly. The new stream is a substream that has the same shape and structure as the old one, it is also chronological, a narrative, but it is a Bob Schwartz stream. All the information about the organization's dealings with Bob Schwartz is in the new stream: the letters, the email, the call reports—the documentary story of the organization's dealings with Bob Schwartz that the user may want to know about before making the call.
[0011] The user may do it through a desktop PC, from a cell phone, or any other device that can connect to the original stream. What the stream actually looks like onscreen depends on the device. Adjustments can be made for the smaller screen and different controls of a wireless device but the wireless device still puts the user into the same information world of the same stream. Only one informational structure is there for any device the user picks to access it. The question “where did I put that piece of information” has one answer all the time—it is in the stream, period. Structured and unstructured information is in one place, in the stream. It need not be stuck it the separate pigeonholes the desktop metaphor imposes.
[0012] On a desktop, or any device with a big enough screen, the stream may look like a receding parade of documents, or index cards. A new document appears in front, at the head of the stream, and everything else takes a step back. The stream flows as new elements join. When a user tunes in the stream with a small-screen device, a palmtop or a cell phone for example, a simple list may take the place of the receding parade, or some other abbreviation may show up. When the user points to an element in the streamview, he gets a summary overview of the document instantaneously, and can flip through all the information online in more or less the same way as through the pages of a magazine.
[0013] Ordinarily the user views the stream from the “now” line, looking from the present into the past. Further-away documents are older. The furthest away is the oldest. But the stream has a future as well as a past. For a meeting scheduled for 2 PM tomorrow, the user puts a note in the stream future. The calendar note flows steadily toward “now.” When it reaches it, it appears at the “now” point, at the head of the stream, and then flows steadily back into the past, along with everything else. The stream is thus a calendar and reminder system, it is a real-time news system about what is happening now, and it is a complete archive, a time-ordered story of the past.
[0014] How does the user find information from the stream? By using search, browse, and time-order. The symbiosis of these three can make them worth more in the stream world. A search returns another stream, a substream, that looks and behaves just like the original stream but is focused on one topic. The user can search on any word and phrase—as every word in every document in the stream is automatically indexed—on documents and meta-data, and on time-related data. If she searches the stream on “Zeppelin”—that is, she sees the regular stream onscreen and then types “Zeppelin” in the search box—everything that does not mention Zeppelin disappears and the screen shows a new stream just like the old one—looks the same, works the same (with search and browse), also has a past, present and future, but everything in it mentions Zeppelin. It is a Zeppelin stream.
[0015] A stream vacuums up information automatically, drops it into the narrative, at the right point, and right format, automatically. It matters not who generated the information, what machine it came from, what name it has (or that no one gave it a name), what folder or desktop it was dropped in, what application it came from, what type it is. It all goes into one unified stream.
[0016] This is how a stream works with an everyday business problem. Suppose an irate customer is on the phone. Some customer had bought a big lot of high-end printers. Now they are not working right. The sale was three years ago. The salesman who sold the printers has left the company. Nothing unusual about that so far. The company CEO has to figure out what to do. Who was responsible? How to react? You can not ask the salesman—he is gone and the deal was three years ago and he could have easily forgotten the details. Could the CEO simply rewind history and go back to the time of the original sale? With a stream, yes. Looking at the stream and doing a search in a few seconds on that sale, the CEO has before him the story of the sale—the original sales call, the customer specifications, email dialogues, the proposal, customer feedbacks on budget constraints, revised proposals suggesting lower-end printers initially to meet the budget but with the plan to upgrade later. So, the situation can be diffused, with an angry customer turned into an informed customer who understands what had gone on and why the printers need an upgrade to meet current needs. This was not a matter of one document, the point was not to find a single document that told the whole story, or even a batch of documents that would be stored in the same place in a traditional system. The story was in the sequence, and in the stream. Nothing unusual or exotic about this case. Companies do business and need to find out what they did, even if people leave, even if people forget, even if people remember wrong. The company still needs the information that tells what happened.
[0017] The stream need not be installed on local machines; users can tune it in by using a browser or some other means so the stream can be anywhere. It can be stored in a secure location, or at multiple locations. One or a few locations can store the complete documents while others store less complete versions but are able to find the complete versions.
[0018] How can a stream-based approach be a part of a strategy to enable any organizational unit, from a single end-user and a single computing device to hundreds to millions of end-users and hundreds to millions of computing devices, organize information into streams?
[0019] In general streams are ordered informational stacks, organized by time, relevance, topic, or other descriptor. Information of any type can be included in the stream by wrapping the information in a standard stream document object model.
[0020] The stream document object model is a standard framework, or meta-document wrapper, that can allow objects of vastly different characteristics to appear similar and behave in the same or similar fashion. Using a stream document object model we can incorporate static and real-time information—an email (static) and a live video feed from a TV channel (real-time). Using a stream document object model we can incorporate information of different applications—a Word document, a Powerpoint presentation, a spreadsheet, an email. Using a stream document object model we can incorporate information of different modalities—a text file, a video file, an audio file, a picture, etc. Any type of digital information can be “wrapped” inside of the stream document object model. Any information so wrapped can then become an object in the stream itself.
[0021] Streams are ideal for organizing and managing vast amounts of information from distributed locations and of different type due to the visual presentation and the stream document object model. The software application process can take a number of forms depending on its service role in the network. Any one of several morphological variants of software applications can be used, operating across hardware platforms, operating systems and kernels, using at least one software application but also capable of using numerous software applications operating in concert. Two main types of software applications are:
[0022] a) Client Application—a software application that is designed to operate at or close to an end-user, typically on an end-user or employee computing device such as a desktop, laptop, mobile device such as a cell phone or PDA, a set-top box, or some other device. Typically a client application operates for a single user or a small community of users; and
[0023] b) Server Application—a software application that is designed to operate for numerous end-users and other software applications. Server applications typically operate at locations convenient for communities of users to access the server application, and typically run on one or more servers.
[0024] Using these basic definitions we describe examples of methods of using client applications and server applications to enable a vast network of end-users and computing resources to co-operate to deliver organized streams of information.
[0025] One approach involves a Top Down Topology (clients and servers). In this model, server applications have a number of core roles, including:
[0026] a) Member registry, address and lookup. Each server acts as a directory of other server applications, client applications, users, and enterprise resources such as mail servers, CRM, ERP platforms etc.;
[0027] b) Stream document object routers that are responsible for collecting, sending and storing stream document objects to other server applications, client applications and other enterprise resources like CRM and ERP systems; and
[0028] c) Stream document object presentation and interaction, responsible for display and action upon streams of stream document objects.
[0029] In the same model, client applications have a number of core roles, including:
[0030] a) Stream document object routers that are responsible for collecting, sending and storing stream document objects to server applications (and, through them, to other client applications); and
[0031] b) Stream document object presentation and interaction, responsible for display and action upon streams of stream document objects.
[0032] For example, suppose we have a number of client applications and a number of server applications working together to deliver information within an organization as streams of stream document objects. Client application A (called Client A) collects information from the local end-user computing platform of user A. The information can be of any type. Client application A automatically wraps the information in the stream document object model, transforming the information into a stream document object. User A can then use client application A to manage information on the local computing device in streams of stream document objects.
[0033] Client application A can connect programmatically to a server application A at Server A. The mechanics of the connection can be through traditional methods like IP address, DNS registry, etc. Server A can communicate, manage and understand information including stream document objects. Server A can communicate with any system using standard protocols and formats including EDI, XML, and custom protocols, and retrieve information result sets and wrap those result sets with the stream document object model. Server A can then transform information in other systems like CRM, ERP, email, etc. into stream document objects. Server A also collects information from the computing platforms. The information can be of any type. Server A wraps the information in the stream document object model, transforming the information into a stream document object (SDO).
[0034] Server A also has a number of other connections to other resources such as Server B, Server C and Server D, each running its server application. Server A knows of enterprise resources through a number of mechanisms including IP address, DNS registry, etc. These enterprise resources include server applications and client applications of a variety of types including ERP systems, CRM system, printing systems, etc. Connected to Server B is a client application B (Client B) used by user B. Client B can communicate, manage and understand information including stream document objects. Connected to Server C is a client application C (Client C). Client C can communicate, manage and understand information including stream document objects. Connected to Server D is a client application D (Client D). Client D can communicate, manage and understand information including stream document objects.
[0035] We now have a basic topology of Server applications and Client applications. The goal of this topology is to organize all information into streams of stream document objects.
[0036] For example, User A wants to send Stream Document Object 1 (SDO1) to every resource in the entire organization. Using this particular topology, SDO1 is sent to server application at Server A, i.e., the server that serves Client A. A copy of SDO1 exists now on Server A. Server A sends SDO1 to known resources, the server applications at Server B, Server C and Server D. Server B in turn sends a copy of SDO1 to every client application it serves, e.g. Client B. Server C sends a copy of SDO1 to every client application it serves, e.g. Client C. Server D sends a copy of SDO1 to every client application it serves, e.g. Client D.
[0037] SDO1, originally from Client A, now exists on Server B, Server C, Server D, Client B, Client C and Client D. This is important since connections between all enterprise resources may be, or may become, unavailable at any time. When connections are available SDO1 is transferred to the client applications or server applications.
[0038] As new clients connect to servers, say Client B1 connects to Server B, SDO1 can be sent to Client B1. As new servers connect, say Server E connects to Server D, SDO1 can be sent to Server E (and then Server E can send SDO1 to a Client E). Should Client B disconnect entirely from the topology all stream document objects like SDO1 sent to it via the topology before disconnection are available at Client B, and any subsequent SDOs that should have been sent to it are available to it upon re-connection.
[0039] Servers B-E and Clients B-E may have SDOs that will not be sent as SDO1 was above, e.g. they may be sent or stored in different ways, but we can still use this topology to manage information of any type into streams of SDOs. SDOs may live forever or for a period of time solely on a client application or on a server application.
[0040] User E (served by server E that can connect to servers A-D) searches for information throughout the entire organization. Clients A-D, and Servers A-E can all respond with particular SDOs. These can be sent to Client E through Server E. When User E searches for information throughout the organization, SDOs are returned from connected applications like Server E. Server E itself connects to enterprise resources like Server A-D and can return SDOs to User E's Client E through Server E. This information in the organization can be organized and managed as SDOs through a network of clients and servers. Servers A-E can wrap information from other enterprise systems like ERP, CRM, email into SDOs and return these through Server E to User E's Client E.
[0041] These SDOs may or may not include the original information; they may be simply the stream document object wrappers, or some other subset or description of the original information. Since each client application or server application understands and communicates SDOs, sets of SDOs from every source can be organized by Client E into at least one stream of SDOs for User E.
[0042] Further, User E can also use only Server E to search the topology if no local computing device was available to run client application E. This is similar to using a web browser to communicate to Server E.
[0043] A variation of this topology includes no client applications like Clients A-E. In this variation all information is wrapped into SDOs by Servers A-E and users connect directly to Servers A-E, typically through a web browser or other thin client application.
[0044] In top-down topology, the server applications are responsible for distributing the stream document objects to other servers and to client applications. While a client application may designate where the SDOs should go, it is the server application(s) that are in charge of distributing them to the appropriate client applications for use by the respective end-users.
[0045] Another topology model is a Bottom Up Topology, in which one or more server applications are responsible for enabling the client applications to distribute SDOs but the client applications are responsible for actually distributing them to other client applications, either directly or through the server applications. For example, a client application may obtain from a server application information such as which client applications are accessible and how to access them, but the client application retains the ultimate responsibility for actually distributing SDOs to other client applications or to server applications In the bottom-up model, server applications similarly have a number of core roles, including:
[0046] a) Member registry, address and lookup. Each server acts as a directory of other server applications, client applications, users, and enterprise resources such as mail servers, CRM, ERP platforms etc.;
[0047] b) Stream document object routers that are responsible for collecting, sending and storing stream document objects to other server applications, client applications and other enterprise resources like CRM and ERP systems; and
[0048] c) Stream document object presentation and interaction, responsible for display and action upon streams of stream document objects.
[0049] In the bottom up model client applications similarly have a number of core roles, including:
[0050] a) Stream document object routers, responsible for collecting, sending and storing stream document objects to other client applications or to server applications; and
[0051] b) Stream document object presentation and interaction, responsible for display and action upon streams of stream document objects.
[0052] For example, suppose we have a number of client applications and a number of server applications working together to deliver information within an organization as streams of stream document objects. Client A collects information from the local end-user computing platform. The information can be of any type. Client A wraps the information in the stream document object model, transforming the information into a stream document object. User A can then use the client application A (Client A) to manage information on the local computing device in streams of stream document objects.
[0053] Client A can connect programmatically to server application A at Server A that serves Client A. The mechanics of the connection can be through traditional methods like IP address, DNS registry, etc. Server A can communicate, manage and understand information including stream document objects. Server A can communicate with any system using standard protocols and formats including EDI, XML, custom protocols and retrieve information result sets and wrap those result sets with the stream document object model. Server A can then transform information in other systems like CRM, ERP, email, etc. into stream document objects. Server A also collects information from the computing platforms. The information can be of any type. Server A wraps the information in the stream document object model transforming the information into a stream document object.
[0054] Server A also has a number of other connections to other stream server resources, e.g. Server B. Server A knows of enterprise resources through a number of mechanisms including IP address, DNS registry, etc. These enterprise resources include server and client applications of a variety of types including ERP systems, CRM system, printing systems, etc. Connected to Server B is a client application B (Client B). Client B can communicate, manage and understand information including stream document objects.
[0055] In this model, User A and User B can form working groups by connecting Client A directly to Client B. Server A and Server B can assist this connection. Client A connects to Server A, Client B connects to Server B and Server A and Server B share information about the location of their connected client applications Client A and Client B. Client A and Client B can connect in other ways as well, including by having User A and User B configure their applications directly.
[0056] As in Top Down topology, connections between systems are transitory, meaning Server A, Server B, Client A and Client B may be disconnected at any time. Thus in this model Client A can send specific SDOs to Server A so that they will be available to other resources, like Server B, even if Client A is disconnected. Server A and Server B become SDO storage platforms for important information. The Client a SDO sent to Server A can be routed to Server B as well by Server A.
[0057] Client A can send to Client B all of A's SDOs or a subset of A's SDOs. These can be sent directly to Client B and need not need to pass through Server A or Server B. When User B searches for information throughout the organization, SDOs are returned from connected client applications like Client A and connected server applications like Server B. Server B itself connects to enterprise resources like Server A and can return SDOs to User B's Client B through Server B. This information in the organization can be organized and managed as SDOs through a network of clients and servers.
[0058] These SDOs may or may not include the original information. Again, they can be simply the stream document object wrappers, or some other subset or description of the information. Since each client application or server application understands and communicates SDOs, sets of SDOs from every source can be organized by Client B into at least one stream of SDOs for User B.
[0059] User B could also use only Server B to search the topology if no local computing device was available to run client application B. This is similar to using a web browser to communicate to Server B. Any SDOs not specifically sent to Server B by Client B need not be available.
[0060] A variation of this topology includes no servers. In this variation users connect their client applications directly and search and route SDOs directly, e.g., User A connects to User B without necessarily going through Server B or Server A. This is a peer-to-peer topology.
[0061] In each topology, the system handles all types of different documents, or items of information, in essentially the same way, even if the document is of a type or format unknown to the system. Each document when created, received or otherwise encountered is treated consistently, after conversion to a stream document object (SDO) conforming to a standard document object model. As described below in more detail, the system processes the original documents to create SDOs enriched with various aids that can include significant information about the document such as summary, type of document, thumbnail of the document, who is the document's owner, who has permission to access the document, keywords, command options, time stamp, index, etc. This creation of or conversion to SDOs is done automatically, although the user can aid the process. It can be done by a translator agent or programmatically.
[0062] The terms “document” and information asset (IA) are used here can mean the complete document that is supplied to the system or is created within the system, or any one of a number of different formats or representations of such documents of IAs depending on the origin of the documents or IAs and how they are transmitted, created, or processed for use in the system. Such document of IA representation may be further characterized by more specific terms, such as stream document object (SDO), browse card, index card, glance view, etc. A “stream document object” (SDO) refers to a document that includes a meta-wrapper combined with the original document of IA to enable the system to carry out its operations despite the fact that the original documents of IAs may have been in diverse formats and may have come from diverse sources and be in different modalities. The term “standard document object” is sometimes used interchangeably with “stream document object.”
[0063] The disclosed system automatically creates the stream document objects (SDOs) for the respective original documents that the system receives or creates. As a result, the SDOs of heterogeneous documents can be in the same format and processed accordingly, without complications due to the fact that the original documents may have been in very different formats and may have come from very different applications. The SDO-based document representations can contain items such as Glyphs that tell at a glance the document type (e.g., a Word file, email, etc.), Thumbnail graphics that tell more about the type of document (e.g., memo, audio file, etc.), and other notation such as, without limitation, title, summary, headers, options, command buttons, etc.
[0064] Document representations based on the SDOs can be displayed to the user in a number of ways. One way to represent original documents based on their SDOs is to create document representations called browse cards or index cards that contain information derived from the original documents and typically are smaller in size than the original documents. These browse or index cards can be displayed to the user in a number of ways. A common and particularly efficient way is to display then in a receding, partly overlapping stack, in time order as earlier discussed. When a cursor on the display touches a browse card, a glance view of the document appears at a different part of the screen. The glance view can be simply the browse card of the same original document, but completely visible at a separate part of the display rather than partly overlaid by other browse card, or it can contain more information or less information. One important difference from traditional systems is that the glance view can show command buttons that match the type of documents. While the command set for traditional systems may use the same command button set for different types of documents, in the disclosed system the command set that shows in the glance view is specific to the document—it has the unique combination of command buttons that make sense for that document. The command buttons unique to the glance view can be shown on the glance view itself or separately. As noted, the glance view comes on the screen automatically when the cursor simply touches the corresponding browse or index card in the displayed stream; the user need not take any other action such as clicking on the document represented (browse card) in the stream or taking an action that calls a program to open or work with the document.
[0065] Other views can be used as alternatives to the stream view. For example, the display can be in the form of a list view that displays SDO-based information in list form, with a portion of the information visible so the user can quickly identify the document's contents without opening it. A calender view enables the document representations to be based on the month, day, and time they were entered into the system. An address book display can be arranged by contact or by sets of contacts. A grid view display can show the SDO-based document representations as a non-overlapping group, and may be particularly suited to SDO-based browse cards of images. In a Q-view, one part of the screen shows a list of documents while another shows a glance view of the document whose title the cursor currently touches.
[0066] The universal SDO of a document is created as a new document of any type is added to the basic stream of information items. It is done for any existing, legacy documents, when the system is installed, and is done automatically as any additional documents are created or otherwise come in Metadata such as owner, date, access permission and keywords are created as part of this automatic process.
[0067] Access permission is a part of a document's metadata, unique to that document, so permission levels need not have the constraints of traditional information handling systems where a group or an individual typically has access to all documents in a particular folder or directory, or has a particular type of access to a folder.
[0068] Search results are integrated into a substream, at the right place, when and as they become available. The user can start using an incomplete substream and watch it build up. If the search must extend over a number of computers or even servers, and some are unavailable at the time, the results that come in when any become available are integrated into the substream at the right places.
[0069] The SDOs discussed here can overcome unique and difficult issues that arise when wireless devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (e.g., a PDA such as a Palm Pilot) request information from remote databases or need to process such information to a significant extent. Various limitations of such devices, such as in one or more of bandwidth, screen size, input/output capability, limited memory, etc., can distinguish them from personal computers and make it difficult to effectively deal with such databases and with remote processors. Wireless devices of this type may be hard to navigate, may require painstaking typing or other ways of entering information, and may not present information efficiently on their typically smaller screens. With an SDO-based system as described here, a wireless device can receive and handle document representations that are contracted in a manner unique both to the nature of the respective documents and to limitations of the wireless device. For example, if the document is a long memo, a source such as a server operating in accordance with the disclosed system can initially transmit only a summary and perhaps some identifying information such as who created the document and when. If the request is for several documents, the server can initially transmit only some identifying information for each of the documents. If the documents are too many for the purpose, the server can transmit for display a rolling window of identifying information so the wireless device user can scroll through the few items the screen can show at one time. Further, if the wireless device is a PDA with a larger screen, the server can transmit for display more information than if the device is a cell phone with a smaller screen. In addition to transmitting the truncated document(s), the server can transmit to the wireless device a set of one or more associated commands unique to the nature of the requested document(s). For example, if the document is an email, the command set can be “reply” and “forward,” whereas if the document is a memo, the command set can include an “edit” command, and if the document is search results the command set can include a “refine search” command. The commands can be displayed as operations buttons at the wireless device. Still further, the commands can be geared to the nature of the wireless device as well. For example, the command set can be richer for a PDA than for a cell phone.
[0070] When the user enters one of the displayed commands at the wireless device, for example by tapping on a command button, the server can respond by taking corresponding action and wirelessly sending additional information to the device in accordance with said action. For example, if the command is to forward an email to another recipient, the server (and not the wireless device) can carry out the requested action. If the command is for additional information from the requested document(s), the server can do any appropriate operations thereon and transmit the results to the wireless device. If the command is for a refined search, the server can carry it out and transmit the results to the wireless device. Again, these operations at the server, and particularly the information transmitted to the wireless device, are geared to both the nature of the information and to limitations of the device such as in bandwidth, display and input/output capabilities, although client side applications can also carry out processing. An important feature is that the wireless device need not store the database, and could but need not have special software or extensive processing capabilities—it only need to use a native browser and the processing, display and wireless access capabilities that it already has. Another device, such as a server operating in accordance with the system disclosed here can do the bulk of the work in a manner unique to the needs of the particular wireless device. The server and its software can automatically create summaries of dozens or even hundreds of file types, specially formatted for the screen capabilities of wireless devices, create complete emails (and attachments), events, memos, and other documents, search local storage or entire networks for the information the wireless device needs and act on it, and forward information, replies and security levels of protection as needed.
[0071] Thus, the stream display modes can both expand and contract, to suit a particular user or a particular display device. If the user is on a PC with a large screen, the display mode may include the receding stack of partly overlapping SDOs, with glance views shown on the side. If the user is on a smaller screen, or prefers a different format, the display can be in calendar form or as Q-list. If the same use is on a wireless device with a small screen, the stream display can be further contracted to suit. Similarly, if a voice interface is used instead of, or in addition to an interface with a display for the user, the user can be presented with a contracted version of the stream as speech that can be computer-generated by know text-to-speech software or otherwise. In addition, a voice interface with known speech-to-text capabilities can be used to translate voice commands or other input from the user in interacting with the stream-based system.
[0072] Other aspects and embodiments are described below, including wireless embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0073] [0073]FIG. 1 illustrates a screen that can serve as a default view when a software product according to a preferred embodiment is opened on a computer; the labels that are added are not normally a part of the displayed screen.
[0074] FIGS. 2 - 8 are flowcharts illustrating processes in an example of a preferred embodiment.
[0075] [0075]FIGS. 9 and 10 are examples of system topologies.
[0076] FIGS. 11 - 18 illustrate screens used in explaining an implementation involving a personal digital assistant (PDA) wireless device.
[0077] [0077]FIG. 19 illustrates a WAP-capable cell phone used in another implementation.
[0078] FIGS. 20 - 29 illustrate cell phone screens.
[0079] [0079]FIG. 30 illustrates two types of PDA devices and one type of cell phone, with relevant screen displays.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0080] [0080]FIG. 1—Stream View Display:
[0081] [0081]FIG. 1 illustrates a stream view screen seen on a PC or some other device that has a sufficiently large display and works as a part of an example of the disclosed system. It can show up upon turning on the computer or some other device, or upon calling the disclosed system. As seen in FIG. 1, the screen illustrates a receding stream of document representations, which for the purposes of this discussion can be called simply documents, with the most recent document in front. The document representations in the displayed receding stack can also be called browse cards or index cards. Passing the cursor over a document in the stream causes that document's “glance view” to appear on the screen essentially instantaneously. The glance view of a document is so labeled in FIG. 1. The screen also includes the following features appropriately labeled in FIG. 1: (a) the Search Field is an area in which the user can type one or more words for which the system will search in documents (also called standard document objects or information assets and abbreviated to SDO and IA) in the displayed part of the stream and/or in additional SDOs and IAs that are in the same stream but might not be displayed because the stream is too large to show on a single screen; (b) the Main Menu is where the user sets preferences, finds help information, logs out, and/or performs other operations; (c) the Header contains information such as links, command buttons and choice boxes used to navigate; (d) the Stream View Options allow the user to configure the presentation of the stream of information assets; (e) the Document Glance allows quick scanning of SDOs or IAs that are visible on the screen, and presentation of more detailed information on the selected information asset; (f) the Type Glyphs identify the nature of an SDO or IA at a glance (e.g., that it is a Word document); and (g) the Thumbnails is a graphic representation of the type of document (e.g., an audio file, an email, an event, etc.). The User Guide published by the assignee hereof (submitted concurrently with the filing of this application with an IDS form) further describes the operation of a relevant example and, together with the programs contained in the compact disc submitted herewith, provides a more detailed disclosure of examples of preferred embodiments and are hereby incorporated by reference in this patent specification.
[0082] Certain particularly novel features of the disclosed system are described below by reference to flowcharts and block diagrams. More detailed information on a particular example of implementation of these and other features of the system are evident from the software on the attached compact disc, which is the best mode known to the inventors at the time of filing this patent application, although persons of the appropriate level of skill in this technology can create alternate versions based on the text and figures of this patent specification without undue experimentation.
[0083] FIGS. 2 - 4 —Universal or Standard Data Object Model (SDO):
[0084] [0084]FIG. 2 illustrates creation of a universal or standard data object model (SDO) of a document in accordance with a preferred embodiment. This is an important operation that helps bring about efficient handling of heterogeneous document types in a manner that users find particularly easy and intuitive. A standard document object model (SDO) can be thought of as a document shell or wrapper of the underlying full document or information asset that contains, among other items, a thumbnail of the information asset, permission rights, and metadata providing additional information. The SDO is automatically created from the original document or information asset and is stored in a desktop computer or some other user's device and/or a server, either independently of the original document or information asset itself or with a replica (copy) thereof. From there, the system makes available the SDO (with a pointer to its original document or information asset) to the desktop user or to users that have access to the document through some connection, wired or wireless directly or through a server.
[0085] As seen in FIG. 2, the process of creating SDOs starts with the uploading at step S 201 of information assets (documents) through a browser or a client application or a server application, or at step S 202 with uploading using a software application agent called Doc Feeder in some embodiments of the disclosed system. At the following steps, which need not be performed in the order of their description below, an SDO of the IA is created. The IA uploaded at step S 201 or S 202 can comprise structured or unstructured data. At step S 203 the process determines the content type of the IA, e.g., if it is a type that the system recognizes. If it is, the system includes content-type specific metadata in the document's SDO: MIME/content type information, a glyph of the application that creates/views the content-type, and/or the system assigns other content-type data to the SDO shell. If step S 203 determines that the IA is an unknown content type, it assigns to the SDO a content-type for “unknown content-type.”. Step S 204 extracts text from the information asset, for example, in a text document, this step extracts the text of the document. Step S 205 extracts text that may not be within but may be associated with the information asset, for example, the time stamp of the document, the owner of the document, and possibly other textual information that is or can be associated with the document. Other possible examples are attributes of the IA such as file reference path, database/repository path, file metrics such as size, encryption, other identification information, etc. Step S 206 generates a thumbnail picture of the IA. The thumbnail can be a reduced-size picture of the document, for example of the first page, and can be converted to a graphic image format. Other examples of thumbnails are JPEG, MPEG, BMP, GIF, AVI, or other still or moving image files representative of some aspect of the IA. Step S 207 produces an automatic summary of the IA, e.g., a replica of its first 500 words, or first 10 sentences, or some other information copied or otherwise derived from the IA. Step S 208 creates a permission list unique to the IA that defines the owner of the IA (e.g., its creator), and lists of people or entities and groups that can access the IA or the SDO of that IA for reading and/or writing purposes. This permission list can be defined by the user for the particular IA or for a class of IAs, or can be created automatically, e.g., by software agents called Doc Feeder or Crawling agent in a particular embodiment of the described system, or by programmatic mapping such as LDAP, Active Directory, NTDS or some other mapping. Alternatively, at least for some documents, the permission list can be a default setting.
[0086] Step S 209 assigns keywords to the information asset. The software agents Doc Feeder or Crawler can assign keywords, and the user can manually assign or add keywords. Step S 210 generates and assigns to the IA a Globally Unique Document ID, e.g. as 64 bit code unique to the IA. Step S 211 determines and assigns to the IA document operations that are unique to the IA. Depending on the IA, these operations or command buttons can be basic, such as “View” and “Reply.” They can be content-specific, such as “Play” for multimedia information assets. They can be solution-specific, such as “Fax” for a message or some other document suitable for faxing, or “Purchase” for an order form. They can be user-specific, such as “Delete” allowed to only certain users. An important point is that the operations or command buttons assigned to a particular IA match the IA and need not be the same for different information assets, as is the typical case with traditional information management systems. Step S 212 assigns optional operations or command buttons to the IA. They include, for example, commands to send the IA to an optical character recognition (OCR) service that can be a separate service, IP, HTTP-based or an asynchronous operation. Alternatively, the optional operation can be another OCR operation that can perform OCR on a selected part of the IA, or on digital graphic portions or can involve multi-part associations. At step S 213 , the information asset is submitted to an indexing engine (asynchronous service) Again, this can be a separate service, IP, HTTP-based. This step can index all or selected fields of the IA, including but not limited to the IA summary, title, permissions, IA text, keywords, time, metadata, and content-type. At step S 214 the SDO created as described above is submitted to a storage service. This can be a database that is a file reference with a pointer to the actual location of the IA on a network or a local file system, or it can be a database that contains the actual IA in a repository such as a user's computer or a centralized repository. The document object model so generated is made available for use in step S 215 .
[0087] [0087]FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate methods of creating document object models from information assets. As seen in FIG. 3, three type of information assets are involved in this example—new information assets 301 , modified information assets 301 , and deleted information assets 303 . All come to a file system 304 . At step S 305 , agents specific to the disclosed embodiment of the system known as Scopeware 2.2 translate the IA into an SDO, i.e., create an SDO shell for the IA, with attributes as discussed in connection with FIG. 2. At step S 306 , Scopeware agents translate the IA modifications into an updated SDO and time-stamp the change so the new time-stamp becomes a part of the SDO and the modified IA can be placed in the stream of documents at a place reflecting the new time-stamp. At step S 307 , Scopeware agents execute actions for removing the deleted IA from the repository of documents. The display, such as that seen in FIG. 1 reflects the actions takes at steps S 305 , S 306 and S 307 . As a result of step S 305 , the stream on the display shows at 308 the new IA (provided the time period where the new IA fits is being displayed). As a result of step S 306 , the modified IA appears at 309 in its correct place in the displayed receding stream of documents. As a result of step S 307 , the deleted documents is removed at 310 from the displayed stream, and the remaining stream is now displayed.
[0088] In FIG. 4, a programmatic information system at step S 401 receives new, modified and deleted information assets for storage and distribution to appropriate translation agents as illustrated. In other respects, the FIG. 4 arrangement corresponds to that of FIG. 3, so the description of corresponding portions will not be repeated.
[0089] [0089]FIG. 5—Glance View:
[0090] At least some of the document object model created as described above becomes a part of a glance view or browse card of the type illustrated in FIG. 1. An important feature of the system disclosed here is to conveniently dispaly such a glance view in a natural and intuitively accepted way to facilitate operations.
[0091] Traditional user interfaces for computers typically present lists or graphical icons of “documents” (including but not limited to computer files, emails, web pages, images and other types of electronic information). These lists and icon displays provide only a limited amount of information about the document—typically, title and application type only, although they can provide additional information in some cases. This can make it difficult for users to identify the document without downloading and/or opening the document with its associated application. For example, in Windows 2000, the user interface can display a small temporary pop-up window of the document's title, application type, author and size when the user hovers his cursor on the document icon; however, the pop-up window appears only after a brief delay, sometimes a second of two, and is for documents that are on the screen at the time, which tend to be a small part of the many documents typically stored in or accessible through a user's computer. In contrast, the disclosed system creates a pop-up window for heterogeneous documents of known and unknown application types that appears essentially instantly, as perceived by the user, upon touching the document's representation in the user interface with the cursor or some other pointing device. In the example of FIG. 1, this representation is an “index card” in a cascading flow of overlapping index cards (also called “browse cards in some embodiments”), and the pop-up window is called a “glance view”. This glance view not only contains the document's title, application type and owner, but also may contain rich multimedia cues (such as a thumbnail image of the first page of the document, a WAV or MP3 preview of an audio file, or an animated GIF preview of a video file), text summaries and document operations specific to the document's application type and access permissions. For example, if the user has write-permission for a document, the “Edit” operation will be visible and available; however, if not, the Edit operation will not be visible or available. These document operations are interactive, allowing users to select available operations directly.
[0092] Referring to FIG. 5 for an illustration of the instantaneously dynamic, tailored, and interactive document glance view feature of the disclosed system, at S 501 a user hovers his or her computer cursor over a document's browse card. Essentially instantly, at least as perceived by the user, and without any mouse clicking or other action on the part of the user, at step S 502 the information needed for a glance view is generated, and at S 503 the glance view appears next to or near the browse or index card, using a technology such as Dynamic HTML. If the user clicks on a document's browse card, as detected by the test at step S 504 , and as executed by the user at S 505 , step S 506 causes the glance view to become fixed and step S 507 causes it to remain in the display. The glance view does not change until the user clicks on another document's browse card. If the user does not click on any browse card, as determined by the test of step S 504 , the glance view will instantly change as the user moves his cursor over other browse cards, to reflect the glance view of the currently touched by the cursor browse card. If the user has clicked on a browse card to fix the glance view as a stationary window, the user can then select any of the visible and available document operations, by taking the “yes” branch of step S 508 and selecting at S 509 an available operation (as earlier described, the operations or command buttons that show are specific to the document or type of document). At step S 510 the system executes the selected operation (command) and the display reflects this at S 511 . If at step S 508 the user takes the “no” branch, she can continue to hover the cursor over the stream of browse cards and repeat the process, at step S 512 . If at S 504 the system determines that the user has not clicked to fix a glance view, the glance view information essentially instantly changes at S 513 as the user moves the cursor over other browse cards, and the new glance views appear on the screen at S 514 .
[0093] [0093]FIG. 6—Granular Access Permission:
[0094] [0094]FIG. 6 illustrates a process involving another important feature of the disclosed system—granular permissions for access to information assets that allows clients to receive seamless and uniform access to contents without necessitating changes to existing network security and access rights. In traditional systems, a network administrators typically would grant access to specific network drives and file folders. The permission typically would allow a user to access the entire folder or drive, or would deny access to an entire folder or drive, rather than to a particular information asset or document.
[0095] In the disclosed system, each information asset is accessible through specific access permission for each client or designated group of clients. Examples of access stage permissions are read, write, and aware. Read permissions allow a client to view the full information asset. Write permissions allow the client to view and edit the document. Aware permission alerts the client that an information asset exists, for example by providing a document shell in the client's stream of documents, but does not allow the client to view or edit the document. A group of clients who want to collaborate on a project or event can establish a designated group that can be assigned permissions to relevant documents for the project or event. Thus, each member can receive real-time additions to his or her stream of documents and information assets are posted. The clients can assign permission to the other group members themselves, by so designating the appropriate documents to be shared, without involving a network administrator. Some documents, such as personal to-do lists, can be accessible only to a specified user, but the user can change this at any time to allow access, full or partial, to other designated persons. Assignments of permissions for access can be done as granularly as an individual client level or individual document, or as diffuse as a departmental or enterprise level.
[0096] As seen in FIG. 6, an information asset 601 can have permission levels assigned to it in several ways. At step S 602 , a software agent such as Doc Feeder can automatically assign permissions; at step S 603 a programmatic system such as SDAP, Active Directory, Access Control Lists, NT DS, of some other system assigns permissions to the document; and/or at step S 604 the user manually assigns permissions to the document. Examples of processes relevant to different types of permissions are: step S 605 grants access to all public users of the system; step S 606 assigns permissions to groups as illustrated; step S 607 assigns permissions to specific groups as illustrated, and step S 608 freezes permissions and does not allow the document to be changed. The display, of the type illustrated in FIG. 1, can provide information representative of the permissions, as illustrated at steps S 609 through S 612 in FIG. 6.
[0097] [0097]FIG. 7—Integrating Search Results from Distributed Searches:
[0098] Another important feature of the disclosed system is illustrated in FIG. 7 and pertains to integrating search results from distributed searches. In traditional systems, search requests in a client/server model with a central index usually return a single, well-defined results set. In a peer-to-peer network, however, search results may come back to the “Source” computer (the computer that issues the search query) in a haphazard manner because of network latency (variable traffic speed and bandwidth across a distributed network) and variable peer presence (peer computers can be turned on and off, or removed from network at times).
[0099] The disclosed system asynchronous responses to a distributed query across a peer-to-peer network of computers integrate the results from diverse sources, arriving at different times, and comprising diverse types of documents, into a single unified results set. One preferred embodiment leverages the time-ordered presentation interface earlier described so that search results are integrated into a time-ordered stream according to each document's original time-stamp, regardless of when the document's search results set was received.
[0100] As seen in FIG. 7, at step 701 a user at a Source computer selects peer computers (“Peers”) across which the distributed search will be performed. If the test at S 703 determines that there is no central registry with peer hookup, and the test at S 704 determines there is no user-specified IP address of peers, the process returns to S 701 , where the user can specify addresses or they can be provided in some other way. The central registry with lookup of Peers can involve Online/offline status, IP/DNS resolution services and Optional public/private key authentication. When the test at S 703 or at S 704 leads to the “yes” branch, at step S 705 the Source computer sends out a search request that travels to each selected Peer in the network. At S 706 , each Peer that receives the search request queries its index for documents that match the search criteria, and at S 707 the peer computer then sends its results set back to the Source computer. The response can be XML-based, a binary byte stream, or an in-band and out-of-band transfer. At S 708 the Source computer takes the results set from each Peer and builds a single collective results set. In a preferred embodiment, this collective results set is organized as a time-ordered stream of documents, as seen in FIG. 1. This can involves an on-the-fly browser combination with XML & XSL with time-sort algorithm, XML to presentation layer with time-sort algorithm, and in-band and out-of-band transfer. Importantly, at S 709 , the Source computer continues to expand this collective results set, essentially in real time as it receives additional results sets from Peers until all Peers have responded or some other relevant event has taken place. At S 710 , the collective results are displayed as soon as results have come in at the Source computer, and the display is updated as additional results come in, even when a Peer that was off-line comes on line and sends results at a later time.
[0101] [0101]FIG. 8—Tri-State Tree:
[0102] Yet another feature useful in one example of the disclosed system is a particularly convenient tri-state tree. In a scrolling tree directory of the contents of a hard drive (or hard drives in a network), a user may want to select “Parent Folders” (folders containing subfolders) and “Child Folders” (subfolders contained within a folder) that can be further operated on. The tri-state feature disclosed herein allows users to select folders in one or more of the following combinations:
[0103] 1. All Parent Folders and all Child Folders
[0104] 2. Some Parent Folders and all their Child Folders
[0105] 3. Some Parent Folders and some of their Child Folders
[0106] 4. No Parent Folders and no Child Folders (a do nothing option)
[0107] This selection tree has useful application beyond the particular example of information handling disclosed here; it can be used to select folders for any computer operation. For example, it can enable users to discretely select software application or operating system components to install or remove.
[0108] A single scrolling tree directory of Parent and Child Folders that can expand and contract to show the contents of Parent and Child Folders is known—Microsoft Windows Explorer is an example of one. A Tri-State Selection mechanism also is known—Microsoft Add/Remove Windows Components is an example of another way of selecting various Parent and Child Folders. However, the Microsoft Add/Remove Windows Components feature does not display all Parent and Child Folders within a single scrolling tree directory; Child Folder and other contents of a Parent Folder are displayed in a separate window only after the user clicks on a Details button. In addition, only the contents of one Parent Folder can be displayed at a time.
[0109] The Tri-State Selection Tree described here combines the elements of a single scrolling tree directory with a tri-state selection mechanism in a new and unique way to enable users to discretely select specific Parent and/or Child Folders all in one single view.
[0110] Referring to FIG. 8 for an illustration, at step S 801 a user is first presented with a tree directory of the highest level of Parent Folders on a hard drive or network. At S 802 the user can expand the tree directory to show Child Folders by clicking on a plus/minus sign next to each Parent Folder, and the directory so expands at S 803 . At S 804 , the display shows a check box next to each Parent Folder (e.g.; to the right of the plus/minus sign). By default, all check boxes are empty, indicating that no Parent or Child Folders are selected. If at step S 805 the user clicks on a check box once, the process at step S 806 selects the marked “/” Parent Folder but none of its Child Folders are selected, and step S 807 shows this on the display. If at step S 808 the user clicks the check box a second time, the slash mark is replaced by an “X” and all the Child Folders' check boxes are then selected and grayed out at S 809 , indicating that all Child Folders are selected for that Parent Folder, and this is displayed at S 810 .
[0111] Thus, by expanding the tree and clicking on check boxes, the user can systematically and efficiently select a discrete number of folders on which to perform an operation.
[0112] RAIS—Redundant Array of Inexpensive Servers:
[0113] Yet another feature useful in one example of the disclosed system is an arrangement of a redundant array of inexpensive servers (RAIS). Processing of a large set of information or documents requires benefits of a centralized architecture—reliability and scalability, and RAIS is a novel approach to provide benefits of a centralized architecture—namely reliability and scalability with numerous inexpensive computers. Thus, RAIS can deliver essentially infinite scalability, can allow inexpensive smaller computers to be used to solve enterprise computational problems cheaper/faster than expensive larger platforms.
[0114] For example, consider:
[0115] Set of Information, D, with specific documents D1, D2, D3; D{D1,D2,D3}
[0116] RAIS of N×N size, with N=3; RowN, CoIN
[0117] Replication factor is number of columns
[0118] Scalability factor is number of rows
[0119] 1. Here N=3, with 9 computers
Col1 Col2 Col3 Row1 A A A Row2 B B B Row3 C C C
[0120] 2. To post a Document, Dn, one copy is sent to a sub-server in each CoIN, so
Col1 Col2 Col3 Row1 A(Dn) A(Dn) A(Dn) Row2 B B B Row3 C C C
[0121] 3. Thus Dn is replicated N times (N=3) and thus if Col1:Row1 computer is unavailable there are two other computers with the same Dn. This is RAIS replication.
[0122] 4. To post a universe, or set of documents, D{D1,D2,D3}, can use simple (round-robin) or complex (latency, closest path, spanning tree) routing, sending each document to a different RowN.
Col1 Col2 Col3 Row1 A(D1) A(D1) A(D1) Row2 B(D2) B(D2) B(D2) Row3 C(D3) C(D3) C(D3)
[0123] 5. Thus to reassemble the entire universe or set of documents, D, requires sending a request to each RowN. To reconstruct, D, for an N×N RAIS requires N request/responses.
[0124] 6. Multiple smaller requests can be used instead of one mammoth request. This reduces latency, bandwidth and process constraints. This is RAIS scalability.
[0125] 7. Note that any one of the computers in Row1 can be used to re-construct the total set D found in Col1. For example, if Row1:Col1 computer is unavailable, then Row1:Col3 computer has a copy of the data. In fact, D can be reconstructed from any arrangement that completes a CoIN.
[0126] 8. To increase either replication or scalability simply increase N.
[0127] Scopeware Software Agents, either desktops or servers, can be installed on each computer in a RAIS matrix to achieve this functionality.
[0128] [0128]FIGS. 9 and 10—Architectures, Including Bottom-Up and Top-Down:
[0129] The disclosed system can be implemented in a variety of ways in terms of physical information storage—for example, physical information storage can be centralized or decentralized. Decentralized storage, physical storage of information with multiple servers and/or clients, is possible through network agents called Doc Feeders, which may be located at a server or client level. The Doc Feeder allows a storage location of a client, for example a file folder on a desktop hard drive, to be included in the system level data repository for use throughout an organization or enterprise. Depending upon implementation, the Doc Feeders can replicate the document or information asset (IA) to a server or maintain a constant pointer to the physical storage location while populating the system with the standard document object model (SDO). As earlier described, an SDO is a document shell of the document or IA that contains, among other items, a thumbnail of the IA, permission rights, and metadata. An SDO is created from the IA and placed on a Scopeware server or client, either independent of the IA or with a replication of the IA. From there, the Scopeware server or client will share the SDO (with constant pointer to the IA or replicated IA) with other connected system servers and clients in order to make the IA available to all clients connected to the network. Thus, the system servers and network agents (Doc Feeders) act as document proxies for both storage and retrieval of IAs.
[0130] The system servers within the network need not be physically close or in proximity. For example, a client in a truly global organization with locations and system servers on several continents can query and retrieve sales results across all system servers and clients through a federated search. In essence, the disclosed system creates a virtual store from all documents accessible to any system server or client either centralized or decentralized.
[0131] The physical information storage of the disclosed system follows three models: duplication, replication, and document reference. The duplication model physically stores a duplicate IA on the parent Scopeware server that was created by the client. Other clients polling the parent Scopeware server have full access to the IA, depending upon permissions, whether or not the original document is available from its native storage location (i.e. client PC is turned off). The replication model replicates the IA from the parent Scopeware server to the peer Scopeware servers within a federated network. All clients within the federated network have full access to the IA, depending upon permissions, whether or not the original document is available from its native storage location (i.e. client PC is turned off). An example of the replication model is the concept of a redundant array of inexpensive servers. This concept, which is described in detail in the distributed enterprise model (also called bottom-up architecture), utilizes client machines in place of or in addition to servers. The document reference model “parks” only an SDO of the IA on all Scopeware servers and maintains a constant pointer to the actual physical location of the IA rather than storing a full copy of the IA on the Scopeware server. Other clients will only be able to gain access to the IA when the physical location of the IA is connected to the network (i.e. client PC is turned on).
[0132] Also as earlier discussed, two primary types of stream topology are Bottom-Up and Top-Down. Through the use of both Bottom-Up and Top-Down methodologies, Scopeware creates a living stream for the client with new SDOs appearing automatically as content arrives. The Scopeware distributed enterprise model can make use of both server-based resources and client-based resources where appropriate. Both types of streams can be used simultaneously and interchangeably.
[0133] Bottom-Up streams involve information collaboration formed by ad-hoc groups of Scopeware clients. A bottom-up stream is composed of information created by the clients of a transitory group. Information shared and created by this group is, or at least can be, replicated via point-to-point connections (e.g., from client PC to client PC or, as an alternative, through a server). In this way, bottom-up groups can form and disperse frequently, and without notification, while its members will still have access to the shared information. FIG. 9 illustrates this configuration.
[0134] Top-Down streams are more permanent, generally more administrative streams or collections of information, such as company-wide distribution lists, or groups like ‘Accounting’ and ‘Development’. In these groups, information is “parked” to the server from the desktop. The server then sends the information to other known servers. Each client maintains a polling connection to the server to retrieve “parked” documents that have recently arrived from other remote servers or from local clients. FIG. 10 illustrates this configuration.
[0135] As earlier described, the user interface within the Scopeware product portfolio has unique characteristics. The SDO provides certain information that allows quick perusal of the information retrieval results via a proprietary “browse card” similar to an index card that contains data on the underlying IA. A unique “browse card” is created for each IA. The “browse card” includes metadata for the document, which is comprised of a title, identification number unique to Scopeware document referencing, date/time stamp, and owner information. The “browse card” also presents a thumbnail image of the IA and a summary of the IA contents. Finally, the “browse card” contains a list of operations appropriate for the IA's application that include, but are not limited to, copy, forward, reply, view, and properties.
[0136] The “browse card” arrives in the stream of those clients that have permission to view the IA. The owner can grant access to other clients or groups by granting read, write, or aware permissions through the properties of the “browse card.” Permission can be granted on any granular basis, on individual-by individual or group basis from the SDO, or through predetermined administrative groups via the Scopeware server.
[0137] The displayed material typically is presented in a time-ordered sequence starting in the present going back into the past. The primary view is the stream, but other formats include a grid, Q-list, and thumbnails. The various views address the client's personal preferences for accessing time-ordered content in their most logical way. These views all contain the information presented in a “browse card” but are organized in a different method. Other specialized views include the address book and calendar.
[0138] An advantage of the “browse card” approach is the ease of browsing, searching, and retrieving IAs. In the stream view, the displayed representation of each IA are aligned much like cards in a recipe box. For each item, the title and application icon are viewable on the “browse card” in the stream. When the client passes the cursor over the “browse card” in the stream, the full “browse card” or a “glance view” is presented to the client for easy viewing. From the “glance view,” the client can perform any of the aforementioned actions available to the IA, subject to permission access.
[0139] The disclosed system is suitable for a number of computing models servicing multiple clients including a single departmental server model, an enterprise server model, a distributed enterprise model, and a peer-to-peer model (absent a dedicated Scopeware server or common server). In addition, the software enables wireless computing independent of or in conjunction with any or all of the aforementioned models. Wireless clients include WAP enabled phones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, and other similarly capable devices capable of receiving and transmitting data across a network. All of the Scopeware Implementation Models make use of components previously discussed, providing consistent interface available across different computing topologies, from monolithic single servers to peer-to-peer collaboration.
[0140] Access to the IA contained in the Scopeware repository can be achieved through two methods. The first method of access is through the thin-client method. The thin-client method utilizes a web browser, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape's Navigator, on the client device to gain access to the Scopeware repository residing on the Scopeware server. The second method of access is the desktop-client method. The desktop-client method involves a local installation of Scopeware on the client device. The client device is then capable of performing the storage, retrieval, extraction, and processing of IAs as they are introduced to the Scopeware repository. All the models below can utilize either method of access to the Scopeware repository, however the distributed enterprise and peer-to-peer models are optimized with the desktop-client method. Some examples of such models are discussed below.
[0141] Single Server Model. A single server model makes content on one Scopeware server available to any client connected to the departmental server. The Scopeware software creates a unique SDO that represents to the user interface the relevant details of the IA physically stored by the server or client. Thus, when a client connected to the network requests access to and retrieval of IAs through Scopeware, the client can view all documents contained within the network that satisfy the query parameters and access restrictions regardless of the document's native application. The documents available include those stored locally by the client, those saved to a central storage location, and those stored by peer clients with Doc Feeders connected to the shared server
[0142] Enterprise Server Model. In an enterprise server model, where multiple Scopeware servers are installed, federated access to and retrieval of IAs across the network is enabled. In federated information sharing, a client asks one Scopeware server for IAs that may reside on it or one of many connected peer Scopeware servers. In this model, the actual IA may reside on any network-connected client, the Scopeware server, or a centralized data storage location. Transparent to the client, the Scopeware servers shuffle the retrieval request and access restrictions to present a single, coherent stream to the client via the presentation architecture previously discussed (within the original patent document).
[0143] Distributed Enterprise Model. A distributed enterprise model utilizes the clients for storage, retrieval, and processing of IAs. Through the use of directory monitoring agents, similar to network agents, the physical location of an IA need not be on the Scopeware server, but rather can reside with any client. The Scopeware servers take on a secondary role as administration servers and content parking lots. This model pushes the processing tasks to the clients while using the servers to shuttle IAs throughout the enterprise. The indexing engine, thumbnailing engine, lightweight storage database will be based at the clients.
[0144] Taking Scopeware beyond distributed networking and the federated architecture—into a more distributed approach—can be straightforward, given the way that the system has been designed. Key elements of are distributed document processing and scalable server arrays.
[0145] Distributed document processing consists of two different approaches. First, when information was created physically on a desktop machine, but was part of a larger application and intended for storage on a server (rather than on the desktop), the Desktop facilities can do the document extraction, indexing, thumbnailing, etc., and post the results to a Scopeware Server. Second, a Scopeware Server that was handed a document (perhaps from an OCR process or from a central email application) can hand the document off to an available Scopeware Desktop for the same processing. These strategies relieve the processing load on the Scopeware Server and leave it free to focus on handling searches and stream integration, allowing a given Scopeware Server to handle a much larger user load.
[0146] When an organization needs to support central processing of large document bases—and needs the reliability, accessibility and security of a centralized architecture—Scopeware Servers can support deployment in the novel RAIS architecture—a redundant array of inexpensive servers. In this architecture, imagine a square array of desktop machines—call each one a “sub-server.” The array as a whole comprises a Scopeware Server. (This does not require wiring together an actual array or cluster; any interconnect such as a Ethernet sub-net or even HTTP over a broader network will work.) In these arrays, columns of servers provide redundancy for storage, while rows (within columns) provide redundant points of distribution.
[0147] To post document D, one copy of D is sent to a sub-server in each column of the array. To replicate everything five times such that losing any data requires the loss of five sub-servers, five columns are used. The number of columns in the array is managed to support exactly the degree of replication (and redundancy) desired. The write processes can be managed in a number of ways to ensure that the different rows in the columns are balanced.
[0148] To send a polling message or search request (“give me all the latest stuff”), a request is sent to each sub-server in one column (note that the means to do this transparently to the user is an extension of the federated search technology). Each column of sub-servers absorbs one copy of every posting (because any write has gone into at least one row of the column); therefore, all the sub-servers in any one column collectively have copies of everything. Just as a “replication factor,” is chosen for data redundancy, a “distribution factor” is chosen for responsiveness and for data management, representing the number of rows in any column. To get ten small responses to a search request instead of one big response, or to distribute the total data-storage burden over ten machines instead of one, the array is implemented with ten sub-servers in every column.
[0149] The entire “Server” can be run with only one row (resulting in replication, but no distribution) or with only one column (resulting in distribution but no replication). In the limit, row size=column size=1, and the effect is to have a single conventional server.
[0150] This approach to distributed processing, scalability and reliability for large applications allows arbitrary sets of “smaller” computers (single/dual processor, inexpensive memory and disk storage) to be used in place of very large, expensive machines. This allows the application platform to be designed to the reliability and access requirements of the particular application, and then scaled incrementally (by adding more small machines into the array) as the actual application grows in terms of users served or information managed.
[0151] Distributed document processing and server arrays will give Scopeware almost infinite scalability while maintaining compatibility with early solutions or architectures. In addition to adding greater reliability, this architecture will support very large information processing applications. This will allow enterprise-scale, top-down applications—inbound support/sales email handling, customer service or even IRS-scale tax document processing.
[0152] Distributed document processing (with Scopeware Desktop) can be combined with either a “conventional” (1 processor array) Scopeware Server or with a more powerful array. This will allow organizations to create departmental or workgroup level solutions that can grow into enterprise applications if necessary.
[0153] At the same time, the system will allow users themselves to create self-organizing applications based on their specific and current needs. Ad hoc teams can create collaborative spaces that cross organizational boundaries if necessary. These applications can leverage either Scopeware Desktops or departmental-level Scopeware Servers.
[0154] Because the system has the architecture and capacity to support any level of centralization or decentralization concurrently, applications and their platforms can be engineered centrally or grown organically, and they can be tailored to the needs of their users and the organization on an ongoing basis.
[0155] Peer-to-Peer Model. The peer-to-peer (P2P) model allows multiple clients to share IA directly without the use of a dedicated Scopeware server. The P2P model allows for pure ad hoc collaboration among Scopeware clients. For example, a client can share IA via the Internet with identified Scopeware clients that have permission to access IA from the client, and vice versa. This is similar to the distributed enterprise environment except the dedicated Scopeware server has been removed as a storage, retrieval, and connection mechanism. Instead, Scopeware clients will connect point-to-point with other Scopeware clients through a general network connection such as the Internet.
[0156] Using P2P, a client can create a virtual shared stream that looks as though it is stored on a server but is in fact stored only by many clients. Historically, all clients would need access to a shared file folder on a common server in order to share information. With Scopeware, clients can share information that is located on each other's device and are not restricted to a common server or single physical storage location. To illustrate, five clients of Scopeware want to create a shared virtual stream to support a project. They call their group “Team One.” Then, when any member of “Team One” posts a document to his or her stream, and marks it “readable by Team One,” the system automatically sends a copy to every Scopeware client on the “Team One” list. Each Scopeware client receiving this document pops it into its client's local stream. Thus information created by a client who is a member of “Team One” (and flagged for Team One by the owner) winds up in the local stream of every member of Team One, whether the post is a document, an event (team meeting), task, or contact. It's as if he had sent his posting to a “client” server, and then everyone had polled the server, but in fact there's no server.
[0157] FIGS. 11 - 30 —Wireless Appliance Functionality:
[0158] [0158]FIG. 11 illustrates the screen of an Internet-enabled wireless device, in this case a Palm VII PDA with wireless capability and modem such as a Novatel Minstrel and Palm clipping support, and subscribing to a service such as OmniSky for devices using wireless modem or PalmNet for Palm VII. Alternatively, the wireless device can be a 3G, WAP capable cell phone subscribing to a service with WAP support. The screen in FIG. 11 has, in addition to other common features, an icon labeled Scopeware, which the user can tap to access the relevant server. The server sends a login screen, displayed at the PDA as illustrated in FIG. 12 and, after the user enters the requested information, the welcome screen illustrated in FIG. 13 appears. As seen in FIG. 13, the user has a number of choices—to send email, to request the default screen unique to that used, to request a search, etc. If the user taps on the “Default Stream” in the welcome screen, the server responds by transmitting the requested information that appears on the PDA as the screen seen in FIG. 14. In this example, and in view of the display limitations of the PDA, the screen shows information on only a few of the documents in the default stream, and the displayed information is a contracted version of the document stream, appropriate for the display capabilities of the device or the user preference. For example, for the last document the screen shows a glyph indicating that the document is a Word document, a brief description “Bird information,” and the date and time of creation, receipt or revision of the document. Document operations or commands appear at the top of the screen. If the user taps on the last document in the screen of FIG. 14, the server responds by sending information such as for the display seen in FIG. 15, Again, this is not the full document, but is more information about and from the document than in the FIG. 14 screen. Importantly, the document operations or command at the top of this screen are different and unique to the nature of the document and to the nature of the wireless device (PDA in this case). The commands in this case include “edit” and forward.” The user can tap on the command shows as a left arrow button to return to the document list (FIG. 14) or the command “home” to return to the welcome screen (FIG. 13). Assuming the user returned to the welcome screen and tapped the “search” command there, a screed such as in FIG. 16 appears, where the user enters the search word “business” in this example and taps on the “go” button to the right. In response, the server carries out the search and sends the results, which show up on the PDA screen such as illustrated in FIG. 17, again in a form geared to the nature of the document (search results) and the PDA device limitations. Note that in this case the document operations (commands) for the document(s) of FIG. 17 differ from those for the document(s) of FIG. 15, as they are unique to the nature of the document(s) requested by the wireless device and transmitted thereto from the server. The user can tap on the “refine” command in the FIG. 17 screen and enter another search word to refine the search and likely reduce the number of responsive documents. Other paths can be followed in similar manner in response to different user selections in the relevant screens.
[0159] A particularly useful path is to select the “My Streams” option from the welcome screen (FIG. 13) by tapping on the down arrow until the screen illustrated in FIG. 18 appears. This screen gives a choice of substreams unique to the user, including in this example those having just the user's email, or only Word documents, or all documents created within the last hour, or all events (such as appointments), etc. If the user selects, for example, “my 3-day window,” and the results cannot all fit on the screen at the same time, the screen can display a rolling window that the user can scroll up and down. For example, the user can select the information line related to the current time to show in the middle of the window, with the information for the immediately preceding time on the several lines above and the information for the immediately succeeding time (e.g. appointments) on the several lines below.
[0160] A WAP-capable cell phone can be used similarly in conjunction with a server through a cellular service with WAP support, taking into account the limitations of a cell phone that may differ from those of a PDA. For example, the cell phone may have an even smaller screen, different Internet browser capabilities, etc. After the user enters the url for the Scopeware server, the server transmits the information that the phone displays on a Login screen such as illustrated in FIG. 19, where the user enters the username, selects OK, then receives other screens, illustrated in FIGS. 20 and 21, for entering a username and a password, all through the input/output devices the cell phone has (the dialing keys). After successful login, a welcome screen such as illustrated in FIG. 22 appears and, if the user selects the “default stream” option, a screen such as in FIG. 23 appears. Note that in this example the information about the documents in the screen of FIG. 23 is even more contracted or truncated than in the PDA case (FIG. 14), in view of the smaller screen of this example of a cell phone. If the user selects the document “Bunny” in the FIG. 23 screen and clicks on the “Link” operation, a screen such as in FIG. 24 appears. Note that the options at the bottom of the screen depend on the nature of the screens—compare FIGS. 23 and 24. The user can navigate through streams of documents through commands such as illustrated in FIG. 25, and can initiate a search from the main screen that leads to a screen such as in FIG. 26. As in the case of the PDA example, the user of a cell phone can select the “My streams” option, in response to which the server sends a screen such as in FIG. 27. If the user wishes to execute a document command, for example to forward a document such as the one shown in FIG. 28, the user selects the “Forward” link, enters an address as in FIG. 29, and clicks the OK button. While only one document operation (command) is illustrated in the cell phone example, the command “forward,” other commands can be used as well, unique to the nature of the document, as discussed in connection with the PDA example.
[0161] As earlier discussed, a document or information Asset (IA) can be any digital or electronic item of information (such as and not limited to e-mail, office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, etc.), audio files (WAV, MP3), video files, voice-mails, graphics (bitmap, GIF, etc), multimedia files (MPEG, JPEC, AVI), events, contacts, memos, voice-channels or communications, web pages, etc) that can be viewed, stored or created with a computer or another device and with which a user will interact. The documents and/or their SDOs are organized (logically if not physically) in time-ordered streams and sub-streams. The system puts every document or IA in the same type of meta-wrapper, regardless of content-type, application, size, etc., thus homogenizing disparate data. This standard framework can include full-text indexing, indexing all meta-information and embedded text for quick retrieval via searching, the automatic (or user specified) preparation of a text summary for quick reference, the thumbnailing of the IA for quick visual reference, the creation of multiple associated properties such as time created, time modified, time viewed, owner, readers, writers, etc., and the storage of this IA relative to one or more other IAs based on time-order, content-type, application-type. Whereas documents or IAs can be disparate and different and can often share nothing in common, all SDOs share common fields, properties and characteristics and thus can be shared, referenced, stored and manipulated without concern to the particular nature of the underlying IA. This technology provides a unifying scheme for IAs with coherent user access and presentation.
[0162] [0162]FIG. 30 illustrates Palm PDA wireless devices, a Blackberry PDA wireless, and a cell (mobile) phone set that are examples of units useful in practicing the systems and method disclosed in this patent specification. The screen displays in FIG. 30 are illustrative of operations performed in the course of using the disclosed system and method.
[0163] While various specific examples have been described above, it should be clear that they are only examples and that the scope of protection extends beyond them and is limited only in accordance with the appended claims.
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An enterprise, stream-based system of organizing, storing, retrieving, and displaying information, using top-down or bottom-up topologies or a combination of the two, and providing access to wireless devices that display contracted forms of streams of objects while other end-user devices can display the streams as partly overlapping, receding streams of objects that contain more displayed information. The two types of end-user devices nevertheless use the same or essentially the same methodology in dealing with stream document objects. The system automatically converts diverse kinds of original documents that can come from diverse sources and applications, into stream document objects (SDOs) that conform to a standard format and can be handled the same way in the system, efficiently and consistently in the way people think and look for information.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/385,359 filed Mar. 21, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,152,626.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
None.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a device for connecting a dispenser to a water outlet. More particularly, it relates to a combined faucet spout and diverter valve for diverting water from a water outlet to the dispenser.
Diverter valves for connecting spray devices to a shower head are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,548 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,073. A diverter valve for connecting a spray device to a toilet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,946. These devices are specifically designed for use with a shower head or a toilet. They do not lend themselves for use in conjunction with a faucet.
There is a need for a combined faucet and diverter valve which can be attached to a water outlet in a manner to provide a normal water flow from the faucet and alternatively afford a diversion of water from the faucet to a dispenser. There is also a need for a diverter valve for use with a faucet which affords a stable connection to a water outlet.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved diverter valve for use with a water outlet.
The objects of the invention therefore are:
a. Providing an improved diverter valve.
b. Providing a combined faucet and diverter valve.
c. Providing a combined faucet and diverter valve of the foregoing type which is easily connected to a water outlet.
d. Providing a combined faucet and diverter valve of the foregoing type which includes a by-pass function.
e. Providing a combined faucet and diverter valve of the foregoing type which can be manufactured without special tooling and thus be cost effective.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing objects are accomplished and the shortcomings of the prior art are overcome by the combined faucet spout and diverter valve of this invention which include a valve housing having an annular cavity defined within said valve housing, a fluid inlet, a first fluid outlet, and a second fluid outlet. The annular cavity allows fluid communication between the fluid inlet, the first fluid outlet and the second fluid outlet. A shuttle valve is slidingly mounted in the annular cavity of the valve housing. There are means for constraining the shuttle valve within the cavity. The shuttle valve is constructed and arranged to be slideable within the annular cavity by water pressure to a first position in which said shuttle valve is seated adjacent said means for constraining said valve such that fluid flows between the fluid inlet and the first fluid outlet. The shuttle valve is slideable within the annular cavity to a second position in which said shuttle valve is positioned in the annular cavity of said valve housing such that fluid flows between the fluid inlet and the second fluid outlet. A faucet spout is connected to the first fluid outlet.
In a preferred embodiment, a valve member is positioned in the shuttle valve.
In another preferred embodiment, there is a biasing member positioned to close the shuttle valve and a valve opening member to open the shuttle valve.
In one aspect there is a third fluid outlet or bypass wherein the annular cavity allows fluid communication with the third outlet when the shuttle valve is in the second position.
In another aspect, a flow passage is constructed and arranged to permit the passage of water to the first fluid outlet at a slower rate than that when the shuttle valve is moved to the second position to permit the passage of water to the second fluid outlet.
In still another aspect, a flexible conduit is fastened to a connecting member opposite the connection to the valve housing and a chemical spray device is connected to the fluid conduit at an end opposite the connection to the connecting member.
In yet another aspect, the connecting member is a quick connect-disconnect member.
In another preferred embodiment, the first fluid outlet is in the form of a faucet outlet.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view showing the combined faucet spout and diverter valve in conjunction with a multifunction dispenser of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 2 is a side view showing the combined faucet spout and diverter valve of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of the combined faucet and diverter valve rotated ninety degrees;
FIG. 4 is a cross section view of the diverter valve of the combined faucet and diverter valve in a non-diverting position;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the diverter valve in a diverting position with a connecting member attached thereto; and
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the diverter valve showing a by-pass feature.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1 , the combined faucet and diverter valve generally 10 is shown connected to a Multiple Function Dispenser generally 11 by the hose 13 . This preferred dispenser is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,901.
As shown in FIGS. 2-3 , combined faucet and diverter valve 10 includes a valve housing 12 connected to a faucet 20 by means of threaded connectors 15 and 17 . At the opposite end is another thread connector 45 for connecting the valve housing 12 to the usual valved plumbing fixture (not shown).
Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 valve housing 12 includes a first annular cavity 14 with a second annular cavity 17 connected thereto. A fluid inlet passage 16 is provided by the threaded opening 63 in fluid communication with annular cavity 14 . There is a cavity 18 in fluid communication with annular cavity 14 which conveys fluid to faucet 20 . A one-way valve 19 is located in cavity 18 .
A pipe interrupter/backflow device 47 is positioned in cavity 14 . There are the usual openings 49 in the valve housing 12 for this purpose. Slideably positioned in annular cavities 14 and 17 is a shuttle valve 22 . A ball valve 23 is positioned in cavity portion 31 of shuttle valve 22 . It is biased against valve seat 26 by spring 39 acting against retainer 25 and valve actuating member 28 . Shuttle valve 22 is in contact with valve actuating member 28 having a seal 32 for contact with shoulder 30 in housing member 21 . Additional seals 40 and 43 are also provided on actuating member 28 .
A Gardena connecting device in the form of a quick connect-disconnect coupling part is shown in FIG. 5 at 41 . It is readily available from Gardena Manufacturing GmbH. It comprises an outer sleeve 42 and an inner retaining collar 44 with an annulus portion 48 for retentive contact with tabs 46 extending from outer sleeve 42 . There are locking elements 50 pivotally attached to retaining collar 44 and extending through apertures 51 . A spring 52 biases the tabs 46 of outer sleeve 42 against the annulus portion 48 . A one-way valve 54 is disposed in the central passageway 38 of the coupling part 41 . A seal is provided at 56 as seen in FIG. 5 .
As described in FIG. 6 , water bypass 64 with housing 65 is connected to valve housing 12 . Housing 65 has a passageway 68 in fluid communication with cavity 14 . A metering device 66 is positioned in passageway 68 . This provides a flow rate of 0.1 gpm. It is available from Neoperl Inc. in Waterbury, Conn. A push in, pull to lock tube fitting 67 is also located in passageway 68 . It seals swivel elbow 71 , as seen in FIG. 3 , to seal 69 . Tube fitting is available from John Guest International Ltd. Located in Middlesex, England. There are seals shown at 69 . The swivel elbow 71 is attached to housing 65 with a discharge tube 73 connected to elbow 71 .
OPERATION
A better understanding of combined faucet and diverter valve 10 will be had by a description of its operation. Referring to FIGS. 1-4 , combined faucet and diverter valve 10 is connected to a valved plumbing fixture (not shown) by means of threaded connector 45 . Water flows into inlet 16 , into cavity 14 , into passage 18 , through one-way valve 19 and out through faucet 20 . This is shown by the directional arrows. Water pressure in cavity 14 acts against shuttle valve 22 to move it and activating member 28 to the position shown in FIG. 4 .*** In this position, shuttle valve 22 is restrained from further movement by seal 32 engaging shoulder 30 .
When it is desired to dispense product from dispenser 11 as seen in FIG. 1 , the Gardena coupling part 41 is moved over actuating member 28 and a portion of housing member 21 until the Gardena coupling part 41 engages connecting member 24 of housing member 21 . This is illustrated in FIG. 5 . At the same time, flexible locking elements 50 engage the reduced diameter section 55 of housing member 21 . The movement of locking elements 50 onto the reduced diameter section 55 is effected by the flange 57 moving against them. In this position, actuating member 28 contacts valve 54 to open it and moves shuttle valve 22 and moves shuttle valve to the position shown in FIG. 5 . In this position, it is seen that shuttle valve 22 covers a portion of cavity 14 and blocks flow therethrough. At the same time projecting member 58 engages ball valve 23 to open it. This causes pressurized water to flow through into cavity portion 31 . From there, water passes through orifice 34 , into passage 33 between valve 22 and valve housing member 12 , and into passage 37 . From there it passes into orifices 36 , into passage 38 , through valve 54 and into hose 13 through coupling 62 which connects to threaded portion 59 of retaining collar 44 . This is shown by the directional arrows.
When it is no longer desired to dispense product from dispenser 11 , the Gardena coupling part 41 is grasped on opposing sides through slots such as 60 on slotted shield 27 and pulled in a direction away from valve housing 12 . This is best seen in FIG. 1 . This pulling action releases the contact of flange 57 with locking elements 50 and allows movement of the locking elements 50 out of the reduced diameter section 55 as well as the movement of shuttle valve away from cavity 14 and projecting member 58 . This causes ball valve 23 to close and assume the position shown in FIG. 4 . Water then flows through cavity 18 and aerator 35 as in its normal position. Aerator 35 causes a slower flow rate to faucet 20 when the combined faucet and diverter valve 10 is in a non-diverting position shown in FIG. 4 , than when in the diverting position shown in FIG. 5 . This small amount of back pressure caused by the aerator acts on valve 22 and assists in moving it to the non-diverting position.
Referring to FIG. 6 , when the combined faucet and diverter valve 10 is in the diverting position, water will flow at a rate of 0.1 gpm through bypass 64 . Flow is metered by valve 66 . This feature is required by some plumbing codes to indicate that water is being diverted.
An important aspect of diverter valve 10 is the use of spring biased ball valve 23 and the projecting member 58 to open it. This affords closing the water flow out of passage 38 and not onto the user.
It will thus be seen there is now provided a combined faucet and diverter valve 10 which offers a quick-connect and disconnect with a water source. The combined faucet and diverter valve 10 is activated by coupling part which is readily available in the market place, thus reducing design and components costs. The combined faucet and dispenser valve 10 also provides a water bypass 64 which gives a visual and auditory indication that water is being diverted. In addition, this diverter valve 10 will allow users to attach many water powered devices without having a dedicated water source having a garden house thread. A diverter valve is placed between a faucet base and faucet arm thus providing backflow prevention, a connection point for a Gardena fitting, cross connection flow through and the ability to adapt to the three most popular North American faucets such as T&S, Fisher, and Chicago. When the water is turned on the combined faucet and diverter valve 10 , it comes by default out of the normal faucet arm outlet. When a dispensing device is connected by means of the Gardena fitting, the water is then diverted to only the dispenser and the cross connection flow through. Once the dispenser 11 is disconnected, the water defaults back to the faucet arm 20 . If one were to push in the valve actuating member 28 and turn on the water, the shuttle valve 22 automatically closes such that a leak is prevented. The back pressure of the aerator pushes shuttle valve 22 back to default position. This is assisted by the ball valve that wants to close outlet passage 38 .
Another important aspect is in providing a combined faucet and diverter valve which obviates the need for a spring. This reduces maintenance costs due to faulty springs.
The preferred material for composing valve housing 12 and shuttle valve 22 is glass filled polypropylene. However, other plastic materials and metals can be employed. For example, acetyls and polycarbonates, as well as brass and aluminum.
The combined faucet and diverter valve 10 has been described for use with a particular Gardena connect-disconnect coupling part 41 . It will be appreciated any such coupling part could be employed which provides movement of the actuating member 28 of the shuttle valve 22 . Neither is it essential that the combined faucet and diverter valve 10 be employed with a particular dispenser 11 . It can be utilized in conjunction with any liquid dispensing device or apparatus. Slotted shield 27 could be eliminated. However, it does reduce accidental contact with actuating member 28 when extended from housing member 21 . A bypass 64 has been described to show water diversion. This is not an essential component and could be eliminated. All such and other modifications within the spirit of the invention are meant to be within its scope as defined by the appended claims.
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A combined faucet spout and diverter valve for attaching a dispensing system to a water source. In a first mode, water flows through the diverter valve to a first outlet which can be a faucet outlet. In a second mode, water is diverted to a fluid conduit which is fastened to a connecting member and a chemical dispenser. The connecting member provides movement of a shuttle valve which directs water in the second mode to the fluid conduit.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/230,945, filed Sep. 6, 2000.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to a method of recovering energy in a forming section of a papermaking or boardmaking machine, wherein stock from a headbox is fed into a forming zone of a forming section, the forming zone including at least one looped forming fabric curving along a convex surface of a support member, and water is drained from the stock through the forming fabric in the forming zone to form a paper or board web, the water passing through the fabric and being thrown out from the forming zone with a substantial velocity. Moreover, the invention relates to an apparatus for forming a web in a papermaking or boardmaking machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Paper and board is today produced at very high speeds, and especially tissue paper, newsprint, and magazine paper. For tissue the machine speed has today reached 2000 m/min. When forming the fiber web, for instance in a double wire former, stock is injected by the headbox in between two forming clothings, which both run over a wire support, such as a forming roll. The outer clothing is a wire, which is permeable to water. The other clothing (e.g. a felt or a wire) is intended to carry the web for further processing. The stock has a fiber concentration of between 0.1 to 0.5% and the flow is about 0.5 m 3 /sec per meter of web width in the cross-machine direction. The forming of the web occurs by means of the water within the stock being drained through the outer flexible fabric, i.e. the wire, such that only a minor portion of the water is carried on by the fiber web. The water is squeezed out by the static pressure which is applied by means of the wire which is pretensioned by lead rolls against the forming roll. Due to the above mentioned force the water that leaves through the wire will theoretically normally have a larger speed than the peripheral speed of the forming roll. Since enormous amounts of water are drained, e.g. in a normal large tissue machine (6 meters wide) the flow of drainage water is about 3 m 3 /sec, it is realized that large amounts of energy are released at this point of a paper machine. Hitherto, none of this energy has been recovered, at least not the kinetic part thereof, the water merely being collected in a white water tray for recirculation. The same problem is relevant also in connection with single wire formers using a single wire and a forming roll or in a blade former type of a forming section, wherein a forming roll is not required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] It is an object of the invention to minimize the above-mentioned disadvantages by providing a method and an apparatus for recovery of a substantial part of the kinetic energy of the drained white water in a paper machine. In accordance with the invention, a method for operating a forming section of a paper machine comprises the steps of discharging stock from a headbox into a forming zone of the forming section, the forming zone including at least one forming fabric arranged in a loop and traveling in the forming zone along a curvilinear path, water from the stock being drained through the at least one forming fabric in the forming zone such that the water exits with a substantial velocity from the at least one forming fabric; and capturing the water exiting from the at least one forming fabric and converting kinetic energy of the water into a useful form for supplying power to a further device in the papermaking machine.
[0005] Preferably, the kinetic energy of the water is converted into useful form by a movable component placed in the path of the water exiting from the forming zone such that the moving water causes the movable component to be moved. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the movable component is a turbine that is rotated by the moving water. The turbine preferably is a reaction turbine, more preferably a cross-flow type of reaction turbine such as a Banki turbine. A rotating shaft of the turbine can be used for supplying mechanical power to a further device such as a pump, or can be used for operating an electrical generator, which in turn can supply electrical power to a further device. It is particularly preferred to use the energy provided by the turbine to power a stock pump of the paper machine.
[0006] In preferred embodiments of the invention, the at least one forming fabric in the forming zone passes over a convex surface of a support member, and the turbine and the support member are disposed on opposite sides of the forming fabric. Preferably, at least one guide plate is disposed adjacent the forming fabric for guiding water expelled therefrom into the turbine. The convex surface preferably has a substantially constant radius of curvature in the forming zone and the at least one guide plate comprises a first guide plate a major portion of which is spaced radially outward from and generally parallel to the convex surface in the forming zone. The major portion of the first guide plate preferably also has a substantially constant radius of curvature, which advantageously is between about 100 percent and 120 percent of the radius of curvature of the convex surface of the support member. The support member can be of various types depending on the type of former used in the paper machine. For example, the support member can be a forming roll, a forming shoe, or a series of dewatering blades. Where a forming roll is employed, the first guide plate preferably has an angular extent of about 20° to 90° about a center of the forming roll. The optimal angular extent of the guide plate can depend on the type of forming roll used. Advantageously, when the forming roll has an impermeable surface the first guide plate has an angular extent of about 40° to 80°, whereas when the forming roll comprises a vacuum forming roll the first guide plate has an angular extent of about 20° to 50°.
[0007] By the invention surprisingly large amounts of energy may be recovered from the kinetic energy of the water which is taken out from the stock during the dewatering process in connection with the forming of the web. Calculations show that for a tissue twin wire machine having a 6-meter wide headbox and a machine speed of 1800 m/min up to 800 kW can be recovered, which implies a saving of about 2 million SEK/year. Since the investment cost is relatively moderate, the pay-off time can be made very short depending on the price of electricity.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] In the following the invention is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0009] [0009]FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of an arrangement according to the invention;
[0010] [0010]FIG. 2 shows a side view of essential parts of a preferred embodiment according to the invention;
[0011] [0011]FIG. 3 shows a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;
[0012] [0012]FIG. 4 shows a second modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;
[0013] [0013]FIG. 5 shows a third modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;
[0014] [0014]FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of essential parts of an embodiment of the invention;
[0015] [0015]FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the invention in connection with a so-called “C-former”;
[0016] [0016]FIG. 8 shows the principle of the invention in connection with a so-called “S-former”;
[0017] [0017]FIG. 9 shows the principles of the invention in connection with a C-former having a vacuum roll;
[0018] [0018]FIG. 10 shows the principles of the invention in connection with a so called speed former;
[0019] [0019]FIG. 11 shows the principles of the invention in connection with a speed former in a horizontal position;
[0020] [0020]FIG. 12 shows in principle the same as FIG. 10, but with a vacuum roll as the forming roll;
[0021] [0021]FIG. 13 shows in principle the same as FIG. 11, but with a vacuum roll as the forming roll; and
[0022] [0022]FIG. 14 shows an alternate embodiment of the invention with a speed former.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0023] 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.
[0024] The invention may be used with all kinds of double-wire formers, i.e. wherein two clothings (two wires, or one wire and a felt, depending on the need of drainage capacity) run on top of each other around a support member, e.g. a forming roll. In FIG. 1 there is shown a so-called crescent former comprising a headbox 2 , a forming roll 4 , a wire 6 and a felt 10 . The forming roll 4 has an outer surface 4 B which is impermeable, i.e. a so-called solid surface. The forming roll 4 rotates about an axis 4 A. The felt 10 runs around the forming roll, in contact with its outer surface 4 B, with an angular extension of contact α which is slightly more than 180°. The wire 6 runs around the forming roll 4 on top of the felt 10 with an angular extension of contact β which is less than 180°. The wire 6 is pressed against the felt on top of the surface 4 B of the forming roll 4 by means of an upper guiding roll 8 A and a lower guiding roll 8 B. The headbox 2 injects stock 21 through its discharge opening 22 into a nip 12 , which is formed where the wire 6 meets the felt 10 . According to the invention, a turbine 14 is positioned in close proximity to the periphery of the forming roll 4 . A guide plate 16 having a radius R 2 which is slightly larger than the radius R 1 of the forming roll 4 (see FIG. 2) is positioned at a distance from the forming roll 4 between the nip 12 and the turbine 14 . The angular extension γ of the guide plate 16 is about 35°, and its upstream edge 16 A is positioned close to the nip 2 , whereas its downstream end 16 B is positioned close to the turbine 14 . Downstream of the turbine 14 close to the periphery of the forming roll 4 there is positioned a second guide plate 17 , behind and below the turbine 14 . The axis 14 A of the turbine is connected to an electric generator 11 (schematically shown), preferably by means of a transmission (not shown). The turbine 14 is of a reaction type, preferably a so-called Banki turbine, which is also called a cross-flow turbine due to its function. This kind of turbine is especially suitable in connection with an arrangement according to the invention, since it is very well suited for recovering energy from water moving with relatively high speed, as will be the case according to the invention. The guide plate 16 has a constant curvature R 2 , which is slightly larger than the radius R 1 of the forming roll 4 . Advantageously, the guide plate radius of curvature R 2 is between about 100 percent and 120 percent of the forming roll radius R 1 , and more preferably is about 105 percent of the radius R 1 of the forming roll 4 . The guide plate 16 is positioned such that its concave surface 16 C, which forms the path along which the water is guided, is positioned about 20 to 50 mm above the surface of the wire 6 . There is a white water tray 18 for collecting the water shed from the forming zone.
[0025] The function of an arrangement according to the invention is as follows. Once the felt 10 and the wire 6 of the forming section are running at the desired speed, e.g. 1500 m/min, stock 21 is injected by means of discharge opening 22 of the headbox 2 . The stock is supplied into the nip 12 and thereafter it follows between the two clothings 6 , 10 and the forming roll 4 . A major amount of the water contained in the stock 21 will be squeezed out through the wire 6 by wire tension. As a result, the water that is squeezed out will have a slightly higher speed than the peripheral speed of the forming roll 4 . Tests show that if the peripheral speed is 30 m/sec, the speed of the water droplets will be about 30.4 m/sec. For a roll with an impermeable surface as used in FIG. 1, the dewatering will occur along about 60° of an angular zone starting at the nip 12 . The dewatering flow is largest during the first 10° then slightly decreases. The droplets will be collected on a curved surface 16 C of the guide plate 16 , which is formed to create as little turbulence as possible, which is achieved by having the surface 16 C with as little irregularities as possible and by using a constant curvature. The water will collect along the guide plate 16 and finally be guided into the turbine 14 with an optimal direction of flow to recover as much of the kinetic energy as possible. For a cross-flow turbine (e.g. Banki turbine) 14 , about 80% of the energy is recovered during the flow into the turbine and about 20% during the flow out of the turbine. This cross-flow function is the reason why a Banki turbine is particularly suitable. Downstream of the turbine 14 there is a second guide plate 17 , which has a reversed curvature in relation to the first guide plate 16 to guide a further amount of water into the turbine 14 . The rotation of the turbine 14 , which is caused by the water, will be transferred by its axis 14 A to a transmission (not shown) coupled to an electric generator for producing electric energy. A transmission is favorable in most applications to transform the rotational speed of the turbine 14 to a rotational speed which is optimal for the generator 11 . It is evident that different kinds of generators may be used, e.g. alternator or continuous current generator, depending on the circumstances.
[0026] In the preferred embodiment the electrical power which is produced by the generator 11 is supplied to the stock pumps (not shown), which feed the headbox 2 .
[0027] In accordance with the invention, large amounts of energy may be recovered. With an optimized arrangement the total yield may be about 60%. If the stock flow is about 0.5 m 3 /sec per cross sectional meter, the power that can be recovered for a six meter wide machine is about 810 kW. At a price of 0.30 SEK/kW, this will lead to annual saving of about 2 MSEK with 350 days of operation per year. Considering further aspects of the invention, e.g. environmentally friendly, it is realized that the achievements of the invention are surprisingly positive.
[0028] [0028]FIG. 2 shows a more detailed view of an embodiment according to the invention. The basic principles thereof are exactly the same as in relation to FIG. 1, except the positioning of the arrangement and the use of a second wire instead of the felt 10 . In FIG. 2 the headbox 2 is positioned below the center 4 A of the forming roll 4 and the injection discharge opening 22 is directed upwardly. The radius R 1 of the forming roll is 760 mm. The radius R 2 of the guide plate 16 is constant and about 810 mm. The center of the constant curvature of the guide plate 16 is offset in relation to the center 4 A of the forming roll, i.e. 50 mm above the center 4 A of the forming roll 4 . The shortest distance 1 1 between the guide plate and the periphery of the forming roll (wire 6 ) is about 35 mm. Due to the offset location of the center 16 E of curvature of the guide plate 16 the distance increases constantly in the upward direction. The distance between the turbine 14 and the periphery 4 B of the forming roll 4 is about 50 mm. (Normally the distance should be between 10 and 100 mm, preferably between 20 and 70 mm.)
[0029] The second guide plate 17 , which is substantially flat, is positioned with its edge 17 A close to the periphery 4 B of the forming roll 4 , e.g. about 10 mm between the edge 17 A and the wire 6 . The cross sectional length 12 of the second guide plate 17 is about 50 mm. The width of the guide plates in the cross-machine direction would normally be the same, i.e., the same as the turbine. Accordingly the first guide plate 16 directs the major part of the moving water into the turbine 14 with a first direction adapted to the angle of the turbine blades at the position of the downstream end 16 B of the guide plate at that position. The direction of the extension of the second guide plate 17 is adapted to the optimal angle of the turbine blades at that position. Around the turbine 14 there is a housing 19 . The housing comprises several parts, namely, an innermost upper part 19 A, an outermost lower part 19 B, a lowermost inner part 19 C, and a lowermost base part 19 D. The different parts are attached to each other by means of flanges 19 F. At the bottom of the housing 19 , there are flanges 19 E for attachment of the housing to the white water tray 18 of the paper machine. The uppermost part of the housing 19 A (positioned downstream of the guide plate 16 ) is fitted to enclose, at a short distance, a large part of the periphery 14 B of the turbine in order to guide the water in a correct manner, to be further explained in relation to FIG. 3. The outer diameter T of the turbine is 500 mm. The inner diameter of the turbine B is 340 mm.
[0030] [0030]FIG. 3 shows an embodiment which is similar to FIG. 2, with the exception that the turbine 14 is positioned further away from the forming roll 4 . As a consequence, the last part of the inner surface 16 C of the guide plate is made flat. It is important that the transition from the constant curvature to this straight part is smooth without formation of any turbulence-creating features. Also, the second guide pate 17 is different from that of FIG. 2. In order to guide the water, it is made substantially longer, such that its length 13 is about {fraction (1/4)} of the radius R 1 of the forming roll, i.e. about 200 mm. The second guide plate is curved in an opposite manner in comparison with the first guide plate 16 .
[0031] The lines F 1 to F 4 show different flow patterns of the water passing through the turbine. The major part of the water will pass through the turbine 14 along the flow line F 1 . Accordingly, the water is first redirected and imparts energy to the turbine wheel 14 at the entrance, which gives the flow line F 1 through the inner part of the turbine and finally the moving water hits the turbine crosswise, i.e. from the inside moving out and imparts further kinetic energy thereto. The water entering into the turbine by means of the second guide plate 17 will move through the turbine along a flow pattern according to F 4 . This cross-flow pattern of the Banki turbine is especially suitable for use in connection with the invention.
[0032] In FIG. 4 there is shown a number of guide plates 17 , 17 ′, 17 ″ downstream of the first guide plate 16 for the turbine 14 . The different guide plates are positioned such that the innermost edges 17 A, 17 A′, 17 A″ are about equally spaced apart. Each successive guide plate captures water that managed to bypass earlier guide plates. In other aspects, this embodiment is similar to what is described in relation to FIG. 2.
[0033] In FIG. 5 there is shown a further embodiment using several devices for guiding the water downstream of the turbine. Instead of using a single plate-shaped element as a guide plate, V-shaped elements 17 , 21 ; 17 ′, 23 are used to direct the water for the first two guiding devices. A first device 17 , 21 comprises a guide plate 17 which is substantially positioned as shown in FIG. 4. Joined with its front edge 17 A there is a further guide plate 21 which is positioned substantially tangentially in relation to the periphery of the forming roll 4 . Behind its rear end 21 B there is formed an opening between it and the downstream end 17 ′A of the second guide plate 17 ′. In a similar manner there is a second tangentially positioned guide plate 23 , which has its front end 23 A joined with the front end 17 A′ of the second guide plate 17 ′, such that a second opening is formed to allow the water to be directed along a third downstream guide plate 17 ″. Also here the different flow patterns (F 1 to F 4 ) of the water coming from the different guide plates can be seen.
[0034] In FIG. 6 there is shown a perspective view of some essential parts of the arrangement according to the invention, except for the headbox and the electric generator, which are not shown. As can be seen, the cross-machine widths of the various parts 4 , 6 , 8 , 10 , 14 , 16 are substantially the same. It should be noted that the turbine, the cover parts 19 A, 19 B and the guide plate 16 are not shown in their working positions. As can be seen, the turbine 14 is divided into sections by means of annular support plates 14 E, 14 F, 14 G, such that each section is about 1 m to 1.8 m wide.
[0035] In the following the invention will be shown arranged in different positions in relation to some known kinds of formers.
[0036] In FIG. 7 there is shown a C-former (as well as in FIG. 1), wherein the headbox 2 is positioned underneath the forming roll 4 . Consequently, the web W is formed during an upward motion around the forming roll 4 . The other parts 6 , 10 , 8 , 14 , 16 , 17 of the invention are arranged accordingly, i.e. the guide plate 16 is positioned below the turbine 14 (but upstream thereof as in FIG. 1). Also in FIG. 7 (as well as in FIG. 1) the forming roll 4 has an impermeable surface.
[0037] In FIG. 8 there is also shown an impermeable forming roll 4 but of the so called S-former type. According to an S-former the wire 10 moves around one of the lead rolls 8 A and then again around a third lead roll 8 C. The wire 6 is guided substantially along the same principles as within the C-former, i.e. around two lead rolls 8 A, 8 B which urges it against the forming roll 4 . The arrangement of the other parts 14 , 16 , 17 of this embodiment of the invention is in principle the same as described above.
[0038] In FIG. 9 there is shown a C-former with a vacuum roll as the forming roll 4 . Accordingly, the guide plate 16 may preferably have about half the angular extension γ as if the forming roll 4 has an impermeable surface, e.g. about 25 to 40°. Furthermore, it is shown that a second turbine 14 ′ is arranged on the opposite side of the forming roll from the first turbine 14 . It has been shown that in connection with the vacuum roll 4 about 60% of the water is drained within the first part, i.e. at the area where the guide plate 16 is positioned. The remaining amount, i.e. 40%, is drained after the vacuum section of the roll. The vacuum section of the roll 4 begins shortly in front of the nip 12 and extends somewhat downstream (the same direction as the rotation of the forming roll) of the position where the wire 10 gets out of contact with the surface of the forming roll 4 . Accordingly, the water which has been sucked into the wire and the forming roll 4 will leave it at this position and the kinetic energy thereof is recovered in the second turbine 14 ′ in the same way as in connection with the first turbine 14 . Thus, there is a first guide plate 16 ′ and a second guide plate 17 ′ for guiding the remaining amount of the water into this second turbine 14 ′.
[0039] In FIG. 10 there is shown a speed former with an arrangement according to the invention. In the speed former the wires 6 and 10 jointly move with the web W therebetween, firstly over the forming roll 4 , thereafter over a blade former 5 , and thereafter over a vacuum roll 3 , after which the wire 6 and the web W are separated from the wire 10 , which is moved around a second lead roll 8 A. The principles for the use of the energy recovering parts 14 , 16 , 17 , 19 according to this embodiment are generally the same as described above. Alternatively the forming roll 4 may be substituted by a blade former (not shown).
[0040] In FIG. 11 substantially the same arrangement as in FIG. 10 is shown, except that the speed former has been displaced about 90°.
[0041] In FIG. 12 there is shown a speed former positioned in the same way as shown in FIG. 10. Contrary to what is shown in FIG. 10, there is used a vacuum roll as the forming roll 4 . Two energy recovering units 14 , 16 ; 14 ′, 16 ′ are used to recover energy from the drained water, substantially in the same way as described in relation to FIG. 9.
[0042] [0042]FIG. 13 is the same as FIG. 12 but with the speed former displaced 90°.
[0043] [0043]FIG. 14 also shows in principle the same as FIG. 12 but with the speed former displaced 180°.
[0044] The invention is not limited to the embodiments shown above but they may be varied within the scope of the appending claims. For instance, it is evident for the person skilled in the art that other kinds of recovering means than a Banki turbine may be used, e.g. other kind of turbines or even a device working along the principles of an endless chain conveyor. Furthermore, it is evident that the recovered energy may be used to directly drive another unit/machine, e.g. to drive a pump via an appropriate transmission. For the person skilled in the art it is also obvious that the invention may be used in connection with a forming roll and a single wire former, forming with different types of wire support. However, in this case the water will not be squeezed out through the forming clothing but drained therethrough by gravitation or by means of a vacuum box, as is known per se. In order to recover the kinetic energy the sides of the vacuum box will have to be adopted to the direction of movement of the water leaving the forming clothing, such that it is guided in an optimal manner to a turbine or some other means which is positioned to receive the guided water in an optimal manner, essentially in the same manner as described above in relation to the guiding plate. Moreover the principles of the invention may also be used in connection with a dewatering section where the water flow is directed to the sides of the paper machine, where turbines are positioned to recover the energy in accordance with the principles of the invention as described above. This latter embodiment would normally not be preferred since the moving water would have to be guided a long distance from the forming roll to the position where its kinetic energy is recovered. Tests have shown that the kinetic energy decreases exponentially in relation to a distance that the water has to flow along the guiding plate, before entry into the turbine. Accordingly, it is preferred to have the turbine positioned adjacent the forming roll as described in connection with the embodiments shown in the figures. Moreover, it is obvious for the skilled man that a felt 10 may in many installations be exchanged by a wire and vice versa. Finally, it is evident for the skilled man that the invention may be used in connection with double-wire formers which do not use any roll in the forming zone, e.g. in connection with a former described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,308,097; 4,416,730; and 5,853,544.
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The invention relates to a method of recovering energy in a forming section of a papermaking or boardmaking machine, wherein stock from a headbox is fed into a forming zone of a forming section, said forming zone including at least one looped forming fabric curving along a convex surface of a support member, and water is drained from the stock through said at least one forming fabric in the forming zone to form a paper or board web, the water passing through said at least one fabric being thrown out from the forming zone and possessing kinetic energy, characterized by placing a movable component in the water thrown out from the forming zone, so as to cause the water to move the component, and thereby recovering part of the kinetic energy. The invention also relates to an arrangement in a papermaking or boardmaking machine.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the drilling of subterranean wells and, more particularly to filling casing and casing string with drilling fluid and providing for the flow back of said fluids.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The process of drilling subterranean wells to recover oil and gas from reservoirs, typically consists of boring a hole in the earth down to the petroleum accumulation and installing pipe from the reservoir to the surface. Casing is generally a protective pipe liner within the wellbore that may be cemented in place to insure a pressure-tight connection to the oil and gas reservoir. The casing is typically run in single or multiple joints at a time as it is lowered into the wellbore. On occasion, the casing becomes stuck and is unable to be lowered into the wellbore. When this occurs, load must be added to the casing string to force the casing into the wellbore, or drilling fluid must be circulated down the inside diameter of the casing and out of the casing into the annulus in order to free the casing from the wellbore. To accomplish this, it has traditionally been the case that special rigging be installed to add axial load to the casing string or to facilitate circulating the drilling fluid.
[0003] When running casing, drilling fluid is added to the casing section(s) as it is run into the wellbore. This procedure is necessary to prevent the casing from collapsing due to high pressures within the wellbore. The drilling fluid acts as a lubricant which facilitates lowering the casing within the wellbore. As joints of casing are added to the string, drilling fluid is displaced from the wellbore. Typically, hose assemblies, housings coupled to the uppermost portion of the casing, and/or tools suspended from the drill hook for filling the casing were utilized. Others employed sealing elements which would seat against the inside of the casing, followed by a mechanical setdown force which opened ports to allow for circulation. Seals between a mandrel and a movable sleeve were also needed to retain a sealed connection to allow circulation. Filling in these devices was accomplished by displacement of a valve member past a lateral port to expose the lateral port to allow the casing to fill. Frequently, excessive erosion occurred at the valve member used for filling the casing, undermining its reliability. Additionally, some designs required at least two separate valves, one for filling the casing and the other for circulating the fluid. Typically, the circulating ports had to be mechanically exposed using setdown weight or other manual intervention. In addition to erosion, additional valve components were required for operation.
[0004] Circulating of the fluid is some times necessary if resistance is experienced as the casing is lowered into the wellbore. In order to circulate the drilling fluid, the top of the casing must be sealed so that the casing may be pressurized with drilling fluid. Since the casing is under pressure the integrity of the seal is critical to safe operation, and to minimize the loss of the expensive drilling fluid. Once the casing reaches the bottom, circulating of the drilling fluid is again necessary to test the surface piping system, to condition the drilling fluid in the hole, and to flush out wall cake and cuttings from the hole. Circulating is continued until at least an amount of drilling fluid equal to the volume of the inside diameter of the casing has been displaced from the casing and wellbore. After the drilling fluid has been adequately circulated, the casing may be cemented in place.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0005] For a further understanding of the nature and objects of the instant disclosure, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are given the same or analogous reference numbers.
[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates a pictorial view of a self actuating casing tool in accordance with the present disclosure;
[0007] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of a pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve in accordance with the present disclosure; and
[0008] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross sectional view of a pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve in accordance with the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0009] The present disclosure provides a device that simplifies the construction of an apparatus utilized for filling and circulating fluid within casing and/or a wellbore. The disclosed device provides, among other things, an automatic piston type pressure actuated valve which allows fluid, such as drilling fluid, to pass through the valve and into the casing without intervention. As described hereinbelow, the piston allows for activation without manual assistance or other manipulation of the valve. Further as the fluid flow is discontinued, the valve closes due to the substantial lack of pressure and retains the fluid in the casing. It should be appreciated that the fluid may exit at the bottom of the casing string and move into the wellbore.
[0010] Referring now to FIG. 1 , an embodiment of the self actuating casing tool 2 is illustrated. Preferably, the self actuating casing tool 2 comprises a hook 4 which may adapt to conventional type Kelly systems. It should be further understood that hook 4 is for a connection to a conventional rig drive. However, connections directly to top drives as well as a variety of other connections are envisioned and as such should not be viewed as a limitation thereof. Further, a connection 6 is preferably provided for connection to a hose to provide drilling fluid or mud for the filling of the casing joints and/or casing string. It should be understood that connection 6 is for example only and that a variety of connections, for fluid, may be utilized. Preferably, the casing tool 2 will have an additional length section 8 which allows for length adjustment and/or to provide travel limitation, when the tool is utilized in conjunction with a conventional push plate 10 . It should be understood that push plate 10 may also serve to limit travel of the tool 2 and is preferably adjustable along the length of section 8 .
[0011] Below push plate 10 , there are preferably one or more subs 12 . Sub or subs 12 are preferably used to adust the correct length of tool 2 to provide for the desired operational use of tool 2 . The sub or subs 12 preferably comprise threaded ends for connection purposes. It should be understood that the connection, of the sub or subs 12 can be a variety of connection methods such as but not limited to left hand threads to deter disconnection, of the sub or subs 12 , during tool operation and thus the specific configuration of the connection should not be viewed as a limitation herein. In at least one embodiment, the subs 12 are designed so as to allow multiple re-cuts on the connection threads. It should be appreciated that the connection threads of the sub or subs 12 can be worn or damaged after several uses due to environmental conditions and/or corrosion/erosion. It should be further appreciated that the multiple re-cuts allow for quick and/or easy repair of the subs 12 .
[0012] Preferably, between the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 and the sub or subs 12 are one or more sealing elements 14 . It should be understood that the exact configuration and/or location of the sealing members 14 may vary regarding the preferred/required distance in order to achieve the proper placement of the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 and the sealing elements 14 . It should be further understood that elements 14 may be conventional sealing elements well known in the art and utilized to seal against the internal casing wall to allow fluid circulation.
[0013] In at least one embodiment and as described hereinbelow, the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 is manufactured of materials or coated with materials or incorporates specifically treated materials which help to eliminate and/or reduce wear in the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 .
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of a pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 . In one embodiment, pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 preferably comprises a lower cylinder 30 . Preferably lower cylinder 30 has at least one port 32 at the lower end. It should be understood that there may be several ports 32 and that the exact position of the ports 32 should not be viewed as a limitation herein. The purpose of the fluid port 32 is to allow the passage of the desired fluid, such as drilling mud, through the casing tool 2 and into the casing and/or casing string. Piston 28 is designed so as to fit into lower cylinder 30 . The cylinder head 26 preferably fits into lower cylinder 30 on top of the piston 28 . Preferably, cylinder head 26 is designed with a retaining lip 27 . Preferably, retaining lip 27 will align with a mating retaining lip 23 in the interior top portion of lower cylinder 30 . It should be appreciated that the configuration of the mating retaining lips 23 , 27 can be varied. It should be further appreciated that the purpose of the mating retaining lips 23 , 27 is to retain the cylinder head 26 in position. Thus, piston 28 , when fluid pressure is applied to it, can move away from the cylinder head 26 allowing for the flow of fluid through the piston bore 33 . Upper cylinder portion 18 connects to lower cylinder 30 thus enclosing the piston 28 and cylinder head 26 . It should be appreciated that upon the connection of upper cylinder portion 18 and lower cylinder 30 , the retention of cylinder head 26 is achieved, preferably due to the mating of retaining lips 23 , 27 . Preferably lower cylinder 30 has a connection 24 and the upper cylinder 18 has a connection end 22 . Although it is preferable that the connections 22 , 24 be a mating threaded connection, other methods of attachment are foreseeable and should not be viewed as a limitation herein. Further, upper cylinder portion 18 preferably has a conventional pipe thread connection 20 at its upper end. Preferably, the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 and various internal parts are protected against the erosive forces of the drilling fluid as well as other wellbore environmental conditions. In one example, not intended as limiting, the cylinder head 26 is made of a tungsten carbide material and the mating portion of the piston 28 is also of a tungsten carbide material. It has been found that a material with a higher cobalt content provides better erosive resistance. In other examples, also not intended to be limiting, certain pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 parts may be gas nitrided for erosive resistance. It should be understood that there may be other methods of protecting the parts against erosion and should not be viewed as a limitation herein.
[0015] Referring now to FIG. 3 a cross sectional view of an embodiment of a pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 is illustrated It can be seen here the functional relationship between the various components described herein above. It should be understood that one or more seals may be employed, as necessary, to prevent leakage. In this embodiment, one or more seals 34 are utilized to seal the connection 22 , 24 of the upper cylinder 18 and the lower cylinder 30 . Another seal 36 or set of seals are preferably utilized for sealing between the lower cylinder 30 and the piston 28 .
[0016] Still referring to FIG. 3 , there is illustrated a spring 29 . Preferably spring 29 is designed so as to bias piston 28 in a substantially seal tight relationship with cylinder head 26 when there is no fluid flow through the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 . Thus, the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 remains in a closed position until the force of the fluid, passing through pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 , is sufficient to overcome the bias of spring 29 . It should be appreciated that methods, other than a spring, for biasing may be utilized and should not be viewed as a limitation herein.
[0017] In operation, the fluid, such as but not limited to drilling mud enters the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 through upper port 38 . As the fluid contacts the cylinder head 26 , piston 28 will be displaced, by the fluid pressure. Preferably, the displacement, of piston 28 occurs as the fluid passes around the substantially stationary cylinder head 26 . The fluid can then move through the piston bore 33 and into the casing through the lower ports 32 . When the fluid flow is shut off, the spring 29 will move the piston 28 back to its normal or unactuated position and any flow, through the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 is prevented. It should be appreciated that wellbore pressure, below the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 , may aid in moving the piston in contact with the cylinder head 26 thus further preventing any reverse flow through the pressure actuated piston type casing fill-up valve 16 .
[0018] While the present system and method has been disclosed according to the preferred embodiment, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that other embodiments have also been enabled. Even though the foregoing discussion has focused on particular embodiments, it is understood that other configurations are contemplated. In particular, even though the expressions “in one embodiment” or “in another embodiment” are used herein, these phrases are meant to generally reference embodiment possibilities and are not intended to limit the system or methods disclosed herein to those particular embodiment configurations. These terms may reference the same or different embodiments, and are combinable into aggregate embodiments. The terms “a”, “an” and “the” may also mean “one or more”.
[0019] When a single embodiment is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one embodiment may be used in place of a single embodiment. Similarly, where more than one embodiment is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a single embodiment may be substituted for that one device. In light of the wide variety of casing filling activities, the detailed embodiments are intended to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the instant disclosure. None of the description in this specification should be read as implying that any particular element, step or function is an essential element which must be included in the claim scope. Unless explicitly recited, other aspects of the instant disclosure as described in this specification do not limit the scope of the claims. Because many varying and different embodiments may be made within the scope of the inventive concept(s) herein taught, and because many modifications may be made in the embodiment herein detailed in accordance with the descriptive requirements of the law, it is to be understood that the details herein are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Obviously, other modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that changes may be made in the particular embodiments described above which are within the full intended scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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The present disclosure describes a method and apparatus for filling casing and/or a casing string and provides for the flow back of such fluids in a wellbore during casing running operations. The tool comprises a piston valve which is automatically pressure actuated. Thus, the valve will open and close without manual and/or outside mechanical intervention. Further, the design and construction of the piston valve helps to substantially reduce erosive wear to the piston valve and its components.
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This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/000,424, filed Oct. 31, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,999,408, which is a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 09/099,877, filed Jun. 18, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,221, both disclosures are herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates a high density dial router and more particularly to a Fault Tolerant Dial Router (FTDR) that can be automatically reconfigured around faults while other independently operating subsystems in the dial router continue to process calls.
A dial router processes telephone calls from a Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN). The dial router formats received telephone calls into IP packets and routs the packets over a packet-based Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN). The PSTN serially multiplexes multiple telephone calls together into either PRI, channelized T1 (CT1), or channelized T3 (CT3) data streams or the European equivalent of CT1, which are referred to as CE1. The dial router accordingly includes PR1, CT1, CE1 and/or CT3 feature boards that separate out the individual calls from the data streams. Modems extract digital data from the individual telephone line channels. The router then encapsulates the digital data into packets that are routed onto the packet-based network, such as a fast-Ethernet LAN.
Some dial router architectures break the dial router system into many very small subsystems cards. Each subsystem has a complete set of line interface units. When a failure occurs, the whole subsystem card is decommissioned and manually swapped by an operator with a standby subsystem card at a later time. Even if a line interface unit is partially operational, it is fully decommissioned if a failure is detected. Another problem is that the number of boards in the dial router is substantially increased since one redundant card is provided for each subsystem card. This redundant architecture results in large and bulky dial routers.
Current dial routers provide little or no fault tolerance against failures that occur in the field. Upon encountering a failure, field service engineers typically swap out the entire dial router box. For example, when a single modem module in the dial router fails, the entire dial router box is turned off and the modem card replaced. When the dial router is shut down, all calls coming into the dial router are disrupted. Because the dial router handles a large number of calls at the same time, any failure, no matter how small, disrupts all the information (data, voice, etc.).
Accordingly, a need remains for a simple dial router architecture that reduces the disruption of calls caused by failures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A fault tolerant dial router (FTDR) includes redundant subsystem resources that operate independently of telephone line interface connections, such as PRI, CT1, CE1 and CT3 interfaces. The redundant subsystem resources are switched active when a failure is detected in a currently activated dial router subsystem. Subsystem failures are automatically switched out under software control, providing uninterrupted service to users with limited performance loss.
The FTDR selectively detaches the PRI, CT1 or CT3 line interfaces from the “pool” of other subsystem resources inside the dial router box. The subsystem “pool” includes line framers, controllers and modem modules. The “pool” of resources typically include some redundancy so that one extra subsystem can be standing by for a given number of active subsystems.
Failures often occur in the line interface units, especially the CT3 line interface that can handle up to 672 calls. The FTDR switches out a failed line interface unit and automatically switches in a redundant line interface unit.
The FTDR detaches the line interfaces from the “pool” of subsystem resources by using a DS1 cross-connect switch (DCCS). The PRI, CT1, CE1 or CT3 line interface units converts modem, telephone, facsimiles or other types of calls to discrete DS1 data streams. The DCCS is pre-programmed to route individual DS1 data streams to subsystems and backup subsystems in the same feature card or to subsystems in other feature cards in the FTDR. DS1 I/O lines connects together all the DCCS switches in the FTDR.
When a failure is detected anywhere in the system, the DCCS is automatically reconfigured to route the DS1 data stream around the failed subsystem to another subsystem located elsewhere in the FTDR. If more failures are detected, the DCCS connects the DS1 data stream around the new fault to another available subsystem resource. The DCCS reduces call disruptions in the dial router due to failures and requires substantially less standby hardware than other dial routers. The invention is targeted, but not limited to, dial routers. For example, the FTDR is ideal for use by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to increase call reliability and reduce system down time.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art dial router.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a Fault Tolerant Dial Router (FTDR) according to the invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a DS1 cross-connect switch (DCCS) according to the invention.
FIG. 4 is a detailed diagram of a matrix element in the DCCS shown in FIG. 3 .
FIG. 5 is a detailed circuit diagram of the DCCS shown in FIG. 3 .
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing how the DCCS is reconfigured for a line interface failure.
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing how the DCCS is reconfigured for a subsystem failure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art dial router 12 . Multiple telephone calls 15 in a PSTN 14 are aggregated by a multiplexer 16 into either channelized T1 (CT1) data streams or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) PRI data streams. In Europe, the multiple telephone calls 15 are aggregated into channelized E1 data streams (CE1). The T1 channels are partitioned into 24 DS0 time slots that each carry a separate telephone call. More calls are aggregated together by multiplexer 18 to form a channelized T3 (CT3) data stream. The CT3 channel is partitioned into 28 DS1 time slots that each carry 24 DS0 channels. Channelized T1 has a bandwidth of 1.54 million bits per seconds (bps) and channelized T3 has a bandwidth of 45.736 million bps.
A T1 Line Interface Unit (LIU) 23 in the dial router 12 receives multiple calls on multiple T1 lines 17 . A subsystem 22 includes a HDLC controller, framers and modems modules. The framer is coupled directly to the T1 LIU 23 and converts the T1 channel into separate DS0 channels. The modems in subsystem 22 extract digital data from the DS0 channel. The packets are sent from the modems in subsystem 22 over a backplane 30 to a router/controller 28 that then encapsulates the data into packets and sends the packets out a packet based network, such as a LAN or WAN 32 . A T3 Line Interface Unit (LIU) 24 receives the DS1 data stream from the CT3 line 19 . A framer in subsystem 26 separates the DS1 data stream into separate DS0 channels. Modem modules in subsystem 26 extract digital data from the DS0 channels. Router/controller 28 converts the digital data into packets and sends the packets out to the LAN/WAN 32 .
The LIU's 23 and 24 are connected directly to the subsystems 22 and 26 , respectively. Any failure in the T1 LIU 23 or associated subsystem 22 disconnects up to 30 ports (port=DS0 channel). The only way to restore service to the 30 ports is to physically replace the function card (board) containing LIU 23 and subsystem 22 . If a failure occurs in the T3 LIU 24 or associated subsystem 26 , even more calls are disconnected.
Referring to FIG. 2 , a Failure Tolerant Dial Router (FTDR) 12 according to the invention includes DS1 cross-connect switches (DCCS's) 32 A-C in each feature card 46 A- 46 C, respectively. A T3 Line Interface Unit (LIU) 20 A in feature card 46 A receives a CT3 line 17 and outputs DS1 data streams 21 to the DCCS 32 A. Alternatively, the LIU 20 A is configured to receive ISDN PRI lines. The DCCS 32 A is originally configured to connect the DS1 data streams 21 to a DS1 framer 34 A. The framer 34 A converts the DS1 data stream into DS0 calls that are connected to modem modules 40 A through a DS0 cross-connect switch 36 A. The modem modules 40 A extract digital data from the DS0 calls and then sends the digital data to a router/controller 28 over bus 44 . DS1 I/O lines 33 A are coupled from DCCS 32 A to DCCS 32 B and 32 C on the other feature card 46 B and 46 C through the backplane 30 . The different functional elements such as the framer 34 A and modems 40 A on the right side of the DCCS 32 A are referred to generally as a conversion subsystem 35 . A processor 42 A monitors the functional elements in feature card 46 A for failures.
A standby feature card 46 B has the same functional elements as feature card 46 A. The standby feature card 46 B is coupled to the CT3 line 17 in parallel with the feature card 46 A. A CT1 or PRI feature card 46 C is coupled to multiple CT1 lines 19 by individual CT1 LIU modules 20 C. Alternatively, the LIU modules 20 C provide an interface for CE1 lines. The LIU modules 20 C are coupled to a DCCS 32 C. The subsystem to the right of DCCS 32 C is similar to the subsystem 35 in feature card 46 A. A T1 standby feature card 46 F is similar to the CT1 feature card 46 C and is coupled to the CT1 lines 19 . The functional elements in the feature cards, other than the DCCS's 32 A-C and the DS1 I/O lines 33 A-C are known to those skilled in the art and are, therefore, not described in further detail.
Any combination of feature cards can be used in the FTDR 12 . The configuration shown in FIG. 2 is only one implementation shown for illustrative purposes. For example, there may be multiple CT3 feature cards 46 A and multiple CT1 feature cards 46 C. There may be one standby feature card 46 B connected in parallel to each active CT3 feature card 46 A or only one standby feature card 46 B used as backup for multiple CT3 feature cards 46 A.
Typically there is one-to-one redundancy for the CT3 feature cards 46 A. This means that there is one standby CT3 card 46 B for each normally operational CT3 card 46 A. This is typically less redundancy, say 7-to-1 redundancy, for the CT1 feature cards 46 C. This means there is only one standby CT1 feature card 46 F for 7 normally operating CT1 feature cards 46 C.
Referring back to feature card 46 A, if a failure occurs on the CT3 lines 17 , a relay in LIU 20 B (not shown) is closed connecting CT3 line 17 to LIU 20 B. DCCS 32 B is automatically configured to connect LIU 20 B over DS1 I/O lines 33 A. At the same time, the DCCS 32 A in the normally active feature card 46 A is reconfigured to switch out LIU 20 A and switch in the DS1 I/O lines 33 A.
The traffic on CT3 line 17 is in turn routed around LIU 20 A to LIU 20 B. The DCCS 32 B connects LIU 20 B to DCCS 32 A so that the traffic on CT3 line 17 goes through LIU 20 B, DCCS 32 B and DCCS 32 A to framer 34 A.
If a DS1 failure occurs in the conversion subsystem 35 (framer 34 A, DS0 cross-connect switch 36 A, or modem modules 40 A), the DCCS 32 A connects the DS1 channels either to the redundant module in the same feature card 46 A or connects through the DS1 I/O lines 33 A to another feature card. For example, if a fault occurs in framer 34 A, the DCCS 32 A can reconnect the LIU 20 A to redundant framer 34 D in the same feature card 46 A. If both framers 34 A and 34 D fail, the DCCS 32 A can connect the LIU 20 A through DS1 I/O lines 33 and backplane 30 to DCCS 32 B or DCCS 32 C. The DCCS 32 B or 32 C connect LIU 20 A to framer 34 B or framer 34 C in one of the other features cards 46 B or 46 C, respectively.
By adding the DCCS's 32 A- 32 C and the auxiliary DS1 I/O lines 33 in the DS1 domain, reconnecting telephone channels to different feature cards is faster and easier to control. If the DCCS's 32 A- 32 C were inserted in the DS0 domain (to the right of framers 34 A- 34 C), the cross-connect circuitry would be more difficult to control and require more complex circuitry.
The DCCS's 32 A- 32 C in combination with the DS1 I/O lines 33 A- 33 C provide connectivity at the DS1 level between all the feature cards 46 A- 46 C. A major advantage provided by the DCCS's 32 A- 32 C is that faults in subsystem 35 can be isolated from faults in the LIU's 20 A- 20 C. This allows a substantially greater number of reconfiguration possibilities and, as a result, more effective utilization of redundant dial router resources when a fault is detected.
Another advantage of the FTDR 12 is that more functional elements in different cards can be used to provide redundancy for faults in any other card. For example, in an alternative configuration, feature card 46 B is not a standby card coupled to CT3 line 17 but an active feature card connected to a separate CT3 line 37 . If the subsystem 35 in feature card 46 A fails, calls on T3 line 19 can be reconnected by DCCS 32 A through DS1 I/O line 33 A to DCCS 32 B. Redundant framer and modem modules in the feature card 46 B subsystem can then be used to convert the DS1 data stream from line 17 into digital packets. Feature cards that normally operate independently can now provide additional redundancy for other feature cards.
There are two versions of the cross-connect switch. One version for the T3 feature card(s) 46 A and 46 B and the other version for the T1/PRI/E1 feature cards 46 C and 46 F. Both are functionally equivalent but the DCCS on the T3 feature cards 46 A and 46 B support more DS1 channels.
The DCCS's 32 A- 32 C are typically implemented using field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's). The DCCS's 32 A- 32 C provide a 3-way switch matrix function. The DCCS 32 C cross-connects the framer 34 C or redundant framer 34 F to each one of six LIU's 20 C on the same feature card 46 C. In a second configuration, the DCCS 32 C cross-connects the two framers 34 C and 34 F to the DS1 I/O lines 33 C. In a third configuration, the DCCS 32 cross-connects the six LIU's 20 C to the DS1 I/O lines 33 C.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the DCCS 32 C. Each functional element including LIU's 20 C, DS1 I/O lines 33 C and framers 34 C and 34 F that connect to the DCCS 32 C has 2 pair of associated signals. R_Data and R_Clock are (Receive) signals input to the DCCS 32 C and T_Data and T_Clock are output (Transmit) signals. The DCCS 32 C connects the different functional elements 20 C, 33 C, 34 C, 34 F and 34 C together according to control registers 43 programmed by software via the processor 42 .
FIG. 4 shows a simplified implementation for a portion of the DCCS 32 C used for switching the R_CLK signals received from the subsystem elements 20 C, 33 C and 34 C. The processor 42 loads a value in one of the control registers 43 that generates clock select signal SEL_CLK[1 . . . 0]. The asserted SEL_CLK[1 . . . 0] signal enables a multiplexer 46 to output one of the three receive clocks R_CLK1, R_CLK2, or R_CLK3 as the T_CLK1 clock. The receive clocks are generated by the LIU 20 C, backplane I/O 33 C or framer 34 C, respectively.
FIG. 5 is a detailed circuit diagram of the DCCS 32 C. The circuit shown in FIG. 5 is replicated n times, where n is the number of inputs and outputs supported in the feature cards 46 A- 46 C. The following terms refer to the different signals received from and transmitted by the different elements in each feature card 46 A- 46 C.
LIU_R data[5:0]: Line Interface Unit 20 C receive data;
LIU_T Data[5:0]: Line Interface Unit 20 C transmit data;
LIU_RCLK[n]: Line Interface Unit 20 C receive clock;
LIU_TCLK[n]: Line Interface Unit 20 C transmit clock;
FRMR_RData[n]:Framer 34 C receive data;
FRMR_TData[n]:Framer 34 C transmit data;
FRMR_RCLK[n]:Framer 34 C receive clock;
FRMR_TCLK[n]:Framer 34 C transmit clock;
BKPLN_DS1_RData[n]: Backplane DS1 I/O 33 C receive data; BKPLN_DS1_TData[n]: Backplane DS1 I/O 33 C transmit data;
BKPLN_DS1_RCLK[n]: Backplane DS1 I/O 33 C receive clock.
BKPLN_DS1_TCLK[n]: Backplane DS1 I/O 33 C transmit clock.
The upper block in FIG. 5 shows DCCS 32 C data control circuitry 52 and the lower block in FIG. 5 shows DCCS 32 C clock control circuitry 54 . Power and reset signals BRD_PWROK, BRD_RESET_L and Global_decoded_OE are used for resetting and enabling the DCCS 32 C. A multiplexer (mux) 58 outputs either the BKPLN_DS1_R or LIU_R receive signal as the FRMR_R Data[n] signal to the framer 34 C. A mux 60 selects one of the LIU_RData[5:0] signals for outputting as the BKPLN_DS1_RData[n] signal. A mux 62 selects one of the FRMR_Data[n] signals for outputting as the BKPLN_TData[n] signal. The clock circuitry 54 works in a similar manner for the clock signals switched between the different functional elements in the feature card 46 C.
FIG. 6 shows how the DCCS 32 A is reconfigured for a CT3 line failure in the feature card 46 A ( FIG. 2 ). In step 70 the feature card 46 A is activated while the standby feature card 46 B remains in a standby mode. The activate feature card 46 A is continuously monitored by processor 42 A for any line failures in LIU 20 A. If a failure is detected in LIU 20 A, the processor 42 A reports the fault to controller 28 . The standby LIU 20 D can be activated, if available. If a standby LIU 20 D is not available, controller 28 in step 74 deactivates the active feature card 46 A and activates the standby feature card 46 B. The DCCS 32 A is then reconfigured in step 76 to receive the DS1 channels from the now active feature card 46 B over the DS1 I/O lines 33 A. The subsystem 35 in feature card 46 A then converts the DS1 data stream into digital packets. Alternatively, the DCCS 32 B and subsystem in card 46 B is used for converting the CT3 calls into packets.
FIG. 7 shows how the DCCS 32 A is configured for a failure that occurs in the subsystem 35 to the right of DCCS 32 A. For example, a failure that occurs in the framer 34 A or in one or more of the modem modules 40 A. The DCCS 32 A is configured in step 78 to connect the LIU 20 A to framer 34 A. The DS0 switch 36 A is configured to connect the DS0 calls from framer 34 A to the modem modules 40 A. If a failure is detected in decision step 80 , the router/controller 28 is notified by the local processor 42 in step 82 .
If the failure is a DS0 modem failure, the DS0 switch 36 A can be reconfigured in step 90 to connect the DS0 calls to spare modem modules 40 A in step 90 . If a DS1 modem failure is identified in decision step 86 , then the entire bank of modem modules 40 A have failed. The DS0 switch 36 A is then reconfigured to by-pass all the local modem modules 40 A in step 92 . Alternatively, step 92 reconfigures the DCCS 32 A to bypass framer 34 A and modem modules 40 A altogether and connects the LIU 20 A through the DS1 I/O lines 33 to another feature card. If a failure is detected in framer 34 A, step 88 reconfigures the DCCS 32 A to bypass the framer 32 A and connects the LIU 20 A either to the spare framer 34 D on the same feature card 46 A or to a framer on another feature card via DS1 I/O lines 33 A.
As mentioned above, the DCCS provides a wide variety of different dial router configurations that isolate faults without having to shut down the entire dial router 12 . Because more dial configurations are possible, more redundancy is provided while using less hardware. Thus, the dial router is more fault tolerant.
Having described and illustrated the principles of the invention in a preferred embodiment thereof, it should be apparent that the invention can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. I claim all modifications and variation coming within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
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A Fault Tolerant Dial Router (FTDR) includes redundant subsystem resources that operate independently of telephone line interface connections. The redundant resources are switched active when a failure is detected in an activated dial router subsystem. Switching out subsystem failures is fully automated under software control, providing uninterrupted service to users with limited performance loss. The FTDR includes a switching mechanism that selectively switches out the telephone interfaces or other subsystem resources inside the dial router box detected as having failures. The subsystem resources include line framers, controllers and modem modules.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation application of Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/NL2015/050758, entitled “Improved Micro-reactor for use in microscopy”, to Technische Universiteit Delft, filed on Oct. 29, 2015, which claims priority to Netherlands Patent Application No. 2013706, filed Oct. 29, 2014, and the specifications and claims thereof are incorporated herein by reference.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] Not Applicable.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC
[0003] Not Applicable.
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
[0004] Not Applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION (TECHNICAL FIELD)
[0005] The present invention is in the field of an improved small reactor for use in microscopy, use of said small reactor, and a microscope comprising said reactor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention is in the field of microscopy, specifically in the field of electron beam microscopy (EM) and Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope (STXM), and in particular Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). However its application is extendable in principle to any field of microscopy, especially wherein characteristics of a (solid) specimen (or sample) are studied in detail, such as during a reaction.
[0007] Microscopy is a technique used particularly in semiconductor and materials science fields as well as for biological samples for site-specific analysis, and optionally deposition, and ablation of materials. Also it is widely used in life sciences to obtain information. The resolution domain is typically from 0.1 nm to 1 μm. In microscopy typically a source is used to obtain an image. The source may be a source of light, electrons, and ions. Further scanning techniques have been developed using e.g. atomic force (AFM) and scanning tunnelling. Under optimal conditions a modern microscope can image a sample with a resolution typically in the order of a few tenths of nanometres for a TEM, a nanometre for a FIB and Scanning (S)EM, and a few hundred nanometres for an optical microscope.
[0008] The present invention relates to micro-reactors and nano-reactors, i.e. having a reaction volume in the order of 10 −9 m 3 . Reference throughout the description to a reactor refers to said micro-reactors and nano-reactors. Typically a to be observed sample is positioned in a reactor; the sample is typically attached to a second wall, the bottom, and above the sample between the bottom and first wall, the top, a (virtual) column is present through which an observation is made.
[0009] A problem with prior art microreactors, especially when used in an environment having a substantially different pressure from the inside of the reactor, is that the thin observation windows and/or reactor wall (or membrane) tend to bulge outwards or inwards, depending on the environmental pressure. Bulging can be in the order of several μm-100 μm, thereby extending/shrinking a (virtual) column above/beneath a sample. Especially the outward bulging can be much larger than a height of the original column. Such is especially the case for gas and liquid nanoreactors for in-situ transmission electron microscopy experiments. Such nanoreactors typically consist of two thin membranes, which allows one to enclose a gas or liquid in between the membranes and still maintain a very good vacuum in the electron microscope. One of the big problems in the use of gas and liquid nanoreactors in an electron microscope is that the electron transparent membranes are bulging outwards due to the pressure difference between the microscope (ultra-high vacuum) and the inside of the nanoreactor (for instance 1 bar). Whereas one prefers gas columns of less than 5 μm and liquid columns of less than 0.5 μm, the bulging can lead in to column lengths of 20 μm and more.
[0010] WO2011019276 (A1) recites a method of manufacturing a micro unit for use in a microscope. The method comprises the step of providing a planar substrate supporting structure and creating a chamber in the supporting structure for receiving a fluid containing a chemically reacting substance to be inspected. Further, the method comprises the step of coating an inner surface of the chamber with a thin layer. The method also comprises the step of locally removing material from the exterior of the supporting structure until the thin layer is reached for forming a window segment that is at least partially transparent to a beam of radiation generated by the microscope. It has been found that such a micro unit allows one to prevent bulging of the membranes away from each other. However, the micro unit is found to be impractical; the sample has to be loaded by use of a liquid suspension of particles of interest and therefore there is no control on a final position of the sample and as a result the sample is typically positioned where it can not be observed; and the sample is not positioned at a desired location where it can be manipulated properly, such as by heating, by performing a reaction, etc.; and the manipulation of the sample cannot be controlled properly, such because heating is non-uniform. With some materials this approach may be useful, but for many others it is required to put a sample into the nanoreactor at a very special location. Thus this method is not very useful for most applications.
[0011] EP 2 626 884 A1 recites a method for fabricating a microfluidic chip for transmission electron microscopy, which has a monolithic body with a front side and a back side. The monolithic body comprises an opening on the back side extending in a vertical direction from the back side to a membrane on the front side, the membrane being supported at edges of the opening and extending across the opening, and a microfluidic channel comprising on top of the membrane a sample chamber with a top window towards the front side and a bottom window towards the back side, the top and bottom windows being aligned with each other so as to allow for observation of a sample volume between the top and bottom windows inside the sample chamber in a transmission configuration along an axial direction, wherein the dimension of the membrane in at least one horizontal direction exceeds the dimension of the sample chamber in that direction. Clearly the sample itself must relate to a liquid or gas, which can only be introduced into the chamber by microfluidic action of the chip. Certain drawbacks are still present in this device, such as not having control on the parallel positions of the membranes. This document inherently relates to a monolithic body with a reactor having internal pillars for controlling bulging and considers c.q. teaches no other options for controlling said bulging. Also this document shows the feasibility of using a piezoelectric layer for a totally different purpose, i.e. a strain gauge for determining the deformation of the window, without mentioning a further use thereof. It is known however that semiconductor strain gauges are fragile, i.e. break easily, and therefore have limited use. If a strain gauge foil would be intended, than this type of foil is not considered suited for nanoreactors.
[0012] Oh et al. in Journal of micromechanics and microengineering in March 2006, p 13-30 gives a brief overview of micro valves, including a piezoelectric actuated microvalve. Therein microvalves were employed for gas flow regulations, i.e. pumping action.
[0013] U.S. Pat. No. 8,837,754 B2 recites a method for fabricating a MEMS transducer, which has a micromechanical sensing structure for sensing and a package. The package is provided with a substrate, carrying first electrical-connection elements, and with a lid, coupled to the substrate to define an internal cavity, in which the micromechanical sensing structure is housed. The lid is formed by a cap layer having a first surface and a second surface, set opposite to one another, the first surface defining an external face of the package and the second surface facing the substrate inside the package; and a wall structure, set between the cap layer and the substrate, and having a coupling face coupled to the substrate. At least a first electrical component is coupled to the second surface of the cap layer, inside the package, and the coupling face of the wall structure carries second electrical-connection elements, electrically connected to the first electrical component and to the first electrical-connection elements. However, using microvalves and MEMS transducers for controlling the bulging is not mentioned in these latter two documents. Even further, the MEMS and strain gauges are only used to measure and there is no mention of any other use, let alone control.
[0014] The present invention therefore relates to an improved reactor assembly, and use thereof, which solve one or more of the above problems and drawbacks of the prior art, providing reliable results, without jeopardizing functionality and advantages.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The present invention relates to a reactor assembly according to claim 1 , and a use of said reactor assembly according to claim 14 . The present system is especially suited for gas and liquid nanoreactors for in-situ (transmission) electron microscopy experiments. The present assembly may relate to two nanoreactor halves, in order to make it possible to put a sample on one half of the reactor and thereafter put the nanoreactor together. This method of sample loading is incompatible with the presence of pillars connecting two opposite membranes. In other words, the present reactor allows for placement or likewise introduction of a (most often solid) sample into the reactor, i.e. parts of the present reactor may be taken apart, the sample may be introduced, and the reactor may be assembled again, hence a reactor assembly of which at least one part is detachable.
[0016] The present reactor comprises reactor walls. Two of these walls are located opposite of one and another, or put in other words are mutually facing one and another, and are typically substantially parallel to one and another. The walls are typically made of a flexible material allowing some deformation, such as bending, e.g. allowing a bulging with a vertical displacement at a given location, the displacement being relative to an average position, of up to 0.2 μm/1 μm length, typically of 0.05 μm/1 μm length.
[0017] At least one of the walls comprises at least one window, wherein the at least one window which is transparent for electrons. As such the window allows inspection of an underlying sample or the like. In case of transmission microscopy two windows are provided located opposite of one and another, one in a first wall, and one in a second wall. The wall, sometimes referred to as membrane, may be of such nature that it effectively is a window, such as in the case of STXM.
[0018] The present reactor is characterized in that it has as a controller of parallel positions, or likewise distance, of opposite walls, which controller comprises at least one first capacitive plate ( 51 ) and at least one second capacitive plate ( 52 ) arranged to cooperate with the at least first capacitive plate. In general it is noted that the objective of controlling is clearly totally different from sensing. The first plate is located at the first side of the nanoreactor or is attached to said first side. The second plate is located at the second side of the nanoreactor or is attached to said second side. The capacitive plates ( 51 , 52 ) are separated from the reactor by a dielectric material, such as a dielectric layer of silicon nitride; hence the present capacitive plates are not in contact with contents of the reactor, such as liquids and gases. The capacitive plates may be inactive e.g. when not in use, i.e. having no charge, or may be active, having a charge, the charge being provided by e.g. a voltage source 71 . In order to compensate bulging due to under-pressure of an outside of the reactor the first and second side are attracted to one and another, such as by providing a charge on the first and second of opposite nature (+ and −). In order to potentially compensate inward curving due to under-pressure of an inside of the reactor the first and second side are repelled, e.g. by providing a charge on the first and second side of similar nature (+ and +, or − and −).
[0019] The first and second capacitive plates may have a form which is suitable for the present reactor assembly, wherein each form is individually selected. Each plate may be integrated in the respective side, may be attached to said side, may be the same as said side, and combinations thereof.
[0020] For the capacitive plates a material is selected which is suitable for the purpose, namely storing electric charge. Typically the present capacitive plates a surface area thereof is sufficient to store a relatively small amount of charge. A capacitance of the capacitive plates used is typically 0.01-10 pF. The material of the capacitive plates may be selected from conducting materials, preferably cleanroom compatible materials and manufacturing process compatible materials, such as molybdenum, aluminium, and semi-conducting material, such as (doped) silicon. As the walls, the capacitive plates are typically made of a flexible material allowing some deformation, such as bending and displacement.
[0021] The capacitive plates may serve a further function; as such a selection of appropriate material may be adapted in view thereof. For instance, use is made of attraction by a plate of e.g. a charged gas/liquid or a molecule therein. The electric field will affect charged species, such as causing them to travel parallel or anti-parallel to the field. Such may influence reactions in the reactor, such as between a sample and a liquid.
[0022] By using capacitive plates or the like a distance between the two walls can be fixed, changed, controlled, and combinations thereof, thereby providing e.g. a virtual inspection volume above a sample that remains as constant as possible. In preferred exemplary embodiments further details are given providing even better control of e.g. the distance.
[0023] In an example the present reactor may be considered as a method of realising exactly the intended length of a gas column or liquid column in in-situ electron microscopy experiments using a nanoreactor.
[0024] Thereby the present invention provides a solution to one or more of the above mentioned problems and drawbacks.
[0025] Advantages of the present description are detailed throughout the description.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0026] The present invention relates in a first aspect to a reactor assembly according to claim 1 .
[0027] In an example of the present reactor assembly the at least one first plate is fully integrated in the first side. The at least one first plate may be incorporated in the first side, may form the first side, may be part of the first side, and combinations thereof. The material of the first side is selected such that it is (also) suited for an intended purpose of the reactor, e.g. such that it can withstand (aggressive) chemicals used in the reactor.
[0028] In an example of the present reactor assembly the at least one second plate is fully integrated in the second side.
[0029] Similar considerations as above for the first side are applicable to the second side.
[0030] In an example of the present reactor assembly the reactor comprises at least one means ( 71 ) for providing an electric field to the capacitive plates. An example thereof is an electric potential generator of 0.5-100 V (DC), such as 1-10 V. It has been found that under given circumstances (a reactor with a width of 600 μm and a height of 20 μm) a relative small electrical potential of e.g. 7 V is sufficient to attract the two sides to one and another, and e.g. thus to withstand bulging. An attractive force would depend on a surface area A of a capacitor plate, a distance L between the plates, and a charge on the plates. It is noted that once the plates are attracted and close to one and another (e.g. clamped) a much smaller potential (electric field) may be applied, such as less than 1 V.
[0031] In an example of the present reactor assembly the reactor has a volume of less than 10 9 μm 3 that is a relatively small reactor. Typical dimensions are a length of 100-1000 μm, a width of 100-1000 μm, and a height typically depending on a physical nature of reaction chemicals used. For instance, the sides are located at a distance (d) of 0.1-5 μm for a reactor comprising a liquid, and at a distance of 0.1-100 μm for a reactor comprising a gas. A relatively large width and length of the nanoreactor are preferred to allow bulging by the capacitor plates over a relatively large distance, such that the starting distance is less critical. In view of reaction conditions and reactor behaviour the reactor is preferably large enough to ensure e.g. proper heat transfer; such a relatively larger reactor would suffer more from bulging (0.5-5% (Δheight/width) outward/inward bending); a smaller reactor would have less bulging (percentage wise) but would have unfavourable heat transfer characteristics, hence relatively more drift.
[0032] In an example of the present reactor assembly the first side and second side comprise at least one membrane ( 21 ), the at least one membranes being located opposite of one and another. The present membranes for use in an electron microscope contain areas, such as windows, that are largely transparent for electrons, such as more than 95% transparent, and preferably being amorphous. They are typically relatively thin, such as 10-1000 nm, e.g. 20-100 nm. If used for inspecting chemical reactions, the membranes are preferably also chemically inert to the reactants and optional reaction products. A suitable material is for instance a nitride, such as SiN, and AlN.
[0033] A disadvantage with using only two capacitive plates is that the plates exert a relatively strong force upon one and another, thereby forcing the two sides into (physical) contact with one and another. For some applications such a contact is acceptable, for others it is not. In order to prevent contact and in order to maintain the two sides at a required distance the first side and/or second side comprise at least one spacer ( 81 ) for maintaining a minimum distance between the first and second side. It is preferred to use non-conducting or semi-conducting materials for the at least one spacer, typically having a dielectric constant (∈ r ) being large enough, such as ∈ r >2. A thickness of the spacers is in the order of the column length as mentioned above, e.g. a height of 0.1-5 μm for a reactor comprising a liquid, and at a height of 0.1-1000 μm for a reactor comprising a gas. The spacer may also be formed of a suitable material, and coated with a (thin) layer of electrically insulating material. It is preferred to use a spacer having similar or the same material as e.g. used for the present window or membrane; in other words to use a material that fits in a manufacturing process of the present assembly. The spacer may form an integral part of a side, may be formed by an etch process, may be formed by a deposition process, may be in the form of an adherent layer or foil, and combinations thereof. The spacer may be provided in part of a viewing window, may be provided aside of the viewing window, and combinations thereof, preferably aside of the viewing window. In a further example the spacer (or spacer element) can be inserted in between capacitor plates. One part is formed thereby comprising the spacer as well as at least one sample. The present spacer can not be connected or attached to (both of) two opposite sides as the present assembly would then not allow placement or introduction of a sample into the reactor; the present spacer may however be in contact with two opposite sides when a distance between these two opposite sides becomes small enough as a consequence of (internally directed) deformation of at least one of the two sides.
[0034] In an example of the present reactor assembly it further comprises at least one second capacitor for controlling a distance between the first and second side, and at least one second means for providing an electric field to the at least one second capacitor, wherein the electric field of the second capacitor and of the capacitive plates may be of opposite nature, when applied, i.e. an attracting/repelling force of the plates is potentially countered/supported by a repelling/attracting force of the second capacitor, respectively. In addition to the at least one spacer, or as an alternative, the second capacitor may be provided. The spacer may be considered to provide a passive control of the distance of the two sides (safeguarding a minimum distance), whereas the second capacitor may provide active control in that by varying and controlling an electrical field thereof a counter force for the first capacitor may be provided, which counter force and force of the first capacitor can be controlled precisely. The forces of the capacitors, optional forces of temperature change, and forces of pressure difference (between an inside and outside (microscope) of the reactor) may be controlled, may be balanced, may be limited, may be changed, may be regulated, and combinations thereof. The present second capacitor is preferably in a three dimensional form, such as an extension element and a receiving element, respectively, having an opening substantially in a similar form as the extension element, wherein its form provides for a better control of distance when exerting an electrical field. The extension element may be in the form of a pin, the pin being circular, rectangular, hexagonal, multigonal, ellipsoid, and combinations thereof. In an example the at least one first and at least one second capacitive plates are one and the same as the at least one second capacitor.
[0035] In an example of the present reactor assembly it further comprises a controller for controlling a distance between the first and second side. The controller is preferably an electrical controller. The controller is preferably provided with a feedback loop.
[0036] In an example of the present reactor assembly it may further comprise various other elements, such at least one heater. Examples of heaters are a MEMS-heater, and a capacitive heater, and combinations thereof. An advantage with a MEMS heater is that heating (of a sample) can be obtained with a very small power (mW). As such in-situ experiments can be performed at elevated temperatures.
[0037] In an example the present holder comprises a sample (micro)heat provider 23 . It has been found experimentally that it is preferred to provide as little heat as possible to the sample to reach or maintain a given temperature and thus it is preferred to use a heater on which the specimen is located, whereby the heat transfer from the heater/specimen to the holder is as small as possible. This can be realised with a MEMS device with a microheater in a thin membrane for instance 0.2 micron thick SiN. The heater (MEMS device) preferably comprises a temperature sensor and a heater, in order to rapidly decrease or increase the temperature in a controlled and reproducible manner.
[0038] In an example the reactor assembly one or more of the capacitor plates comprises two sections with an outer section for main clamping and an inner section that can be activated independently, whereby this inner section is used for realising relatively small changes in the local distance between the two walls to allow switching between the minimum column length determined by the spacers and a maximum column length determine by the opposite bulging forces. This allows in the case of diffusion limitations in the narrow space between the two walls a normal reaction when the column is maximal and (TEM) imaging at intervals where the column is short. The inner section may be located in a more central part of the assembly, and the outer section in a more peripheral part of the assembly. In a less preferred alternative the inner section may be located closer to the reactor of the assembly, and the outer section further away from the reactor, e.g. in a stacked geometry.
[0039] In a second aspect the present invention relates to a use of the present reactor according to claim 14 .
[0040] In an example the reactor assembly is used to control bulging. The bulging may be limited to acceptable levels or may be cancelled by the use of the present capacitive plates.
[0041] In an example the reactor is used to fix a sample. In such a case a sample is placed in between the present capacitive plates, an electrical field is applied in order to contact the two plates, thereby fixing the sample. Such solves problems such as that often samples when inserted in a microscope loose contact with a support thereof, such as due to a temperature increase, and that samples have a poor electrical/thermal contact with e.g. a MEMS-heater.
[0042] In an example the reactor assembly is used to close a reaction chamber. Such provides the option of entering a samples and/or reactants into the chamber, mounting a reactor wall on top of the chamber, and securely closing the chamber by applying an electrical field. Likewise it may be used to close a channel.
[0043] In an example the reactor assembly is used to provide a pump function. By changing an electrical field between the plates a distance between the plates may be varied, and as a consequence locally a volume is increased or decreased. The change of volume causes reactants to flow and e.g. refresh a volume/area around the sample.
[0044] In an example the reactor assembly is used to provide pre-bending of a first and/or second wall. Such is especially relevant if a reactor temperature is increased or decreased; the change will cause bending of the reactor walls. By providing an initial bending (pre-bending) of a reaction wall, during a temperature change the bending can be relaxed, and the relaxation substantially compensates the bending due to the temperature change.
[0045] In an example the reactor assembly is used to apply a pressure. By forcing the two plates together, or by reducing a force and thereby allowing the plates to separate relative to one and another, a pressure change can be established. Hence during a reaction a pressure can (temporarily) be increased or reduced, or both, within given boundary conditions.
[0046] In an example the reactor assembly is used to maintain a pressure. For instance at a start of an experiment (outside a microscope) a pressure may be applied to the reactor. This pressure can be maintained by using the attractive force of the present plates. As such reaction at increased (or reduced) pressure can be performed.
[0047] In an example the reactor assembly is used to remove or replace a gas bubble in a liquid. Such a gas bubble may be captured in the reactor, e.g. upon closure thereof, may have been formed by reaction of the electron beam with the liquid, or may have been formed during reaction, etc. If the gas bubble is “in the way”, e.g. in a viewing window, it may be removed or replaced by exerting or limiting a force on the present plates.
[0048] In an example the reactor assembly is used for removing unwanted charged particles. As such reaction conditions are further optimised.
[0049] In an example the reactor assembly is used for introducing wanted charged particles. As such reaction conditions are further optimised.
[0050] In an example the reactor assembly is used to reduce the liquid column for TEM inspection and allowing a larger liquid column for further reaction.
[0051] The above examples of use indicate that a wide variety of tools now has become available to manipulate reaction conditions.
[0052] In a third aspect the present invention relates to a microscope selected from an electron microscope, an ion microscope, an atomic force microscope, and an optical microscope, such as a TEM, a SEM, a transmission mode SEM, an STM, an STXM microscope, comprising a reactor assembly according to the invention.
[0053] In an example the present microscope comprises one or more of a control means selected from a controller, an ampere meter, a voltage meter, a heating means, a radiation source, a means for receiving the holder, an image forming device, and a cooler.
[0054] In an example the microscope comprises an electron microscope, such as a TEM and SEM, and an optical microscope integrated therein. That is both techniques can be used to analyse a sample in the present holder.
[0055] It is noted that the term “substantial” is intended to indicate that within a given accuracy, such as measurement, manufacturing, etc. elements are e.g. in line, etc.
[0056] The one or more of the above examples and embodiments may be combined, falling within the scope of the invention.
Examples
[0057] The invention is further detailed by the accompanying figures, which are exemplary and explanatory of nature and are not limiting the scope of the invention. To the person skilled in the art it may be clear that many variants, being obvious or not, may be conceivable falling within the scope of protection, defined by the present claims.
SUMMARY OF FIGURES
[0058] The invention although described in detailed explanatory context may be best understood in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
[0059] FIGS. 1-14 show various reactor assemblies which have (at least to some extent) been described throughout the description.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0060] List of Elements:
11 : First reactor wall 12 : Second reactor wall 21 : window c.q. membrane 22 : column height 41 : sample 51 : capacitive plate 52 : capacitive plate 53 : dielectric layer 54 : dielectric layer 56 : first conductor second capacitor 57 : second conductor second capacitor 61 : heater 71 : Voltage source 81 a,b : spacer 91 : outside section 92 : inside section A-A: Cross section B-B: Cross section 100 : reactor assembly d: distance between first and second reactor wall at a given location
[0081] FIG. 1 shows a reactor assembly 100 . Therein two opposing walls 11 and 12 are shown, being at a (constant) distance d. Also various windows 21 for viewing are shown. The walls comprise at least one capacitive plate 51 , 52 . A voltage 71 is applied. The cross-section A-A shows recesses resembling the windows and optional spacers 81 .
[0082] FIG. 2 shows a cross section indicating bulging of the first 11 and second 12 reactor wall.
[0083] FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a prior art device. The arrow indicates a viewing direction. Further heating elements 61 are shown. Typically, a pressure inside the reactor is about 100 kPa (1 bar) and close to 0 kPa (0 bar) outside. The temperature of the device is not reviewed here. As a consequence of the pressure difference, significant bulging occurs.
[0084] FIG. 4 shows a cross section of a present device. The arrow indicates a viewing direction. Further capacitive elements 51 , 52 are shown. Also dielectric layers 53 , 54 are shown. In addition to these dielectric layers being present at an inside of the assembly, these layers may also be present at an outside of the assembly. Further conditions are the same as for FIG. 3 . A temperature may be room temperature (about 20° C.). No electrical field is applied.
[0085] FIG. 5 shows the device of FIG. 4 , further comprising spacers 81 . The device is in a “bulged” situation. Further conditions are the same as for FIG. 4 .
[0086] FIG. 6 shows the device of FIG. 5 , in a situation wherein an electrical field is applied, the two walls are attracted to one and another, and the spacers prevent full contact between the two walls. A voltage difference of 7V is applied. Further conditions are the same as for FIG. 5 . In the middle part of the figure also the (virtual) column height 22 is indicated.
[0087] FIG. 7 shows the device of FIG. 6 , in a situation wherein a temperature of 400° C. is applied. Despite the electrical field the reactor curves due to the temperature increase.
[0088] FIG. 8 shows the device of FIG. 6 , in a situation wherein the reactor assembly is used to close a hole or channel. The hole or channel may comprise a (reaction) liquid or gas. Preferably a surface hydrophilicity is tuned and in order to obtain a good closure (especially for a gas) connecting surfaces adhere well.
[0089] FIG. 9 shows a fixing of a sample 41 to a second wall 12 .
[0090] FIG. 10 shows in addition to FIG. 9 a first wall 11 . The reactor assembly now fixes the sample 41 .
[0091] FIG. 11 shows a second capacitor having a first conductor 56 and a second conductor 57 . In the example the first and second conductor have a similar charge and as a consequence potentially repel one and another. The repelling force may be used to control the distance d between the first and second wall. In the example the first conductor is in the form of an extension element, whereas the second conductor 57 has an opening for “receiving” the extension element.
[0092] FIG. 12 shows capacitor plates 51 and 52 having different shapes, forms, size, etc. Such may be in particular suitable for generating a wave, for pumping function, and for gas bubble removal.
[0093] In addition to e.g. FIG. 12 in FIG. 13 spacers 81 a , 81 b may have different sizes and shapes and additionally may be made of different materials. Spacers are typically provided on one side or on two opposite sides, and are typically not attached to both sides. The height of the spacers is typically less or at the most equal (50-100%) to a distance of two opposite walls in an “inactive” status. The device may have a 100 kPa pressure inside and a close to 0 kPa pressure outside. A voltage difference at an outside section 92 may be different from a voltage difference at an inside section 91 , e.g. 5 V and 15 V respectively (at 20° C.). As such also a local variation in height of the column 22 may be obtained, by a second capacitive plate set (of which one voltage could be actually the same as that of the first capacitive pair). In an example hereof the black (peripheral) and dashed (central) blocks are two sets of capacitive plates. The central capacitive blocks are activated.
[0094] FIG. 14 shows the assembly of FIG. 13 . In this case the central capacitive blocks are not activated and the reactor bulges outward. Playing around with the activation of the central capacitor has as advantage that in the situation where the capacitor is activated a higher resolution may be obtained, and in the case where the capacitor is not activated flow around a sample may be established or improved.
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An improved microreactor for use in microscopy, use of said microreactor, and a microscope comprising said reactor. The present invention is in the field of microscopy, specifically in the field of electron and focused ion beam microscopy (EM and FIB), and in particular Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). However its application is extendable in principle to any field of microscopy, especially wherein characteristics of a (solid) specimen (or sample) are studied in detail, such as during a reaction.
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The United States Government has rights in this invention under Contract FO-8635-80C-0149, awarded by the Air Force.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Use
This invention relates to the azido nitramine, 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane, and its preparation and use as an energetic plasticizer for solid gun and rocket motor propellants.
2. Prior Art
Azido nitramines are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,697,341; 3,883,314; 4,085,123 and 4,141,910.
The 1,5-diazido-2-nitraza pentane (or DIANP for short) of this invention produces low molecular weight combustion gases. In addition, the DIANP lowers flame temperature in propellants without lessening their burning rates. This latter feature is particularly notable. Previous experience with energetic compounds which lower flame temperatures has been that they also always lower burning rates.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is an object of this invention to provide the azido nitramine, 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane, and a method for making it.
It is an object of this invention to provide plasticizer compositions for rocket and gun propellants which incorporate the 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane.
These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with this invention as will be seen from the following disclosure.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the azido nitramine, 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane. This azido nitramine has been made by reacting diethanolamine and nitric acid to form 1,5-dinitrato-3-nitraza pentane (DINA) of the formula: ##STR1## and then reacting the DINA with metal azide to form the 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane (DIANP).
The DIANP is liquid at ordinary temperatures; it can serve as an energetic plasticizer for solid gun and rocket motor propellants.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane of this invention is characterized as follows:
______________________________________Structure ##STR2##Empirical Formula C.sub.4 H.sub.8 O.sub.2 N.sub.8Molecular Weight 200.161Physical State Colorless liquidDensity 1.33 grams/cm.sup.3Freezing Point Supercools to below -20° C.Solubility Acetone, methanol, dimethylform- amide, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), ethyl acetate, benzene and 12.6% N nitrocellulose. Limited solubility in ethanol, isopropanol and butanol.Heat of Combustion Observed = 3899 cal/gram Theoretical = 4069 cal/gramHeat of Formation Observed = 129.0 kcal/mole Theoretical = 163.3 kcal/moleDSC Decomposition Exothermic decomposition @ 246° C.Oxygen Balance -79.93%Nitrogen Content 55.98%Gas Molecular Weight 16.68(based on formula C.sub.4 H.sub.8 O.sub.2 N.sub.8)______________________________________
The DIANP can be prepared by reacting diethanol amine and nitric acid. Thisreaction is carried out in the presence of acetc anhydride and acetyl chloride. The resulting 1,5 dinitrato-3-nitraza pentane is purified and reacted with a metal azide such as sodium azide to form the DIANP. The solvent for this latter reaction is preferably an aprotic, high boiling solvent such as dimethylsulfoxide.
The DIANP can be formulated into gun and rocket motor propellants as an energetic plasticizer. The DIANP, being liquid, is advantageously formulated with nitrocellulose as a replacement for nitroglycerin or othersuch explosive nitrate ester plasticizer.
The DIANP provides high burning rates at low flame temperatures. When DIANPis combined with nitrocellulose, the combination has a higher burning rate and lower flame temperature than each of the following combinations: nitrocellulose and cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine; nitrocellulose and 1,5-dinitrato-3-nitraza pentane; nitrocellulose and methylnitratoethylnitramine.
The use of DIANP also can lead to high energy outputs when used with solid and liquid energetic compounds as well as providing low gas molecular weights and flame temperatures.
Among the many propellant ingredients which can be advantageously used withthe DIANP are such other solid and liquid propellant ingredients and oxidizers as glycidyl azide polymers of molecular weights between 500-10,000 (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,450), tetramethylenetetranitramine, triaminoguanidine nitrate (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,421).
The following examples illustrate this invention.
EXAMPLE 1
This example discloses preparation of the azido nitramine, 1,5-diazido-3-nitrozamine of this invention.
(a) Preparation of 1,5-dinitrato-3-nitraza pentane or DINA for short. Concentrated nitric acid (315 grams of 98% purity) was charged to a one-liter glass reactor equipped with a jacket, stirrer, thermometer and addition funnel. The temperature was controlled by circulating a 50/50 glycol/water mixture through the reactor jacket with a refrigerated circulating bath. The reactor was flushed with nitrogen and closed to the atmosphere with a drying tube filled with Drierite.
The nitric acid was cooled to 2° C. and 159 grams of diethanolamine (DEA) were added slowly beneath the surface of the acid with vigorous stirring. The top of the addition funnel extended below the surface of theacid. Time of addition was 4.2 hours, and the reaction temperature ranged from 4° C. to 8° C.; most of the addition was made at 7° C. to 8° C.
The reaction mixture was stirred at 11°-16° C. for an additional hour, and the temperature allowed to rise to 25° C. for another 30 minutes with stirring. A white precipitate formed and then dissolved at 25° C. After standing overnight, the amine/nitric acidmixture was a clear pale-yellow solution (volume=325 cc) which was transferred to an addition funnel for the second step of the reaction.
The second step was to react the amine/nitric acid mixture with acetic anhydride in the presence of a chloride catalyst to form DINA. A solution of acetyl chloride (3.34 grams) in acetic anhydride (AC 2 O)(536 grams) was charged to the one-liter reactor, and the temperature adjusted to 31° C. The amine/nitric acid solution was added dropwise over a period of 2.3 hours with vigorous stirring.
The reaction temperature varied from 32° C. to 40° C., mostlyin the range of 37° C. to 39° C. The clear pale-yellow reaction mixture was stirred at 35°-37° C. for another 1.7 hours and poured onto 3600 grams of distilled water/ice to precipitate small white crystals of crude DINA. The total volume at this point was about 4.5 liters.
The white solid DINA was filtered and washed with three 350 cc portions of distilled water. The solid DINA was partially air dried, then dissolved in1200 cc acetone. The resulting clear pale-yellow solution was neutralized with 50 cc of 0.5-molar aqueous potassium carbonate. The acetone solution initially turned orange-red, then slowly to yellow with a pH of 8. The neutralized solution was filtered and added dropwise to 3200 grams of distilled water/ice over 1.6 hours with vigorous stirring. White flocculent crystals of DINA formed immediately and continued to form throughout the addition. After stirring for another 1.5 hours, the mixturewas refrigerated overnight at 0°-5° C.
The DINA crystals were filtered and washed with four 400 cc portions of distilled water. The final two washes had a pH of 6. The yield (277 grams or 76% yield) was stored water wet. The melting point on a Fisher-Johns apparatus was 51°-51.5° C. The infrared spectrum was recorded as a Nujol mull with no discernible nitrate ester absorption at 1745 cm -1 .
According to the original synthesis developed by G. F. White and co-workersat Toronto University, the following values are typical for a 7.8-mole run of DINA:
______________________________________ HNO.sub.3 + DEA + Ac.sub.2 O = DINA1796 gms 907 grms 3121 gms 1865 gms (90% yield)28.5 moles 8.6 moles 30.6 moles 7.8 molesHNO.sub.3 /DEA ratio = 1.98Ac.sub.2 O/DEA ratio = 3.44______________________________________
The above laboratory synthesis on a 1.5-mole scale has virtually the same weight ratios of ingredients as those specified.
(b) Preparation of 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane (DIANP) The following preparation of DIANP (1,5-diazido-3-nitrazapentane) consists of essentially two steps; making a mixture of sodium azide in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), then reacting that with a solution of DINA in DMSO. The scale used was 0.5-mole and was conducted in a one-liter reactor.
DMSO (300 cc) was charged to a jacketed glass reactor equipped with a stirrer, thermometer, condensor and addition funnel. The temperature was controlled by circulating a 50/50 glycol/water mixture through the jacket.The reactor was flushed with nitrogen and closed to the atmosphere with a drying tube.
Sodium azide (81 grams) was charged to the reactor in small portions with vigorous stirring. Since sodium azide is only partially soluble in DMSO, some agglomeration occurred, but was readily broken up with stirring. The bulk of the sodium azide was a fine suspension.
Preheated (81° C.) glycol/water was circulated through the reactor jacket for 20 minutes. A solution of DINA (121 grams) in 200 cc DMSO was prepared under a stream of nitrogen to minimize moisture absorption duringthe strong cooling that occurred as DINA dissolved. The mixture was also warmed in a water bath during the dissolution. Total volume was about 290 cc. The solution was filtered to remove a small amount of fine white particulate matter.
The resulting solution of DINA in DMSO was added drop-wise to the sodium azide/DMSO mixture with vigorous stirring. The time of addition was 2.9 hours and the temperature gradually rose to 85° C. When the addition was complete, stirring was continued for 2 more hours and the temperature increased to 80° C. The reaction was then cooled to room temperature and stirring continued another 2 hours.
The reaction mixture turned a dark orange-red color when the addition of DINA/DMSO was finished, but it was clear with no observable precipitate.
To separate and purify the DIANP, distilled water (2 liters) was added to the reaction mixture at room temperature for over an hour. Stirring was continued for another 20 minutes, and a second liquid phase (orange-colored and partially emulsified) formed in the bottom of the reactor. The aqueous layer on top was dark orange-red and hazy. Total volume at this point was 2800 cc.
The aqueous layer was extracted with 600 cc portions of methylene chloride.The lower phase was dissolved in the first washing of methylene chloride. As expected, the methylene chloride extracts were colored from orange-red to yellow as the extractions continued. Small amounts of emulsion formed at the interface in all extractions, and were retained in the aqueous layer. The combined methylene chloride extracts were orange-yellow with a total volume of 1800 cc. The final aqueous phase (orange colored) was discarded.
The combined methylene chloride extracts were washed with three 600 cc portions of distilled water. During this washing, the methylene chloride extract became lighter in color, while the water washes turned yellow. After washing was complete, the methylene chloride phase (light yellow) was dried over 4A Molecular Sieves; total volume was about 1700 cc.
To purify the DIANP, the methylene chloride solution was filtered and passed through a column of neutral activated alumina, pre-wetted with methylene chloride, followed by four washes of 50 cc each of methylene chloride. An orange-colored band (1-2 mm thick) remained on top of the alumina column. The eluent of DIANP in methylene chloride was clear and colorless with a total volume of 1800 cc.
The methylene chloride was evaporated at 30°-40° C. under reduced pressure and the resulting DIANP residue was clear, very light yellow in color. The product weight was 86.7 grams or 0.433 moles for an 86% yield. The infrared spectrum was identical to DIANP purified by columnchromatography.
EXAMPLE 2
A gun propellant of the formulation set forth in Table A was made on a small scale using DIANP prepared as in Example 1. The propellant was extruded into propellant granules for closed bomb testing.
TABLE A______________________________________Nitrocellulose (12.6% N) 12.50 Wt %Ethyl Cellulose 12.002-nitrodiphenylamine 0.50Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine 50.00DIANP 25.00Total = 100.00 Wt %______________________________________
Closed bomb firings using the granules showed that the propellant deliveredapproximately 90% of theoretical energy, i.e., or delivered 349,000 ft-lb/lb impetus compared to a theoretical value of 387,000 ft-lb/lb.
EXAMPLE 3
Set forth below in Table B are results of measuring the burning rates of compositions containing DIANP (prepared as in Example 1) and nitrocellulose.
TABLE B______________________________________ (inches/ sec) Rate @ T.sub.v HexCOMPOSITION 40,000 psi (°K.) (cal/g)______________________________________NC.sup.1 + 1% stabilizer 4.97 .sup. 3053.sup.8 .sup. 950.sup.8NC + stab.sup.2 + 40% DIANP.sup.3 11.74 2854 830NC + stab + 40% NG.sup.4 10-11 .sup. 3850.sup.8 1250.sup.8NC + 40% DINA.sup.5 8.18 3334 1083NC + 20% DINA + 20% DINAP 9.59 3108 957NC + 40% MeNENA.sup.6 7.33 3079 993NC + 20% MeNENA + 9.23 2971 91220% DIANPNC + 40% RDX.sup.7 7.12 3436 1093NC + 20% RDX + 20% DIANP 9.80 3162 962______________________________________ .sup.1 nitrocellulose (12.6% nitrogen) .sup.2 1% by weight of NC, 2nitrodiphenylamine .sup.3 1,5-diazido-3-nitaza pentane .sup.4 nitroglycerin .sup.5 1,5-dinitrato-3-nitaza pentane .sup.6 methylnitratoethylnitramine .sup.7 cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine .sup.8 literature values
As can be seen from the first three compositions, DIANP is burning as fast as nitroglycerin without attendant high flame temperature and heat of explosion. This phenomenon is also seen when the DIANP is mixed with othernitramines and energetic compounds, as can be seen from the next four compositions.
The last two compositions differ from the first seven in that they contain solids. As seen from the results of the last two compositions, DIANP stillgives burning rate enhancement with solids (RDX) present.
EXAMPLE 4
Several energy/performance calculations were made assuming DIANP in combinations with other ingredients typically used in gun propellants. Thenitrocellulose and nitroglycerin combination is presented in Table C for reference as the maximum performance in double-base propellants without resorting to energetic solids loading. As can be seen from these combinations of DIANP and energetic ingredients in Table C, DIANP can permit substantial reductions in both gas molecular weight and flame temperature with simultaneous gains in energy (defined as "Impetus" for gun propellants).
TABLE C______________________________________ IMPETUSCOMBINATION GAS MW.sup.7 T.sub.v (°K.).sup.7 (ft-lb/lb).sup.7______________________________________40/60 NC.sup.1 /NG.sup.2 27.2 3774 386,80050/50 RDX.sup.3 /NC 24.7 3621 408,20050/50 MeNENA.sup.4 /NC 22.5 3162 390,80050/50 TAGN.sup.5 /RDX 21.2 3330 437,30040/60 NC/TAGN 20.6 2771 373,40050/50 DIANP/RDX 19.9 3442 480,80060/40 DIANP/NC 19.5 2853 407,20050/50 DIANP/MeNENA 18.5 2983 448,00030/70 DIANP/EtNENA.sup.6 17.8 2523 393,80050/50 DIANP/TAGN 17.7 2665 418,900______________________________________ .sup.1 nitrocellulose .sup.2 nitroglycerin .sup.3 cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine .sup.4 methylnitratoethylnitramine .sup.5 triaminoguanidine nitrate .sup.6 ethylnitratoethylnitramine .sup.7 calculated using minimization of free energy.
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The azido nitramine 1,5-diazido-3-nitraza pentane and a method of making it are disclosed. The azido nitramine lowers flame temperature in gun and rocket propellants without visual lessening of burning rates. In addition, the azido nitramine produces low molecular weight combustion products.
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This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 08/120,848, filed Sep. 15, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,016 issued Jul. 12, 1994 which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/936,702 filed Aug. 28, 1992, now abandoned.
This application claims the priority of German Applications P 41 28 471.2 filed Aug. 28, 1991, P 42 14 934.7 filed May 6, 1992 and P 43 03 685.6 filed Feb. 9, 1993, which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for placing in readiness fiber bales, such as cotton, chemical fiber or other bales in a series, in preparation for a fiber tuft removal process performed by a travelling bale opener. One or several successive initial fiber bales of the series are positioned at a slight inclination in one direction whereas the additional bales of the series are positioned either in a vertical orientation or at an inclination which is opposite to the inclination of the initial fiber bale or fiber bales. Prior to positioning the additional fiber bales, the initial fiber bale or fiber bales are held (stabilized) by a bale holding and/or supporting device as described in the parent application Serial No. 07/936,702. After the additional fiber bales have been deposited and, as they lean against an adjoining initial fiber bale, they themselves are capable of stabilizing the initial fiber bales. Therefore, the holding and/or supporting device is moved away from the initial fiber bale or fiber bales, that is, as the bale resupplying of the bale series continues, the initial bales no longer need the bale holding and/or supporting device for stabilization.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The principal purpose of the parent application Ser. No. 07/936,702 was to ensure in a simple and secure manner the support of the initial fiber bale or fiber bales and an automatic readying of a fiber bale series for a detaching operation by a bale opener. The object of this invention is to present additional embodiments for achieving the purpose stated.
This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the apparatus for placing fiber bales end-to-end in a series includes a bale emplacement for supporting thereon the bales forming the series; a bale depositing device for setting a fiber bale at an inclination on the bale emplacement to build the series; and a bale holding device situated at a location along the bale emplacement. The bale holding device has a bale engaging member movable into engagement with a vertical lateral face of a bale situated at the location for stabilizing the bale; and a power device for moving the bale engaging member into or out of engagement with the bale situated at the location.
Normally the fiber bales are prepared by repeatedly filling and compressing fiber material in a press form or mold. In this manner a fiber bale of layered consistency is obtained which, after releasing the holding straps (bale ties), expands upwardly to a greater or lesser extent. The lateral dimensions of the fiber bale remain essentially unchanged so that particularly the transverse sides of the bales have an increased strength. By a horizontally directed engagement by the holding or supporting devices the latter contact the bales at their transverse and/or longitudinal vertical sides whereby the bale may be securely supported (stabilized).
In the present context distinction is to be made between "holding" and "supporting" the fiber bale. By "holding" the fiber bale there is meant an engagement by the holding device of those vertical sides of the bales which extend parallel to the bale transport track (bale emplacement), that is, parallel to the bale series. These sides will also be referred to as the vertical lateral bale faces. In contrast, a "support" of the fiber bale means in general an engagement by the stabilizing device of those vertical bale sides which extend transversely to the bale conveying track and is thus effective in a direction opposite the conveying direction of the fiber bale. These bale sides will also be referred to as the transverse bale faces.
In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention the holding device is arranged parallel to the initial fiber bales standing on the transport track and the holding is effected by exerting a pressure on a vertical lateral face of the initial fiber bale. Preferably, the holding is carried out by a bilateral clamping of the initial fiber bale. The supporting is effected preferably by pressing the initial fiber bale against its direction of advance. The fiber bales are preferably conveyed along a holding element extending parallel to the conveying direction.
Preferably, a bale transfer carriage is moved in a loading position in alignment with the transport track, the supporting wall of the carriage is pressed against a transverse face of the initial fiber bale, the holding devices (spike boards) on opposite sides of the bales are withdrawn from the initial fiber bale, the initial fiber bale is, as the supporting wall moves, displaced onto the transfer carriage from the transport track and the spike boards are pressed against the subsequent fiber bale on the transport track. With this embodiment of the invention it is feasible to take a single fiber bale from the transport track and move the same to another position, for example, to a conveyor belt which serves a bale opener, such as a BLENDOMAT BDT 020 model manufactured by Trutzschler GmbH & Co. KG, Monchengladbach, Germany.
Preferably prior to displacing the transfer carriage, its support wall, as the initial bale lies against it, is moved beyond the vertical until a negative angle is reached. A negative angle is meant here to be an acute angle to the vertical, opening in a direction opposite the conveying direction of the conveyor belt serving the bale opener. Expediently, the first two to six fiber bales are transferred under such a negative angle to a conveyor belt. After the transfer carriage, transporting a fiber bale, arrives into alignment with the conveyor belt, the subsequent fiber bales are, by pivotal motion of the support wall of the transfer carriage, swung through the vertical to assume an inclination at a positive angle to thus lean against and be supported by the negatively inclined bales on the conveyor belt. Preferably, in each instance the last fiber bale transferred onto the conveyor belt is, until reaching the pressing force balance between the bales set with a negative angle and those set with a positive angle, held by a holding device. The initiation of the bale feed, the stoppage of the transport track, the transfer carriage, the transfer belt mounted on the transfer carriage and the motion of the supporting or holding devices are effected by means of at least one sensor.
For performing the method according to the invention, there is utilized an apparatus for readying fiber bales in a series along a fiber bale opener, wherein the apparatus deposits the initial fiber bales of the series on a transport track with a slight inclination in one direction and the additional fiber bales in a vertical orientation or at an inclination which is opposite to the inclination of the initial fiber bale. A holding device is arranged laterally of the bale series and is movable horizontally into or out of engagement with a lateral vertical face of an inclined fiber bale. When in engagement, the holding device firmly stabilizes the fiber bale in its inclined position. Further, a transfer vehicle is provided which is movable on rails between a bale transport track and a conveyor belt serving a bale opener. The transfer vehicle has a transfer belt on which a fiber bale may be positioned and a pivotal supporting wall which is mounted on the transfer belt and which is adapted to support an end face of an inclined fiber bale situated on the transfer belt.
The apparatus according to the invention has the following additional advantageous features:
The transport belt is arranged at a settable angle.
The supporting wall may be set on each side of the vertical at an angle which is preferably between 10° and 20°.
The holding device has at least one jointed cantilever carrying a pressing plate provided with spikes or needles. The cantilever is operatively connected with power cylinders which are coupled with the pressure plate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are schematic top plan views illustrating further details of the construction shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a schematic front elevational view of a holding device according to the invention.
FIG. 5a is a schematic front elevational view of a variant of the holding device shown in FIG. 5.
FIGS. 6a and 6b are schematic side elevational views of a bale separating arrangement showing two phases of operation.
FIGS. 7a, 7b and 7c are schematic side elevational views illustrating further details of the construction of FIG. 1 in three operational phases.
FIG. 8 is a schematic side elevational view of the bale transport track of the construction shown in FIG. 1, including a bale transporting carriage, a marking device and sensor.
FIG. 9 is a schematic side elevational view of a variant of the construction shown in FIG. 8, showing a sensor roller.
FIG. 10 is a schematic side elevational view similar to FIG. 9, showing a height staggered bale transfer belt.
FIGS. 11 and 12 are schematic side elevational views of a bale transport track showing two embodiments of a marker inserting and marker sensing device.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Turning to FIG. 1, a bale charging carriage 22 is situated at the beginning of a bale transport track (bale emplacement) 80 which is constituted by an upper run of a conveyor belt and which moves in the direction of the arrow A. The carriage 22 is ready to receive a fiber bale 1 and transport it to the proximal end of a bale series accumulated in an end-to-end relationship on the transport track 80. The initial fiber bale la, that is, the fiber bale which is at the remote end of the bale series as viewed from the beginning of the transport track 80 is, at its lateral vertical faces held by a holding device (spiked boards) 85 penetrating into opposite bale faces. A transfer carriage 81 which, as depicted in FIG. 1, is situated in a loading position in alignment with the transport track 80, has already received one fiber bale 1 therefrom and is ready to travel with the fiber bale 1 on rails 86 to a bale transfer position at the intake end of a conveyor belt (bale emplacement) 14. Since the conveyor belt 14 is fully occupied by fiber bales, the holding device (spiked boards) 85 at the intake end of the conveyor belt 14 is not in a holding relationship with a fiber bale because each fiber bale is stabilized by the adjoining fiber bales.
FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate the discharge end of the transport track 80, the inlet end of the conveyor belt 14 as well as the transfer carriage 81 which runs on rails 82 back-and-forth between the discharge end of the transport track 80 and the inlet end of the conveyor belt 14. In FIG. 2 the initial fiber bale 1a on the transport track 80 is held by the spiked boards 85. The supporting wall 88 of the transfer carriage 81 moves from its position shown in FIG. 2 towards the initial fiber bale 1a and supports the latter. Thereupon, the holding device (spiked boards) 85 is moved away from the fiber bale 1a into a disengaged position. Thereafter, the transport track 80 as well as a transfer belt 89 mounted on the transfer carriage 81 is cycled, as a result of which the bale 1a is, together with the support wall 88, moved in the direction of the arrow A onto the transfer carriage 81. The second fiber bale 1a' thus reaches the end position on the bale transport track 80. The feed of the transport track 80 is then stopped and the spiked boards 85 are moved into engagement with the lateral vertical faces of the fiber bale 1a'. The fiber bale 1a on the transfer carriage 81 is moved by the transfer belt 89 in the direction of the arrow A until it is disengaged from the fiber bale 1a'. The transfer carriage 81 may now be moved on the rails 82 into its second position, that is, into a discharging position in alignment with the conveyor belt 14, at the intake end thereof.
As seen in FIG. 3, on the conveyor belt 14 a single fiber bale 1 is situated; that is, the charging of the conveyor belt 14 with fiber bales has just started. This fiber bale 1 is being held (stabilized) in its position by spiked boards 85. As will be discussed later, the fiber bale 1 is inclined in the direction of the transfer carriage 81.
FIG. 4 illustrates the transfer carriage 81 in its end position in front of the intake end of the conveyor belt 14 which is fully charged with fiber bales 1. Since the fiber bales 1 lean against one another, a holding of any fiber bale is no longer necessary. For this reason the spiked boards 85 are withdrawn; that is, they are in a non-engaging position.
FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of the bale holding device. The spiked boards 85 are articulated to respective levers 84 each movable towards (arrows E and G) or away from (arrows D and F) the fiber bale situated on the bale transport track 80. At its end remote from the spiked board 85 the respective lever 84 is pivotally supported by a sliding bearing 91 mounted on the horizontal beam of a frame 83.
FIG. 5a shows an alternative to the construction depicted in FIG. 5. In the FIG. 5a embodiment, one of the spike boards 85 shown in FIG. 5 is replaced by a glide rail 86 against which the initial fiber bale 1a is pressed by the spike board 85 acting on the other side of the initial fiber bale 1a.
FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate the process of separating the fiber bales 1 from one another at the discharge end of the transport track 80. On the transport track 80 a plurality of fiber bales 1 are conveyed in the direction A while they stand at an inclination. The leading fiber bale 1a is held in its inclined position by the spiked boards 85 which engage those vertical faces of the fiber bale 1a which extend parallel to the conveying direction A. The transfer carriage 81 is shown in its loading position in alignment with the transport track 80. The support wall 88 of the transfer carriage 81 is situated at an end of the transfer carriage 81 and engages face-to-face the initial fiber bale 1a. Under these conditions the spiked boards 85 may be moved away from the fiber bale 1a so that the latter becomes laterally free and is held only by the support wall 88 of the transfer carriage 81. After withdrawal of the spiked boards 85 the feed motion of the transfer belt 89 is initiated simultaneously with the feed motion of the transport track 80, whereby a one-step bale transport occurs that corresponds to the length of one fiber bale, as viewed in the feed direction A. As a result, the previously second fiber bale 1 appears as the new initial fiber bale 1a' in the end position of the transport track 80. The spiked boards 85 are again moved into their operational position in which they press against the new initial fiber bale 1a'. The transfer belt 89 further moves the initial fiber bale 1a until a free space appears between the fiber bales 1a and 1a'. Thereafter, the inclination of the bale 1a, that is, the angle α which is the angle of inclination of the support wall 88 to the horizontal is set for the conveyance by the transfer carriage 81 on the rails 82.
FIGS. 7a, 7b and 7c illustrate the setting of the fiber bales 1 onto the conveyor belt 14 from the transfer carriage 81. After the transfer carriage 81 has been moved into its end position in alignment with the conveyor belt 14 which at that time is free of fiber bales, while maintaining the negative angle α of approximately 15°, the first fiber bale is, by means of the transfer belt 89, while supported by the rear wall 88, moved onto the conveyor belt 14. The conveyor belt, in turn, moves through one cycle, that is, through a distance which corresponds to one bale length, measured parallel to the bale feed. When the support wall 88 has reached the conveyor belt 14, the latter, as well as the transfer belt 89 is stopped and the spiked boards 85 of the holding device are brought into penetrating engagement with the first fiber bale now designated at 1b to maintain the latter in position. In a similar manner the next one to five further bales 1 are set onto the conveyor belt 14; in each instance the last-set bale 1b is held by the spiked boards 85 of the holding device. After having set up generally three to five bales 1 with the negative angle α, the next supplied fiber bale 1, as soon as the transfer carriage 81 has reached its end position in alignment with the conveyor belt 14, is, by virtue of moving the conveyor belt 14, leaned with a positive angle α against the already set fiber bales 1 as shown in FIG. 7b. Then the support wall 88 is so inclined that the angle α becomes positive--as the conveyor belt 14 continues to move--and upon reaching the end position, that is, when the angle α has reached a positive value of approximately 15° the transfer belt 89 is started and the fiber bale 1b is deposited thereon as the conveyor belt 14 runs. Between the fiber bale 1b' having a negative inclination and the fiber bale 1b there is thus obtained a wedge-shaped space 90 which is shown in FIG. 7b to an exaggerated extent and which, in practice, is at least in its upper range significantly smaller because of the deformation of the adjoining fiber bales.
After the fiber bale 1b has assumed its position at the beginning of the conveyor belt 14, it is, similarly to the previous bale 1b', held firmly in its position by the spike boards 85. The support wall 88 of the transfer carriage 81 moves backwardly and the subsequent transfer step may take place in which the momentarily last fiber bale 1b set on the conveyor belt 14 is held by the spike boards 85 until there occurs a pressure equalization between the bales of positive angle α and the bales of negative angle α.
The transfer process is repeated until such time with periodical clamping of the last-delivered bale 1 of positive inclination by the spike boards 85 until a pressure equalization has taken place, that is, approximately the same number of bales 1 with negative and positive inclination are situated on the conveyor belt 14. At that point the positional stability of the fiber bales 1 is achieved and a holding of the fiber bales by the spike boards 85 is no longer necessary as the fiber bale supply further progresses.
Reverting to FIG. 1, the conveyor belt 14 includes the working zone situated between positions I and II in which detaching of the fiber bales by the fiber bale opener 2 takes place and further, the conveyor belt 14 also includes the first standby bale zone situated between locations II and III. On the transport track 80 there is situated the second standby bale zone between the locations IV and V. The arrows A, B and C indicate the direction of motion of the transport track 80, the transfer carriage 81, and the conveyor belt 14, respectively, while arrows D, E, F and G indicate the direction of motion of the spike boards 85 and arrows H and I indicate the direction of pivotal motion of the support wall 88.
FIG. 8 depicts the condition where the transporting carriage has moved from the intake end of the bale transport track 80 (FIG. 1) with a bale 1n' to the trailing bale 1n of the bale series standing on the transport track 80. The bale transport carriage 22 has a marking device 102 which provides the bale 1n' situated on the carriage 22 with a mark 105 on a vertical lateral face at a predetermined distance from a leading bale edge as viewed in the direction of bale advance on the transport track 80 (arrow A). Since each fiber bale 1n' has, on the bale transport carriage 22, always the same orientation, that is, it engages the braces 107, the marking 105 is independent from the dimensions of the bale and is therefore always placed at the same location of each fiber bale.
The marking may be performed in any desired manner. It may be a label affixed to the bale 1n' by means of a needle. Preferably, however, the marking is a color patch of contrasting color applied, for example, by a spraying device.
In the zone of the support roller 106 of the transport track 80 a sensor 101 is arranged. As soon as the marking 105 of a bale has reached the sensor 101, the latter generates a signal which triggers different switching processes. The bale 1a' has, when its marking reaches the sensor 101, reached its end position on the transport track 80. The signal generated by the sensor 101 therefore initiates the feed motion of the transport track 80 in the direction A. At the same time, the bale 1a' is fixed in its position, that is, as described previously, is clamped at its sides by a holding device, not shown in FIG. 8. The previous bale 1a which lies against the support wall 88 of the transfer carriage 81 and is moved by means of the transfer belt 89 together with the support wall 88 is, by changing the supporting angle, brought into a position which is closer to the vertical, whereby in the lower zone between the initial bales 1a and 1a' a wedge-shaped gap 103 is formed. The transfer belt 89 continues to move with the support wall 88 until the end position thereof, so that the initial fiber bale 1a is released, that is, it no longer contacts the initial fiber bale 1a'.
FIG. 9 shows an alternative solution to that illustrated in FIG. 8. In the FIG. 9 arrangement no marking is required. In the zone between the transport track 80 and the transfer belt 89 a sensor roller 104 is arranged which, upon transfer of the initial fiber bale 1a onto the transfer belt 89 of the transfer carriage 81, rolls along the bottom surface of the initial fiber bale 1a. When the sensor roller 104 senses the gap 103 between the initial fiber bale 1a and the initial fiber bale 1a' a signal is generated which, as described previously, is utilized for stopping the transport track 80 and to fix the initial fiber bale 1a' in its position.
An alternative solution to the arrangement shown in FIG. 9 is illustrated in FIG. 10. Since the gaps 103 at the foot zone of the adjoining fiber bales may be very small, at least theoretically there is a possibility that the sensor roller 104 does not recognize the gap 103. If, however, the upper run of the transfer belt 89 is situated lower than the upper run of the transport track 80, then upon transfer of a fiber bale la, the latter, guided by the support wall 88 and the following initial bale 1a' slides downwardly onto the transfer belt 89. Such a drop of the bottom bale surface is securely sensed by the sensor roller 104 which thus can emit a signal.
FIG. 11 illustrates a further embodiment of a mechanical solution for recognizing the gap between two fiber bales. In this embodiment, on the bale transport carriage 22 an insertion station 109 is provided which, upon moving the fiber bale 1n' to the fiber bale 1n, inserts a marking plate 108 having preferably a point oriented towards the front face of the fiber bale 1n'. The marking plate 108 is held in position by virtue of the pressing engagement of the fiber bale 1n' against the fiber bale 1n. A receiving and recognizing station situated in the zone of the end roller 106 of the transport track 80 inductively senses the sheet metal plate member 108 and removes the same while the gap 103 is formed between the bales 1a' and 1a.
FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment to that shown in FIG. 11. Instead of the marking sheet metal plate members 108, wedges 111 are positioned on the transport track 80 by means of an inserting station 109 and are, by means of the bale 1n' pushed onto the bale in and thus mark the separating zone between the individual bales. The removal and recognizing station 110 may, if the wedges are of metal, operate inductively. The recognition, however, may be effected by ultrasound or may be a reflection-type optical barrier.
It will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications, changes and adaptations, and the same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.
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An apparatus for placing fiber bales end-to-end in a series includes a bale emplacement for supporting thereon the bales forming the series; a bale depositing device for setting a fiber bale at an inclination on the bale emplacement to build the series; and a bale holding device situated at a location along the bale emplacement. The bale holding device has a bale engaging member movable into engagement with a vertical lateral face of a bale situated at the location for stabilizing the bale; and a power device for moving the bale engaging member into or out of engagement with the bale situated at the location.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a division of U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 10/496,686, filed Jun. 10, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,399,513, which was a U.S. national filing of PCT/GB02/05336, filed 26 Nov. 2002, which was based on Great Britain Application No. 0128280.5, filed Nov. 26, 2001. All priorities are requested.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field Of the Invention
The invention relates to improvements in paper, and in particular to the use of watermarks and/or embossings for strengthening paper sheets and documents made therefrom.
2. The Prior Art
Folded or bent corners (dog-ears) on banknotes present a significant problem for many banks, as they can cause problems in cash handling machines and can result in an artificially short note life. Many machines will reject such notes from circulation. One major European central bank has indicated that 80% of the rejections from their machines are due to such corner folds. Notes with folded corners can also be problematic in ATMs and cash dispensers and other note handling equipment. This is becoming a more significant problem as the use of such machines is becoming more and more widespread.
Efforts have been made to resolve this problem by providing note handling equipment with apparatus for flattening banknotes to enable a dog-eared or curled document to be fed without jamming. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,856.
Another problem which occurs with banknotes in particular results from the tendency of users to roll and fold notes for storage or keeping in wallets and purses. This gives rise to damage at the middle of the edges of the notes and similar problems arise in ATMs and other note handling equipment as occurs with dog-ears and corners.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to find a way of reducing the occurrences of corner folds and/or middle edge damage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention therefore provides a sheet of paper having at least three corners and three sides joined at the corners, wherein corner reinforcing watermarks are provided at each of the corners.
The invention further provides a sheet of paper having at least three corners and three sides joined at said corners, wherein corner reinforcing embossings are provided at each of said corners, separately or in addition to the corner reinforcing watermarks.
The invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a representation of a small sheet of paper, such as a banknote, having corner reinforcing watermarks;
FIG. 2 shows different watermarks used for tests;
FIGS. 3 , 4 and 5 show test results for various tests showing the improvement provided by the invention;
FIG. 6 . is a representation of a small sheet of paper, such as a banknote, having edge reinforcing watermarks; and
FIGS. 7 and 8 are representations of sections of cylinder mould covers used in the manufacture of a sheet of paper having corner reinforcing watermarks according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1 there is illustrated a small sheet of paper 10 , e.g. a banknote, made by hand or using a known papermaking machine, such as a cylinder mould or Fourdrinier machine. A range of fibre types can be used in the making of such paper, including synthetic or natural fibres or a mixture of both. The actual preparation of the fibres is unrestricted by the invention, and will depend on what effect it is wished to produce in the finished paper. For security paper used for security documents such as banknotes, passports, identification cards and so on, these need to be hard wearing, resilient and self-supporting and so an appropriate fibre mix must be selected.
According to a first aspect of the invention watermarks 11 are provided in each of the corners of the sheet 10 during the manufacture of the paper. A watermark is created by well known techniques of varying the grammage of paper fibres so that in some areas the fibres are of higher grammage than that of the base paper layer, and in others they are of lower grammage. When viewed in transmitted light the areas of lower grammage are lighter and the areas of higher grammage are darker than the base paper, and the contrast between the light and dark areas can be very clearly seen.
Watermarks have been widely used as security features, as true watermarks are very hard to counterfeit particularly by photocopying techniques. They are also used as aesthetic features, e.g. in stationery, as complex patterns can be produced by watermark techniques. Traditionally watermarks have always tended to be located in the main body of the sheet or document in which they are produced so that they can clearly be seen. In the present invention, on the other hand, the watermarks are specifically located in each of the corners of the sheet. This has resulted in the surprising increase in stiffness of the corners which leads to a significant and unexpected reduction in corner folds (dog-ears).
In particular it has been found that watermarks that locally increase the grammage of the paper in the corner of the document significantly reduces its propensity to form dog-ears by increasing the stiffness in this area. One reason for this increase is because of the increase in the stiffness of the paper. It is well known, according to classical beam theory, that the stiffness of an object is proportional to the square of its thickness, as described in “Pulp and Paper Technology and Treatments of Paper”, 1978, page 74 by J d'A Clark, Freeman Publications Inc, San Francisco. Small increases in thickness do thus result in a disproportionately largely benefit in terms of stiffness. A typical stiffness measurement would be the L&W test as specified in ISO 2493.
Another particularly effective watermark pattern is one that results in lines of higher grammage areas approaching the edges of the paper at between 55° and 35° to the edge perpendicular, and more preferably at 45°.
In tests carried out using handmade paper made using a specifically prepared hand sheet mould, which was embossed with seven different patterns, it was found that corner reinforcing watermarks could increase the stiffness of the paper by over 50 % in the corners. The patterns tested are shown in FIG. 2 . There are marked for convenience as patterns A, B, C, D, E, F, G and a blank control as H. The L&W stiffness was measured at 45° to the machine direction and the results for each of the patterns as shown in FIG. 3 .
FIG. 4 shows the results for a test developed for this study. The test gives an angle to which a fold relaxes after it has been bent over with a known force. In this case, whether other factors are constant, the watermark increases the fold recovery angle because of the stiffness imparted by the watermark pattern. The results of the specific patterns of FIG. 2 are shown in FIG. 4 .
A further experiment was carried out to determine the probability of forming corner folds (dog-ears) and the results of this test are shown in FIG. 5 . Again these results show the severity of the fold, shown as “dog-ear index” is least for the six strip pattern F. It was found that the pattern F was the most effective. This was where the watermark comprised a thick stripe pattern with the stripes at substantially 45° to the machine direction (the edges of the sheet 10 ). The preferred thickness of the stripes used in the tests was in the range of 1 to 2 mm wide and most preferably 1.5 mm wide. The second most effective pattern was A which had wavy lines of 2 mm thickness.
The tests showed that the orientation of the elements making up the watermark design is important to give the optimum strength in the direction in which corner folds are likely to form, i.e. 45° to the machine direction.
It was found that the stiffness of the paper increased where the watermark was made from a positive pattern, having the effect of adding bulk to selected areas as compared to the thickness of the base paper layer, as opposed to a negative pattern where the main portion was thinner than that of the base paper layer.
Not only was the stiffness of the paper found to be increased in the paper made according to the invention, but in tests to measure fold recovery angle, it was found that the improvement in fold recovery was as much as 50% over paper without corner reinforcing watermarks.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, watermarks 12 are created either at, or covering, the middle of each edge of the sheet 10 , i.e. at North, South, East and West positions of the note when viewed face on. The problems identified previously relating to damage at the middle of each of the edges of banknotes have been found to be significantly reduced by providing such reinforcing watermarks at the middle of each edge, as shown in FIG. 6 because of the increased stiffness and improved fold recovery in these regions. Again, the watermarks 12 are preferably positive and the preferred form include corrugations and/or elements of the design perpendicular to the likely direction of folding or rolling, i.e. parallel to the edges of the sheet 10 .
Notes which have both corner and centre edge reinforcing, for example a combination of the pattern shown in FIGS. 1 and 6 are preferred.
The individual reinforcing watermarks 11 , 12 may be discrete, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6 , or they may be joined together so that the watermark appears as a continuous frame around the whole sheet 10 . Alternatively, just some of the reinforcing watermarks 11 , 12 may be joined to provide an aesthetic pattern.
It should be noted that machine made paper is produced in a continuous webs, which is subsequently cut to form individual sheets. Obviously the pattern of reinforcing watermarks 11 , 12 produced on the web will need to be carefully designed to ensure that when the sheet 10 are cut, the watermarks 11 , 12 are located at the corners and/or edges of the sheet 10 .
In a further embodiment of this invention it has been discovered that the effective thickness of the paper in the document corners can also be increased by embossing corrugations into the paper in patterns similar to those described above for watermark corner reinforcing. Embossing can preferably be achieved by the intaglio printing process commonly used for printing security documents.
It is well known that security documents in general, and banknotes in particular, can be embossed using the intaglio printing process. Embossing without the application of ink is sometimes used with a view to producing tactile security features as found on the Dutch 10 Guilder notes issues in 1997. These notes have a series of chevron patterns down the short edges of the notes. Testing carried out on these notes have shown that no improvement in corner fold stiffness was achieved by these embossings. The reason for this is that they are not positioned correctly to achieve such an effect being too far from the paper edge and the lines being too thin.
An extension of this idea, and a further embodiment of the above invention, is a document in which the watermark reinforced corners are also reinforced with intaglio embossed corrugations following a similar patter to the watermark reinforcing structure. When this combination of techniques was applied in tests to banknotes, corner stiffness increases of up to 250% were achieved, as measured by the L&W stiffness tester.
Alternatively the watermark reinforced corners are replaced by corner reinforcing embossings which may be produced by Intaglio printing, either with or without (blind) ink. The embossings preferably fill an area bounded by at least a length of 10 mm on each of the adjacent sides of each corner. More preferably the whole of each corner areas filled. The embossings preferably consist of a plurality of stripes, each having a width between 0.5 and 3 mm wide which are separated by gaps having a width lying in the range 0.5 to 3 mm. The stripes may be straight, wavy or curved and are preferably parallel.
The stripes of the embossings are preferably at an angle of between 70° and 111°, relative to the line of a corner fold set at 45° to one of the edges, and more preferably at an angle of 90°.
For paper used in documents where the reinforcing watermarks fall very close to other security features, such as a printed portrait, problems can occur due to the greater degree of shrinkage at the edge of the paper web than in the centre. To get a uniform finished document width, the actual document width on the cylinder mould cover during manufacture has to vary to compensate for shrinkage. One solution to this problem is to include small vertical and horizontal tails to the stripes of the embossings/watermarks which allow the die stamped areas of the mould cover to be overlapped or separated according to their position on the mould cover. FIG. 7 shows the die stamped areas overlapped and FIG. 8 shows the dies separated, allowing for maximum shrinkage of the edge of the mould. Without the horizontal and vertical tails and with the end of the diagonal stripes would obliterate each other in areas where overlapping is necessary.
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The invention relates to improvements in paper, and in particular to the use of watermarks and/or embossings for strengthening paper sheets and documents made therefrom. The invention therefore provides a sheet of paper having at least three corners and three sides joined at said corners, wherein corner reinforcing watermarks are provided at each of said corners. Alternatively, or in addition, corner reinforcing embossings are provided at each of said corners.
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This invention was made with U.S. Government support under Grant NCDDG-CA37606, awarded by the National Cancer Institute. The U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a division of Ser. No. 07/210,520 filed Jun. 23, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,576 issued Feb. 25, 1992, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 07/066,227 filed Jun. 25, 1987 (now abandoned) which was a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 06/936,835 filed Dec. 2, 1986 (now abandoned).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to anti-neoplastic and anti-psoriasis pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treatment and to insecticidal compositions and methods of controlling the growth of insects.
In recent years a great deal of attention has been focused on the polyamines, e.g., spermidine, norspermidine, homospermidine, 1,4-diaminobutane (putrescine), and spermine. These studies have been directed largely at the biological properties of the polyamines probably because of the role they play in proliferative processes. It was shown early on that the polyamine levels in dividing cells, e.g., cancer cells, are much higher than in resting cells. See Janne et al, A. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 473, 241 (1978); Fillingame et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72:4042 (1975); Metcalf et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 100:2551 (1978); Flink et al, Nature (London) 253:62 (1975); and Pegg et al, Polyamine Metabolism and Function, Am. J. Cell. Physiol. 243:212-221 (1982).
Several lines of evidence indicate that polyamines, particularly spermidine, are required for cell proliferation: (i) they are found in greater amounts in growing than in non-growing tissues; (ii) prokaryotic and eukaryotic routants deficient in polyamine biosynthesis are auxotrophic for polyamines; and (iii) inhibitors specific for polyamine biosynthesis also inhibit cell growth. Despite this evidence, the precise biological role of polyamines in cell proliferation is uncertain. It has been suggested that polyamines, by virtue of their charged nature under physiological conditions and their conformational flexibility, might serve to stabilize macromolecules such as nucleic acids by anion neutralization. See Dkystra et al, Science, 149:48 (1965); Russell et al, Polyamines as Biochemical Markers of Normal and Malignant Growth (Raven, N.Y., 1978); Hirschfield et al, J. Bacteriol., 101:725 (1970); Morris et al, ibid, p. 731; Whitney et al, ibid, 134:214 (1978); Hafner et al, J. Biol. Chem., 254:12419 (1979); Cohn et al, J. Bacteriol. 134:208 (1978); Pohjatipelto et al, Nature (London), 293:475 (1981); Mamont et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 81:58 ( 1978); Bloomfield et al, Polyamines in Biology and Medicine (D. R. Morris and L. J.. Morton, Eds.--Dekker, N.Y., 1981) pp. 183-205; Gosule et al, Nature, 259:333 (1976); Gabbay et al, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 171:810 (1970); Suwalsky et al, J. Mol. Biol., 42:363 (1969) and Liquori et al, J. Mol. Biol., 24:113 (1968).
However, regardless of the reason for increased polyamine levels the phenomenon can be and has been exploited in chemotherapy. See Sjoerdsma et al, Butterworths Int. Med. Rev.: Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 35:287 (1984); Israel et al, J. Med. Chem., 16:1 (1973); Morris et al, Polyamines in Biology and Medicine; Dekker, N.Y., p. 223 (1981) and Wang et al, Blochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 94:85 (1980).
It is an object of the present invention to provide novel anti-neoplastic, -viral and -retroviral compounds, pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treatment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing and other objects are realized by the present invention, one embodiment of which is a pharmaceutical composition comprising an anti-neoplastic, anti-viral, anti-retroviral or anti-psoriasis effective amount of a compound, having one of the formulae: ##STR1##
R.sub.1 --N.sup.1 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.2 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.3 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.4 --N.sup.4 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.5 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.6 H--R.sub.6 (II);
or ##STR2## Wherein: R.sub.1 and R.sub.6 may be the same or different and are H, alkyl or aralkyl having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms,
R 2 -R 5 may be the same or different and are H, R 1 or R 6 ;
R 7 is H, alkyl, aryl or aralkyl having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms;
m is an integer from 3 to 6, inclusive,
n is an integer from 3 to 6, inclusive; and
a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier therefor.
An additional embodiment of the invention comprises a method of treating a human or non-human animal in need of anti-neoplastic, anti-viral, anti-retroviral or anti-psoriasis therapy comprising administering to the animal an anti-neoplastic, anti-viral, anti-retroviral or anti-psoriasis effective amount of a compound having one of the above formulae.
A further embodiment of the invention comprises a compound having the formula: ##STR3## Wherein: R 1 -R 6 may be the same or different and are methyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, benzyl or β,β,β-trifluoroethyl;
m is an integer from 3 to 6, inclusive;
n is an integer from 3 to 6, inclusive.
A further embodiment of the invention comprises a compound having the formula:
R.sub.1 --N.sup.1 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.2 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --.sup.3 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.4 --N.sup.4 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.5 H--(CH.sub.2).sub.3 --N.sup.6 H--R.sub.6 (II);
Wherein: R 1 and R 6 may be the same or different and are alkyl or aralkyl having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms.
A final embodiment of the invention comprises a compound having the formula: ##STR4## Wherein: R 1 and R 6 may be the same or different and are alkyl or aralkyl having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms;
R 7 is H, alkyl, aralkyl or aryl having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms;
n is an integer from 3 to 6, inclusive.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In compounds of the invention, R 1 and R 6 are preferably methyl, ethyl, propyl, benzyl, etc., it being understood that the term "aralkyl" is intended to embrace any aromatic group the chemical and physical properties of which do not adversely affect the efficacy and safety of the compound for therapeutic applications. Preferred, however, are the hydrocarbyl aralkyl groups, i.e., comprised only of C and H atoms.
R 2 -R 5 preferably are H, methyl, ethyl, propyl or benzyl.
Compounds of formula (I) are preferably synthesized by first forming a sulfonamide of the polyamine at all of the amino nitrogens (1) to activate the primary amines for monoalkylation, and (2) to protect any secondary nitrogens from alkylation. Suitable sulfonating agents include alkyl, aryl and arylalkyl sulfonating agents of the general structure RSO 2 X wherein R is alkyl, aryl or arylalkyl and X is a leaving group, e.g., Cl - , Br - , etc. The sulfonation is accomplished by reacting the polyamine with 1.0 equivalent of sulfonating agent per nitrogen in the presence of a base, e.g., tertiary amine or a hydroxide. The reaction is best accomplished using aqueous sodium hydroxide as the base and p-toluenesulfonyl chloride (TsCl) as the sulfonating agent in a biphasic solvent system consisting of an organic solvent, e.g., methylene chloride and water. The sulfonating agent is added in methylene chloride Co an aqueous solution of the amine and sodium hydroxide and the reaction proceeds according to the following equation, using spermine as the base compound: ##STR5## Wherein: Ts=p-toluenesulfonyl.
After purification the sulfonamide is next alkylated. The alkylations involve formation of N-anions on the primary amino sulfonamides with a base such as NaH followed by reaction of the N-anion with an alkylating agent RX wherein R is as defined above and X is a leaving group such as I - , CI - , Br - , p--CH 3 C 6 H 4 SO 3 - , CH 3 SO 3 - .
The alkylation can be carried out in a variety of dipolar aprotic solvents, preferably, N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The reaction proceeds according to the following equation: ##STR6##
After alkylation of the sulfonamide, the sulfonyl protecting groups are next removed under reducing conditions. Although a variety of standard reducing conditions can be utilized (LiAlH 4 , Li/NH 3 , catalytic reduction), Na and NH 3 function optimally. The reduction proceeds according to the following equation: ##STR7##
The compounds are isolated as the free amines and then may be converted to and utilized as the corresponding hydrochloride salts by treatment with concentrated HCl. However, they may also be used as salts with any pharmaceutically acceptable acid, e.g., HBr, CH 3 CO 2 H, CH 3 SO 3 H, etc.
Compounds of formula (II) are preferably prepared by the mono-alkylation of tetratosyl spermine at each of the primary nitrogens by reagents such as N-alkyl-N-(3-chloropropyl)-p-toluenesulfonamide. Terminal alkylation of spermine is carried out using the conditions employed for preparing compound (I) according to the following scheme: ##STR8##
The alkylating agent is formed by treatment of N-alkyl-p-toluenesulfonamide with excess 1,3 dichloropropane under the aforementioned conditions according to the following scheme: ##STR9##
After purification of the dialkylated hexatosylated hexaamine, the sulfonyl protecting groups are removed reductively with sodium in liquid ammonia and THF as follows: ##STR10## The final product is isolated as the free amine and may be converted to the hydrochloride salt.
Compounds of formula (III) may be prepared by reacting a tetraamine of formula (I) in which R 2 -R 5 =H and R 1 ,R 6 =alkyl or aralkyl with two equivalents of an aldehyde R 7 CHO, wherein R 7 =H, alkyl or aralkyl.
Specifically, to N 1 ,N 4 -diethylspermine tetrahydrochloride is added aqueous NaOH and formalin (two equivalents) to generate the bis-hexahydropyrimidine as follows: ##STR11##
The invention is illustrated by the following non-limiting examples.
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation of N 1 ,N 4 -diethylspermine
N 1 ,N 2 ,N 3 ,N 4 -Tetra-p-tosylspermine
To spermine tetrahydrochloride (4.53 g, 13.0 mmol) and 10% aqueous NaOH (200 mL, 132 mmol) at 0° is added dropwise p-toluenesulfonyl chloride (9.98 g, 52.3 mmol) in CH 2 Cl 2 with rapid stirring. After 1 hr the mixture is allowed to warm to room temperature and to stir for 2 days. The organic phase is separated and washed with 0.5 N HCl, H 2 O, and brine, dried over Na 2 SO 4 and purified on silica gel (450 g, 3% MeOH/CHCl 3 ) to give 9.69 g, 91% yield of tetratosylspermine.
NMR (CDCl 3 ) δ 7.2-7.9 (m, 16H), 5.34 (t, 2H, J=7), 2.9-3.3 (m, 12H), 2.43 (s, 12H), 1.5-2.0 (m, 8H).
N 1 ,N 4 -Diethyl-N 1 ,N 2 ,N 3 ,N 4 -Tetra-p-tosylspermine
To the tetratosylspermine prepared above (1.75 g, 2.14 mmol) in dry DMF (12 mL) was cautiously added 80% sodium hydride (0.25 g, 8.33 mmol) and then ethyl iodide (1.0 mL, 12.5 mmol). After heating under nitrogen (10 h, 55° ), the mixture was quenched with ice water and extracted with chloroform (3 x). The organic phase was washed with 5% Na 2 SO 3 , 5% NaOH, 1N HCl, and water, then dried with Na 2 SO 4 . Removal of DMF by flash distillation and purification of the crude product on silica gel (4% EtOH/CHCl 3 ) produced 1.63 g (87%) of the desired product. NMR (CDCl 3 ) δ 7.2-7.8 (m, 16H), 3.03-3.3 (m, 16H), 2.43 (s, 12H), 1.5-2.1 (m, 8H), 1.08 (t, 6H, J=7). Anal. Calcd. for C 24 H 58 N 4 O 8 S 4 ; C, 57.64; H, 6.68; N, 6.40. Found: C, 57.69; H, 6.74; N, 6.20.
N 1 ,N 4 -diethylspermine (DES)
Into a solution of the N 1 ,N 4 -diethyl-N 1 ,N 2 ,N 3 ,N 4 -tetratosylspermine prepared above (2.78 g, 3.18 mmoles) in dry, distilled THF (200 mL) at -78° C. was condensed 300 mL NH 3 , using a dry ice condenser. Sodium spheres (3.0 g, 0.13 mol) were then added in small portions and the reaction mixture was stirred at -78° C. for 4 h. The reaction mixture was allowed to warm to room temperature overnight and the NH 3 boiled off. Diethyl ether was added to the mixture. Ethanol was then cautiously added, then H 2 O was added to finally quench the reaction. The solvents were evaporated and the product extracted with diethyl ether and then chloroform. The extracts were dried over Na 2 SO 4 , filtered and the extracts concentrated. The resultant liquid was distilled in a Kugelrohr apparatus (150° C., 0.1 mm). Concentrated hydrochloric acid was added to an ether/ethanol (1:1) solution of the distillate to form the hydrochloride salt, which was recrystallized from hot aqueous ethanol to give 790 mg (63%) DES. NMR (D 2 O) δ 1.4 (t, 6H); 1.9 (m, 4H); 2.25 (m, 4H); 3.25 (m, 16H); 4.80 (s, HOD, reference).
The following protocols were followed to determine the IC 50 values for DES against cultured L1210 cells, Daudi cells and HL-60 cells.
Cell Culture
Murine L1210 leukemia cells, human Burkitt lymphoma cells (Daudi) and human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60) were maintained in logarithmic growth as suspension cultures in RPMI-1640 medium containing 2% 4-(1-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid/3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid, 100 μM aminoguanidine, and 10% fetal bovine serum. Cells were grown in 25 sq cm tissue culture flasks in a total volume of 10 mL under a humidified 5% CO 2 atmosphere at 37° C.
The cells were treated while in logarithmic growth (L1210 cells 0.3×10 5 cells/mL; Daudi and HL-60 1×10 5 cells/mL) with the polyamine derivatives diluted in sterile water and filtered through a 0.2 micron filter immediately prior to use. Following a 48 h incubation with L1210 cells and a 72 h incubation with Daudi or HL-60 cells, L1210 cells were reseeded at 0.3×10 5 cells/mL, Daudi and HL-60 cells were reseeded at 1×10 5 cells/mL and all cells were incubated in the presence of the polyamine derivative for an additional 48 h or 72 h.
Cell samples at the indicated time periods were removed for counting. Cell number was determined by electronic particle counting and confirmed periodically with hemocytometer measurements. Cell viability was assessed by trypan blue dye exclusion.
The percentage of control growth was determined as follows: ##EQU1## The IC 50 is defined as the concentration of compound necessary to reduce cell growth to 50% of control growth.
The results are set forth in Tables 1 and 2.
TABLE 1______________________________________L1210 Cells 48 H IC.sub.50 96 H IC.sub.50______________________________________DES 10 μM 0.10 μM______________________________________
TABLE 2______________________________________Daudi Cells HL-60 Cells72 H IC.sub.50 144 H IC.sub.50 72 H IC.sub.50 144 H IC.sub.50______________________________________DES >40 μM 0.5 μM 10 μM 0.3 μM______________________________________
Animal Studies
The murine L1210 leukemia cells were maintained in DBA/2J mice. L1210 cells, from a single mouse which was injected i.p. with 10 6 cells 5 days earlier, were harvested and diluted with cold saline so that there were 10 5 or 10 6 cells in 0.25 cc. For each study, mice were injected i.p. with 10 6 L1210 cells or 10 5 L1210 cells (See Table 3) on day O. The polyamine analogues were diluted in sterile saline within 24 h of use and the unused portion stored at 5° C.
DES was administered by i.p. injection 15 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg every 8 h for 3 days (days 1-3), 4 days (days 1-4), or 6 days (days 1-6) (see Table 3).
Mice which were treated with saline injections served as controls.
The parameter used for treatment evaluation was mean survival time.
(Percent increased life span, % ILS). ##EQU2##
The murine Lewis lung carcinoma was maintained as s.c. tumor in C57B1/6 mice. The line was propagated every 14 days. A 2-4 mm fragment of s.c. donor tumor was implanted s.c. in the axillary region with a puncture in the inguinal region on day 0.
DES was administered by i.p. injection 20 mg/kg every 8 h for 5 days beginning on day 5 (days 5-9). Equal numbers of mice treated with saline injections served as controls. The parameter used for treatment evaluation was mean survival time (% ILS).
The parameters of the animal tests and results are set forth below in Tables 3 and 4.
TABLE 3__________________________________________________________________________Evaluation of DES in DBA/2JMale Mice with L1210 Leukemia (i.p.)DES Dosing Schedule No. Animals Day of Death Mean Survival SD % ILS__________________________________________________________________________1).sup.a 15 mg/kg q12 hr 6 14, 14, 14.5, 15, 14.9 ± 1.3 55 days 1-6 15, 17 Control 7 8.5, 9.5, 9.5, 9.5, 9.6 ± 0.5 0 10, 10, 102).sup.b 20 mg/kg q8 hr 4 13.5, 14, 14, 14.5 14.1 ± 0.5 57 days 1-3 Control 4 8.5, 8.5, 9, 10 9.0 ± 0.5 03).sup.b 20 mg/kg q8 hr 10 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16.7 ± 2.6 90 days 1-4 17, 18, 20, 21, 31 Control 9 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8.8 ± 0.4 0 9, 104).sup.a 15 mg/kg q8 hr 8 8, 20, 22.5, 24.5, 27.8 ± 19.5 302 days 1-6 28.5, 60.sup.d, 60.sup.d, 60.sup. d Control 6 8.5, 9.5, 10, 10, 10.5, 10.5 9.8 ± 0.7 0__________________________________________________________________________ .sup.a Mice injected with 10.sup.5 L1210 cells i.p. on day 0. .sup.b Mice injected with 10.sup.6 L1210 cells i.p. on day 0. .sup.c Death of animal not included in statistics . . . greater or less than Mean Survival 2 × (S.D). .sup.d Experiment ended at 60 days. Animal survival evaluated on this day however, these animals were alive with no sign of tumor.
TABLE 4______________________________________Evaluation of N.sup.1, N.sup.4 -Di-ethylspermine (DES) inC57B1/6J Male Mice with Lewis Lung Carcinoma (s.c.) Dose Survival Values (Days)Drug (mg/kg) Schedule Mean ± S.D. % ILS______________________________________DES 20 (i.p.) Every 8 h, 43.7 ± 7.1 24 days 5-9Control -- -- 35.2 ± 2.6 0(Saline)______________________________________
The foregoing test results unequivocally establish the effectiveness of the composition of the invention as an anti-neoplastic agent.
EXAMPLE 2
N-Ethyl-N-(3-chloropropyl)-p-toluenesulfonamide
To N-ethyl-p-toluenesulfonamide (5.01 g, 0.0251 mol ) in DMF (50 mL) in a dry flask is added sodium hydride (80% in oil, 0.93 g, 0.031 mol). After gas evolution subsides, 1,3-dichloropropane (22.48 g, 0.199 mol) is added. The mixture is heated at 53° C. for 10 h then cooled and poured into ice water (300 mL), which is extracted twice with ether. The combined extracts are washed with 1% sodium bisulfite, water (3x), and brine. Removal of solvent by rotary evaporation then Kugelrohr distillation gives crude product, which is chromatographed on silica gel (30% hexane/CHCl 3 ) to furnish 2.91 g product (42% ) NMR (CDCl 3 ) δ 1.15 (t, 3H), 1.9-2.2 (m, 2H), 2.44 (s, 3H), 3.11-3.35 (m, 4H), 3.6 (t, 2H), 7.3 (d, 2H), 7.74 (d, 2H).
3,7,11,16,20,24-Hexa(p-toluenesulfonyl)3,7,11,16,20,24-hexaazahexacosane
To tetra (p-toluenesulfonyl) spermine (1.82 g, 2.22 mmol) in dry DMF (10 mL) is added sodium hydride (80% in oil, 0.21 g, 7.0 mmol) and potassium iodide (53 mg, 0.32 mmol). After 30 minutes, N-ethyl-N(3-chloropropyl)-p-toluenesulfonamide (2.9 g, 10.5 mmol) in DMF (10 mL) is introduced and the mixture is stirred for 20 h at room temperature then heated at 40°-50° C. for 2 h. The cooled reaction mixture is poured into ice-cold 5% NaOH (100 mL), which is extracted with CHCl 3 (3x). A water wash, then solvent removal (rotovap then Kugelrohr distillation) yields crude hexatosylamide. Silica gel chromatography (1% EtOH/CHCl 3 ) affords 1.73 g of product (60%). NMR δ 6 1.08 (t, 6H), 1.45-2.10 (m, 12H), 2.34 (s, 18H), 2.96-3.37 (m, 24H), 7.2-7.8 (m, 24H).
1,20-Bis(N-ethylamino)-4,8,13,17-tetraazaeicosane
A solution of the preceding compound (0.79 g, 0.61 mmol) in distilled THF (45 mL) is added to a dry 500 mL 3-necked flask, equipped with a dry ice condenser and 2 stoppers. The solution is cooled to about -40° C., and ammonia gas (200 mL), after passing through NaOH, is condensed. Sodium spheres (0.99, 43 mmol), which are rinsed in hexane (2x) and cut in half, are added cautiously. After maintaining the cold temperature for 4-5 h, ammonia gas is allowed to evaporate under a stream of nitrogen. To the residue at 0° C. is carefully added excess, absolute ethanol, and the mixture is concentrated. Sodium hydroxide (10%, 15 mL) is then added, and extraction with chloroform (10×20 mL), while saturating the aqueous layer with salt, gives crude free amine. Bulb-to-bulb distillation, up to 160° C./0.005 mm, furnishes 0.216 g free hexaamine, which is dissolved in ethanol and treated with 0.5 mL concentrated HCl. After solvent removal, the solid is recrystallized from 17% aqueous ethanol (120 mL) and washed with cold, absolute EtOH (2×3 mL) to afford 0.131 g of crystalline product (35%). 300 MHz NMR (D 2 O) δ 1.31 (t, 6H), 1.74-1.84 (m, 4H), 2.05-2.19 (m, 8H), 3.07-3.25 (m, 24H). Anal. calcd. for C 20 H 54 Cl 6 N 6 : C, 40.62; H, 9.20; N 14.21. Found: C, 40.73; H, 9.22; N, 14.22.
EXAMPLE 3
Bis(3-ethyl-1-hexahydropyrimidyl)-1,4-butane
To N 1 , N 4 -diethylspermine·4HCl (36.1 mg, 0.0893 mmol) in 0.17 M NaOH (2.0 mL, 0.34 mmol) at 0° is added formalin (15 μL, 0.20 mmol). The solution is stirred at room temperature for 3 h, then 10% NaOH (4 mL) and brine (4 mL) are added. Extraction with CH 2 Cl 2 (4×25 mL) and drying the extracts with Na 2 SO 4 gives crude product. Column chromatography (silica gel, 2% concentrated NH 4 OH/CH 3 OH) furnishes 22 mg (88% yield) of the bis-hexahydropyrimidine. NMR (CDCl 3 ) δ 1.10 (t, 6H), 1.4-1.9 (m, 8H), 2.32-2.65 (m, 16H), 3.15 (s, 4H).
EXAMPLE 4
The IC 50 values for several compounds according to the invention were determined as in Example 1 and 2. The results are set forth in Table 5.
TABLE 5______________________________________L-1210 Cells [IC.sub.50 ]Compound 48 hrs. 96 hrs.______________________________________Formula I - R.sub.1 ═R.sub.6 = methyl 60% CG 0.75 μM m = 3 100 μM n = 4 R.sub.2 ═R.sub.3 ═R.sub.4 ═R.sub.5 = HFormula I - R.sub.1 ═R.sub.6 = propyl 3 μM 0.2 μM m = 3 n = 4 R.sub.2 ═R.sub.3 ═R.sub.4 ═R.sub.5 = HFormula I - R.sub.1 ═R.sub.2 ═R.sub.5 ═R.sub.6 80%thyl CG 5 μM R.sub.3 ═R.sub.4 = H 25 μM m = 3 n = 4Formula I - R.sub.1 ═R.sub.3 ═R.sub.4 ═R.sub.6 100thyl μM 3 μM R.sub.2 ═R.sub.5 = H m = 3 n = 4Formula II - R.sub.1 ═R.sub.6 = ethyl 50 μM 0.5 μM______________________________________
EXAMPLE 5
The % ILS value for various dosages of N 1 ,N 4 -diethylhomospermine were determined according to the procedure of Examples 1 and 2. The results are set forth in Table 6.
TABLE 6______________________________________L1210 i.p. Leukemia in DBA/2J female micegiven 10.sup.5 cells on day 0.Dosing #Ani- Day of Mean Survival + ILSNo. Schedule mals Death S.D. (days) (%)______________________________________1. 2.5 mg/kg 5 20.5, 32 31.5 ± 16.6 242q8 hr days 23, 22, 60.sup.a1-6 (i.p.)Control 9.2 + 0.32. 5 mg/kg 10 25, 9 × 60.sup.a 56.5 ± 11.1 524q8 hr days1-6 (i.p.)Control 9.1 ± 0.63. 10 mg/kg 6 31, 5 × 60.sup.a 55.2 + 11.8 441q12 hr days1-6 (i.p.)Control 10.2 + 1.14. 10 mg/kg 5 12, 17, 20.8 ± 6.1 115once daily 24, 24, 27days (1-6(i.p.)Control 9.3 ± 0.45. 15 mg/kg 5 21, 27, 45.6 ± 19.8 390once daily 3 × 60.sup. adays (i.p.)Control 9.3 + 0.3______________________________________ .sup.a Experiment ended at 60 days. Animal survival evaluated on this day however, these animals were alive with no sign of tumor.
Unexpectedly, and for reasons as not yet understood, the compounds of the invention have been found to be effective anti-viral, and most surprisingly, anti-retroviral agents.
The development of compounds useful for the prophylaxis and therapy of vital disease has presented more difficult problems than those encountered in the search for drugs effective in disorders produced by other microorganisms. This is primarily because, in contrast to most other infectious agents, viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that require the active participation of the metabolic processes of tile invaded cell. Thus, agents that may inhibit or cause the death of viruses are also very likely to injure the host cells that harbor them. Although the search for substances that might be of use in the management of viral infections has been long and intensive, very few agents have been found to have clinical applicability. Indeed, even these have exhibited very narrow activity, limited to one or only a few specific viruses.
The retroviruses have presented an even greater challenge due to their even more complex intracellular metabolic activity.
The following examples illustrate the utilization of the compounds of the present invention as anti-retrovirus agents.
EXAMPLE 6
Embryonic chicken fibroblasts were grown to near confluence in cell culture media. The fibroblasts were next exposed to avian sarcoma virus for five hours. The cells were next washed with buffer to remove excess virus. The virus infected cells were then treated with 10 μM or 100 μM, N 1 ,N 4 -diethylspermine, (DES), in culture media for 18 hours. The cell culture media was next removed and the cells were overlaid with soft agar growth media. The cells were then allowed to grow at 37° C. for 6-8 days. The culture plates were evaluated for foci (transformed cells) utilizing an inverted microscope. The results of these measurements are indicated below.
TABLE 7______________________________________NUMBER OF FOCI AT 6-DAYS 8-DAYS______________________________________CONTROL (ASV + FIBROBLASTS) 300 300ASV + FIBROBLASTS + 10 μM DES 20 300ASV + FIBROBLASTS + 100 μM DES 0 110______________________________________
In a second experiment the virus was first treated with DES at 10μM or 100μM for three hours and then added to the fibroblast monolayer for 18 hours at 37° C. The excess virus was then removed by washing and the monolayer overlaid with soft agar culture media. The plates were allowed to incubate at 37° C. for 8 days and the plates were examined for foci. The results are indicated as follows.
TABLE 8______________________________________ NUMBER OF FOCI AT 8 DAYS______________________________________ASV + FIBROBLASTS (CONTROL) 300ASV + FIBROBLASTS + 10 μM DES 200ASV + FIBROBLASTS + 100 μM DES 16______________________________________
Inasmuch as the compounds described herein are anti-proliferation agents, they are also useful as anti-psoriasis agents. The following example illustrates the transdermal penetration characteristics of the compounds of the invention.
EXAMPLE 7
Hairless mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and their skin removed. The skin was denuded of fatty tissue and stretched over a drug diffusion cell. The diffusion cell contained a phosphate receptor phase at pH 7.4. The donor phase contained the drug DES dissolved in glycine buffer at pH 8.0 at a concentration of 10 mg/mL. Samples of the receptor phase (3 mL) were taken at 48 hours. After each sample was withdrawn, an equal volume of fresh receptor phase was added back. The samples removed from the diffusion cell were assayed for polyamine utilizing a liquid chromatography-C-I18 reverse system. The samples were first acidified with perchloric acid and then reacted with dansyl chloride to produce the corresponding dansylated polyamines. The experiment revealed that DES did indeed cross the skin at the dermal barrier.
For each of the utilities mentioned herein, the amount required of active agent and the frequency of its administration will vary with the identity of the agent concerned and with the nature and severity of the condition being treated and is of course ultimately at the discretion of the physician or veterinarian. In general, however, a suitable dose of agent will lie in the range of about 1 mg to about 200 mg per kilogram mammal body weight being treated. Administration by the parenteral route (intravenously, intradermally, intraperitoneally, intramuscularly or subcutaneously is preferred for a period of time of from 1 to 20 days.
While it is possible for the agents to be administered as the raw substances it is preferable, in view of their potency, to present them as a pharmaceutical formulation. The formulations, both veterinary and for human use, of the present invention comprise the agent, together with one or more acceptable carriers therefor and optionally other therapeutic ingredients. The carrier(s) must be "acceptable" in the sense of being compatible with the other ingredients of the formulation and not deleterious to the recipient thereof. Desirably, the formulations should not include oxidizing agents and other substances with which the agents are known to be incompatible. The formulations may conveniently be presented in unit dosage form and may be prepared by any of the methods well known in the art of pharmacy. All methods include the step of bringing into association the agent with the carrier which constitutes one or more accessory ingredients. In general, the formulations are prepared by uniformly and intimately bringing into association the agent with the carrier(s) and then, if necessary, dividing the product into unit dosages thereof.
Formulations suitable for parenteral administration conveniently comprise sterile aqueous preparations of the agents which are preferably isotonic with the blood of the recipient. Suitable such carrier solutions include phosphate buffered saline, saline, water, lactated ringers or dextrose (5% in water). Such formulations may be conveniently prepared By admixing the agent with water to produce a solution or suspension which is filled into a sterile container and sealed against bacterial contamination. Preferably sterile materials are used under aseptic manufacturing conditions to avoid the need for terminal sterilization.
Such formulations may optionally contain one or more additional ingredients among which may be mentioned preservatives, such as methyl hydroxybenzoate, chlorocresol, metacresol, phenol and benzalkonium chloride. Such materials are of especial value when the formulations are presented in multi-dose containers.
Buffers may also be included to provide a suitable pH value for the formulation and suitable materials include sodium phosphate and acetate. Sodium chloride or glycerin may be used to render a formulation isotonic with the blood. If desired, the formulation may be filled into the containers under an inert atmosphere such as nitrogen or may contain an antioxidant, and are conveniently presented in unit dose or multidose form, for example, in a sealed ampoule.
It will be appreciated that while the agents described herein form acid addition salts and carboxy acid salts the biological activity thereof will reside in the agent itself. These salts may be used in human and in veterinary medicine and presented as pharmaceutical formulations in the manner and in the amounts (calculated as the base) described hereinabove, and it is then preferable that the acid moiety be pharmacologically and pharmaceutically acceptable to the recipient. Examples of such suitable acids include (a) mineral acids: hydrochloric, hydrobromic, phosphoric, metaphosphoric, and sulphuric acids; (b) organic acids: tartaric, acetic, citric, malic, lactic, fumaric, benzoic, glycollic, gluconic, gulonic, succinic and aryl-sulphonic, for example, p-toluenesulphonic acids.
Surprisingly, the compounds of the invention have also demonstrated insecticidal properties. The compounds have been found to be particularly effective against mosquitoes.
EXAMPLE 8
Mosquito eggs (1,000) were hatched at 25° C. in a cultured media consisting of well water (500 mL), baker's yeast (200 mg) and liver extract (300 mg). The eggs were maintained under these conditions for 4 to 5 days. The larvae were next transferred to test tubes containing 3 mL of culture media. Each test tube contained 10 mosquito larvae. In each experiment, 23 test tubes, each with 10 mosquitoes in it, served as controls. The cidal activity of each of the polyamine analogues against the mosquito larvae was tested at, 1, 3, 10, and 30 ppm. Each compound was tested at each concentration in triplicate again in test tubes containing 10 mosquito larvae in 3 mL of culture media, maintained at 25° C. The control and test larvae were examined for insect death at 24 and 48 hour intervals. Table 9 includes representative examples of the cidal activity of the polyamine analogues against mosquito larvae. The data is reported as the LD 50 values for each compound, i.e., the concentration of polyamine required to kill 50% of the larvae. Furthermore, the data is reported at 48 and 96 hours.
TABLE 9______________________________________Compound 48 Hr. LD.sub.50 96 Hr. LD.sub.50______________________________________N.sup.1, N.sup.4 -Diethyl spermine 2 ppm --N.sup.1, N.sup.4 -Diethyl homospermine 7 ppm 5 ppm______________________________________
The insecticidal compounds of the invention may be dissolved or dispersed in any suitable carrier medium adapted for spraying insecticides, e.g., water or other aqueous media and sprayed on an insect infested area or areas subject to potential infestation. The concentration of polyamines applied to an area would depend on the species of insect and its accessibility, however, solutions containing from 10 to 10,000 ppm per gallon broadcast over 100 ft 2 .
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The present invention realates to anti-neoplastic and anti-psoriasis pharmaceutical bis-hexahydropyrimidinylalkyl compounds, compositions and methods of treatment and to insecticidal compositions and methods of controlling the growth of insects.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to personal safety devices. More specifically, the invention relates to a walking cane employing integral personal safety equipment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Recent improvements in health care and general living standards have produced a population which is significantly older than previous generations. In addition, modern medical technology has enabled individuals who previously would have been seriously disabled, such as individuals suffering a broken hip to maintain a mobile, active lifestyle. New methods of treatment have also enabled those who otherwise would be confined to a wheelchair to walk with the aid of crutches, a cane, braces, etc. As a result, a broad spectrum of personal safety and mobility assisting devices are currently available for use by the aged or infirmed.
Walking canes augmented with various safety devices are a typical class of mobility augmenting products. Canes of this type may include light emitting devices which illuminate a path ahead of the user as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,625,742 to Phillips, 1,427,138 to Walicki et al., 2,173,624 to Dyer, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,172 to Parker.
Another category of personal safety devices include alarms which can be manually activated by the user to attract attention under exigent conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,901 to Lewis discloses a manually operable audible alarm combined with a flashlight. U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,080 to Divito et al. discloses an attachment for a walking cane which includes both an illuminating beam, and an audible alarm.
It has further been recognized that an individual injured by a fall, suffering angina, etc. may not be in a situation where an audible alarm will be heard by someone else. Devices have therefore been developed which broadcast a distress signal to a remote unit connected to a telephone. Upon actuation of the device, the remote unit executes a predetermined program and calls a sequence of telephone numbers with a prerecorded distress message. Linear, a Nortek Company, Carlsbad, Calif. manufactures such a device in the form of a pendant worn by the user. If the user experiences a disabling fall, or otherwise cannot reach the telephone, the user merely depresses a button on the pendant which signals the remote unit to start the automated telephoning sequence. Although the above devices appear in theory to adequately address safety issues concerning mobile yet otherwise infirmed individuals, serious problems are not addressed by these prior art devices.
Particular groups such as the elderly, individuals suffering from nervous system or muscular degenerative conditions often experience a lack of proprioception. Individuals afflicted with this condition lack the necessary internal feedback to determine by feel where their feet are in relation to the ground, steps, etc. These individuals must rely on their principal sense of visual depth perception to determine if their foot is positioned in a proper weight-bearing relationship with a support surface. To prevent an inadvertent fall, these individuals usually walk with a cane or other mobility assisting device such as a walker.
Prior art canes which illuminate the user's path significantly assist individuals suffering from a lack of proprioception. Nevertheless, these individuals invariably experience a disabling fall at one time or another. After a serious fall has occurred, walking canes having audible alarms such as that disclosed in the Divito et al. patent are helpful only if the user is able to reach the cane, trigger the alarm, and only if another individual is nearby to hear the alarm. Furthermore, the remote transmitting pendants such as the above-described Linear device suffer from a surprising drawback. As previously stated, individuals suffering from a lack proprioception are often elderly or otherwise infirmed. When these individuals fall, the results are often disastrous--a broken hip, ribs, head injuries, etc. These individuals may be unconscious, in extreme pain, disoriented, experiencing severe angina, partial paralysis or other conditions which prevent them from being able to manually actuate the transmitting device. As a result, these individuals suffer extreme discomfort, further medical complications or even death due to the lack of prompt emergency response.
Therefore, a need exists for a device which can provide the safety features heretofore known in the prior art, in addition to automatically summoning aid in the event of a disabling fall, or a fall which results in a disabling condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device which typically accompanies an ambulatory user and which provides safety features presently available in heretofore known safety devices.
It is another object of the present invention to achieve the above object while automatically summoning assistance in the event of a disabling fall.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an audible signal for the purpose of locating the device should it be dropped in an unlighted location.
It is another object of the present invention to optimize an illumination light pattern for either a right-handed or left-handed user.
It is another object of the present invention to achieve the above objects with a device which also summons help in the event of a disabling infirmity which results in a fall.
It is still another object of the present invention to apply the above objects and advantages in a reliable device which assist the user in preventing a fall if the user suffers from a lack of proprioception.
The invention achieves these and other objects and advantages which will become apparent from the description which follows by providing a walking aid which senses when a user has fallen and automatically summons assistance. The walking aid has circuitry which preferably provides the user with a predetermined time to retrieve the aid in the event that the fall is not disabling. If the walking aid is not returned to a normal, in-use orientation within the predetermined time, only then is help summoned by remote transmission. The walking aid can also provide an illuminated path for the user on demand. Circuitry is included to prevent the illuminating feature from being actuated if the ambient light levels are high to prevent inadvertent drainage of a battery power source.
In its preferred embodiment, the invention is in the form of a cane having a battery powered, light emitting device at its lower end. A light sensor prevents illumination of the light emitting device when the environment is bright. The cane also includes a tipping sensor which detects if the cane has been dropped from a vertical position which presumably indicates that the user has fallen down. An audible alarm will sound if the user does not pick up the cane and return it to a substantially upright position within a first predetermined period. If the cane is not returned to an upright position within this first time period, the alarm continues to sound, and a second, longer time period is initiated. If the cane is not returned to the upright position by the end of this second time period, the cane automatically broadcasts a triggering signal to an automated telephone device which dials a sequence of numbers in ascending order of urgency. For example, the first number dialed may be that of a friend. If that friend does not answer the call, the second number will be dialed which may be that of a relative. If the relative does not answer, the third number dialed may be that of an emergency service, hospital, etc.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an isometric, environmental view of a safety cane employing the features of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the cane.
FIG. 3 is a side elevational, partially cut-away view of the cane.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged, sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an ambient light sensing, logic circuit of the present invention.
FIG. 5a is a circuit diagram of a battery monitoring circuit of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a DC to AC converter circuit for illuminating a fluorescent lamp of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a time-delay alarm circuit of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A safety cane, in accordance with the principles of the invention, is generally indicated at reference numeral 10 in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. The cane is adapted to provide a user 12 with an enhanced degree of safety, mobility and security in an environment 14 in which the user enjoys an independent lifestyle. The cane provides a direct link with a telephone 16 even when the user is in a location remote therefrom. The cane further provides an illuminated pathway 18 which assists users suffering from a lack of proprioception if the user is ambulatory in a dark room or at night.
As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cane 10 has an upper, enlarged diameter section 20 which reciprocally receives a lower reduced diameter section 22. The upper section has a handle area 24 at one end, and an open end 26 distal thereto. The lower section 22 has a rubber capped, ground engaging tip 28 at one end and an open end 30 distal thereto to receive the various components that will be described hereinbelow.
A conventional, spring-loaded button mechanism 32 is connected to the lower section 22 and is adapted for engagement with any one of a series of apertures 34 in the upper section 20. The button mechanism is also engageable with either one of right-hand or left-hand apertures 36, 38 as shown in FIG. 4. The apertures 36, 38 are radially offset by approximately 72° to provide alternate left and right hand adjustment of the upper section 20 with respect to the lower section 22. This configuration optimizes an illumination pattern provided by a conventional four-watt fluorescent lamp 40 located behind a clear acrylic window 44 in the lower section 22. The lamp provides an illuminated pathway directed on center, towards the direction of motion established by the user 12 upon proper adjustment of the button mechanism 32.
The lamp 40 is activated by an alternate action push-button switch 50 conveniently located in the vicinity of the handle 24 for actuation by the user 12 when the ambient light conditions are low. The switch 50 also supports a low battery warning light emitting diode (LED) 56 which illuminates and thereby advises the user 12 if the battery power is below an appropriately predetermined minimum voltage. The fluorescent lamp 40 is powered by four "AA" type batteries 52 of the rechargeable type. 1.2 volt nickel cadmium rechargeable batteries are appropriate for this purpose. As will be described with reference to FIG. 6 herein below, a DC to AC converting circuit 53 is located on a printed circuit board 54 mounted in the upper section 20. This circuit converts the direct current of the batteries to alternating current for operating the fluorescent lamp 40.
To conserve battery power, the cane 10 is provided with an end cap 60 which supports a downwardly directed photosensitive resistor 62. The resistance is inversely proportional to the ambient light level. The resistor is used by a light measuring circuit 63 shown in FIG. 5 which measures the ambient light level and prevents illumination of the lamp 40 (and current drain from the batteries 52) if the ambient light conditions are above a selectable, predetermined level. The light measuring circuit 63 is located on a second printed circuit board 64 is supported by the end cap 60 and resides within the handle area 24. The end cap also supports two terminals 66, 67 which may be connected to a conventional battery charger to recharge the batteries 52. In FIG. 3, terminal 66 is illustrated on the left-hand side of the cane, whereas terminal 67 is located on the right-hand side of the cane and does not appear in the figure but otherwise is a mirror image of terminal 66.
FIG. 5 is a detailed schematic diagram of the ambient light sensitivity circuit generally indicated at reference numeral 63. The circuit is connected to the batteries 52 by the alternate action push button switch 50. The photo resistor 62 is connected in series to a 47KΩ resistor 72 to the voltage established by the series connection of the batteries 52. The junction 74 between the resistor 72 and photo resistor 62 is connected to an inverting input 76 of a complimentary metal oxide semiconductor operational amplifier 78. The non-inverting input 82 of this operational amplifier is connected to the junction 83 of a voltage divider formed by 100KΩ resistor 84 and a 2KΩ potentiometer 86. The normal voltage of the four, 1.2 volt "AA" cell batteries 52 is approximately 4.8 volts. The potentiometer 86 can therefore be adjusted to provide a reference voltage at the non-inverting input 82 which is representative of a dark room.
As the ambient light conditions surrounding the cane 10 increase (i.e., the room becomes brighter) the resistance of the photosensitive resistor 62 approaches zero. The inverting input 76 is therefore essentially grounded and is less than the reference voltage at the non-inverting input. Due to the negative feedback provided by 1MΩ resistor 88, the output 90 of operational amplifier 78 goes strongly positive. A voltage divider comprising 100KΩ resistor 91a and 47KΩ resistor 91b establishes a "low" voltage of 1.53 volts (indicative of a dark room) in the event that the output 90 is in a floating condition. Nevertheless, if the room is bright, the output is high. This high output resets a D-type flip-flop 92. The "set" input 94 of the flip-flop 92 is controlled by an operational amplifier 96 configured without feedback so as to behave as a comparator. A reference voltage of 2.4 volts is applied to the non-inverting input 98 by a pair of 100KΩ resistors 100, 102. This 2.4 volt input is compared to the strongly positive voltage of the output 90 of operational amplifier 78 forcing the output 104 strongly negative. With the reset of the flip-flop high and the set low, a conventional NPN transistor 112 cannot connect the battery voltage through the switch 50 to a DC/AC convertor 53 to power the lamp 40. As will be described hereinbelow, the lamp can therefore only be illuminated by operation of the switch 50 when the environment 14 is dark.
If the environment is dark, photo resistor 62 has a relatively high resistance which provides a voltage input to the inverting input 76 relatively close to the battery voltage. The non-inverting input 82 has been adjusted to a relatively low voltage causing the output 90 of operational amplifier 78 to go low, preventing the flip-flop 92 from being reset. This low signal is also applied to the inverting input of comparitor 96 which when compared to the 2.4 volts steadily applied to the non-inverting input 98, drives the output 104 high. With the flip-flop 92 having a high input on the set terminal 94 and also not having been reset, the base-emitter junction of transistor 112 is forward biased. Therefore, the transistor conducts, the inverter 53 is powered, and the lamp 40 will light when the switch 50 is closed. As previously stated, this feature conserves battery power by preventing inadvertent illumination of the lamp during the day, when the illuminated state may not be noticed by the user 12.
FIG. 5a shows a battery monitoring circuit 105 which illuminates the LED 56 in FIGS. 2 and 3 when the battery voltage falls below a nominal level. A 1KΩ resistor 113 is included in series with LED 56 in a feedback loop with battery sensor 113a. When the battery voltage drops below four volts, the sensor 113a provides a ground path for LED 56 thus illuminating the same. A suitable sensor 113a is model #5-8054ALB manufactured by Seiko, Japan.
The ambient light sensing circuit 63 and battery monitoring circuit 105 are is located on PC board 64 whereas the inverter circuit 53 is located on PC board 54, both of which are located in the upper section 20 of the cane. The inverter circuit 53 is connected to the batteries 52 and lamp 40 by an elongated cable (not shown).
A detailed schematic of the inverter circuit 53 is shown in FIG. 6. A conventional step-up transformer 115 having first and second primary windings 116, 117 inductively transfer voltages to a single secondary winding 118. An appropriate transformer is powder core Model H5A 4307 manufactured by TDK, Inc. The secondary winding has its terminals connected to the fluorescent lamp 40. A parallel resistive-capacitive circuit having a 620Ω resistor 119 and an 820pF capacitor 122 connect the high end of primary windings 116, 117 to the battery voltage 52. The low end of first primary winding 116 is connected in series with a 39Ω resistor 124 and 820pF capacitor 126 to ground. The junction of the resistor 124 and capacitor 126 is connected to the base of conventional PNP transistor 130. The collector of transistor 130 connects the low end of the second primary winding 117 to ground when the transistor is forward biased. This circuit provides current on secondary winding 118 of approximately 140 Hz with sufficient voltage to cause the lamp 40 to conduct and illuminate. Briefly stated, current first flows through resistor 119, first primary winding 116, resistor 124, and capacitor 126 to ground. As capacitor 126 charges through its very short time constant, the transistor 130 begins to conduct and also establishes a magnetic field in the second primary winding 117. Notice that this field lags in time and is opposed to the field established in first primary winding 116. Eventually, the voltage in secondary winding 118 is sufficiently large to illuminate the lamp 40 causing the magnetic field to discharge starting the cycle over again.
The illumination feature of the safety cane 10 is to assist users having reduced proprioception ability from falling. Nevertheless, in the event that a fall does occur, the cane is provided with a feature which automatically summons help if the user is unable to get up and return the cane to a vertical position. If the fall is disabling (or a disabling condition, i.e., angina, stroke, etc. occurs which precipitates a fall) the cane sounds an audible alarm after a seven-second delay.
If two minutes after a fall the cane has not been returned to a vertical position, the cane transmits a signal to an external receiver 120 shown in FIG. 1 which dials one or more emergency telephone numbers on telephone 16. If the user retrieves the cane before this second approximate two-minute time period has elapsed, the alarm is silenced and the cane does not broadcast a distress signal to the receiver 120.
To this end, the cane employs an inclination detection circuit generally indicated at reference numeral 132 in FIG. 7 which is also placed on first PC board 54. The circuit includes a conventional mercury switch 132 which is connected to the battery voltage 52 and first and second 555 type integrated circuit timers 136, 138. These timers can be implemented in a single model ICM 7556 CMOS twin general purpose timer manufactured by Maxim Integrated Products.
In its normally upright position, the mercury switch 132 is open and does not initiate the timers. However, when the user 12 falls, drops the cane, etc. the mercury switch closes providing a negative trigger through 100KΩ resistor 140 and 0.01F capacitor 142 to the triggering input 144 of the first timer. This causes the output 146 to go high for the duration of the timing period defined by 1.1 times the 9.3 second time constant of the RC circuit defined by 620KΩ resistor 148 and 15μF capacitor 150. This high signal is applied to a NAND gate 152 configured as an inverter. The input to NAND gate (inverter) 152 is normally held high by 0.1F capacitor 154. Thus, when the mercury switch 134 is closed by dropping the cane, the entire circuit 132 is energized with battery voltage and the output 156 of NAND gate 152 stays low for the approximate eight-second duration (i.e., first time period) for the first timer 136. After this first time period expires, the output 146 goes low, driving output 156 high which forward biases the base emitter junction of conventional PNP transistor 158. The transistor therefor conducts the battery voltage to an audible alarm 160 provided in the end cap 60 as shown in FIG. 6. The alarm can also be manually activated by a momentary, push-button switch 162 also located on the end cap 60.
While the alarm 160 continues to sound after the first timer 136 is timed out, the second timer 138 receives a negative pulse transition at its triggering input 164. This causes the output 166 to be driven high for the duration of a second timing period established by the 93-second time constant of 6.2MΩ resistor 168 and 15μM capacitor 170. This high output is fed through NAND gate 174, having its inputs connected together so as to comprise an output buffer. As long as the cane remains tipped over and the mercury switch 134 closed, the second timer 138 will continue to output a high signal through NAND gate 174 until the second time period has expired. A transmitter 178 powered by the battery voltage 174 is then enabled by the positive going transition of the output 166 when the second time period is completed. A suitable transmitter is Model ET-1B manufactured by Linear, a Nortek Company, Carlsbad, Calif. The transmitter transmits through an antenna 178 (located in the handle area 24 shown in FIG. 3) to an external receiver 120 as shown in FIG. 1. A suitable external receiver is Model D-UR also manufactured by Linear.
If the cane is returned to the vertical position before the end of the second time period, mercury switch 134 opens and the transmitter 178 does not receive the initiating signal from the second timer. In addition, the entire circuit is depowered in which case the transmitter 178 is incapable of transmitting. The cane will therefore only initiate a telephone calling sequence if the user is unable to return the cane to a vertical position within approximately two minutes of falling down or dropping the cane. These time periods can be conveniently adjusted by changing the RC time constant of resistor capacitor pair 148, 150 and/or 168, 170 in a manner well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
It is to be noted that all of the electrical components implemented in printed circuit boards 54, 64 are contained in the upper section 20 of the cane in contrast to the design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,742 to Phillips which locates a fluorescent lamp transformer in the lower, telescoping section of a cane.
It is to be noted that other embodiments and variations of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and are contemplated by the inventors. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above disclosure but determined in scope by the claims which follow.
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A safety cane incorporates an ambient light sensitive illumination device for conserving battery power. A tipping detector is also incorporated which sounds an audible alarm after a first time delay. If the cane is not retrieved by the end of the second time delay, the cane broadcasts an initiating instruction to a telephone dialing device.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-236116, filed Aug. 31, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One embodiment of the invention relates to a semiconductor apparatus comprising a memory, and more particularly to a semiconductor apparatus having an incorporated self-test and a method of testing a failure analysis of the memory through the incorporated self-test.
The number of memories to be loaded onto a system large scale integrated circuit (LSI) reaches several tens to several hundreds, and most of the memories have been tested by an incorporated self-test (BIST: Built in Self Test) Irrespective of the presence of the BIST, there is no change in a flow in which the failure is analyzed to investigate the cause of the failure and a countermeasure is taken when a failure is found in the memory. A fail bit map (FBM) is the most effective for the failure analysis of the memory.
In the case in which access is directly given to the memory by using a normal memory tester to carry out a test, an FBM acquirement is very easy. The same address space as a memory to be measured is mapped into a failure analyzing memory in the tester and a result of the test for each cell is stored in the failure analyzing memory synchronously with the test. A general memory tester has the mapping function standardly.
On the other hand, the FBM acquirement of the memory subjected to the BIST is very complicated. In a test mode using the normal BIST, an output of the memory is compared with an expected value in a BIST circuit and only a result thereof is output to an external pin.
For example, in a basic operation in the test mode through the BIST, an address signal, a memory control signal and write data are input from the BIST circuit to each of a plurality of memory circuits, and writing and reading operations are carried out for the memory of the memory circuit. Data read from the memory are input to a comparator via a data register in the memory circuit and are compared with the expected value output from the BIST circuit. In the BIST circuit, a logical sum of the comparison results of the memories is output as a test result.
For the FBM acquirement, it is necessary to know an address of a memory cell having a failure. Even if a result of quality of the memory can be acquired in an operation in the test mode of the memory BIST, however, it is impossible to acquire an address of a defective cell. In order to obtain the address of the defective cell, a BIST having a failure analyzing mode is present in addition to a normal test mode.
In a general failure analyzing mode, failure analysis data read from the memory are output to the external pin through a shift chain path. For example, failure analysis data corresponding to one address which are read from the cell of the memory are once stored in the data register. The data register of each memory circuit is connected like a shift register through the shift chain path, and the failure analysis data are successively output from the BIST circuit to an external output pin through a shift-out operation. By comparing output data with the expected value over the tester, it is possible to detect the failure. An address of a defective cell is led from a failure detecting step, and an FBM is created to carry out the failure analysis for the memory. A relationship between the failure detecting step and the defective address can be obtained from a size of the memory to be measured and a test specification of the BIST.
In a general failure analyzing mode, a timing chart including a shift-out step after the reading step is used. Therefore, it is possible to output the failure analysis data on the memory to an outside and to acquire the FBM of the memory subjected to the BIST. However, the shift-out operation for the failure analysis data read after the failure analysis data are read from the memory is carried out. Therefore, an operation for carrying out write to the memory cannot be immediately started and it is impossible to give continuous access to the memory. For this reason, the memory is not tested at an actual specification frequency.
The cause of the failure of the memory is not restricted to a physical open/short circuit. For example, a failure caused by a parasitic capacitance or a parasitic resistance can be detected by only a high-speed test in many cases. Accordingly, it is necessary to test the memory at the actual specification frequency.
There has been proposed a failure analyzing mode for testing a memory at an actual specification speed by using a BIST (for example, see Patent Documents JP-A-2002-298598 and JP-A-2004-86996). In the failure analyzing mode which has been proposed, failure analysis data output at a high speed are stored in a memory for an FBM which is provided separately from or provided in a semiconductor apparatus in order to hold a test result. After the end of the test, the failure analysis data which are stored are processed by a low-speed tester to create the FBM. In the Patent Document JP-A-2002-298598, however, the failure analysis data which are read are successively output to the memory for the FBM. For this reason, it is impossible to carry out the write to the memory immediately after the reading operation. In the Patent Document JP-A-2004-86996, when a defective bit is detected, an operation for reading a next address is stopped for a certain clock number period. Even if the memory is tested by using a clock having an actual specification in the failure analyzing mode, accordingly, an actual memory test is partially interrupted. In the failure analyzing mode, therefore, it is hard to output the failure analysis data while testing the memory at the actual specification frequency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One of objects of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor apparatus capable of outputting failure analysis test data while testing a memory at an actual specification frequency through a BIST, and a testing method.
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a semiconductor apparatus comprising: a plurality of memory circuits each including a memory and an input/output selector, the memory having a plurality of memory cells and a plurality of input/output circuits respectively corresponding to the memory cells; and an incorporated self-test circuit that executes a quality test for the memory, wherein the input/output selector selects one of the input/output circuits and successively outputs data signals to the incorporated self-test circuit, the data signals read by the one of the input/output circuits from the corresponding memory cells.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.
FIG. 1 is an exemplary schematic diagram showing an example of a structure of a semiconductor apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a timing chart for a quality test of the semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is an exemplary schematic diagram showing an example of a structure of a tester for executing a failure analysis for the semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is an exemplary schematic diagram showing an example of a structure of a memory selector according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is an exemplary schematic diagram showing an example of a structure of an I/O selector according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram for explaining the selection of a memory and an I/O circuit in the failure analysis for the semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a timing chart of the failure analysis for the semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram showing an example of a timing chart of a memory test in the failure analysis for the semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart showing an example of a method of testing a semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 10 is an exemplary schematic diagram showing an example of a structure of a semiconductor apparatus according to a first variant of the embodiment of the invention, and
FIG. 11 is an exemplary schematic diagram showing an example of a structure of a semiconductor apparatus according to a second variant of the embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
With reference to the drawings, an embodiment according to the invention will be described below. In the description of the following drawings, the same or similar portions have the same or similar reference numerals. Attention is to be paid to the fact that the drawings are typical and structures of an apparatus and a system are different from actual ones. Accordingly, specific structures are to be decided in consideration of the following description. Moreover, it is a matter of course that portions having different structures from each other are included in the mutual drawings.
A semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention comprises a BIST circuit 10 , and a plurality of memory circuits 30 a , 30 b , . . . , 30 n as shown in FIG. 1 . Input pins 21 and 22 and an output pin 24 are provided as external connecting terminals of an external device such as a tester and the BIS circuit 10 . The BIST circuit 10 includes a memory selector 12 , a logical sum (OR) circuit 14 , flip-flops (FFs) 16 and 18 , and a multiplexer 20 . The memory circuits 30 a to 30 n include memories 32 a , 32 b , . . . , 32 n , data registers 34 a , 34 b , . . . , 34 n , comparators 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n , and input/output (I/O) selectors 38 a , 38 b , . . . , 38 n , respectively. Each of the memories 32 a to 32 n includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells, and a plurality of input/output (I/O) circuits capable of giving access to the respective memory cells, which is not shown in FIG. 1 . Each of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n is connected to the I/O circuit of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n , and the I/O circuits are successively selected and data signals read from the respective memory cells are successively output through the target I/O circuit which is selected. The memory selector 12 has an input node connected to each of output nodes of the input/output selectors 38 a to 38 n , a target memory is selected from the memories 32 a to 32 n , and a data signal input from the I/O selector of the memory circuit including the target memory is successively output to the output pin 24 through the FF 16 and the multiplexer 20 .
The data registers 34 a to 34 n are connected to rear stages of the memories 32 a to 32 n of the memory circuits 30 a to 30 n , respectively. The comparators 36 a to 36 n and the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected in parallel with each other in the respective rear stages of the data registers 34 a to 34 n . Corresponding to a plurality of I/O circuits of the memories 32 a to 32 n which are not shown in FIG. 1 , the memories 32 a to 32 n and the data registers 34 a to 34 n , and the data registers 34 a to 34 n and the comparators 36 a to 36 n and I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected in parallel through a plurality of wirings.
Respective outputs of the comparators 36 a to 36 n are connected to a plurality of input nodes of the OR circuit 14 in the BIST circuit 10 in parallel. An output node of the OR circuit 14 is connected to an input node of the FF 18 . An output node of the FF 18 is connected to one of input nodes of the multiplexer 20 .
Respective output nodes of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected to a plurality of input nodes of the memory selector 12 in the BIST circuit 10 in parallel. An output node of the memory selector 12 is connected to an input node of the FF 16 . An output node of the FF 16 is connected to the other input node of the multiplexer 20 .
The input pin 21 of the semiconductor apparatus is connected to the BIST circuit 10 . The input pin 22 is connected to the memory selector 12 . The output pin 24 is connected to the output of the multiplexer 20 . There is provided a shift chain path 26 for successively carrying out a series connection via the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n from the memory selector 12 .
In a quality test mode through the BIST, the comparators 36 a to 36 n , the OR circuit 14 and the FF 18 are used. For example, a control signal, an address signal and a data signal which are generated by a timing generator and a pattern generator (not shown) which are provided in the BIST circuit 10 are input to the respective memory circuits 30 a to 30 n . Based on the control signal and the address signal, operations for writing and reading the data signal are carried out for the respective memory cells of the memories 32 a to 32 n.
For example, as shown in FIG. 2 , writing and reading operations are carried out for a memory cell in an address i synchronously with a reference clock having an actual specification frequency. First of all, an initial value is read in a step R 1 . Next, a data signal is written in a step W. Then, the data signal in a step R 2 is read. The initial value and the data value which are read in the reading steps R 1 and R 2 for the address i are stored in each of the data registers 34 a to 34 n and are thus stored therein. As a result, a delay is carried out by one clock cycle from the times of the steps R 1 , W and R 2 in the address i and register values D 1 i and D 2 i are stored in each of the data registers 34 a to 34 n with an empty value interposed therebetween.
By setting three steps including the steps R 1 , W and R 2 as one test cycle, the test cycle is repeated by the number of addresses assigned to each of the memories 32 a to 32 n . For example, during the writing and reading operations for memory cells in addresses i to (i+2), data signals read from the respective memory cells are stored in the data registers 34 a to 34 n synchronously with the steps R 1 and R 2 so as to be delayed by one clock cycle as register values D 2 (i−1), D 1 i , D 2 i , D 1 (i+1), D 2 (i+1) and D 1 (i+2).
Thus, the data read from the respective memory cells stored in the data registers 34 a to 34 n are input to the comparators 36 a to 36 n , respectively. In each of the comparators 36 a to 36 n , a pattern of the input data is compared with an expected value output from the pattern generator of the BIST circuit. A result of the comparison is input to the OR circuit 14 . A logical sum of the results of the comparison which are sent from the comparators 36 a to 36 n is calculated in the OR circuit 14 , and quality (pass/fail) deciding signals of the memories 32 a to 32 n are output to the output pin 24 via the FF 18 .
As described above, in the quality test mode, it is possible to decide the quality of the memories 32 a to 32 n at the actual specification frequency. However, it is impossible to specify an address of the defective memory cell. Therefore, it is hard to acquire an effective FBM for the failure analysis of the memories 32 a to 32 n.
On the other hand, in the failure analyzing mode for acquiring the FBM, the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n , the memory selector 12 and the FF 16 are used. As shown in FIG. 3 , moreover, a tester 40 is connected to the semiconductor apparatus through the input pins 21 and 22 and the output pin 24 when the failure analysis for the memories 32 a to 32 n is to be executed.
The tester 40 includes a timing generator 42 , a pattern generator 44 , a driver 46 , a failure analyzing memory 48 , a comparator 50 , a main processor 52 , a pattern data memory 54 , and an FBM memory 56 . The timing generator 42 and the pattern generator 44 are connected to the input pins 21 and 22 through the driver 46 , respectively. The pattern generator 44 connected to the pattern data memory 54 is connected to the failure analyzing memory 48 and the comparator 50 . The comparator 50 connected to the failure analyzing memory 48 is connected to the output pin 24 . The main processor 52 connected to the FBM memory 56 is connected to the failure analyzing memory 48 .
The pattern generator 44 of the tester 40 uses pattern data information about a control signal, an address signal, a data signal and an input selecting signal which are stored in the pattern data memory 54 to generate pattern data on test signals and pattern data on the selecting signal. The timing generator 42 generates a timing for synchronizing the test signal with the selecting signal. The respective pattern data on the test signal and the selecting signal are output to the input pins 21 and 22 through the driver 46 .
The comparator 50 compares the test data output from the BIST circuit 10 through the output pin 24 with an expected value acquired from the pattern generator 44 . A result of the comparison is stored in the failure analyzing memory 48 .
The main processor 52 creates an FBM of a memory to be a failure analyzing target and stores the FBM in the FBM memory 56 based on the result of the comparison which are stored in the failure analyzing memory 48 and the pattern data which are stored in the pattern data memory 54 .
As shown in FIG. 4 , the memory selector 12 is a decoder including a plurality of input nodes ( 1 ), ( 2 ), . . . , (n), a memory setting circuit 66 , a plurality of logical product (AND) circuits 62 a , 62 b , . . . , 62 n , and an OR circuit 64 . The memory setting circuit 66 has a plurality of FFs 60 a , 60 b , 60 n . Although a digital type decoder is used in the embodiment, an analog type decoder may be used. Output nodes of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected to the input nodes ( 1 ) to (n), respectively. The respective FFs 60 a to 60 n are connected in series to each other like a shift register through the shift chain path 26 connected to the input pin 22 . The input nodes ( 1 ) to (n) and output nodes of the FFs 60 a to 60 n are connected to input nodes of the AND circuits 62 a to 62 n , respectively. Respective output nodes of the AND circuits 62 a to 62 n are connected in parallel with a plurality of input nodes of the OR circuit 64 , respectively.
FIG. 5 is a diagram in which one of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n illustrated in FIG. 1 is selected to be typical and is shown as an I/O selector 38 . As shown in FIG. 5 , the I/O selector 38 is a decoder including a plurality of input nodes ( 1 ) , ( 2 ), . . . , (m), an I/O setting circuit 76 , a plurality of AND circuits 72 a , 72 b , . . . , 72 m , and an OR circuit 74 . The I/O setting circuit 76 has a plurality of FFs 70 a , 70 b , . . . , 70 m . Although a digital type decoder is used in the embodiment, an analog type decoder may be used output nodes of the data registers 34 a to 34 n are connected to the input nodes ( 1 ) to (n), respectively. The respective FFs 70 a to 70 m are connected in series to each other like a shift register through the shift chain path 26 connected to the input pin 22 . The input nodes ( 1 ) to (m) and output nodes of the FFs 70 a to 70 m are connected to input nodes of the AND circuits 72 a to 72 m , respectively. Respective output nodes of the AND circuits 72 a to 72 m are connected in parallel with a plurality of input nodes of the OR circuit 74 , respectively.
As shown in FIG. 6 , the memories 32 a to 32 n are provided with a plurality of I/O circuits 80 a , 80 b , . . . , 80 m capable of giving access to a plurality of memory cells 132 of memory cell arrays 33 a , 33 b , . . . , 33 n respectively. Output nodes of the data registers 34 a to 34 n corresponding to the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n are connected to the input nodes ( 1 ) to (m) of each of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n , respectively. The FFs 70 a to 70 m are connected in series like a shift register through the shift chain path 26 , respectively.
The memory setting circuit 66 of the memory selector 12 and I/O setting circuits 76 a , 76 b , . . . , 76 n of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected in series like a shift register through the shift chain path 26 as shown in FIG. 6 . Based on pattern data on selecting signals to be input from the input pin 22 to the memory setting circuit 66 and each of the I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n , a target memory and a target I/O circuit are selected from the memories 32 a to 32 n and the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n . For example, in the case in which the memory 32 a and the I/O circuit 80 a are selected as the target memory and the target I/O circuit, the states of the FF 60 a of the memory selector 12 and the FF 70 a of the I/O selector 38 a are set to be “1” and the states of the FFs of the memories 32 b to 32 m and the I/O circuits 80 b to 80 m which are not selected are set to be “0”. Accordingly, the pattern data on the selecting signal in this case are “10 . . . 010 . . . 010 . . . 0 . . . 10 . . . 0”.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7 , the pattern data on the selecting signal are successively shifted in (Si) from the input pin 22 to the FFs 60 a to 60 n of the memory selector 12 , and furthermore, the FFs 70 a to 70 m of each of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n via the shift chain path 26 in an input selecting operation. When a selecting signal is set to the memory setting circuit 66 of the memory selector 12 and each of the I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n so that the target memory and the target I/O circuit are selected, the pattern data on the test signal are input from the input pin 21 to the BIST circuit 10 . The BIST circuit 10 successively executes a memory test for the memory cells 132 in addresses 0 , 1 , . . . , k to which access is given from the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memory cell arrays 33 a to 33 n based on the pattern data on the test signal.
In the same manner as in the quality test mode, the memory test is repeated for the addresses 0 to k of the memory cells 132 to which access can be given from each of the I/o circuits of the memories 32 a to 32 n by setting three steps having the steps R 1 , W and R 2 as one test cycle. For example, as shown in FIG. 8 , test data values read in the memory cell 132 in each of the addresses are stored as register values D 2 (i−1), D 1 i , D 2 i , D 1 (i+1) , D 2 (i+1), and D 1 (i+2) in the data registers 34 a to 34 n synchronously with the steps R 1 and R 2 so as to be delayed by one clock cycle through the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m during the memory test operation for the memory cells 132 in the addresses i to (i+2). The respective register values of the data registers 34 a to 34 n corresponding to the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m are input values of the input nodes ( 1 ) to (m) of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n.
For simplicity, description will be given with reference to the I/O selector 38 shown in FIG. 5 on the assumption that the I/O selector 38 a is set to be a target I/O selector and the I/O circuit 80 a is set to be a target I/O circuit. The I/O selector 38 a sets the respective outputs of the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of the target memory to be the inputs of the input nodes ( 1 ) to (m). A state of the FF 70 a connected to the AND circuit 72 a in which the output of the target I/O circuit is set to be the input is “1” and a state of the other FFs 70 b to 70 m is “0”. In the AND circuit 72 a , accordingly, an input value of the input node ( 1 ) is exactly output. On the other hand, in the AND circuits 72 b to 72 m , “0” is output. In the OR circuit 74 for inputting the outputs of the AND circuits 72 a to 72 m , an input value of the AND circuit 72 a , that is, a data value of the memory cell 132 read from the target I/O circuit is output.
The memory selector 12 sets the respective outputs of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n to be input values of the input nodes ( 1 ) to (n). For example, in FIG. 6 , the I/O selector 38 a is set to be a target I/O selector. A state of the FF 60 a connected to the AND circuit 62 a for inputting the output of the I/O selector 38 a in the FFs 60 a to 60 n shown in FIG. 4 is “1” and a state of the other FFs 60 b to 60 n is “0”. In the AND circuit 62 a , accordingly, the input value of the input node ( 1 ) is exactly output. On the other hand, in the AND circuits 62 b to 62 n , “0” is output. In the OR circuit 64 for inputting the outputs of the AND circuits 62 a to 62 n , an input value of the AND circuit 62 a , that is, a data value of the memory cell 132 read from the target I/O circuit is output to the FF 16 shown in FIG. 1 .
For example, as shown in FIG. 8 , the test data values D 2 (i−1) , D 1 i , D 2 i , D 1 (i+1) , D 2 (i+1) and D 1 (i+2) which are stored in the data registers 34 a to 34 n are output as the BIST outputs from the output pin 24 to the comparator 50 of the tester 40 during the memory test operation for the memory cell 132 in each of the addresses i to (i+2).
As shown in FIG. 7 , a data output operation is carried out with a delay of two clock cycles during the memory test operation. In order to BIST output data output from the last address k of the target I/O circuit, therefore, a data output operation in two shift-out (So) clock cycles is required.
In a semiconductor apparatus including an existing BIST circuit, a plurality of data registers for once storing a test data signal read from a memory cell is connected like a shift register through a shift chain path. The test data signals stored in the respective data registers are successively output as the BIST outputs from the output pin by the shift-out operation. Accordingly, the memory test is interrupted until all of the data signals stored in the data registers are shifted out. In the failure analyzing mode of the semiconductor apparatus including the existing BIST circuit, thus, it is impossible to carry out the memory test at an actual specification frequency.
In the case in which the test data signals read from the respective memories are directly output to the output pin to carry out the failure analysis, moreover, output pins corresponding to the number of the memories are required. However, the number of external pins of the semiconductor apparatus which are to be assigned for the failure analysis is limited. Therefore, it is not preferable that the output pin should be provided in each of the memories.
In the semiconductor apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention, the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are disposed in the rear stage of the data registers 34 a to 34 n . Moreover, the memory selector 12 is disposed in the rear stage of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n . The I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n can successively select and output, every bit, the data signals read from the respective addresses of the memory cells 132 to which access is given from the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of the memories 32 a to 32 n . Moreover, the memory selector 12 can select one of the memories 32 a to 32 n . As a result, the test data signal of the target I/O circuit of the target memory which is read in each cycle of the memory test can be output from one output pin 24 to the outside. According to the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the embodiment, thus, it is possible to output the failure analysis data while testing the memory through the BIST at the actual specification frequency.
In order to read the test data of all of the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m in the target memory, the memory test is successively executed for each of the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m . In the case in which the memory test is executed for all of the memories 32 a to 32 n , furthermore, the memory test is executed in such a manner that data of the memory cells 132 are output for all of the memories 32 a to 32 n with a successive change in the setting of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n and the memory selector 12 . Thus, the respective read data signals of the memories 32 a to 32 n can be output from one output pin 24 to the outside synchronously with the actual specification frequencies of the memories 32 a to 32 n.
Moreover, the memory selector 12 and each of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected to each other in series like a shift register through the shift chain path 26 . By shifting in a selecting signal from one input pin 22 , accordingly, it is possible to successively change the setting of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n and the memory selector 12 .
Next, the test method according to the embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 9 . In FIG. 9 , description will be given to a method of testing one target memory. In the case in which a plurality of memories to be failure analyzing objects is provided, it is preferable that a processing in FIG. 9 should be executed for each of the target memories.
Referring to a target memory in the memories 32 a to 32 n shown in FIG. 6 , a target I/O circuit, for example, the I/O circuit 80 a is set from the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m at a step S 100 . An I/O circuit number j (j is an integer of 1 to m) is set to be one.
At a step S 101 , pattern data on a selecting signal which are generated by the pattern generator 44 of the tester 40 are shifted in the shift chain path 26 for connecting the memory selector 12 and the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n in series through the input pin 22 . For example, the memory 32 a is selected as a target memory by the memory selector 12 , and the I/O circuit 80 a is selected as a target I/O circuit by the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n.
At a step S 102 , pattern data on a test signal which are generated by the pattern generator 44 are input to the BIST circuit 10 through the input pin 21 so that a memory test is executed synchronizing with the test signal.
At a step S 103 , test data signals in the respective addresses of the I/O circuit 80 a of the memory 32 a are successively output through the output pin 24 from the BIST circuit 10 via the I/O selector 38 a and the memory selector 12 .
At a step S 104 , the test data signal is compared with an expected value created in the pattern generator 44 by the comparator 50 .
At a step S 105 , a result of the comparison of the comparator 50 is stored in the failure analyzing memory 48 .
At a step S 106 , an FBM of a memory to be a failure analyzing target is created based on the result of the comparison which is stored in the failure analyzing memory 48 and the pattern data which are stored in the pattern data memory 54 through the main processor 52 . The FBM thus created is stored in the FBM memory 56 .
At a step S 107 , an I/O circuit number j is incremented. The processings of the steps S 101 to S 106 are repetitively executed until the I/O circuit number j reaches m.
In the testing method according to the embodiment of the invention, in the target I/O circuit to be the target memory, it is possible to successively output the read test data signal while executing the memory test at the actual specification frequency for each of the addresses. Moreover, the respective test data signals of the addresses are output from the BIST circuit 10 through one output pin. Furthermore, it is possible to decide an address of a defective bit by using the result of the comparison and the pattern data which are stored in the failure analyzing memory 48 on the test input signal which are stored in the pattern data memory 54 .
According to the testing method in accordance with the embodiment of the invention, it is possible to output the failure analysis data while testing the memory at the actual specification frequency through the BIST.
In the embodiment and the testing method according to the embodiment, it is described that a plurality of memories are subjected to the failure analyzing performed by the BIST circuit, but the number of memory may be one. Also, each of the target memories can be activated individually to be subjected to the failure analyzing. In this case, the memory selector may be omitted from the BIST circuit.
(First Variant)
A semiconductor apparatus according to a first variant of the embodiment in accordance with the invention comprises a BIST circuit 10 having an OR circuit 90 as shown in FIG. 10 . Output nodes of I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected to an input node of the OR circuit 90 in parallel. An output node of the OR circuit 90 is connected to an input node of a multiplexer 20 . I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n are connected to each other in series through a shift chain path 26 connected to an input pin 22 .
The first variant according to the embodiment of the invention is different from the embodiment in that there is used the OR circuit 90 for setting the outputs of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n to be inputs and successively selecting and outputting data signals read from respective addresses of a plurality of memory cells every bit. Since the other structures are the same as those in the embodiment, repetitive description will be omitted.
Based on pattern data on a selecting signal to be input from the input pin 22 to each of the I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n through the shift chain path 26 , a target memory and a target I/O circuit are selected from memories 32 a to 32 n and I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n . For example, in the case in which the memory 32 a and the I/O circuit 80 a are selected as the target memory and the target I/O circuit, only an FF 70 a of the I/O setting circuit 76 a is set to be “1” and respective FFs corresponding to the I/O circuits 80 b to 80 m of the memory 32 a and the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of the memories 32 b to 32 m which are not selected are set to be “0”, respectively. Accordingly, the pattern data on the selecting signal in this case are “10 . . . 000 . . . 0 . . . 00 . . . 0”.
A selecting signal generated in the pattern generator 44 shown in FIG. 3 is successively shifted in the FFs 70 a to 70 m of the I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n from the input pin 22 via the shift chain path 26 . When the selecting signal is set to each of the I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n to select the target memory and the target I/O circuit, pattern data on a test signal are input to the BIST circuit 10 . Based on the pattern data on the test signal, the BIST circuit 10 successively executes a memory test in addresses of a plurality of memory cells to which access is given from the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n.
In the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n , a test data signal of a memory cell in the target I/O circuit of the target memory is selectively output. Accordingly, a data signal read from each of the addresses of the memory cells to which access is given from the target I/O circuit of the target memory can be successively selected and output every bit from the OR circuit 90 . According to the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the first variant of the embodiment, thus, it is possible to output failure analysis data while testing the memory at an actual specification frequency through a BIST.
In the first variant according to the embodiment, moreover, there is used the OR circuit 90 for successively selecting and outputting, every bit, the data signals read from the respective addresses of the memory cells by setting the outputs of the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n as the inputs. Accordingly, it is possible to simplify a circuit structure more greatly than that in the memory selector 12 shown in FIG. 4 .
In the first variant according to the embodiment, each of the I/O setting circuits 76 a to 76 n are provided in each of the memory circuit 30 a to 30 n respectively. However, the positions where the I/O setting circuit to be provided are not limited in the memory circuits. For example, a single I/O setting circuit may be provided in the BIST circuit to be shared by the I/O selectors 38 a to 38 n.
(Second Variant)
As shown in FIG. 11 , a semiconductor apparatus according to a second variant of the embodiment of the invention comprises memory circuits 30 a to 30 n having I/O selectors 38 A, 38 B, . . . , 38 N, and a BIST circuit 10 having a memory selector 12 and an I/O setting circuit 76 A. Each of the I/O selectors 38 A to 38 N includes AND circuits 72 a to 72 m and an OR circuit 74 . The I/O setting circuit 76 A has FFs 70 a , 70 b , . . . , 70 m.
FFs 60 a to 60 n of a memory setting circuit 66 of the memory selector 12 and the FFs 70 a to 70 m of the I/O setting circuit 76 A are connected in series like a shift register through a shift chain path 26 , respectively. The FFs 70 a to 70 m of the I/O setting circuit 76 A are connected to the AND circuits 72 a to 72 m of each of the I/O selectors 38 A to 38 N in parallel, respectively.
The second variant according to the embodiment of the invention is different from the embodiment in that the I/O setting circuit 76 A for setting a selection of a target I/O circuit from I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of memories 32 a to 32 n is shared by the I/O selectors 38 A to 38 N. Since the other structures are the same as those in the embodiment, repetitive description will be omitted.
Based on pattern data on a selecting signal to be input from an input pin 22 to each of the memory setting circuit 66 and the I/O setting circuit 76 A, a target memory and a target I/O circuit are selected from the memories 32 a to 32 n and the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n . For example, in the case in which the memory 32 a and the I/O circuit 80 a are selected as the target memory and the target I/O circuit, the FF 60 a of the I/O setting circuit 66 and the FF 70 a of the I/O setting circuit 76 A are set to be “1” and the respective FFs corresponding to the memories 32 b to 32 n and the I/O circuits 80 b to 80 m which are not selected are set to be “0” , respectively. Accordingly, the pattern data on the selecting signal in this case are “10 . . . 010 . . . 0”.
A selecting signal generated in a pattern generator 44 shown in FIG. 3 is successively shifted in the FFs 60 a to 60 n and 70 a to 70 m of the memory setting circuit 66 and the I/O setting circuit 76 A from the input pin 22 via the shift chain path 26 . When the selecting signal is set to each of the memory setting circuit 66 and the I/O setting circuit 76 A to select the target memory and the target I/O circuit, pattern data on a test signal are input to the BIST circuit 10 . Based on the pattern data on the test signal, the BIST circuit 10 successively executes a memory test for memory cells of addresses to which access is given from the I/O circuits 80 a to 80 m of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n.
In the I/O selectors 38 A to 38 N, a test data signal of a memory cell in the target I/O circuit of each of the memories 32 a to 32 n is selected and successively output based on setting of the I/O setting circuit 76 A. In the memory selector 12 , a test data signal of the target memory is selected and successively output from the test data signals of the memory cells of the target I/O circuit in the respective memories 32 a to 32 n which are input. Accordingly, a data signal read from each of the addresses of the memory cells to which access is given from the target I/O circuit of the target memory can be successively selected and output every bit from the memory selector 12 . According to the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the second variant of the embodiment, thus, it is possible to output failure analysis data while testing the memory at an actual specification frequency through a BIST.
In the second variant according to the embodiment, moreover, the selection of the target I/O circuit of each of the I/O selectors 38 A to 38 N is set by the shared I/O setting circuit 76 A. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the circuit structures of the I/O selectors 38 A to 38 N.
While the I/O setting circuit 76 A is disposed in the BIST circuit 10 in the second variant according to the embodiment, the arrangement is not restricted. For example, it is also possible to dispose the I/O setting circuit in any of the memory circuits 30 a to 30 n . Alternatively, it is also possible to dispose the I/O setting circuit in a semiconductor apparatus region other than the BIST circuit 10 and the memory circuits 30 a to 30 n.
Other Embodiments
Although the embodiment according to the invention has been described above, it is to be understood that the statements and drawings constituting a part of the disclosure do not restrict the invention. From the disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and application techniques will be apparent to the skilled in the art.
In the embodiment according to the invention, the pattern data on the test signal and the selecting signal are generated by using the timing generator 42 , the pattern generator 44 and the pattern data memory 54 in the tester 40 . However, it is also possible to generate the pattern data on the test signal and the selecting signal by using the timing generator, the pattern generator and the pattern data memory which are provided in the BIST circuit 10 . In this case, pattern data information about the test signal and the selecting signal are prestored in the pattern data memory of the BIST circuit 10 .
Thus, it is a matter of course that the invention includes various embodiments which have not been described above. Accordingly, the technical range of the invention is defined by only the specific matters of the invention related to proper claims from the description.
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A semiconductor apparatus comprising: a plurality of memory circuits each including a memory and an input/output selector, the memory having a plurality of memory cells and a plurality of input/output circuits respectively corresponding to the memory cells; and an incorporated self-test circuit that executes a quality test for the memory, wherein the input/output selector selects one of the input/output circuits and successively outputs data signals to the incorporated self-test circuit, the data signals read by the one of the input/output circuits from the corresponding memory cells.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a Division of copending application Ser. No. 12/237,685 filed Sep. 25, 2008, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Considerable effort has been made to develop asymmetric and composite membranes for ultra-filtration, nano-filtration, pervaporation, reverse osmosis and gas separations. A solvent cast phase inversion process is generally used to make flat sheet membranes. In this process a suitable polymer, solvents and non-solvents (swelling agents) are chosen and mixed in appropriate proportions to provide the desired morphology for the membrane. Asymmetric membranes are formed by spreading a polymer solution (often referred to as a “casting dope”) into a thin film on top of a smooth substrate, using a doctor knife followed by precipitation in an aqueous bath and dried at elevated temperature. Membranes cast on smooth substrates such as glass, metal, metal plate or metal laminated with plastic such as polyethylene (Mylar®) or substrate coated with agent and subsequently release from it are called “free-standing” membrane. Handling problems as well as brittleness, wrinkling due to uneven shrinkage when dried are the major obstacles encountered with the “free-standing” membrane at large production scale. Such selective membranes can be very expensive to develop and produce, and accordingly they command a high price. Membranes cast on non-releasing substrate are referred to as “cast-on-cloth” membranes and the performances of the “cast-on-cloth” membranes greatly depend on the quality of the fabric that has to provide adequate mechanical strength and structural integrity to the overall membrane. Hence, the selection of the substrate is especially important for the class of membrane needs to withstand the pressure drop across the membrane which is encountered in and necessary for its operation, and otherwise endure a reasonable lifetime as an integral material in the intended operating environment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Those skilled in the art are well aware of limited choices of substrates that are able to provide the kind of properties that meets the membrane requirements. This is because the asymmetric or composite membrane is only best performed by a fabric substrate which (1) will provide adequate mechanical strength and structural integrity to the membrane; (2) present a smooth, uniform, planar (flat) surface without protruding fibers, on which the asymmetric membrane can be formed with minimum of pinholes and other defects; (3) is inert to chemical reactions and, (4) is porous and highly permeable, so as not to reduce the flux of the overall membrane. Typically, the suitable substrate fabrics have a thickness on the order of about 100 to about 125 microns. Preferably, woven cloths made from Nylon or Dacron® polyester are used. Other fabrics that can be used include: AWA® reinforced paper and the Hollytex® non-woven polyester. It was an object of this invention to provide a substrate for a selective asymmetric or composite membrane, which would combine the features of (1) can be made inexpensively by conventional phase inversion casting techniques, (2) exhibit excellent permeance and selectivity, (3) sustain the lifetime of the membrane under operating conditions and, (4) increase the packing density of the spiral wound or plate and frame module configuration.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The present invention is a process for preparing asymmetric separation membrane comprising a tricot supporting substrate which is coated with a “bisphenol-A” based epoxy which is cross-linked at a temperature of>200° C., a polymer dope which provides high permeance and selectivity over a wide range of temperature and pressure and, a finishing by coating the surface of the asymmetric membrane with a thermally curable or UV curable polysiloxane or other suitable coating. The asymmetric or composite separation membrane includes cellulosic membranes such as cellulose acetate-butyrate, cellulose propionate, ethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, cellulose nitrate and membranes formed from other polymers dope such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyamide, polyimide, polyetherimide, polyamide/imides; polyether ketones; poly(ether ether ketone)s, poly(arylene oxides); poly(esteramide-diisocyanate); polyurethanes; poly(benzobenzimidazole); polyhydrazides; polyoxadiazoles; polytriazoles; poly(benzimidazole); polycarbodiimides; polyphosphazines; microporous polymers, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polypropylene, perfluoropolymer, polyacrylic acid, polyarylates, polyethylene terephthalate, polysiloxane, polyacrylonitrile, polymethyacrylonitrile, polyvinylalcohol, polysulfide, polybenzoxazole, polyvinylidene fluoride and mixtures thereof.
[0005] More specifically, a membrane forming polymer film is directly cast upon the smooth side of the tricot fabric layer where the membrane forming polymer film is permanently and integrally bonded. Typically, the tricot substrate we use to make asymmetric and composite membranes in this invention will have a cross-linked epoxy coating ranging from 10 to 50% by weight of the epoxy resin. Between 20 to 30% by weight epoxy coating is preferred. The air permeability of the tricot is ranging from 1 to 20 cm 3 /(sec.cm 2 ) and in this embodiment air permeability of tricot between 2 to 5 cm 3 /(sec.cm 2 ) is preferred to use. The thickness of the tricot substrate should be between 100 to 500 microns and preferably between 250 to 400 microns. The density of the tricot substrate should be between 50 to 200 gm per sq. meter and preferably between 100 to 150 gm per sq. meter. Since tricot substrate is a close-knit design with fibers running lengthwise while employing an interlooped yarn pattern where one side will feature fine ribs running in a lengthwise pattern, while the other side may feature ribs that run in a crosswise direction, it should have 5 to 30 wales per cm on the rib side, between 10 to 15 wales per cm is preferred. In addition, on the smooth side of the tricot it should have 5 to 40 courses per cm, between 15 to 25 courses per cm is preferred in this invention. The total thickness of the “cast-on-tricot” asymmetric or composite membrane should be 400 to 800 microns, preferably between 500 to 650 microns. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention, the “cast-on-tricot” membrane is fabricated by casting the polymer dope to form a thin layer of solution on the tricot substrate, precipitating the membrane in low or ambient temperature water ranging from 0 to 25° C., typically at about 0° C. is preferred, followed by annealing in high temperature water ranging from 25 to 90° C., typically at about 86° C. is preferred. The dry membrane can be achieved by evaporating water at or above ambient temperature ranging from 25 to 80° C., typically at about 65 to 70° C. The dry asymmetric “cast-on-tricot” membrane can be coated with an epoxy silicone solution containing epoxy silicone solution ranging from 2 to 15 wt-%, typically 8 to 10% is preferred. The silicone solvent contains a ratio of hexane to heptane solvent ranging from 1:1 to 1:5 ratio, typically 1:3 is preferred. The epoxy silicone coating then exposes to a UV source for a period of about between 1 to 10 minutes, typically 2 to 4 minutes is preferred, at ambient temperature to cure the coating while the silicone solvent evaporated to produce the epoxy silicone. The resulting “cast-on-tricot” asymmetric and composite membranes are suitable for the desalination of water by reverse osmosis, non-aqueous liquid separation, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, pervaporation, and for all known gas separation end uses. Other advantages of using tricot as the backing substrate include reducing the pressure drop from feed to permeate side; increasing the packing density of the spiral-wound module, minimizing a membrane curling problem encountered in the use of cloth fabrics and reducing the material cost for making the membrane.
[0006] Unlike tricot used in the spiral-wound membrane module arrangement as the permeate spacer taught by Dutton U.S. Pat. No. 0,034,294 A1, the tricot is used as the supporting fabric of the asymmetric membrane during the phase inversion process in this invention. More importantly, while the smooth side of the tricot is used to support the asymmetric membrane the ribs side of the tricot can be used as the permeate spacer in the spiral wound or the plate & frame module configuration.
[0007] The following examples are provided to illustrate one or more preferred embodiments of the invention, but are not limited embodiments thereof. Numerous variations can be made to the following examples that lie within the scope of the invention.
EXAMPLE 1
Cellulose Diacetate (CA) & Cellulose Triacetate (CTA) Asymmetric Membrane
[0008] A cellulose acetate/cellulose tracetate asymmetric membrane was prepared from a casting dope comprising, by approximate weight percentages, 8% cellulose triacetate, 8% cellulose diacetate, 32% 1,3 dioxolane, 2% NMP, 24% acetone, 12% methanol, 2% maleic acid and 3% n-decane. A film was cast on a tricot web, then gelled by immersion in a 0° C. water bath for about 10 minutes, and then annealed in a hot water bath at 86° C. for 5 minutes. The resulting wet membrane was dried at a temperature between about 70° C. to remove water. The dry asymmetric cellulosic membrane was coated with an epoxy silicone solution containing an 2 wt-% epoxy silicone solution. The silicone solvent contained a 1:3 ratio of hexane to heptane. The epoxy silicone coating was exposed to a UV source for a period of about 2 to 4 minutes at ambient temperature to cure the coating while the silicone solvent evaporated to produce the epoxy silicone coated membrane of the present invention.
[0009] The epoxy silicone coated membranes were evaluated for gas transport properties using a feed gas containing 10 vol-% CO 2 and 90 vol-% CH 4 at a feed pressure of 6.89 MPa (1000 psig) and 50° C. Table 1 shows a comparison of the CO 2 permeability and the selectivity (α) of the dense film (intrinsic properties) and the asymmetric membrane performances.
[0000]
TABLE 1
Gas Transport Properties
CO 2 /CH 4
Membrane
CO 2
Selectivity
Dense film
7.2
Barrers*
21.9
Asymmetric membrane
199
(GPU**)
14.2
*Barrer = 10 −10 cm 3 (STP)cm/sec · cm 3 · cmHg
**Gas Permeation Unit (GPU) = 10 −6 cm 3 (STP)/cm 2 sec · cmHg
EXAMPLE 2
Cellulose Diacetate (CA) & Cellulose Triacetate (CTA) Asymmetric Membrane
[0010] A cellulose acetate/cellulose tracetate asymmetric membrane was prepared from a casting dope comprising, by approximate weight percentages, 8% cellulose triacetate, 8% cellulose diacetate, 32% 1,3 dioxolane, 2% NMP, 24% acetone, 12% methanol, 2% maleic acid and 3% n-decane. A film was cast on a tricot web, then gelled by immersion in a 0° C. water bath for about 10 minutes, and then annealed in a hot water bath at 86° C. for 5 minutes. The resulting wet membrane was dried at a temperature between about 70° C. to remove water. Table 2 shows a comparison of the CO 2 permeability and the selectivity (α) of the dense film (intrinsic properties) and the asymmetric membrane performances.
[0000]
TABLE 2
Gas Transport Properties
CO 2 /CH 4
Membrane
CO 2
Selectivity
Dense film
7.2
Barrers*
21.9*
Asymmetric membrane
53
GPU
14.9
*Dense film was tested at 690 kPa (100 psig), 50° C. and pure gas
EXAMPLE 3
P84 polyimide/Polyethersulfone blended asymmetric membrane
[0011] A P84 polyimide/polyethersulfone blended asymmetric membrane was prepared in from a casting dope comprising, by approximate weight percentages, 6.5% polyethersulfone, 12.2% P84 polyimide, 50.5% 1, 3 dioxolane, 24.3% NMP, 3.7% acetone, and 2.8% methanol. A film was cast on a tricot web, then gelled by immersion in a 0° C. water bath for about 10 minutes, and then annealed in a hot water bath at 86° C. for 5 minutes. The resulting wet membrane was dried at a temperature between 65° and 70° C. to remove water. The dry asymmetric membrane was coated with an epoxy silicone solution containing 8 wt-% epoxy silicone solution. The silicone solvent had a 1:3 ratio of hexane to heptane. The epoxy silicone coating was exposed to a UV source for a period of 2 to 4 minutes at ambient temperature to cure the coating while the silicone solvent evaporated to produce the epoxy silicone coated membrane of the present invention.
[0012] The epoxy silicone coated membranes were evaluated for gas transport properties using a feed gas containing 10 vol-% CO 2 , 90 vol-% CH 4 at a feed pressure of 6.89 MPa (1000 psig) and 50° C. Table 3 shows a comparison of the CO 2 permeability and the selectivity (α) of the dense film (intrinsic properties) and the asymmetric membrane performances. Table 3 shows a comparison of the CO 2 permeability and the selectivity (α) of the dense film (intrinsic properties) and the asymmetric membrane performances.
[0000]
TABLE 3
Gas Transport Properties
CO 2 /CH 4
Membrane
CO 2
Selectivity
Dense film
2.7
Barrers*
33.7*
Asymmetric membrane
51
GPU
24.7
*Dense film was tested at 690 kPa (100 psig), 50° C. and pure gas
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The present invention the manufacture of a membrane for gas and liquid separations in which a polymer layer is applied directly to a tricot fabric instead of the conventional cloth or glass or metal substrate.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of PCT/NO2007/000107, filed Mar. 19, 2007, which was published in English and designated the U.S., and claims priority to NO 20061275 filed Mar. 20, 2006, each of which are included herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field
[0003] The field relates to a system and a method for remote activation of downhole tools and devices used in association with wells for the production of hydrocarbons.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Technology
[0005] Oil- and gas producing wells are designed in a range of different ways, depending on factors such as production characteristics, safety, installation issues and requirements to downhole monitoring and control. Common well components include production tubing, packers, valves, monitoring devices and control devices.
[0006] An extremely important consideration for all design and operations is to maintain a minimum number of barriers (e.g. 2) between the high-pressurised reservoir fluids and the open environment at the surface of the earth. Packers and valves are examples of commonly used mechanical barriers. Other barriers can be drilling mud and completion fluid which create a hydrostatic pressure large enough to overcome the reservoir pressure, hence preventing reservoir fluids from being produced.
[0007] Following the drilling stage; the installation of the production tubular, including a selection of the above described components and the wellhead is referred to as completing the well. During completion, temporary barriers are used to ensure that barrier requirements are adhered to during this intermediate stage. Such temporary barriers could be, for example, intervention plugs and/or disappearing plugs mounted in the lower end of the production tubing or the higher end of the well's liner.
[0008] Intervention plugs are typically installed and retrieved with well service operations such as wireline and coil tubing. Disappearing plugs are temporary barrier devices that are operated with pressure cycling from surface, i.e. surface pressure cycles are applied on the fluid column of the well to operate pistons located in the downhole device (disappearing plug). After a certain amount of cycles, the disappearing plug opens (i.e. “disappears”), hence the barrier is removed according to the well completion program.
[0009] Evolution of oil wells has included well designs such as multi lateral wells and side-tracks. A multilateral well is a well with several “branches” in the form of drilled bores that branch from the main bore. Multilateral wells allow a large reservoir area to be drained with one primary bore from the surface. A side track well is typically associated with an older production well that is used as the foundation for the drilling of one or more new bores. Hence, only the bottom section of the new producing interval needs to be drilled and time and costs are saved.
[0010] To sidetrack a well, the following operational method may be used:
[0011] One starts by installing a deep-set barrier in the wellbore, above the top of the old producing interval and below the kick-off point for the new branch to be drilled.
[0012] A whipstock is installed—this is a wedge shaped tool utilised to force the drill bit into the wall of the wellbore and into the formation.
[0013] The branch is drilled.
[0014] The branch is completed with the preferred selection of completion components.
[0015] The temporary barrier in the original bore is removed, if possible.
[0016] The well is put on production, producing from both the new and the old bore.
[0017] The new well designs (i.e. branches) have introduced a new challenge in the form of inaccessible areas of the well. Traditional operation of the above described temporary barrier systems may no longer be possible. Well intervention strings are normally not operated below junctions of branch wells, as the risk of getting stuck or causing other types of damage is considered too high. Also, in a branch well, one does not normally manage to seal off all rock faces, hence pressure cycling to operate traditional disappearing plugs might not be possible as the exposed rock may prevent the generation of pressure cycles of the required amplitude. Accordingly, the internal piston (or bellows or other similar mechanism) arrangements of the disappearing plugs cannot be operated.
[0018] In addition, certain specific completion methodologies for the new branch of a sidetrack well, for example if the branch's liner top is attached to the original well bore, or the whipstock being left in the well after sidetracking, will make the old producing interval totally non-accessible. Again, this will represent challenges with respect to the removal of traditional, temporary deep-set barriers.
SUMMARY OF CERTAIN INVENTIVE ASPECTS
[0019] One aspect provides a novel and alternative system for remote activation of downhole tools and devices associated with wells for the production of hydrocarbons. One embodiment will enable operation, activation and/or removal of components located in inaccessible areas of wells such as branch wells and sidetracks.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] The invention will now be described in more detail by means of the accompanying figures.
[0021] FIGS. 1-4 illustrates various embodiments of the invention.
[0022] FIG. 5-11 illustrates possible ways of designing the transmitter and/or the receiver in more detail.
[0023] FIG. 12 illustrates one possible way of designing the receiver electronic package.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0024] One method for activation/removal of temporary barriers in sidetrack wells, is to utilise deep set barriers in the form of glass plugs equipped with a timer that detonates an explosive charge and removes the plug after a predetermined time. In this way, the barrier element acts as an autonomous device operating according to its own pre-programmed logic. Because it is autonomous, the system could be installed in inaccessible regions of a well and still work satisfactorily. The drawback with this method is that the memory has to be pre-programmed at the surface, prior to installing the deep-set barrier in the well. Because of that, the following has to be taken into consideration: The deep-set barrier is not removed before the sidetracking operation is finished. Hence, a margin has to be included in the programming. For example, if a sidetrack operation is estimated to take 20 days, the timer arrangement might be programmed to remove the deep-set barrier after 40 or 60 days. Hence, one risks losing a significant amount of production time because the original well bore remains closed for a long time after the side track operation is completed. Also, if the drilling and completion is conducted from a floating drilling rig, the rig will normally be moved off location once the completion is finished. The delay in removing the last barrier means, that should the timer method fail to operate, there will not be any rig on the site to perform any remedial work. Hence, substantial time and production might be lost awaiting a new rig to be available for the removal of the last barrier.
[0025] Pressure cycling can be used to remotely activate disappearing plugs and other well components from surface. The principle involves using a pump on the surface to pressurize the well (completion) fluid repeatedly according to certain protocols. The pressure cycles are transmitted across the fluid column and an equal increase in pressure downhole operates piston- bellows- or similar arrangements which again are linked to an activation mechanism. Such systems use a minimum amount of differential pressure across the piston-, bellows- or similar arrangement to operate the mechanism. For many new well scenarios, including sidetracks and multilaterals, parts of the wells rock face could be exposed. Hence, when trying to cycle pressure, fluid escaping into the exposed rock could prevent the required downhole pressure increases to take place. Hence, the method becomes unreliable and non-feasible for some types of well scenarios.
[0026] There also exists numerous ways to use wireless signalling to remotely activate downhole components. U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,738 B1 describes the use of a surface air-gun system to communicate through a partly compressible fluid column. In a somewhat similar manner, the “EDGE” system (trademark of Baker Hughes) uses a surface signal generator to inject pulses of chosen frequency into the wellbore. With regards to this system, a downhole tool, for instance a packer, is equipped with a signal receiver which again interfaces towards a controller system. When the surface-transmitted signal is received downhole, it is interpreted and used to generate the action of intent, for example the setting of the packer.
[0027] When sidetracking a well, the section between the temporary barrier and the kick off point for the branch normally becomes filled with cuttings from the drilling process plus settling particles (barite) from the drilling mud. This will potentially have a very negative effect on wireless acoustic signals transmitted in the fluid column. In addition, certain completion methods may create geometrical patterns of the continuous liquid column that could cause additional damping and scattering effects. Examples of this are perforated whipstocks that will contain only small conduits and a geometrical pattern of flow as well as acoustic waves that will differ substantially from the general tubing profile.
[0028] The airgun system related to U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,738 B1 intended to work with a compressible fluid in the top of the well column and an incompressible bottom section, could be non-suitable for the activation of a deep set barrier after a sidetrack drilling operation, as the signal will get dampened along the wellbore, and the additional, last part of the path comprising cuttings, barite and irregular geometry may dampen the signal significantly, below a detectable level for the receiver. The same applies for the EDGE system (trademark of Baker Hughes).
[0029] Also, when activating a component in a sidetrack or multilateral well, with exposed rock faces, it can be very difficult to verify that the desired downhole operation actually has taken place by monitoring surface parameters such as pressure or flow. None of the above described methods are equipped with relevant monitoring features enabling feedback to the surface on the performance of the downhole operation. A more accurate and reliable feedback system is required.
[0030] Certain embodiments include bringing a wireless signal transmitter into the well, to a close proximity of the receiver, in order to overcome excessive dampening effects related to cuttings/barite fill and complex fluid column geometries. Also, some embodiments include a reliable feedback system to verify operational success.
[0031] In some embodiments, a signal transmitter and a signal receiver system, are located in a position higher and lower in the well, respectively. The receiver is associated with a downhole device of interest, for example a temporary barrier element. Another embodiment includes a signal transmitter and a signal receiver system, located in a position lower and higher in the well, respectively. Another embodiment includes a combination of signal transmitter(s) and receiver(s) at two or several locations in the well.
[0032] In some embodiments, the transmitter is in the form of a well intervention tool that is run into the well by means of a well service technique such as wireline or coil tubing. This enables the transmitter to be brought to a close proximity to the downhole receiver. The transmitter can be built as a stand-alone module or interface towards a 3 rd party well intervention tool, such as a wireline tractor.
[0033] In one embodiment, the transmitter is located at the surface, on or in the proximity of the wellhead.
[0034] In yet another embodiment, the transmitter is associated with a downhole device, to transmit downhole information to a signal receiver placed higher in the well. This could be a downhole data acquisition device that, on a frequent basis, uploads data to a receiver located at a higher point in the well, either on the surface or in the form of a downhole tool, lowered into the wellbore to a close proximity to the transmitter. The latter case would entail a larger bandwidth of the data transfer.
[0035] In some embodiments, both the modules (located higher and lower in the well) can transmit and receive signals, i.e. function as transceivers. The upper and lower transceiver represent a two way communication system that for example can be used to remotely activate a downhole device whereupon information is sent from the lower system to the higher system to verify the execution of a desired operation.
[0036] In some embodiments, the receiver is associated with an activation system, so that the main receiver function is to read and interpret the activation signal from the transmitter, whereupon a subsequent activation command is sent from the receiver to the activation system in order to do work on the downhole component, for example the removal of a deep-set barrier after a sidetrack operation is completed. In one embodiment, the activation system is part of the overall system. In another embodiment, the receiver is built into a module of its own that interfaces towards a 3 rd party activation system.
[0037] Common applications would be the activation of downhole well components that are located in such position that they are non-accessible and/or non-feasible for well intervention toolstrings as well as existing techniques for remote activation.
[0038] FIG. 1 illustrates an overall system description for an embodiment of a plug, a valve or other types of downhole devices. The downhole device is associated with a signal receiver 103 and an activation system 104 . A wireline 105 and associated toolstring 106 is used to deploy a signal transmitter 107 into the well 101 . The set of dotted lines shows that the well comprises a well section that is available for intervention 108 and a well section that is non-available for intervention 109 . The toolstring 106 may be equipped with a wellbore anchor 110 . The anchor 110 may be used to assure stability of the transmitter 107 during operation in order to impose an optimum signal into the primary signalling medium (the well fluid) and/or a secondary/complementary signalling medium (the steel tubing of the well 101 ). The transmitter 107 may be designed for producing a signal with sufficient strength to overcome obstacles related to solids and/or liquids as well as well geometries with poor acoustic properties
[0039] FIG. 2 illustrates a system of another embodiment. A wellbore 101 includes a downhole device 102 . For this embodiment, a signal transmitter 107 is placed in or near a wellhead 205 in connection with the well 101 .
[0040] FIG. 3 illustrates yet another embodiment. A wellbore 101 includes a downhole device 102 . The downhole device is associated with a signal receiver 103 , an activation system 104 , and a signal transmitter 301 . A wireline 105 and associated toolstring 106 is used to deploy a tool comprising signal transmitter 107 and signal receiver 302 into the well 101 . This configuration enables two way communication which, as an example, will enable a confirmation-of-execution signal to be sent from the downhole transmitter 301 to be received by the receiver 302 after activation of the downhole device 102 . In one embodiment, the receiver 302 may be associated with sensor systems monitoring parameters such as wellbore noise patterns resulting from the activation of the downhole device 102 .
[0041] FIG. 4 illustrates yet another embodiment. A wellbore 101 includes a downhole device 102 . The downhole device 102 is associated with a signal receiver 103 , an activation system 104 , and a signal transmitter 301 . A signal transmitter 107 and a signal receiver 302 are placed in or near a wellhead 205 in connection with the well 101 .
[0042] FIG. 5 illustrates a transmitter 107 . The transmitter 107 comprises an actuator 501 that is attached to a flexible membrane 502 filled with a fluid 503 . Also, the transmitter 107 in this example comprises an electronic module 504 and an interface toward a 3 rd party wireline tool 505 . Through the electrical cable 105 of FIG. 1 , a command is transmitted from the surface to the electronic module 504 . Further, the command is transferred to the actuator 501 , which is put into oscillations. Typically, the actuator 501 is a sonic actuator made of piezo-electric wafers or a magnetostrictive material such as Terfenol-D. When the actuator 501 is put into oscillations, these oscillations are transferred to the well fluid by the membrane 502 . The membrane fluid 503 prevents the membrane from collapsing in the high pressurised well environment. Also, an anchor 110 (shown in FIG. 1 ) might be used to optimize the process of transferring the signal into the primary signalling medium (the well fluid) as well as enable the possibility for using a secondary, supplementary signalling medium (the steel tubing). The basic principles of FIG. 5 may also apply for the transmitter 301 of FIGS. 3 and 4 .
[0043] FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of receiver 103 of FIG. 1 . Receiver 103 may be associated with a transmitter 107 as illustrated in FIG. 5 . The receiver 103 includes a vibration sensor 601 that is fixed to a flexible membrane 602 filled with a fluid 603 . Vibration sensor 601 may be, for example, a piezoelectric disc, an accelerometer, or a magnetostrictive material. The receiver 103 also comprises an electronic section 604 , a battery section 605 and an activation module 606 . A signal from the transmitter 107 of FIG. 5 is transmitted through the well fluid and/or the walls of the completion tubing in the form of acoustic waves. Typically, for the operations of interest, the well 101 is filled with a stagnant completion fluid, for example brine. The signal makes the membrane 602 of the receiver 103 oscillate, and this oscillation is registered by the vibration sensor 601 . The sensor is read by the electronic module 604 where the information/signal is decoded. If the code overlaps with the activation code for the relevant downhole device of interest, an activation signal is transferred to the activation module 606 , whereupon tool activation is executed. As the receiver 103 is located in a section of the well where there is no transfer of power from surface, the receiver 103 is powered by the batteries of the battery module 605 . The basic principles of FIG. 6 may also apply for the receiver 302 of FIGS. 3 and 4 .
[0044] FIG. 7 illustrates another receiver 103 of FIG. 1 . For this embodiment, the receiver 103 comprises a vibration sensor 601 that is fixed to the body 701 of receiver 103 . The basic principles of FIG. 7 may also apply for the receiver 302 of FIGS. 3 and 4 .
[0045] FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of the transmitter 107 of FIG. 1 in more detail. The transmitter body comprises a connector 801 , a housing 802 , and a flexible membrane 502 . The connector 801 provides a mechanical and electrical connection towards a standard wireline tool string (ref 106 of FIG. 1 ). An electrical feedthrough 804 provides an electrical connection to the wireline toolstring and from thereon to operator panels on the surface. The tool comprises an electronic circuit board 805 , a connection flange 806 , an actuator 501 , and a coupler device 807 to compensate for deflections of the membrane 502 as the tool is lowered into the highly pressurised well regime. Operator commands are transferred from surface via the wireline cable (ref 105 of FIG. 1 ) to the electronic circuit board 805 . The commands are processed in the electronics circuit board 805 , and a signal is sent to the actuator 501 which is put into oscillations as defined by said signal. One end of the actuator 501 is fixed to the tool housing 802 via a connection flange 806 within the tool body. The oscillations are transferred to the flexible membrane 502 via the coupler 807 .
[0046] The coupler 807 may be any kind of arrangement that allows for pressure imposed deflection of the membrane 502 without creating excessive stresses in the actuator 501 and still being able to transfer oscillations from the actuator 501 to the membrane 502 .
[0047] In one embodiment, the coupler 807 is a hydraulic device, which comprises a piston 808 with a micro orifice 809 , and a cylinder 810 filled with hydraulic oil 811 . The oscillations are transferred from the actuator 501 into the piston 808 , which will put oscillating forces into the hydraulic oil 811 , which in turn will transfer said oscillations into the cylinder body 810 , which in turn will transfer the oscillations into the flexible membrane 502 , which in turn will transfer said oscillations into the wellbore fluid and/or the completion components, which in turn will transfer said oscillations to the signal receiver (ref 103 of FIG. 1 ).
[0048] The micro orifice 809 is made sufficiently small to not allow for rapid fluid flow, such that the oscillating forces will be transferred to the membrane 502 according to the orifice 809 . By the same token, the micro orifice 809 will allow for sufficient fluid flow to match the relatively slow deflection movement of the membrane 502 as a function of submerging the tool into the well (i.e. increasing the surrounding pressure). Hence, the micro orifice 809 functions as a pressure compensator for the system as the transmitter 107 is placed into a well. This enables the actuator 501 to function under atmospheric conditions regardless of exterior well pressure, which is advantageous, as no hydrostatic pressure related stresses, direct as well as indirect, will be imposed onto the actuator material. As exterior well pressure increases, the micro orifice 809 will allow oil to be transferred across the piston such that exterior pressure will not apply forces to the piston 808 and hence to the actuator 501 .
[0049] A sensor 812 attached to the housing 802 is included to monitor the sonic/vibration in the well or other relevant parameters. The information sensed is transferred to the electronics circuit board 805 where it is processed and transferred to surface via the wireline cable 105 . The information will supply the surface operator with information related to both transmitter operation and other parameters (for instance vibration or noise pattern) resulting from the activation of a said downhole device. The sensor 812 forms a part of the receiver 302 described in FIG. 3 .
[0050] FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the coupler 807 . A shaft 9001 , is attached to the flexible membrane 502 , is mounted to slide along its main axis inside the bore of an engagement sub 9002 . During the part of an operation where the transmitter 107 is lowered into the well 101 , the shaft 9001 is free to move longitudinally inside the bore of the engagement sub 9002 . As the external pressure increases and the flexible membrane deflects due to this, the shaft 9001 slides further into the bore of the engagement sub 9002 . Upon the time of signalling, an engagement system 9003 is engaged in order to lock the shaft 9001 inside the engagement sub 9002 . A solid connection is then formed between the actuator 501 and the flexible membrane 502 . In order to engage the engagement system 9003 , various methods may be utilised. One example of such is a motor driven engagement system powered by one or more electric line(s) 9004 that comes from the system electronics. In one embodiment, the engagement sub 9002 also pre-tensions the membrane 502 with respect to the actuator 501 in order to generate prepare the oscillation system.
[0051] FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of the receiver 103 of FIG. 1 in more detail. This receiver 103 may be associated with a transmitter 107 as illustrated in FIG. 8 . The receiver 103 includes a vibration sensor 601 , an electronic circuit board 604 , and a battery pack 605 , which are all placed inside the wall of a tubing 901 . The tubing 901 may have the same physical shape as other completion and/or intervention equipment in the well 101 , such that the whole system can be integrated into a downhole assembly. Such downhole assembly can be any downhole completion and/or intervention device equipped with an activation system. A unique signal is transferred via the wellbore fluid and/or completion components, as explained for FIG. 5 above. This signal is picked up by the vibration sensor 601 and processed by the electronic circuit board 604 . The electronic circuit board will transmit another signal to the activation module 606 of the downhole device 102 whereupon the desired operation is executed. The activation module 606 can be integrated into the wall of tubing 901 or can be built into a 3 rd party supplied device.
[0052] FIG. 11 illustrates another receiver 103 of FIG. 1 in more detail. Receiver 103 of FIG. 11 is in general the same as that presented in FIG. 9 , but here all system components are placed inside a tube 1001 of a relatively small outer diameter. This tubing 1001 may be made to be attached to a downhole device 102 .
[0053] FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of the electronics module 604 of receiver 103 of FIGS. 1 , 10 and 11 . The electronics module 604 may be associated with an activation module 606 as described in FIG. 6 . A signal transmitted from the signal transmitter 107 of FIG. 8 through the wellbore fluid and/or the completion components impart stresses and tension onto the vibration sensor 601 resulting in an electrical signal. The electrical signal is amplified by the pre amp 1101 , and the variable gain amp 1102 , and converted into a digital signal by the signal converter 1103 .
[0054] The digital signal from the signal converter 1103 is processed by the digital signal processor 1105 , and if the received signal is according to a preprogrammed protocol, the digital signal processor 1105 sends an activation signal to activate the trigger mechanism 1106 , which in turn allows the activation signal to be transmitted to the activation system of the downhole device. The trigger mechanism 1106 includes a safety function which provides a circuit breaker point (for instance an inductive coupling) between the receiver electronics module 604 and any activation system 606 to be activated. The circuit breaker prevents accidental activation of the downhole device due to stray currents or other accidental bypasses of the activation system. In one embodiment, the signal is defined by FSK (Frequency Shift Key) coding. This eliminates possibilities for the wireless signal to be produced by noise that could be present in the well 101 (for instance during drilling), leading to accidental, premature activation of the downhole device.
[0055] The complete system may, as default, be kept in an idle mode to save energy (battery) while awaiting the activation signal. The full operation of the circuitry may be initiated by recognition of a predetermined signal registered by the wake up circuit 1104 (i.e. the signalling operation may be initiated by a wake up signal).
[0056] While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the device or process illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. As will be recognized, the present invention may be embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features and benefits set forth herein, as some features may be used or practiced separately from others.
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A system for communicating with downhole tools and devices is disclosed. The system includes multiple communication devices which, in combination, permit operators at the surface to operate downhole tools and to receive feedback regarding the state of the tools.
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[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/132,122, filed on Jun. 16, 2008, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
[0002] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/132,628, filed on Jun. 20, 2008, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Related Patent Applications
[0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/387,771, filed on May 7, 2009, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
[0004] Attorney Docket AP08-005, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/455,337, filed on Jun. 1, 2009 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
[0005] Attorney Docket AP08-006, U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on ______, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
[0006] Attorney Docket AP08-008, U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0007] 1. Field of the Invention
[0008] This invention relates generally to nonvolatile memory array structure and operation. More particularly, this invention relates to flash based EEPROM nonvolatile memory device structures, peripheral circuits for operating flash based EEPROM nonvolatile memory devices and methods for operation of flash based EEPROM nonvolatile memory devices.
[0009] 2. Description of Related Art
[0010] Nonvolatile memory is well known in the art. The different types of nonvolatile memory include Read-Only-Memory (ROM), Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), NOR Flash Memory, and NAND Flash Memory. In current applications such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, notebook and laptop computers, voice recorders, global positioning systems, etc., the Flash Memory has become one of the more popular types of Nonvolatile Memory. All EEPROM, NOR and NAND flash are Electrically Erasable and Programmable Memory using a single low-voltage power supply VDD but only EEPROM offers an erase size in unit of bytes and page with 1 M program/erase cycles.
[0011] The Flash Memory structures known in the art employ a charge retaining mechanism such as a charge storage phenomena and a charge trapping phenomena. The charge storage mechanism, as with a floating gate nonvolatile memory, the charge representing digital data is stored on a floating gate of the device. The stored charge modifies the threshold voltage of the floating gate memory cell determine that digital data stored. In a charge trapping mechanism, as in a Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS) or Metal-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (MONOS) type cell, the charge is trapped in a charge trapping layer between two insulating layers. The charge trapping layer in the SONOS/MONOS devices has a relatively high dielectric constant (k) such Silicon Nitride (SiN x ).
[0012] NOR flash provides a fast random-access, asynchronous read, but NAND flash offers a slow serial-access, synchronous read. NOR flash is the high pin-count memory chip with multiple external address and data pins, and control signal pins. One disadvantage of NOR flash is as the density being doubled, the number of its required external pin count would increase by one due to the adding of one more external address pin. In contrast, NAND has advantage of less pin-count than NOR with no address input pins. As density increases, NAND's pin count is always kept constant. Both today's NAND and NOR flash provide the advantage of in-system program and erase capabilities with 100K endurance cycles spec. NOR flash is used to store fast program code but NAND is used to store huge slow serial audio and video data storage. The size of the memory units that are erased in a NOR and NAND flash is presently around 1M bits in a giga-bit density memory device. Alternately, an EEPROM provides a unit of erase that is capable of storing a byte and a page, to permit alteration of small quantities of data or parameters.
[0013] Up until 2008, the EEPROM designs were based on a semiconductor manufacturing process where the transistor devices had a drain-to-source breakdown voltage (BVDS) of approximately ±16V. In 2008, the semiconductor manufacturing processing moved to having feature sizes less than 0.13 μm. The current EEPROM design employ program and erase voltage levels of approximately +15.0V. The current EEPROM memory cell is designed having a polycrystalline silicon floating-gate placed over a tunneling oxide. A polycrystalline control gate is formed over an inter-polycrystalline silicon oxide layer above the floating gate. Low current Fowler-Nordheim channel erase operation is used to increase the threshold voltage Vt of the memory cell above the desired value of +2.0V to store a digital datum of a logical “1”. A low-current Fowler-Nordheim channel program operation is used to decrease threshold voltage Vt of the memory cell to a voltage level of approximately −2.0V to store digital datum of a logical “0”.
[0014] The advantage of an EEPROM memory device is its high 1M program/erase cycles and its ability to be programmed in units of byte and page. However, a disadvantage of an EEPROM memory device is that the physical size of a memory cell is very large and not scalable. The averaged cell size is more than 80 λ 2 and because of the inability to be scaled the manufacturing technology is employing feature sizes of approximately 0.18μ. And as noted above, the EEPROM designs were based on a drain-to-source breakdown voltage (BVDS) of approximately ±16V.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] An object of this invention is to provide a method for operating an array of EEPROM connected flash nonvolatile memory cells at increments of a page and block while minimizing operational disturbances and providing bias operating conditions to prevent drain to source breakdown drain to source breakdown in peripheral devices.
[0016] Another object of this invention is to provide a row decoder circuit for selecting nonvolatile memory cells of an array of EEPROM connected nonvolatile memory cells for providing biasing conditions for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells of the array of the EEPROM connected nonvolatile memory cells while minimizing operational disturbances and preventing drain to source breakdown drain to source breakdown in peripheral devices.
[0017] Further, another object of this invention is to provide a select gate decoder circuit for selecting and providing biasing conditions to selected nonvolatile memory cells of an array of EEPROM connected nonvolatile memory cells for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells of the array of the EEPROM connected nonvolatile memory cells while minimizing operational disturbances and preventing drain to source breakdown drain to source breakdown of peripheral devices.
[0018] To accomplish at least one of these objects, a nonvolatile memory device includes an array of nonvolatile memory cells arranged in rows and columns. The nonvolatile memory cells are connected into an EEPROM configuration where the nonvolatile memory cells located on each column are connected such that the drains of each of the nonvolatile memory cells are commonly connected to a bit line associated with each column. The nonvolatile memory cells on each row are commonly connected to a word line. The nonvolatile memory cells on two adjacent rows are commonly connected to a select gate control line. The array of nonvolatile memory cells is placed in an isolation well of a first impurity type. The array of the nonvolatile memory cells is divided into blocks and each block is divided into pages. Each page includes one row of the nonvolatile memory cells within each block of each block connected to a word line.
[0019] The EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells each have a floating gate memory transistor for storing a digital datum and a floating gate select transistor for activating the floating gate memory transistor for reading, programming, and erasing. The drain of the floating gate memory transistor is connected to the source of the floating gate select transistor and the drain of the floating gate select transistor is connected to the bit line that is commonly connected with one column of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source of the floating gate memory transistor is connected to a source line that is commonly connected with the one row of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A gate of the floating gate select transistor is connected to the connected to a select gate control line associated with one row of the EEPROM configured memory cells for receiving a select gate control biasing voltages for selectively activating the floating gate select transistor to connect the floating gate memory transistor to the bit line for reading, programming, and erasing the floating gate memory cell. The gate of the floating gate memory cell is connected to the word line for receiving operational biasing voltages for reading, programming, and erasing the floating gate memory transistor.
[0020] The nonvolatile memory device has a row decoder that has a first block selector that sets a block signal when a block address indicates that a block is selected. The row decoder further includes a word line selector circuit, which based on a row address provides the word lines with word line operational biasing voltage levels necessary for biasing the control gates of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing. The row decoder has a voltage level shifter for shifting a voltage level of a block select signal to activate pass gates to transfer the operational biasing voltage levels to the word lines of the selected block for biasing the control gates of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the block for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells.
[0021] The nonvolatile memory device has a select gate decoder circuit is connected to each select gate control line within each block to transfer a necessary gate select biasing voltage for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells to selected select gate control lines. The select gate decoder circuit has a second block selector circuit which activates for the selection of the block being addressed. The block selector circuit is connected to a select gate voltage level shifter that shifts the voltage level of the block selector signals for activating pass transistors to transfer select gate control biasing voltages to the select gate control lines connected to the control gate of the floating gate select transistor of each of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the floating gate memory transistor of the selected nonvolatile memory cells.
[0022] The nonvolatile memory device has a column decoder in communication with bit lines for providing biasing voltages for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The row decoder, select gate decoder, and column decoder provide inhibit biasing voltage levels to all the non-selected nonvolatile EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells to minimize disturbances resulting from the reading, programming, verifying, and erasing selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. Further the row decoder, select gate decoder, and column decoder generate the word line biasing voltages, the select gate biasing voltage, bit line biasing voltages, and the inhibit biasing voltages such that an amplitude of the word line biasing voltages, the select gate biasing voltage, bit line biasing voltages, and the inhibit biasing voltages does not exceed a drain-to-source break down voltage of transistors forming the row decoder, select gate decoder, and column decoder.
[0023] For reading a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a read reference biasing voltage level to the word line of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The row decoder further transfers read reference biasing voltage level to the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells in the selected and unselected blocks. The column decoder transfers a first read biasing voltage to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source to the drains of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The select gate decoder transfers an activate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a deactivate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The first read biasing voltage has a voltage level of approximately +1.0V. The read reference biasing voltage level is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD, where voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either 1.8V or 3.0V. The bit lines are is pre-charged to the voltage level of the first read voltage of approximately the 1.0V. The pre-charged level of the first read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has been programmed and has a threshold voltage level less than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level of the first read level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary erased threshold voltage level of approximately +4.0V. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0024] For erasing a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a very high positive erase voltage to the word line of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and transfers the ground reference voltage level to the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block. The row decoders of the unselected blocks of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells disconnect the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells so that the very high negative erase voltage is coupled from the isolation well of the first impurity type to the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells in unselected blocks. The select gate decoder transfers the very high negative erase voltage to the selected and unselected select gate control lines. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to an isolation well of the first impurity type. The voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage are less than approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder, column decoder, and the select gate decoder. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V.
[0025] For verifying a page erase, a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level to the word line of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a second read biasing voltage level to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The select gate decoder transfers an activate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a deactivate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the second read voltage is pre-charged to approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor, where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage level is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level of the second read voltage level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the erased threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0026] For erasing a selected block of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a very high positive erase voltage to all the word lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block. The row decoders of the unselected blocks of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells disconnect the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells so that the very high negative erase voltage is coupled from the isolation well of the first impurity type to the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells in unselected blocks. The select gate decoder transfers the very high negative erase voltage to the selected and unselected select gate control lines. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the isolation well of the first impurity type. The voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage are less than approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder, column decoder, and the select gate decoder. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V.
[0027] For verifying a block erase, the row decoder transfers a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level to the word line of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a second read biasing voltage level to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The select gate decoder transfers an activate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the second read voltage level is pre-charged to approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor, where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage level is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level of the second read voltage level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the erased threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0028] For erasing an entire chip containing the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a very high positive erase voltage to all the word lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the entire chip. The select gate decoder transfers the very high negative erase voltage to the selected and unselected select gate control lines. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the isolation well of the first impurity type. The voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage are less than approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder, column decoder, and the select gate decoder. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V.
[0029] For verifying erasing an entire chip, the row decoder transfers a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level to the word line of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a second read biasing voltage level to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The select gate decoder transfers an activate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the second read voltage is pre-charged to approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor, where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the erased threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V.
[0030] For programming a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a very high negative program voltage to the word line of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The row decoder transfers a second negative program inhibit voltage to the word lines of the unselected word lines is the selected block and the unselected blocks of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a high program select voltage level to the bit lines and thus to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells that are to be programmed. The column decoder transfers a low program deselect voltage level to the bit lines and thus to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells that are not to be programmed. The select gate decoder transfers a high positive activate control signal to the select gate control lines connected to the selected nonvolatile voltage cells and transfers a low deactivate select gate signal to the select gate control lines connected to the selected nonvolatile voltage cells to allow them to float. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The voltage level of the very high negative program voltage and the high positive program select voltage are less than the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder. The voltage level of the high negative program voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The high program select voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the low program deselect voltage level is from approximately −2.0V to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to avoid programming of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells.
[0031] For verifying a page program, a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, the row decoder transfers a voltage level of a upper boundary of programmed threshold voltage level to the word line of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The column decoder transfers a second read biasing voltage level to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The select gate decoder transfers an activate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a deactivate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The upper boundary of an programmed threshold voltage level is approximately +1.0V for the single level cell program. The bit line is pre-charged to the voltage level of the second read voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor, where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage level is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has been successfully programmed and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are not successfully programmed, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the programmed EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0032] In other embodiments, a method for operating an array includes steps for providing the operating conditions for reading, page erasing, block erasing, chip erasing, page erase verifying, block erase verifying, chip erase verifying, page programming, and page program verifying of selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. For the step of reading a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a read reference biasing voltage level is transferred to the word line of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A read reference biasing voltage level is transferred to the word lines of the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells in the selected and unselected blocks. A bit line read biasing voltage is transferred to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source is transferred to the drains of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. An activate select gate signal is transferred to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and transfers a deactivate select gate signal to the select gate control lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The bit line read biasing voltage has a voltage level of approximately +1.0V. The read biasing voltage level is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD, where power supply voltage source is either 1.8V or 3.0V. The voltage level of the bit lines is pre-charged to the first read voltage level. The pre-charged level of the first read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has been successfully programmed and has a threshold voltage level is less than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are not successfully programmed, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0033] For the step of erasing a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a very high positive erase voltage is transferred to the word line of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block are set to the ground reference voltage level. The word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are disconnected and allowed to float so that the very high negative erase voltage is coupled from the isolation well of the first impurity type to the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells in unselected blocks. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the selected and unselected select gate control lines. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to an isolation well of the first impurity type. The voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage are less than approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V.
[0034] For the step of verifying a page erase, a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is transferred to the word lines of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A second read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. An activate select gate signal is applied to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and a deactivate select gate signal is applied to the select gate control lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the bit lines is pre-charged to second read voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor wherein the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0035] For the step of erasing a selected block of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a very high positive erase voltage is applied to all the word lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the selected block. The word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the unselected blocks are disconnected so that the very high negative erase voltage is coupled from the isolation well of the first impurity type to the word lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells in unselected blocks. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the selected and unselected select gate control lines. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the isolation well of the first impurity type. The voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage is approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V.
[0036] For the step of verifying a block erase, a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is applied to the word lines of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A second read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. An activate select gate signal is applied to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the bit lines are pre-charged to the second read voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0037] For the step of erasing an entire chip containing the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a very high positive erase voltage is applied to all the word lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the entire chip. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the all the select gate control lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells of the entire chip. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The very high negative erase voltage is applied to the isolation well of the first impurity type. The voltage levels of the very high positive erase voltage and the very high negative erase voltage is less than approximately the breakdown voltage level of transistors. The voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V.
[0038] For the step verifying erasing an entire chip, the row decoder transfers a voltage level of a lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level to the word line of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A second read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. An activate select gate signal is transferred to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The lower boundary of an erased threshold voltage level is approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the bit lines is pre-charged to the second read voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor, where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V.
[0039] For the step of programming a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a very high negative program voltage is applied to the word line of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A second negative program inhibit voltage is applied to the word lines of the unselected word lines is the selected block and the unselected blocks of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A high program select voltage level is applied to the bit lines and thus to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells that are to be programmed. A low program deselect voltage level is applied to the bit lines and thus to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells that are not to be programmed. A high positive activate control signal is transferred to the select gate control lines connected to the selected nonvolatile voltage cells and a low deactivate select gate signal is transferred to the select gate control lines connected to the unselected nonvolatile voltage cells to allow them to float. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The voltage level of the very high negative program voltage is less than the breakdown voltage level of transistors forming the row decoder. The voltage level of the high negative program voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The high program select voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the low program deselect voltage level is from approximately −2.0V to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to avoid programming of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells.
[0040] For the step of verifying a page program, a selected page of the array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells, a voltage level of an upper boundary of an programmed threshold voltage level is applied to the word line of the selected and unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. A second read biasing voltage is applied to the drains of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. An activate select gate signal is transferred to the select gate control lines of the selected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells and a deactivate select gate signal is transferred to the select gate control lines of the unselected EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells. The source lines of the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The upper boundary of an programmed threshold voltage level is approximately +1.0V for the single level cell program. The voltage level of the bit lines is pre-charged to the second read voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source less a threshold voltage of an NMOS transistor, where the voltage level of the power supply voltage source is either +1.8V or +3.0V. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has been successfully programmed and has a threshold voltage level is less than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are not programmed, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the programmed EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the upper boundary of the threshold voltage level. The activate select gate signal has a voltage level of approximately +5.0V and the deactivate select gate signal has a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0041] FIG. 1 a is schematic diagram of an embodiment of a two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0042] FIG. 1 b is a top plan view of an embodiment of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0043] FIG. 1 c is a cross sectional cross sectional view of an embodiment of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0044] FIG. 2 a is a graph of the single threshold voltage distribution of a floating gate select transistor of a two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell having a single threshold voltage level embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0045] FIG. 2 b is a graph of two threshold voltage distributions of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell having a single positive program level and a positive erase level.
[0046] FIGS. 3 a - 3 d are simplified schematic diagrams of an array of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cells illustrating the bias conditions for reading, programming, page erasing and chip erasing of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0047] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a nonvolatile memory device embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0048] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an array of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cells of FIG. 4 embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0049] FIG. 6 a is a schematic diagram of a block row decoder of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0050] FIG. 6 b is a schematic diagram of select gate decoder of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0051] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a level shifter circuit of the block row decoders of FIG. 6 embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0052] FIG. 8 is flow chart for the method for operating the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 .
[0053] FIG. 9 is flow chart for the method for erasing and erase verifying a page, block, or chip of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 .
[0054] FIG. 10 is flow chart for the method for programming and program verifying a page of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 .
[0055] FIG. 11 is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to the two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cells of FIG. 5 incorporated in the nonvolatile memory device embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0056] FIG. 12 a is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to the row decoder of FIG. 6 for the nonvolatile memory device for nonvolatile memory device embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0057] FIG. 12 b is a table illustrating the voltage conditions applied to the select gate decoder of FIG. 6 for the nonvolatile memory device for nonvolatile memory device embodying the principles of the present invention.
[0058] FIG. 13 is a plot of threshold voltage for the floating gate memory transistor in the two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention vs. program time for hot-hole injection.
[0059] FIG. 14 is a timing diagram for erasing and erase verification of a block of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 5 .
[0060] FIG. 15 is a timing diagram for programming and program verification of a block of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 5 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0061] FIG. 1 a is schematic diagram of an embodiment of a two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell 5 . FIG. 1 b is a top plan view of an embodiment of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell 5 . FIG. 1 c is a cross sectional cross sectional view of an embodiment of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell 5 . The two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell 5 is formed in the top surface of a P-type substrate 10 . An N-type material is diffused into the surface of the P-type substrate 10 to form a deep N-well 15 . A P-type material is then diffused into the surface of the deep N-well 15 to form a P-well 20 (commonly referred to as a triple P-well—TPW). The N-type material is then diffused into the surface of a P-type well TPW 20 to form the drain region (D) 31 of the NMOS floating-gate select transistor 30 , the source region of the floating gate select transistor 30 and the source/drain regions (S/D) 55 . The source/drain region 55 is the source region of the floating gate select transistor 30 and the drain region for the floating gate memory transistor 25 . A first polycrystalline silicon layer is formed above the bulk region of the P-type well 20 between the drain region 31 and the source/drain region 55 of the NMOS floating-gate select transistor 30 to form the floating gate 32 . The first polycrystalline layer is also formed above the bulk region between the source/drain region 55 and the source region 29 to form the floating gate 27 of the floating gate memory transistor 25 . A second polycrystalline silicon layer is formed over the floating gates 27 and 32 to create the control gates 28 and 33 of the floating gate memory transistor 25 and the floating-gate select transistor 30 . The source/drain regions 55 is formed between the adjacent second polycrystalline silicon layers of control gates 28 and 33 of the floating gate memory transistor 25 and the floating-gate select transistor 30 . The source region 29 of the floating gate memory transistor 25 is shown as a half source region in that the whole source region 29 is shared with the source region of an adjacent two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell 5 in an array. The self-aligned source/drain regions 29 are commonly used in the floating gate memory transistor 25 to reduce the source line pitch.
[0062] In an array, multiple two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are arranged in a matrix of rows and columns. The control gates 28 of the floating gate memory transistor 25 is extended to form a word line 35 that connects to each of the floating gate memory transistor 25 on a row of the array. The control gate 33 of the NMOS floating-gate select transistor 30 is connected to receive the select gating signal 40 at the drain 31 . A P + -contact 21 connects a P-well TPW 20 to the P-well voltage source 70 , the N + -contact 16 is connected to the deep N-well voltage source 65 , and the P + -contact 11 is connected to the P-substrate voltage source 60 . In most embodiments P-substrate voltage source 60 is actually the ground reference voltage source.
[0063] FIGS. 2 a and 2 b are graphs of threshold voltage levels of various embodiments of a two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell with a floating gate memory transistor 25 and a floating-gate select transistor 30 of FIG. 1 a . FIG. 2 a illustrates the voltage thresholds levels the NMOS floating-gate select transistor 30 . The floating-gate select transistor 30 has a positive threshold voltage that is nominally approximately +2.0V. The voltage level applied to the select gating signal 40 must be greater than the select gating voltage VSG (boosted) to insure that the floating-gate select transistor 30 will turn on. The select gating voltage VSG (boosted) is set to a voltage level that is approximately +2.0V greater than the positive threshold voltage Vt 1 of the floating-gate select transistor 30 . The select gating voltage VSG (boosted) will be discussed in more detail hereinafter for the read operation, the program operation, the program verify operation, the erase operation (page, block, and chip), and the erase verify operation.
[0064] FIG. 2 b illustrates the voltage thresholds levels for programming and erasing of the floating gate memory transistor 25 . There is a positive programmed threshold voltage level (Vt 1 ) representing a logical “0” datum and one positive erased threshold voltage level (Vt 0 ) representing a logical “1” datum. The programmed threshold voltage level (Vt 1 ) is established through a Fowler-Nordheim edge tunneling effect and the erased threshold voltage level (Vt 0 ) is established through a Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling effect. An upper boundary of the threshold voltage Vt 0 H for programming of the floating gate memory transistor 25 with an voltage level of approximately +1.0 V to activate the Fowler-Nordheim edge tunneling effect. A lower boundary of the threshold voltage Vt 1 L for erasing the floating gate memory transistor is approximately +4.0V to activate the Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling effect.
[0065] FIGS. 3 a - 3 d are simplified schematic diagrams of an array of a two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m illustrating the bias conditions for reading, programming, page erasing and chip erasing of two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention. The EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m are arranged in rows and columns to form an array. The schematic diagrams of FIGS. 3 a - 3 d are simplified to show a single column of the array of EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m . Each of the EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m has a floating gate select transistor 115 a , . . . , 115 m and a floating-gate memory transistor 120 a , . . . , 120 m . The drains of the floating gate memory transistors 120 a , . . . , 120 m and the source of floating-gate select transistors 115 a , . . . , 115 m are connected together. The drains of the floating gate select transistors 115 a , . . . , 115 m on each column are commonly connected to the bit line 140 . The control gates of each of the floating gate memory transistors 120 a , . . . , 120 m on each row are commonly connected to one of a word lines 125 a , . . . , 125 m The sources of the floating-gate memory transistors 120 a , . . . , 120 m on each row of the array are commonly connected to the source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m . The gates of the floating-gate select transistors 115 a , . . . , 115 m are connected to the select gate lines 130 a , . . . , 130 m . The array 100 of the EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m are formed in a single P-type well TPW 105 .
[0066] The word lines 125 a , . . . , 125 m are connected to a row decoder that decodes a block and row address and applies the appropriate voltages to the word lines 125 a , . . . , 125 m for reading, programming, and erasing selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . The select gate lines 130 a , . . . , 130 m are connected to a select gate decoder that decodes a block and row address and applies to the appropriate voltage levels to the source lines select gate lines 130 a , . . . , 130 m for reading, programming, and erasing selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . The bit line 140 is a pass gate and sense amplifier that decodes a column address and applies the appropriate biasing voltages for reading, programming, and erasing selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . The bit line 140 is representative of multiple bit lines in a much larger array of EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m . The P-type well TPW 105 and the source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m are connected to be appropriately biased for reading, programming, and erasing selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 .
[0067] FIG. 3 a illustrates the biasing voltages for reading data from selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . The word line 125 a , which is connected to the selected page having the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 a containing the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a , is set to the voltage level of the read voltage threshold VR or approximately the level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The power supply voltage source VDD is either 1.8V or 3.0V. The unselected word line 125 m, which is connected to the unselected page having the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 m containing the unselected floating gate memory transistor 120 m , is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The select gate line 130 a connected to the selected floating-gate select transistor 115 a is set to the voltage level select gating voltage VSG that is approximately +4.0V. The select gate line 130 m , which is connected to the unselected page having the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 m containing the unselected floating gate memory transistor 115 m , is set to a first select gate inhibit biasing voltage that is approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The bit line BL[ 0 ] 140 is set to the read biasing voltage level of approximately +1.0V. The P-type well TPW 105 and the source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0). The bit line 140 is pre-charged to the voltage level of the first read voltage of approximately the 1.0V. The pre-charged level of the first read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 a has been programmed and has a threshold voltage level less than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. If the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 a is erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 a is greater than the lower boundary erased threshold voltage level of approximately +4.0V. If the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a is erased as a logical “1”, the selected NMOS floating gate memory transistor 120 a will not turn on and a sense amplifier will detect the programmed level of the logical “1”. Alternately, if the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a is programmed with a logical “0”, the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a will turn on and a sense amplifier will detect the programmed level of the logical “0”.
[0068] FIG. 3 b illustrates the biasing voltages for programming data to selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . The word line 125 a , which is connected to the selected page having the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 a containing the selected floating gate memory transistor 115 a , is set to the voltage level of a very high negative programming voltage level of from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V. The unselected word line 125 m , which is connected to the unselected page containing the unselected floating gate memory transistor 120 m , is disconnected to be floating. The select gate line 130 a connected to the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a is set to a voltage level of a very high positive voltage that is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The select gate line 130 m , which is connected to the unselected page having the unselected floating-gate select transistor 115 m , is set to a program inhibit voltage level that is approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. The P-type well TPW 105 and the source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0). If the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a is to remain erased as a logical “1”, the bit line 140 connected to the selected NMOS floating gate memory transistor 120 a will be set to a voltage level of the ground reference voltage source. Alternately, if the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a is to be programmed with a logical “0”, the bit line 140 connected to the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a is set to the program biasing drain voltage of approximately +5.0V.
[0069] FIG. 3 c illustrates the biasing voltages for erasing a page of data from selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . The word line 125 a , which is connected to the selected page having the selected EEPROM configured memory cell 110 a containing the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a , is set to the voltage level of a very high positive erasing voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The unselected word line 125 m , which is connected to unselected pages of the selected block containing an unselected floating gate memory transistor 120 m , is set to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source. The unselected word line 125 m , which is connected to unselected pages of an unselected block containing an unselected floating gate memory transistor 120 m , is set to the very high negative erasing voltage level of from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V. The select gate lines 130 a , . . . , 130 m are connected are set to the very high negative erasing voltage level of from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V. The bit line 140 , the P-type well TPW 105 , and the source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m are set to the very high negative erasing voltage level of from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V.
[0070] The 20.0 V difference voltage difference of the very high positive erasing voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V at the selected word line 125 a and the very high positive erasing voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V between the control gate of the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a and the P-type well TPW 105 induces the Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling phenomena that attracts electrons into the floating-gate of the selected floating gate memory transistor 120 a in the selected page. As a consequence, the threshold voltage of the selected floating gate memory transistor is increased. After about 500 μS, the threshold voltage would be increased to be greater than lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L of approximately 4.0V. The bias conditions as shown, prevent the floating gate memory transistors 120 m in the unselected pages from being effected during the erase operation. After a page erase operation, an erase verification operation is executed to insure that the desired erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L of approximately 4.0V is achieved.
[0071] FIG. 3 d illustrates the biasing voltages for erasing an entire chip of data from selected EEPROM configured memory cells 110 a , . . . , 110 m of the array 100 . All the word lines 125 a , . . . , 125 m of the chip containing the all the floating gate memory transistor 120 a , . . . , 120 m are selected and set to the voltage level of a very high positive erasing voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The select gate lines 130 a , . . . , 130 m are connected are set to the very high negative erasing voltage level of from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V. The bit line 140 , the P-type well TPW 105 , and the source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m are set to the very high negative erasing voltage level of from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V.
[0072] As described, the 20.0 V difference voltage difference of the very high positive erasing voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V at the selected word lines 125 a , . . . , 125 m and the very high positive erasing voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V between the control gate of all the floating gate memory transistors 120 a , . . . , 120 m and the P-type well TPW 105 induces the Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling phenomena that attracts electrons into the floating-gate of the selected floating gate memory transistors 120 a , . . . , 120 m in the chip. As a consequence, the threshold voltage of the floating gate memory transistors 120 a , . . . , 120 m is increased. After about 500 μS, the threshold voltage would be increased to be greater than lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L of approximately +4.0V.
[0073] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a nonvolatile memory device 200 embodying the principles of the present invention incorporating the various embodiments of EEPROM configured memory cells of the present invention. The EEPROM nonvolatile memory device 200 includes an array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells arranged in a matrix of rows and columns. The array 205 is partitioned into a uniform number of blocks 210 a , . . . , 210 m and each block is divided into a uniform number of pages 215 a , 215 b , . . . , 215 n , and 216 a , 216 b , . . . , 216 n , For instance, a 1 Mb memory array device may be divided into 128 blocks. Each block then becomes 8 KB and may be divided into a number of pages such as 8 pages of 1 KB each. Further, the block is divided into pages. In this example, the page may have a size of 4 Kb such that one page is equivalent to one word line or row of the block or sub-array 215 a , 215 b , . . . , 215 n , and 216 a , 216 b , . . . , 216 n . Thus, each block 215 a , 215 b , . . . , 215 n , and 216 a , 216 b , . . . , 216 n has 8 pages or word lines.
[0074] The column address decoder 265 receives a column address 290 , decodes the column address 290 , and from the decoded column address 290 selects which columns of the array are being accessed. The data register and sense amplifier 260 activates the appropriate bit lines 270 a , . . . , 270 k for operating a selected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m . The appropriate bit lines 270 a , . . . , 270 k are further connected to the column address decoder 265 . The data register and sense amplifier 260 receives the data signals through the bit lines 270 a , . . . , 270 k from the selected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m and senses and holds the data from the data signal for a read operation. In a program operation, the data is transferred from the data register and sense amplifier 260 through the bit lines 270 a , . . . , 270 k to the selected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m . The data being read from or written (program and erase) to the array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells is transferred to and from the data register and sense amplifier 260 through the column address decoder 265 from and to the data input/output bus 295 .
[0075] Each block 215 a , 215 b , . . . , 215 n , and 216 a , 216 b , . . . , 216 n of the array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells is connected to a row decoder 220 through the word lines 275 a , 275 b , . . . , 275 n , 276 a , 276 b , . . . , 276 n . Each block 210 a , . . . , 210 m is connected to a block row decoder 230 a , . . . , 230 m within the row decoder 220 for providing the appropriate voltage levels to a selected page or word line for reading and programming selected EEPROM configured memory cells. The row address 285 is transferred to each of the block row decoders 230 a , 230 b , . . . , 230 n to select the page or word line and to provide the appropriate voltage levels for reading and programming the selected EEPROM configured memory cells.
[0076] Each block 215 a , 215 b , . . . , 215 n , and 216 a , 216 b , . . . , 216 n of the array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells is connected to a select gate decoder 240 through the select gate lines 280 a , 280 b , . . . , 280 n and 281 a , 281 b , . . . , 281 n . The select gate decoder 240 is formed of multiple blocks of select gate decoders 245 a , . . . , 245 m . Each block 215 a , 215 b , . . . , 215 n , and 216 a , 216 b , . . . , 216 n is connected with its own select gate line decoder 245 a , . . . , 245 m for providing the appropriate voltage levels to selected gate lines of a selected page for reading and programming selected EEPROM configured memory cells. The row address 285 is transferred to each of the block select gate line decoders 245 a , 245 b , . . . , 245 m to select the select gate line of the selected page to provide the appropriate voltage levels for reading, programming, and erasing the selected EEPROM configured memory cells.
[0077] Refer now to FIG. 5 for a discussion of the structure of a block 210 of the array 205 of FIG. 4 . The block 210 is exemplary of the all the blocks 210 a , . . . , 210 m of array 205 . The block 210 is placed in a common P-type well TPW 212 and contains all the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 of the block 210 . The EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are arranged in rows and columns to form the sub-array of the block 210 . Each of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are formed of a floating-gate memory transistor MC and a floating-gate select transistor MS. The floating-gate select transistor MS of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 have their drains commonly connected to a bit line 270 a , . . . , 270 k associated with a column on which the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are placed. The source of the floating-gate select transistor MS is commonly connected to the drain of the floating-gate memory transistor MC. The sources of the floating-gate memory transistors MC of adjacent pairs of rows of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are connected to one source line 135 a , . . . , 135 m . The source lines 135 a , . . . , 135 m are connected externally to the array to receive the appropriate source biasing voltages for reading, programming, and erasing selected EEPROM configured memory cells 5 . The control gates of the floating-gate memory transistors MC are connected to the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m . The word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m are connected to the row decoder 220 of FIG. 4 . The block 210 divided into pages 215 a , . . . , 215 m . The page 215 a , . . . , 215 m being groupings of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 having their control gates connected commonly to a word line (WL 0 ) of the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m . The control gates of the floating-gate select transistors MS are connected to the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m . The select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m are commonly connected to the select gate decoder 240 of FIG. 4 to received the activation signals to turn on the selected floating-gate select transistors MS for reading, programming, erasing and verifying selected floating-gate memory transistors MC.
[0078] FIG. 6 a is a schematic diagram of a representative row decoder 220 of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . Each row decoder 220 is partitioned into block decoders 230 a , . . . , 230 m . The number of block decoders 230 a , . . . , 230 m in each row decoder 220 is equal to the number of blocks 210 a , . . . , 210 m of FIG. 4 . the logic gate 310 a , . . . , 310 m (an AND gate in this embodiment) receives the block address 320 of the row address 285 of FIG. 4 , decodes the block address 320 to select which of the block row decoders 230 a , . . . , 230 m is to be activated for reading, programming, or erasing. The output of the logic gate 310 a , . . . , 310 m is the block select signal RXD [ 0 ] 312 a , . . . , RXD [m] 312 m that is the input to an input to the level shift circuit 315 a , . . . , 315 m . The level shift circuit 315 a , . . . , 315 m receives the power supply voltage levels 325 that are used to shift the lower voltage logic level of the block select signal RXD [ 0 ] 312 a , . . . , RXD [m] 312 m to the levels required for reading, programming, and erasing. The outputs of the level shift circuit 315 a , . . . , 315 m are the high voltage block select signals XD 330 a , . . . , 330 m and XDB 332 a , . . . , 332 m that are applied to the row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 m.
[0079] The row decode circuits 340 a , . . . , 340 m provide the appropriate voltage levels for transfer to the rows of the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m of the selected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m of FIG. 4 . The voltage levels applied to row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 m are provided by the high voltage power supply voltage lines 335 . Each high voltage power supply voltage lines XT[0:1] 335 is associated with one of the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m and is set according to the operation (read, program, erase, or verify) to be executed and are discussed hereinafter. The row decode circuits 340 a , . . . , 340 m have the row pass devices formed of the high voltage PMOS transistors 341 a , . . . , 341 m and the high voltage NMOS transistors 342 a , . . . , 342 m connected pair-wise in parallel. The gates of the PMOS transistors 341 a , . . . , 341 m are each connected to one of the high voltage out of phase block select signals XDB 332 a , . . . , 332 m . The gates of the NMOS transistors 342 a , . . . , 342 m are each connected to one of the in-phase block select signals XD 330 a , . . . , 330 m . The sources of the PMOS transistors 341 a , . . . , 341 m and the drains of the NMOS transistors 342 a , . . . , 342 m are connected to the high voltage power supply voltage lines XT[0:1] 335 associated with one of the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m . The drains of the PMOS transistors 341 a , . . . , 341 m and the sources of the NMOS transistors 342 a , . . . , 342 m are connected to the drain high voltage pass transistors 343 a , . . . , 343 m associated with one of the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m . The drains of the PMOS transistors 341 a , . . . , 341 m and the sources of the NMOS transistors 342 a , . . . , 342 m are further connected to the drain of the NMOS transistors 343 a , . . . , 343 m. The gate of the NMOS transistors 343 a , . . . , 343 m is connected to the out of phase block select signals XDB 332 a , . . . , 332 m and the sources of the NMOS transistors 343 a , . . . , 343 m are connected to the ground reference voltage source (0.0). For the row decoders 230 a , . . . , 230 m of the unselected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m , the level shift circuit 315 a , . . . , 315 m are deactivated and the out of phase block select signals XDB 332 a , . . . , 332 m are set to turn on the NMOS transistors 343 a , . . . , 343 m to set the drains of the NMOS transistors 343 a , . . . , 343 m to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0).
[0080] The high voltage pass transistors 351 a , . . . , 351 m form the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 m . The gates of the high voltage pass transistors 351 a , . . . , 351 m are connected together and to the isolation signal ISOB 366 . When activated, the high voltage pass transistors 351 a , . . . , 351 m connect the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m to the row decode circuits 340 a , . . . , 340 m through the word line biasing lines 345 a , . . . , 345 m . When deactivated, the high voltage pass transistors 351 a , . . . , 351 m isolate the word lines 275 a , . . . , 275 m to the row decode circuits 340 a , . . . , 340 m.
[0081] The PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 m are each formed in an independent N-type well 352 a , . . . , 352 m . The N-type well 352 a , . . . , 352 m for each of the N-type well 352 a , . . . , 352 m is connected to an N-type well switch 355 a , . . . , 355 m to individually charge or discharge the N-type wells 352 a , . . . , 352 m . The N-type well switch 355 a , . . . , 355 m includes the PMOS transistors 356 a , . . . , 356 m and 357 a , . . . , 357 m and the NMOS transistor 358 a , . . . , 358 m . The gates of the PMOS transistors 356 a , . . . , 356 m and the NMOS transistors 358 a , . . . , 358 m are connected to the out of phase block select signals XDB 332 a , . . . , 332 m . The gates of the PMOS transistors 357 a , . . . , 357 m are connected to the out of phase read signal RDB 364 . The drains the PMOS transistors 356 a , . . . , 356 m and 357 a , . . . , 357 m and drains the NMOS transistors 358 a , . . . , 358 m are connected to the N-type wells 352 a , . . . , 352 m . The sources of the PMOS transistors 356 a , . . . , 356 m and 357 a , . . . , 357 m are connected to the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP 1 362 and the sources of the NMOS transistors 358 a , . . . , 358 m are connected to the negative N-well biasing voltage source VM 1 360 .
[0082] FIG. 6 b is a schematic diagram of select gate decoder 240 of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 4 . Each select gate decoder 240 is partitioned into a block select gate decoders 245 a , 245 b , . . . , 245 m . The number of block select gate decoders 245 a , 245 b , . . . , 245 m in each select gate decoder 425 is equal to the number blocks 210 a , . . . , 210 m in the array 205 of FIG. 4 . The logic gate 410 a , . . . , 410 m (an AND gate in this embodiment) receives the block address 420 of the row address 285 of FIG. 4 , decodes the block address 420 to select which of the block select gate decoders 245 a , . . . , 245 m is to be activated for reading, programming, or erasing. The output of the logic gate 410 a , . . . , 410 m is the block select signal RXD [ 0 ] 412 a , . . . , RXD [m] 412 m that is the input to an input to the level shift circuit 415 a , . . . , 415 m . The level shift circuit 415 a , . . . , 415 m receives the power supply voltage levels 425 that are used to shift the lower voltage logic level of the block select signal RXD [ 0 ] 412 a , . . . , RXD [m] 412 m to the levels required for reading, programming, and erasing. The outputs of the level shift circuit 415 a , . . . , 415 m are the high voltage block select signals XD 330 a , . . . , 330 m and XDB 432 a , . . . , 432 m that are applied to the row decode circuit 440 a , . . . , 440 m.
[0083] The row decode circuits 440 a , . . . , 440 m provide the appropriate voltage levels for transfer to the rows of the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m of the selected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m of FIG. 4 . The voltage levels applied to row decode circuit 440 a , . . . , 440 m are provided by the high voltage power supply voltage lines 435 . Each high voltage power supply voltage lines 435 is associated with one of the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m and is set according to the operation (read, program, erase, or verify) to be executed and are discussed hereinafter. Each of the row decode circuits 440 a , . . . , 440 m have the row pass devices formed of the high voltage PMOS transistors 441 a , . . . , 441 m and the high voltage NMOS transistors 442 a , . . . , 442 m connected pair-wise in parallel. The gates of the PMOS transistors 441 a , . . . , 441 m are each connected to one of the high voltage out of phase block select signals XDB 432 a , . . . , 432 m . The gates of the NMOS transistors 442 a , . . . , 442 m are each connected to one of the in-phase block select signals XD 330 a , . . . , 330 m . The sources of the PMOS transistors 441 a , . . . , 441 m and the drains of the NMOS transistors 442 a , . . . , 442 m are connected to the high voltage power supply voltage line 435 associated with one of the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m . The drains of the PMOS transistors 441 a , . . . , 441 m and the sources of the NMOS transistors 442 a , . . . , 442 m are connected to the drain high voltage pass transistors 443 a , . . . , 443 m associated with one of the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m . The drains of the PMOS transistors 441 a , . . . , 441 m and the sources of the NMOS transistors 442 a , . . . , 442 m are further connected to the drain of the NMOS transistors 443 a , . . . , 443 m . The gate of the NMOS transistors 443 a , . . . , 443 m is connected to the out of phase block select signals XDB 432 a , . . . , 432 m and the sources of the NMOS transistors 443 a , . . . , 443 m are connected to the ground reference voltage source (0.0). For the select gate decoders 245 a , . . . , 245 m of the unselected block 210 a , . . . , 210 m , the level shift circuit 415 a , . . . , 415 m are deactivated and the out of phase block select signals XDB 432 a , . . . , 432 m are set to turn on the NMOS transistors 443 a , . . . , 443 m to set the drains of the NMOS transistors 443 a , . . . , 443 m to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0).
[0084] The high voltage pass transistors 451 a , . . . , 451 m form the PMOS high voltage isolators 450 a , . . . , 450 m . The gates of the high voltage pass transistors 451 a , . . . , 451 m are connected together and to the isolation signal ISOB 366 . When activated, the high voltage pass transistors 451 a , . . . , 451 m connect the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m to the row decode circuits 440 a , . . . , 440 m through the select gate biasing lines 445 a , . . . , 445 m . When deactivated, the high voltage pass transistors 451 a , . . . , 451 m isolate the select gate lines 280 a , . . . , 280 m to the row decode circuits 440 a , . . . , 440 m.
[0085] The PMOS high voltage isolators 450 a , . . . , 450 m are each formed in an independent N-type well 452 a , . . . , 452 m . The N-type well 452 a , . . . , 452 m for each of the N-type well 452 a , . . . , 452 m is connected to an N-type well switch 455 a , . . . , 455 m to individually charge or discharge the N-type wells 452 a , . . . , 452 m . The N-type well switches 455 a , . . . , 455 m include the PMOS transistors 456 a , . . . , 456 m and 457 a , . . . , 457 m and the NMOS transistors 458 a , . . . , 458 m . The gates of the PMOS transistors 456 a , . . . , 456 m and the NMOS transistors 458 a , . . . , 458 m are connected to the out of phase block select signals XDB 432 a , . . . , 432 m . The gates of the PMOS transistors 457 a , . . . , 457 m are connected to the out of phase read signal RDB 364 . The drains the PMOS transistors 456 a , . . . , 456 m and 457 a , . . . , 457 m and drains the NMOS transistors 458 a , . . . , 458 m are connected to the N-type wells 452 a , . . . , 452 m . The sources of the PMOS transistors 456 a , . . . , 456 m and 457 a , . . . , 457 m are connected to the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP 1 362 and the sources of the NMOS transistors 458 a , . . . , 458 m are connected to the negative N-well biasing voltage source VM 1 360 .
[0086] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the level shifter circuits 315 a , . . . , 315 m and 415 a , . . . , 415 m respectively of the row decoder of FIG. 6 a and the select gate decoder of FIG. 6 b . Referring now to FIG. 7 , the level shifter circuit 515 has two sub-level-shifter circuits 570 and 580 to translate the low voltage level of the block select signal RXD 512 to a voltage level of a positive high voltage power source VPX 527 . The voltage translation maintains the drain to source breakdown voltage BVDSS that is less than ±10V such that special high voltage devices are not required for the circuitry of the nonvolatile memory device 200 of FIG. 4 . The first level shift circuit 570 has pair of cross connected PMOS transistors 571 and 572 that have their sources and bulk regions connected to the positive high voltage power source VPX 527 . The drain of the PMOS transistor 571 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 572 and the drain of the PMOS transistor 572 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 571 . The drain of the PMOS transistors 571 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 575 and the drain of the PMOS transistors 572 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 577 . The gate of the NMOS transistor 575 is connected to receive the block select signal RXD 512 . The block select signal RXD 512 is connected to the input of the inverter 576 . The output of the inverter 576 is connected to the gate of the NMOS transistor 577 . The sources of the NMOS transistors 575 and 577 are connected to the ground reference voltage source (0.0).
[0087] The output nodes 573 and 574 of the first level shift circuit 570 are the input nodes of the second level shift circuit 580 . The second level shift circuit 580 has a pair of PMOS transistors 581 and 582 that have their sources and bulk regions connected to the high voltage power supply VPX 527 . The drain of the PMOS transistor 581 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 585 and the source of the PMOS transistor 583 . The drain of the PMOS transistor 582 is connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 586 and the source of the PMOS transistor 584 . The output node 573 of the first level shift circuit 570 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 581 and the output node 574 of the first level shift circuit 570 is connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 582 . The sources of the NMOS transistors 585 and 586 are connected to the negative high voltage source VNX 526 . The drains of the PMOS transistors 583 and 584 are connected to the drain of the NMOS transistor 587 . The source of the NMOS transistor 587 is connected to the ground reference voltage source. The gate of the NMOS transistor 587 is connected to the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 528 . The out-of-phase block select signal XDB 533 is at the junction of the connection of the drains of the PMOS transistors 581 and 583 and the NMOS transistor 585 . The in-phase block select signal XD 532 is at the junction of the connection of the drains of the PMOS transistor 582 and 584 and the NMOS transistor 586 .
[0088] The first sub-level shifter circuit 570 receives the low voltage logic signal of the block select signal RXD 512 and generates the high voltage block select signal XD 532 and XDB 533 . The two sub-level-shifter circuits 570 and 580 , as designed, provide the positive and negative very high voltages and yet not exceed the drain-to-source breakdown voltage of the transistors of the two sub-level-shifter circuits 570 and 580 . The negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 528 selectively activates the NMOS transistor 587 to provide the appropriate ground reference voltage level to allow the in-phase block select signal XD 532 and the out-of-phase block select signal XDB 533 to be set to the voltage level of the negative high voltage source VNX 526 during a program and erase.
[0089] FIG. 8 is flow chart for the method for operating the nonvolatile memory device 200 of FIG. 4 . FIG. 9 is flow chart of the method for erasing and erase verifying a page, block, or chip of the nonvolatile memory device 200 of FIG. 4 . FIG. 10 is flow chart of the method for programming and program verifying a page of the nonvolatile memory device 200 of FIG. 4 . Refer now to FIGS. 4-11 , 12 a , and 12 b for a discussion of the operating voltage levels required for the reading, programming, erasing, and verification of the nonvolatile memory device 200 . The method begins by determining (Box 600 ) if the operation is an erase. If the operation is an erase operation, the erase is determined (Box 605 ) to be a page, block, or chip erase. If the operation is to be a page erase, the page to be erased is selected (Box 610 ) and the page is erased (Box 620 ). The voltage levels for erasing a page of the array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are shown in FIG. 11 The word lines 275 U of the unselected blocks 410 U of the selected chips are set to the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V as coupled from the P-type well TPW 212 . The P-type well TPW 212 of the selected chip set to the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The selected word line 275 S of the selected block is set to a very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The unselected word line 275 SU in the selected block 410 S is set to the approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The selected bit line 270 S is set to the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The selected and unselected select gate line 280 S are set to the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V.
[0090] To establish the page erase values as just described the row decoders 230 a , 230 b , . . . , 230 m have voltage levels described in FIG. 12 a and the select gate decoders 245 a , 245 b , . . . , 245 m have voltage levels described in FIG. 12 b . The selected word line 275 S must be set to the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the unselected word lines 275 SU of the selected block are set to the approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The unselected word lines 275 U of the unselected blocks are coupled to the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V coupled from the P-type well TPW 212 . The selected select gate line 280 S, unselected select gate lines 280 SU of the selected block, and unselected select gate lines 280 U of the unselected blocks must be set to the very high negative erase voltage is from approximately −10.0V to approximately −8.0V. To accomplish these levels as shown in FIGS. 12 a and 12 b , the row decoders 275 a , 275 b , . . . , 275 n of the selected blocks 410 S have their selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S associated with the selected word line 275 S set to the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to be fed through the row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 n and the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 n to the selected word line 275 . The unselected high voltage power supply voltage line 335 U associated with the selected word line 275 SU set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage level to be fed through the row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 n and the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 n to the unselected word line 275 SU. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 330 S, indicating that a block 210 S is selected, is set to the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the voltage level of the out-of-phase block select signals XD 330 U, indicating that the unselected blocks 410 U are unselected, is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to be coupled from the row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 n through the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 m such that the unselected word lines 275 U are coupled to the very high negative erase voltage that is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V from the P-type well TPW 212 . The N-type wells 352 S of the selected block 410 S is connected to the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to avoid voltage breakdown in the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 m and the N-type well switch 355 a , . . . , 355 m . The N-type wells 352 U of the selected block 410 U is connected to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).
[0091] To transfer the very high positive erase voltage present on the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S to the selected word line 275 S, the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 m are activated with the isolation signal ISOB 366 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The out of phase read signal RDB 364 , positive high voltage power source VPX 327 , and the positive N-well biasing voltage source VP 1 362 are set to the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to set the selected word line 275 S to the voltage level of the very high positive erase voltage is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The high negative voltage source VNX 326 , negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 328 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to set the unselected word lines 275 SU of the selected block 410 S to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).
[0092] The select gate decoders 280 a , 280 b , . . . , 280 m of the selected blocks 410 S have their selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 S associated with the selected select gate line 280 S, the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 U associated with the unselected select gate lines 280 SU of the selected block, and unselected select gate lines 280 U of the unselected blocks are set to the voltage level of the very high negative erase voltage to be fed through the row decode circuit 440 a , . . . , 440 m and the PMOS high voltage isolators 450 a , . . . , 450 m to the selected select gate line 280 S and unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 430 S and the voltage level of the out-of-phase block select signals XD 430 U are set to the very high negative erase voltage to be coupled from the row decode circuit 440 a , . . . , 440 m through the PMOS high voltage isolators 450 a , . . . , 450 m such that the selected select gate line 280 S and the unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U are set to the very high negative erase voltage that is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V. The N-type wells 452 S of the selected block 410 S and the N-type wells 452 U of the selected blocks 410 U are connected to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).
[0093] To transfer the very high negative erase voltage present on the selected high voltage power supply voltage lines XT 435 S, 435 SU, and 435 U to the selected select gate line 280 S, the PMOS high voltage isolators 450 a , . . . , 450 m are activated with the isolation signal ISOB 466 is set to a very high negative select level of approximately −12V. The out of phase read signal RDB 464 is set to the very high positive erase voltage. The positive high voltage power source VPX 427 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the high negative voltage source VNX 426 is set to the very high negative erase voltage level. The negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 428 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD and set the selected gate lines 280 S and the unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U of the selected and unselected blocks to very high negative erase voltage.
[0094] Returning now to FIG. 9 , after the completion of the page erase operation (Box 620 ), the page erase verify operation is executed (Box 625 ) to determine if the erase has been successfully accomplished. The voltage levels for the page erase verification for the array 205 of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are shown in FIG. 11 . Referring to FIG. 11 , the selected word line 275 S and the unselected word lines 275 SU of the selected blocks 410 S and the unselected word lines 275 U of the unselected blocks 410 U are set to the lower boundary of the threshold voltage Vt 1 L that is approximately +4.0V. The selected bit line 270 S is pre-charged to the second read voltage level that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD less a threshold voltage Vt of an NMOS transistor. The pre-charged level of the second read voltage level is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells are erased, the pre-charged level of the second read voltage level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L. The selected select gate line 280 S is set to the high read select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V and the unselected select gate lines are set a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).
[0095] Referring to FIG. 12 a to discuss the voltage levels of the row decoders 230 a , 230 b , . . . , 230 m , the selected word line 275 S and the unselected word lines 275 SU and 275 U are set to the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage level Vt 1 L by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S and the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 SU and 335 U to the voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage level Vt 1 L. The voltage level of the selected and unselected in-phase block select signals XD 330 S and 330 U, the positive high voltage power source VPX 327 , and the selected and unselected negative N-well biasing voltage lines NW 352 a and NW 352 U are set to lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L to pass the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage level Vt 1 L to the selected word line 275 S. The out of phase read signal RDB 364 , the first high negative voltage source VNX 326 , and the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 328 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The isolation signal ISOB 366 is set to a first negative read activation voltage level of approximately −5.0V. These voltage levels, as described, fully pass the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage level Vt 1 L from the selected and unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S and XT 335 U to the selected word line 275 S and the unselected word lines 275 SU and 275 U.
[0096] Returning to FIG. 11 , the selected bit lines BL 270 S for the selected columns are pre-charged to the pre-charge voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD less the threshold voltage Vt (VDD−Vt) for sensing the status of the selected floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 on the activated columns. The pre-charge voltage level (VDD−Vt) will be discharged to 0V when any of the floating-gate memory transistors MC have not been successfully erased to the lower boundary of the threshold voltage level Vt 1 L of the floating-gate memory transistor MC is lower than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level. If the floating-gate memory transistors MC are erased, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the floating-gate memory transistor MC is greater than the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L. The select gate lines 280 S for the selected block is set to the voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″ of approximately +5.0V to fully couple the pre-charged voltage level of second read voltage level that is the power supply voltage source VDD less the threshold voltage Vt (VDD−Vt) from the bit lines 270 a , . . . , 270 k to the drains of the selected floating-gate memory transistors MC.
[0097] Referring to FIG. 12 b to discuss the voltage levels of the select gate decoders 245 a , 245 b , . . . , 245 m , the selected select gate line 280 S is set to the high read select voltage HV″ by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 S to the high read select voltage HV″. The unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) by setting the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 SU and 435 U to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 430 S, selected and unselected negative N-well biasing voltage lines NW 452 S and NW 452 U, and the positive high voltage power source VPX 427 are set to the high read select voltage HV″. The unselected in-phase block select signals 430 U, negative high voltage power source VNX 426 , the out of phase read signal RDB 464 , and the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 428 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The isolation signal ISOB 466 is set to a second negative read activation voltage level of approximately −5.0V. These voltage levels, as described, fully pass the high read select voltage HV″ from the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 S to the selected select gate line 280 S. Further, the voltage levels, as described, fully pass voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) from the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 U to the unselected select gate lines 280 U.
[0098] Returning to FIG. 9 , if the page erase verify (Box 625 ) indicates the page erase (Box 620 ) is not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 630 ) to assess that the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 635 ) and the page erase operation (Box 620 ) is executed repetitively until the maximum number of erasure trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 640 ) or the erasure is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 645 ).
[0099] Return now to FIG. 9 . If the operation is not a page erase but is determined (Box 605 ) to be a block erase, the block to be erased is selected (Box 615 ) and the block is erased (Box 615 ). Referring now to FIGS. 11 , 12 a and 12 b , the voltage levels for the block erase are identical to that of the page erase described above except that there are no unselected word lines 275 SU in the selected block 410 S. All the word lines 275 S are now selected for erasure and placed at the very high positive erase voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to accomplish the block erase.
[0100] Returning now to FIG. 9 , after the completion of the block erase operation (Box 620 ), the block erase verify operation is executed (Box 625 ) to determine if the block erase has been successfully accomplished. The block erase verify operation (Box 625 ) is identical to the page erase verify. The selected and unselected word lines 275 S, 275 SU, and 275 U are set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L or approximately +4.0V for the single level cell program as shown in FIG. 12 a.
[0101] Returning to FIG. 9 , if the block erase verify (Box 625 ) indicates that the block erase (Box 620 ) was not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 630 ) to assess that the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 635 ) and the block erase operation (Box 620 ) is executed repetitively until the maximum number of erasure trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 640 ) or the erasure is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 645 ).
[0102] If the operation is to be a chip erase, the chip is erased (Box 625 ). Referring now to FIGS. 11 , 12 a and 12 b , the voltage levels for the chip erase are identical to that of the page erase and block erase described above except that there are no unselected word lines 275 SU or 275 U. All the word lines 275 S are now selected for erasure and placed at the very high positive erase voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V to accomplish the chip erase.
[0103] Returning now to FIG. 9 , after the completion of the chip erase operation (Box 625 ), the chip erase verify operation is executed (Box 630 ) to determine if the block erase has been successfully accomplished. The chip erase verify (Box 625 ) is identical to the page erase verify. All the selected and unselected word lines 275 S, 275 SU, and 275 U are set to a voltage level of the lower boundary of the erase threshold voltage Vt 1 L.
[0104] If the chip erase verify (Box 625 ) indicates that the block erase (Box 620 ) was not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 630 ) to assess that the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of erasure trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 635 ) and the chip erase (Box 620 ) operation is executed repetitively until the maximum number of erasure trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 640 ) or the erasure is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 645 ).
[0105] Returning now to FIG. 8 , if the operation is determined (Box 600 ) not to be an erase operation, the operation is determined (Box 650 ) if it is a program operation. If the operation is determined (Box 650 ) to be a page program operation (referring to FIG. 10 ), data is loaded (Box 655 ) to the data register and sense amplifier 260 and the page to be programmed is selected (Box 660 ) to be transferred to the bit line 270 a , . . . , 270 k through the activation of the data register and sense amplifier 260 . The floating-gate memory transistors MC of the selected page are then programmed with the voltage levels applied as shown in FIG. 11 , 12 a , and 12 b . Referring to FIG. 11 , the unselected word lines 275 U of the unselected blocks 410 U because the unselected row decode circuits 340 a , . . . , 340 m are turned off and the unselected word lines 275 SU of the selected block 410 S are set to the voltage level of the ground level voltage source (0.0V). The selected word line 275 S is set to the high negative program voltage level that is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10, which is somewhat less than the drain to source breakdown voltage BVDSS of the transistors of the row decoder 220 of FIG. 4 . The selected bit lines BL 270 S for the columns that are to be programmed are set to the high program voltage is approximately +5.0V. The unselected bit lines BL 270 U (the program inhibited) for the columns that are to remain erased are set to a voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) or alternately disconnected and allowed to float. The selected select gate line 280 S connected to the selected page is set to the high program select voltage of approximately 10.0V. The unselected select gate lines 280 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The source lines of the array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells 5 , and the P-type well TPW 212 in which the array 205 of EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are formed is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).
[0106] To establish the voltage levels as described for the programming in FIG. 11 , the row decoder 220 has the voltage levels shown in FIGS. 12 a and the select gate decoder has the voltage levels shown in FIG. 12 b . Referring to FIG. 12 a , to have the selected word line 275 S set to a high negative program voltage level that is from approximately −8.0V to approximately −10.0V, the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S associated with the selected word line 275 S set to the very high negative program voltage level. To have the unselected word lines 275 SU set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V), the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 SU associated with the unselected word lines 275 SU set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). To have the unselected word lines 275 U of the unselected blocks disconnected and floating the selected row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 m are deactivated to disconnect the unselected word lines 275 U to be floating. The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 330 S, indicating that a block 410 S is selected is set to approximately the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) such that the very high negative program voltage is coupled from the selected row decode circuit 340 a , . . . , 340 n through the PMOS high voltage isolator 350 a , . . . , 350 m to the selected word line 275 S. The voltage level of the out-of-phase block select signals XD 330 U, indicating that a block is unselected, is set to the very high negative program voltage to turn off all the voltages from the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 U and XT 335 SU to the force unselected word line 275 SU and 275 U to be disconnected and allowed to float. The selected N-type well NW 352 S of the selected block and the N-type wells 352 U of the unselected blocks 410 U are connected to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The isolation signal ISOB 366 is set to a very large program activation voltage level of approximately −12.0V to activate the PMOS high voltage isolators 350 a , . . . , 350 m to transfer the very high negative program voltage to the selected word lines 275 S and the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to the unselected word lines 275 SU and disconnecting the unselected word lines 275 U such that they are floating. The out of phase read signal RDB 364 is set to the very high negative program voltage. The positive high voltage power source VPX 327 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) and the negative high voltage power source VNX 326 is set to the very high negative program voltage. To enable the passage of the very high negative program voltage from the negative high voltage power source VNX 326 , the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 328 is set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD.
[0107] Referring now to FIG. 12 b , the selected select gate line 280 S is set to the very high positive program voltage that is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U are voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). Further, the selected select gate lines 280 S is to be set to the voltage level of very high program voltage level of from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V and the unselected select gate lines 280 S is to be set to the voltage level of approximately the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). To have the selected select gate line 280 S set to the very high program voltage level, the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 S associated with the selected select gate lines 280 S set to very high program voltage level. To have the unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V), the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 U associated with the unselected select gate lines 280 U set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signal XD 430 S, indicating that a block is selected is set to approximately the high program select voltage of approximately +10.0V. The voltage level of the unselected in-phase block select signals XD 430 S, indicating that a block is selected, are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The selected N-type well NS 452 S of the selected block and the N-type wells 452 U of the unselected blocks is set to the high program select voltage of approximately +10.0V. The isolation signal ISOB 466 is set to the voltage level of a negative pass gate activation voltage level of approximately −2.0V to activate the PMOS high voltage isolators 450 a , . . . , 450 m to transfer the very high positive program voltage to the selected select gate lines 280 S and the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) to the unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U. The out of phase read signal RDB 464 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source and the positive high voltage power source VPX 427 is set to the very high positive program voltage that is from approximately +8.0V to approximately +10.0V. The negative high voltage power source VNX 426 is set to the very high negative program voltage. To enable the passage of the very high negative program voltage from the negative high voltage power source VNX 426 , the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 428 is set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source.
[0108] Returning now to FIG. 10 , after the completion of the program operation (Box 665 ), the page program verify operation is executed (Box 670 ) to determine if the program has been successfully accomplished. If the program operation (Box 665 ) is not successful, a loop counter is tested (Box 675 ) to assess that the maximum number of program trials is not exceeded. If the maximum number of program trials is not exceeded, the loop counter is incremented (Box 680 ) and the page program operation (Box 665 ) is executed repetitively until the maximum number of program trials is exceeded and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having failed (Box 685 ) or the programming is a success and the nonvolatile memory device is declared as having successfully been erased (Box 690 ).
[0109] Referring to FIG. 11 , the program verify operation (Box 670 ) is essentially the same as the erase verify (Box 630 ) of FIG. 9 except the selected word line 275 S is set to the upper boundary of the threshold voltage level Vt 0 H to evaluate the programmed threshold voltage of the selected NMOS floating gate transistors Mc.
[0110] FIG. 13 is a plot of threshold voltage for the floating gate memory transistor in the two floating-gate transistor EEPROM configured memory cell embodying the principles of the present invention vs. program time for hot hole injection. In the example illustrated the selected bit lines BL 270 S for the columns that are to be programmed are increased from the high program voltage that is approximately +5.0V to a voltage of approximately +6.0V to activate a Fowler-Nordheim hot-hole injection phenomena. It can be seen that the threshold voltage Vt of the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are able to be programmed to a lower voltage level 700 of approximately +1.0V in approximately 300 μs. The setting of the selected bit lines BL 270 S for the columns that are to be programmed to the higher program voltage is approximately +6.0V allows the Fowler-Nordheim hot-hole injection phenomena or maintaining the high program voltage of approximately +5.0V allows a slower Fowler-Nordheim drain edge injection. The program current for each cell in these examples is approximately 1.0 nA. This permits a page program that is similar to that of a NAND flash nonvolatile memory page program operation.
[0111] Returning now to FIG. 8 , if the operation is determined (Box 650 ) not to be a program operation, the operation is a read operation and the read operation is executed (Box 695 ). The selected page is then read with the voltage levels applied as shown in FIG. 11 , 12 a , and 12 b . Referring to FIG. 11 , the selected word line 275 S and the unselected word lines 275 SU of the selected blocks and the unselected word lines 275 U of the unselected blocks are set to the read voltage threshold VR that is approximately the level of the power supply voltage source VDD. The selected bit line 270 S is set to the first read voltage level of approximately +1.0V. The selected select gate line 280 S is set to the high read select voltage HV″ that is approximately +5.0V and the unselected select gate lines 280 S and 280 SU are set a voltage level of the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V).
[0112] Referring to FIG. 12 a to discuss the voltage levels of the row decoders 230 a , 230 b , . . . , 230 n , . . . , 245 n , the selected word line 275 S and the unselected word lines 275 SU and 275 U are set to the read voltage threshold VR by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S and the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 SU and 335 U to the voltage level of the read voltage threshold VR. The voltage level of the selected and unselected in-phase block select signals XD 330 S and 330 U, the positive high voltage power source VPX 327 , and the selected and unselected negative N-well biasing voltage lines NW 352 S and NW 352 U are set to the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD to pass the read voltage threshold VR to the selected word line 275 S. The out of phase read signal RDB 364 , the first high negative voltage source VNX 326 , and the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 328 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The isolation signal ISOB 366 is set to a first negative read activation voltage level of approximately −5.0V. These voltage levels, as described, fully pass the read voltage threshold VR from the selected and unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 335 S and XT 335 U to the selected word line 275 S and the unselected word lines 275 SU and 275 U.
[0113] Returning to FIG. 11 , the selected bit lines BL 270 S for the selected columns are pre-charged to the first read voltage level of approximately +1.0V for sensing the status of the selected floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 on the activated columns. The selected select gate lines 280 S for the selected block is set to the voltage level of the high read select voltage HV″ of approximately +5.0V to fully couple the read voltage threshold VR from the bit lines 270 a , . . . , 270 k to the selected floating-gate memory transistors MC.
[0114] Referring to FIG. 12 b to discuss the voltage levels of the select gate decoders 245 a , 245 b , . . . , 245 m , the selected select gate line 280 S is set to the high read select voltage HV″ by setting selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 S to the high read select voltage HV″. The unselected select gate lines 280 SU and 280 U are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) by setting the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 SU and 435 U to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The voltage level of the selected in-phase block select signals XD 430 S, selected and unselected negative N-well biasing voltage lines NW 452 n and NW 452 U, and the positive high voltage power source VPX 427 are set to the high read select voltage HV″. The unselected in-phase block select signals 430 U, negative high voltage power source VNX 426 , the out of phase read signal RDB 464 , and the negative power supply enable signal ENVNX 428 are set to the voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V). The isolation signal ISOB 466 is set to a second negative read activation voltage level of approximately −5.0V. These voltage levels, as described, fully pass the lower boundary of the high read select voltage HV″ from the selected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 S to the selected select gate line 280 S. Further, the voltage levels, as described, fully pass voltage level of the ground reference voltage source (0.0V) from the unselected high voltage power supply voltage line XT 435 U to the unselected select gate lines 280 U and 280 SU.
[0115] Refer to FIGS. 14 and 15 for a summary of the erase and program operations of the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 of FIG. 5 within the EEPROM memory array 205 of FIG. 4 . FIG. 14 is a timing diagram for erasing and erase verification of a block of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 5 . During the erase operation 620 between the time τ 0 and the time τ 1 . The voltage levels are as described above for FIGS. 11 , 12 a , and 12 b to initiate an Fowler-Nordheim channel tunneling phenomena to inject more electrons to the floating-gate to increase the threshold voltage Vt of the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 to greater than the lower boundary of the threshold voltage Vt 1 L that is approximately +4.0V.
[0116] The erase verify operation 625 has two segments a pre-charge period 626 and the verification period 627 . The pre-charge period 626 is between the time τ 1 and the time τ 2 . At this time, the selected bit line 270 S is pre-charged to the second read voltage level that is approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD less a threshold voltage Vt of an NMOS transistor. In the verification time between the time τ 2 and the time τ 3 , the pre-charged level of the second read voltage level is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cells have not been successfully erased and has a threshold voltage level that is less than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells 5 are erased, the second read voltage level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the erased EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells 5 is greater than the lower boundary of the erased threshold voltage level Vt 1 L. The Y-pass gate and sense amplifier 260 b of FIG. 4 determines if the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are erased and has achieved the threshold voltage level representing the datum of a logical “1”. If the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 is not erased, the data register and sense amplifier 260 of FIG. 4 determines that the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 has not achieved the threshold voltage level representing a datum of logical “1”. The voltage levels as shown are established as described above for FIGS. 11 , 12 a , and 12 b.
[0117] FIG. 15 is a timing diagram for programming and program verification of a block of the nonvolatile memory device of FIG. 5 . During the program operation 665 between the time τ 0 and the time τ 1 . The voltage levels are as described above for FIGS. 11 , 12 a , and 12 b to initiate an Fowler-Nordheim drain edge tunneling phenomena to extract electrons to the floating-gate to decrease the threshold voltage Vt of the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the selected EEPROM configured memory cells 5 on the selected bit lines 270 S to less than the upper boundary of the threshold voltage Vt 0 H that is approximately +1.0V. For the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the unselected EEPROM configured memory cells 5 on the unselected bit lines 270 U, the program inhibit voltage level that is the ground reference voltage source is applied to the unselected bit lines 270 U.
[0118] The program verify operation 670 has two segments a pre-charge period 671 and the verification period 672 . The pre-charge period 671 is between the time τ 1 and the time τ 2 . At this time, the selected bit lines 270 S are pre-charged to approximately the voltage level of the power supply voltage source VDD less a threshold voltage Vt of an NMOS transistor. In the verification time between the time τ 2 and the time τ 3 , the pre-charged level of the second read voltage is discharged to approximately 0.0V when the memory cell has not been successfully programmed and has a threshold voltage level that is less than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. If the EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells 5 are not programmed, the pre-charged level will be maintained when the threshold voltage of the programmed EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells 5 is greater than the upper boundary of the programmed threshold voltage level. The data register and sense amplifier 260 of FIG. 4 determines if the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 are programmed and has achieved the threshold voltage level representing the datum of a logical “0”. If the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 is not programmed, the data register and sense amplifier 260 of FIG. 4 determines that the floating-gate memory transistor MC of the EEPROM configured memory cells 5 has not achieved the threshold voltage level representing a datum of logical “0”. The voltage levels as shown are established as described above for FIGS. 11 , 12 a , and 12 b.
[0119] The description of the nonvolatile memory device 200 of FIG. 4 incorporating EEPROM configured memory cells having a floating-gate memory transistor and a floating gate select transistor. In other embodiments, the EEPROM configured memory cells include charge trapping transistor formed with a layers of silicon, a first layer of silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, a second layer of silicon oxide and a layer of polycrystalline silicon commonly referred to as a SONOS charge trapping transistor to form a charge trapping memory transistor and a charge trapping select transistor within the EEPROM configured memory cells to embody the principles of this invention. Further, as shown in FIG. 14 , other voltage levels may be used for reading, programming, erasing and verifying the EEPROM configured memory cells in other embodiments and still be in keeping with the principles of this invention. One key aspect of the principles of this invention is that the structure of the row decoder 220 , the select gate decoder 240 , and the data register and Sense Amplifier 260 of FIG. 4 provide the operating voltages voltage levels that do not exceed the drain-to-source breakdown voltage of the transistors used to construct the row decoder 220 , the select gate decoder 240 , and the data register and Sense Amplifier 260 of FIG. 4 .
[0120] While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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A nonvolatile memory device includes an array of EEPROM configured nonvolatile memory cells each having a floating gate memory transistor for storing a digital datum and a floating gate select transistor for activating the floating gate memory transistor for reading, programming, and erasing. The nonvolatile memory device has a row decoder to transfer the operational biasing voltage levels to word lines connected to the floating gate memory transistors for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The nonvolatile memory device has a select gate decoder circuit transfers select gate control biasing voltages to the select gate control lines connected to the control gate of the floating gate select transistor for reading, programming, verifying, and erasing the floating gate memory transistor of the selected nonvolatile memory cells. The operational biasing voltage levels are generated to minimize operational disturbances and preventing drain to source breakdown in peripheral devices.
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[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/200205, filed Apr. 28, 2000, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to the enhancement of Web page delivery. More specifically, the invention employs techniques in identifying visitors, both humans and search engine spiders, and appropriately redirecting them to specific Universal Resource Locators. The invention employs templates and generates virtual Web pages optimized for particular search engines. Thus, the invention has application in the field of electronic commerce.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The ability to manage and control the typical Web site has become an increasingly demanding task. This is due to the complex nature of Web sites and their use of various technologies that provide dynamic content with the aid of complex content management systems utilizing database systems. These Web sites are designed to provide the optimal experience for the human user. This is often done by using sophisticated graphics and multimedia to provide a highly visual and personalized experience for visitors. For the online marketer, all these factors provide a difficult environment for them to do their job of ensuring high visibility of their Web site, analyzing customer behavior and then acting on that behavior in a timely and responsive fashion.
[0004] From the situation described above, three primary factors for which help is required may be identified: visibility, control and analysis.
[0005] “Visibility” involves all the points of presence that a Web site provider has on the Internet that allow visitors to find links to the provider's Web site. This could include:
[0006] Search results in search engines
[0007] Banner advertisements
[0008] Affiliate Links
[0009] Promotional Emails which include Links
[0010] In each case a Universal Resource Locator (URL) or Web address is provided that allows visitors to click on and find a page within the provider's Web site.
[0011] Search engine visibility is extremely difficult as search engines typically use programs called “spiders” to visit Web sites, parse the text and then determine what terms, known as a keyphrase, best describes a provider's Web site. Such a process precludes search engines from seeing the bulk of most Web sites as they are only able to see the text on static Web pages and not the dynamic content held in databases nor the content held in graphics and multimedia. This situation leads search engines to often misrepresent or under-represent Web sites and the content they hold. To compound the problem, each search engine uses different criteria for ranking making it even more difficult to find a single page structure that appeals to them all. This also has an impact on the available number of pages that visitors doing searches could be directed to in order to find the content they are after. The visibility problem has been dealt with in the past by creating “doorway” pages for both people and search engines to enter through, but while this is a refinement of the problem it does not solve the problem as a balance between what the search engines see and what people see must still be struck.
[0012] “Control” relates to the ability, when direct visitors to a provider's Web site, to send them to the appropriate “landing point”. That is, send them to the most appropriate page rather than just to the Home page of the Web site. This is often a difficult task, especially when it is desired to change the page to which to direct visitors. In some cases, this is just not possible. For example, with search engines, if a page is indexed, the URL to which visitors will be directed cannot be “changed” at all. Similar cases with varying degrees of difficulty can be made for banner advertisements, affiliate links and promotional emails.
[0013] “Analysis” is most important to judge the success of the Visibility and Control aspects of the process with respect to driving quality traffic to some known goal in a provider's Web site such as a sale for example. Thus, analysis in this case should provide the maximum amount of information between source and sale. While analysis of Web traffic is quite common, it is limited in its ability to easily identify the source of the traffic and also in how well integrated it is with the Visibility and Control aspects. Having determined successes and deficiencies, it is necessary to be able to easily and in real time make changes to the Visibility and Control aspects. If possible, some situations should be handled automatically. Existing solutions track traffic once it comes to a provider's site but only determine its source with a great deal of work and often requiring changes to the Web site to do so. These solutions have no integration with the Visibility and Control aspects.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] In one aspect, the present invention is a method of enhancing web page delivery, comprising the steps of: receiving a request for a web page content from a requestor; identifying the requestor as either a human visitor or a search engine spider; and redirecting identified human visitors to a web page in an existing web site. The system may, for identified search engine spiders, dynamically generate one or more web pages optimized for the particular search engine spiders, and return generated web pages to the identified search engine spider.
[0015] Different web pages may be dynamically generated depending upon the particular search engine spider identified as the requestor. Updateable templates are merged with user entered data or information stored in a catalog database to dynamically generate the one or more web sites. In another aspect, the present invention is an apparatus for practicing the methods described above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] [0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an aspect of the system in its environment of use.
[0017] [0017]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the main process of the invention.
[0018] [0018]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the perform action process.
[0019] [0019]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process of redirecting and tracking actions used in the system.
[0020] [0020]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a redirection selection process used in the system.
[0021] [0021]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an optimized dynamically generated page process.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] In one aspect, the invention is a system (e.g., a method, an apparatus, and computer-executable process steps) for dynamically generating web pages for search engine spiders while redirecting human visitors to a web page in an existing web site.
[0023] Preferred embodiments of the system of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The system is described below in terms of both overall methodology and a physical implementation in an actual working software application, termed the “Information Exposition and Control Engine”, or more briefly “the IXC Engine”. The system is intended to be integrated with technology that delivers Web pages and is invoked during the initial stages of the Web page delivery process.
A. High Level Description
[0024] The IXC Engine leverages the hypertext transfer protocols to control where a requested web page is held. Accessing a Web page typically is accomplished by the following steps:
[0025] A user types a URL into their browser;
[0026] The browser locates a Web server holding that URL utilizing a Domain Name Server (DNS);
[0027] The browser sends a request to the located Web server for the desired page;
[0028] The Web server obtains the browser's request and processes it;
[0029] If the desired page is held at that site, the content of that page along with a satisfactory response code are returned;
[0030] The Web browser receives the Web server's response and any content or data along with the response code; and
[0031] If the response code indicates a successful interaction, the Web browser will present the Web page contents according to the instructions on that Web page.
[0032] During this interaction, the Web server may perform other actions. This may include communicating to the Web browser that the desired page no longer exists at that Web site and indicating the new location for the page. This may be a permanent or a temporary relocation. In either case, the Web browser will accept this new location and send another request for the desired page and the new location. In this scenario, the steps of accessing the desired page could comprise:
[0033] A user typing a URL into his browser;
[0034] The browser locating the Web server holding that URL utilizing a Domain Name Server (DNS);
[0035] The browser sending a request to the located Web server for the desired page;
[0036] The web server obtaining the browser's request and processing it;
[0037] If the page is now held elsewhere, returning the new URL for use in locating the desired page and a response code indicating if this relocation is temporary or permanent;
[0038] The Web browser receiving the Web server's response, the relocated URL and the response code;
[0039] The web browser locating the new URL using a Domain Name Server;
[0040] The browser sending a request to the newly located web server for the desired page;
[0041] The Web server obtaining the browser's request and processing it;
[0042] Returning the content of the desired page if held at that site with a satisfactory response code;
[0043] The Web browser receiving the Web server's response and any content or data along with the response code; and
[0044] If the response code indicates a successful interaction, the browser presenting the Web page contents according to the instructions on that Web page.
[0045] The IXC Engine uses this ability to handle requests and issue relocation responses to not only control where requests are sent, but also to generate Web page contents when needed. The remainder of this section discusses how this technique furthers the enhanced Web page delivery objective of the invention.
[0046] [0046]FIG. 1 depicts an environment in which the IXC Engine 10 and its associated graphical user interface 12 (referred to as Inceptor Excedia in the assignee's working model) operate to provide a solution to the problems described in the “Background” section of this application.
[0047] Note that search engine search results 18 are obtained by presenting to search engines 14 (via their spider programs) optimized virtual Web pages 16 especially tailored for each of the search engines 14 . The optimized virtual Web pages 16 result in URLs that point back to IXC Engine 10 via a network such as the Internet.
[0048] IXC Engine 10 interacts (via a browser not depicted) with a customer or prospect 22 when they click on a link 24 that has been created through the IXC Engine 10 and then distributed across the Internet via Banners 26 , Affiliate Links 28 , search engine results 18 or E-mails 30 . Whenever a customer or prospect 22 clicks on one of these links 24 , they are redirected to the appropriate page on an actual web site 20 .
[0049] All actions taken, whether the actions are visits by search engine spiders or redirections, are logged and reported to an Online Marketer 32 who configures the IXC Engine via Inceptor Excedia graphical user interface 12 . Customer or prospect 22 navigation through Online Marketer's Web site 20 can also be tracked and reported through image tags placed on each web page.
B. Lower Level Description
[0050] Below are described the primary processes of an embodiment of the invention: a main process shown in FIG. 2; a perform action process as shown in FIG. 3; a redirect and track process as shown in FIG. 4; a select redirect process as shown in FIG. 5; and an optimized dynamically generated page process as shown in FIG. 6. Describing these as separate processes is for ease of explanation only, and is meant by no means to be limiting. Indeed, one skilled in the art should easily envision other program structures not organized into five processes that still fall within the scope of the present invention.
[0051] Several definitions will aid in the description:
[0052] The Web delivery process is via a Web server. IXC Engine 10 can either run on the same Web server as the actual web site 20 or it can run on a separate Web server. The Web server that hosts IXC Engine 10 has part of IXC Engine 10 running as a plug-in to that Web server using its Application Programming Interface.
[0053] In delivering a Web page, the Web delivery process is responding to an “incoming request”.
[0054] “Return headers” are one part of the package of page content that the processes needs to generate. Specifically, the “return headers” contain information about the content, rather than being the content itself.
[0055] The “requesting agent” is the entity that is sending the incoming request.
[0056] A “signature database” is a means of assigning a name to the requesting agent. Each requesting agent has characteristics described in the signature database and these characteristics map to names.
[0057] The redirection is performed by issuing a return header that has an HTTP protocol identifying a temporary redirect.
[0058] A “spider” is a search engine's requesting agent, sending incoming requests to obtain Web pages for evaluation.
[0059] A “keyphrase” is what a customer or prospect 22 enters into a search engine to obtain a list of Web pages about that topic.
[0060] A “tag” is used to keep track of individual customers or prospects 22 who visit the Web page. Different visitors will have different tags. New visitors will not have been given tags previously.
[0061] Main Process
[0062] Main process 201 is depicted in FIG. 2, and may be comprised of the following steps:
[0063] Step 210—Main process 201 begins, having control handed to it from the Web delivery process, normally controlled by the Web server.
[0064] Step 220—Receive an incoming request. This is the request for a Web page that the Web delivery process has received.
[0065] Step 230—Identify requesting agent using signature database. Now the requesting agent has a name. Typically spiders are individually identified and human visitors are identified as such. Other identifications include human visitors from a particular organization, etc.
[0066] Step 240—Based on the signature identification and the request, perform a particular action. The action may include tracking the visitor, generating an optimized page dynamically, etc. The details of this process are described in the next section.
[0067] Step 250—Prior to ending main process 201 , log the details of the actions that have been taken for future reporting.
[0068] Step 260—Main process 201 is complete.
[0069] Perform Action Process
[0070] The individual steps which comprise the Perform Action Process 240 are illustrated in detail FIG. 3. In this process, the required actions are determined and performed. The steps which comprise this process are as follows:
[0071] Step 310—Program control is picked up from main process 201 .
[0072] Step 320—Associate incoming request with action(s). The incoming request may trigger one or more actions to be carried out shortly. This includes tracking the visitor, generating an optimized page dynamically, etc. For the moment, simply note the actions required, if any and take them.
[0073] Step 330—Determine if the incoming request is a request for a password protected page. Determine whether the associated actions indicate a username and password has been stored previously that can be given to the agent (who is now named).
[0074] Step 340—If the answer to the determination of Step 330 was in the affirmative, the username and password are added to the incoming request. This request will now be able to access a password protected system imposed by the Web delivery process, if and when control is returned to it.
[0075] Step 350—Initialize return headers. Any basic standard information may be included here.
[0076] Step 360—Determine whether the identification/request pair indicate the need to create an optimized dynamically generated page. The answer will usually be a “yes” for agents named as spiders and “no” for human visitors, but human visitors may have page contents generated for them as well.
[0077] Step 370—If the answer to the determination made in Step 360 is “no”, then program control flows to the Redirect and Tracking Process.
[0078] Step 380—If the answer to the determination made in Step 360 is “yes”, then program control flows to the Optimized Dynamically Generated Page Process.
[0079] Step 390—Pass control back to Main Process 201 .
[0080] Redirect & Track Process
[0081] In this process, the appropriate redirection and tracking actions are determined and performed. FIG. 4 depicts the steps in this process:
[0082] Step 410—Program control is picked up from the “Perform Action” process 240 .
[0083] Step 420—Determine whether the incoming request indicate a previously tagged visitor.
[0084] Step 430—If the answer to the query of Step 420 is “no”, then create a new tag for that visitor and include it in their return headers. Thus, when this visitor returns they will do so with this tag.
[0085] Step 440—Determine whether the incoming request relates to a URL that requires the update of active routing state information. This occurs when the decision process for redirection is based on previous traffic visits or redirections. Update of the active routing state information could include any form of numeric updates whether representing a dollar value or traffic number.
[0086] Step 450—If the answer to the query of Step 440 is “yes”, then update the relevant active routing state value, such as the indication that a particular page has been reached by a particular visitor.
[0087] Step 460—Determine whether the incoming request requires a redirection. If no, return program control to the “Perform Action” process 240 .
[0088] Step 470—If redirection is required, then perform “Select Redirect” process (shown in FIG. 5).
[0089] Step 480—Output the updated headers returned from the previous step.
[0090] Step 490—Return to the “Perform Action” process.
[0091] It should be noted that using a redirect for an image allows Web site providers to place image markers on their Web site that will redirect to an invisible image but produce traceable logs indicating which pages each visitor visits. A cookie/redirect image pair can be used to identify a visitor and log the visitor's path through a Web site. The visitor is identified only by the information held in the cookie that is nothing other than a unique number.
[0092] Select Redirect Process
[0093] In this process, a detailed redirection is selected. FIG. 5 depicts the steps of this process:
[0094] Step 510—Program control is received from the Redirect and Tracking process.
[0095] Step 515—Determine whether the current redirect is a simple redirect (e.g., a fixed URL). If “yes”, then perform skip to Step 520 , otherwise continue from Step 525 .
[0096] Step 520—Lookup the redirect URL to be used in the return header.
[0097] Step 525—Determine whether this is an Active Routing URL. If it is, checking and updating of state information is required. If it is an Active Routing URL, perform Step 530, otherwise continue from Step 550.
[0098] Step 530—Determine whether the present redirect is a threshold redirect—that is, does state information require checking and updating before a redirect decision is made. If “yes”, perform Step 535, otherwise perform Step 445.
[0099] Step 535—Check the threshold state information. If it has been reached—then perform Step 540, otherwise perform Step 545.
[0100] Step 540—If the threshold has been reached, the state information needs to be updated and the relevant (“winning”) URL chosen for the header, with all subsequent requests for this threshold test going to this URL.
[0101] Step 545—As a number of URL's maybe chosen at this stage—choose a valid one using the appropriate mechanism (random or round-robin) from the valid URLs.
[0102] Step 550—Determine whether the present redirect is a “smart redirect”. A “smart redirect” involves a simple redirect with the inclusion of a primary key from a database that can be included in the URL to allow for the selection of a dynamic page at the redirect website. If this is a “smart redirect”, perform Step 550, otherwise continue with Step 560.
[0103] Step 555—For a “smart redirect”, extract the primary key and generate a URL using this primary key.
[0104] Step 560—Determine whether the present redirect is an “advanced redirect”. An “advanced redirect” uses pattern matching processes to generate a URL. If this is an “advanced redirect”, proceed to Step 565, otherwise continue at Step 570.
[0105] Step 565—For an “advanced redirect”, pattern matching may be based on the referring URL as well as using any fields in the database being used for the content visibility of which “advanced redirect” is a part. Multiple patterns may be defined with different generation code depending on the URL to be created. This step generates a URL using any information available from the referring URL or the database connected thereto.
[0106] Step 570—If none of the other “create-URL” schemes are valid, then generate a default URL.
[0107] Step 575—At this point one of the previous steps has resulted in the generation of an appropriate URL. From the URL a header with a URL in the correct format is created for ultimate use in a return header to the requesting browser.
[0108] Step 580—Return control to the “Redirect and Track” process.
[0109] Optimized Dynamically Generated Page
[0110] In this process, optimized web pages for search engines are generated. FIG. 6 depicts the steps in this process.
[0111] Step 610—Process continues from the “Perform Action” process.
[0112] Step 620—In this step the process accesses the request which has been identified as requiring a web page generated for it.
[0113] Step 630—Based on the request, the appropriate content data is accessed from either a data store held in the IXC Engine (data was entered manually) or from a datastore external to the IXC Engine which could be a database.
[0114] Step 640—Based on the request, the appropriate Hyperlink structure will be chosen. For manually entered text a multi-tiered structure will be created giving the appearance of multiple web pages connected to support the keyphrase being promoted and hence accessed by the request. For content accessed from an external datastore, a single web page will be created (links will exist in this page to many other pages represented in this same datastore). Additional links can also be included to promote other keyphrases and/or records in other datastores.
[0115] Step 650—Based on the request and the requester the most appropriate template is selected. This template indicates the best method to present the data content accessed in step 630. A different template can exist for each search engine. A template can also be used for human visitors which could include identification based on some browser criteria, e.g. create a web page for a Mobile Telephone browser.
[0116] Step 660—Merge the content from 630 and the template from 650 to produce the appropriate page.
[0117] Step 670—Output the merged information in the form of headers and page information that can be read by browsers.
[0118] Step 680—Return control to the “Perform Action” process.
[0119] Configuring and Reporting
[0120] To assist in operating IXC Engine 10 , it is necessary to have a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) 12 to configure the settings. For example, GUI 12 is employed in changing the redirect URL for simple redirects and the specifications for more complex redirections.
[0121] A reporting module operated through GUI 12 may report all information captured throughout the previously described processes, and access the real time state information mentioned for Active Routing. From the captured information it is possible to:
[0122] Identify the number of unique customers or prospects 22 (“visitors”) being directed to a site through each of the channels (each referring URL that directs to the Inceptor server).
[0123] Generate click stream analysis from tracking URLs.
[0124] Determine conversion metrics (a visitor reaching a particular page) along with any additional referral information available upon reaching that page (e.g. dollar value of an order).
[0125] Identify the number and frequency of search engine spider visitors.
[0126] All of information described above can be generated in simple report formats in real time to show the most up-to-date state information. Aggregation of all the data, or select portions such as groupings of traffic channels data, may be performed to provide this information on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Consequently, a detailed “media-mix” analysis can be performed to provide accurate cost benefit analysis across all traffic channels based on cost of acquisition (e.g. cost of banner advertisements) and their value (e.g. value of each sale where a sale is marked as a conversion).
[0127] A real time tracking interface is also provided to allow selective tracking and monitoring of URLs. Monitoring allows a person, such as an online marketer 32 , to see the number of visits to a particular page and if appropriate the value of the conversion.
C. Description of a Preferred Embodiment
[0128] This section includes a description of a preferred physical embodiment of the inventive system. Each of the process steps described in the previous section are not all described again, but instead some specific examples are provided in order to demonstrate in specific terms how the invention might operate.
[0129] The Plug-In
[0130] A plug-in is required when IXC Engine 10 is operating on the same Web server as the web site 20 to which it is redirecting traffic. This plug-in is needed to differentiate which requests are coming to IXC Engine 10 and which should be passed onto the Web site 20 . This is determined by the URL requested. If the URL requested is one used by IXC Engine 10 , then it is handled by IXC Engine 10 , otherwise it handled by the Web server as it would have normally.
[0131] A preferred deployment is to operate IXC Engine 10 on a separate dedicated Web server using a subdomain of the actual web site's domain name. That is, if the domain name used by the web site was www.inceptor.com, then the domain is inceptor.com and a subdomain could be www2.inceptor.com. Different Web servers may use subdomains of the same domain and still share cookies associated with the same domain. This is important when using cookies between web servers for the purpose of identification and ongoing tracking across those web servers.
[0132] Identifying Agents and Spiders
[0133] The ability to differentiate agents and spiders and thus identify human visitors (customers or prospects 22 ) is accomplished by examining the User-agent tag and the IP address of the HTTP request. Signature database 34 stores both pieces of information accepts frequent updates to keep this data fresh. An example of an extract from signature database 34 is shown below:
user-agent$TV36_Mercator_n2s7_A-1.0: AltaVista user-agent$TV36_Mercator_n2s7_B-1.0: AltaVista ip$128.177.243.*: AltaVista ip$128.177.244.*: AltaVista
[0134] Here, an AltaVista spider is recognized by its user-agent tag holding the phrases “TV 36_Mercator_n 2s 7_A- 1.0” or “TV 36_Mercator_n 2s 7_B- 1.0”, or alternatively be recognizing it has an IP address between 128.177.243.1 and 128.177.243.255 or between 128.177.244 and 128.177.244.255. User-agent tags and IP addresses may also be identified explicitly to identify visitors as human and respond accordingly.
[0135] Associated Username and Password
[0136] It is also possible to take some traffic and assign it a username and password to allow it to access secure parts of a Web site. This occurs as part of the redirection process by providing the required user-id and password as used in a HTTP authentication process.
[0137] Generating Dynamic Pages
[0138] A key feature in the process of generating optimized dynamic pages, usuallu for search engine spiders, is the use of templates. Templates dictate how information is presented and thus what information is needed either from a database or from the provider of a Web site 20 through GUI 12 . Each template has placeholders for dynamic content placed in careful locations within an HTML (Hyperlink Text Markup Language) page. Some of the typical pieces of information required include:
[0139] Title—the title of the web page
[0140] Keyphrase—with what words does the provider want to promote the Web Page for (i.e., what relevant search words would most likely be used by a person searching for this page, or more appropriately the page to which they have been redirected).
[0141] Keyphrase Concepts (up to 8)—Supporting sentences for the keyphrase without using the same words as the keyphrase.
[0142] Descriptive Sentence—a short description of the information held in this page
[0143] Text—a large amount of text that is used to populate the bulk of the generated Web page. This text usually is derived from the Web page to which a visitor is being redirected.
[0144] When using templates to publish data from a database (the “hidden web”), it is also important that the database fields are mapped to the template's placeholders with any additional manipulation functions being made available. To enhance this capability, IXC Engine 10 may leverage the versatility of the Perl programming language. Perl scripts can be used in the templates to allow the greatest flexibility in adding features and manipulating data to generate the most appropriate HTML pages for each search engine.
[0145] It should also be noted that the flexible nature of the templates and their application allows for non-HTML pages to also be generated from the data provided. This may include pages of the following format:
[0146] XML—eXtensible Markup Language (using any specified format definition); or
[0147] WAP—Wireless Application Protocol.
[0148] All pages created may also be presented to non-spider traffic. For example, a Web provider could generate a WAP version and make this available to human users browsing through their mobile phones. These can be identified by the user-agent string used by WAP-browsers.
[0149] The following is an excerpt from a template:
<HTML lang=“<# system$language #>”> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=“Content-Type” CONTENT=“text/html; charset=<# system$charset #>” <META name=“description” content=“<# user$MetaDescription1 #>”> <# system$MKW_tag #><# system$MetaRefresh #> <TITLE><# user$Title1 #></TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <center> <H1> <# user$KeyPhrase1:capital #> </H1> <H2> <# user$KeyPhrase1:permutation:capital #> <# system$PageRandPunc #> <# user$KeyWordConcept1 #> </H2> </center> <p><b><# user$KeyPhrase1:capital #></b>: <i><# system$text:sentence #></i> <h2><# user$KeyPhrase1:capital #> <# user$KeyWordConcept2:capital #></h2> <# system$Image1 #> <h3><# user$KeyWordConcept3:capital #></h3> <# system$first_paragraph #> <h2><# user$KeyWordConcept4:capital #></h2> <# system$linklist #> <# system$other_paragraphs #> <# system$DomainLink #></BODY> </HTML>
[0150] A key feature of the IXC Engine 10 is that the templates may be updated (along with the spider signatures) automatically and remotely and that the templates drive the data requirements from both the GUI and the database perspective.
[0151] Redirection
[0152] As has been outlined in the preceding part of this application, there are multiple ways that a redirection can be determined. Before covering these in detail, the redirection process itself is covered as the same mechanism is used throughout the system.
[0153] The Redirection Process
[0154] IXC Engine 10 leverages the HTML standards for Server Response Codes. To explain this process, assume that the IXC Engine 10 controls (it may or may not generate a Web page depending on its use) the URL: http://www2.example.com/offer.htm and redirects human users who request this page to: http://www.example.com/bargain.htm. To perform a redirection, IXC Engine 10 performs the following actions (it is assumed that IXC Engine 10 is operating on a Web server that handles the subdomain www2.example.com):
[0155] Receives a request (this could be from a search engine placement or other URL placement on the internet such as a banner advertisement) for a URL http://www2.example.com/offer.htm
[0156] Determines that the request is from a human and that a redirection is required.
[0157] Establishes that the redirect URL is: http://www.example.com/bargain.htm
[0158] Issues a header with a response code 302 Moved Temporarily with the Location header URL set as http://www.example.com/bargain.htm
[0159] The definition of this particular response code, in the working model, falling within the category of “Client Request Redirected, further action necessary”, is as follows: Moved Temporarily—The requested URL has moved, but only temporarily. The Location header points to the new location. Immediately after receiving this status code, the client should use the new URL to resolve the request, but the old URL should be used for all future requests.
[0160] The temporary nature of the redirection ensures that multiple accesses from the same source of traffic will always request the original URL and not cache the redirect URL. This is important, as the IXC Engine allows for the redirect URL to be changed at any time with real time effect. As soon as this URL is changed the next person to request the original URL will be redirected to the newly entered redirect URL.
[0161] This same principle is used for all redirections. What will change is how this redirect URL is determined.
[0162] Additional information can be added to the redirection URLs which can identify the source of the redirected traffic (e.g. which search engine or which email campaign). This information then enriches the weblogs stored in the web server 20 rather than only having this information stored in the IXC Engine's logs. This enhances the information stored in the standard web logs used in all web servers.
[0163] Determining Redirect URL's
[0164] Given the basic principle of redirection described above, a number of mechanisms are available for determining the redirect URL. There are essentially two classes of redirect determination tasks—static and active. Within each of these classes several approaches are available. Static approaches available include:
[0165] Simple—for each URL a redirect URL is explicitly assigned
[0166] Smart—the redirect URL is determined according to a simple rule that places a primary key from a database into a URL mask
[0167] Advanced—generates a redirect URL using pattern matching techniques found in the Perl programming language. It takes values from both the original URL as well as any of the fields in the database being used to populate the templates.
[0168] For Active Routing URLs, a list of static URLs are made available (entered by the administrator of the software). The available methods for determining which URL to use to redirect a visitor include:
[0169] Random—select a URL at random from a list of static URLs
[0170] Round Robin—take the next URL from a list (each subsequent visitor gets the next URL in the list starting from the beginning once the end of the list has been reached)
[0171] Successful Conversion (Threshold Bound)—select URLs via the Random or Round Robin mechanism but keep track (tracking is covered in the next section) of each visitor to see if they reach a conversion page (a web page is designated as such a page). For each visitor that reaches this point increment a counter against the initially chosen URL. If this counter should reach a preset threshold limit, all subsequent traffic is then directed to this URL.
[0172] Successful Conversion (Time Bound)—same as Successful Conversion (Threshold Bound) except that no threshold is set. Instead a time is set at which point the URL with the greatest number of conversions is the URL that all subsequent traffic is directed to.
[0173] Target Limited—this also uses conversion counters as in the previous two approaches. For each URL in the list an upper bound is set for the number of conversions allowed. Visitors are directed to the next valid URL (random or round robin mechanism) where a valid URL is one that is in the list and has not yet reached its target limit. There must always be a default URL in case all URLs reach their limit.
[0174] Date Restrictions—each URL in the list of static URLs has a date range to select from. Each visitor is redirected to the next (random/round robin) valid (according to the date) URL.
[0175] To reinforce these descriptions, several examples are now provided for the scenarios described above.
[0176] Simple Example
[0177] For each URL provided by IXC Engine 10 , a static URL is assigned. This may easily be looked up as described in Step 520.
IXC URL Simple Redirect URL http://www2.example.com/offer1.htm http://www.example.com/bargain.html http://www2.example.com/banner/test01.html http://www.example.com/prod/may.html
[0178] In both examples, a URL is mapped to a redirect URL. The redirect URL exists on the actual website (these could be static or dynamic pages). The IXC URLs can have any structure so long as the correct subdomain is used.
[0179] Smart Example
[0180] In smart redirects there is a database available (this could be a text file) with multiple fields for each record. One of the fields is a primary key (unique identifying field) for the database. The same database may be used multiple times and in different ways. Each use is called a campaign. The following extract of a database is used in the example (only a portion of the Description fields are shown). Note that the field ISBN is the primary key—it is a unique identifier for each record.
Author Author ISBN Title Surname Firstname Description 01234567890 Learn Java in a Err Prog M. This book Day describes... 23451220999 How to Fly Wright Orville Basic avionics are explored... 88889393211 Travel the US Walker Long A walkers handbook...
[0181] For each campaign, a mechanism for generating the IXC URL (from the data available) is set. This is constructed by choosing which fields from the database to use in the URL structure. For example, if we select the fields: Title and Surname, the IXC URLs would look as follows:
http://www2.example.com/Learn_Java_in_a_Day/Err/ 01234567890.html http://www2.example.com/How_to_Fly/Wright/23451220999.html http://www2.example.com/Travel_the_US/Walker/88889393211.html
[0182] Next, each of the records using a simple redirect must have a redirect URL generated dynamically for them. This is accomplished by specifying three components that will make up the redirect URL: Stem, Primary Key, Tail. The following is an example of such a specification.
IXC URL IXC URL Stem Primary Key IXC URL Tail http://www.example.com/book?isbn= <#ISBN#> &detail=yes
[0183] This would generate the following URLs for the above examples:
http://www.example.com/book?isbn=01234567890&detail=yes http://www.example.com/book?isbn=23451220999&detail=yes http://www.example.com/book?isbn=88889393211&detail=yes
[0184] Using the Simple Redirect approach has wide use for systems that utilize the primary key to generate a dynamic page.
[0185] Advanced Redirect
[0186] The advanced redirect mechanism uses the same process for generating the IXC URL, but uses a much more sophisticated process to generate the redirect URL. It has two parts: the Match Path and the Redirect Specification. The Match Path matches the incoming URL that is, the IXC URL. This allows extensive use of the IXC URL as it can have additional information added to it and then incorporated into the redirect URL. Both use the Perl protocol for specifying a regular expression for the Match Path and the redirect specification.
[0187] Multiple Matching Paths may be specified. The first one that matches will then have its redirect specification enacted to generate the redirect URL. Should no Matching Path match the IXC URL, a default URL will be used.
[0188] The following example shows how the Advanced Redirect can be used.
Match Path Redirect Specification Wright/(.*?)/.* http://www.example.com/author=<db$AuthorSurname#> .*?/.*\.htm.* http://www.example.com/isbn=<#match$2#>
[0189] In the first example, a match will occur whenever a URL has “Wright” in the midst of the IXC URL. This will then cause a Redirect URL to be generated using Author's surname that comes from the database entry for that record (the correct record is chosen based on the primary key information held in the IXC URL.
[0190] In the second example, the match is made with any IXC URL and the Redirect URL is generated by using the information held in the IXC URL. In this case, the second matching component (the part preceding the “.htm”) is used to build up this URL.
[0191] These two examples show some simple uses of the database and matching components in building up a Redirect URL.
[0192] Random Redirect Selection Example
[0193] In selecting an Active Routing URL through Random selection, a list of static URLs is specified as follows. The following static URLs are assigned for the defined active URL www2.example.com/active/offers.htm:
http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer1.htm http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer2.htm http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer3.htm
[0194] Whenever any visitor clicks on the URL http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm, (this URL maybe embedded in a banner advertisement, affiliate link, email or a search engine result) they will be taken to one of the three “offer” URLs within the www.example.com website—chosen at random.
[0195] Round Robin Example
[0196] Using the example shown in the Random Example, if Round Robin were used, each visitor using the URL would be sent to the next URL in the list. The following table shows an example of redirections that would occur for the first 5 visitors to the URL http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm:
Visitor # to http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm Redirect URL 1 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer1.htm 2 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer2.htm 3 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer3.htm 4 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer1.htm 5 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer2.htm
[0197] Successful Conversion (Threshold Bound) Example
[0198] In this example, a list of static URLs(use the previous example's list) is appended with a threshold value and a page marker (described in a later section) that indicates a successful conversion. A successful conversion therefore, is a visitor clicking thring through this URL (http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm) and (during the same online session) arriving at the indicated page.
[0199] In this example, a threshold of “3” is set, and a selected page i s marked. Since either Random or Round Robin may be used to select the next Redirect URL initially, it is assumed that Round Robin has been selected. If the selected page is reached by any visitors, a counter is updated for that redirect URL. The following table shows an example of some interactions. For ease of depiction, the Redirect URLs are abbreviated as follows: “http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer1.htm” is depicted by “offer1.htm”. Also, “counter1” will signify the counter associated with offer1.htm, “counter2” will signify the counter associated with offer2.htm, and so on.
Visitor # Redirect URL Successful? Action 1 offer1.htm Yes counter1=1 2 offer2.htm Yes counter2=1 3 offer3.htm No No action 4 offer1.htm Yes counter1=2 5 offer2.htm No No action 6 offer3.htm Yes counter3=1 7 offer1.htm Yes counter1=3, threshold reached 8 offer1.htm Yes No action 9 offer1.htm No No action
[0200] Visitor 7 converting takes the counter for offer1.htm over the threshold “3” and hence all subsequent visitors are taken to offer1.htm.
[0201] Successful Conversion (Time Bound) Example
[0202] In this example, conversion works identically to conversion as in the previous example, except that instead of tracking a threshold, at a certain time the offer with the highest counter is selected for all subsequent redirects. Using the same example as above, we set the artificial time for the decision to be 12 noon.
Visitor # Time Redirect URL Successful? Action 1 09:00 offer1.htm Yes counter1 = 1 AM 2 09:30 offer2.htm Yes counter2 = 1 3 10:00 offer3.htm No No action 4 10:15 offer1.htm Yes counter1 = 2 5 11:45 offer2.htm No No action 6 11:50 offer3.htm Yes counter3 = 1 7 11:55 offer1.htm Yes counter1 = 3 8 12:05 offer1.htm Yes counter1 has PM highest 9 12:10 offer1.htm No No action
[0203] The only difference in this case is that the highest counter is chosen at a given time rather than a threshold value.
[0204] Target Limited Example
[0205] In this example, each redirect URL has an associated threshold associated with it. As in the previous examples, a counter is updated for each successful conversion. Once the threshold has been reached for a particular URL, no further redirects are sent to it.
[0206] The following test data is used (based on previous examples):
http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm Threshold Value http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer1.htm 3 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer2.htm 6 http://www.example.com/testoffers/offer3.htm 10
[0207] Using this test data and assuming Round Robin is used to select from available redirect URLs and similar schemes for counter maintenance, these results follow:
Visitor # Redirect URL Successful? Action 1 offer1.htm Yes counter1 = 2 2 offer2.htm Yes counter2 = 5 3 offer3.htm No No action 4 offer1.htm Yes counter1 = 1 5 offer2.htm No No action 6 offer3.htm Yes counter3 = 9 7 offer1.htm Yes counter1 = 0 (no more) 8 offer2.htm Yes counter2 = 4 9 offer3.htm No No action 10 offer2.htm Yes counter2 = 3 11 offer3.htm Yes counter3 = 8
[0208] As demonstrated in this example, after visitor 7, offer1.htm is no longer used as it has reached its threshold value and is no longer valid.
[0209] Date Restrictions
[0210] This example demonstrates how date or time restrictions can influence which Redirect URLs are selected. For each redirect URL, a valid date range must be used. This is shown in the following table:
http://www2.example.com/active/offers.htm Valid From Valid To http://www.example.com/testoffers/ 04-Jan-2001 04-Jan-2001 offer1.htm http://www.example.com/testoffers/ 04-Jan-2001 10-Jan-2001 offer2.htm http://www.example.com/testoffers/ 11-Jan-2001 15-Jan-2001 offer3.htm http://www.example.com/testoffers/ DEFAULT DEFAULT offers.htm
[0211] Using this test data (assuming Round Robin for multiple valid choice selection) these results follow:
Visitor # Date Redirect URL 1 4-Jan-2001 offer1.htm 2 4-Jan-2001 offer2.htm 3 4-Jan-2001 offer1.htm 4 5-Jan-2001 offer2.htm 5 5-Jan-2001 offer2.htm 6 12-Jan-2001 offer3.htm 7 15-Jan-2001 offer3.htm 8 16-Jan-2001 offers.htm 9 16-Jan-2001 offers.htm
[0212] This example demonstrates that only offers valid for the visitor's visit date are selected. For dates outside of all the valid date ranges, a default Redirect URL (“offers.htm”) is used for all Redirect URLs.
[0213] Tracking
[0214] Tracking uses Redirection and cookies to track visitors through a Web site. This is accomplished by placing an image on a page that needs to be tracked. The image is placed using a standard HTML image reference, and could look as follows:
<IMG HEIGHT = “1” WIDTH = “1” SRC = “http://www2.example.com/tracker/contents.gif“>
[0215] The URL used is an IXC URL that will require a Simple Redirection to a real GIF file that is in fact invisible. The IXC URL is classified internally as a tracking URL and thus requires a cookie to be associated with the IMG request. If no cookie is supplied then one is allocated. Note the following with respect to cookies:
[0216] They can be permanent or session based
[0217] They ONLY contain a unique identifier (number) so that hold NO personal identifying information
[0218] They are associated with the Domain used—in the example above they are associated with all subdomains that use example.com as part of the domain specification
[0219] Once allocated to a visitor they are passed with all subsequent requests to the installation of IXC that uses this domain.
[0220] The cookies are also allocated whenever any visitor uses any of the IXC URLs. This allows the identification of the initial source of a visitor assuming that an IXC URL is used for each of the sources of visitor traffic: Search Results, Banner Advertisements, Affiliate Links, Email campaigns. Visitor traffic that arrives directly at the actual website will have a source identification of the first tracking IXC URL that it comes across—this identifies where the visitor was first noticed.
[0221] With the trackers in place, visitor traffic can be reported on with the following information:
[0222] Initial source of the visitor traffic
[0223] Which pages were visited (that were marked with unique image references)
[0224] How long a visitor stays on a page (time to next movement)
[0225] Where visitors leave a site from (last page visited in a session)
[0226] Other details passed with the image reference (discussed in later section)
[0227] Reporting on the above statistics and metrics using these facts are created. Additional information can be gathered and reported on and is covered in a later section.
[0228] Cache Busting
[0229] To speed up downloads many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and businesses use caching. Caching stores pages accessed by persons connected via their Internet services so that persons accessing the same page may use a local copy rather than getting a new copy of the page directly from the issuing Web site. This can cause problems with the image markers used in tracking as cached image references will not access the IXC Engine to access the marker and hence will not update the IXC logs.
[0230] To circumvent this problem, advanced markers are employed which use Java-script to generate what appears to be a unique marker reference for each access of the markers. This is done by appending a timestamp, which is ignored by the IXC Engine, but seen by the caching software as a unique URL. An example of the Java-script code is shown below:
<NOSCRIPT> <IMG HEIGHT=“1” WIDTH=“1” SRC=“http://www2.example.com/tracker/contents.gif?js=no”> </NOSCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE=“JavaScript”> var d = new Date(); document.write(“<IMG HEIGHT=\“1\” WIDTH =\“1\” SRC=\“http://www2.example.com/tracker/contents.gif?ts=”); document.write(escape(d.getTime())); var r = Math.random(); document.write(“&r=”); document.write(escape(r)); document.write(“\“>”); </SCRIPT>
[0231] This script ensures that any browsers that can't handle Java-script will run the normal image reference with a reference saying Javascript was not available, otherwise it generates a unique image reference using a timestamp and thus “cache-busting”.
[0232] Tracking with Additional Information
[0233] As was shown in the previous section, additional information may be passed with the image references. In the previous case, it was either a timestamp or simply a note to indicate that Java-script was not available—“?js=no”. This information is logged and if needed reported.
[0234] Information that is useful to gather includes the value of conversions mentioned in previous sections. This is done by including a reference to the value variable (stored in the IXC Engine for reference) and then the value of the conversion.
[0235] A simpler image reference example (the more complex Java-script code is amended in a similar way) could appear:
<IMG HEIGHT=“1” WIDTH=“1” SRC=“http://www2.example.com/tracker/sale.gif?value=%ordervalue”>
[0236] In this example, the variable stored within the IXC Engine “value” and the variable found on the tagged web page is “% ordervalue”. This “% ordervalue” variable is part of the web page that has been marked and will be replaced by the value it holds when the marked web page is generated.
[0237] Reporting on Additional Information
[0238] As well as the content provided via the markers, other information is also sent along in the logging process. Most importantly, the referring URL is logged. This is the URL used to generate the web page that the marker has been placed on. The following is an example of such a URL:
http://www.example.com/Style.view?merchantid=11&prodCode=1234&Color=BL
[0239] This information can be processed in reports to enhance the data being shown in the clickpath. If merged with external data (e.g. product descriptions) it could add much more meaning to reports and allow different reporting views.
[0240] Tracking Retention E-Mail Traffic
[0241] For web traffic generated through retention email, it is possible to track with more detail. An email campaign is the result of creating an email template that has several URLs embedded in the message. The objective is to get existing customers, who have supplied their email address and given their consent to be sent email offers, to click on these URLs and perform some action (e.g. purchase, signup etc).
[0242] To allow more detailed tracking, each email that is sent can have an identifier built into its URLs that identifies the recipient of the email. With this information, the source of the traffic can be identified to the recipient of the email allowing reporting to not only show whether the email campaign was successful for each recipient, but also allowing more detailed tracking of what each recipient does on the web site.
[0243] This information can then be used to refine subsequent email campaigns by taking into account recipients actions to previous email campaigns.
[0244] Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the specification or practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
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A system for and method of enhancing web page delivery. The invention provides the ability to control redirection of Web traffic of humans and search engine spiders. It can differentiate between these types of visitors to a Web page, track their movements, log critical information, and analyze the Web traffic in order to judge the success in driving quality traffic to some known goal on a Web site, such as a sale. The system may generate dynamically optimized web pages targeted to specific search engines, in order to optimize the search engine ranking and visibility of a Web site, such as an online marketer's Web site.
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The present invention relates to an automatic thread trimmer for use on a computerized zigzag embroidery sewing machine which is operated in conjunction with a computerized control for the carrying out of the embroidery by the machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
Zigzag embroidery sewing machines are currently available on the market which can embroider monograms, printing, script, performed logos and the like. Such machines are available, for example, from Meistergram Inc., of Cleveland, Ohio, under the model No. M'100-JNS and Meistermatic 600. The latter machine is a computer controlled sewing machine for embroidering monograms and the like, in which the pattern to be embroidered is entered into the memory of the computer, and the machine will carry out the embroidering in an automatic fashion as directed by an operator.
Heretofore such machines have, when shifting from one letter to another or one pattern to another in an embroidery operation, left a thread extending from the last stitch in the preceding element to the first stitch in the next element. The operator has been required to manually cut these connecting threads after the embroidering operation is completed. Naturally this is a time consuming process, particularly where there are a number of such threads in a label which has been embroidered for, for example, use in a label on the front of a billed cap.
OBJECT AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an automatic thread cutter for use with the above-described type of automatic zigzag embroidery sewing machines, which thread cutter automatically cuts the threads at the end of the last stitch in a particular element, and then pulls the cut thread from the sewn fabric.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an automatic thread trimmer which is controlled by an electronic control and which is electromagnetically activated in response to the electronic control.
To achieve these objects, there is provided an automatic thread trimmer which has a finger pivotally mounted beneath the needle plate of the sewing machine for pivotal movement back and forth across the path of the thread through the slot in the needle plate, the finger having a notch therein for engaging the thread at the end of the pivoting movement in one direction and drawing the thread across a knife edge when pivoting in the other direction in order to sever the thread. The finger is solenoid actuated under the control of an electronic control system coupled to the computerized control for the sewing machine itself. The device further comprises a thread wiper which is movable across the surface of the fabric being sewn in response to the operation of a further solenoid for, after the thread has been cut, removing the cut thread from the fabric. The further solenoid is likewise controlled by the electronic control system for the apparatus.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be further described in greater detail in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is an exploded elevation view of the thread cutter and solenoid actuator therefor, according to the present invention;
FIG. 1a is a plan view of the thread catcher;
FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the device of FIG. 1 in the assembled condition;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the assembly of the cutter structure and the solenoid thereof;
FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the cutter device and solenoid, the needle plate, the work plate of the sewing machine itself, the lower portion of the overhanging arm of the machine with the needle and the presser foot thereon;
FIG. 5 is a schematic end elevation view showing the relationship of the solenoid, cutter element and the thread extending from the bobbin case through the needle plate;
FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the lower end of the overhanging arm of the casing of the machine with the wiper device attached thereto;
FIG. 7 is a partial plan view of the top part of the overhanging arm of the casing of the sewing machine with the cover plate removed;
FIG. 8 is a simplified schematic diagram of the electronic circuitry of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a hybrid flow chart of the sequence of electrical signals present in the circuitry of FIG. 8.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring first to FIGS. 1-5, the cutter apparatus comprises a thread catching member 15, as shown in plan view in FIG. 1a and in elevation view in FIGS. 1 and 2, which has on the free end of the arm 15a thereof a pointed member 16, with a notch 16a being provided between the inner end of the pointed member 16 and the arm 15a. The thread catching member is pivoted on a pivot screw 17 to the underside of a mounting plate 18. On the mounting plate 18 between the free end of the thread catching member 15 and the mounting plate is mounted a cutter blade 19, the cutter blade 19 being secured against the bottom of the mounting plate 18 by a guard 20. This structure is supported on a mounting bracket 21 having bolt or screw elements 22 therethrough for mounting the bracket 21 on the bottom of the sewing machine. The sewing machine has a conventional work table T and overhanging arm A for carrying the needle and presser foot. The remaining parts of the sewing machine are not shown since they are not necessary to an understanding of the invention and are conventional.
Mounted on the bracket 21 is a double coil solenoid 23 having a plunger 24 which is reciprocable in a direction substantially transverse of the rotary axis of the thread catching member 15. A lever 25 is connected between the plunger 24 and the crank portion 26 of the thread catching member 15, for reciprocating the crank portion 26 for pivoting the thread catching member around the pivot screw 17 by reciprocation of the plunger 24 of the solenoid. Shown at the opposite end of the solenoid from the lever 25 is a damper structure 27 which forms no part of the present invention.
It will be seen from the plan view of FIG. 3 and from the perspective view of FIG. 4 that the pointed member 16 on the end of the arm 15a and part of the arm 15a itself on the thread catching member projects from beneath the mounting plate 18. When the solenoid and thread catching member and associated structure are mounted by the bolts or screws 22 to the sewing machine itself, the edge of the mounting plate 18 from which the thread catching member projects is adjacent the slot 28 in the needle plate 29 so that, when the thread catching member pivots from the retracted position, in which it is drawn away from the slot 28, to the forward position, as shown in FIG. 3, it crosses the slot 28 sufficiently far so that the notch 16 can engage the thread coming from the bobbin case to the needle N (see FIG. 4).
In addition, the path of movement of the pointed member 16 on the arm 15a of the thread catching member 15 must be positioned such that it extends through the space between the lengths of thread coming from the bobbin case to the needle, as shown in FIG. 5.
In operation, under the control of the electronic control means which will be described hereinafter, when an embroidered element has been completed and the time arrives for cutting the thread, one coil of the solenoid 23 is energized to move the lever 24 outwardly away from the solenoid, which in turn pivots the thread catching member 15 to the IN position so as to move the pointed member 16 through the space between the threads as shown in FIG. 5, until the notch 16 has passed the thread. Preferably the edge of the pointed member 16 which ends at the notch 16a engages the thread on the side toward the solenoid, as shown in FIG. 5, so that when the notch passes the thread, the thread will spring into the notch. Thereupon the other coil of the solenoid is energized to return the solenoid plunger to its initial or OUT position, thus pivoting the thread catching member in the opposite direction to the OUT position, he pointed member 16 drawing the thread across the cutting edge of the cutter blade 19, thus severing the thread.
Attached to the side of the arm A of the sewing machine above the position of the needle and the presser foot is a wiper arm apparatus. This is comprised of a mounting bracket 30 secured to the arm A by bolts (not shown), and a single coil wiper solenoid 31 mounted on the bracket 30 with the plunger 31a thereof urged upwardly into the retracted position by the spring 32. The lower end of the plunger 31a is connected to a lever system 33 which has on the free end thereof a wiper 34. In the specific embodiment shown, the wiper 34 is a single piece of wire bent downwardly so that, when the wiper 34 is in the extended or forward position as shown in FIG. 6, it is only slightly above the upper surface of the work table T, and is beyond the position of the needle along the center line CL of the arm. In the retracted position, the arm 34 is swung to the left in FIG. 6 and out of the path of the needle.
After the actuation of the cutter apparatus has severed the thread, the solenoid 31 is actuated to swing the wiper arm 34 to the right in FIG. 6, so as to engage the thread which has been cut and pulled out of the cloth which is being embroidered. When the wiper arm 34 has reached the advanced position, as shown in FIG. 6, at which point the severed thread has been pulled out of the embroidered cloth, the solenoid 31 is deenergized and the spring causes the retraction of the wiper arm 34.
At this point, the sewing machine is ready to commence embroidering the next element on the cloth.
The control means for controlling the operation of the respective solenoids is shown in FIG. 7.
As shown in FIG. 7, there is provided on part of the needle driving means of the sewing machine, in this embodiment the main shaft 35 of the sewing machine which extends along the horizontally projecting portion of the overhanging arm A, a magnet 36 which rotates with the shaft 35. The apparatus has means for producing signals at two positions during the cycle of operation of the needle. In this embodiment, at substantially diametrically opposite positions relative to the shaft are mounted two Hall effect devices 37 and 38, one of which is an OUT Hall effect device, and the other of which is an IN Hall effect device.
In one conventional sewing machine, namely the Meistermatic 600 machine identified hereinbefore, one such Hall effect device is provided for supplying a position signal to the computer control system. In other conventional machines, however, no such device is provided, and in such an apparatus, two such devices will be required for the control system for the present invention.
The IN Hall effect device is preferably positioned opposite the position of the magnet at the point in the operating cycle when the needle has just started rising from its lowermost position and has cleared the hook on the bobbin. The OUT Hall effect device is preferably positioned opposite the position of the magnet at the point in the operating cycle when the needle has just started descending from its uppermost position. While these are the preferred positions, other positions can be used, so long as the position of the IN device is at a point where the needle is clear of the path of movement of the thread catching device 15 and the position of the OUT device is at a point where the needle is sufficiently far above the work table so that it is not struck by the wiper 34.
FIG. 8 is a simplified schematic diagram of the electronic circuitry for controlling the thread trimmer of the present invention. Switches S1a-d are the switch contacts of a four pole double throw relay used to connect and/or isolate the electronic circuitry for the thread trimmer of the present invention from the normal sewing machine electronics during its operation. Switch contacts S1a-d are shown in their deenergized position in FIG. 8.
The coil 122 of the four pole double throw relay is connected through a double pole-double throw-neutral OFF switch 123a-b to a current supply to a needle position DC motor which is off when the machine is sewing. In the automatic mode, the switch 123a-b is left in the condition shown, i.e., connecting the coil in the motor supply circuit. Thus, when the machine is sewing, the four pole double throw relay is deenergized. When the four pole double throw relay is thus deenergized, the signal from the OUT Hall effect device is routed through switch contacts S1c-S1d to the computer. AND gates 103 and 116 are inhibited by having one of each of their inputs grounded by switch contact S1a.
When the machine stops sewing, the computer activates the conventional needle position DC motor (not shown) thus supplying a control voltage to the relay coil 122 of the four pole double throw relay. This energizes the relay, switching switch contacts S1a-d. Alternatively, for manual operation, the switch 123a-b can be manually activated to the manual position, which will also supply a voltage to the relay coil 122. Upon being switched, switch contact S1a ungrounds the previously grounded inputs of AND gates 103 and 116, thereby enabling their operation. Switch contact S1b connects the signal output from the IN Hall effect device to the clock input of a flip-flop 102. Switch contact S1c connects the computer input to the output of a flip-flop 109 rather than to the output of OUT Hall effect device. Switch contact S1d connects the output from the OUT Hall effect device to an inverter 100 rather than to the computer.
The signal path for the electronics of the present invention is as follows:
A signal into inverter 100, after inversion, is differentiated in differentiator 101, the output of which is used to reset flip-flop 102. A clock signal from the IN Hall effect device through switch contact S1b is fed to the clock input of flip-flop 102 so as to set flip-flop 102.
The inverted output of flip-flop 102 is fed to the clock input of flip-flop 109, the reset input of which is fed by differentiator 110. Differentiator 110 receives its input from OR gate 111 which receives its input in turn from a manual RESET switch 132 and from a tension release solenoid signal from a conventional tension release solenoid forming part of the embroidery sewing machine.
The inverted output of flip-flop 109 is fed to the computer in place of the signal from the OUT Hall effect device through switch contacts S1c.
The inverted output of flip-flop 109 is also fed to a differentiator 113 the differentiated output of which triggers a monostable multivibrator 114 the output of which is fed to one input of AND gate 116.
The noninverted output of flip-flop 102 is differentiated by differentiator 107 the differentiated output of which is fed to one input of AND gate 103.
The second inputs of AND gates 103 and 116 are connected to switch contact S1a such that gates 103 and 116 are enabled when the four pole double throw relay is energized and disabled when the four pole double throw is deenergized.
The output of gate 103 is fed to one input of OR gate 104, the second input of which is connected to a manual IN switch 103. The output of gate 104 is amplified by power amplifier 105 and fed to one or "IN" solenoid coil 106 of solenoid 23.
The output of gate 116 is fed to one input of OR gate 117 the second input of which is connected to the manual "OUT-WIPE" switch 131. The output of gate 117 is integrated by integrator 118 and amplified in power amplifier 119. Power amplifier 119 drives both the "OUT" solenoid coil 120 of the solenoid 23 and the "WIPER" solenoid coil 121 of the wiper solenoid 31.
Indicator lamps 108, 112 and 115 respectively indicate the conditions of flip-flops 102 and 109 and monostable multivibrator 114. The operation of the electronic circuit illustrated in FIG. 8 is as follows:
While the machine is sewing, the four pole double throw relay is deenergized, thus disconnecting the electronic circuit illustrated in FIG. 8 from the computer and via switch contacts S1a, inhibiting gates 103 and 116 which insures the deactivation of the "IN", "OUT" and "WIPER" solenoids.
When the machine stops, the computer activates the needle position DC motor, thus supplying control voltage to the four pole double throw relay and energizing same. When the four pole double throw relay is energized, the following occurs:
1. The IN Hall effect device is connected to the clock input of flip-flop 102.
2. The OUT Hall effect device is connected to the reset input of flip-flop 102 through inverter 100 and differentiator 101.
3. AND gates 103 and 116 are enabled, making possible the subsequent energization of the IN, OUT and WIPER solenoids.
4. The computer input is connected to the inverted output of flip-flop 109.
In operation, there are two possible sequences of events when the machine stops.
A. The machine stops with the magnet between the IN and OUT positions. In such a case, the first signal to the circuit will be from the OUT Hall effect device to flip-flop 102. Since the output of the OUT Hall effect device is connected to the reset input of flip-flop 102, and since flip-flop 102 has been previously set, nothing happens and the OUT Hall effect signal is ignored. Next, the magnet passes the IN Hall effect device position, thus generating a clock signal for flip-flop 102, causing it to change state. This in turn causes a signal flow through differentiator 107, gates 103 and 104, and power amplifier 105 to energize the IN solenoid coil 106 of the solenoid 23, thus pivoting the thread catching member 15 of the IN position and energizing the thread in the notch 16a. Simultaneously, flip-flop 109 receives a clock signal from the inverted output of flip-flop 102 causing flip-flop 109 to change state.
The magnet continues to rotate until it faces the OUT Hall effect device again, generating a reset signal to flip-flop 102 through inverter 100 and differentiator 101, changing the state of flip-flop 102 which in turn changes the state of flip-flop 109, which in turn triggers monostable multivibrator 114 through differentiator 113. The output of monostable multivibrator 114 energizes both the OUT solenoid coil 120 and the WIPER solenoid coil 121 through the signal path consisting of gates 116 and 117, integrator 118 and power amplifier 119. This in turn again causes the thread catching member 15 to pivot back to the OUT position, drawing the thread across the blade of cutter blade 19 to cut the thread. At the same time, activation of the wiper solenoid 31 causes the wiper to remove the cut thread.
Since flip-flop 109 has changed state, it sends a low signal to the computer input indicating that the final position has been achieved. The computer then stops the DC motor, thus deenergizing the four pole double-throw relay. The tension solenoid is deactivated at this point in the generating cycle of the sewing machine, and the deactivating signal is also used for resetting the flip-flop 109 through the path consisting of gate 111 and differentiator 110.
B. The machine stops with the magnet between the OUT and IN positions. In that case the first signal generated is the signal from the IN Hall effect device and the operation corresponds to the sequence of events as described above with regard to the generation of the signal by the IN Hall effect device after the initial signal generated by the OUT Hall effect device.
FIG. 9 is a hybrid flow chart of the sequence of electrical signals present in the various parts of the electronic circuitry illustrated in FIG. 8.
Across the top row of FIG. 9, the relative position of the magnet with respect to the IN and OUT Hall effect devices is schematically illustrated. The corresponding signals or states of various elements in FIG. 8 are either illustrated or stated below. That is, various signals are either illustrated as waveforms, their digital HIGH or LOW value indicated, or the energized or deenergized state of the various solenoids are stated.
Alternatively the apparatus can be operated manually by the use of the manual position of switch 123a-b, manual input switches 130 and 131 and manual reset switch 132, and by manually turning the hand wheel of the sewing machine.
As one skilled in the digital circuitry art can appreciate the electronic circuitry illustrated in FIG. 8 is by no means the only configuration suitable for operation with the present invention and accordingly, other embodiments may be utilized to provide signals for operating the various solenoids.
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An automatic thread trimmer for use on a computerized embroidery sewing machine having a work table, a bobbin mechanism below the work table, an arm overhanging the work table with a needle driver therein movable through one cycle for each cycle of operation of the sewing machine needle, and a computerized control connected to the machine for driving the needle driver and shifting the needle according to the computer program. The thread trimmer has a thread catcher positioned below the work table and driven reciprocally across the path of a thread extending through the work table to the bobbin for catching the thread at the end of the movement in one direction and drawing the thread with the thread catching member during movement in the other direction, a cutter adjacent the path of movement of the thread catcher against which the thread catcher draws the thread for cutting the thread during movement in the other direction, a wiper positioned above the work table and reciprocally movable across the path of the thread for removing the thread after it has been cut by the cutting means, a signal producer associated with the needle drive for producing first and second signals, the first when the needle is raised clear of the path of reciprocation of the thread catcher, and the second when the needle is raised clear of the path of reciprocation of the wiper, and a control system discriminating when the signals are only in the order of the first signal and the second signal and thereupon actuating the needle drive and the wiper in sequence.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/778,562, filed 7 Feb. 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,535.
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to customizing Internet web sites and, more particularly, to customizing Internet web sites based on the visitation behavior of visitors to that Internet web site in a manner to improve the operation of the Internet web site.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The world wide web has exploded with new web sites. Today, most businesses want their product advertisements to reach the world market rather than the limited audience available before the Internet was invented. Regardless of how many potential customers visit the web site of the business, the web site must retain the attention of those potential customers. Even more important than the initial attraction, the web site must be constructed in a way that makes the customer want to stay and access more products, images, and items the web site owner wishes the visitor to access during their visit. If the web site is not initially constructed in a manner to allow or entice the visitor to access the objects of interest, there should be a tool to evaluate the visitor's activity on the web site and implement or offer solutions to modify the web site. The modification suggestions should allow the web site to become more efficient and easier to use for visitors, which would likely entice the visitors to make their user session longer and purchase more products. Unlike a physical store that a customer may visit, which has the entrance and exit pre-designed and somewhat controlling the visit, a web site may be exited at any time, and often is, if the web site visitor is frustrated at the complexity of navigating the objects of interest.
Despite the efforts of the prior art, there is still a need for a method that implements an accurate diagnosis of the web site, delivers solutions to repair the web site in an efficient manner, presents those solutions in a manner that the web site may be accurately changed to address the problems, or alternatively repairs the problems automatically.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the above described void in the prior art by utilizing a method, device, and algorithm to track and bundle the user interactions with the web site structure via a set of matrices. Initially, the web site itself is analyzed for its present structure. Analyzing the web site results in a list of pages that are included in the web site and how the pages are connected to each other (the pages inter-relationship). The invention uses a web-robot class program to record this information (one example for a web-robot program is the Acme-Spider, available at: http://www.acme.com/java/software/Acme.Spider.html). A web-robot traverses the web starting at a given Uniform Resource Locator (network addresses). It fetches hypertext markup language (HTML) files and parses them for new network addresses to look at. All files it encounters, HTML or otherwise, are returned and may be recorded.
User sessions are used to model user interactions with the web site. User sessions are usually defined collectively by Identity (who is accessing the site), Location (which pages each user accessed, and in what order), and Time (when did the access occur). In other words, a user session can be defined roughly as a series of continuous accesses to the site done by the same user. To determine what constitutes a series of continuous accesses to the site, an approximation method (an Internet web-robot program) is used to track and approximate the user sessions.
Subsequently, all the user sessions are analyzed according to web-specific parameters. These web-specific parameters include: distance, step, and class. This analysis, along with a set of basic rules, and the structure of the web site, are used in forming a series of matrices and structures to represent the statistical information. The statistical information is represented such that inefficiencies in the Internet web site (web site) may be determined and eliminated manually or automatically.
Two such inefficiencies, also known as anomalies, are objects of interest not having direct connections which should have a direct connection, and objects which do not need a direct connection that have a direct connection. A direct connection is when two items of interest or web pages (objects of interest) may be accessed with a single click, typically through a hyperlink. Anomalies in the design are the result of a difference between the designer intent and expectation and the actual site visitors behavior. Any difference between the expected behavior and the actual behavior is an anomaly, because the designer of the web site did not intend it. Rules may be applied to change the web site automatically in a way that reduces or removes the anomaly. Generating anomaly reports assist the designer in eliminating the anomalies, and provide recommendations to improve the web site. For example, assume that a web-based sport clothing retailer site has a home page (generally the initial page of the web site) that links to three pages that advertise sport shoes, shirts, and pants. The page that advertises shirts has a link to a page that advertises hats, while no such link exists in the other two pages. Yet, by analyzing the actual visitor behavior, it is found that 30% of the people, who accessed the sports shoes and the pants pages, also accessed the hat page. This is an anomaly, because the site designers did not expect users interested in sports shoes and pants to also be interested in hats (otherwise, they would have designed the site structure differently). Therefore, the invention will recommend either moving the link to the hat page to the home page, or providing a link to the hat page from all the three sub pages. Adding and removing links from the pages automatically to reduce the anomaly may also be performed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a structure diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the web site construction and the interconnections of the objects of interest within the web site.
FIG. 2 is a data structure diagram illustrating the user sessions on a web site that would be tracked and recorded in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention illustrating the concept of Step.
FIG. 4 illustrates the concept of class in an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Now referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views. Prior to tracking and recording user sessions, and applying them to repair anomalies of the web site, the construction of the web site must be analyzed and utilized to setup data matrices and structures. It is the information from these matrices and structures which is mapped and analyzed to repair the web site. Mapping the data tracked during the user's sessions involves properly putting the appropriate data in the appropriate matrix or structure. Thus, an accurate accounting of the parameters of the web site and the use of matrices and structures to store the data is essential.
FIG. 1 is a structure diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the web site construction and the interconnections of the objects of interest within the web site. The first data to gather in analyzing the construction of a web site is a list of pages that are included in the site. In the case of the web site construction illustrated in FIG. 1 , each block ( 102 , 104 , 106 , 108 , 110 , 112 , 114 , and 116 ) represents an object of interest. In the broader sense, the term “objects of interest” refers to any kind of user access activity that may be recorded, and/or tracked. Currently, an object of interest is used to describe either a page or any other item (such as images, videos, etc.), that is accessible from the site, and any script of interest that may have been executed on behalf of the user. A list is kept of all objects of interest for further use. For simplicity of illustration, in FIG. 1 , each object of interest is a web-page, which is the visitor experience of a collection of accesses to the web site. The web site construction analysis is recorded in memory (preferably read only memory) or stored in a database, and contains the following parameters:
1. A numeric key (or identifier)—a numeric representative identifier.
2. The primary name of the page—name of the page expressed in alphanumeric characters.
3. Aliases to the name of the object—the alias to the name of the object of interest is an alternative representation to access that object of interest.
4. A list of all the children of a certain page—all the pages that may be reached directly from the current page. For example, object B 104 , object C 106 and object D 108 are all the children of object A 102 . These are the objects that may be reached directly by clicking on a link from object A 102 . Likewise, object E 110 and object F 112 are the children of object B 104 , object G 114 is the child of object C 106 , and object H 116 and object E 110 are the children of object D 108 .
5. A list of all the parents of a certain objects—A parent is an object that can be used to reach a certain page with a direct link. In a hierarchy of objects, the parent objects would be accessible prior to the children objects, thus closer to the web site homepage. For example, object B 104 is the parent of both object E 110 and object F 112 . Likewise, object C 106 is the parent of object G 114 , object D 108 is the parent of object E 110 and object H 116 , and object A 102 is the parent of object B 104 , object C 106 , and object D 108 .
6. A hash table that stores object distances—object distance is the smallest number of clicks or links needed to get from one object of interest to another object of interest. For example, a user can get from object A 102 to object B 104 by clicking on a link in page A 102 . Therefore, the distance between object A 102 and object B 104 is 1. A user can get from object A 102 to object E 110 by clicking on a link in object A 102 , getting to object B 104 , and then clicking on a link in object B 104 to get to object E 110 . Thus, the distance between object A 102 and E 110 is 2. A user can get from object C 106 to object E 110 by clicking on a link to object A 102 , then clicking on a link to object B 104 , and finally, clicking on a link to object E 110 . Thus, the result is a distance of 3 from object C 106 to object E 110 . A user can get from object B 104 to object D 108 in two ways: either via object E 110 or via object A 102 . In both cases the distance is 2.
A full descriptions of the analysis for the web site illustrated in FIG. 1 would contain numeric keys, the primary name of the objects, aliases to the names of objects, and a hash table of all the distances between each of the objects of interest object A 102 , object B 104 , object C 106 , object D 108 , object E 110 , object F 112 , object G 114 , and object H 116 . In addition, each of the aforementioned objects of interest's children and parents would be stored as explained above.
Subsequent to the analysis and storage of the web site construction parameters, the invention records the web site's user interactions (user sessions). There are three primary dimensions of users sessions with a web site:
1. Identity—who is accessing the site?
2. Location—which pages did each user access, and in what order?
3. Time—when did the access occur?
These three dimensions are incorporated into a single entity called a session. A session can be defined as a series of continuous accesses to the site done by the same user. Unfortunately, it is difficult (if not impossible) to determine exactly what constitutes a series of continuous accesses to the site, as it involves knowing what a user's intentions were when interacting with the site. To overcome this problem, a method is used by which educated guesses are use to approximate the sessions. Naturally, the approximation method is closely coupled with the means by which the user activity is tracked.
One embodiment of the invention uses HTTP logs to record and track user activity and construct sessions of interaction with the web site. It should be noted that the use of HTTP logs could be substituted by any other method to record user behavior, or a combination of several methods. Examples of these methods can be the use of cookies, the use of packet-sniffers, the use of embedded objects that send access information to the server (also known as web bugs), etc. With HTTP logs (and without using cookies), identity is determined by user's IP address, the object the user requested determines location, and the time stamp of the access recorded in the HTTP log determines the time.
FIG. 2 is a data structure diagram illustrating the user sessions on a web site that would be tracked and recorded in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Tracking the user session involves collecting various data concerning the user's progress while visiting the web site. When to start a new user session may be one problem with using HTTP logs. In one exemplary embodiment, pages accessed by user are grouped into one list and a decision whether to start a new session is made, depending on the time gap between two consecutive accesses. If the gap is more than a pre-determined time period, the session is broken into two different sessions.
Another problem with HTTP logs is that they record only accesses to the server. Using the HTTP logs, it may be difficult to record users who use the browser cache devices (stored accesses to pages that have already been accessed recently) to re-accesses a page. This problem can be overcome by using the shortest-distance between two accesses as a way to estimate the progress of the session.
According to FIG. 2 , the recorded activity constitutes 7 accesses, done by 2 users, which are identified as user $ and user @ (IP address may be used to determine user identification). Accesses 202 , 208 , 210 , 212 , and 214 were done by user @, while accesses 204 and 206 were done by user $. Assume the website is constructed of three objects of interest, object A 230 , object B 232 , and object G 234 . Further assume that the pre-determined allowed gap between two accesses within one session is 100 units of time. The gap between access 208 and access 210 is 145−26=119>100. Therefore, access 210 belongs to a new session, different from access 208 . The result is three different sessions, depicted at the bottom part of FIG. 2 . Session 1 constitutes one session by user @ and consists of blocks 216 and 218 . In Session 1, user @ accessed object A 230 and then object B 232 . Session 2 is a session by user $ and consists of blocks 220 and 222 . In Session 2, user $ accessed object A 230 and also object B 232 . Finally, Session 3 by user @, consists of block 224 , block 226 , and block 228 . In Session 3, user @ accessed object A 224 , then object B 232 , and finally object G 228 .
FIG. 3 is an exemplary embodiment of the present invention illustrating the concept of Step. Step is the distance between two objects of interest that are actually accessed during a user session. Thus, the distance of the path actually utilized to access one object from another during a user session. In FIG. 3 , assume that a user accessed object A 302 , then object B 304 and finally object E 310 . The number of steps between objects A 302 and object E 310 is 2, because the sum of the distances between objects A 302 and B 304 , and objects B 304 and object E 310 is 1+1=2.
In another example, suppose the actual user session was object A 302 →object B 304 →object A 302 →object C 306 . In this exemplary embodiment in which HTTP logs are relied on to reconstruct the sequence of accesses for each user, this user session may be recorded by the HTTP logs as a session:
object A 302 →object B 304 →object C 306 .
Despite the absence of a direct connection between objects B and C, they appear in the recorded session consecutively. This example demonstrates one of the disadvantages of using HTTP logs to reconstruct the user session. The actual session, object A 302 →object B 304 →object A 302 →object C 306 , was not recorded because object A 302 was accessed twice during the session. The second time the user accessed object A 302 , the object was already present in the user's local browser cache. The browser did not have to initiate a request to the site HTTP server in order to retrieve the object. Thus, the access to object A 302 was recorded once rather than twice. To alleviate this problem and to better reconstruct the users sessions, an embodiment of the present invention uses the distance between two objects to define the number of steps between two objects. In FIG. 3 , the number of steps between object B 304 and object C 306 is 2, as it is the distance between the two objects. Thus, the total number of steps between object A 302 and object C 306 in this session is 3.
FIG. 4 illustrates the concept of class in an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Dividing web pages into classes is another way to categorize web pages. The term class is used to designate the distance of a certain object from the entrance page of the site, or the “official homepage” (homepage) of the site. The assumption behind the use of the class concept is that most users will start their interaction with the web site with this page and proceed onward. The base object 402 , the homepage has class 0. Objects B 404 , C 406 , and D 408 , which are directly linked from the base page, are at class 1. Objects E 410 , F 412 , G 414 , and H 416 , which are at distance of 2 from the base page, constitute class 2.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of an exemplary embodiment of the invention. This exemplary embodiment utilizes the invention on a host server, wherein the web site structure is already known, shown as web site structure 505 . In an alternative exemplary embodiment the invention could be utilized on a far-server, wherein communication with the
far-server containing the web site could be established. After establishing contact, this embodiment would parse the web site to obtain the web site structure 505 . Parsing is the process by which the invention gathers data about various aspects of the web site. With either embodiment, the web site structure 505 would include data about the connectivity of its objects of interest and other parameters, such as, but not limited to the distance data, the links data, class data, identifiers, names and aliases to objects of interest, children and parent relationships to certain pages, and network addresses.
FIG. 5 illustrates the activity 510 associated with the web site. This activity 510 is established by tracking the activity 510 of the users which use the web site. This embodiment has the ability to specify the specification it would employ in tracking the activity on the web site. This allows versatility in how the user sessions are tracked, and what parameters are employed to track the user activity on the web site. The tracking of the activity 510 associated with the web site may be packaged into user sessions, usually defined collectively by the identity of the user accessing the site, the location of the pages each user accessed, the order those pages were accessed, and the time which the access occurred.
FIG. 5 further illustrates that the web site structure 505 and the activity 510 associated with the web site are connected to and establish the means to generate the N-dimension representation 515 . The N-dimension representation establishes the dimensions needed to represent the web site structure 505 information and the activity 510 associated with the web site in matrices and structures.
The N-dimension representation 515 is connected to the anomaly floatation device 520 . The anomaly floatation device 520 establishes the low-level rules and parameters by which the anomalies are detected. The anomalies are the differences between the activity 510 associated with the web site and the expected user activity based on the web site structure 505 (the difference between the designer intent and expectation, and the actual site visitors behavior in a web site). All difference between the expected behavior and the actual behavior is an anomaly (to some extent), because the designer of the web site did not intend that action by the user. Not every unexpected action by a user is an anomaly worth fixing; however, many anomalies frustrate users and are in direct conflict with the goals of the web site owners. These anomalies may be described as follows:
For Anomaly 1, step-distance anomaly, the objective is to find an anomaly between the number of accesses (the number of hits) in a particular step, and the distance between two objects. If an anomaly occurs, it may suggest creating a link where it is absent.
Example: Referencing Table 1, assume the examining of the traffic from object 8 to object 10. Further assume, that the distance from object 8 to 10 is 2, and that the distribution of hits among the various steps is as depicted in Table 1.
TABLE 1 Illustrating step-distance anomaly. Steps taken to access object 10 from hits on object object 8 10 1 0 2 16 3 0 4 37 Total hits on object 10 61 Distance from object 8 to object 10 2
There are two reasons why there is an anomaly in Table 1. The designer of the site intended that visitors will need 2 steps (2 clicks) in order to get from object 8 to 10, and designed a site in which the minimum distance between these objects is 2. Yet, a high number of hits occur in step 4 with relation to hits in step 2 (the distance). Moreover, a high number of hits are found in step 4 (37) with relation to the total number of hits (61), while step 4 is not the distance.
An embodiment of the present invention include anomaly floatation devices 520 attached to anomaly 1. These anomaly floatation devices 520 notify when an anomaly occurs. Anomaly floatation device 520 X compares the number of hits arriving in any given number of steps to the number of hits arriving in exactly the distance between two objects. Anomaly floatation device 520 Y compares the number of hits arriving in any given number of steps to the total number of hits between two objects. Since two highly connected objects will experience a lot of inter node traffic at steps greater than the distance, the number of hits to compensate for that needs to be discounted. Several methods may be employed to discount the number of hits, including, but not limited to the following:
1. Factoring in the number of routes between two objects (experiments have shown this to be a restrictive measure).
2. Factor in the number of links to the examined page.
3. Factor in the number of links from the examined page.
The objective of Anomaly 2, the no-link anomaly, is to find which objects should have a link between each other, when there is no direct link between them. For Example: Assume the examination of the traffic from object 5 to object 8. Further assume that the distance from object 5 to object 8 is 2 (there is no direct link between the two objects). The invention finds that the total number of hits from object 5 to 8 at step 2 was 35, yet the range of hits from object 5 to any other object ranged from 10 to 45. This indicates that the invention might want to consider adding a link from object 5 to object 8.
A more formal version of the no-link anomaly:
Version A:
Examine object I. For all objects, K, where distance(I,K)>1:
(# of hits from I to K distance 2 and up)>M*highest number of hits from I to any object that has a distance of 1 from I. M is a number between A and 1, where A is the lowest non-zero object number of hits distance 1 to I divided by the highest number of hits from I to any object that is distance 1 from I (10/45 in our example).
Anomaly 3, the dominant anomaly, is an arrival to an object of interest anomaly. For example, an object C is put in the center and it can be examined. The objective is to find a dominant object of interest among all the objects of interest that arrive at object C, at a given step. For example: let's put object C in the center (i.e., object C is the centric object), and examine Table 2.
TABLE 2 Illustrates the dominant object arriving at a centric object anomaly. Arrival at object C from object number of hits 2 253 3 4 5 22 6 11 7 10
As can be inferred from Table 2 above, object 2 is dominant, and therefore is a candidate for a direct link from object C.
The following definitions will be introduced, in order to define the anomaly:
C is the centric object. D is the dominant object. A 1 -A n refer to all other objects that are linked to object C in step S. SUM refers to the total number of hits from any object to object C at step S. T reflects the total number of hits between objects D and C (and is taken from the total hits matrix).
An anomaly is reported if D-C hits at step S is more than X % of SUM, unless:
There is a direct link between D and C, or D-C hits at step S is less than 10% of T
Anomaly floatation device 520 A evaluates if more than X % of the total traffic between two nodes happens at a certain step, while Anomaly floatation device 520 B evaluates if more than Y % of the traffic arriving at this object in a given step is from a dominant node. Both Anomaly floatation devices 520 must evaluate to true in order to find anomaly 3. Note that the above exemplary illustration in Table 2 found a pattern of where only one object is dominant. The concept of the dominant anomaly may easily be extended to include additional patterns.
Anomaly 4, the deficiency anomaly, is as an arrival to object of interest anomaly. An object C is put in the center and examined. The objective is to find a “deficiency” anomaly among the objects that arrive to object of interest C in a given step. One of the rules that can emerge from this anomaly is a recommendation to remove an existing link.
TABLE 3 Illustrates the deficiency object arriving at a centric object of interest anomaly. Arrival to object C from object number of hits 2 100 3 4 5 96 6 100 7 100
For example: let's put object C in the center (i.e., object C is the centric object). As can be inferred from Table 3, object 3 is deficient, and, therefore, the direct link from object C to object 3 (if it exists) is a candidate to be removed.
Using the definitions of anomaly 3, anomaly 4 can be formulated as follows. The invention reports an anomaly if D-C hits at step S is less than X % of SUM, unless:
there is no direct link between objects D and C, and
step S is greater than 3
Note that the above exemplary illustration found a pattern of where only one object is deficient. This anomaly may easily be extended to include additional patterns.
Anomaly 5, the dominant-connect anomaly, may be viewed as a connected to object of interest anomaly. An object is placed in the center and examined. The objective is to find a dominant object of interest among all the objects of interest that connect from object of interest C at a given step. This Anomaly is similar to anomaly 3, the dominant anomaly, but it is being performed in the reverse direction.
Anomaly 6, the deficiency-connect anomaly, may be viewed as a connected to object of interest anomaly, similar to the dominant-connect anomaly. An object C is placed in the center and examined. However, the objective is to find a “deficiency” anomaly among the objects that connect from object of interest C in a given step. One of the rules that can emerge from this anomaly is a recommendation to remove an existing link. This Anomaly is similar to Anomaly 4, the deficiency anomaly, but it is being performed in the reverse direction.
Anomaly 7, the high access ratio anomaly, checks to see if certain objects not directly linked together should be, based on the ratio of traffic from immediate neighbors to more distant objects.
Assume the traffic to object 7 from object 5 is examined. Further assume that the distance from object 7 to object 5 is 2 (there is no direct link between the two objects). The total number of hits to object 7 from object 5 at step 2 was 47, yet the range of hits to object 7 from any other object ranged from 10 to 45. This indicates a need to consider adding a link from object 5 to object 7.
The links in a web site are unidirectional (as oppose to bi-directional). As a result, applying the rules on a page and the set of links and pages that can be reached from it may generate different findings than applying the rules on a page and the set of links and pages that reach to it. Anomaly 7 is, therefore, similar to anomaly 2. But, in contrast to anomaly 2, it is based on traffic referred into the object and not on the traffic going out from the object. The Anomaly floatation devices 520 setting is used in the computation of a comparison value, rather than being a comparison value itself. The number of hits between two objects arriving in exactly the distance between them is called distanceHits. This anomaly compares distanceHits between two objects, 2 or more steps apart, to the number of hits from the destination node's parents. Anomaly floatation devices 520 determines exactly how to perform this comparison.
Anomaly 8, the threshold-dominant anomaly, identifies candidates for direct linking. It assesses which object is referring the most traffic (termed the ‘dominant’) to a given page at various step distances. However, an additional constraint is imposed in that the utility of the link must exceed a given threshold.
Anomaly 8 is similar to Anomaly 3, and is tested only if anomaly 3 activated. As explained above, anomaly 3 found a strong association between two pages. One possible recommendation in this case is to connect the two pages with a link. However, one cannot add links automatically every time anomaly 8 is activated. It could be the case that the site is so well connected, that adding a link will not add much improvement to the efficiency of the web site.
In anomaly 8, the web site may be represented as an electrical circuit. Each individual step in a linear path contributes a resistance of 1. A single path of N steps therefore has a resistance of N. Paths of varying lengths are assumed to exist in parallel, and add as the reciprocal of the sum of individual reciprocals of path resistances. Possible path overlaps between paths of varying lengths are ignored. In short, each link is represented as a resistor in the electric circuit. Using circuit analysis equations, the effective resistance between the two objects (=pages) are calculated. A direct link between the two pages are added, and a check is made for the new effective resistance between the two pages. A comparison is made of the two resistance to check how much improvement the new link provides in terms of reducing the effective resistance between the two pages. If it is below the threshold, adding a link will not be recommended. The intuition being, the more paths there are (the more resistors there are) between the two pages, the less an additional path (an additional resistor) will improve the site (reduce the effective resistance).
Anomaly 9, the complete-a-link anomaly, checks to see if certain objects not directly linked together should be, based on the ratio of traffic from immediate neighbors to more distant objects.
This anomaly is also an extension of anomaly 3 and is tested only if Anomaly 3 is fired. As explained above, Anomaly 3 found a strong association between two pages. Anomaly 9 checks if adding a link between the two pages is in par with the traffic at the originating node. For example, imagine that after applying anomaly 3 on two objects, object A and object B, it is found that there is high association between the two objects. A check is made, whether adding a link is a viable option to reduce the number of clicks visitors need to make (other options might be grouping information, moving information from one page to the other, etc.). It is further assumed, in this example, that 1000 visitors followed the links from object A to object B. However, the traffic on each one of the outgoing links from object A is at least 10,000 visitors. If a link cannot be added to object A (for example, object A has too much clutter or connections), it would not make sense to replace any link with a link to object B, because this link will have much less traffic than the link that is removed.
Anomaly 9 assumes that if a direct link is added between two nodes, then all the traffic, which went through these two objects, will traverse this link. It then compares this traffic with the traffic values on the existing child objects of the originating node. If X % of the links have less traffic than the projected traffic on the new link, Anomaly 9 is activated.
The anomaly floatation device 520 is connected to the rule engine algorithm 525 as illustrated in FIG. 5 . The rule engine algorithm 525 is a rule based engine that establishes the rules by which the anomalies found by the anomaly floatation device 520 are grouped in preparation for making recommendations on web site modification. Preferably, these groupings are in accordance with the patterns established by the activity 510 associated with the web site and the expected activity based on the web site structure 505 . The anomaly floatation device 520 may be considered to be utilizing rules, similar to the rule engine algorithm 525 , but at a lower level. Whereas the rule engine algorithm 525 utilizes higher level rules and organizes the information for representation and recommendations.
The rule based algorithm 525 is connected and is the means used to generate matrices and structures 530 . As detailed herein, there are several structures and matrices in which the information may be organized by the rule based engine 525 . These matrices and structures 530 may be, but are not limited to, an elements data structure, a session step data structure, a SPUS structure, a TUS structure, a CLASS structure, a TC structure, a distance matrix, a links-to matrix, a links-from matrix, a total accesses-to matrix, a total access-from matrix, and an access matrix. These data structures and matrices 530 are utilized to store and present statistical data about user interaction with the web site. The data structures and matrices 530 may be divided into various categories and into the following groups:
1. Dimensions—provide knowledge about the total number, and size of various components, allowing the determination of the dimensions of various data structures. 2. Web site Structure—data structures that illustrate the web site in terms of substance and connectivity. 3. Access statistics—provide information on various aspects of visitor access patterns to the web site. 4. Session statistics—provide statistics about visitors access patterns. As opposed to the access statistics data structures, where individual accesses are examined, here the individual accesses to sessions are grouped, and provide several data representations that examine aspects of visitor behavior within a session. 5. Aggregate statistics—provide intra-session statistics.
Having defined the groups, the data structures of each one of the groups may be described.
The various aspects, variables, and data structures related to dimensions are as follows:
1. session step data structure—the maximum number of steps in any of the sessions is used to allocate memory and define the various tables. 2. elements data structure—the number of elements (or number of objects). This number is used to allocate memory and define the various tables. 3. SPUS structure—the total number of Steps Per User Sessions. 4. TUS structure—the Total number of User Sessions. 5. Class structure—the Class for each object of interest in the web site. 6. TC structure—the Total number of Classes in the web site.
Thus, the web site structure 505 may be closely described by data about the connectivity of its objects of interest and other parameters as follows:
1. Distance matrix—a two-dimensional matrix that stores the shortest distance from one object to another in the site. 2. links-to matrix—a two-dimensional matrix that stores the number of links to a certain object by a particular step. One skilled in the art will recognize that it is common to represent a matrix, especially in programming, by representing the first object with the index 0, the second object with the index 1, and so forth, by placing the indices representing the objects within the “[ ]”. Thus, for example the objects may be represented as follows in the links-to-matrix: the [3][2] element in the matrix represents the number of objects from which one can get to the 4 th object of interest (index [3]) in three or less steps (index [2]). 3. links-from matrix—a two-dimensional matrix that stores the number of links from a certain object to other objects of interest by a specific step or less. 4. The class of each object (which is determined by distance from the base page).
The access matrix is one of the matrices that describes the interaction of the user with the web site (user session). The access matrices' parameters are as follows:
1. Access matrix—a three-dimensional matrix. Each element in the matrix describes the number of hits that occurred from one object to another at a certain step. The first dimension designates the “from object”, the second dimension designates the “to object”, and the third dimension designates the step. Therefore, an element in the matrix describes the number of accesses from the “from” object to the “to” object at a certain step within the session. 2. total accesses-to matrix—the total number of accesses to a certain object (no matter from where) in a particular step within a session. 3. total accesses-from matrix—the total numbers of accesses from a certain object (no matter to where) in a particular step within the session.
Thus, the access matrix is a three dimensional matrix, where each element in the matrix describes the number of hits that occurred from one object to another at a certain step. When filling up the matrix, direct hits are included as well as indirect hits. The term indirect hits mean hits from object A to object D via one or more other objects (let's say, objects B and C). An illustrative example is provided below. Assume the following session:
1=>2=>3=>4=>5
The user started the session by accessing object 1. Then he or she accessed object 2, 3, 4, and 5 by this order. Further assume the distance between adjacent objects in the session is 1.
The Access matrix includes all the direct hits, which are:
1=>2; 2=>3; 3=>4; 4=>5
But it also includes the indirect hits. From object 1, there are the following indirect hits:
1=>3; 1=>4; 1=>5
The rest of the indirect hits in this session are:
2=>4; 2=>5; 3=>5
One of these hits will be taken, 1=>5, and it will show how to update the access matrix to include this hit. The distance from object 1 and object 5 is 4. Therefore, the corresponding entry will be incremented (from object 1 to object 5 at step 4) by 1.
Other aspects of the user's sessions, expressed in various averages, may be described as follows:
1. The average number of steps in a session. 2. The average number of steps in sessions at which an object of a certain class appears. 3. The average number of steps in sessions at which a certain object of interest appears. 4. The average number of steps from the beginning of a session until a particular object has been accessed may be expressed as the object of interest vector. In this average, only sessions in which the object of interest actually appeared are included. 5. The average steps from object of interest matrix is a vector that stores the average number of steps from the point a particular object has been accessed, until the end of the session. In this average, only sessions in which the object of interest actually appeared are included. 6. The object of interest close to start is a vector that stores a number that describes how close a certain object is to the start of a session. The number is a positive number and the bigger it is, the closer the object is (on average) to the beginning of a session.
Finally, the aggregate statistics are also summarized in matrices as follows:
1. The numbers of accesses (or hits) a certain object incurred. 2. Total hits matrix is a two-dimensional matrix that stores the total number of hits from one object to another. It is created by “collapsing” the step dimension of the three-dimensional access matrix into a two-dimensional matrix that includes only the from object and to object dimensions. The from object A to object B entry may be examined. All the entries corresponding to step 1 to the maximum number of steps are added, and put it in the new total hits matrix. 3. Total steps matrix is a two-dimensional matrix that stores the total number of steps that were used in all the accesses from one object to another. It is created by “collapsing” the step dimension of the three-dimensional access matrix into a two-dimensional matrix that includes only the “from” object and “to” object dimensions. As opposed to the total hit matrix discussed above, in the total steps matrix all hits are not regarded as equal. Instead, a weight is assigned to each one of the steps to allow compensation for the step dimension. In examining the “from” object A “to” object B entry. It will be assumed that at step 1 there were 43 hits, at step 2 there were 32 hits, and at step 3 there were 21 hits. The entry from object A to object B in the total steps matrix will be: (1*43)+(2*32)+(3*43), or 236. 4. The Step Median Calculation (SMC) matrix. This is a two-dimensional matrix, the first dimension is the from object, and the second is the to object. Each entry is the distance from an object A, to an object B, divided by the average number of steps detected between them. The average number of steps can be determined by dividing the total number of steps from object A to object B with the total number of hits from object A to object B. Generally speaking, if the number in the SMC matrix is close to 1, then the web site has a good link design, because the site visitors followed the design which determine a certain distance from one object to another. If the number in the SMC matrix is close to 0, then something is wrong and an anomaly may exist which needs correction.
In an alternative embodiment, the information from the web site structure 505 and the activity 510 associated with the web site, may merely be maintained to process as necessary and generate suggestions for customizing the web site. Preferably this processing applies the anomaly flotation device and the rule based engine in conjunction with the patterns established by the activity 510 associated with the web site and the expected activity based on the site structure 505 .
By establishing the data generated by the anomaly floatation device 520 and the ruled based algorithm 525 into matrices and structures, the data is organized into an easy readable format for providing customizing suggestions 535 . After customizing suggestion have been established, they may be implemented automatically by one embodiment, implemented through human intervention by another embodiment, or offer a combination of options for human intervention implementation and automatic implementation of the customizing suggestions 535 . The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 offers the combination of options for human intervention implementation and/or automatic implementation of the customizing suggestions 535 .
In one exemplary embodiment the invention could implement the customizing suggestions 535 after each user activity 510 . In this exemplary embodiment the web site structure 505 would be customized after each activity 510 associated with the web site. This exemplary embodiment would likely be implemented at the cost of processing time, but may find practical use in some applications.
In another exemplary embodiment, the invention could implement the customizing suggestions 535 after a preset amount of activity 510 associated with the web site. This preset amount of activity may be set by the user or generated by other parameters.
Yet, in another exemplary embodiment, the invention could implement the customizing suggestions 535 at random times and not be dependent on the amount of activity 510 associated with the web site.
All the aforementioned exemplary embodiments may be implemented by always basing the customizing suggestions 535 on the original web site structure. Thus regardless of the customization of the web site structure 505 that has occurred since the original web site structure 505 was intact, future customization suggestions are based on the activity 510 and the original web site structure 505 , for generating future customization suggestions 535 .
Still other exemplary embodiments, may implement all the aforementioned embodiments by always basing the customizing suggestions 535 on the web site structure 505 on a dynamic basis. Thus, every time the web site structure 505 is customized, whether automatically or through human intervention, the next customization suggestions 535 will be based on the activity 510 and the web site structure 505 at the time the customization suggestions 535 are generated.
Though certain of these anomalies and rules are described fully herein, one skilled in the art will realize that numerous others may become apparent and will be utilized in the future, in various embodiments of the invention. Likewise, the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present invention may be applied to, and embodied in, various program modules for execution on differing types of computers and/or equipment, operating in differing types of networks, regardless of the application. Alternate embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is described by the appended claims and supported by the foregoing description.
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An invention for customizing a web site by gathering information from a web site visitor's sessions while the user is using the web site. The visitor's session information is compared with expected visitor behavior, based on the present structure of the web site. Using pre-programmed basic comparison rules and computer based mathematical models, matrices are used to represent statistical information about the visitor's sessions on the web site. The statistical information is used to extract visitor behavior which was unexpected (anomalies). Anomalies are grouped into recommendations. These recommendations are used to automatically customize the web site. In the alternative, information is provided to the web site administrator to customize the web site to be more efficient and visitor friendly, maximizing the operation of the Web site and promoting more frequent visits.
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BACKGROUND
[0001] 1. Field of Invention
[0002] This invention relates to the apparatus for installing water features, such as waterfalls, fountains and the like in residential and commercial flora displays. The apparatus allows for proper location and height of the features to accomplish intended blending with landscaping, flora, and the like. This invention has particular utility in its ability to provide water features at proper heights and location to produce attractive water fall transfer from water feature to water feature.
[0003] 2. Description of Prior Art
[0004] Water features such as water falls have existed for many years as part of the prior art. There are a multitude of water fall type water features that are commercially available. U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,797, Jennney, describes a cascade waterfall over three simulated leaves which are mounted on three pedestals. The pedestals are constructed of hoops separated by metal rods. The pedestals stand located in a water source pool.
PRESENT INVENTION —OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES
[0005] The present invention provides for installation of a water feature in an unleveled ground surface, wooden hardware, concrete or the like. The terrain for each feature need not be level with respect to other features. The height and the distance between the water features are adjustable at installation. The invention provides means for keeping the water at proper level in the water feature. Holes can be drilled in wood or concrete to accept the support stake for the apparatus, or the support stake can easily be driven into soil. The apparatus is inexpensive to manufacture and is easy to install. The parts of the apparatus are easily and economically packaged for transport to distribution or installation sites.
DRAWING FIGURES
[0006] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a water feature in the form of a leaf.
[0007] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention taken along line 2 - 2 of FIG. 1 .
[0008] FIG. 3 shows a cascading water fall.
[0009] FIG. 4 shows a water feature that is a bird bath and fountain.
[0010] FIG. 5A and 5B show a cross section and a partial longitudinal view of an extruded plastic tube.
[0011] FIG. 6 is a cross section taken along line 6 - 6 of FIG. 1 and shows an arrangement for providing decorative lighting for a water feature.
DESCRIPTION
[0012] FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a typical water feature in the form of leaf 12 , although the feature may take many forms, such as a flower, a bowl or the like. Leaf 12 can be made of a variety of materials such as stainless steel, copper, and the like. The preferred material is plastic.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 1 and shows a preferred embodiment 10 of the present invention. Attached to the bottom of leaf 12 is a cup shaped receptacle 14 . Receptacle 14 can be made of any suitable material and the preferred material is plastic. Receptacle 14 is attached to leaf 12 by brazing, welding, and the like with the preferred method being adhesive bonding or sonic welding. Alternately, if the leaf 12 is vacuum formed plastic, the receptacle may be formed as part of leaf 12 .
[0014] During installation, an elongated tube 16 of suitable material, such as brass, copper, steel, plastic, and the like, is inserted into receptacle 14 . The preferred material for tube 16 is plastic. Tube 16 has attachment screws 18 , or other attachment devices, strategically positioned for attachment to elongated stake 20 during installation.
[0015] During installation, stake 20 is driven vertically into soil. Conversely, if the apparatus is to be installed on concrete, wood, plastic or the like, proper holes are drilled to accommodate insertion of stake 20 . Stake 20 is shown as round but may take on other shapes such as angle iron. After stake 20 is properly secured, assembled parts, leaf 12 , receptacle 14 , and tube 16 are inserted onto stake 20 . Leaf 12 , receptacle 14 and tube 16 are then properly positioned vertically and properly rotated to the desired angle, and then attachment screws 18 are tightened against stake 20 . The apparatus installation for this water feature is then complete.
[0016] FIG. 3 shows a series of water features arranged as a cascade waterfall 30 , mounted on uneven terrain 32 . In this figure, tubes 16 A, 16 B, and 16 C are shown to be equal in length. Because of the height adjustment afforded by this invention, proper vertical orientation of the water features can still be obtained. Tubes 16 D and 16 E are of different lengths. Hose 34 supplies water from a pump, generally mounted in reservoir 36 , up through tube 16 A and through a central hydraulic fitting in leaf 38 , thereby supplying the necessary flow for the waterfall 30 . Electric cords may also be installed up through tube 16 to provide lighting or to provide power to a pump, and the like, in order to provide special aesthetic effects.
[0017] In FIG. 4 the water feature is a bird bath 40 with a central fountain 42 . Pump 44 provides the water flow for fountain 42 . Electrical cord 46 provides power to pump 44 .
[0018] When tube 16 is made from plastic, the preferred method is extrusion. FIGS. 5A and 5B show tube 16 with longitudinal vertical grooves 50 to enhance the apparatus aesthetics. Grooves 50 are easily produced by the extrusion process. Longitudinal rib 52 can also be provided by the extrusion process to enhance the support structure for attachment screw 18 . Longitudinal ribs 54 provide a centering means for stake 20 .
[0019] FIG. 6 shows a cross section of a lighting support 60 for a water feature. Elongated tube 16 supports a bulb holder 62 . Bulb 64 is shown as an incandescent bulb but may be a light emitting diode, laser, or the like. Bulb 64 is shown as a single unit but may be several units that can be of different color, turned on intermittently, turned on sequentially, and the like. Surface 66 may be fitted with a polished reflective material to produce special optical affects. Transparent lens 68 is secured to bulb holder 62 in such a way as to clamp rubber seal 70 to leaf 12 and therefore sealing water to the confines of leaf 12 .
Conclusions:
[0020] Accordingly, this invention offers a means for relatively unskilled individuals to install attractive inexpensive water features. Prior to installation all the components of this invention are essentially separate items. Therefore, an important part of this invention is that all the individual components can be easily and inexpensively packaged for distribution.
[0021] It will be appreciated that while particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, modifications may be made. It is intended in the claims to cover all modifications that come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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An adjustable support apparatus provides for easy installation and proper and precise location of water features, such as fountains, cascade water falls, and the like. After the water features are properly positioned, the installation is secured by bolts or clamps. The nature of the invention provides for keeping the position of water in the feature level.
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BACKGROUND
1. Technical Field
The invention broadly relates to telecommunications systems and methods, and more particularly, to telecommunication systems and methods for determining attributes associated with telecommunication networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunication network circuits are prevalent throughout the world. There are, however, many different types of telecommunication network circuits ranging from the common plain old telephone service (POTS) to more sophisticated ISDN lines, T-1 lines, T-3 lines, DS0, DS1 and a variety of other types of telecommunication network circuits. Different types of telecommunication network circuits have associated therewith a variety of attributes including telecommunication network circuit capacity, speed escalation and various other business related attributes. For example, the expiration times associated with each telecommunication network may be different, some may not be eligible for escalation, and some may be serialized while others may be non-serialized. Accordingly, there exist a variety of attributes that may be available for any or all of them.
Software systems associated with each telecommunication network circuit type generally behave differently based on the type of telecommunication network circuits and their associated attributes. Accordingly, for a software system to properly manage a particular telecommunication network circuit it must know the telecommunication network circuit type it is operating with. The type of a particular telecommunication network circuit can be determined using the telecommunication network circuit identifier (ID) number, which is a unique number associated with the telecommunication network circuit type. There are well known algorithms that can be used to determine a telecommunication network circuit type based on the telecommunication network circuit ID number.
There exist a growing number of applications in the telecommunication area that require more information about a particular telecommunication network circuit. For example, some applications must know a telephone network circuit's attributes, the validation of such attributes and other relevant information that may become relevant in the future with the advances in technology. The attributes of a T-3 telephone network circuit, for example, may change when another type of telephone network circuit is introduced in the future.
Conventional systems for determining attributes associated with telecommunication network circuits generally provide software code for the software applications for each individual type of telephone network circuit. This, however, is inefficient and redundant because essentially the same code resides across several different systems, thus increasing the overall code base and the size of the binary files associated with each software application. Having different software code creates the problem of having to reintroduce code and re-release code whenever a change is made to an attribute associated with a telephone network circuit.
Furthermore, conventional systems for determining attributes associated with telecommunication network circuits generally function in one of two ways. In one way, the information is coded into the application itself or the application contains a subset of a rule-based system. In another way, the application will go directly to a legacy system, which comprises a portion of a telecommunication network that dictates what attributes are associated with certain network circuits, and the software system can obtain the required attribute data directly from the legacy system. One problem with conventional approaches is that legacy databases are not optimized to provide attribute data and many databases may have to be searched in order to find the required data. For example, a software application may typically have to operate across several different interfaces and use techniques such as screen scraping to ascertain the required attributes information. Most legacy systems are not dedicated to obtaining attributes and most will have network latency delays of at least 30 seconds and may sometimes exceed several minutes.
There are several related art methods and systems for determining attributes associated with telecommunication network circuits and various software applications associated with different telecommunication network circuits. FIG. 1 illustrates one related art system 10 where different telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 are associated with different software applications 18 , 20 , 22 , respectively. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the program logic can reside in the individual software applications 18 , 20 , 22 or can reside in a shared library among the software applications 18 , 20 , 22 . For example, instructions associated with each of the software applications 18 , 20 , 22 can be executed by one central computer 24 in communication with a commonly shared database 26 that includes the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . Alternatively, the instructions associated with each software application 18 , 20 , 22 can be executed on separate computers 28 , 32 , 36 , respectively, wherein each computer 28 , 32 , 36 is in communication with databases 30 , 34 , 38 , respectively. The individual databases 30 , 34 , 38 include the attributes of each telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 , respectively.
The related art system 10 suffers from several drawbacks, however. Namely, the system 10 is not dynamic and any changes in the telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 types or attributes must be accompanied by a corresponding change in the software applications 18 , 20 , 16 , respectively. This process further includes new releases of the software code, rebuilding, retesting and other overhead associated with updating the code in a software application. The system 10 also is inefficient because of redundancies in the code involved.
FIG. 2 illustrates another related art system 50 that uses information from a legacy system 52 in communication with a database 54 for determining attributes associated with each telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 types and their behavior. The central computer 24 queries the legacy system 52 to retrieve data associated with the one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 stored in the database 54 , for example. The data in the database 54 includes attributes of each telecommunication circuit types 12 , 14 , 16 . The data, however, is generally not optimized for the specific information desired by the relative software applications 18 , 20 , 22 . Network latency and accessibility are further drawbacks of this related art system 50 .
Accordingly, there is a need to determine telephone network attributes without querying legacy systems. There is a further need to improve the performance and maintainability of a client software application adapted for one or more telephone network circuits.
SUMMARY
According to one aspect, the invention provides a system for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit. The system includes a first computer in communication with a second computer, the second computer transmitting a query to the first computer for attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit, the second computer transmitting to the first computer a telecommunication network circuit ID number; a database in communication with the first computer, the database having the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit stored therein; and a rules engine for determining the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit identified by the telecommunication network circuit ID number.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a computer system. The system includes a server including a software application for executing instructions associated with a software application that utilizes a telecommunication network circuit ID number for determining one or more attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit; a client including a second software application for interfacing with a user and transmitting the telecommunication network circuit ID number to the server; and wherein, the server receives the circuit ID number from the second software application and determines various attributes associated with the network circuit based on the circuit ID number.
A further aspect of the invention provides a system for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit. The system includes means for transmitting a request for attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit from a first computer to a second computer, the request including a telecommunication network circuit ID number; and means for executing a set of rules by the second computer for determining the attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit type identified by the telecommunication network circuit ID number.
Yet another aspect of the invention provides a method for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit. The method includes transmitting a request for attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit from a first computer to a second computer, the request including a telecommunication network circuit ID number; and executing a set of rules by the second computer for determining the attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit type identified by the telecommunication network circuit ID number.
Still another aspect of the invention provides a method for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit. The method includes providing a telecommunication network circuit ID number from a software application to an application server; retrieving information associated with a telecommunication network circuit based on the telecommunication network circuit ID number from a database, the database being in communication with the application server; processing the information according to a predetermined set of rules; and returning the information to the software application.
These and various other aspects of the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. For a better understanding of the invention, however, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there illustrated and described specific examples of a system and method in accordance with the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Further advantages of the invention may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates a related art system where different telecommunication network circuits are associated with different software applications;
FIG. 2 illustrates another related art system that uses information from a legacy system in communication with a database for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit;
FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a client-server system for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit;
FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a CORBA network based system for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit;
FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a client-server system for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit in conjunction with a legacy system; and
FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a CORBA network based system for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit in conjunction with a legacy system.
DESCRIPTION
In one embodiment the invention generally provides a computer system, such as, for example, a software application server, for executing instructions associated with a software application that utilizes a telecommunication network circuit ID number for determining one or more attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit. The computer system receives the circuit ID number from any requesting application in communication with the application server that may require information about a telecommunication network circuit. Once the computer system receives the telecommunication network circuit ID number it determines various attributes associated with the network circuit based on the circuit ID number. The attributes are then communicated back to the requesting or calling application that performed the query. In one embodiment, the computer system may pass control to a software application that utilizes a rules based engine for determining the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit based on the network circuit ID number. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a single software application can be utilized to perform the querying function as well as the attribute determining function without departing from the scope of the invention.
In one embodiment the invention provides a computer method for communicating with a variety of software applications transmit requests or queries to an application server for information regarding attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit. The queries provide the application server computer with a telecommunication network circuit ID number and the application server computer executes a set of rules for determining one or more attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit based on the network circuit ID number. In one embodiment the method includes providing a circuit ID number from a software application to an application server, retrieving information associated with a telecommunication network circuit based on the circuit ID number from a central database, processing the information according to a predetermined set of rules and returning the information to the software application. In another embodiment, the method further includes storing the resulting information in the central database. In yet another embodiment, the method includes determining one or more attributes of a plurality of telecommunication network circuits from a central location.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, changes can be made to the attributes associated with the one or more telecommunication network circuits without affecting the calling or requesting software application. For example, when attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit are updated, the calling software application does not have to be recompiled, recoded or retested. Thus, the method eliminates a time consuming and expensive aspect of conventional methods used for determining and updating attributes associated with telecommunication network circuits.
Turning now to FIG. 3 where one embodiment of a client-server system 60 for determining attributes associated with one or more telecommunication networks is illustrated. In one embodiment, the system 60 includes an application server 62 in communication with a client 64 , forming a client-server network 66 . The application server 62 is in communication with a database 68 . The database 68 contains data associated with one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . This includes any rules for determining the telecommunication network circuit type and attributes for each of the network circuit types. In one embodiment of the invention, the rules can be specified using a well-known concept referred to as regular expressions. The client-server 66 network architecture can be of a conventional nature, providing conventional functionality such as query 72 and response 74 functions between the client 64 and the application server 62 . The application server 62 either includes a rules engine 70 or is in communication with a rules engine 70 for determining attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . There can be a plurality of clients in communication with the application server 62 without departing from the scope of the invention.
In one embodiment of the invention, the rules engine 70 can be implemented in the form of a set of instructions acting as the primary building blocks of a software application for determining attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 in accordance with the network circuit's ID number. In one embodiment, when a computer, such as the client 64 computer for example, sends a query to the application server 62 for attribute information associated with a particular telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 , the client 64 provides the network circuit ID number to the application server 62 . Conventional circuit ID numbers are generally 40-digits long comprising a combination of numbers and characters. Those skilled in the art will appreciate, however, that the invention is not limited to such ID number formats and can be adapted to suit a variety of different formats used by different telecommunication service provides and telecommunication equipment manufacturers.
The telecommunication network circuit ID numbers and formatting can differ, therefore, depending on the type of telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 or based on the manufacturer or owner of the telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 . In one embodiment the telecommunication network circuit ID number is stored in the database 68 in the form of a circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . When the querying computer, e.g., the client 64 , provides the telecommunication network circuit ID number to the application server 62 , a software application associated with the application server 62 retrieves information associated with the telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 based on the network circuit ID number. In one embodiment, some of the information includes retrieving the network circuit type from a circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . The circuit type rules look-up-table 76 can be compiled or built manually or automatically. In one embodiment of the invention, a software application can be used to customize the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 through data management techniques. The software application itself, however, does not have to be recompiled and no rebuilding of the software code is required whenever changes are made to the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 .
The rules engine 70 according to one embodiment of the invention is based on the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 stored in the database 68 . In one embodiment, the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 can take the form shown in FIG. 3 comprising a “Rule” 78 portion, a “Circuit Type” 80 portion and a “Circuit Class” 82 portion. For example, if a software application running on the client 64 queries the application server 62 and provides the network circuit ID number for a DS0 type telecommunication network circuit, the application server 62 executes a series of instructions associated with the rules engine 70 and searches the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 looking for a specific rule for determining where a DS0 type of telecommunication circuit is located.
The application server 62 then searches the Rule 78 portion of the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . If the rule contains a string, such as for example, “. . . /pdls/ . . . ,” the application server 62 knows that the information it requires is located somewhere within the string. (The continuous dots indicate that there is no other data contained within the string.) Using similar regular expressions a variety of information can be inserted within the string. For example, information can be inserted in the string to indicate some combination of characters, ranges and the like. Accordingly, when the application server 62 initiates a call to the rules engine 70 , it provides the rules engine 70 with the telecommunication network circuit ID number received from the client 64 application. The application server 62 also will provide the rules engine 70 with a container for storing the response containing the attributes or other requested information. In one embodiment, this can be implemented using an interface definition language (IDL), for example. The software application then knows where to send the response data back to.
When the application server 62 receives the network circuit ID number, it analyzes the circuit ID number and determines whether it meets any of the predefined rules in the Rule 78 portion of the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 using well known regular expressions and string matching techniques. This process allows the application server 62 to determine, based on the network circuit ID number, whether the telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 identified by the circuit ID number is one of any known types of network circuit stored in the Circuit Type 80 portion of the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . Using the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 the application determines which one of the various known network circuit types it is dealing with (e.g., POTS, DS0, DS1, ISDN lines, T-1, T-3, and the like).
Once a circuit type is identified in the Circuit Type 80 portion of the circuit types rules look-up-table 76 , e.g., a DS0 circuit type, the software application also will identify what circuit class the circuit type belongs to from the Circuit Class 82 portion of the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . In one embodiment, the Circuit Class 82 portion of the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 provides, for example, whether a circuit type is a serialized type or a non-serialized type. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any data stored within the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 must be initially set up or populated in the database 68 . Thus, the system 60 will generally have some administrative overhead associated with it in order to populate the Rule 78 portion, the Circuit Type 80 portion and the Circuit Class 82 portion of the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 .
Once the network circuit ID number is passed to the application server 62 and the circuit type is determined from the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 , the attributes associated with that specific circuit type are provided back to the calling software application at the client 64 . The circuit type is the key for determining the attributes associated with the one or more telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 identified by the circuit ID number. These attributes, once identified, are returned to the calling application (e.g., the client 64 application) in the container provided by the calling software application, for example.
The attributes associated with the one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 are provided in a circuit attribute look-up-table 86 comprising a “Circuit Type” 88 portion, a “Circuit Attribute” 90 portion, a “Min Value” 92 portion, a “Max Value” 94 portion and a “Default” value 96 portion. Although the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 and the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 are shown as two separate look-up-tables, they can be provided as a single look-up-table without departing from the scope of the invention. In one embodiment of the invention, if the rules engine 70 retrieves a DS0 circuit type based on the network circuit ID number from the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 , the rules engine 70 proceeds to the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 and returns, for example, the attributes identified therein for that particular circuit type. In one embodiment the circuit attributes 90 are provided in one portion of the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 and comprises, for example, four pieces of information.
If the circuit type retrieved is a DS0 circuit, for example, the rules engine 70 returns a ZLOC Address, an Escalation Time, a Due Date and an ALOC Address. In addition, the rules engine 70 returns a “Min Value” 92 , a “Max Value” 94 and a “Default Value” 96 . Those skilled in the art will appreciate, however, that additional pieces of information can be provided in the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 among other attributes associated with the one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 , such as, for example, circuit fault values, circuit validation data as may be required by a particular client 64 , and the like.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there exists the possibility that a generic attribute database may change. If so, at least two approaches may be taken. The user at the client 64 computer can have a system administrator provide notification that a change is necessary and the change can be carried out manually, or the user can run a polling process that goes out to the legacy system 52 and retrieves any new attributes data from an original database on a periodic basis. This process may be carried out every two hours, every two days, or whatever the user feels is appropriate without departing from the scope of the invention. All of these features are configurable in the application to make it smarter. In fact, the application can be originally set up to populate the look-up-tables 76 , 86 automatically rather than populating them manually.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one embodiment, the invention can be provided as a web-based provisioning system for telecommunication network circuits rather than in the form of a client-server 66 network architecture. This could be provided, for example, at a point where a telephone carrier interfaces with one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . The telecommunication circuit ID number then could be provided at the interface. Accordingly, a remote user application could then access a web server and pass the telecommunication network circuit ID number to it and to the rules engine 70 in communication with the web server. As discussed above, in operation the rules engine 70 determines the telecommunication network circuit type associated with the circuit ID number from the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . The rules engine 70 can then access a list of attributes associated with the identified telecommunication network circuit type from the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 and pass the identified attributes as well as any fault values and validation data to the web server and back to the remote user application interfaced with the web server.
At the interface a web page could be built dynamically for providing the user with information that the telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 will be provisioned from the interface location. Accordingly, as changes are made to the various attributes associated with corresponding telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 there is no need to have the attribute information hard coded, and the user accesses the web page, calls the rules engine 70 , and the attribute data is sent back to the remote user, who can use the attribute data received from the rules engine for validation purposes. After validation, the information is submitted and it provisions a telecommunication network circuit.
The rules engine 70 passes generic values to the user that is eligible for the particular type of telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 that was provisioned. The telecommunication network circuit ID number that is passed has a predefined composition that can be used, for example, to determine the telecommunication network circuit type. Accordingly, the user is provided with the necessary information to appropriately provision that telecommunication network circuit 12 , 14 , 16 with. The entire process is executed dynamically, which is in contrast to how the process is performed in conventional systems.
FIG. 4 illustrates a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) based system 80 using a CORBA servant 82 and CORBA client 84 forming a CORBA network 86 . When using the CORBA based system 80 location of the user is irrelevant and the user issue a request to ORBIX to connect to a particular machine and talk to a specific CORBA servant 82 . The user can then register with the CORBA servant 82 it and it will continue processing. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a CORBA network 86 is a distributed systems technology that is not tied to a single platform and provides good portability. CORBA services are described by an interface that is generally written in an Interface Definition Language (IDL).
In one embodiment of the invention, the CORBA servant 82 and the CORBA client 84 communicate by passing method calls through Object Request Brokers (ORBs). ORBs communicate via the Internet Inter-Orb Protocol (IIOP) 86 . The IIOP 92 transactions can occur over Transport Control Protocol (TCP) streams, or by way of other protocols such as HTTP, for example. The CORBA network 86 provides an interface that is an independent method for communicating between applications that can be executed on different hardware platforms. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a CORBA interface is an interface protocol that operates across different networks or can be resident and rely on the same platform. The IDL language that is common to both sides of a CORBA network 86 is used to enable the CORBA interface to operate transparently of the platform. The CORBA client 84 and the CORBA servant 82 have to use the common predefined IDL definition language that includes the structures within it, has the data requirements and the attributes. This is well known to those skilled in the art and is available from various publications.
The calling application can use the IDL to communicate with the CORBA servant 82 . Accordingly, the CORBA servant 82 communicates with the rules engine 70 to provide the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit types in accordance with the telecommunication network circuit ID number. As discussed above the telecommunication network circuit types according to the telecommunication network circuit ID number are retrieved from the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . The list of attributes associated with that circuit type are then retrieved from the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 . Accordingly, the attributes, a list of “min” and “max” values or validations are communicated back to the application server 82 and to the calling application on the client 84 , for example, depending on how the system is set up.
In one embodiment of the invention, the rules engine 70 can use an established interface such as the CORBA servant 82 and CORBA client 84 to communicate with other software applications. Again, the CORBA servant 82 utilizes the network circuit ID number that is passed to it by the CORBA client 84 and returns the circuit type and a list of attributes in response. The CORBA client 84 application can then use the response data to dictate its behavior. For example, there can be provided a web based provisioning system for the one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . The web based system requests a network circuit ID number and the application then utilizes the rules engine 70 to determine the circuit type by searching the circuit type rules look-up-table 76 . The rules engine 70 also can obtain a list of attributes associated with that circuit type from the circuit attribute look-up-table 86 . The rules engine 70 also can provide validation information such as “max” and “min” values to be used to check the data input. This list of attributes would be used to construct a data entry page for provisioning the network circuit. The web page would then be displayed for user input. The resulting input is then passed to the appropriate legacy system 52 for provisioning the network circuit.
In one embodiment of the invention, the rules engine 70 can be the central location for providing various procedures for managing the one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . Multi-level logic to determine attributes and validations also can be provided in the CORBA servant 82 . Any changes made to the application would ripple to the various software applications using it. Fewer releases of the system software would be required due to circuit information changes.
Turning now to FIG. 5 , another embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The client-server system 100 operates essentially the same as the client-server system 60 illustrated in FIG. 3 . The client-server system 100 , however, provides additional functionality by interfacing the server 62 with the legacy system 52 . The legacy system 52 is in communication with a legacy database 54 . The legacy database 54 contains legacy information associated with the one or more telecommunication network circuits 12 , 14 , 16 . The legacy database 54 contains updated attribute look-up-tables from the legacy system 52 . Accordingly, the server 62 can access the updated attribute look-up-tables on a periodic basis by way of a polling function to the legacy system 52 , for example, for updating the attribute look-up-tables. Accordingly, the rules engine 70 would always have access to updated information that is synchronized with the legacy system 52 .
FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of the invention. The CORBA network based system 110 operates essentially the same as the CORBA network based system 80 illustrated in FIG. 4 . The CORBA network based system 110 , however, provides additional functionality by interfacing the CORBA servant 82 with the legacy system 52 . As discussed above in relation to FIG. 5 , the legacy database 54 contains updated attribute look-up-tables from the legacy system 52 . Accordingly, the CORBA servant 82 can access the updated attribute look-up-tables on a periodic basis by way of a polling function to the legacy system 52 , for example, in order to update the attribute look-up-tables. Accordingly, the rules engine 70 would always have access to updated information that is synchronized with the legacy system 52 .
While several embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be apparent, however, that various modifications, alterations and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the art with the attainment of some or all of the advantages of the present invention. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications, alterations and adaptations without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
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A system and method for determining attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit. In accordance therewith, disclosed is a first computer; a second computer in communication with the first computer, the first computer transmitting a query to the second computer for attributes associated with a telecommunication network circuit, the first computer transmitting to the second computer a telecommunication network circuit ID number; a database in communication with the second computer, the database having the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit stored therein; and a rules engine for determining the attributes associated with the telecommunication network circuit identified by the telecommunication network circuit ID number.
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This invention relates to cutting of web material and more particularly to cutting apperatures of selected configurations in webs of paper, foil or thermoplastic.
In the manufacture of thermoplastic handle bags of the type of having in-line apperatures, adjacent to the upper edge and in each of the opposed panels, it is conventional to make the apperatures by using a punch and die operating to apply a shearing force along the desired line of cut. While punch and die sets achieve satisfactory performance the life cycle of the cutting edges, particularly with thermoplastic webs, is relatively short requiring frequent replacement with sharpened die sets. To illustrate, current handle bag making machines that may be set up to produce, from a single lane, bags at a rate from 100 to 135 bags per minure obviously require the same rate of die set operation. At such a cycle rate rapid deterioration of the die sets occurs. Moreover, during a period of time in which the cutting edges lose their sharpness and in view of the fact that thermoplastics of the type used for making bags exhibits a high degree of resistance to being cut, the edges of the cut line may be deformed and produce an undesirable appearance.
The approach of the present invention departs from known present practices by penetrating the web, overlying or underlying a knife edge, at one or more points by a rigid anvil defining tangential contact with the knife edge. In making contact the web is pierced at the point of tangency and the contact pressure between the knife is maintained at least until the entire edge of the knife has been traversed by the anvil. In the course of the anvils excursion along the knife edge a portion of the web, corresponding to the shape of the knife, is cut and removed from the web.
Accordingly it is a principle feature of the present invention to cut web material by penetrating the web at one or more points at which an anvil structure makes tangential pressure engagement with a knife edge and progressively moving the anvil along the knife edge to effect cutting of the web.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of the novel cutting apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a perspective of a typical bag, usually referred to as a sinus top bag, provided with a hand receiving holes adjacent its upper margins,
FIG. 3 is a plan illustrating an elongate strip of web material which has been divided into two web strips with the parting line taking the form of a sine wave,
FIG. 4 shows the web strips illustrated in FIG. 3 displaced to the extent that the crown and the valley of each web strip is inline and illustrating the presence of hand receiving holes in a crown portion of the upper edge of a prospective bag,
FIGS. 5A and 5B show a cone-shaped anvil cooperating with a circular knife to produce a circular hole in the thermoplastic web,
FIGS. 6A and 6B show the anvil associated with the knife formed for producing hand receiving holes of crescent shape,
FIGS. 7A and 7B show the anvil cooperating with a knife structure for producing a cut along a knife edge having the form illustrated by the dashed lines defining a closed path, and
FIG. 8 is a modified form of the cutter when the cone-shaped anvil is displaced by the solenoid toward the lower disposed stationary knife.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 illustrates the general arrangement of the novel cutting apparatus of the present invention and it is generally designated by the numeral 10. While the description of the preferred construction of the present invention will be related to its use with a machine for producing thermoplastic bags, it is to be understood that the cutting principles disclosed herein are generally applicable to cutting thin filmy webs of paper, foil or thermoplastics. The cutting apparatus comprises an upper housing 12 and an aligned lower housing 14. An elongate strip of web material 16 is disposed in a gap 18 between the upper and lower housing. When the novel cutting mechanism of the present invention is mounted on and coordinated with the operation of a thermoplastic bag making machine the web 16 is intermittently advanced between the housings and during its period of repose or dwell the cutting mechanism is rendered operative to cut out the portion of the web which is within the projected area of the cutting elements which will be described hereinafter.
The upper housing 12 comprises a tubular shroud or casing 20 and a plug or a block 22 rigid with the casing 20. The block 22 rotatably mounts, by means of bearings 24, a shaft 26 the upper end of which has keyed thereon a pulley 28 which is rotated by a belt 30 driven by a motor (not shown). Integral with the shaft 26 is a depending bell-shaped housing 32. The housing is provided with a bore 34 formed along an axis Y--Y defining an angle of inclination with the axis X--X of the shaft 26. By means of bearings 36 a short stub shaft 38 is rotatably mounted in the bell housing 32 and it has rigidly secured to its lower end an anvil 40 taking the form of a shallow cone whose apex is indicated by numeral 42. It should be noted that the apex 42 is located at the intersection of the imaginary axis Y--Y and the imaginary axis X--X. As a result of this arrangement, rotation of the shaft 26 imparts an orbital motion to the bell housing 32 and the shallow cone-shaped anvil 40 while the apex 42, which lies on the axis X--X of the shaft 26, remains stationary. In other words, the apex 42 will not describe a circular locus.
The lower housing comprises an outer tubular casing 44 and an inner concentric tubular casing 46 being closed at its lower end by an annular plate 48 having a central threaded bore for receiving the threaded end 50 of a fluid operated linear actuator 52. The actuator is held firmly and clamped to the plate 48 by a lock nut 54.
The output rod 56 of the actuator 52 is threadedly connected at 58 to a cup-shaped knife holding platen 60 formed with a hollow portion 62 and an upper knife holding ledge 64. The hollow portion 62 is formed with an opening 66 in a circumferential wall portion 68.
The knife holding or retaining ledge 64 has a tubular knife 70 of any desired configuration (FIG. 6B or FIG. 7B) having its upper edge chamfered or ground to form a sharpened edge 72 which, as will be explained presently, cooperates with the anvil 40 to cut a hole in the web portion within the projected line of the edge 72.
According to the present invention the anvil 40 and the knife 70 comprise means for penetrating the web materials 16 when the knife is raised by the actuator 52. On raising the knife so that its edge 72 makes contact with the inclined anvil 40 a point of the web is penetrated since the inclined orientation of the anvil defines a point of tangency. It is to be recognized that the scope of the present invention contemplates the use of one or more rollers whose axes of rotation may be normal to the axes of the shaft 26 and thus achieve initial point contact which migrates along the knife edge 72 to achieve cutting a pattern hole from the web material 16. Accordingly, a principle objective of the present invention is to cut an apperature in flexible web material by penetrating the material at a point of tangency between an anvil and a cutting edge and progressively moving the point of contact along the entire edge of a knife.
As shown in FIG. 1 the lower housing 14 includes a plate 74 having an apperature 76 which may be circular or of a configuration similar to the configuration of the knife such as shown in FIG. 6B and 7B. In any event, the apperature 76 is sufficiently large to provide clearance for upward projection of the knife toward and in contact with the anvil in response to the actuation of the linear actuator 52. Since it is contemplated that the web 16 would be held in tension during its progress over the cutting apparatus 10, raising of the knife 70 would slightly increase the tension of the web when contact of the anvil 40 is made. However, as the point of contact between the anvil 40 and the knife edge 72 progresses around the entire periphery of the knife edge 72 some relaxation and tension would occur as the cutting point progresses around the sharpened edge 72.
FIG. 2 illustrates one type of thermoplastic bag, commonly referred to as a "sinus top bag" which is generally identified by the numeral 78. It will be observed that the bag 78 is provided with hand receiving holes 80 in each of the opposed panels (not shown) and that the holes 80 are located adjacent the curvilinear or top portion 82 of the bag.
FIG. 3 illustrates the portion of an elongate strip of web 16 which has been divided substantially along its longitudinal median along a sinusoidal parting line 84 to produce two web strips W-1 and W-2. Thereafter the web strips are arranged, either by advancing one web strip of retarding the other, to assume the orientation shown in FIG. 4. It should be particularly noted the web strips are oriented so that the top portion 82 of the respective bags are laterally aligned and overlapped to allow the cutting apparatus 10 to produce the hand receiving hold 80 in each prospective bag upon severing and sealing along a transverse line 86. It should also be appreciated that two bags are produced, one from each web strip W-1 and W-2, during each machine cycle.
For further details of a bag machine for producing the sinusoidal parting line 84 and aligning the web strips as shown in FIG. 4, reference should be made to Belgian application Ser. No. 212,638 filed on March 27, 1984 and assigned to the assignee of the present application. By reference to this application it is intended that is disclosure be incorporated herein.
FIGS. 5a and 5b diagrammatically illustrate operation of the cutting apparatus when combined with the circular knife edge 72 to produce a round hole, such as hole 80 in the bag 78. It should be evident that as long as the knife edge 72 is within the projected area of the anvil 40 and that the apex 42 of the anvil is within the perimeter of the knife edge, irrespective of its shape, initial tangential contact piercing the web and progressing around the periphery of the knife will achieve cutting of a variety of shapes.
FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate operation of the cutting apparatus with a knife having a configuration following the outlined indicated as 72a. It should be noted that the apex 42 is represented by the intersecting lines located within the periphery of the shape 72a of FIG. 6b. The anvil, as it is rotated, will progress from its point of contact around the knife edge 72a until an apperature of the illustrated configuration is produced.
FIGS. 7a and 7b illustrate a modified form of the knife edge 72b which essentially takes the form of two parallel rectalinear edges having their ends interconnected by a semicircle. It should be observed that the apex 42 of the anvil 40 is located within the periphery 72b but eccentric with the intersection of its axes of symmetry. Cutting in the manner disclosed herein is achieved since the surface of the anvil 40 will trace the upper edge of the knife 72b to define an apperature of the shape illustrated.
While the above described embodiment of the present invention projects the knife 72 toward the anvil 40 in order to effect cutting of the web, cutting can also be achieved by moving the anvil 40 toward and in contact with the knife 70. An exemplary construction showing such a mode of operation is shown in FIG. 8 wherein like components are identified by the same numerals. To move the anvil 40 toward and away from the knife 70 a solenoid 88 has its armature connected to a lever 90 pivotally connected at 92 to a fixed frame member (not shown) and it is pivotally connected at 94 to a rod or shaft 96 defining an extension of the shaft 26. To accommodate vertical reciprocating movement of the shaft 26 and yet impart torque to the pulley 28, the shaft 26 is formed with a spline in the portion residing within a splined bushing 98. The shaft 96 is slidably mounted in fixed brackets 100. In order to adjust the contact pressure between the anvil 40 and the knife 70, springs 102 located between the brackets 100 and adjustable collars 104, are associated with the shaft 96. According to this construction when the solenoid 88 is energized displacing the shaft 96 downwardly a portion of the output force of the solenoid is absorbed or countered by the spring 102 which may be adjusted by movement of its associated collar 104 to achieve a contact pressure between the anvil 40 and the knife 70 which is judged to achieve proper cutting.
In accordance with current practice, the waste material resulting from producing the aperature in the web, is disposed of by connecting a hose 106 to the cavity or opening 66. The hose is conventionally connected to a source of vacuum and to a suitable container for accumulating the waste.
Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention.
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The disclosed cutting method and apparatus produces a pattern cut in web material by providing a generally conically-shaped rotatable anvil and oppositely disposed knife edge shaped to produce the pattern cut. The axes of symmetry containing the apex of the cone is positioned at an acute angle to the axes about which the cone is rotated. With the web positioned over the knife, the knife is brought into pressure engagement with the anvil thereby piercing the web substantially at a point. Rotation of the anvil effects progressive cutting as the anvil surface traces the cutting edge of the knife.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/GB01/01775, filed Apr. 19, 2001, which was published in the English language on Oct. 25, 2001 as International Publication No. WO 01/78794 A3 and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to air care products and, in particular, to products which are capable of diffusing perfume or deodorizing components into the surrounding air.
[0003] The use of various devices for the diffusion of volatile compounds, for example perfumes, deodorizing compositions, insect repellents, and the like, into the atmosphere has become increasingly popular in recent years. For example, air-freshening devices or deodorizers are currently used in practically all households to mask bad odors, or to impart fragrances to the ambient air. Various different types of devices are known for the diffusion of volatile compounds into the surroundings. For example, devices of the spray type, such as aerosol sprays, may be used to dispense a liquid composition into the ambient air. Other devices comprise housings enclosing the active ingredients in liquid form. Typically, the diffusion of the active ingredients takes place through membranes permeable to the vapors of said ingredient, or through a wick which is placed in a reservoir containing the ingredients.
[0004] Solid state devices are also known which comprise solid materials or carriers impregnated with an active ingredient. Such devices may be formed of various materials which are capable of absorbing the ingredient and subsequently releasing it in a more or less controlled manner. Examples of such known materials include gels, such as agar-agar or sodium stearate gels, synthetic polymer resins, or blocks of mineral material, e.g., plaster or silica.
[0005] Solid state devices have the advantage that they are easy to handle and can be easily shaped. Typically, the solid state devices are enclosed within a housing with one or more grills which communicate with the surrounding air.
[0006] The main disadvantage with solid state devices is that the release of active ingredients from the blocks is not constant with time and drops dramatically over the lifetime of the device. Furthermore, such devices are inefficient, in that the device may cease to diffuse the active ingredient into the surrounding atmosphere when the outside of the block is spent, even though considerable amounts of the active ingredient may still reside within the core of the block. The residual active ingredient, such as perfume, is thus totally lost.
[0007] International patent application Publication WO 96/05870 discloses a device for perfuming, deodorizing or sanitizing air or enclosed spaces which comprises an anhydrous gel element. Such a device is capable of diffusing volatile substances at a relatively constant rate throughout the entire lifetime of the device and, furthermore, is capable of releasing substantially all of the volatile substance into the air or enclosed space within its effective lifetime.
[0008] The devices of WO 96/05870, although practically very useful, are unattractive since they are in the form of substantially colorless gels. However, because of the manner in which the gels are formed, it is difficult to incorporate dyes or colorants into the gels. Many dyes will not disperse within the system and result in unattractive, non-homogenous products, in which the dye is not uniformly dispersed therethrough. Neither the colorless gels of WO 96/05870 nor the non-homogenous colored gels would be attractive to the purchaser of such devices, which generally will be on display in the room or space which they are intended to perfume or deodorize.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] A colored anhydrous gel element for perfuming or deodorizing air or enclosed spaces is provided. The gel element comprises a cross-linked functionalized liquid polymer selected from the group consisting of maleinized polybutadiene, maleinized polyisoprene, and a copolymer of ethylene and maleic anhydride, wherein the functionalized liquid polymer is cross-linked with a cross-linking agent comprising at least one complementary functional group in the presence of a non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base and at least one metal-free solvent dye, wherein the metal-free solvent dye is soluble in the non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base or is provided as a solution in a non-aqueous solvent which is compatible with the non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base.
[0010] A process for preparing the colored gel element as described above is also provided, which comprises cross-linking the functionalized liquid polymer with the cross-linking agent in the presence of the non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base and at least one metal-free solvent dye.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0011] It has been found that homogenous, colored anhydrous gels can be prepared from the components as disclosed in WO 96/05870 if a very careful selection is made of the dyes for incorporation therein.
[0012] By the term “functionalized liquid polymer” as used herein is meant a material which is liquid at room temperature and which has a viscosity of not more than about 5 Pas at 25° C., preferably about 0.25 to about 1.0 Pas.
[0013] The functionalized liquid polymer which is used in the present invention is preferably a maleinized polybutadiene having a number average molecular weight of about 5,000 to about 20,000 or a maleinized polyisoprene having a number average molecular weight of about 200,000 to about 500,000. Examples of these materials are given in European published patent application EP-A-0023084. These materials are commercially available from Revertex Limited as Lithene™. Among the different grades of Lithene™ which are available, particularly good results have been obtained using Lithene™ N4-9000 10MA, in which 9000 represents the molecular weight of the polybutadiene before maleinization and 10MA indicates the degree of maleinization (in this case, 10 parts of maleic anhydride per 100 parts of polybutadiene, i.e., about 9.1%). Lithene™ N4-B-10MA and Lithene™ N4-5000-10MA are also particularly useful.
[0014] Alternatively, the liquid polymer may comprise a copolymer of ethylene and maleic anhydride, for example.
[0015] Examples of cross-linking agents which may be used in forming the anhydrous gels are as follows:
[0016] alkylpropyldiamines having an ethoxylated or propoxylated higher aliphatic chain such as the products commercially available from Croda Chemicals Limited as Dicrodamet™;
[0017] ethoxylated or propoxylated primary fatty amines available as Crodamet™, for example Crodamet™ 02 (oleylamine having 2 ethylene oxide units per molecule);
[0018] polyoxyalkylenediamines such as those commercially available from Huntsman Corporation as Jeffamine™, in particular the D and ED series, for example Jeffamine™ D-400, Jeffamine™ EDR-148, and Jeffamine™ D-2000; and
[0019] polyoxyalkylenetriamines such as those commercially available from Huntsman Corporation as Jeffamine™, in particular the T series, for example Jeffamine™ T-403.
[0020] It is also possible to use as the cross-linking agent polybutadiene having a hydroxylic functionality known as HFPB (commercially available from Revertex Limited), which gellifies when admixed with maleinized polybutadiene. Sometimes, the use of specific catalysts allows a better control of the gel formation. Examples of such catalysts are tertiary amines (e.g., DAMA 1010, commercially available from Albermarle SA). Mixtures of Hycar CTBN 1300×21, which is an amine-terminated liquid polybutadiene/acrylonitrile copolymer commercially available from B. F. Goodrich, and maleinized polybutadiene are particularly advantageous.
[0021] The functionalized liquid polymer and the cross-linking agent are mixed in a molar ratio of about 3:1 to about 5:1, preferably about 1: 1, based on the molar ratio of the functional groups which are present.
[0022] The perfume base which is used in the device of the invention may comprise any of the current bases used in perfumery. These can be discrete chemicals, but more often are more or less complex mixtures of volatile liquid ingredients of natural or synthetic origin. The nature of these ingredients can be found in specialized books of perfumery, e.g., in S. Arctander, Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, Montclair N.J., USA (1969) or Perfumery, Wiley-Intersciences, New York, USA (1994).
[0023] The perfume base may be replaced by a deodorizing base, such as a base which comprises a deodorizing composition.
[0024] The characteristic feature of all the compositions of the present invention is that the liquid polymer, cross-linking agent, and dye which are used in the preparation of the gellified composition are all soluble in the perfume or deodorizing base. Optionally, one or more of the liquid polymer, cross-linking agent or dye may be dissolved in a solvent which is compatible with the perfume or deodorizing base, but generally this is not necessary since the components will dissolve in the active base.
[0025] The perfume or deodorizing base is non-aqueous and will generally constitute about 50 to about 95% by weight, preferably about 60 to about 90% by weight, more preferably about 70 to about 85% by weight of the gel element.
[0026] Optional additives which may be included in the gel composition include plasticizers, such as diethylphthalate.
[0027] Examples of suitable classes of dyes which may be used in the present invention are monoazo dyes, diazo dyes, anthraquinone dyes and methine dyes, provided that the dyes are metal-free solvent dyes. Specific examples of dyes which may be successfully used in the present invention are:
Chemical Characterization Trademark (Manufacturer) C.I. Solvent Red 27 Fat Red 5B-02 (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Red 111 Sandoplast Red PFS (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Yellow 14 Fat Orange R-01 (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Yellow 93 Sandoplast Yellow 3G (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Violet 13 Iragon Violet SV113 (Ciba) C.I. Solvent Violet 37 Sandoplast Violet FBLP (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Green 3 Iragon Green SGR3 (Ciba) C.I. Solvent Green 28 Sandoplast Green G (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Blue 104 Sandoplast Blue 2B (Clariant)
[0028] Dyes such as those listed above are generally available in powder form. Accordingly, in order to be useful in the present invention, the dye is generally soluble in the perfume or deodorizing base. However, it may be possible to use some dyes which are either not soluble in or insufficiently soluble in the base by using the dye as a concentrated solution in a non-aqueous solvent which is compatible with the base.
[0029] Generally, a relatively small amount of dye will be sufficient to color the anhydrous gel. For example, amounts of about 0.01 to about 1.0% by weight, typically about 0.05% by weight based on the gel element, may be used.
[0030] Many dyes cannot be used in the present invention. Examples of such dyes which are either not metal-free solvent dyes and/or are not soluble in the perfume or deodorizing base, are given below:
Chemical Characterization Trademark (Manufacturer) C.I. Solvent Orange 63 Hostalsol Red GG (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Red 179 Sandoplast Red 2GP (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Red 89 Savinyl Fire Red GLSP (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Red 91 Savinyl Red 3BLS P (Clariant) C.I. Solvent Red 127 Savinyl Pink 6BLS P (Clariant)
[0031] The anhydrous gel element of the present invention may be used as the active element of a solid state air freshening or deodorizing device, with the gel element being incorporated within a housing with one or more grills which communicate with the ambient air.
[0032] Alternatively, the gel element may be formed in situ within the recesses or grooves of a solid casing or housing. This type of device does not require the use of a grill to cover the gel element. The recesses or grooves of the solid casing or housing are filled with the mixture of functionalized liquid polymer, cross-linking agent, perfume or deodorizing base, and dye, and the cross-linking reaction to form the gel takes place in situ. The gel so-formed thus adheres to the sides and/or bottom of the recesses or grooves in order to provide an integral structure.
[0033] The present invention will be further described with reference to the following specific, non-limiting Examples.
EXAMPLE 1
[0034] To a vessel containing 63.975 g of a perfume base (Lavandair 150.120D, commercially available from Firmenich S A, Geneva, Switzerland) was added 0.025 g of dye (Iragon Violet SVI13; commercially available from Ciba Speciality Chemicals, Switzerland) with stirring. 17.0 g of Lithene™ N4-B-10MA was then added manually and mixed. In another vessel 16.0 g of the perfume base (Lavender 150.120D) and 3.0 g of Jeffamine™ D-400 were mixed and then added to the original vessel with stirring. After about 5 minutes at room temperature, a purple gel resulted, encapsulating the perfume base. Gel setting was complete in about 20 minutes.
EXAMPLE 2
[0035] To a vessel containing 63.91 g of perfume base (Solar Splash 150.555; commercially available from Firmenich S A, Geneva, Switzerland) was added 0.09 g of dye (Sanoplast Yellow 3G; commercially available from Clariant UK Ltd, United Kingdom) with stirring. 17.0 g of Lithene™ N4-B-10MA was then added manually and mixed. In another vessel 16.0 g of the perfume base (Solar Splash 150.555), 1.12 g of Jeffamine™ EDR-148 and 1.88 g of diethyl phthalate were mixed and then added to the original vessel with stirring. After about 5 minutes at room temperature, a yellow gel resulted, encapsulating the perfume base. Gel setting was complete in about 20 minutes.
EXAMPLE 3
[0036] To a vessel containing 63.97 g of a perfume base (Summer Fruits 150.535; commercially available from Firmenich SA, Geneva, Switzerland) was added 0.03 g of dye (Fat Red 5B02; commercially available from Clariant UK Ltd, United Kingdom) with stirring. 17.0 g of Lithene™ N4-B-10MA was then added manually and mixed. In another vessel 16.0 g of the perfume base (Summer Fruits 15.535), 2.40 g of Jeffamine™ D-400, 0.22 g of Jeffamine™ EDR0148 and 0.38 g of diethyl phthalate were mixed and then added to the original vessel with stirring. After about 5 minutes at room temperature, a deep red gel resulted, encapsulating the perfume base. Gel setting was complete in about 20 minutes.
EXAMPLE 4
[0037] To a vessel containing 63.98 g of a perfume base (Nile Blossom 438.910; commercially available from Firmenich S A, Geneva. Switzerland) was added 0.02 g of dye (Iragon Green; commercially available from Ciba Speciality Chemicals, Switzerland) with stirring. 17.0 g of Lithene™ N4-B-10MA was then added manually and mixed. In another vessel 16.0 g of the perfume base (Nile Blossom 438.910), 2.40 g of Jeffamine™ D-400, 0.22 g of Jeffamine™ EDR-148 and 0.38 g of diethyl phthalate were mixed and then added to the original vessel with stirring. After about 5 minutes at room temperature, a blue/green gel resulted, encapsulating the perfume base. Gel setting was complete in about 20 minutes.
EXAMPLE 5 (COMPARATIVE)
[0038] To a vessel containing 63.97 g of a perfume base (Summer Fruits 150.535; commercially available from Firmenich S A, Geneva, Switzerland) was added 0.03 g of dye (Savinyl Fire Red GLSP; commercially available from Clariant UK Ltd, United Kingdom) with stirring. 170 g of Lithene™ N4-B-10MA was then added manually and mixed. In another vessel 16.0 g of the perfume base Summer Fruits 150.535), 240 g of Jeffamine™ D-400, 0.22 g of Jeffamine™ EDR-148 and 0.38 g of diethyl phthalate were mixed and then added to the original vessel with stirring. After about 5 minutes at room temperature, a gel resulted, but the color was not homogeneously distributed throughout, resulting in an unattractive aspect. Gel setting was complete in about 20 minutes.
EXAMPLE 6
[0039] To a vessel containing 3.998 g of a perfume base (Lavandair 150.120D; commercially available from Firmenich S A, Geneva, Switzerland) was added 0.00156 g of dye (Iragon Violet SVI13; commercially available from Ciba Speciality Chemicals, Switzerland) with stirring. 1.0625 g of Lithene N4-B-10MA was then added manually and mixed. In another vessel 1.0 g of the perfume base (Lavandair 150.120D) and 0.1875 g of Jeffamine™ D-400 were mixed and then added to the original vessel with stirring. Once a homogeneous mix was attained, the mixture was added to a suitable decorative device containing grooves which the liquid mix could run through. After about 5 minutes at room temperature, a purple gel, in the shape of the device, resulted, encapsulating the perfume base. Gel setting was complete in about 20 minutes.
[0040] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
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A colored anhydrous gel element for perfuming or deodorizing air or enclosed spaces is provided. The element is formed by cross-linking a functionalized liquid polymer selected from maleinized polybutadiene, maleinized polyisoprene or a copolymer of ethylene and maleic anhydride with a cross-linking agent which contains at least one complementary functional group in the presence of a non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base and a least one metal-free solvent dye which is soluble in the non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base, or which is provided as a solution in a non-aqueous solvent which is compatible with the non-aqueous perfume or deodorizing base. The gel elements may be incorporated into devices which are used as air fresheners or deodorizers.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application 61/022,117 filed 18 Jan. 2008.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure provides a coating matrix of an extremely thin or monolayer coating for glass or other beverage packaging surfaces. This disclosure relates to materials that can be used to improve the shelf life of packaged materials, such as bottled beer. More specifically, the present disclosure provides an anti-oxidation coating comprising a cross-linked monolayer or multiple layer that is bound to a beverage packaging surface through surface hydroxyl groups and a silane moiety. Moreover, the present disclosure adds a metal ion chelating moiety to the coating matrix.
BACKGROUND
[0003] It is standard practice to form containers from materials that are impermeable to oxygen, such as glass or metal, or of very low permeability, such as laminated polymeric material including a barrier layer that may be formed of, for instance, a blend of polypropylene and ethylene vinyl alcohol (see, for example, EP 142183). It is also known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,857,754 and 3,975,463 to form articles such as bottles from certain compositions that include certain saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers.
[0004] When the container is formed of a glass or metal body and is provided with a metal closure, then permeation of oxygen or other gas through the body and the closure is reduced due to the impermeability of the materials from which the body and closure are formed. However it has long been recognized that when conventional containers of this type are used for the storage of materials such as beer, the shelf life of the stored materials is very limited due to the ingress of gases. For instance the quality of the beer stored in glass bottles having metal caps tends to deteriorate after storage for a month or so.
[0005] One way of prolonging the storage life has been to provide a gasket of cork and aluminum foil between the closure and the container body but this is wholly uneconomic. Accordingly at present it is accepted that the shelf life of beer, especially in bottles, is rather limited.
[0006] Therefore, it would be very desirable to be able to improve the shelf life significantly whilst continuing to use conventional materials for the formation of the container body, the container closure and the gasket between the body and closure.
[0007] In many products in the food and beverage industry spoilage and/or shelf-life is largely affected by oxidation in a negative way. For example, in beer, metal ions Fe(II), Fe(III), Cu(I), and Cu(II) react with various oxygen-containing chemicals to produce free radical oxygen species, that are responsible for degrading the flavor and shortening the beer shelf life.
SUMMARY
[0008] The present disclosure provides a surface treatment monolayer or multiple layers for coating beverage container surfaces to prevent oxidation of the beverage, comprising a polymerized mixture of an aqueous formula (I) of a composition having a structure:
[0000] Silane Moiety-saturated alkane chain-chelating moiety (I)
[0000] wherein the chelating moiety is chosen to match the metallic ions in the beverage.
[0009] Preferably, the composition is selected from the group consisting of: N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane; (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine; N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenetriamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt; 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid; mixture of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of 3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, tridactic acid, sodium salt, and tetra(ethyleneglycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic Acid and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; vinylmethoxysilane, vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinylethoxysilane, vinyltriethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, N-(1,3-dimethylbutylidene)-3-(triethoxysilyl)-1-propanamine, N,N′-bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine, N-(beta-aminoethyl)-gamma-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(beta-aminoethyl)-gamma-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropylmethyldimethoxysilane, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-methacryloxypropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane, N-[2-(vinylbenzylamino)ethyl]-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, and combinations thereof. Preferably the metallic surface is selected from the group consisting of steel, a steel alloy, a carbon steel, aluminum, copper, brass, and combinations thereof.
[0010] The present disclosure provides a process for treating a surface of glass or an oxidizable metal or metal alloy, comprising:
[0011] (a) providing an aqueous or organic solution of a compound:
[0000] Silane Moiety-saturated alkane chain-chelating moiety (I);
[0000] wherein the chelating moiety is chosen to match the metallic ions in the beverage.
[0012] (b) applying the aqueous or organic solution of formula (I) to the surface of the glass or oxidizable metal or metal alloy; and
[0013] (c) polymerizing the composition onto the surface by a condensation reaction
[0014] Preferably, the chelating compound is silane linked to a hydroxylated surface. Preferably, the hydroxylated surface is silicon dioxide, having a triaminetetraacetate (TTA) chelating moiety. Preferably, the silane anchor moiety of the chelating compound is a polymerized mixture of a SiO 2 (formula (I) of a composition having a structure:
[0000] Silane Moiety-C2-20 alkane-chelating moiety (I)
[0015] Preferably, the compound is selected from the group consisting of: N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane; (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine; N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenetriamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt; 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid; mixture of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of 3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, tridactic acid, sodium salt, and tetra(ethyleneglycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; vinylmethoxysilane, vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinylethoxysilane, vinyltriethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, N-(1,3-dimethylbutylidene)-3-(triethoxysilyl)-1-propanamine, N,N′-bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine, N-(beta-aminoethyl)-gamma-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(beta-aminoethyl)-gamma-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropylmethyldimethoxysilane, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-methacryloxypropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane, N-[2-(vinylbenzylamino)ethyl]-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, and combinations thereof. Preferably, the oxidizable metallic surface is selected from the group consisting of steel, a steel alloy, a carbon steel, aluminum, copper, brass, and combinations thereof.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0016] FIG. 1 shows a molecular structure of the disclosed monolayer on a silicon dioxide (glass) surface having free hydroxyl groups.
[0017] FIG. 2 shows an EPR oxidation profile of beer stored in a vial coated with the disclosed monolayer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] The present disclosure provides a thin coating matrix on the surface of glass or an oxidizable metal that is polymerized in situ. The coating matrix comprise a single or multiple layer of a self-assembled surface comprising a monolayer or multiple layer of a compound selected from the group consisting of: N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane; (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine; N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenetriamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt; 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic Acid; mixture of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of 3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, tridactic acid, sodium salt, and tetra(ethyleneglycol)trimethoxysilane; mixture of 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane; vinylmethoxysilane, vinyltrimethoxysilane, vinylethoxysilane, vinyltriethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, N-(1,3-dimethylbutylidene)-3-(triethoxysilyl)-1-propanamine, N,N′-bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine, N-(beta-aminoethyl)-gamma-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, N-(beta-aminoethyl)-gamma-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-glycidoxypropylmethyldimethoxysilane, 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-methacryloxypropyltriethoxysilane, gamma-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, gamma-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane, N-[2-(vinylbenzylamino)ethyl]-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, and combinations thereof. Preferably, the beverage coatings are monolayers or up to 100 layers of polymerized monomers selected from the group consisting of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine, N-trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt, 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid, mixture of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane, mixture of 3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane, mixture of N-trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt and tetra(ethyleneglycol)trimethoxysilane, mixture of 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic Acid and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane, and combinations thereof. Coatings containing tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane or similar are designed to resist protein fouling if it is an issue for that particular application.
Process for Applying Coatings
[0019] The coatings are applied to the containers of the composition of glass, oxidizable metal, or any other material with a hydroxylated surface or having free hydroxyl groups on the beverage container surface. The coatings are applied by either a spray or soak method.
[0020] Specifically, a solution of 0.1M of Silane (one of each of (1) N-(2-Aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane, (2) (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine, (3) N-trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt, (4) 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid, (5) mixture of N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropylmethyldimethoxysilane and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane, (6) mixture of 3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane, (7) mixture of N-(trimethoxysilylpropyl)ethylenediamine, triacetic acid, sodium salt and tetra(ethyleneglycol)trimethoxysilane, and (8) mixture of 2-(trimethoxysilylpropanol)-1,3-diamino-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic Acid and tetra(ethylene glycol)trimethoxysilane) in Toluene was prepared. A clean piece of glass was placed vertically upright in a test tube in the 0.1M solution for 90 min. Glass was removed and rinsed with toluene, hexanes, methanol, and ethanol. Glass slide was blown dry with nitrogen gas.
Process for Functionalizing Surface
[0021] Glass was functionalized by using the silane derivative of diethylenetriamine (Triamine). The silane coating was stable to about pH 2.0 at about 250° C. and did not leach off the solid surface into a beverage. Thus, the selected chelating moiety and adsorbed metal ions (chelated) remain on the container wall.
[0022] Chemical characterization of the coatings is achieved via x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle. Table 1 below provides the XPS data for the Triamine coating on glass and stainless steel, as well as non-coated glass and stainless steel which represents a reference blank. Table 2 shows the contact angle data from triamine coated glass and a glass control samples from Table 1. The contact from the triamine sample is significantly different from the control further supporting the presence of the triamine coating.
[0000]
TABLE 1
XPS Data for Coating 1 on Glass
Sample
C (%)
O (%)
Si (%)
N (%)
Fe (%)
Cr (%)
Triamine
36
38.07
19.2
6.1
—
—
Glass
Blank Glass
22.7
53.7
23.5
0.1
—
—
Triamine
57.7
28.6
3.9
6.2
1.4
2.3
Stainless
Steel
Blank
74
28.1
1.2
—
1.2
1.8
Stainless
Steel
The data set labeled “Triamine Glass” represents an average of 3 pieces of amber glass from 3 separate vials coated with (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl) diethylenetriamine.
The data set labeled “Control Glass” represents an average of 3 pieces of amber glass from 3 separate vials that were not coated with anything.
The data sets on stainless steel were analogous to the data set on glass accept for the substrate was 316 stainless steel.
[0000]
TABLE 2
Contact angle data
Sample
Contact Angle
Triamine (average)
37.4
Triamine (standard
2.5
deviation)
Control (average)
13.5
Control (standard
2.5
deviation)
[0023] In beer, the anti-oxidation effects of the coatings were assessed using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. As beer ages, EPR lag time for beer stored in a coated vessel increases when compared to a control (Uchida and Ono, J. Am. Brew. Chem. 57(4):145-150, 1999). The increase in lag time correlates to a lower concentration of free radical oxygen species, which when reduced correlates to a longer shelf life. Triaminecoated sample vials are prepared by filling them with an identical 0.1 M solution of the coating molecule in toluene for 90 min followed by the identical rinsing procedure as described above. EPR lag time for beer exposed to Triamine coated vials, increased when compared to a control. The increase in lag time correlated to a lower concentration of free radical oxygen species, which, when reduced, correlated to a longer shelf life. For beers that do not have an EPR lag time, exposure to Triamine coated vials slows the rate of free radical production during forced aging, indicating an increase in beer stability ( FIG. 2 ).
[0024] FIG. 2 shows an EPR oxidation profile of Miller High Life beer that was force aged after 15 min storage in a vial coated with Triamine. The data set Triamine in FIG. 2 represents an average of 3 experiments. In each experiment, a 20 mL amber glass scintillation vial was coated with (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine (ie Triamine) using the following procedure. The vials were rinsed with 0.1 M HCl, water, 0.1 M NaOH, followed by water and then dried in an oven for 1 hour at 110° C. The vials were then cooled to room temperature and filled with a 2% solution of (3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine in toluene for 5 min sealed at room temperature. The vials were emptied and rinsed with toluene, methanol, ethanol, and water (2×20 mL each). The coated vials were then filled with 20 mL of degassed (via sonication at room temperature) beer, and were sealed at room temperature for 15 min. The beer (10 mL) samples were transferred to a septumed 15 mL scintillation vial, and were analyzed by EPR spectroscopy using the American Society of Brewing chemists (ASBC) certified method described below. The data set labeled “Control” in FIG. 2 represents an average of 3 samples of beer that were stored in non-coated amber glass scintillation vials. All experimental procedures for the data set “Control” were identical to the data set “Triamine” except the vials used were non-coated.
[0025] The procedure for the ASBC EPR method is as follows. The samples were degassed and added to 15 mL septum capped vials. Next, the spin trap reagent N-t-butyl-phenylnitrone (PBN) was dispensed into the liquid, mixed thoroughly and the vial thus prepared was placed in a heating block at 60° C. The Bruker e-scan epr spectrometer was used to record EPR measurements every ˜20 minutes for approximately 3 hr, the samples remained in the heating block at 60° C. for the entire experiment. The reference reagent used in the experiment was 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO) and was analyzed every ˜20 min during the experiment at 60° C. The error bars show the standard deviations for each measurement.
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There is disclosed a coating matrix of an extremely thin or monolayer coating for glass or other beverage packaging surfaces. More specifically, there is disclosed materials that can be used to improve the shelf life of packaged materials, such as bottled beer. More specifically, there is disclosed an anti-oxidation coating comprising a cross-linked monolayer that has a hydrophobic character and bound to beverage packaging surface through surface hydroxyl groups and a silane moiety. Moreover, there is disclosed a metal ion chelating moiety as part of the coating matrix.
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TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to an electrode mixture. Specifically, the present invention relates to an electrode mixture intended to be used in a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cells such as lithium ion secondary batteries have been used in small-sized, portable electric and electronic devices (e.g. laptops, cellular phones, smartphones, tablet computers, ultrabooks) because they are high-voltage cells and have a high energy density, tend not to self-discharge, show less memory effect, and can be significantly lighter in weight. Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cells are also being used in a wide range of applications, such as on-vehicle power sources for driving for automobiles or large-sized stationary power sources.
[0003] A technique for producing electrodes is a key factor in improving the energy density of nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cells. For example, electrodes of lithium ion secondary cells may be produced as follows. If a carbonaceous material such as coke or carbon is used as a negative electrode active material, the negative electrode may typically be prepared by powdering the carbonaceous material, dispersing the powdery material in a solvent together with a binder to prepare a negative electrode mixture, and applying the mixture to a negative electrode collector, followed by drying to remove the solvent and rolling the workpiece. In the present description, carbonaceous materials which merely absorb/release lithium ions are also referred to as active material. Similarly, the positive electrode may typically be produced by powdering a positive electrode active material (e.g., lithium-containing oxide), dispersing the powdery material in a solvent together with a conductive agent and a binder to prepare a positive electrode mixture, and applying the mixture to a positive electrode collector, followed by drying to remove the solvent and rolling the workpiece.
[0004] Thus, the electrodes are produced using an electrode mixture in the form of slurry obtained by dispersing, in an organic solvent, a powdery electrode material prepared from a positive electrode active material or a negative electrode active material and a binder.
[0005] Patent Literature 1 discloses an electrode for a nonaqueous cell, the electrode including a binder and an electrode active material. The binder is a fluorine-based polymeric copolymer mainly consisting of monomer units of vinylidene fluoride (A), hexafluoropropylene (B), and tetrafluoroethylene (C). The mol fractions X A , X B , and X C of the monomer units satisfy 0.3≦X A ≦0.9, 0.03≦X B ≦0.5, 0≦X C ≦0.5, and 0.80≦X A +X B +X C ≦1.
[0006] In the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 2, a lithium-containing oxide (e.g., LiCoO 2 ) as a positive electrode active material and graphite as a conductive agent are mixed with polyvinylidene fluoride to prepare a positive electrode mixture, and the mixture is dispersed in N-methylpyrolidone to prepare a slurry. The slurry is then applied to aluminum foil as a positive electrode collector. Separately, a carbonaceous material as a negative electrode active material and polyvinylidene fluoride are mixed to prepare a negative electrode mixture, and the mixture is dispersed in N-methylpyrolidone to prepare a slurry. The slurry is then applied to copper foil as a negative electrode collector. The coated collectors are each dried and compression-molded with a roller press machine and thereby processed into electrode sheets.
[0007] Patent Literature 3 discloses a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell including a positive electrode formed of a positive electrode collector retaining a positive electrode mixture and/or a negative electrode formed of a negative electrode collector retaining a negative electrode mixture, and a nonaqueous electrolyte. The positive electrode mixture contains a binder for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell, the binder comprising a binary copolymer consisting of 50 to 80 mol % of vinylidene fluoride and 20 to 50 mol % of tetrafluoroethylene, a positive electrode active material, and a conductive material. The negative electrode mixture contains the binder and a negative electrode active material.
[0008] Patent Literature 4 discloses a binder for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell, the binder comprising a copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and tetrafluoroethylene and a specific PVdF. However, this literature fails to describe stability of the electrode mixture or adhesion of the electrodes, which are important characteristics for the electrodes.
CITATION LIST
Patent Literature
[0009] Patent Literature 1: JP S63-121262 A
[0010] Patent Literature 2: JP H04-249859 A
[0011] Patent Literature 3: WO 98/27605
[0012] Patent Literature 4: WO 2010/092977
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Technical Problem
[0013] Recently, demand for smaller and lighter, or thinner and lighter electronic devices has greatly increased, leading to need for cells with enhanced performances. Increases in electrode density (in capacity), in voltage, and in the amount of active materials of the electrodes (in other words, decrease in the amount of other materials such as binder) have been studied in order to improve energy density of cells. Moreover, for on-vehicle cells, reduction in resistance of the electrodes has been demanded to improve the output.
[0014] Further, since lithium ion secondary cells have a circular shape, a square shape, a shape of a laminate, or the like shapes, the electrode sheets are wound and pressed when introduced. This tends to cause the sheets to break or cause powdery electrode materials to fall off or peel off from the collector substrates. The electrodes are therefore also required to have flexibility. It is also important for the electrodes to have durability at high voltages.
[0015] However, conventional electrode mixtures which can give a flexible electrode disadvantageously show a decrease in viscosity about 24 hours from the preparation thereof, and electrodes produced from such mixtures have a reduced electrode density. In addition, recently there has been a trend of switching the positive electrode active material from LiCoO 2 to Ni-containing materials to achieve higher capacity and higher voltage. Positive electrode active materials with an increased Ni content are more basic than LiCoO 2 and therefore tend to cause gelation of the electrode mixture.
[0016] The present invention is devised in view of the above situation of the art and aims to provide an electrode mixture which shows little change in viscosity even after 24 hours from the preparation of the mixture and enables production of an electrode having high electrode density and excellent flexibility and is capable of giving excellent electric properties to the resulting cell.
Solution to Problem
[0017] The inventors have found out that an electrode mixture containing a binder that contains a specific fluorine-containing polymer and polyvinylidene fluoride can prevent reduction in viscosity and enables production of an electrode having a high electrode density and excellent flexibility, and have completed the present invention. Moreover, a cell including the resulting electrode is better in cell properties than the cells including conventional electrodes.
[0018] Accordingly, the present invention relates to an electrode mixture comprising: a powdery electrode material; a binder; and an organic solvent, the binder comprising polyvinylidene fluoride and a fluorine-containing polymer comprising a polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride (VdF) and a polymer unit based on tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), the fluorine-containing polymer comprising the polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride in an amount of 80.0 to 90.0 mol % based on all the polymer units, the polyvinylidene fluoride having a number average molecular weight of 150,000 to 1,400,000.
[0019] The polyvinylidene fluoride preferably has a number average molecular weight of 200,000 to 1,300,000.
[0020] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably comprises the polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride in an amount of 82.0 to 89.0 mol % based on all the polymer units.
[0021] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably consists only of the polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride and the polymer unit based on tetrafluoroethylene.
[0022] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably has a weight average molecular weight of 50,000 to 2,000,000.
[0023] The electrode mixture preferably has a mass ratio of the fluorine-containing polymer to the polyvinylidene fluoride, represented by [(fluorine-containing polymer)/(polyvinylidene fluoride)], of 90/10 to 10/90.
[0024] The organic solvent comprises N-methyl-2-pyrolidone and/or N,N-dimethylacetamide.
[0025] The present invention is described in detail below.
[0026] The present invention relates to an electrode mixture comprising: a powdery electrode material; a binder; and an organic solvent, the binder comprising polyvinylidene fluoride and a fluorine-containing polymer comprising a polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride (VdF) and a polymer unit based on tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), the fluorine-containing polymer comprising the polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride in an amount of 80.0 to 90.0 mol % based on all the polymer units, the polyvinylidene fluoride having a number average molecular weight of 150,000 to 1,400,000.
[0027] Because of this configuration, the electrode mixture of the present invention shows little change in viscosity even after 24 hours from the preparation of the mixture. In addition, the mixture enables production of an electrode having a high electrode density and excellent flexibility. Further, the mixture can give excellent electric properties to the resulting cell.
[0028] The binder in the electrode mixture of the present invention includes: a fluorine-containing polymer including a polymer unit based on VdF and a polymer unit based on TFE; and polyvinylidene fluoride.
[0029] The fluorine-containing polymer contains the polymer unit based on VdF (hereinafter, also referred to as “VdF unit”) in an amount of 80.0 to 90.0 mol % based on all the polymer units.
[0030] If the amount of the VdF unit is less than 80.0 mol %, the viscosity of the electrode mixture tends to greatly change with time. If the amount is more than 90.0 mol %, the electrode obtained from the mixture tends to have poor flexibility.
[0031] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably contains 80.5 mol % or more, and more preferably 82.0 mol % or more of the VdF unit based on all the polymer units. If the fluorine-containing polymer contains 82.0 mol % or more of the VdF unit, the cell including an electrode obtained from the electrode mixture of the present invention tends to have favorable cycle characteristics.
[0032] Also, the fluorine-containing polymer more preferably contains 89.0 mol % or less, even more preferably 88.9 mol % or less, and particularly preferably 88.8 mol % or less of the VdF unit based on all the polymer units.
[0033] The composition of the fluorine-containing polymer can be determined with an NMR analyzing device.
[0034] The fluorine-containing polymer may further contains, in addition to the VdF unit and the polymer unit based on TFE (hereinafter, also referred to as “TFE unit”), a polymer unit based on a monomer copolymerizable with VdF and TFE. Though the copolymer of VdF and TFE is sufficient to achieve the effects of the invention, adhesion can be further improved by further copolymerization with a monomer copolymerizable with VdF and TFE to the extent that the excellent swelling properties with nonaqueous electrolyte of the copolymer is not impaired.
[0035] The amount of the polymer unit based on a monomer copolymerizable with VdF and TFE is preferably less than 3.0 mol % based on all the polymer units in the fluorine-containing polymer. If the amount is 3.0 mol % or more, the copolymer of VdF and TFE generally tends to have significantly reduced crystallinity, and as a result, the copolymer tends to have reduced swelling properties with nonaqueous electrolyte.
[0036] Examples of the monomer copolymerizable with VdF and TFE include: unsaturated dibasic acid monoesters disclosed in JP H06-172452 A, including monomethyl maleate, citraconic acid monomethyl ester, citraconic acid monoethyl ester, and vinylene carbonate; compounds having a hydrophilic polar group such as —SO 3 M, —OSO 3 M, —COOM, —OPO 3 M (M represents an alkali metal), —NHR 1 , or —NR 2 R 3 (amine polar groups, R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 each represent an alkyl group) disclosed in JP H07-201316 A, including CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═C(CH 3 )—CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CO—CH(CH 2 COOR 4 )—Y, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CH 2 —CH(OH)—CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═C(CH 3 )—CO—O—CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═CH—CO—O—CH 2 —CH 2 —Y, and CH 2 ═CHCO—NH—C(CH 3 ) 2 —CH 2 —Y (Y represents a hydrophilic polar group, R 4 represents an alkyl group); maleic acid; and maleic acid anhydride. Examples of the monomer further include: hydroxylated allyl ether monomers such as CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—(CH 2 ) n —OH (3≦n≦8),
[0000]
[0000] CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—(CH 2 —CH 2 —O) n —H (1≦n≦14), and CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—(CH 2 —CH(CH 3 )—O) n —H (1≦n≦14); allyl ether or ester monomers carboxylated and/or substituted with —(CF 2 ) n —CF 3 (3≦n≦8) such as CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CO—C 2 H 4 —COOH, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CO—C 5 H 10 —COOH, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—C 2 H 4 —(CF 2 ) n CF 3 , CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —CO—O—C 2 H 4 —(CF 2 ) n CF 3 , and CH 2 ═C(CH 3 )—CO—O—CH 2 —CF 3 .
[0037] It is deduced from the previous studies that compounds other than these polar group-containing compounds can also slightly reduce the crystallinity of the copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and tetrafluoroethylene, impart flexibility to the material, and thereby improve the adhesion to the collector formed from metallic foil of aluminum or copper. Therefore, also usable are unsaturated hydrocarbon monomers (CH 2 ═CHR, R represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or a halogen such as Cl) such as ethylene and propylene; and fluoromonomers such as chlorotrifluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene, hexafluoroisobutene, 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, CF 2 ═CF—O—C n F 2n+1 (n is an integer of 1 or greater), CH 2 ═CF—C n F 2n+1 (n is an integer of 1 or greater), CH 2 ═CF—(CF 2 CF 2 ) n H (n is an integer of 1 or greater), and CF 2 ═CF—O—(CF 2 CF(CF 3 )O) m —C n F 2n+1 (m and n are each an integer of 1 or greater).
[0000] In addition, fluorine-containing ethylenic monomers containing at least one functional group represented by Formula (1):
[0000]
[0000] (wherein Y represents —CH 2 OH, —COOH, a carboxylic acid salt, a carboxy ester group, or an epoxy group; X and X 1 are the same as or different from each other, each representing a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom; and R f represents a C1 to C40 divalent fluorine-containing alkylene group or a C1 to C40 divalent fluorine-containing alkylene group containing an ether bond) can also be used. Copolymerization with one or two or more of these monomers can further improve the adhesion to the collector and prevent the electrode active material from peeling off from the collector even if charge and discharge are repeated, thereby achieving good charge and discharge cycle characteristics.
[0038] From the viewpoint of flexibility and chemical resistance, hexafluoropropylene and 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene are particularly preferred among these monomers.
[0039] The fluorine-containing polymer thus may contain, in addition to the VdF unit and the TFE unit, other polymer units, but more preferably consists only of the VdF unit and the TFE unit.
[0040] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably has a weight average molecular weight (in terms of polystyrene) of 50,000 to 2,000,000. The weight average molecular weight is more preferably 80,000 or greater, and even more preferably 100,000 or greater, and more preferably 1,950,000 or smaller, even more preferably 1,900,000 or smaller, particularly preferably 1,700,000 or smaller, and most preferably 1,500,000 or smaller.
[0041] The weight average molecular weight can be measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) using N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent at 50° C.
[0042] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably has a number average molecular weight (in terms of polystyrene) of 10,000 to 1,400,000. The number average molecular weight is more preferably 16,000 or greater, even more preferably 20,000 or greater, and more preferably 1,300,000 or smaller, and even more preferably 1,200,000 or smaller.
[0043] The number average molecular weight can be measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) using N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent at 50° C.
[0044] The fluorine-containing polymer preferably has a tensile modulus of 800 MPa or smaller. If the tensile modulus is greater than 800 MPa, the resulting electrode tends not to have excellent flexibility. The tensile modulus is preferably 700 MPa or smaller.
[0045] The tensile modulus can be measured in accordance with the method of ASTM D-638 (1999).
[0046] The fluorine-containing polymer can be prepared by, for example, a method in which VdF and TFE monomers as polymer units and additives (e.g., polymerization initiator) are appropriately mixed and the mixture is subjected to suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization, solution polymerization, or the like. The aqueous suspension polymerization and emulsion polymerization are preferred because these methods facilitate post-treatments.
[0047] In the polymerization, a polymerization initiator, a surfactant, a chain transfer agent, and a solvent can be used, and those conventionally known can be used.
[0048] The polymerization initiator can be an oil-soluble radical polymerization initiator or a water-soluble radical initiator.
[0049] The oil-soluble radical polymerization initiator may be a known oil-soluble peroxide, and representative examples thereof include: dialkyl peroxy carbonates such as diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate, di-n-propyl peroxy dicarbonate, and di-sec-butyl peroxy dicarbonate; peroxy esters such as t-butyl peroxy isobutyrate and t-butyl peroxy pivalate; dialkyl peroxides such as di-t-butyl peroxide; and di[perfluoro (or fluorochloro)acyl]peroxides such as di(ω-hydro-dodecafluoroheptanoyl)peroxide, di(ω-hydro-tetradecafluoroheptanoyl)peroxide, di(ω-hydro-hexadecafluorononanoyl)peroxide, di(perfluorobutylyl)peroxide, di(perfluorovaleryl)peroxide, di(perfluorohexanoyl)peroxide, di(perfluoroheptanoyl)peroxide, di(perfluorooctanoyl)peroxide, di(perfluorononanoyl)peroxide, di(ω-chloro-hexafluorobutylyl)peroxide, di(ω-chloro-decafluorohexanoyl)peroxide, di(ω-chloro-tetradecafluorooctanoyl)peroxide, ω-hydro-dodecafluoroheptanoyl-ω-hydrohexadecafluorononanoyl-peroxide, ω-chloro-hexafluorobutylyl-ω-chloro-decafluorohexanoyl-peroxide, ω-hydrododecafluoroheptanoyl-perfluorobutylyl-peroxide, di(dichloropentafluorobutanoyl)peroxide, di(trichlorooctafluorohexanoyl)peroxide, di(tetrachloroundecafluorooctanoyl)peroxide, di(pentachlorotetradecafluorodecanoyl)peroxide, and di(undecachlorodotriacontafluorodocosanoyl)peroxide.
[0050] The water-soluble radical polymerization initiator may be a known water-soluble peroxide, and examples thereof include ammonium salts, potassium salts, and sodium salts of persulfuric acid, perboric acid, perchloric acid, perphosphoric acid, and percarbonic acid, t-butyl permaleate, and t-butyl hydroperoxide. These peroxides may be used in combination with a reducing agent such as a sulfite or a sulfurous acid salt. The amount of the reducing agent may be 0.1 to 20 times the amount of the peroxide.
[0051] The surfactant may be a known surfactant, and examples thereof include nonionic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and cationic surfactants. Preferred among these are fluorine-containing anionic surfactants, and more preferred are C4 to C20 linear or branched fluorine-containing anionic surfactants which may contain an ether bond (in other words, an oxygen atom may be inserted between carbon atoms). The amount of the surfactant added (based on water as a polymerization medium) is preferably 50 to 5,000 ppm.
[0052] Examples of the chain transfer agent include hydrocarbons such as ethane, isopentane, n-hexane, and cyclohexane; aromatic compounds such as toluene and xylene; ketones such as acetone; acetates such as ethyl acetate and butyl acetate; alcohols such as methanol and ethanol; mercaptans such as methyl mercaptan; and halogenated hydrocarbons such as carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, methylene chloride, and methyl chloride. The amount of the chain transfer agent depends on the chain transfer constant thereof and is typically 0.01 to 20% by mass based on the polymerization solvent.
[0053] The solvent may be water, a mixed solvent of water and alcohol, or the like.
[0054] In the suspension polymerization, a fluorine-containing solvent may be used in combination with water. Examples of the fluorine-containing solvent include hydrochlorofluoroalkanes such as CH 3 CClF 2 , CH 3 CCl 2 F, CF 3 CF 2 CCl 2 H, and CF 2 ClCF 2 CFHCl; chlorofluoroalkanes such as CF 2 ClCFClCF 2 CF 3 and CF 3 CFClCFClCF 3 ; and perfluoroalkanes such as perfluorocyclobutane, CF 3 CF 2 CF 2 CF 3 , CF 3 CF 2 CF 2 CF 2 CF 3 , and CF 3 CF 2 CF 2 CF 2 CF 2 CF 3 . Preferred are perfluoroalkanes. For easy suspension and cost savings, the amount of the fluorine solvent is preferably 10 to 150% by mass based on the amount of an aqueous medium.
[0055] The polymerization temperature is not particularly limited, and may be 0° C. to 100° C. The polymerization pressure can be appropriately determined considering other polymerization conditions such as the type and amount of the solvent used, vapor pressure, and polymerization temperature, and may typically be 0 to 9.8 MPaG.
[0056] If the suspension polymerization is performed using water as a disperse medium without a fluorine solvent, a suspension agent such as methyl cellulose, methoxylated methyl cellulose, propoxylated methyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide, or gelatin is added in an amount of 0.005 to 1.0% by mass, preferably in an amount of 0.01 to 0.4% by mass, based on the water.
[0057] Polymerization initiators usable in this case include diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate, dinormalpropyl peroxydicarbonate, dinormalheptafluoropropyl peroxydicarbonate, isobutylyl peroxide, di(chlorofluoroacyl)peroxide, and di(perfluoroacyl)peroxide. The amount of the polymerization initiator is preferably 0.1 to 5% by mass based on the total amount of the monomer units (the total amount of vinylidene fluoride, the monomer(s) having an amido group, and optional monomer(s) copolymerizable with these monomers).
[0058] A chain transfer agent such as ethyl acetate, methyl acetate, acetone, ethanol, n-propanol, acetaldehyde, propylaldehyde, ethyl propionate, or carbon tetrachloride may be added to control the degree of polymerization of the resulting polymer. The amount of the chain transfer agent is typically 0.1 to 5% by mass, and preferably 0.5 to 3% by mass, based on the total amount of the monomer units.
[0059] The monomers are preferably charged in such an amount that the weight ratio (the total amount of the monomers):(water) should be 1:1 to 1:10, and more preferably 1:2 to 1:5. The polymerization is performed at a temperature of 10° C. to 50° C. for 10 to 100 hours.
[0060] The suspension polymerization easily provides the fluorine-containing polymer.
[0061] The binder further contains polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF).
[0062] It is common in the art to blend the mixture with a plurality of binder polymers to change functions of the electrode. However, conventional mixtures prepared by adding a copolymer including TFE unit and a VdF unit to PVdF problematically show a decrease in viscosity after a long period of time from the preparation of the mixture.
[0063] The present invention is based on the finding that if the binder contains PVdF and the above fluorine-containing polymer, the mixture shows little change in viscosity even after 24 hours from the preparation of the mixture and can provide an electrode having a high density and excellent flexibility.
[0064] The PVdF may be a homopolymer consisting only of a polymer unit based on VdF or may include a polymer unit based on VdF and a polymer unit based on a monomer (a) copolymerizable with the polymer unit based on VdF.
[0065] Examples of the monomer (a) include vinyl fluoride, trifluoroethylene, trifluorochloroethylene, fluoroalkyl vinyl ethers, hexafluoropropylene, 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, and propylene. The examples also include unsaturated dibasic acid monoesters disclosed in JP-A H06-172452, including monomethyl maleate, monomethyl citraconate, monoethyl citraconate, and vinylene carbonate; compounds having a hydrophilic group such as —SO 3 M, —OSO 3 M, —COOM, and —OPO 3 M (M represents an alkali metal), and —NHR 1 and —NR 2 R 3 (amine polar groups, R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 each represent an alkyl group) disclosed in JP H07-201316 A, including CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═C(CH 3 )—CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CO—CH(CH 2 COOR 4 )—Y, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CH 2 —CH(OH)—CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═C(CH 3 )—CO—O—CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —Y, CH 2 ═CH—CO—O—CH 2 —CH 2 —Y, and CH 2 ═CHCO—NH—C(CH 3 ) 2 —CH 2 —Y (Y represents a hydrophilic polar group, R 4 represents an alkyl group); maleic acid; and maleic acid anhydride. Examples of the copolymerizable monomer further include: hydroxylated allyl ether monomers such as CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—(CH 2 ) n —OH (3≦n≦8),
[0000]
[0000] CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—(CH 2 —CH 2 —O) n —H (1≦n≦14), and CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—(CH 2 —CH(CH 3 )—O) n —H (1≦n≦14); allyl ether or ester monomers calboxylated and/or substituted with —(CF 2 ) n —CF 3 (3≦n≦8) such as CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CO—C 2 H 4 —COOH, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—CO—C 5 H 10 —COOH, CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —O—C 2 H 4 —(CF 2 ) n CF 3 , CH 2 ═CH—CH 2 —CO—O—C 2 H 4 —(CF 2 ) n CF 3 , and CH 2 ═C(CH 3 )—CO—O—CH 2 —CF 3 .
[0066] It is deduced from the previous studies that compounds other than these polar group-containing compounds described above can slightly reduce the crystallinity of the PVdF, impart flexibility to the material, and thereby improves the adhesion to the collector formed from metallic foil of aluminum or copper. Therefore, also usable are monomers based on unsaturated hydrocarbon such as ethylene or propylene (CH 2 ═CHR, R represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or a halogen such as Cl); and fluoromonomers such as chlorotrifluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene, hexafluoroisobutene, CF 2 ═CF—O—C n F 2n+1 (n is an integer of 1 or greater), CH 2 ═CF—C n F 2n+1 (n is an integer of 1 or greater), CH 2 ═CF—(CF 2 CF 2 ) n H (n is an integer of 1 or greater), and CF 2 ═CF—O—(CF 2 CF(CF 3 )O) m —C n F 2n+1 (m and n are each an integer of 1 or greater).
[0067] Also usable are fluorine-containing ethylenic monomers containing at least one functional group represented by Formula (1):
[0000]
[0000] (wherein Y represents —CH 2 OH, —COOH, a carboxylic acid salt, a carboxy ester group, or an epoxy group; X and X′ are the same as or different from each other, each representing a hydrogen atom or a fluorine atom; and R f represents a C1 to C40 divalent fluorine-containing alkylene group or a C1 to C40 divalent fluorine-containing alkylene group containing an ether bond). Copolymerization with one or two or more of these monomers can further improve the adhesion to the collector and prevent electrode active material from peeling-off from the collector even if charge and discharge is repeated. Thereby, good charge-discharge cycle characteristics can be obtained.
[0068] The amount of the polymer unit based on the monomer (a) in the PVdF is preferably 5 mol % or less, and more preferably 4.5 mol % or less based on all the polymer units.
[0069] The PVdF preferably has a weight average molecular weight (in terms of polystyrene) of 50,000 to 2,000,000. The weight average molecular weight is more preferably 80,000 or greater, even more preferably 100,000 or greater, and more preferably 1,700,000 or smaller, and even more preferably 1,500,000 or smaller.
[0070] The weight average molecular weight can be determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) using N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent at 50° C.
[0071] The PVdF has a number average molecular weight (in terms of polystyrene) of 150,000 to 1,400,000.
[0072] If the PVdF has a number average molecular weight of smaller than 150,000, the resulting electrode has reduced adhesion. If the PVdF has a number average molecular weight of greater than 1,400,000, gelation is more likely to occur during preparation of the electrode mixture.
[0073] The number average molecular weight is preferably 200,000 or greater, more preferably 250,000 or greater, and even more preferably 300,000 or greater, and preferably 1,300,000 or smaller, more preferably 1,200,000 or smaller, further preferably 1,000,000, and particularly preferably 800,000.
[0074] The number average molecular weight can be determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) using N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent at 50° C.
[0075] The PVdF can be produced by any conventionally known method, such as a method including appropriately mixing VdF and the monomer (a) as polymer units with additives (e.g., polymerization initiator) and performing solution polymerization or suspension polymerization.
[0076] The mass ratio of the fluorine-containing polymer to the PVdF (fluorine-containing polymer)/(PVdF) is preferably 90/10 to 10/90, more preferably 80/20 to 15/85, and even more preferably 75/25 to 15/85.
[0077] The mass ratio within the above range can suppress decrease in viscosity of the mixture and enables production of an electrode having a high electrode density and excellent flexibility.
[0078] The binder may further contains, in addition to the fluorine-containing polymer and PVdF, other components usable in the binder, such as polymethacrylates, polymethyl methacrylate, polyacrylonitrile, polyimide, polyamide, polyamideimide, polycarbonate, styrene rubber, and butadiene rubber. The amount of the components other than the fluorine-containing polymer and PVdF is preferably 10 to 900% by mass based on the fluorine-containing polymer.
[0079] The amount of the binder is preferably 20% by mass or less, and more preferably 10% by mass or less in the electrode mixture. The amount of the binder is also preferably 0.1% by mass or more, and more preferably 0.5% by mass or more. If the amount of the binder is more than 20% by mass, the electrode obtained from the mixture has a high electric resistance and may fail to provide good cell properties. If the amount of the binder is less than 0.1% by mass, the mixture is unstable and the electrode obtained therefrom may disadvantageously fail to attach to the collector.
[0080] The electrode mixture of the present invention contains an organic solvent.
[0081] Examples of the organic solvent include: nitrogen-containing organic solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrolidone, N,N-dimethylacetamide, and dimethylformamide; ketone solvents such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, cyclohexanon, methyl isobutyl ketone; ester solvents such as ethyl acetate and butyl acetate; ether solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane; and low-boiling general-purpose organic solvents such as mixed solvents of these solvents.
[0082] Preferred among these organic solvents are N-methyl-2-pyrolidone and N,N-dimethylacetamide because these allow the electrode mixture to have excellent stability and application properties.
[0083] The amount of the organic solvent can be appropriately determined depending on factors such as the thickness of the resulting electrode.
[0084] The electrode mixture of the present invention contains a powdery electrode material.
[0085] Examples of the powdery electrode material include nonaqueous cell electrode active materials, active materials for forming a polarizable electrode of an electric double layer capacitor, and mixtures of these active materials and conductive aids.
[0086] Examples of the nonaqueous cell electrode active material include positive electrode active materials and negative electrode active materials.
[0087] If the electrode mixture of the present invention contains a positive electrode active material, the electrode mixture is used as a positive electrode mixture. If the electrode mixture of the present invention contains a negative electrode active material, the electrode mixture is used as a negative electrode mixture.
[0088] The positive electrode mixture preferably contains a positive electrode active material and a conductive aid as the powdery electrode materials.
[0089] The positive electrode active material is not particularly limited as long as it can electrochemically absorb/release a lithium ion. The positive electrode active material is preferably a substance containing lithium and at least one transition metal. Examples thereof include lithium transition metal complex oxides and lithium-containing transition metal phosphoric acid compounds.
[0090] The transition metal in the lithium transition metal complex oxide is preferably V, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, or the like. Specific examples of the lithium transition metal complex oxide include lithium/cobalt complex oxides such as LiCoO 2 , lithium/nickel complex oxides such as LiNiO 2 , lithium/manganese complex oxides such as LiMnO 2 , LiMn 2 O 4 , and Li 2 MnO 3 , and those obtained by partially substituting the main transition metal atoms of these lithium transition metal complex oxides with other metals such as Al, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Li, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mg, Ga, Zr, or Si. Specific examples of such a substituted lithium transition metal complex oxide include LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.5 O 2 , LiNl 0.85 Co 0.10 Al 0.05 O 2 , LiNi 0.82 CO 0.15 Al 0.03 O 2 , LiNi 0.80 Co 0.15 Al0.05O 2 , LiNi 1/3 CO 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 , LiMn 1.8 Al 0.2 O 4 , LiMn 1.5 Ni 0.5 O 4 , and Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 . In the positive electrode active materials containing Ni, increasing the proportion of Ni increases the capacity of the positive electrode active material. This will further improve the capacity of the cell. However, increasing the proportion of Ni further increases the basicity of the positive electrode active material. If the positive electrode mixture is prepared using such an active electrode material and a binder that consists only of PVdF, the PVdF chemically reacts, making the positive electrode mixture easily gel.
[0091] The transition metal in the lithium-containing transition metal phosphoric acid compound is preferably V, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, or the like. Specific examples of the lithium-containing transition metal phosphoric acid compound include iron phosphates such as LiFePO 4 , Li 3 Fe 2 (PO 4 ) 3 , and LiFeP 2 O 7 , cobalt phosphates such as LiCoPO 4 , and those obtained by substituting part of main transition metal atoms in these lithium-containing transition metal phosphate compounds with other metals such as Al, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Li, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mg, Ga, Zr, Nb, or Si.
[0092] Especially preferred are LiCoO 2 , LiNiO 2 , LiMn 2 O 4 , LiNi 0.82 Co 0.15 Al 0.03 O 2 , LiNi 0.80 CO 0.15 Al 0.05 O 2 , LiNi 1/3 CO 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 , and LiFePO 4 from the viewpoint of high voltage, high-energy density, and charge and discharge cycle characteristics.
[0093] These positive electrode active materials used may have a surface to which a substance having a composition different from that of the main positive electrode active materials adheres. Examples of the substance adhering to the surface include oxides such as aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, boron oxide, antimony oxide, and bismuth oxide, sulfuric acid salts such as lithium sulfate, sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, calcium sulfate, and aluminum sulfate, and carbonates such as lithium carbonate, calcium carbonate, and magnesium carbonate.
[0094] These substances may adhere to the surface of the positive electrode active material by, for example, a method including dissolving or suspending the substance into a solvent and impregnating the positive electrode active material with the solution (suspension), followed by drying; a method including dissolving or suspending a precursor of the substance into a solvent and impregnating the positive electrode active material with the solution (suspension), followed by heating to cause reaction; a method including adding the substance to a precursor of the positive electrode active material and firing them together, or the like methods.
[0095] The lower limit of the amount of the substance adhering to the surface is preferably 0.1 ppm by mass, more preferably 1 ppm by mass, and even more preferably 10 ppm by mass, and the upper limit is preferably 20% by mass, more preferably 10% by mass, and even more preferably 5% by mass, based on the positive electrode active material. The substance adhering to the surface can suppress oxidation of the nonaqueous electrolyte on the surface of the positive electrode active material and thereby improves the cell life. This effect, however, is insufficiently produced if the amount of the substance attached is too small. Too large an amount of the substance may inhibit the lithium ion from entering/leaving the positive electrode active material, which may increase resistance.
[0096] The positive electrode active material particles may have a conventional shape such as block, polyhedron, sphere, elliptical sphere, plate, needle, and pillar shapes. Particularly preferably, primary particles of the positive electrode active material agglomerate to form secondary particles, and the secondary particles have a sphere or elliptical sphere shape. Generally, charge and discharge of electrochemical elements cause expansion and contraction of the active material in the electrode. Stress due to this tends to cause deterioration such as breaking of the active material or disconnection of the conductive path. Therefore, positive electrode active material particles comprising secondary particles of agglomerated primary particles, which can relief the stress produced by expansion and contraction and prevent the deteriorations, are more preferred than single-particle substances consisting only of primary particles. Moreover, spherical or elliptical spherical particles are more preferred than axially oriented particles such as plate-like particles because spherical or elliptical spherical particles are less likely to be oriented when the electrode is formed and therefore reduce the expansion and contraction of the electrode during charge and discharge, and also because they are easily uniformly mixed with a conductive aid in preparation of the electrode.
[0097] The positive electrode active material typically has a tapped density of 1.3 g/cm 3 or greater, preferably 1.5 g/cm 3 or greater, more preferably 1.6 g/cm 3 or greater, and more preferably 1.7 g/cm 3 or greater. If the positive electrode active material has a tapped density smaller than the lower limit, increased amounts of dispersion medium, a conductive aid, and a binder are required when the positive electrode active material layer is produced. In such a case, the filling rate of the positive electrode active material in the positive electrode active material layer is limited, possibly resulting in limitation of the cell capacity. A metal complex oxide powder with a high tapped density leads to a positive electrode active material layer having a high density. Generally, the greater the tapped density, the better. The upper limit thereof is not particularly defined, but typically 2.5 g/cm 3 or smaller, and preferably 2.4 g/cm 3 or smaller because if the tapped density is too large, the diffusion of lithium ions through the nonaqueous electrolyte in the positive electrode active material layer may serve as the rate-limiting step, resulting in reduction in load characteristics.
[0098] The tapped density of the positive electrode active material can be measured as follows. A sample is dropped through a sieve with a mesh of 300 μm into a tapping cell (20 cm 3 ). After the cell capacity is filled with the sample, the cell is tapped 1,000 times at a stroke of 10 mm with a powder density measuring device (e.g., Tap Denser available from Seishin Enterprise Co., Ltd.). The density is calculated from the volume and the weight of the sample after the tapping and defined as the tapped density.
[0099] The positive electrode active material particles typically have a median size d50 (if secondary particles are formed of agglomerated primary particles, a secondary particle size) of 0.1 μm or larger, preferably 0.5 μm or larger, more preferably 1 μm or larger, and most preferably 3 μm or larger, and typically 20 μm or smaller, preferably 18 μm or smaller, more preferably 16 μm or smaller, and most preferably 15 μm or smaller. If the median size d50 (secondary particle size) is smaller than the lower limit, a product with high bulk density may not be obtained. If the median size d50 (secondary particle size) is larger than the upper limit, diffusion of lithium in the particles takes much time, which may decrease cell performances. In addition, when the cell positive electrode is prepared, that is, when a slurry prepared by mixing the positive electrode active material, a conductive aid, a binder, and the like is applied to form a thin film, a streak may disadvantageously be formed on the film. Two or more of positive electrode active materials having different median sizes d50 may be mixed to further improve the packing performance in producing the positive electrode.
[0100] The median size d50 herein can be measured with a known laser diffraction/scattering particle size distribution measurement apparatus. If LA-920 available from HORIBA. Ltd. is used as the particle size distribution measurement apparatus, the median size is measured using a 0.1% by mass sodium hexamethaphosphate aqueous solution as a dispersion medium at a measurement refraction index of 1.24 after ultrasonic dispersion for five minutes.
[0101] If the positive electrode material includes secondary particles formed of agglomerated primary particles, the positive electrode active material typically has an average primary particle size of 0.01 μm or larger, preferably 0.05 μm or larger, even more preferably 0.08 μm or larger, and most preferably 0.1 μm or lager, and typically 3 μm or smaller, preferably 2 μm or smaller, even more preferably 1 μm or smaller, and most preferably 0.6 μm or smaller. If the average primary particle size is larger than the upper limit, spherical secondary particles are less likely to be formed, which adversely affects the powder packing performance and significantly decreases the specific surface area. This may increase the possibility of lowering cell performances such as output performance. If the average particle size is smaller than the lower limit, the crystals are generally not fully developed and therefore may cause problems such as poor charge and discharge reversibility. The primary particle size can be measured by observation using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Specifically, in a picture at 10000-times magnification, the maximum section length of a primary particle in a horizontal direction was measured for arbitrary 50 primary particles, and the average of the measured values was determined as the primary particle size.
[0102] The positive electrode active material has a BET specific surface area of 0.2 m 2 /g or greater, preferably 0.3 m 2 /g or greater, and even more preferably 0.4 m 2 /g or greater, and 4.0 m 2 /g or smaller, preferably 2.5 m 2 /g or smaller, and even more preferably 1.5 m 2 /g or smaller. If the BET specific surface area is smaller than the range, cell performances are more likely to lower. If the BET specific surface area is larger than the range, the tapped density is less likely to increase, which may cause problems with application properties in production of the positive electrode active material.
[0103] The BET specific surface area herein is defined as the value measured with a surface area meter (e.g., a fully automatic surface area analyzer available from Ohkura Riken Co., Ltd.). Specifically, a sample is preliminary dried under a stream of nitrogen at 150° C. for 30 minutes and then subjected to a measurement by a nitrogen adsorption single point BET method employing a flowing gas method using nitrogen/helium mixed gas that is accurately adjusted so that the relative pressure of nitrogen to the atmospheric pressure should be 0.3.
[0104] The positive electrode active material can be produced by any common method for producing an inorganic compound. In particular, a spherical or elliptical spherical active material can be produced by various methods such as a method including dissolving or milling-dispersing a transition metal material such as a nitrate or sulfate of transition metal and optionally material(s) of other element(s) in a solvent such as water, adjusting the pH under stirring to form a spherical precursor, collecting the precursor and optionally drying it, and then adding an Li source (e.g., LiOH, Li 2 CO 3 , LiNO 3 ) to the dried precursor, followed by firing at a high temperature to prepare an active material; a method including dissolving or milling-dispersing a transition metal material such as a nitrate, a sulfate, a hydroxide, or an oxide of transition metal and optionally material(s) of other element(s) in a solvent such as water, drying and molding the obtained solution (dispersion) by a spray dryer or the like to prepare a spherical or elliptical spherical precursor, and then adding an Li source (e.g., LiOH, Li 2 CO 3 , LiNO 3 ) to the precursor, followed by firing at high temperature to prepare an active material; and a method including dissolving or milling-dispersing a transition metal material such as a nitrate, a sulfate, a hydroxide, or an oxide of transition metal and an Li source (e.g., LiOH, Li 2 CO 3 , LiNO 3 ) and optionally material(s) of other element(s) in a solvent such as water, drying and molding the obtained solution (dispersion) by a spray dryer or the like to prepare a spherical or elliptical spherical precursor, and firing the precursor at a high temperature to prepare an active material.
[0105] Each of the positive electrode active materials may be used alone. Alternatively, two or more positive electrode active materials having different compositions or different particle properties may be used in any combination at any ratio.
[0106] The negative electrode active material is not particularly limited as long as it can electrochemically absorb/release a lithium ion, and may be a carbonaceous material, a metal oxide such as tin oxide or silicon oxide, a metal complex oxide, elemental lithium, a lithium alloy such as lithium aluminum alloy, a metal capable of forming an alloy with lithium such as Sn or Si, or the like. These may be used alone, or two or more of these materials can be used in any combination at any ratio. Preferred among these are carbonaceous materials and lithium complex oxides from the viewpoint of safety.
[0107] The metal complex oxide is not particularly limited as long as it can absorb/release lithium. The metal complex oxide preferably contains titanium and/or lithium as a component from the viewpoint of charge and discharge characteristics at high current density.
[0108] In terms of the balance between the initial irreversible capacity, and high current density charge/discharge characteristics, the carbonaceous material is preferably selected from the following materials (1) to (4):
(1) natural graphite, (2) artificial carbonaceous materials and artificial graphite materials; carbonaceous materials resulting from at least one cycle of heating treatment at 400° C. to 3200° C. performed on carbonaceous substances {e.g., natural graphite, coal coke, petroleum coke, coal pitch, petroleum pitch, and oxides of the above pitches; needle coke, pitch coke, and partially graphitized carbon materials of the above cokes; pyrolysates of organic materials such as furnace black, acetylene black, and pitch carbon fiber; carbonizable organic materials (e.g., coal tar pitches from soft pitch to hard pitch; petroleum heavy oils such as retort oil; DC heavy oils such as atmospheric residue and vacuum residual oil; cracked petroleum heavy oils such as ethylene tar that is a byproduct generated in pyrolysis of crude oil, naphtha, and the like; aromatic hydrocarbons such as acenaphthylene, decacyclene, anthracene, and phenanthrene; N-cyclic compounds such as phenazine and acridine; S-cyclic compounds such as thiophene and bithiophene; polyphenylenes such as biphenyl and terphenyl; polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl butyral, and insolubilized materials of these; nitrogen-containing organic polymers such as polyacnilonitrile and polypyrrole; sulfur-containing organic polymers such as polythiophene and polystyrene; natural polymers such as polysaccharides typified by cellulose, lignin, mannan, polygalacturonic acid, chitosan, and saccharose; thermoplastic resins such as polyphenylene sulfide and polyphenylene oxide; thermosetting resins such as furfuryl alcohol resin, phenol-formaldehyde resin, and imide resin) and carbides of these; and solutions containing the carbonizable organic materials dissolved in low-molecular-weight organic solvents such as benzene, toluene, xylene, quinoline, and n-hexane, and carbides of these}; (3) carbonaceous materials in which the negative electrode active material layer contains at least two kinds of carbon materials having different crystallizability and/or has an interface where the carbon materials having different crystallizability are in contact; and (4) carbonaceous materials in which the negative electrode active material layer contains at least two kinds of carbon materials having different orientation characteristics and/or has an interface where the carbon materials having different orientation characteristics are in contact.
[0113] The negative electrode active material may be a powdered carbonaceous material such as ones obtainable by firing and carbonizing graphite, activated coal, phenol resin, pitch, or the like. Alternatively, the negative electrode active material may be a metal oxide such as GeO, GeO 2 , SnO, SnO 2 , PbO, or PbO 2 , or a complex metal oxide thereof (e.g., those disclosed in JP H07-249409 A).
[0114] The material for forming an electric double layer capacitor may be a carbonaceous material such as activated coal, carbon black, graphite, expanded graphite, porous carbon, carbon nanotube, carbon nanohorn, or ketjen black.
[0115] Examples of the activated coal include phenol resin-based activated coal, coconut shell-based activated coal, and petroleum coke-based activated coal.
[0116] The conductive aid is optionally added to improve the electrical conductivity if the cell is formed using an electrode material with a low electron conductivity (e.g., LiCoO 2 ). Examples of the conductive aid include carbonaceous substances such as carbon blacks (e.g., acetylene black, ketjen black), fine graphite powder, carbon fiber, fibrous carbon, carbon fiber, and carbon nanohorn, and fine powders and fibers of metals such as nickel and aluminum.
[0117] The amount of the powdery electrode material is preferably 40% by mass or more in the electrode mixture in order to increase the capacity of the resultant electrode.
[0118] The electrode mixture of the present invention may be prepared by, for example, a method including dissolving a binder in an organic solvent to prepare a solution, dispersing a powdery electrode material in the solution, and mixing them. Alternatively, the electrode mixture may be prepared by a method including preliminarily mixing binder powder with a powdery electrode material, followed by adding an organic solvent to the mixed powder.
[0119] The electrode mixture of the present invention includes a specific binder and a specific organic solvent as described above, and therefore shows little decrease in viscosity even if the mixture is left to stand for a long period of time after preparation of the mixture and enables production of an electrode having a high electrode density and excellent flexibility.
[0120] Examples of the method of producing an electrode using the electrode mixture of the invention include a method in which the electrode mixture of the present invention is applied to a collector, and then dried, and pressed to form a thin electrode mixture layer, so that an electrode in the form of a thin film is produced.
[0121] The collector may be metallic foil or metallic mesh of iron, stainless steel, copper, aluminum, nickel, titanium, or the like metal.
[0122] The electrode mixture of the present invention can be used in a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell.
[0123] The nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell includes a positive electrode including a positive electrode mixture retained by a positive electrode collector, a negative electrode including a negative electrode mixture retained by a negative electrode collector, and a nonaqueous electrolyte.
[0124] The positive electrode mixture preferably includes the above-described powdery electrode material, binder, and organic solvent. The powdery electrode material preferably includes the above positive electrode active material and the conductive aid.
[0125] The negative electrode mixture preferably includes the above-described powdery electrode material, binder, and organic solvent. The powdery electrode material is preferably a negative electrode active material.
[0126] The positive electrode collector may be, for example, aluminum foil. The negative electrode collector may be, for example, copper foil.
[0127] The nonaqueous electrolyte is not particularly limited. The organic solvent may be one or two or more known solvents such as propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate, butylene carbonate, γ-butyrolactone, 1,2-dimethoxyethane, 1,2-diethoxyethane, dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, and ethyl methyl carbonate. The electrolyte may be any conventionally known one, and may be LiClO 4 , LiAsF 6 , LiPF 6 , LiBF 4 , LiCl, LiBr, CH 3 SO 3 Li, CF 3 SO 3 Li, cesium carbonate, or the like.
[0128] The electrode mixture typically has a weight ratio of the powdery electrode material to the binder of about 80:20 to 99.9:0.1. This weight ratio is determined in consideration of retention of the powder components, adhesion to the collector, and electrical conductivity of the electrode.
[0129] With the above composition ratio, the binder does not completely fill the gap between the powder components on the electrode mixture layer formed on the collector. However, if a solvent which can well dissolve the binder therein is used, the binder can be uniformly dispersed to form a net structure in the dried electrode mixture layer, thereby well retaining the powder components. Thus, it is preferred to use such a solvent.
[0130] The amount of the organic solvent in the electrode mixture is determined in consideration of application properties to the collector and thin film formation properties after drying. The weight ratio of the binder to the organic solvent is typically preferably 5:95 to 20:80.
[0131] The binder used preferably has an average particle size as small as 1,000 μm or smaller, and especially preferably 50 to 350 μm, in order to rapidly dissolve the binder in the organic solvent.
[0132] The electrode mixture of the present invention, which is intended to be used in a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell, can be used not only in the above-described lithium ion secondary cell with a liquid electrolyte, but also in a polymer electrolyte lithium secondary cell. In addition, the electrode mixture can be used for an electrical double layer capacitor.
Advantageous Effects of Invention
[0133] The electrode mixture of the present invention having the above configuration shows little change in viscosity even after 24 hours from the preparation of the mixture and enables production of an electrode having a high electrode density and excellent flexibility. The electrode mixture of the present invention can be extremely suitably used as an electrode mixture for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell such as a lithium ion secondary cell.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0134] The present invention is described with reference to examples in more detail. The examples are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
Preparation Example 1
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer A
[0135] A 6-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.9 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.8 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0136] Thereafter, mixed gas (260 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 5/95 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (0.6 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (2.8 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 5/85 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 32 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (900 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer A was obtained.
[0137] The fluorine-containing polymer A had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=83.0/17.0(mol %) 5 wt % NMP solution viscosity: 440 mPa·s (25° C.) Number average molecular weight: 270,000 Weight average molecular weight: 870,000 Tensile modulus: 450 MPa
Preparation Example 2
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer B
[0142] A 4-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.3 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.3 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0143] Thereafter, mixed gas (200 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 4/96 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (0.4 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (1 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 13/87 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 17 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (190 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer B was obtained.
[0144] The fluorine-containing polymer B had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=86.6/13.4(mol %) Number average molecular weight: 274,000 Weight average molecular weight: 768,000 Tensile modulus: 500 MPa
Preparation Example 3
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer C
[0148] A 4-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.3 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.3 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0149] Thereafter, mixed gas (200 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 3/97 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (0.4 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (1 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 11/89 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 20 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (190 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer C was obtained.
[0150] The fluorine-containing polymer C had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=88.8/11.2(mol %) Number average molecular weight: 305,000 Weight average molecular weight: 854,000 Tensile modulus: 550 MPa
Preparation Example 4
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer D
[0154] A 4-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.3 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.3 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0155] Thereafter, mixed gas (200 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 6/94 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (0.4 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (1 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 19/81 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 11 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (130 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer D was obtained.
[0156] The fluorine-containing polymer D had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=81.0/19.0(mol %) Number average molecular weight: 283,000 Weight average molecular weight: 795,000 Tensile modulus: 400 MPa
Preparation Example 5
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer E
[0160] A 6-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.9 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.8 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0161] Thereafter, mixed gas (260 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 6/94 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (0.6 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (2.8 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 5/85 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 32 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (900 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer E was obtained.
[0162] The fluorine-containing polymer E had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=80.0/20.0(mol %) 5 wt % NMP solution viscosity: 410 mPa·s (25° C.) Number average molecular weight: 230,000 Weight average molecular weight: 820,000 Tensile modulus: 420 MPa
Preparation Example 6
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer F
[0167] A 4-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.3 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.3 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0168] Thereafter, mixed gas (200 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 7/93 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (0.4 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (1 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 22/78 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 6 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (60 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer F was obtained.
[0169] The fluorine-containing polymer F had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=78.0/22.0(mol %) Number average molecular weight: 265,000 Weight average molecular weight: 750,000 Tensile modulus: 400 MPa
Preparation Example 7
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer G
[0173] A 4-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.3 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (1.3 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 580 rpm.
[0174] Thereafter, mixed gas (200 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 2/98 (mol %) and ethyl acetate (1 g) were charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (1 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 8/92 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 20 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (130 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer G was obtained.
[0175] The fluorine-containing polymer G had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=91.5/8.5(mol %) Number average molecular weight: 296,000 Weight average molecular weight: 799,000 Tensile modulus: 980 MPa
Preparation Example 8
Preparation of Fluorine-Containing Polymer H
[0179] A 4-L autoclave was charged with pure water (1.3 kg), followed by sufficient purging with nitrogen. Subsequently, octafluorocyclobutane (0.88 kg) was charged and the system was maintained at 37° C. at a stirring rate of 555 rpm.
[0180] Thereafter, mixed gas (150 g) having a TFE/VdF ratio of 5/95 (mol %) was charged to the autoclave, and then a 50% by mass solution (1.5 g) of di-n-propyl peroxydicarbonate in methanol was added to start polymerization. Since the pressure in the system decreased with progression of the polymerization, mixed gas having a TFE/VdF ratio of 15/85 (mol %) was continuously supplied to maintain the pressure in the system at 1.3 MPaG. Stirring was continued for 44 hours. Thereafter, the pressure was released to the atmospheric pressure, and then the reaction product was washed and dried. Thereby, white powder (600 g) of a fluorine-containing polymer H was obtained.
[0181] The fluorine-containing polymer H had the composition and properties below.
[0000] VdF/TFE=82.9/17.1(mol %) Number average molecular weight: 300,000 Weight average molecular weight: 1,210,000 Tensile modulus: 450 MPa
[0185] The following polyvinylidene fluorides (PVdF) (a) to (g) were prepared.
(PVdF (a))
[0186] KF7200 (PVdF, available from Kureha Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was used.
[0000] VdF=100 mol % Number average molecular weight: 295,000 Weight average molecular weight: 835,000 Tensile modulus: 1,200 MPa
(PVdF (b))
[0190] HSV900 (PVdF, available from Arkema Inc.) was used.
[0000] VdF=100 mol % Number average molecular weight: 270,000 Weight average molecular weight: 780,000 Tensile modulus: 1,100 MPa
(PVdF (c))
[0194] KF9200 (PVdF, available from Kureha Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was used.
[0000] VdF/monomethyl maleate=99.8/0.2 mol % Number average molecular weight: 203,000 Weight average molecular weight: 650,000 Tensile modulus: 1,200 MPa
(PVdF (d))
[0198] KF1100 (PVdF, available from Kureha Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was used.
[0000] VdF=100 mol % Number average molecular weight: 120,000 Weight average molecular weight: 270,000 Tensile modulus: 1,200 MPa
(PVdF (e))
[0202] VdF=100 mol % Number average molecular weight: 265,000 Weight average molecular weight: 747,000 Tensile modulus: 1,200 MPa
(PVdF (f))
[0206] VdF=100 mol % Number average molecular weight: 320,000 Weight average molecular weight: 852,000 Tensile modulus: 1,200 MPa
(PVdF (g))
[0210] VdF=100 mol % Number average molecular weight: 336,000 Weight average molecular weight: 1,020,000 Tensile modulus: 1,200 MPa
[0214] The compositions, molecular weights, and tensile moduluses of the fluorine-containing polymers and PVdFs were determined by the following methods.
<Polymer Composition>
[0215] Solutions of the polymers in DMSO were prepared and each subjected to 19 F-NMR measurement using an NMR analyzing device (VNS400 MHz available from Agilent Technologies, Inc.).
[0216] The following peak areas (A, B, C, and D) were measured by the 19 F-NMR measurement, and the ratio of VdF to TFE was calculated.
A: the area of the peak from −86 ppm to −98 ppm B: the area of the peak from −105 ppm to −118 ppm C: the area of the peak from −119 ppm to −122 ppm D: the area of the peak from −122 ppm to −126 ppm
[0000] VdF: (4 A+ 2 B )/(4 A+ 3 B+ 2 C+ 2 D )×100[mol %]
[0000] TFE: ( B+ 2 C+ 2 D )/(4 A+ 3 B+ 2 C+ 2 D )×100[mol %]
<Number Average Molecular Weight and Weight Average Molecular Weight>
[0221] The number average molecular weight and weight average molecular weight were calculated from the data (reference: polystyrene) obtained by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) using HLC-8320GPC available from Tosoh Corporation, columns (three pieces of Super AWM-H connected in series), and dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent.
<Tensile Modulus>
[0222] A 5% by mass solution of each fluorine-containing polymer in N-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP) was prepared and cast-coated to aluminum foil. Thereafter, the coating was dried with an air-blowing constant-temperature thermostat (Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.) at 120° C., thereby completely evaporating NMP. This provided a strip-shaped cast film having a thickness of 10 μm.
[0223] The obtained cast film of the fluorine-containing polymer was peeled from the aluminum foil. An ASTM V type dumbbell was then stamped out of the film, and the tensile modulus was measured with the dumbbell and a tensilon in accordance with ASTM D-638 (1999).
Examples 1 to 16, Comparative Examples 1 to 7
Preparation of Positive Electrode Mixture
[0224] LiCoO 2 (available from Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.), a binder, and acetylene black (available from DENKI KAGAKU KOGYO K.K.) were weighed such that the mass ratio of LiCoO 2 :binder:acetylene black was 100:1:1.
[0225] The binder used was a mixture of a fluorine-containing polymer and PVdF at the mass ratio shown in Table 1.
[0226] The binder was dissolved in N-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP) to a concentration of 5% by mass. The obtained NMP solution was mixed with predetermined amounts of LiCoO 2 and acetylene black. The mixture was stirred at 100 rpm for 60 minutes with a stirrer (T.K.HIVIS MIX available from PRIMIX Corporation), and then additionally stirred at 100 rpm for 30 minutes while a vacuum deaeration treatment was performed. The stirred NMP solution was filtered through a Ni mesh (200 mesh) to achieve uniformity of the particle size of the solid components. Thereby, a positive electrode mixture was obtained.
[0227] The viscosity of the obtained positive electrode mixture was measured to estimate the stability by the following method. The results are shown in Table 1.
<Stability (Viscosity Retention (%))>
[0228] The viscosity of the obtained positive electrode mixture was measured with a rheometer (a stress controlled rheometer Discovery HR-1 available from TA Instrument).
[0229] The viscosity (η0) right after the preparation of the mixture and the viscosity (ηa) 24 hours after the preparation of the mixture were measured, and the viscosity retention (Xa) was calculated in accordance with the equation below. The viscosity of the mixture herein means a viscosity value at a shear rate of 100 sec −1 in the measurement using a cone and plate geometry (diameter: 40 mm, cone angle: 1°) at 25° C. while the shear rate was swept from 0.01 sec −1 . to 1000 sec −1 .
[0000] Xa=ηa/η 0×100 [%]
[0000]
TABLE 1
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
Example 9
Example 10
Binder
PVdF
a
70
—
70
70
70
70
30
80
50
—
b
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
50
c
—
70
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
d
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Fluorine-
A
—
—
—
30
—
—
70
20
50
50
containing
B
30
30
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
polymer
C
—
—
30
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
D
—
—
—
—
30
—
—
—
—
E
—
—
—
—
—
30
—
—
—
—
F
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
G
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Viscosity of electrode
mixture
(η0) Right after
4.28
4.23
4.61
4.26
4.18
4.25
4.13
4.28
4.16
4.45
preparation of the
mixture [Pa · s]
(ηb) 24 hours
3.51
3.55
3.91
3.62
2.92
2.98
3.39
3.68
3.41
3.65
after preparation
[Pa · s]
(Xb) Viscosity retention
82
84
85
85
80
77
82
86
82
82
(after 24 hours) [%]
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Binder
PVdF
a
70
70
—
—
—
—
b
—
—
—
—
—
—
c
—
—
—
—
—
—
d
—
—
70
30
30
30
Fluorine-
A
—
—
30
70
—
—
containing
B
—
—
—
—
—
—
polymer
C
—
—
—
—
—
—
D
—
—
—
—
70
—
E
—
—
—
—
—
70
F
30
—
—
—
—
—
G
—
30
—
—
—
—
Viscosity of electrode
mixture
(η0) Right after
4.15
4.36
1.82
3.63
3.59
3.42
preparation of the
mixture [Pa · s]
(ηb) 24 hours after
2.74
3.62
1.56
2.98
2.55
2.39
preparation [Pa · s]
(Xb) Viscosity retention
66
85
86
82
71
70
(after 24 hours) [%]
Comparative
Example 11
Example 12
Example 13
Example 14
Example 15
Example 16
Example 7
Binder
PVdF
d
—
—
—
—
—
—
80
e
80
—
—
80
—
—
—
f
—
80
—
—
80
—
—
g
—
—
80
—
—
80
—
Flourine-
A
20
20
20
—
—
—
20
containing
H
—
—
—
20
20
20
—
polymer
Viscosity of electrode mixture
(η0) Right after preparation of
4.09
4.22
4.30
4.20
4.29
4.42
2.02
the mixture [Pa · s]
(ηb) 24 hours after
3.48
3.58
3.70
3.57
3.64
3.80
1.7
preparation [Pa · s]
(Xb) Viscosity retention
85
85
86
85
85
86
84
(after 24 hours) [%]
(Preparation of Positive Electrode)
[0230] Each of the positive electrode mixtures prepared in Examples 3 to 16 and Comparative Examples 3 to 7 was left to stand for 24 hours following the preparation. Thereafter, the mixture was applied to Al foil (thickness: 22 μm, available from TOYO ALUMINIUM K.K.) as a collector with an applicator in such an amount that the positive electrode coating should have a dry mass of 16 to 17 mg/cm 2 . After the application, the coating was dried with an air-blowing constant-temperature thermostat (Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.) at 120° C., thereby completely evaporating NMP. Thus, a positive electrode was prepared.
[0231] The positive electrode was subjected to the following evaluations. The results are shown in Table 2.
<Electrode Density>
[0232] The positive electrode was passed through a roll press machine (gap: 0 μm, pressure: 4 t) at room temperature, and the area, the thickness, and the weight of the positive electrode were measured to calculate the electrode density (g/cm 3 ).
<Flexibility (Folding Test of Positive Electrode)>
[0233] The prepared positive electrode was cut to a size of 3 cm long×6 cm wide. The electrode was folded 180° and then unfolded. The presence or absence of cracks on the positive electrode was visually checked. If no crack was observed, the positive electrode was evaluated as “o.” If a crack was observed, the positive electrode was evaluated as “x.”
<Electrode Adhesion (90 Degree Peel Test at Interface Between Electrode and Collector Interface)>
[0234] The positive electrode was cut to a size of 1.2×8.0 cm. The electrode side of the positive electrode was fixed to a movable jig, and a piece of tape was applied to the collector side. The tape was pulled at 90° at a speed of 100 mm/min, and a stress (N/mm) caused by the pulling of the tape was measured with an autograph. The autograph was equipped with a 1 N load cell.
(Preparation of Negative Electrode)
[0235] Styrene-butadiene rubber and carboxymethyl cellulose were dispersed in distilled water. Synthetic graphite powder (available from Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. under the trade name of MAG-D) was added to the dispersions such that the solid contents in the obtained mixtures were each 1.2% by mass. The obtained mixture was mixed with a disperser to produce a slurry-like mixture. The mixture was uniformly applied to a negative electrode collector (copper foil having a thickness of 10 μm), and the coating was dried to form a negative electrode mixture layer, followed by compression-molding with a roller press machine. Thereby, a negative electrode was prepared.
(Preparation of Coin Cell)
[0236] A circular shape (diameter: 13 mm) was stamped out of each of a lithium metal and the positive electrode obtained above with a punching machine. A micro-porous polypropylene film was interposed between this circular positive electrode and the negative electrode obtained above, and then a nonaqueous electrolyte is poured to provide a coin cell. The nonaqueous electrolyte used was prepared by dissolving LiPF 6 at a concentration of 1 mol/L in a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate in a volume ratio of 3/7.
(Preparation of Laminate Cell)
[0237] A strip-shaped positive electrode was cut to a size of 40 mm×72 mm (with a 10 mm×10 mm positive electrode terminal) and a strip-shaped negative electrode was cut to a size of 42 mm×74 mm (with a 10 mm×10 mm negative electrode terminal). A lead was welded to each of the terminals. A 20-μm-thick polypropylene film separator was cut into a size of 78 mm×46 mm to prepare a separator. The separator was disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The resulting assembly was put in an aluminum laminated casing. Subsequently, 2 ml of an electrolyte was put into the casing, and the casing was sealed, whereby a laminated cell having a capacity of 72 mAh was produced. The electrolyte used was prepared by dissolving LiPF 6 at a concentration of 1 mol/L in a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate in a volume ratio of 3/7.
<Initial Discharge Capacity of Positive Electrode>
[0238] The prepared coin cell was charged at a temperature of 25° C. at a constant current of 0.2 C until the voltage reached 4.2 V, and then discharged at a constant current of 0.2 C until the voltage reached 3.0 V. Thereby, the initial discharge capacity (mAh/g) of the positive electrode was determined.
<Initial Internal Resistance>
[0239] The prepared coin cell was charged at a constant current (0.2 C)−constant voltage (4.2 V) and then discharged at 0.2 C to a discharge cut-off voltage of 3.0 V, at a temperature of 25° C. This charge and discharge cycle was repeated three times. Thereafter, the cell with a state of charge (SOC) of 100% was allowed to discharge at 0.5 C, 1 C, 2 C, or 5 C, and a decrease in voltage (decrease in voltage at 15 seconds from the start of discharging) at each discharge current was measured. The initial internal resistance (0) was calculated from the current values and the decreases in voltage.
<Cycle Characteristics>
[0240] The cycle characteristics were measured using the prepared laminate cell as follows. A charge and discharge cycle under the charge and discharge conditions (charged at 1.0 C and 4.2 V until the charge current reached 1/10 C, and discharged at a current corresponding to 1 C until the voltage reached 3.0 V) was regarded as 1 cycle. The discharge capacity was measured after the first cycle and after 300 cycles. With regard to the cycle characteristics, the value calculated by the following equation is regarded as cycle retention.
[0000] Cycle retention(%)=300 cycle discharge capacity(mAh)/1 cycle discharge capacity(mAh)×100
<Cycle Characteristics at High Temperature>
[0241] The cycle characteristics were measured as follows using the prepared laminate cell. A charge and discharge cycle under the charge and discharge conditions (in a constant-temperature bath at 55° C., charged at 1.0 C at 4.2 V until the charge current reached 1/10 C, and discharged at a current corresponding to 1 C until the voltage reached 3.0 V) was regarded as 1 cycle. The discharge capacity was measured after the first cycle and after 200 cycles. With regard to the cycle characteristics, the value calculated by the following equation is regarded as a cycle retention.
[0000] Cycle retention(%)=200 cycle discharge capacity(mAh)/1 cycle discharge capacity(mAh)×100
[0000]
TABLE 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Example 7
Example 8
Example 9
Binder
PVdF
a
70
70
70
70
30
80
50
b
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
c
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
d
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Fluorine-
A
—
30
—
—
70
20
50
containing
B
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
polymer
C
30
—
—
—
—
—
—
D
—
—
30
—
—
—
—
E
—
—
—
30
—
—
—
F
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
G
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Electrode density (g/cm 3 )
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
Flexibility
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
Electrode adhesion
0.13
0.13
0.09
0.08
0.08
0.14
0.09
(N/mm)
Cell
Initial discharge
142
143
142
142
144
143
144
characteristics
capacity (mAh/g)
evaluation
Initial internal
1.47
1.46
1.46
1.47
1.36
1.48
1.35
resistance
(DC)(Ω)
Cycle retention (%)
87
88
81
77
88
90
88
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Example 10
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5
Example 6
Binder
PVdF
a
—
—
—
—
—
b
50
—
—
—
—
c
—
—
—
—
—
d
—
70
30
30
30
Fluorine-
A
50
30
70
—
—
containing
B
—
—
—
—
—
polymer
C
—
—
—
—
—
D
—
—
—
70
—
E
—
—
—
—
70
F
—
—
—
—
—
G
—
—
—
—
—
Electrode density (g/cm 3 )
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.3
3.3
Flexibility
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
Electrode adhesion
0.1
0.04
0.04
0.02
0.02
(N/mm)
Cell
Initial discharge
144
140
141
141
140
characteristics
capacity (mAh/g)
evaluation
Initial internal
1.39
1.50
1.42
1.45
1.47
resistance
(DC)(Ω)
Cycle retention (%)
88
77
77
72
69
Comparative
Example 11
Example 12
Example 13
Example 14
Example 15
Example 16
Example 7
Binder
PVdF
d
—
—
—
—
—
—
80
e
80
—
—
80
—
—
—
f
—
80
—
—
80
—
—
g
—
80
—
—
80
—
Fluorine-
A
20
20
20
—
—
—
20
containing
H
—
—
—
20
20
20
—
polymer
Electrode density (g/cm 3 )
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
Flexibility
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
◯
Electrode adhesion (N/mm)
0.13
0.15
0.18
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.04
Cell
Initial
143
143
143
143
143
143
140
characteristics
discharge
evaluation
capacity
(mAh/g)
Initial internal
1.48
1.48
1.47
1.48
1.48
1.47
1.5
resistance
(DC)(Ω)
Cycle
88
89
90
89
90
91
79
retention (%)
High
47
47
48
52
52
53
20
temperature
cycle
retention (%)
Examples 17 and 18, Comparative Examples 8 and 9
Preparation of Positive Electrode Mixture
[0242] LiCoO 2 (available from Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.), a binder, and acetylene black (available from DENKI KAGAKU KOGYO K.K.) were weighed such that the mass ratio of LiCoO 2 :binder:acetylene black was 92:3:5.
[0243] The binder used was a mixture of a fluorine-containing polymer and PVdF at the mass ratio shown in Table 3.
[0244] The binder was dissolved in N-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP) to a concentration of 5% by mass. The obtained NMP solution was mixed with predetermined amounts of LiCoO 2 and acetylene black. The mixture was stirred at 100 rpm for 60 minutes with a stirrer (T.K.HIVIS MIX available from PRIMIX Corporation), and then additionally stirred at 100 rpm for 30 minutes while a vacuum deaeration treatment was performed. The stirred NMP solution was filtered through a Ni mesh (200 mesh) to achieve uniformity of the particle size of the solid components. Thereby, a positive electrode mixture was obtained.
(Preparation of Positive Electrode)
[0245] The prepared positive electrode mixture was left to stand for 24 hours following the preparation. Thereafter, the mixture was applied to Al foil (thickness: 22 μm, available from TOYO ALUMINIUM K.K.) as a collector with an applicator in such an amount that the positive electrode coating should have a dry mass of 16 to 17 mg/cm 2 . After the application, the coating was dried with an air-blowing constant-temperature thermostat (Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.) at 120° C., thereby completely evaporating NMP. Thus, a positive electrode was prepared.
[0246] The positive electrode was subjected to the following evaluations. The results are shown in Table 3.
<Electrode Density>
[0247] The positive electrode was passed through a roll press machine having a gap of 75 μm at 70° C. twice. Subsequently, the gap was changed to 35 μm, and the electrode was passed through the machine twice. Thereafter, the area, the thickness, and the weight of the positive electrode were measured to calculate the electrode density (g/cm 3 ).
<Flexibility (Folding Test of Positive Electrode)>
[0248] The prepared positive electrode was cut to a size of 3 cm long×6 cm wide. The electrode was folded 180° and then unfolded. The presence or absence of cracks on the positive electrode was visually checked. If no crack was observed, the positive electrode was evaluated as “o.” If a crack was observed, the positive electrode was evaluated as “x.”
[0000]
TABLE 3
Compar-
Compar-
Example
Example
ative
ative
17
18
Example 8
Example 9
Binder
PVdF
a
70
—
70
70
b
—
—
—
—
c
—
70
—
—
d
—
—
—
—
Flourine-
A
—
—
—
—
containing
B
30
30
—
—
polymer
C
—
—
—
—
D
—
—
—
—
E
—
—
—
—
F
—
—
30
—
G
—
—
—
30
Electrode density (g/cm 3 )
3.5
3.5
3.3
3.3
Flexibilty
◯
◯
X
X
Examples 19 to 24, Comparative Examples 10 and 11
Preparation of Positive Electrode Mixture
[0249] LiNi 1/3 Co 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 (hereinafter also referred to as NMC, available from Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.) or Li(NimoCo 0.15 Al 0.05 )O 2 (hereinafter also referred to as NCA, available from TODAKOGYO Corporation), a binder, and acetylene black (available from DENKI KAGAKU KOGYO K.K.) were weighed such that the mass ratio of NMC or NCA:binder:acetylene black was 93:3:4.
[0250] The binder used was a mixture of a fluorine-containing polymer and PVdF. The mass ratio between the fluorine-containing polymer and PVdF is shown in Table 4.
[0251] The binder was dissolved in N-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP) to a concentration of 5% by mass. The obtained NMP solution was mixed with predetermined amounts of LiNi 1/3 Co 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 (NMC) or LiNi 0.80 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 O 2 (NCA) and acetylene black. The mixture was stirred at 100 rpm for 60 minutes with a stirrer (T.K.HIVIS MIX available from PRIMIX Corporation), and then additionally stirred at 100 rpm for 30 minutes while a vacuum deaeration treatment was performed. The stirred solution was filtered through a Ni mesh (200 mesh) to achieve uniformity of the particle size of the solid components. Thereby, a positive electrode mixture was obtained.
[0252] The prepared positive electrode mixture was left to stand for 24 hours following the preparation. Thereafter, the mixture was applied to Al foil (thickness: 22 μm, available from TOYO ALUMINIUM K.K.) as a collector with an applicator in such an amount that the positive electrode coating should have a dry mass of 13 mg/cm 2 . After the application, the coating was dried with an air-blowing constant-temperature thermostat (Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.) at 120° C., thereby completely evaporating NMP. Thus, a positive electrode was prepared.
[0253] The positive electrode mixture and positive electrode prepared above were subjected to the following evaluations. The results are shown in Table 4.
<Stability (Viscosity Retention (%))>
[0254] The viscosity of the obtained positive electrode mixture was measured with a rheometer (a stress controlled rheometer Discovery HR-1 available from TA Instrument).
[0255] The viscosity (η0) right after the preparation of the mixture and the viscosity (ηa) 24 hours after the preparation of the mixture were measured, and the viscosity retention (Xa) was calculated in accordance with the equation below. The viscosity of the mixture herein means a viscosity value at a shear rate of 100 sec −1 in the measurement using a cone and plate geometry (diameter: 40 mm, cone angle: 1°) at 25° C. while the shear rate was swept from 0.01 sec −1 to 1000 sec −1 .
[0000] Xa=ηa/η 0×100[%]
<Electrode Density>
[0256] The positive electrode was passed through a roll press machine (gap: 0 μm, pressure: 0.5 t) at room temperature, and the area, the thickness, and the weight of the positive electrode were measured to calculate the electrode density (g/cm 3 ).
<Electrode Adhesion (90 Degree Peel Test at Interface Between Electrode and Collector Interface)>
[0257] The positive electrode was cut into a size of 1.2×8.0 cm. The electrode side of the positive electrode was fixed to a movable jig, and a piece of tape was applied to the collector side. The tape was pulled at 90° at a speed of 100 ram/min, and a stress (N/mm) caused by the pulling of the tape was measured with an autograph. The autograph was equipped with a 1 N load cell.
(Preparation of Coin Cell)
[0258] A circular shape (diameter: 13 mm) was stamped out of each of a lithium metal and the positive electrode obtained above with a punching machine. A micro-porous polypropylene film was interposed between this circular positive electrode and the negative electrode obtained above, and then a nonaqueous electrolyte is poured to provide a coin cell. The nonaqueous electrolyte used was prepared by dissolving LiPF 6 at a concentration of 1 mol/L in a mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate in a volume ratio of 3/7.
<Initial Internal Resistance>
[0259] The prepared coin cell was charged at a constant current (0.2 C)−constant voltage (4.1 V) and then discharged at 0.2 C to a discharge cut-off voltage of 3.0 V, at a temperature of 25° C. This charge and discharge cycle was repeated three times. Thereafter, the cell with a state of charge (SOC) of 100% was allowed to discharge at 0.2 C, 0.5 C, 1 C, 5 C, or 10 C, and a decrease in voltage (decrease in voltage at 15 seconds from the start of discharging) at each discharge current was measured. The internal resistance (Ω) was calculated from the slope of the plot of the current values and the decreases in voltage.
<High Rate Characteristics>
[0260] The prepared coin cell was charged at a constant current (0.2 C)−constant voltage (4.1 V) and then discharged at 0.2 C to a discharge cut-off voltage of 3.0 V, at a temperature of 25° C. This charge and discharge cycle was repeated three times. Thereafter, the discharge capacity was measured at a 0.2 C rate and at a 10 C rate at a voltage in the range of 4.1 V to 3.0 V. The charge conditions employed after the first three cycles was a constant current (0.5 C)−constant voltage (4.1 V) at a 0.5 C rate. The discharge capacity at a 10 C rate relative to that at a 0.2 C rate is regarded as the characteristic value at a rate of 10 C.
[0000]
TABLE 4
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Comparative
Comparative
19
20
21
22
23
24
Example 10
Example 11
Binder
PVdF
d
—
—
—
—
—
—
80
—
e
80
—
80
—
—
—
—
—
g
—
80
—
80
80
80
—
100
Fluorine-containing
A
20
20
—
—
20
—
20
—
polymer
H
—
—
20
20
—
20
—
—
Type of positive electrode active material
NMC
NMC
NMC
NMC
NCA
NCA
NMC
NCA
in electrode mixture
Viscosity of
(η0) Right after preparation
4.1
4.13
4.15
4.1
4.18
4.14
4.1
4.19
electrode mixture
of mixture [Pa · s]
(ηa) 24 hours after
3.62
3.65
3.71
3.71
3.42
3.45
3.56
(gelled)
preparation [Pa · s]
(Xa) Viscosity retention
88
88
89
90
82
83
87
(gelled)
(after 24 hours) [%]
Electrode density (g/cm 3 )
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
2.5
—
Electrode adhesion (N/mm)
0.25
0.28
0.25
0.29
0.21
0.25
0.07
—
Cell characteristics
Initial internal resistance
2.04
1.98
1.97
1.95
1.95
1.94
2.34
—
evaluation
(DC) (Ω)
High rate characteristics
44
45
45
47
37
39
26
—
(%)
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
[0261] The electrode mixture of the present invention can be extremely suitably used as an electrode mixture for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary cell such as a lithium ion secondary cell.
|
The present invention aims to provide an electrode mixture which shows little change in viscosity even after 24 hours from the preparation of the mixture and enables production of an electrode having a high electrode density and excellent flexibility and is capable of giving excellent electric properties to the resulting cell. The present invention relates to an electrode mixture including a powdery electrode material; a binder; and an organic solvent, the binder including polyvinylidene fluoride and a fluorine-containing polymer including a polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride and a polymer unit based on tetrafluoroethylene, the fluorine-containing polymer including the polymer unit based on vinylidene fluoride in an amount of 80.0 to 90.0 mol % based on all the polymer units, the polyvinylidene fluoride having a number average molecular weight of 150,000 to 1,400,000.
| 7
|
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to electric motor construction and, in particular, to the manufacture of universal type electric motors.
PRIOR ART
Universal type electric motors are widely used for their characteristics of high power and small physical size. In the manufacture of this type of electric motor, a production bottle-neck has been experienced in the wiring, termination, or other connecting of the field winding and brush elements. The steps involved in connecting these various elements were often hindered by the ordinarily small and relatively fragile elements involved, and the restricted or obstructed areas in which such elements were situated.
Those who have sought solutions to these problems with attempts to simplify connections and automate assembly have generally designed motors with integrated housings so that terminals and/or brushes, as well as armature bearing supports, have been part of a housing or enclosure for the motor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a construction for a universal motor having a design adapted for use in a wide variety of appliances, machines, and the like. The disclosed motor design avoids reliance on an external housing for support of any of its individual components so that it can be used without modification or special tooling in diverse housing styles ranging from closefitting units to envelopes containing the motor and other hardware of like or greater bulk.
The disclosed motor is economical to produce as a result of its unique construction, which avoids tedious or difficult to automate steps of assembly, particularly in making circuit connections. Field and brush terminations are made with lay-in or plug-in connections easily accomplished without complex movements or positional tolerances.
The motor construction involves the independent make-up of stator core and armature subassemblies. The stator core and armature components are ultimately joined in a simple push-in procedure to essentially complete assembly of the motor. Since the stator core and armature components are separately constructed, the speed of assembly of one component need not hold up assembly of the other component. The subassembly components can thus be separately inventoried and stored to be used on demand.
According to the invention, all of the motor elements are loosely fitted together until a last step in assembly of the motor, when tension screws are tightened. This prefitting of the various elements allows them to favorably align to one another before they are locked finally together by the tension screws. At completion of their assembly, all of the motor components are supported directly or indirectly on the stator core. The manner in which the motor circuit elements are terminated allows the motor to be conveniently supplied to a customer with or without power leads. Assembly of such power leads is accomplished by a simple push-in step. This is of particular advantage because of the requirements found in the wide number of applications for which the disclosed motor assembly is suited. The power rating of the motor is readily modified by increasing or decreasing the length of the stator core lamination and armature without the necessity of changes in the remaining motor parts.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stator core and a terminal harness in axially exploded relation;
FIG. 2 is an axially exploded, perspective view of the major parts of a motor assembly;
FIG. 2a is a perspective view of a brush box subassembly of the motor assembly;
FIG. 3 is an end view at the brush side of the motor assembly;
FIG. 4 is a side view of the motor assembly;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, side view of a portion of a shaft support and brush holder being positioned on the stator core and terminal harness;
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, perspective view, illustrating details of a typical terminal of the terminal harness.
FIG. 7 is an axially exploded view of a shaft support depicting details of its assembly; and
FIGS. 8a and 8b illustrate further details of the shaft support assembly and a manner of attachment of a brush holder plate thereto.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In the drawings, there is disclosed an electric motor assembly 10 of the universal type. A stator core 11 is composed of a stack or lamination of annular stampings permanently held together by rivets 12 or welds in customary fashion. A field winding 13 comprises a pair of opposed coils 14 and 16 in associated slots 17 formed in the body of the stator core 11. Sheets 19 of paper-based material or other electrically insulating material are disposed in the slots 17 prior to winding of the magnet wire forming the coils 14, 16 to protect the wires from the edges of the stator core laminations. The insulator sheets 19 project a distance from end faces 20 of laminations 21 of the stator core 11. Similarly, parts of the coils 14, 16 free of the slots 17 are spaced from these end faces 20.
The stator core 11 includes a C-shaped harness 26 having a planar web 27 and terminal support stations 28 which are angularly disposed about an axis of the motor and extend axially away from the plane of the web 27. The harness 26 is formed of electrically insulating material, preferably by injection molding a suitable plastic such as Valox 420, an engineering thermoplastic polyester sold by General Electric Co. The material forming the harness 26 is somewhat resilient. At the free or open ends of the C configuration of the harness and at points on its midsection, the harness 26 includes protrusions or hooks 29, 30. As indicated most clearly in FIG. 2, the protrusions 29, 30 interengage with areas of the sheet insulators 19 of the field coils 14, 16, and provisionally hold the harness 26 in place on the stator core 11. The material forming the harness 26, being somewhat resilient, allows a central area 33 of the harness web 27 to act as a hinge and various other areas of the web to elastically deflect and allow the protrusions 29, 30 to snap over respective areas of the field insulators 19. The harness is dimensionally molded so that in a free state, its geometry is slightly less than that of gripped points of the coil insulators 19. Cooperating pairs of hooks, i.e., a hook 29 at a free end of the web 27 and the hook 30 closest to it at the web center area 33, grasp the inside corners of opposite coils 14, 16. The hooks 29, 30 are dimensioned to fit under the space between the free portions of the coils and the stator core lamination end face 20. The protrusions 29, 30 hook onto the corners of the insulator sheets at the base areas of the slots 17, i.e., where the individual loops of the coils 14, 16 are smallest. Intermediate cooperating pairs of hooks 29, 30, locating tabs 36 extend axially from the plane of the harness web 27 in a direction opposite the terminal supports 28. The tabs or lugs 36 are adapted to index against the outside circumferential surfaces of the stator core laminations 21. The operative surfaces of the locator tabs 36 are generally opposed to the operative surfaces of the adjacent hooks 29, 30.
With reference to FIG. 6, the terminal supports 28 include rectangular cavities 38 sectioned by cross slots 39. Each slot 39 is adapted to receive one end of the magnet wire of an associated coil 14 or 16. Wire laced in a cross slot 39 is terminated by a terminal or solderless connector 41 having slots 42 which align with the cavity cross slots 39. The terminal slots 42 are dimensioned and otherwise constructed to strip insulating material from the magnet wire and make a permanent electrical connection therewith. An example of a typical connector suitable for use is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,908. Barbs 43 retain their associated terminals 41 in the respective cavities 38.
The described stator core subassembly, principally comprising the laminations 21, field coils 14, 16, and harness 26, is in a condition for assembly with remaining parts of the motor. As can be appreciated, the stator core parts are provisionally joined with sufficient integrity to allow them to be inventoried or otherwise stored for later use where immediate consumption is not desired.
An armature 46 of motor assembly 10 is generally conventional in design, and includes a commutator 47 adjacent one end. For purposes of economy, the armature shaft 48 maintains a constant diameter over the major part of its length to avoid machining operations. Either end of the shaft 48 may have extensions with a flat or machine threads or some other means of connecting it to a load. At the commutator end, the shaft 48 has a pair of axially spaced grooves 49 for receiving C washers.
Armature shaft supports 51, 52 of similar construction are provided at each end of the motor assembly 10. Opposite the commutator end of the motor, the shaft support 51 has a stepped structure ideally formed as a subassembly of stamped steel parts. The larger of these parts 54 comprises an end strap integrally formed with a cylindrical bearing cavity or bell 55, axially oriented stand-off legs 56, radially oriented flanges 57, and locating tabs 58. The bell 55 has a central opening 59 for clearance with the armature shaft 48. Holes 63 in the radial flanges 57 are adapted to align with diametrally opposed holes 64 to the stator core laminations 21. The locating tabs 58 are spaced from one another a distance corresponding to the transverse dimension of the stator core laminations 21 adjacent the holes 64 so that the tabs are adapted to locate the bell 55 concentrically with the axis of the stator core 11. A bearing 66, for example, a bronze bushing, is assembled into the bell 55 and retained therein by another part of the shaft support 51 in the form of an apertured plate 67 riveted to the main end strap 54.
With reference to FIGS. 8a, 8b, the end strap 54 is preferably formed with integral rivets 68 stamped into its body at the time of its fabrication for use in fixing the plate 67 to the end strap. For this same purpose, the plate 67 has a pattern of holes 69 (FIG. 7) adapted to mate with rivets 68. FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a production fixture 70 advantageously employed to align individual plates 67 and shaft supports 52. The fixture relies on the illustrated substantially identical peripheral configuration of the end strap 54 and plate 67, as viewed endwise or axially of the motor, to align one to the other with a set of four pins 75. The configuration of the end strap 54 and plate 67 includes a circular central portion interrupted by diametrally extending branches, as indicated in phantom in FIG. 7, at 80. The pins 75 are critically spaced in tangency to the points of intersection of the phantom circle and branches. By positioning the end strap 54 and then the plate 67 in the fixture 70, these elements are accurately aligned to one another with minimal effort.
With a bearing 66 sandwiched between the end strap 54 and plate 67 and the rivets 68 extending through the holes 69, the rivets are upset by a suitable tool, as indicated in FIG. 8b, to capture the bearing and plate onto the end strap. It will be understood that both the plate 67 and the bearing support 52 are bilaterally symmetrical with respect to a line perpendicular to the diametral direction of their branches, which permits their loading into the fixture 70 without regard to which end or branch is associated with which pair of related pins 75.
The armature shaft support 52 at the commutator end of the motor differs from the opposite shaft support 51 by having relatively longer legs 56a to accommodate the length of the commutator 47. Various other elements of these shaft supports or brackets 51, 52 are essentially the same, and are designated by the same numerals.
A brush holder assembly 71 is supported between the support legs 56a. The brush holder 71 assembly principally comprises an electrically insulating plate 72 and a pair of opposed brush boxes 73. The plate 72 is preferably stamped or otherwise formed into a polygonal configuration from sheet stock, with its center blanked out to form a clearance aperture 74 for the commutator. The brush boxes 73 are preferably formed of brass or other electrically conducting metal and are radially disposed on opposite sides of the plate aperture 74. Each box 73 includes an elongated U-shaped channel 76 with tabs 77 along longitudinal edges. The tabs 77 are inserted into holes punched or otherwise formed in the brush holder plate 72 and are bent over to retain the boxes to the plate 72. One side of each brush box 73 has an integral tab or prong 78 which depends radially over and axially inward of the plane of the plate 72. Upstanding rivets 79 are assembled in holes adjacent a longitudinal slot 81 in one side of each box 73 for purposes of mounting a brush spring 82, as discussed hereinbelow.
The brush holder assembly 71 is joined to the shaft support 52 by snapping the plate 72 into interlocking relation with the support legs 56a. The plate 72 and legs 56a are formed with cooperating slots 83 and 84 respectively. The transverse width of a plate slot 83 is substantially the same in dimension as the residual width of a support leg 56a remaining between a pair of slots 84, while the width of the slots 84 in the axial direction of the motor is at least as great as the thickness of the plate 72. Each support leg 56a is provided with an integrally formed rib 85 protruding from its plane towards the opposite leg. The ribs 85 are shaped to facilitate assembly of the plate on the shaft support 52. With reference to FIG. 8b, a rib includes a cam or ramp surface 90, which, when forcibly engaged by an edge 91 of the plate 72 as the plate is pushed towards the end strap 54, causes the legs 56a to spread, allowing tabs 101 on the plate 72 to align with and then snap into slots 84 in the support legs 56a. Inclined surfaces 102 of the ribs 85 hold the plate 72 snugly in the slots 84. The support legs 56a are sufficiently resilient to permit their temporary spreading for reception of the relatively rigid plate 72. The width of the plate 72 as measured across its slots 83 is dimensioned with respect to the inside dimension between the support legs 56a so as to provide a permanent interference fit and assure that the plate is snugly held by the legs. The plate 72 ultimately rests in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the armature shaft 48.
After installing the brush holder, the armature is assembled on the shaft support 51. This is readily accomplished by first assembling a C-washer 86 in a respective shaft groove 49 and a thrust washer 87 on the shaft outward of the C-washer. Following this, the armature shaft 48 is slipped through the bearing 60 and a second thrust washer is assembled over the outer end of the shaft, followed by a second C-washer 89 in the outermost groove 49. The armature shaft 48 is thus axially locked to the shaft support 51 by the C-washers 86, 89.
It will be understood from the foregoing that the armature assembly 46, shaft support 52, and brush box assembly 71 are secured together at this stage with ease, there being no problems during their assembly of physical interference with the stator core 11. This armature, support, and brush box subassembly can be handled immediately for use or can be inventoried for later use as desired without association of the stator core 11.
The stator core 11 is assembled with the armature dressed with the shaft support 52 and brush holder assembly 71 by simply dropping the armature through the center of the stator core. As indicated in FIG. 5, the legs 56a lead the brush prongs 78 and are caused to enter the space between a pair of adjacent terminal supports 28. The spacing between edges 92 of the supports 28 in relation to the width of the radial flanges 57 of the support legs 56a is such that the prongs 78 are coarsely aligned with their associated cavities 38. In the view of FIG. 5, the illustrated support leg 56a and flange 57 are at the extreme left in the gap between supports 28, the clearance being indicated at 93 between one of the terminal supports 28 and this leg. It will be seen, even in this extreme case, engagement between inclined guiding surfaces 94 and 96 of the prong 78 and cavity 38 will cause the prong to center itself with the cavity in an angular or circumferential direction with respect to the stator core. This type of camming action would occur if the leg 56a and flange 57 were at the right and surfaces 97 and 98 of the prong and cavity were operative. Further axial movement of the armature 36 and support 52 causes the prongs or connectors 78 to enter and electrically connect with the respective terminals 41 in the terminal supports 28. Any differences between the diametral spacing between the brush prongs 78 and the diametral spacing between the associated rectangular cavities 38 is readily taken up by slight elastic distortion of the harness web 27, allowing the terminal supports 28 to flex radially inwardly or outwardly as necessary to accommodate the prongs 78. When the radial flanges 57 of the support legs 56a are abutted against the harness web 27, the shaft support 52 is fully installed. The opposite shaft support 51 is then slipped over the opposite end of the armature shaft 48 and abutted against the associated stator core end face 20. At this point, substantially all of the motor elements are loosely assembled together, and are capable of aligning themselves to positions which account for the various dimensional tolerances involved in their manufacture. In this manner, the armature shaft 48 can seat itself in the bearings 66 without binding or excessive strains in various parts of the motor. Tension screws 99 assembled through the bearing support holes 63 and stator holes 64 are then drawn tight with nuts 101 to substantially complete construction of the motor. The screws 99 can be provided with additional length to that illustrated for purposes of mounting the motor to a housing structure or other support. Electrical brushes 102 are most conveniently slipped into the brush boxes 73 after the armature 46 is assembled with the shaft support 52. The brushes 102 are retained in the boxes 73 and are biased against the commutator by the springs 82 assembled on the rivets or posts 79, as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4. As shown, the springs 82 operate through the slots 81.
Lead wires, indicated in phantom at 106 in FIG. 6, are pushed into a pair of connectors 41 not associated with the brush prongs 78. Such lead wires 106 can be installed by the manufacturer of the motor or a customer of such manufacturer. This freedom to install lead wires 106 after assembly of the motor has otherwise been completed affords a high degree of versatility to the motor, since the lead wires can be custom fit at any time.
It will be understood from the foregoing explanation that the axial length of the stator core laminations 21 and armature assembly 46 can be changed to modify the power rating or performance characteristics of the motor without requiring a change in any of the other disclosed motor elements, with the exception of the tension screws 99. Where desired, the shorter armature shaft support 52 may be replaced by one like the longer support 52 to provide clearance for an internal cooling fan mounted on the intermediate length of an extended armature shaft. The disclosed motor assembly 10 can be mounted in a variety of appliances and machines without changes in its structure, since it is a self-contained unit. All of its various parts, and in particular the shaft supports 51 and 52, are supported directly or indirectly by the stack of stator core laminations 21.
It should be evident that this disclosure is by way of example and that various changes may be made by adding, modifying or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the teaching contained in this disclosure. The invention is therefore not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited.
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A universal electric motor assembly having its various components mounted directly or indirectly on a stator core so that it avoids the requirement of a specialized motor housing while allowing a simplified progressive assembly. The stator core includes a harness which permits easy termination of the field winding wires and a push-in connection for both electrical brushes and motor leads. An armature, a brush holder assembly, and an armature support are simultaneously installed on the stator core to reduce and simplify assembly procedures.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/979,588, filed Nov. 26, 1997 now abandoned.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to machine vision, and particularly to systems for pattern localization in an image.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Digital images are formed by many devices and used for many practical purposes. Devices include TV cameras operating on visible or infrared light, line-scan sensors, flying spot scanners, electron microscopes, X-ray devices including CT scanners, magnetic resonance imagers, and other devices known to those skilled in the art. Practical applications are found in industrial automation, medical diagnosis, satellite imaging for a variety of military, civilian, and scientific purposes, photographic processing, surveillance and traffic monitoring, document processing, and many others.
To serve these applications the images formed by the various devices are analyzed by digital devices to extract appropriate information. One form of analysis that is of considerable practical importance is determining the position, orientation, and size of patterns in an image that correspond to objects in the field of view of the imaging device. Pattern location methods are of particular importance in industrial automation, where they are used to guide robots and other automation equipment in semiconductor manufacturing, electronics assembly, pharmaceuticals, food processing, consumer goods manufacturing, and many others.
Another form of digital image analysis of practical importance is identifying differences between an image of an object and a stored pattern that represents the “ideal” appearance of the object. Methods for identifying these differences are generally referred to as pattern inspection methods, and are used in industrial automation for assembly, packaging, quality control, and many other purposes.
One early, widely-used method for pattern location and inspection is known as blob analysis. In this method, the pixels of a digital image are classified as “object” or “background” by some means, typically by comparing pixel gray-levels to a threshold. Pixels classified as object are grouped into blobs using the rule that two object pixels are part of the same blob if they are neighbors; this is known as connectivity analysis. For each such blob we determine properties such as area, perimeter, center of mass, principal moments of inertia, and principal axes of inertia. The position, orientation, and size of a blob is taken to be its center of mass, angle of first principal axis of inertia, and area, respectively. These and the other blob properties can be compared against a known ideal for proposes of inspection.
Blob analysis is relatively inexpensive to compute, allowing for fast operation on inexpensive hardware. It is reasonably accurate under ideal conditions, and well-suited to objects whose orientation and size are subject to change. One limitation is that accuracy can be severely degraded if some of the object is missing or occluded, or if unexpected extra features are present. Another limitation is that the values available for inspection purposes represent coarse features of the object, and cannot be used to detect fine variations. The most severe limitation, however, is that except under limited and well-controlled conditions there is in general no reliable method for classifying pixels as object or background. These limitations forced developers to seek other methods for pattern location and inspection.
Another method that achieved early widespread use is binary template matching. In this method a training image is used that contains an example of the pattern to be located. The subset of the training image containing the example is thresholded to produce a binary pattern and then stored in a memory. At run-time, images are presented that contain the object to be found. The stored pattern is compared with like-sized subsets of the run-time image at all or selected positions, and the position that best matches the stored pattern is considered the position of the object. Degree of match at a given position of the pattern is simply the fraction of pattern pixels that match their corresponding image pixel, thereby providing pattern inspection information.
Binary template matching does not depend on classifying image pixels as object or background, and so it can be applied to a much wider variety of problems than blob analysis. It also is much better able to tolerate missing or extra pattern features without severe loss of accuracy, and it is able to detect finer differences between the pattern and the object. One limitation, however, is that a binarization threshold is needed, which can be difficult to choose reliably in practice, particularly under conditions of poor signal-to-noise ratio or when illumination intensity or object contrast is subject to variation. Accuracy is typically limited to about one whole pixel due to the substantial loss of information associated with thresholding. Even more serious, however, is that binary template matching cannot measure object orientation and size. Furthermore, accuracy degrades rapidly with small variations in orientation and/or size, and if larger variations are expected the method cannot be used at all.
A significant improvement over binary template matching came with the advent of relatively inexpensive methods for the use of gray-level normalized correlation for pattern location and inspection. The methods are similar, except that no threshold is used so that the full range of image gray-levels are considered, and the degree of match becomes the correlation coefficient between the stored pattern and the image subset at a given position.
Since no binarization threshold is needed, and given the fundamental noise immunity of correlation, performance is not significantly compromised under conditions of poor signal-to-noise ratio or when illumination intensity or object contrast is subject to variation. Furthermore, since there is no loss of information due to thresholding, position accuracy down to about ¼ pixel is practical using well-known interpolation methods. The situation regarding orientation and size, however, is not much improved with respect to binary template matching. Another limitation is that in some applications, contrast can vary locally across an image of an object, resulting in poor correlation with the stored pattern, and consequent failure to correctly locate it.
More recently, improvements to gray-level correlation have been developed that allow it to be used in applications where significant variation in orientation and/or size is expected. In these methods, the stored pattern is rotated and/or scaled by digital image re-sampling methods before being matched against the image. By matching over a range of angles, sizes, and x-y positions, one can locate an object in the corresponding multidimensional space. Note that such methods would not work well with binary template matching, due the much more severe pixel quantization errors associated with binary images.
One problem with these methods is the severe computational cost, both of digital re-sampling and of searching a space with more than 2 dimensions. To manage this cost, the search methods break up the problem into two or more phases. The earliest phase uses a coarse, subsampled version of the pattern to cover the entire search space quickly and identify possible object locations in the n-dimensional space. Subsequent phases use finer versions of the pattern to refine the locations determined at earlier phases, and eliminate locations that the finer resolution reveals are not well correlated with the pattern. Note that variations of these coarse-fine methods have also been used with binary template matching and the original 2-dimensional correlation, but are even more important with the higher-dimensional search space.
The location accuracy of these methods is limited both by how finely the multidimensional space is searched, and by the ability of the discrete pixel grid to represent small changes in position, orientation, and scale. The fineness of the search can be chosen to suit a given application, but computational cost grows so rapidly with resolution and number of dimensions that practical applications often cannot tolerate the cost or time needed to achieve high accuracy. The limitations of the discrete pixel grid are more fundamental—no matter how finely the space is searched, for typical patterns one cannot expect position accuracy to be much better than about ¼ pixel, orientation better than a degree or so, and scale better than a percent or so.
A similar situation holds when gray-level pixel-grid-based methods are used for pattern inspection. Once the object has been located in the multidimensional space, pixels in the pattern can be compared to each corresponding pixel in the image to identify differences. Some differences, however, will result from the re-sampling process itself, because again the pixel grid cannot accurately represent small variations in orientation and scale. These differences are particularly severe in regions where image gray levels are changing rapidly, such as along object boundaries. Often these are the most important regions of an object to inspect. Since in general, differences due to re-sampling cannot be distinguished from those due to object defects, inspection performance is compromised.
Another pattern location method in common use is known as the Generalized Hough Transform (GHT). This method traces its origins to U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,654 [Hough, P. V. C., 1962], which describes a method for locating parameterized curves such as lines or conic sections. Subsequently the method was generalized to be able to locate essentially arbitrary patterns. As with the above template matching and correlation methods, the method is based on a trained pattern. Instead of using gray levels directly, however, the GHT method identifies points along object boundaries using well-known methods of edge detection. A large array of accumulators, called Hough space, is constructed, with one such accumulator for each position in the multidimensional space to be searched. Each edge point in the image corresponds to a surface of possible pattern positions in Hough space. For each such edge point, the accumulators along the corresponding surface are incremented. After all image edge points have been processed, the accumulator with the highest count is considered to be the multidimensional location of the pattern.
The general performance characteristics of GHT are very similar to correlation. Computational cost rises very rapidly with number of dimensions, and accuracy is limited both by fineness of the Hough space and grid quantization effects. Coarse-fine methods have been developed to improve performance of GHT, but are computationally expensive at high accuracy. The edge detection module generally eliminates problems due to local variations in object contrast, but increases susceptibility to noise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one general aspect, the invention is a method and apparatus for refining a given approximate location of a pattern to produce a more accurate location. This process of refinement is called localization, and occurs within a multidimensional space that can include, but is not limited to, x-y position (also called translation), orientation, and size. The localization method is fast and extremely accurate. In another general aspect, the invention is a method for identifying differences between a stored pattern and a matching image subset, where variations in pattern position, orientation, and size do not give rise to false differences. The process of identifying differences is called inspection.
In another general aspect, the invention is a method for determining a precise n-dimensional position of a model pattern within an object image. The method includes extracting pattern features from the model pattern to represent a pattern boundary. Then, a vector-valued function is generated using the pattern features to provide a pattern field. Also, image features are extracted from the object image. A better n-dimensional transformation is determined that provides an improved correspondence between the pattern features and the image features by using both the pattern field and an initial n-dimensional transformation that relates the image features with the pattern features. Using the better n-dimensional transformation, the precise n-dimensional position (i.e., location) of the trained image pattern within the object image is provided.
To avoid ambiguity we will call the location of a pattern in a multidimensional space its pose. More precisely, a pose is a coordinate transform that maps points in an image to corresponding points in a stored pattern. In a preferred embodiment, a pose is a general six degree of freedom linear coordinate transform. The six degrees of freedom can be represented by the four elements of a 2×2 matrix, plus the two elements of a vector corresponding to the two translational degrees of freedom. Alternatively and equivalently, the four non-translational degrees of freedom can be represented in other ways, such as orientation, scale, aspect ratio, and skew, or x-scale, y-scale, x-axis-angle, and y-axis-angle.
The invention can serve as a replacement for the fine resolution phase of any coarse-fine method for pattern location and inspection, such as the prior art methods of correlation or GHT. In combination with the coarse location phases of any such method, the invention results in an overall method for pattern location and inspection that is faster and more accurate than any known prior art method. The invention can also work with any other method for producing approximate object poses, including blob analysis, mechanical dead reckoning, and manual human positioning.
In a preferred embodiment, PatQuick™ tool, sold by Cognex Corporation, Natick Mass., is used for producing an approximate object pose.
The invention uses a stored pattern that represents an ideal example of the object to be found. The pattern can be created from a training image or synthesized from a geometric description. According to the invention, patterns and images are represented by a feature-based description that can be translated, rotated, and scaled to arbitrary precision much faster than digital image re-sampling and without pixel grid quantization errors. Thus accuracy is not limited by the ability of a grid to represent small changes in position, orientation, or size (or other degrees of freedom). Furthermore, pixel quantization errors due to digital re-sampling will not cause false differences between the pattern and image that can limit inspection performance, since no re-sampling is done.
Accuracy is also not limited by the fineness with which the space is searched, because the invention does not test discrete positions within the space to determine the pose with the highest degree of match. Instead the invention determines an accurate object pose from an approximate starting pose in a small, fixed number of increments that is independent of the number of dimensions of the space (i.e. degrees of freedom) and independent of the distance between the starting and final poses, as long as the starting pose is within some “capture range” of the true pose. Thus one does not need to sacrifice accuracy in order to keep execution time within the bounds allowed by practical applications.
Unlike prior art methods where execution time grows rapidly with number of degrees of freedom, with the method of the invention execution time grows at worst very slowly, and in some embodiments not at all. Thus one need not sacrifice degree of freedom measurements in order to keep execution time within practical bounds. Furthermore, allowing four or more degrees of freedom to be refined will often result in better matches between the pattern and image, and thereby improved accuracy.
The invention processes images with a feature detector to generate a description that is not tied to a pixel grid. The description is a list of elements called dipoles that represent points along object boundaries. A dipole includes the coordinates of a point along an object boundary and a direction pointing substantially normal to the boundary at that point. In a preferred embodiment, object boundaries are defined as places where image gradient (a vector describing rate and direction of gray-level change at each point in an image) reaches a local maximum. In another preferred embodiment, gradient is estimated at an adjustable spatial resolution. In another preferred embodiment, the dipole direction is the gradient direction. In another preferred embodiment, a dipole contains additional information as further described in the drawings. In yet another preferred embodiment, dipoles are generated not from an image but from a geometric description of an object, such as might be found in a CAD system.
The stored model pattern to be used by the invention for localization and inspection is the basis for generating a dipole list that describes the objects to be found by representing object boundaries. The dipole list derived from the model pattern is called the field dipole list. It can be generated from a model training image containing an example object using a feature detector, or it can be synthesized from a geometric description. The field dipole list is used to generate a 2-dimensional vector-valued function called afield. For each point within the region of the stored model pattern, the field gives a vector that indicates the distance and direction to the nearest point along a model object boundary. The vector is called the force at the specified point within the stored model pattern.
Note that the nearest point along a model object boundary is not necessarily one of the model object boundary points represented by the field dipoles, but in general may lie between field dipole positions. Note further that the point within the stored model pattern is not necessarily an integer grid position, but is in general a real-valued position, known to within the limits of precision of the apparatus used to perform the calculations. Note that since the force vector points to the nearest boundary point, it must be normal to the boundary (except at discontinuities).
In a preferred embodiment, if no model object boundary point lies within a certain range of a field position, then a special code is given instead of a force vector. In another preferred embodiment, the identity of the nearest field dipole is given in addition to the force. In another preferred embodiment, one additional bit of information is given that indicates whether the gradient direction at the boundary pointed to by the force is the same or 180° opposite from the force direction (both are normal to the boundary). In another preferred embodiment, additional information is given as further described in the drawings. In another embodiment, the field takes a direction in addition to a position within the pattern, and the force returned is the distance and direction to the nearest model object boundary point in approximately the given direction.
The stored model pattern used by the invention includes the field dipole list, the field, and a set of operating parameters as appropriate to a given embodiment, and further described throughout the specification.
Given an object image and an approximate starting pose, pattern localization proceeds as follows. The object image is processed by a feature detector to produce a dipole list, called the image dipole list. The starting pose is refined in a sequence of incremental improvements called attraction steps. Each such step results in a significantly more accurate pose in all of the degrees of freedom that are allowed to vary. The sequence can be terminated after a fixed number of steps, and/or when no significant change in pose results from the last step, or based on any reasonable criteria. In a preferred embodiment, the sequence is terminated after four steps.
For each attraction step, the image dipoles are processed in any convenient order. The position and direction of each image dipole is mapped by the current pose transformation to convert image coordinates to model pattern (field) coordinates. The field is used to determine the force at the point to which the image dipole was mapped. Since each image dipole is presumed to be located on an object boundary, and the force gives the distance and direction to the nearest model object boundary of the stored model pattern, the existence of the image dipole at the mapped position is taken as evidence that the pose should be modified so that the image dipole moves in the force direction by an amount equal to the force distance.
It is important to note that object boundaries generally provide position information in a direction normal to the boundary, which as noted above is the force direction, but no information in a direction along the boundary. Thus the evidence provided by an image dipole constrains a single degree of freedom only, specifically position along the line of force, and provides no evidence in the direction normal to the force.
If the current pose is a fair approximation to the true object position, then many image dipoles will provide good evidence as to how the pose should be modified to bring the image boundaries into maximum agreement with the boundaries of the stored model pattern. For a variety of reasons, however, many other image dipoles may provide false or misleading evidence. Thus, it is important to evaluate the evidence provided by each image dipole, and assign a weighting factor to each image dipole to indicate the relative reliability of the evidence.
In one embodiment, the direction (as mapped to the pattern coordinate system) of an image dipole is compared with the force direction, and the result, modulo 180°, is used to determine the weight of the image dipole. If the directions agree to within some specified parameter, the dipole is given a high weight; if they disagree beyond some other specified parameter, the dipole is given zero weight; if the direction difference falls between the two parameters, intermediate weights are assigned.
In another embodiment, the image dipole direction is compared to the gradient direction of the model pattern boundary to which the force points. A parameter is used to choose between making the comparison modulo 180°, in which case gradient polarity is effectively ignored, or making it modulo 360°, in which case gradient polarity is considered. In a preferred embodiment, the field itself indicates at each point within the stored model pattern whether to ignore polarity, consider polarity, or defer the decision to a global parameter.
In one embodiment, the force distance is used to determine the dipole weight. In a preferred embodiment, if the force distance is larger than some specified parameter, the dipole is given zero weight, on the assumption that the dipole is too far away to represent valid evidence. If the force distance is smaller than some other specified parameter, the dipole is given a high weight, and if it falls between the two parameters, intermediate weights are assigned.
In a preferred embodiment, the parameters specifying the weight factor as a function of force distance are adjusted for each attraction step to account for the fact that the pose is becoming more accurate, and therefore that one should expect image dipoles representing valid evidence to be closer to the pattern boundaries.
In one embodiment, the gradient magnitude of the image dipoles is used to determine the dipole weight. In a preferred embodiment, a combination of dipole direction, force distance, and gradient magnitude is used to determine the weight.
For each attraction step, the invention determines a new pose that best accounts for the evidence contributed by each image dipole, and taking into account the dipole's weight. In a preferred embodiment, a least-squares method is used to determine the new pose.
The evaluation of each image dipole to produce a weight can also provide information for inspection purposes. It is desirable to look for two distinct kinds of errors: missing features, which are pattern features for which no corresponding image feature can be found, and extra features, sometimes called “clutter”, which are image features that correspond to no pattern feature. In one embodiment, image dipoles with low weights are considered to be clutter. In a preferred embodiment, a specific clutter value is computed for each image dipole, as further described in the drawings below.
In an embodiment of the invention that can identify missing pattern features, the field at each point gives identity of the nearest field dipole, if any, in addition to the force vector. Each field dipole contains an evaluation, which is initialized to zero. Each image dipole transfers its evaluation (weight) to that of the nearest field dipole as indicated by the field. Since in general the correspondence between image and field dipoles is not one-to-one, some field dipoles may receive evaluations from more than one image dipole, and others may receive evaluations from none. Those field dipoles that receive no evaluation may represent truly missing features, or may simply represent gaps in the transfer due to quantization effects.
When more than one evaluation is transferred to a given field dipole, the evaluations can be combined by any reasonable means. In a preferred embodiment, the largest such evaluation is used and the others are discarded. Gaps in the transfer can be closed by considering neighboring field dipoles. In one embodiment, methods known in the art as gray-level mathematical morphology are used to close the gaps. In the case of the invention, one-dimensional versions of morphological operations are used, since field dipoles lie along one-dimensional boundaries. In a preferred embodiment, a morphological dilation operation is used.
If the starting pose is too far away from the true pose, there may be insufficient good evidence from the image dipoles to move the pose in the right direction. The set of starting poses that result in attraction to the true pose defines the capture range of the pattern. The capture range depends on the specific pattern in use, and determines the accuracy needed from whatever method is used to determine the starting pose.
In a preferred embodiment, the feature detector that is used to generate dipoles is tunable over a wide range of spatial frequencies. If the feature detector is set to detect very fine features at a relatively high resolution, the accuracy will be high but the capture range will be relatively small. If on the other hand the feature detector is set to detect coarse features at a relatively lower resolution, the accuracy will be lower but the capture range will be relatively large. This suggests a multi-resolution method where a coarse, low resolution step is followed by a fine, high resolution step. With this method, the capture range is determined by the coarse step and is relatively large, while the accuracy is determined by the fine step and is high.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description, in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 1A is an illustration of a pixel array having a 2:1 aspect ratio;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the training block of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the feature detection block of FIG. 2 ;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing bit assignments of a 32-bit word, and optional ‘nearest dipole’ bits;
FIG. 5 is an illustration of a field element array, including a border of field elements;
FIG. 6 illustrates field seeding, showing some of the field elements of FIG. 5 , including a plurality of straight line segments of a pattern boundary, and the associated field dipoles;
FIG. 7A illustrates field dipole connecting, showing some of the field elements of FIG. 6 , including a plurality of straight line segments of a pattern boundary, and a plurality of associated right and left links;
FIGS. 7B and 7C are diagrams illustrating the order in which neighboring field elements are examined;
FIG. 8 illustrates chain segmentation of FIG. 2 , showing some of the field elements of FIG. 5 , including a plurality of straight line segments, and a plurality of left and right links;
FIGS. 9A , 9 B, and 9 C illustrate part of the analysis that is performed by the propagate phase of the field generation module of FIG. 2 ;
FIG. 10 shows further details of the propagate phase of the field generation module of FIG. 2 ;
FIG. 11 shows the same portion of the field array that was shown after seeding in FIG. 6 , but with new force vectors resulting from one propagation;
FIG. 12 shows the same portion of the field array as FIG. 11 , after two propagations;
FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the run-time module of the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1 ;
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a least squares method for determining a pose that best accounts for the evidence of the image dipoles at each attraction step;
FIG. 15 is a block diagram of the attraction module of FIG. 13 ;
FIG. 16 is a block diagram of the map module of FIG. 15 ;
FIG. 17 is a block diagram of the field module of FIG. 15 ;
FIG. 18 is a block diagram of the rotate module of FIG. 15 ;
FIGS. 19A , 19 B, and 19 C show output as a function of input for three fuzzy logic processing elements;
FIG. 20A is a schematic diagram of the portion of the evaluate module of FIG. 15 , showing a preferred system for calculating ‘weight’ and ‘eval’;
FIG. 20B is a schematic diagram of the portion of the evaluate module of FIG. 15 , showing a preferred system for calculating ‘clutter’;
FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of the sum module of FIG. 15 ;
FIGS. 22A-D are block diagram of the solve module of FIG. 15 , showing the equations and inputs for providing ‘motion’ and ‘rms error’ for various degrees of freedom;
FIG. 23 is a block diagram of the equations of the compose module of FIG. 15 ;
FIG. 24 is a block diagram of the equations of the Normal Tensor module of FIG. 15 ;
FIG. 25 is a graphical illustration of a plurality of image dipoles and a plurality of connected field dipoles, showing field dipole evaluation;
FIG. 26 is a high-level block diagram of a multi-resolution embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 27A and 27B are flow diagrams illustrating the sequence of operations performed by the modules of FIG. 15 ; and
FIG. 28 is a flow diagram illustrating a multi-resolution mode of operation of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In the following figures, “modules” can be implemented as software, firmware, or hardware. Moreover, each module may include sub-modules, or “steps”, each of which can be implemented as either hardware, software, or some combination thereof. FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of one embodiment of the invention. A training (model) image 100 containing an example of a pattern 105 to be used for localization and/or inspection is presented. A training module 110 analyzes the training image and produces a stored model pattern 120 for subsequent use. At least one run-time image 130 is presented, each such image containing zero or more instances of patterns 135 similar in shape, but possibly different in size and orientation, to the training (model) pattern 105 .
Each run-time image 130 has an associated client map 131 , chosen by a user for a particular application. A client map is a coordinate transformation that maps, i.e., associates points in an orthonormal but otherwise arbitrary coordinate system to points in the image. An orthonormal coordinate system has perpendicular axes, each axis having a unit scale. The client map provides an orthonormal reference that is necessary to properly handle the orientation degree of freedom, as well as the skew, scale, and aspect ratio degrees of freedom. In practical applications, the images themselves are almost never orthonormal, since practical image sensors almost never have perfectly square pixels. For example, pixels having an aspect ration of 2:1 are possible, as shown in FIG. 1 A. In this case, the client map would be a 2×2 matrix:
0.5 0.0 0.0 1.0
If the pixels are square, the client map is the identity transform, i.e., each diagonal entry in the transform matrix is 1.0, and each off-diagonal element is 0.0.
Furthermore, it is sometimes useful to have a significantly non-orthonormal field. For example, a field generated from a square pattern can be used to localize and inspect a rectangular or even parallelogram-shaped instance of the pattern by using an appropriate starting pose. These cases can only be handled if an orthonormal reference is available.
For each run-time image, a starting pose 132 is determined by any suitable method, such as coarse gray-level correlation with orientation and size re-sampling, a coarse generalized Hough transform, or the Cognex PatQuick™ tool. The starting pose 132 is a six-degree-of-freedom coordinate transformation that maps points in the pattern 105 to approximately corresponding points 135 in the run-time image 130 . A run-time module 140 analyzes the image 130 , using the stored pattern 120 , the starting pose 132 , and the client map 131 . As a result of the analysis, the run-time module 140 produces a pose 134 that maps pattern points 105 to accurately corresponding image points 135 .
The run-time module 140 produces an rms error value 136 that is a measure of the degree of match between the pattern 105 and the image 130 . The rms error value 136 is the root-mean-square error from the least squares solution, or other error minimization solution, that is used to determine a pose that best fits the evidence of the image dipoles, to be described in more detail below. A value of zero represents a perfect fit, while higher values represent poorer fits.
The run-time module 140 produces a coverage value 138 that is a measure of the fraction of the pattern 105 to which corresponding image features have been found. The coverage value 138 is computed by summing the field dipole evaluations and dividing by the number of field dipoles, to be described in more detail below.
The run-time module 140 produces a clutter value that is a measure of extra features found in the image that do not correspond to pattern features. In a preferred embodiment, the clutter value is computed by summing the individual image dipole clutter values and dividing by the number of field dipoles.
The run-time module 140 produces an evaluated image dipole list 150 and an evaluated field dipole list 160 . The evaluated image dipole list 150 identifies features in the image 130 not present in the pattern 105 , and the evaluated field dipole list 160 identifies features in the pattern 105 not present in the image 130 . The differences between the image and pattern so identified can be used for inspection purposes.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the training module 10 and pattern-related data 120 . A training image 100 containing an example of a pattern 105 to be localized and/or inspected is presented to training module 110 , which analyzes the training image 100 and produces a stored pattern 120 for subsequent use. The training module 110 consists of two modules, a feature detection module 200 and a field generation module 210 . Both modules use various parameters 220 to control operation as appropriate for the application. These parameters, as well as those needed for subsequent run-time modules, are pattern-dependent and therefore are collected and stored in the pattern 120 as shown.
The feature detection module 200 processes the training image 100 , and using the parameters 220 , to produce a field dipole set 230 , which is stored in the pattern 120 as shown. The field generation module 210 uses the field dipole set 230 and parameters 220 to produce a field 240 , stored in the pattern 120 as shown.
As described in the summary above, the field 240 produces information as a function of theoretically real-valued position within the region of the pattern 105 . In practice, since all the field values cannot be computed analytically and stored, a 2-dimensional array is used that stores field values at discrete points on a grid. Given a real-valued position (to some precision determined by the particular details of the embodiment), an interpolation method, such as the method shown in FIG. 17 , is used to compute field values at intermediate points between grid elements. Since the field grid is never translated, rotated, or scaled, no re-sampling is needed and grid quantization effects are small. Instead, the image dipoles, which are not grid-based, are mapped to the fixed field coordinates in accordance with the map of FIG. 16 .
Thus the purpose of the field generation module 210 is to compute the elements of the 2-dimensional array that encodes the field 240 . The field generation module 210 is itself composed of many steps or submodules, as shown in FIG. 2 . Each of these steps modifies the field in some way, generally based on the results of the previous steps. Some of the steps also add information to the field dipole set 230 . The specific sequence of steps shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to a preferred embodiment; many other variations are possible within the spirit of the invention; the essential requirement is that the stored pattern 120 be able to provide certain information as a function of position within the region of the pattern 105 .
In a preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 2 , the field generation module 210 consists of the following steps. An initialization step 250 loads predefined codes into the field array elements 520 , 540 , shown in FIG. 5. A seed step 252 sets up field array elements at positions corresponding to the dipoles in the field dipole set 230 . A connect step 254 uses the seeded field array to identify neighboring dipoles for each field dipole. Once identified, the field dipoles are connected to neighboring ones to form chains by storing the identity of left and right neighbors along pattern boundaries, if any. A chain step 256 scans the connected field dipoles to identify and catalog discrete chains. For each chain, the starting and ending dipoles, length, total gradient magnitude, and whether the chain is open or closed is determined and stored.
A filter step 258 removes weak chains from the pattern by removing the dipoles they contain from the field array (i.e. reversing the seeding step 252 for those dipoles). A variety of criteria can be used to identify weak chains. In a preferred embodiment, chains whose total gradient magnitude or average gradient magnitude are below some specified parameter are considered weak.
A segment step 260 divides chains into segments of low curvature, separated by zones of high curvature called corners. Corner dipoles are marked in the field array for use as described in subsequent figures. Curvature can be determined by a variety of methods; in a preferred embodiment, a dipole is considered a corner if its direction differs from that of either neighbor by more than some specified parameter, e.g., as further described in conjunction with FIG. 8 .
A sequence of zero or more propagate steps 262 extend the field out from the seeded positions. The result is that force vectors pointing to pattern boundaries, as well as other information needed by the run-time steps, can be obtained at some distance from the boundaries. The number of propagate steps 262 is controlled by a parameter and determines the distance from pattern boundaries that the field will contain valid force vectors, as well as the computation time needed for pattern training. In a preferred embodiment, four propagation steps are used. Field elements beyond the range of propagation will contain the code set during the initialization step 250 .
FIG. 3 shows a preferred embodiment of a feature detector to be used for practice of the invention. The feature detector processes a source image 300 , which can be either a training image or a run-time image. A low-pass filter 310 and image sub-sampler 320 are used to attenuate fine detail in the source image that for a variety of reasons we wish to ignore. For example we may wish to attenuate noise or fine texture, or we may wish to expand the capture range of the pattern by focusing on coarse pattern features. Also, we may wish to decrease the number of image dipoles, thereby reducing processing time.
The response of the filter 310 and sub-sampler 320 are controlled by parameters 220 stored in the pattern (not shown in this figure). One setting of the parameters effectively disables the filter and sub-sampler, allowing the source image 300 to pass without modification for maximum resolution.
Methods for low-pass filtering and sub-sampling of digital images are well known in the art. In a preferred embodiment, a constant-time second-order approximately Gaussian filter is used, as described in [U.S. patent pending “Efficient, Flexible Digital Filtering”].
The filtered, sub-sampled image is processed by a gradient estimation module 330 to produce an estimate of the x (horizontal) and y (vertical) components of image gradient at each pixel. A Cartesian-to-polar conversion module 340 converts the x and y components of gradient to magnitude and direction. A peak detection module 350 identifies points where the gradient magnitude exceeds a noise threshold and is a local maximum along a 1-dimensional profile that lies in approximately the gradient direction, and produces a list of the grid coordinates (row and column number), gradient magnitude, and gradient direction for each such point.
A sub-pixel interpolation module 360 interpolates the position of maximum gradient magnitude along said 1-dimensional profile to determine real-valued (to some precision) coordinates (x i , y i ) of the point. The result is a list of points that lie along boundaries in the image, which includes the coordinates, direction, and magnitude of each point. This list can be used as the basis for either a field or image dipole list, to which additional information may be added as appropriate.
Methods for identifying points along image boundaries are well-known in the art. Any such method can be used for practice of the invention, whether based on gradient estimation or other techniques. Methods for gradient estimation, Cartesian-to-polar conversion, peak detection, and interpolation are also well-known. In a preferred embodiment, the methods described in [U.S. patent pending “Method and Apparatus for Fast, Inexpensive, Subpixel Edge Detection”] are used.
In a preferred embodiment, the source image has eight bits of gray-scale per pixel. The low-pass filter produces a 16-bit image, taking advantage of the inherent noise-reduction properties of a low-pass filter. The gradient estimation module uses the well-known Sobel kernels and operates on either a 16-bit filtered image, if the parameters are set so as to enable the filter 310 , or an 8-bit unfiltered image if the parameters are set so as to disable the filter 310 . The x and y components of gradient are always calculated to 16 bits to avoid loss of precision, and the gradient magnitude and direction are calculated to at least six bits preferably using the well-known CORDIC algorithm.
Several parameter values are needed for feature extraction, both in the training module 110 and in the run-time module 140 . Generally these parameters include those controlling the response of the low-pass filter 310 , the sub-sampling amount used by sub-sampler 320 , and the noise threshold used by peak detector 350 . Other values may be needed depending on the exact details of the feature extractor used to practice the invention.
Appropriate settings for the parameter values depend on the nature of the patterns and images to be analyzed. In a preferred embodiment certain defaults are used that work well in many cases, but in general no rules can be given that work well in all cases. Said preferred embodiment is further described below in conjunction with FIG. 26 .
FIG. 4 shows an element of the field array as used in a preferred embodiment of the invention. Information is packed into a 32-bit word 400 , both to conserve memory and to speed up access on conventional computers by maximizing the number of elements that will fit in data cache and using a word size that keeps all elements properly aligned on appropriate address boundaries. Fixed point representations are used for the force vector, both because they are more compact than floating point representations and to allow best use to be made of the signal processing capabilities of modern processors such as the Texas Instruments TMS320C80 and the Intel Pentium-MMX.
In a preferred embodiment, a field element stores a force vector that gives the distance and direction to the nearest point along a pattern boundary, and one bit that specifies whether the gradient direction at that boundary point is in the same, or 180° opposite, direction as the force vector. This is accomplished as shown in FIG. 4 by storing a signed force magnitude 410 and a gradient direction 420 . If the force direction is the same as the gradient direction, the force magnitude 410 will be positive; if the force direction is opposite from the gradient direction, the force magnitude 410 will be negative.
The magnitude/direction representation for the force vector is preferred over an x-y component representation because it is necessary to be able to represent vectors that have zero length but a well-defined direction. Such vectors are called pseudo-null vectors. The equivalent x-y components can be calculated by the well-known formula
( force x force y ) = magnitude ( cos ( direction ) sin ( direction ) )
Note that gradient direction can be used in the above formula, since the stored magnitude is negative if the force direction is opposite the gradient direction.
In the preferred embodiment shown, the force magnitude 410 is in units of field grid increments, using a two's complement representation of 16 total bits, of which the least significant 11 are to the right of the binary point and the most significant is the sign bit. Thus the maximum force vector length is just under 16 field grid units, and the resolution is {fraction (1/2048)} th of a grid unit.
The gradient direction 420 is preferably represented as a 12-bit binary angle in the range 0° to 360°, with a resolution of 360°/4096=0.088°. In other embodiments, the bits of field element 400 are divided between force 410 and direction 420 to provide greater or lesser precision and range, as needed for each particular application.
A 4-bit flags element 430 is also stored in the field element 400 . An 2-bit eval code 440 determines how an image dipole is to be evaluated if the current pose maps it to a field position within the region covered by this element 400 . The don't care code specifies that the image dipole should be ignored. The expect blank code specifies that no features are expected in this region of the pattern, and so if any image dipoles map here they should be given a low evaluation for inspection purposes, should be given a high clutter rating, and should not be used as evidence for localization. The evaluate only code specifies that the image dipole should be evaluated by the usual criteria for inspection purposes, but should not contribute evidence for localization purposes. The attract code specifies that the image dipole should be evaluated and used both for localization and inspection.
If the eval code 440 is either “don't care” or “expect blank”, the force vector is undefined and is said to be invalid. If the eval code is “evaluate only” or “attract”, the force vector is said to be valid.
A 1-bit corner code 450 specifies whether or not the pattern boundary point pointed to by the force vector is in a high-curvature zone (“is corner”) or a low-curvature segment (“not corner”). If the force vector is invalid, the corner-code is set to “not corner”.
A 1-bit polarity code 460 specifies whether the image dipole evaluation should consider or ignore gradient direction, as described above in the summary section and further described below. A parameter is used to specify whether or not to override the polarity flags stored in the field element 400 , and if so, whether to force polarity to be considered or ignored.
In a preferred embodiment, the field element 400 also specifies the identity of the nearest field dipole 401 in addition to the force vector 400 . The identity 401 can be represented as a index into the field dipole list. In a preferred embodiment, a 16-bit index is used, which is stored in a separate array so as to satisfy data alignment guidelines of conventional computers.
FIG. 5 shows details of the initialization step 250 of the field generation step 210 . A 2-dimensional array 500 of field elements 400 is used. Any reasonable grid spacing can be used; in a preferred embodiment, the grid spacing is the same as that of the image that is input to the gradient estimation module 330 of the feature detector 200 .
Field elements 520 , (indicated as white in FIG. 5 and having the same structure as field element 400 ) cover the region of the training pattern 105 , together forming a “training region”. The field elements 520 are initialized so that the eval code 440 is set to “expect blank”. As described above, in this state the force vector is considered invalid and need not be initialized. In one embodiment, however, further described below in conjunction with FIG. 20 b , the gradient direction field 420 of these field elements 520 are set equal to the corresponding gradient directions of the training image. A border of additional field elements 540 , (indicated as gray in FIG. 5 and having the same structure as field element 400 ) are initialized so that the eval code 440 is set to “don't care”. This reflects the fact that in general we don't know what features might lie beyond the bounds of the training region. These “don't care” values will be replicated inwards during each propagation step 262 , so that image features lying just outside the training pattern 105 don't attract to pattern features just inside.
A separate corresponding array of field dipole indices 401 , identical in size to the white-shaded field elements 520 , is also used, but need not be initialized. The values in this array are considered valid only if the force vector of the corresponding field element of array 500 is valid.
FIG. 6 shows details of the seed step 252 of the field generation module 210 . Shown is a subset of the field elements 520 of the field array 500 . Each field dipole is located within some field element. For example, the field dipole at point 600 falls within field element 620 , indicated as gray in FIG. 6 . Also shown is a small straight-line section of pattern boundary 660 corresponding to the example field dipole at point 600 . This section of boundary is shown primarily to aid in understanding the figure. Its orientation, and position along a line normal to its orientation, are significant, but its length is essentially arbitrary.
The field element 620 is set to have force vector 640 . The force vector points from the center of element 620 to a point on boundary section 660 and either in the direction, or opposite to the direction of the dipole (i.e. normal to the boundary), whichever is required to bring the head of the vector to the boundary 660 . In the example shown, the point on the boundary to which the vector points is coincident with the dipole position 600 , but in general it need not be. FIG. 6 shows several other examples of seeded force vectors.
It also may happen that a field dipole's position falls exactly at the center of a field element, so that the length of the force vector is zero. In this case the force vector is pseudo-null—its direction is well-defined and must be set properly.
In a preferred embodiment, for each field element that receives a seed force vector, the eval code is set to “attract”, the corner code is set to “no corner”, and the polarity code is set to “consider polarity”. Other schemes may be devised within the spirit of the invention to suit specific applications.
For each field element that receives a seed force vector, the corresponding element 401 of the array of field dipole indices is set to identify the field dipole used to seed the field element.
In a preferred embodiment using the feature detector of FIG. 3 , as further described in [U.S. patent pending “Method and Apparatus for Fast, Inexpensive, Subpixel Edge Detection”], and where the field grid has the same geometry as the image that is input to the gradient estimation module 330 , no more than one field dipole will fall within any given field element, and there will be no gaps in the boundary due to grid quantization effects. In a less preferred embodiment using different methods for feature detection, various schemes can be used to handle multiple dipoles that fall within a given field element, or gaps in the boundary due to quantization effects. The preferred method for multiple dipoles within one field element is to choose the one whose force vector is shortest, and discard the others. The preferred method for gaps in the boundary is to do nothing and let the propagation steps fill in the gaps.
FIG. 7 shows details of the connect step 254 of the field generation module 210 . FIG. 7 a shows the same subset of field elements 520 of the field array 500 as was shown in FIG. 6 . Also shown is the example field element 620 , indicated as light gray.
For every field dipole, the seeded field is examined to identify neighboring positions that contain dipoles to which the dipole should be connected. For the example field element 620 , the neighboring positions 700 are shown, shaded medium gray. The neighboring positions 700 are examined in two steps of four neighboring positions each, each step in a particular order, determined by the direction of the field dipole corresponding to field element 620 .
In one step, a left neighbor field element 710 is identified, and a left link 715 is stored in the field dipole corresponding to field element 620 identifying the field dipole corresponding to field element 710 as its left neighbor. In the other step, a right neighbor field element 720 is identified, and a right link 725 is stored to identify the field dipole's right neighbor. If a given neighbor cannot be found, a null link is stored. Note that “left” and “right” are defined arbitrarily but consistently by an imaginary observer looking along the dipole gradient direction.
FIG. 7 b shows the order in which neighboring field elements are examined for a dipole whose direction falls between arrows 740 and 742 , corresponding to a pattern boundary that falls between dotted lines 744 and 746 . The sequence for identifying the left neighbor is +1, +2, +3, and +4. The first neighbor in said sequence that contains a dipole (seeded field element), if any, is the left neighbor. Similarly, the sequence for identifying the right neighbor is −1, −2, −3, and −4.
FIG. 7 c shows another example, where the dipole direction falls between arrows 760 and 762 , corresponding to a pattern boundary that falls between dotted lines 764 and 766 . The sequences of neighbors are as shown. The sequences for all other dipole directions are simply rotations of the two cases of FIGS. 7 b and 7 c.
Note that the sequences given in FIGS. 7 b and 7 c show a preference for orthogonal neighbors over diagonal neighbors, even when diagonal neighbors are “closer” to the direction of the pattern boundary. This preference insures that the chains will properly follow a stair-step pattern for boundaries not aligned with the grid axes. Clearly this preference is somewhat dependent on the specific details of how the feature detector chooses points along the boundary.
Once connections have been established for all field dipoles, a consistency check is performed. Specifically, the right neighbor of a dipole's left neighbor should be the dipole itself, and the left neighbor of a dipole's right neighbor should also be the dipole itself. If any links are found for which these conditions do not hold, the links are broken by replacing them with a null link. At the end of the connect step, only consistent chains remain.
Many alternate methods can be used to connect dipoles within the spirit and scope of the invention. In some embodiments, particularly where no inspection is to be performed, the connect 254 is omitted entirely.
FIG. 8 shows details of the segment step 260 of the field generation step 210 . Field elements 800 shaded medium gray are identified as “corners” because the dipole directions differs from that of their left and/or right neighbors by more than some specified parameter. In a preferred embodiment, the parameter is 16.875 degrees. For these elements the corner code 450 is set to “is corner”. Other field elements 820 , shaded light gray, lie along one chain segment, while field elements 840 , also shaded light gray, lie along another chain segment. For these elements it is not necessary to set the corner code, because it was set to “no corner” when the field was seeded.
FIG. 9 shows examples of part of the analysis that is performed by the propagate step 262 of the field generation step 210 . In the example of FIG. 9 a , field element 900 initially does not have a valid force vector; its eval code is “expect blank”, as set by the initialization step 250 . Neighboring element 902 has a valid force vector 904 , which points to a segment of pattern boundary 906 that is assumed to be an approximately straight line.
A vector 908 is constructed from the center 916 of element 900 to the center of the neighbor 902 . The projection 910 of vector 908 onto force vector 904 is constructed. A new force vector 912 is constructed from the center 916 of field element 900 to the boundary 906 by adding the neighbor's force vector 904 to the projection 910 . An offset value is computed whose magnitude is equal to the length 914 of the difference between vector 908 and projection 910 , and whose sign is determined by the direction 918 by which vector 908 must be rotated to coincide with projection 910 , where anti-clockwise is positive as shown and clockwise is negative. The result of this analysis is the new force vector 912 and offset value of magnitude 914 and sign 918 .
A similar example but for a diagonal neighbor 932 of element 930 is shown in FIG. 9 b . The projection 940 of vector 938 onto force vector 934 is constructed. A new force vector 942 is constructed from the center 946 of field element 930 to the boundary 936 by adding the neighbor's force vector 934 to the projection 940 . An offset value is computed whose magnitude is equal to the length 944 of the difference between vector 938 and projection 940 , and whose sign is negative since vector 938 must be rotated clockwise 948 to coincide with projection 940 .
Another example is shown in FIG. 9 c , where in this case the boundary 966 passes between field element 960 and its neighbor 962 . The projection 970 of vector 968 onto force vector 964 is constructed. A new force vector 972 is constructed from the center 976 of field element 960 to the boundary 966 by adding the neighbor's force vector 964 to the projection 970 . An offset value is computed whose magnitude is equal to the length 974 of the difference between vector 968 and projection 970 , and whose sign is negative since vector 968 must be rotated clockwise 978 to coincide with projection 970 .
Further details of propagate step 262 of the field generation step 210 are shown in FIG. 10 . Each element of the field array is examined. Any element whose eval code 440 is “expect blank” is considered for possible propagation of the field to that element. All other field elements are already in a final state and are skipped. For each field element so considered, the eight neighbors are examined. If two or more adjacent neighbors have valid force vectors or have eval codes equal to “don't care”, the field will be propagated to the said field element; otherwise, the field element will be skipped and possibly considered again on a subsequent propagate step.
The rule specifying two or more adjacent neighbors is used to insure that there is sufficient information to be able to interpolate the field between neighbors. “Adjacent” means either sharing an edge, such as elements 1010 and 1012 of FIG. 10 , or sharing a corner, such as elements 1010 and 1014 .
In FIG. 10 element 1000 shaded light gray has eval code “expect blank”, and neighbors 1010 , 1012 , and 1014 , shaded medium gray, have valid force vectors (the field has been seeded at or already propagated to the neighbors). Neighboring element 1010 has force vector 1030 , and following the method of FIG. 9 new force vector 1032 and positive offset 1034 are computed. Neighboring element 1012 has force vector 1040 , and following the method of FIG. 9 new force vector 1042 and negative offset 1044 are computed. Neighboring element 1014 has force vector 1050 , and following the method of FIG. 9 new force vector 1052 and negative offset 1054 are computed.
The neighbors of field element 1000 are scanned anti-clockwise in sequence 1070 . The starting and ending points of sequence 1070 are arbitrary. If exactly one positive to negative offset transition between adjacent neighbors is found, the field is propagated to element 1000 by constructing a force vector 1080 by interpolating between new force vectors 1032 and 1042 .
In a preferred embodiment, the interpolation is a weighted average of vectors 1032 and 1042 . The vector 1032 is weighted by the magnitude of offset 1044 , and the vector 1042 is weighted by the magnitude of offset 1034 . The effect is that the weight of a vector is proportional to the other vector's offset and inversely proportional to its own offset, so that vectors are more heavily weighted if they pass closer to their corresponding neighbor's force vector. As shown in FIG. 10 , the offset corresponding to vector 1032 has the smaller magnitude, so it is more heavily weighted and therefore force vector 1080 passes closer to vector 1032 than to vector 1042 .
One method for constructing a weighted average of vectors is to scale each vector by its corresponding weight, add the results, and then scale by the inverse of the sum of the weights. This is equivalent to an independent weighted average of the x and y components. In a preferred embodiment, an independent weighted average of the magnitude and direction is used.
If the vectors 1032 and 1042 participating in the interpolation are pointing to distant points along a pattern boundary, or to different boundaries, the field is considered indeterminate at element 1000 and the eval code is set to “don't care”. In a preferred embodiment, the vectors are considered to be pointing to distant points or different boundaries if either their magnitudes differ by more than 3 grid units or their directions differ by more than 135°.
In a preferred embodiment, a special case rule is used to propagate the field at the ends of an open chain. If a neighboring element with a valid force produces a small positive offset, and no anti-clockwise adjacent neighbor has a valid force, the field will propagate without interpolation by using the new force vector as constructed by the method of FIG. 9 . Similarly, if a neighboring element with a valid force produces a small negative offset, and no clockwise adjacent neighbor has a valid force, the field will propagate without interpolation by using the new force vector as constructed by the method of FIG. 9 . In a preferred embodiment, a small offset is one whose magnitude is less than {fraction (1/10)} th of a grid unit.
If more than one positive to negative offset transition between adjacent neighbors, or application of the special case rule, is found, or if none are found, the field is considered indeterminate at element 1000 and the eval code is set to “don't care”. One reason that no such transitions might be found is that neighboring field elements are themselves set to “don't care”, for example the border elements 540 set by the initialization step 250 .
If a valid force is propagated to element 1000 , then corner code 450 , polarity code 460 , and the index of the nearest field dipole are also propagated by copying from whichever of the neighboring elements participating in the interpolation has the smallest offset magnitude (greatest weight). In the example of FIG. 10 , the values would be copied from element 1010 . If the special case rule was applied, the values are copied from the neighbor with small offset used to construct the new force vector.
Many variations on the above rules can be used within the spirit of the invention to achieve similar results. Indeed any method that produces force vectors that point to the nearest point along a pattern boundary can be used to practice this invention.
FIG. 11 shows the same portion of the field array that was shown after seeding in FIG. 6 , but with new force vectors resulting from one propagation step. FIG. 12 shows the same portion after two propagation steps. Note in FIG. 12 field element 1200 whose eval code is set to “don't care” because more than one positive to negative offset transition between adjacent neighbors was found.
FIG. 13 shows a block diagram of the run-time module 140 of a preferred embodiment. Run-time module 140 analyzes the image 130 , using the stored pattern 120 , the starting pose 132 , and the client map 131 . As a result of the analysis, the run-time module produces a pose 134 that maps pattern points to accurately corresponding image points.
The run-time module 140 produces an rms error value 136 that is a measure of the degree of match between the pattern and the image, a coverage value 138 that is a measure of the fraction of the pattern to which corresponding image features have been found, and a clutter value 137 that is a measure of extra features found in the image that do not correspond to pattern features.
The run-time module 140 produces an evaluated image dipole list 150 and an evaluated field dipole list 160 , e.g., as shown in FIG. 25 . The clutter values of the evaluated image dipole list 150 can be used to identify features in the image 130 not present in the pattern 105 (shown in FIG. 1 ). These probability values range from 0 to 1 and indicate the likelihood that the image feature is not present in the pattern. The “eval2” values ( FIG. 25 ) of the evaluated field dipole list 160 can be used to identify features in the pattern 105 not present in the image 130 . These probability values range from 0 to 1, and indicate the likelihood that the pattern feature was found in the image.
The run-time module 140 uses a feature detection module 200 to process the image 130 to produce an image dipole list 1300 . In a preferred embodiment, the feature detection module 200 is identical to that used by training module 110 , and is controlled by the same parameter settings stored in pattern parameters 220 , and is further described in conjunction with FIG. 26 . In other embodiments, different methods or different parameters setting are used as appropriate for a specific application.
At least one attraction module 1350 uses pattern parameters 220 , field dipole set 230 , field 240 , image dipole list 1300 , and the starting pose 132 and client map 131 , to refine the starting pose 132 and produce the other outputs 136 , 138 , 160 , and 150 .
FIG. 14 is a diagram that is used to derive the mathematical basis for a preferred embodiment that uses a least-squares method to determine a pose that best accounts for the evidence of the image dipoles at each attraction step. An image dipole, mapped by the current pose to field point 1400 and with direction 1402 , is considered. A small section of image boundary 1404 is also shown as an aid in understanding the diagram.
The field has force f 1430 at mapped image dipole point 1400 , pointing to the nearest point 1435 along pattern boundary 1410 . Note that the force 1430 is normal to the pattern boundary 1410 at point 1435 , and the mapped image dipole direction 1402 is similar but not equal, modulo 180°, to that of the force.
The mapped image dipole point 1400 has position vector p 1450 relative to the field origin 1420 . The existence of an image dipole at field point 1400 , with force 1430 and mapped dipole direction similar to the force direction (in a preferred embodiment, similar modulo 180°), is taken as evidence that the current pose should be modified so that the image dipole is mapped so as to lie somewhere along line 1440 tangent to pattern boundary 1410 at point 1435 . The dipole provides no evidence as to position normal to the force, that is along tangent 1440 . The position vector p′ 1470 defines a point on tangent 1440 , and the difference vector p−p′ 1460 indicates how the mapped dipole position might move as a result of the force.
Suppose that [C, t] is a six-degree-of-freedom coordinate transform that maps the current pose into a new, hopefully more accurate, pose. This transform is called the motion transform, because it tells how the image dipoles will move with respect to the field under the influence of the forces of the field. Here C is a 2×2 matrix and t is a translation vector. The evidence under consideration suggests that this transform should map p to p′:
p′=Cp+t. (1)
Let I be the identity matrix and define
f=|f| (2) f ^ = f f ( 3 )
Ċ=C−I ( 4 )
From the diagram of FIG. 14 it can be seen that
f= ( p′−p )· {circumflex over (f)} (5a)
=( Cp+t−p )· {circumflex over (f)} (5b)
=[( C−I ) p+t]·{circumflex over (f)} (5c)
=( Ċp+t )· {circumflex over (f)} (5d)
Thus, given an image dipole that maps to field point p with force f=f{circumflex over (f)}, we have one equation in the six unknowns [C, t] that tells us how to map the current pose to get a new pose. With six dipoles we can solve for the six-degrees-of-freedom, but in practice the evidence obtained from only six dipoles is generally not sufficient to get an accurate or even meaningful solution. In practice we use many dipoles, typically anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand, and some method for solving an over-determined set of equations.
In a preferred embodiment, a least-squares method is used. An error term for the i th dipole can be defined as
e i =( Ċp i +t )· {circumflex over (f)} i −f i (6)
With this definition a least-squares problem can be set up and solved by methods well-known in the art. If weights w i are determined for each dipole, we can write the sum squared error as
E = ∑ i w i [ ( C . p i + t ) · f ^ i - f i ] 2 ( 7 )
In practice it is usually desirable to solve for fewer than six-degrees-of-freedom. Some patterns would result in a singular or unstable solutions if certain degrees of freedom are included. For example, circles cannot be solved for orientation and corners cannot be solved for size. In other cases, a solution would be possible, but some degrees of freedom, particularly aspect ratio and skew, are known not to vary and might cause problems if included. Perhaps the most serious such problem is that unreliable evidence, present to some degree in all images, will have a more serious effect when more degrees of freedom are allowed to vary. Another problem is that somewhat more computation is needed to solve for the additional degrees of freedom.
In a preferred embodiment the least-squares problem is set up in 4 degrees of freedom corresponding to x translation, y translation, orientation, and size. Sums needed for a least-squares solution in the 4 degrees of freedom are computed, and pattern parameters 220 specify which of the degrees of freedom will be solved for.
In an orthonormal coordinate system we can constrain the matrix Ċ to orientation and size variation by writing it as
C . = ( p q - q p ) ( 8a ) = p1 + q ( 0 1 - 1 0 ) ( 8b )
In practical applications, however, the images themselves are almost never orthonormal. CCD cameras, for example, typically have pixels that are non-square by a percent or so. For line scan cameras, the angle between the coordinate axes depends on mechanical alignment and so the coordinate axes may not be perfectly orthogonal. The variations from square are small, but easily detectable given the accuracy that can be achieved with the invention. Furthermore, it is sometimes useful to have a significantly non-orthonormal field. For example, a field generated from a square pattern can be used to localize and inspect a rectangular or even parallelogram-shaped instance of the pattern by using an appropriate starting pose.
In these cases we generally want the orientation degree of freedom defined by an orthonormal, real-world coordinate system rather than image or field coordinates. We re-write Ċ as
Ċ=p 1 +qN (9)
where the elements of matrix N are the components of the normal tensor in the field coordinate system. The normal tensor is a mixed 2 nd -rank tensor, a vector-valued function of vectors that, informally, tells how to rotate a vector 90°. In an orthonormal coordinate system, of course, the components of the normal tensor are
( 0 1 - 1 0 ) .
The components of the normal tensor are computed from the current pose and from a coordinate transform called the client map that transforms points in an orthonormal but otherwise arbitrary reference coordinate system to points in the run-time image.
We can now re-write equation 7, the sum squared error, as
E = ∑ i w i [ [ ( p1 + qN ) p i + t ] · f ^ i - f i ] 2 ( 10a ) = ∑ i w i [ pp i · f ^ i + qNp i · f ^ i + t · f ^ i - f i ] 2 ( 10b )
Now we can substitute
r i = p i · f ^ i ( 11 ) s i = Np i · f ^ i ( 12 ) t = ( x y ) ( 13 ) f ^ i = ( u i v i ) ( 14 )
into equation 10b and finally we have
E = ∑ i w i [ ( xu i + yv i + pr i + qs i - f i ] 2 ( 15 )
A least-squares problem based on equation 15 is easy to set up and solve for x, y, p, and q by well-known methods. The desired motion transform [C, t] is obtained from said solution using equations 4, 9, and 13. The current pose is composed with the motion transform to obtain the new pose.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram of the attraction module 1350 for a preferred embodiment based on a least-squares method of best accounting for the evidence of the image dipoles. In addition, to further clarify a preferred sequence of operation of the modules of FIG. 15 , a flow chart is provided in FIGS. 27A and 27B . Steps of the flow chart include reference numbers from FIG. 15 in parentheses to help cross-correlate the figures. A current pose 1500 is initially set to the start pose 2702 and updated at the end of each attraction step 2724 . After the sum module 1535 is initialized to zero 2704 , the Normal tensor computation module 1510 uses the current pose and client map to compute the normal tensor N 2706 for the current attraction step.
Each image dipole 1515 of the image dipole list 1300 ( FIG. 13 ) is processed 2708 . The position and direction of dipole 1515 are mapped 2710 from image coordinates to field coordinates by map module 1520 , using the current pose 1500 . The mapped position is used by field module 1525 to determine the force, flags 430 , and index of nearest field dipole 2712 . The force, flags, and index are stored in the image dipole 1515 for later use. The normal tensor, force, and image dipole position in field coordinates are used by a rotate module 1530 to obtain the dipole's position in force coordinates (r, s) 2714 as specified by equations 11 and 12.
An evaluate module 1545 examines the force, flags, image dipole direction in field coordinates, and dipole gradient magnitude and computes a weight for attraction (localization) purposes and evaluation and clutter values for inspection purposes 2714 . In some embodiments, the evaluate module 1545 also considers the rms error from the previous attraction step in determining the weight and evaluation. The evaluation and clutter values are stored in the image dipole 1515 for later use.
A sum module 1535 uses the force, dipole position in force coordinates, and weight to compute sums needed for the least-squares solution 2716 . If there are no more dipoles 2718 , a solve module 1540 uses the sums and the normal tensor to solve for the motion transform and compute the rms error 2720 . A compose module 1505 composes the current pose with the motion transform to produce a new pose 2722 , which will be the current pose for the next attraction step, or the final pose if this is the last attraction step 2726 .
In a preferred embodiment where inspection is being performed, at the end of the last attraction step, the field dipole evaluation module 1550 evaluates the image dipole list 2728 , which has now been evaluated by evaluate module 1545 , and the field dipole set 230 stored in the pattern 120 , and produces an evaluated field dipole list, coverage rating, and clutter rating 2730 .
FIG. 16 gives details for the map module 1520 of FIG. 15 . Inputs are image dipole position in image coordinates 1600 , image dipole direction with respect to image coordinates 1610 , and the current pose 1620 . One output is the dipole position in field coordinates 1630 , computed as shown.
The other output is the dipole direction with respect to field coordinates 1640 , computed as shown. The formula for output dir(field) 1640 effectively does the following, reading the vector and matrix operations right to left:
Construct a unit vector in the dipole direction, with respect to image coordinates, by computing the cosine and sine of the angle θ d . Rotate the unit vector 90° to get a direction along the boundary that contains the dipole. Map the rotated unit vector to field coordinates using C p to get a boundary direction in field coordinates. Rotate the mapped rotated unit vector −90° to get a direction normal to the boundary in field coordinates. If the determinant of the pose matrix is negative, the transform changes the left- or right-handedness of the coordinate system, so rotate the vector 180° because the −90° of the previous step should have been +90°. Compute the angle of the resulting vector using the well-known version of the arctangent function of two arguments whose result is in the range 0° to 360°.
Note as shown in output dir(field) 1640 that these calculations can be simplified considerably. In a preferred embodiment, the simplified formula is used at the beginning of each attraction step to compute a 256-element lookup table, indexed by an 8-bit binary angle, for use by the map block 1520 . This allows the direction mapping operation to be executed at high speed for each dipole.
When computing the lookup table, the symmetry of the formula requires us to compute only 128 elements of the table; the other elements are the negative of the computed ones. As a further improvement in computation time, 64 even-indexed elements are computed, and the odd-indexed elements are determined by interpolation from the even-indexed elements. Thus the formula need only be applied 64 times. The arctangent function is computed using the well-known CORDIC method.
Note that in computing output dir(field) 1640 we map the boundary direction instead of the dipole direction. This is because, in the embodiment described herein, directions are determined by a gradient estimation method 330 and Cartesian to polar conversion method 340 that assumes square pixels. This is not a problem except when mapping directions between non-orthonormal coordinate systems. In that case, the boundary direction must be used.
FIG. 17 shows a block diagram of the field module 1525 of FIG. 15 , and a corresponding geometric diagram that illustrates the computation being performed. Image dipole position in field coordinates 1754 is input to the field block 1525 . The coordinates 1754 fall within field grid cell 1750 .
The coordinates are rounded to integer field grid position 1758 by integer rounding module 1700 . The integer field grid coordinates 1758 are used by address generation module 1704 to produce a memory address used to look up field element 1708 , corresponding to grid cell 1750 . In the embodiment shown, the index of the nearest field dipole is stored with the other field information, but in some embodiments, as described herein, the index is kept in a separate array.
The force direction θ f , flags, and index obtained from field element 1708 are direct outputs of field module 1525 , but the force magnitude 1774 is interpolated so that the force vector is a reasonably smooth function of real-valued position within the field.
Force interpolation is based on the assumption that the force stored in field element 1708 , corresponding to integer grid position 1758 , points to an approximately straight-line section of pattern boundary 1782 . This is a fast and accurate interpolation we can use with the information available. A more compute intensive interpolation could use neighboring field elements as well.
To interpolate force magnitude, the integer position 1758 is subtracted by module 1712 from the real-valued position 1754 to produce sub-grid position vector 1762 . A unit vector 1766 in the force direction is constructed by cosine/sine module 1716 , implemented as a lookup table in a preferred embodiment. The dot product 1770 of sub-grid position vector 1762 and unit vector 1766 is computed by dot product module 1720 . The dot product 1770 is subtracted from force magnitude 1774 by the subtraction module 1724 to produce interpolated force magnitude 1778 .
The interpolated force magnitude 1778 , unit vector in the force direction 1766 , and force direction angle stored in field element 1708 , are collected in output module 1728 and become part of the force vector 1526 produced by field module 1525 .
In another embodiment, not shown, at least one force vector is stored in each field element, pointing to the nearest points along at least one pattern boundary. The field module 1525 examines image dipole direction in addition to position, and uses the stored force vector that is closest to the dipole direction for interpolation and output to subsequent steps.
FIG. 18 gives details for the rotate module 1530 of FIG. 15 . Inputs are the normal tensor 1800 , force 1810 , and image dipole position in field coordinates 1820 . Output is image dipole position in force coordinates pos(force) 1830 , computed as shown, and as described above by equations 11 and 12.
FIG. 19 shows various preferred fuzzy logic processing modules that are used in evaluate module 1545 of a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 20 .
FIG. 19 a shows a fuzzy greater than module, which takes a real-valued input 1900 and a fuzzy threshold 1904 , and produces a fuzzy logic value 1912 . The fuzzy threshold 1904 is an ordered pair that specifies points along the x axis of graph 1908 . The graph 1908 shows the fuzzy logic output 1912 as a function of input 1900 . As can be seen, the fuzzy logic value falls within the range 0.0 to 1.0, inclusive.
FIG. 19 b shows a fuzzy less than module, which takes a real-valued input 1930 and a fuzzy threshold 1934 , and produces a fuzzy logic value 1942 . The fuzzy threshold 1934 is an ordered pair that specifies points along the x axis of graph 1938 . The graph 1938 shows the fuzzy logic output 1942 as a function of input 1930 . As can be seen, the fuzzy logic value falls within the range 0.0 to 1.0, inclusive.
FIG. 19 c shows a fuzzy not module. Fuzzy logic value input 1960 is inverted by subtracting it from 1 to produce fuzzy logic value output 1964 .
FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the evaluate module 1545 of FIG. 15 . FIG. 20 a shows the portion responsible for computing the weight and eval values, and FIG. 20 b shows the portion responsible for computing the clutter value.
Referring to FIG. 20 a , the computation of weight and eval is based on the force magnitude ‘f’, a comparison of the force direction θ f , and image dipole direction dir(field), and the image dipole's gradient magnitude ‘mag’. For each of these three factors in the evaluation, a fuzzy logic value is produced by fuzzy logic modules 2004 , 2040 , 2064 , respectively, that indicates confidence in the reliability of the evidence provided by the image dipole being evaluated. The three fuzzy confidence factors so-produced are combined into a single confidence score by a combination module 2080 in the range 0.0 to 1.0. The weight and eval outputs are obtained by using the eval code 440 ( FIG. 4 ) to select either the confidence score or the value 0.0.
Absolute value module 2002 computes the length of the force vector from force magnitude f, which in the preferred embodiment being described may be negative if the force and gradient directions differ. Fuzzy less than module 2004 compares the force length to a field strength threshold 2000 , to produce a strength confidence factor that indicates high confidence for force lengths “below” the field strength threshold.
The field strength threshold 2000 is set based on pattern parameters 220 for the first attraction step. In a preferred embodiment, the first attraction step uses field strength threshold values t zero =2.0 field grid units, and t one =3.0 field grid units.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 20 , the field strength threshold 2000 is modified after each attraction step based on the rms error from the previous step. The modification is accomplished by addition module 2012 , which adds the rms error to both the t zero and t one components of a field strength margin parameter 2008 to produce the new field strength threshold 2000 . As a result, the field strength threshold 2000 is matched to how well the particular run-time image being analyzed fits the stored pattern at each attraction step.
The method of adjusting the field strength threshold based on the rms error of the previous step is effective in some applications, but in other cases it has been observed to result in some oscillation of the attraction rather than convergence on one solution. In a preferred embodiment, not shown, the field strength threshold is reduced in equal steps after each attraction step. Thus, as the attraction converges to a solution, image dipoles must be closer to pattern boundaries to be given high confidence.
The image dipole direction dir(field) is compared with the pattern boundary gradient direction by subtract module 2024 . Recall that in the embodiment being described, the “force” direction θ f reported by the field is actually boundary gradient direction, which is the same as or opposite of the true force direction. If pattern parameters 220 and polarity code 460 of flags 430 specify that gradient polarity is to be ignored, the angle difference from subtract module 2024 is constrained to the range −90° to +90° by mod 180° module 2028 ; otherwise, the angle θ f is passed unmodified. The magnitude of the resulting angle difference is determined by absolute value module 2032 .
The angle difference magnitude is compared to one of two fuzzy thresholds by fuzzy less than module 2040 to produce a direction confidence factor. If corner code 450 of flags 430 indicates “no corner”, the field direction threshold 2044 is chosen by selection module 2036 . If the corner code indicates “is corner”, the field corner threshold 2048 is chosen. In a preferred embodiment, the field direction threshold 2044 has values t zero =11.25° and t one =22.5°, and the field corner threshold 2048 has values t zero =39.375° and t one =50.625°, reflecting the fact that a wider range of image dipole directions can reasonably correspond to a pattern boundary corner. In an alternate embodiment, a real-valued measure of curvature can be used instead of the binary “is corner” code, with multiple values of the field direction threshold possible.
The image dipole's gradient magnitude ‘mag’ is compared to a fuzzy magnitude threshold 2060 by fuzzy greater than module 2064 to produce a magnitude confidence factor. The magnitude threshold is intended to throw out very weak dipoles that are likely due to image noise or other artifacts, but the use of a fuzzy threshold gives more stable results than the more traditional hard threshold. In a preferred embodiment, the magnitude threshold 2060 uses the same value for t zero as the noise threshold chosen for the peak detector 350 , and uses a value of t one equal to twice the value of t zero .
The strength, direction, and magnitude confidence factors are combined by multiply module 2080 to produce an overall confidence score in the range 0 to 1. Based on eval code 440 of flags 430 , the selection module 2084 chooses a value for weight and the selection module 2088 chooses a value for eval. If the eval code is “attract”, the confidence score is chosen for the weight; otherwise the constant 0 is chosen so that the dipole is ignored for localization purposes. If the eval code is “attract” or “evaluate only”, the confidence score is chosen for eval; otherwise the constant 0 is chosen to indicate that the dipole does not correspond to any portion of the pattern.
FIG. 20 b shows a preferred embodiment for the calculation of the clutter value. The direction confidence factor produced by fuzzy less than module 2040 is inverted by fuzzy not element 2042 . The image dipole's gradient magnitude is compared to a fuzzy clutter threshold 2070 by fuzzy greater than module 2074 to produce a clutter confidence factor 2075 . The clutter confidence factor 2075 is multiplied by the inverted direction confidence factor by multiplier 2090 to produce a tentative clutter value 2091 . If the eval code 440 is anything but “don't care”, selection module 2092 chooses this tentative clutter value 2091 as the dipole's clutter value; otherwise the constant 0 is chosen.
If the eval code 440 is “expect blank”, the force magnitude ‘mag’ is meaningless, but in a preferred embodiment, the force direction θ f encodes the gradient direction from the training image as described above in conjunction with FIG. 5 . In this case, the computation of clutter uses this direction as it would the force direction θ f . This mode of operation is appropriate when it is desirable to minimize false alarms. Alternatively, if it is appropriate to minimize the chances of missing clutter, one can consider only the clutter confidence factor 275 when the eval code is “expect blank”.
In a preferred embodiment, the clutter threshold 2070 has values of t zero and t one , each value being equal to 1.5 times the t zero and t one values used for the magnitude threshold 2060 .
In a preferred embodiment, the magnitude confidence factors and clutter confidence factors for all of the image dipoles are computed once and stored in the image dipole list 1300 , rather than being recomputed for each attract step. This can be done because these confidence factors are independent of the current pose 1500 .
FIG. 21 is a block diagram of sums module 1535 of FIG. 15 . This module accumulates the weighted sums needed for the solution of the least-squares problem of equation 15. Five multiply modules 2100 perform the weighting. Fifteen multiply-accumulate modules 2130 and one accumulate module 2160 compute and store the sums needed. The sixteen accumulators are set to zero at the beginning of each attraction step. This four degree-of-freedom case is an exemplary embodiment, other numbers of degrees of freedom being possible.
FIGS. 22 a-d give details of the solve module 1540 of FIG. 15 , which produces the motion transform and the rms error value. The formulas shown are based on the solution of the least-squares problem of equation 15. Pattern parameters 220 specify which degrees of freedom are to be determined.
FIG. 22 a shows the solution for the 2 translation degrees of freedom only—size and orientation are as specified in the start pose. FIG. 22 b shows the solution for translation and orientation. This preferred solution is based on an approximation that assumes a small angle of rotation. If the assumption is violated, some size variation will be introduced. FIG. 22 c shows the solution for translation and size, holding orientation fixed, and FIG. 22 d shows the solution for all 4 degrees of freedom.
FIG. 23 gives details of the compose module 1505 of FIG. 15 , which composes the current pose 2300 with the motion transform 2330 computed by the solve module 1540 to produce the new pose 2360 .
FIG. 24 gives details of the normal tensor module 1510 of FIG. 15 , which computes the normal tensor 2460 from the current pose 2400 and the client map 2430 .
FIG. 25 shows an example of field dipole evaluation performed as part of field dipole evaluation module 1550 of FIG. 15 . In the example, a first image dipole 2500 , second image dipole 2510 , and third image dipole 2520 have received evaluations 0.85, 0.93, and 0.88 respectively. Four field dipoles labeled 2540 , 2550 , 2560 , and 2570 lie along a chain as determined by connect step 254 during training module 110 . The chain is defined by the left links 2580 and right links 2585 .
For image dipole 2500 , an index 2505 was determined by field module 1525 to identify the nearest field dipole 2540 . The evaluation 0.85 is transferred from image dipole 2500 to the “eval1” slot of field dipole 2540 .
No image dipole identified field dipole 2550 as nearest, so its “eval1” slot holds its initial value 0.
For image dipole 2510 , an index 2515 was determined to identify the nearest field dipole 2560 . For image dipole 2520 , the same index 2515 was determined to identify the nearest field dipole 2560 . The larger of image dipole 2510 evaluation 0.93 and image dipole 2520 evaluation 0.88 is transferred to the “eval1” slot of field dipole 2560 .
Field dipole 2570 has evaluation 0.90 transferred from some image dipole not shown.
To fill in the gap at field dipole 2550 , a dilation operation is performed, wherein all field dipoles receive an evaluation equal to the maximum of their own evaluation and that of their left and right neighbors. The dilated evaluations are shown in the “eval2” slot of each field dipole. Note that it is not actually necessary to store both “eval1” and “eval2” values; FIG. 25 shows them for clarity.
Once the field dipoles have been evaluated, the coverage value produced by field dipole evaluation module 1550 is computed by averaging all of the field dipole evaluations.
In a preferred embodiment, the field dipoles are evaluated and coverage is computed only after the last attraction step, and only if pattern inspection is desired.
FIG. 26 shows how the invention can be operated in a multi-resolution mode designed to increase the capture range without sacrificing accuracy. Two pattern training modules (not shown) are run on a single training image, with different settings of low-pass filter module 310 and image sub-sample module 320 . In a first setting designed to attenuate fine detail, a low resolution pattern 2600 is generated. In a second setting designed to pass fine detail, a high resolution pattern 2610 is generated.
A low resolution run-time module 2620 uses the low resolution pattern 2600 , and a start pose and client map, to analyze run-time image 130 to produce a low resolution pose that is much more accurate than the start pose but not as accurate as can be achieved at higher resolution. A high resolution run-time module 2630 uses the high resolution pattern 2610 , the low resolution pose as a start pose, and the same client map, to analyze run-time image 130 to produce the final pose, rms error, coverage, and evaluated dipole lists.
The multi-resolution mode is supervised by overall control module 2640 , as illustrated by the flow chart in FIG. 28 . As part of its operation 2800 , the low resolution rms error, coverage, and clutter values are examined, and if 2802 they do not indicate a reasonable match between image and stored pattern, the operation is aborted 2803 without attempting to run the high resolution module. If the low resolution module produces a good match, high resolution module is run 2804 . If the high resolution module does not produce good results 2806 , it usually means that the image is out of focus, and the user is so-warned. In some embodiments, when this happens, the low resolution results are used instead of the high resolution results 2808 . If the results of the high resolution module are acceptable, the results of the high resolution module are provided to the user 2810 for interpretation, or further processing, according to the particular application.
In a preferred embodiment, an overall match score is computed for each resolution step that is equal to the coverage value minus half the clutter value. The low resolution results are used instead of the high resolution results if the high resolution match score is less than some fraction of the low resolution match score. In a preferred embodiment, the fraction used is 0.9.
In a preferred embodiment, the methods of U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,032, issued Sep. 24, 2002, entitled “Efficient, Flexible Digital Filtering”, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,109, issued Jun. 18, 2002, entitled “Apparatus and method for detecting and sub-pixel location of edges in a digital image” are used for feature extraction, Cognex Corporation's PatQuick™ tool is used to determine the starting pose, and the multi-resolution style of FIG. 26 is used. The following parameter settings are used for feature extraction by default. Many other strategies can be devised to suit specific applications.
For training the low resolution pattern 2600 , and corresponding run-time module 2620 , the image is sub-sampled by sub-sampler 320 by an equal amount in x and y given by the formula
floor ( wh 8 )
where w and h are the width and height, respectively, of the pattern 100 in pixels and the floor function gives the largest integer that is less than or equal to its argument. Note that sub-sampling by n means taking every n th pixel. The low-pass filter 310 uses a filter size parameter (“s” in U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,032, issued Sep. 24, 2002, entitled “Efficient Flexible Digital Filtering”) equal to one less than the computed sub-sample amount. The Cartesian to polar conversion module 340 multiplies the gradient magnitude values by 2.0 to improve precision at the low end, where most gradient values lie.
For training the high resolution pattern 2610 , and corresponding run-time module 2630 , the low-pass filter 310 and the sub-sampler 320 are set to pass the source image 300 unmodified.
As part of its operation, the PatQuick™ tool reports a “contrast” value in gray levels that is the median gradient magnitude of the pixels in the image on which it is run that correspond to the trained pattern. In a preferred embodiment, this contrast value is used to set the default noise threshold for the peak detector 350 . Many other schemes for setting noise thresholds are known in the art that can be used to achieve equivalent results.
In said preferred embodiment, PatQuick™ is run on the training image 100 and the contrast value reported by the tool is saved as part of the pattern parameters 220 . For training the low resolution pattern 2600 , the peak detection module 350 uses a noise threshold equal to 10 gray levels. For training the high resolution pattern 2610 , the peak detection module 350 uses a noise threshold equal to one-quarter of said saved contrast.
For the run-time image 130 , when the PatQuick™ tool is used to determine the starting pose the contrast value it reports is examined. For both the low resolution run-time module 2620 , and the high resolution run-time module 2630 , the peak detection module 350 uses a noise threshold equal to that used for the corresponding pattern 2600 or 2610 , but in each case multiplied by the ratio of run-time contrast to the saved train-time contrast.
The preferred embodiments described herein use a six-degree-of-freedom coordinate transform to represent the mapping between points in the image and points in the pattern (i.e. the pose), and a least-squares fitting to determine how to use the information provided by the field to modify a given pose so as to produce a new pose that represents a better correspondence between image and pattern features. Many other arrangements can be devised by those of ordinary skill in the art for achieving similar results within the scope of the invention. These other arrangements may have advantages in certain specific applications.
For example, the six degree of freedom coordinate transform can be replaced with other analytic models of the mapping between points in the image and points in the pattern. One useful such model is the well-known perspective transform. Another useful model is one that corrects for lens distortions, such as that produced by so-called “fisheye” lenses. In these cases a different least squares solution would be used, and appropriate changes would be made to the pose element 1500 , the compose module 1505 , the normal tensor module 1510 , the map module 1520 , the rotate module 1530 , the sums module 1535 , and the solve module 1540 . The image dipole 1515 , field module 1525 , evaluate module 1545 , and field dipole evaluation module 1550 need not change.
In other arrangements, the least squares method can be replaced with other well-known methods for fitting data. In such arrangements, appropriate changes might be made to the rotate module 1530 , the sums module 1535 , and the solve module 1540 . Alternatively, one or more of these modules might be replaced by different modules that are required for the fitting method to be used.
In still other arrangements, a non-analytic mapping between points in the image and points in the pattern, such as a 2-dimensional lookup table with interpolation, may be used. In such an arrangement, the pose 1500 is a lookup table mapping image points to pattern points, and the map module 1520 does the lookup and interpolation. The field module 1525 and evaluate module 1545 can be used without modification. The compose module 1505 , normal tensor module 1510 , rotate module 1530 , sums module 1535 , and solve module 1540 are not used. Instead, an intermediate lookup table is produced as follows. For every image dipole 1515 , an entry is made in the intermediate lookup table by adding the force vector obtained from the field module 1525 to the mapped position from map module 1520 . Along with this field-corrected position, the weight obtained from the evaluate module 1545 is also stored in the intermediate table entry.
The intermediate table thus produced may be sparse, in that many points will not have been filled in, and it may have errors caused by the occasional unreliable image dipole. It can be used, however, to produce a new pose 1500 by applying a smoothness constraint. For example, each element of the new pose can be determined by a weighted mean or median of some neighborhood of corresponding elements of the intermediate table. Other methods for using smoothness as a constraint are well-known in the machine vision literature.
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 above description is not intended to limit the invention, except as indicated in the following claims.
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A method and apparatus are provided for rapidly refining a given approximate location of a pattern to produce a more accurate location. The invention employs a multi-dimensional space that includes translation, orientation, and scale. The invention can serve as a replacement for the fine resolution phase of any coarse-fine system for pattern location. Patterns and images are represented by a feature-based description that can be translated, rotated, and scaled to arbitrary precision much faster than digital image re-sampling, and without pixel grid quantization errors. Thus, accuracy is not limited by the ability of a grid to represent small changes in position, orientation, or size (or other degrees of freedom). The invention determines an accurate object pose from an approximate starting pose in a small, fixed number of increments that is independent of the number of dimensions of the space, and independent of the distance between the starting and final poses, provided that the starting pose is within the “capture range” of the true pose. Thus, accuracy need not be sacrificed to keep execution time acceptable for practical applications. Specifying locations in four or more dimensions will often result in better matches between the pattern and image than two-dimensional location systems, thereby improving accuracy. Accuracy is not degraded if some portion of the object is missing or occluded, or if unexpected extra features are present.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a divisional of Ser. No. 08/852,719, filed May 7, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,028, which is a divisional of Ser. No. 08/256,622, filed Jul. 27, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,670,455, which was filed under 371 from PCT/US92/11300, filed Dec. 30, 1992, which is a continuation in part of Ser. No. 07/827,788 filed Jan. 29, 1992, now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to certain substituted fused heterocyclic compounds which are useful as herbicides and their agriculturally suitable compositions as well as methods for their use as general or selective preemergent or postemergent herbicides or as plant growth regulants.
New compounds effective for controlling the growth of undesired vegetation are in constant demand. In the most common situation, such compounds are sought to selectively control the growth of weeds in useful crops such as cotton, rice, corn, wheat and soybeans, to name a few. Unchecked weed growth in such crops can cause significant losses, reducing profit to the farmer and increasing costs to the consumer. In other situations, herbicides are desired which will control all plant growth. Examples of areas in which complete control of all vegetation is desired are areas around railroad tracks, storage tanks and industrial storage areas. There are many products commercially available for these purposes, but the search continues for products which are more effective, less costly and environmentally safe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,165 discloses herbicidal compounds of the formula
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises novel compounds of Formula I, agriculturally suitable compositions containing them, and their method-of-use as preemergent and/or postemergent herbicides and/or plant growth regulants
wherein
Q is
G 1 is CR 1 or N;
G 2 is CR 4 or N;
A is C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl, C 2 -C 4 alkenyl, C 2 -C 4 alkynyl, OR 10 , SR 10 or halogen;
B is C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl, C 3 -C 4 alkenyl or C 3 -C 4 alkynyl;
A and B can be taken together as X—Y—Z to form a fused ring such that X is connected to nitrogen and Z is connected to carbon;
X is CHR 2 , CH 2 CH 2 or CR 2 ═CR 3 ;
Y is CHR 5 , CR 5 ═CR 6 , CHR 5 CHR 6 , NR 7 , O or S(O) n ;
Z is CHR 8 , CH 2 CH 2 , CR 8 ═CR 9 , NR 7 , O or S(O) n ;
n is O, 1 or 2;
R 1 and R 4 are independently halogen or CN;
R 2 , R 3 , R 5 , R 6 , R 8 and R 9 are independently H, halogen, C 1 -C 4 alkyl or C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl;
R 7 is H, C 1 -C 4 alkyl or C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl;
W is O or S;
R 10 is C 1 -C 4 alkyl or C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl;
R 11 is halogen;
R 12 is H, C 1 -C 8 alkyl, C 1 -C 8 ,haloalkyl, halogen, OH, OR 17 , SH, S(O) n R 17 , COR 17 , CO 2 R 17 , C(O)SR 17 , C(O)NR 19 R 20 , CHO, CR 19 ═NOR 26 , CH═CR 27 CO 2 R 17 , CH 2 CHR 27 CO 2 R 17 , CO 2 N═CR 21 R 22 , NO 2 , CN, NHSO 2 R 23 , NHSO 2 NHR 23 , NR 17 R 28 , NH 2 or phenyl optionally substituted with R 29 ;
R 13 is C 1 -C 2 alkyl, C 1 -C 2 haloalkyl, OCH 3 , SCH 3 , OCHF 2 , halogen, CN or NO 2 ;
R 14 is H, C 1 -C 3 alkyl or halogen;
R 15 is H, C 1 -C 3 alkyl, halogen, C 1 -C 3 haloalkyl, cyclopropyl, vinyl, C 2 alkynyl, CN, C(O)R 28 , CO 2 R 28 , C(O)NR 28 R 30 , CR 24 R 25 CN, CR 24 R 25 C(O)R 28 , CR 24 R 25 CO 2 R 28 , CR 24 R 25 C(O)NR 28 R 30 , CHR 24 OH, CHR 24 OC(O)R 28 or OCHR 24 OC(O)NR 28 R 30 ;
when Q is Q-2 or Q-6, R 14 and R 15 together with the carbon to which they are attached can be C═O;
R 16 is H, C 1 -C 6 alkyl, C 1 -C 6 haloalkyl, C 2 -C 6 alkoxyalkyl, C 3 -C 6 alkenyl, C 3 -C 6 alkynyl or
R 17 is C 1 -C 8 alkyl; C 3 -C 8 cycloalkyl; C 3 -C 8 alkenyl; C 3 -C 8 alkynyl; C 1 -C 8 haloalkyl; C 2 -C 8 alkoxyalkyl; C 2 -C 8 alkylthioalkyl; C 2 -C 8 alkylsulfinylalkyl; C 2 -C 8 alkylsulfonylalkyl, C 4 -C 8 alkoxyalkoxyalkyl; C 4 -C 8 cycloalkylalkyl; C 4 -C 8 alkenoxyalkyl; C 4 -C 8 alkynoxyalkyl; C 6 -C 8 cycloalkoxyalkyl; C 4 -C 8 alkenyloxyalkyl; C 4 -C 8 alkynyloxyalkyl; C 3 -C 8 haloalkoxyalkyl; C 4 -C 8 haloalkenoxyalkyl; C 4 -C 8 haloalkynoxyalkyl; C 6 -C 8 cycloalkylthioalkyl; C 4 -C 8 alkenylthioalkyl; C 4 -C 8 alkynylthioalkyl; C 1 -C 4 alkyl substituted with phenoxy or benzyloxy, each ring optionally substituted with halogen, C 1 -C 3 alkyl or C 1 -C 3 haloalkyl; C 4 -C 8 trialkylsilylalkyl; C 3 -C 8 cyanoalkyl; C 3 -C 8 halocycloalkyl; C 3 -C 8 haloalkenyl; C 5 -C 8 alkoxyalkenyl; C 5 -C 8 haloalkoxyalkenyl; C 5 -C 8 alkylthioalkenyl; C 3 -C 8 haloalkynyl; C 5 -C 8 alkoxyalkynyl; C 5 -C 8 haloalkoxyalkynyl; C 5 -C 8 alkylthioalkynyl; C 2 -C 8 alkyl carbonyl; benzyl optionally substituted with halogen, C 1 -C 3 alkyl or C 1 -C 3 haloalkyl; CHR 24 COR 18 ; CHR 24 P(O) (OR 18 ) 2 ; CHR 24 P(S) (OR 18 ) 2 ; CHR 24 C(O)NR 19 R 20 ; CHR 24 C(O)NH 2 ; CHR 24 CO 2 R 18 ;
CO 2 R 18 ; SO 2 R 18 ; phenyl optionally substituted with R 29 ;
R 18 is C 1 -C 6 alkyl, C 1 -C 6 haloalkyl, C 3 -C 6 alkenyl or C 3 -C 6 alkynyl;
R 19 and R 21 are independently H or C 1 -C 4 alkyl;
R 20 and R 22 are independently C 1 -C 4 alkyl or phenyl optionally substituted with halogen, C 1 -C 3 alkyl or C 1 -C 3 haloalkyl;
R 19 and R 20 may be taken together as —(CH 2 ) 5 —, —(CH 2 ) 4 — or —CH 2 CH 2 OCH 2 CH 2 —, each ring optionally substituted with C 1 -C 3 alkyl, phenyl or benzyl;
R 21 and R 22 may be taken together with the carbon to which they are attached to form C 3 -C 8 cycloalkyl;
R 23 is C 1 -C 4 alkyl or C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl;
R 24 and R 25 are independently H or C 1 -C 4 alkyl;
R 26 is H, C 1 -C 6 alkyl, C 3 -C 6 alkenyl or C 3 -C 6 alkynyl;
R 27 is H, C 1 -C 4 alkyl or halogen;
R 28 and R 30 are independently H or C 1 -C 4 alkyl; and
R 29 is C 1 -C 2 alkyl, C 1 -C 2 haloalkyl, OCH 3 , SCH 3 , OCHF 2 , halogen, CN or NO 2 ;
and their corresponding N-oxides and agriculturally suitable salts provided that
1) the sum of X, Y, and Z is no greater than 5 atoms in length and only one of Y and Z can be other than a carbon containing link;
2) when A and B are other than taken together as X—Y—Z then G 1 is N and G 2 is CR 4 ;
3) when R 12 is CO 2 R 17 , C(O)SR 17 , CH═CR 27 CO 2 R 17 or CH 2 CHR 27 CO 2 R 17 then R 17 is other than C 1 haloalkyl and when R 17 is CHR 24 CO 2 R 18 or CO 2 R 18 then R 18 is other than C 1 haloalkyl; and
4) when G 1 is N then G 2 is CR 4 , and when G 2 is N then G 1 is CR 1 .
In the above definitions, the term “alkyl”, used either alone or in compound words such as “alkylthio” or “haloalkyl”, includes straight chain or branched alkyl, e.g., methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl or the different butyl isomers. Alkoxy includes methoxy, ethoxy, n-propyloxy, isopropyloxy, the different butoxy isomers, etc. Alkenyl and alkynyl include straight chain or branched alkenes and alkynes, e.g., 1-propenyl, 2-propenyl, 3-propenyl and the different butenyl isomers. Cycloalkyl includes cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, etc. The term “halogen”, either alone or in compound words such as “haloalkyl”, means fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine. Further, when used in compound words such as “haloalkyl” said alkyl may be partially or fully substituted with halogen atoms, which may be the same or different. Examples of haloalkyl include CH 2 CH 2 F, CF 2 CF 3 and CH 2 CHFCl.
The compounds of the invention preferred for reasons including ease of synthesis and/or greater herbicidal efficacy are:
1) Compounds of Formula I wherein R 2 , R 3 , R 5 , R 6 , R 8 and R 9 are independently H, F, CH 3 or CF 3 .
2) Compounds of Preferred 1 wherein
R 12 is H, OR 17 , SR 17 or CO 2 R 17 ;
R 13 is halogen or CN.
3) Compounds of Preferred 2 wherein
Q is Q-1, Q-2, Q-4 or Q-5;
A and B are taken together as X—Y—Z;
X is CHR 2 ;
Y is CHR 5 or CHR 5 CHR 6 ;
Z is CHR 8 ;
R 2 , R 3 , R 5 , R 6 , R 8 and R 9 are independently H or F;
R 17 is C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 3 -C 4 alkenyl, C 3 -C 4
alkynyl, C 2 -C 4 alkoxyalkyl, C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl,
C 3 -C 4 haloalkenyl or C 3 -C 4 haloalkynyl.
4) Compounds of Formula I wherein G 1 is N.
5) Compounds of Formula I wherein G 2 is N.
The compounds of the invention specifically preferred for reasons of greatest ease of synthesis and/or greatest herbicidal efficacy are the compounds of Preferred 3 which are:
3-bromo-2-[4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-(2-propynyloxy)-phenyl]-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine;
3-chloro-2-[4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-(2-propynyloxy)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine; and
6-(3-chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridin-2-yl)-7-fluoro-4-(1-methyl-2-propynyl)-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one.
Another embodiment of the invention is an agriculturally suitable composition for controlling the growth of undesired vegetation comprising an effective amount of a compound of Formula I with the substituents as defined above.
A further embodiment of the invention is a method for controlling the growth of undesired vegetation which comprises applying to the locus to be protected an effective amount of a compound of Formula I with the substituents as defined above.
Compounds of Formula I may exist as one or more stereoisomers. The various stereoisomers include enantiomers, diastereomers and geometric isomers. One skilled in the art will appreciate that one stereoisomer may be the more active. One skilled in the art knows how to separate said enantiomers, diasteriomers and geometric isomers. Accordingly, the present invention comprises racemic mixtures, individual stereoisomers, and optically active mixtures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Synthesis
By using one or more of the reactions and techniques described in Schemes 1-18 of this section as well as by following the specific procedures given in Examples 1-20, compounds of General Formula I can be prepared.
Compounds of Formula Ia, where Q, X, Y, and Z are defined as above, can be prepared by the method in Scheme 1. Reaction of an aminoheterocycle of Formula II with an alpha-bromo or chloroketone of Formula III in a solvent such as acetonitrile or methanol at room temperature or by heating followed by neutralization with a base such as saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate affords compounds of Formula Ia. Aminoheterocycles of Formula II are known and can be commercially purchased in some cases.
Halogenation of compounds of Formula Ia with halogenating agents such as N-halosuccinimides or bromine affords compounds of Formula Ib (where R 1 is halogen). Treatment of compounds of Formula Ia with Vilsmeier Reagent (phosphorous oxychloride, N,N-dimethylformamide) gives aldehyde adducts (of Formula Ib where R 1 is a formyl group) which can be condensed with hydroxylamine hydrochloride to give oxime intermediates (Ib where R 1 is C═NOH) which in turn can be heated in phosphorous oxychloride to yield cyano substituted analogs of Formula Ic.
The alpha-bromo and chloroketone of Formula III can be made by the methods summarized in Scheme 2. Carboxylic acids of Formula IV can be treated with thionyl chloride to give an acid chloride which in turn is allowed to react with Grignard reagent of Formula MeMgBr or MeMgCl or with methyl lithium to furnish ketone intermediates of Formula V. Lithiation of arylhalides of Formula VI followed by treatment with reagents of formula MeCOL (where L represents a leaving group such as halogen, dialkylamine, or alkoxide) gives ketones V as well. By the method of Beech [ J. Chem. Soc. 1297 (1954)], ketones of Formula V can also be prepared from arylamines of Formula VII by diazotization followed by reaction of the generated diazonium salt with acetaldehyde oxime (MeCH═NOH) and hydrolysis. The starting materials IV, VI, and VII are known and can be commercially obtained in some cases.
An alternative and more specific method for preparing tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine intermediates of Formula Id where R 2 , R 5 , R 6 , R 8 , and Q are defined as above (except when R 16 or R 17 on Q is an unsaturated group) is shown in Scheme 3. Heating 2-aminopyridines of Formula VIII with an alpha-bromo or chloroketone of Formula III followed by neutralization with saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate gives imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines of Formula IX. Catalytic hydrogenation of imidazopyridines IX with a transition metal catalyst such as platinum oxide affords the tetrahydro analogs Id. Use of 2-aminothiazoles, 2-aminoxazoles, 2-aminopyrimidines, 2-aminopyridazines, and 2-aminopyrazines in place of the 2-aminopyridine starting materials in Scheme 3 and following this same method of synthesis also gives compounds of Formula Ia where X, Y, and Z are heteroatoms.
Tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines of Formula Ib or Id where R 16 or R 17 on Q is methyl or benzyl can be deprotected with borontribromide to give dealkylated intermediates (where R 16 and R 17 are hydrogen) which on realkylation with alkenyl or alkynyl halides give compounds of Formula Ib or Id where R 16 or R 17 represents an alkenyl or alkynyl moiety.
Intermediate imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines of Formula IX can also be made by the route shown in Scheme 4. Condensing aminopyridines of Formula X with bromoacetic acid followed by heating the obtained condensation adducts with phosphorous oxybromide gives 2-bromoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines of Formula XI. Palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings [using bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(II) chloride or tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0)] of these bromoimidazopyridines with boronic acids of formula QB(OH) 2 in a solvent such as glyme in the presence of base such as aqueous sodium bicarbonate yields imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines of Formula IX.
Dihydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines of Formula Ie and If can be synthesized by the chemistry shown in Scheme 5. Warming tetrahydroimidazopyridines of Formula Id with an excess of N-halosuccinimides (2.0-2.5 equivalents) in dimethylformamide at 60-100° C. produces Ie and If.
Scheme 6 illustrates the preparation of imidazoles of Formula Ig where R 1 is halogen, and Q, A, and B are as previously defined. Amidines, isoureas, and isothioureas of Formula XII can be heated with alpha-bromo and chloroketones of Formula III, or with a corresponding alpha-hydroxyketone, in a solvent such as ethanol or dimethylformamide to give, after neutralization with a base such as aqueous saturated sodium bicarbonate, intermediates of Formula XIII. Alkylation of intermediates of Formula XIII with alkylating agents of Formula BL 1 (where L 1 is a leaving group) affords imidazoles of Formula XIV which on halogenation gives 5-haloimidazoles of Formula Ig where R 1 is halogen. Halogenation of compounds of Formula XIV where A is hydrogen with an excess of the halogenating reagent produces imidazoles of Formula Ig where both A and R 1 is halogen.
An alternative method of preparing compounds of Formula XIV is shown in Scheme 7. Palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings [using for example bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(II) chloride or tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0)] of 4-bromoimidazoles of Formula XV with boronic acids of Formula QB(OH) 2 in a solvent such as glyme in the presence of base such as aqueous sodium bicarbonate yields compounds of Formula XIV. Bromoimidazoles of Formula XV can be prepared by established methods.
Salts (e.g., hydrochlorides and N-oxides) of I and II can be made by reaction of the free bases with an appropriate acid or oxidizing agent such as meta-chlorperoxybenzoic acid.
Scheme 8 describes how compounds of Formula I (where G 2 ═N, G 1 ═CR 1 and A and B are X—Y—Z) can be made by the reaction of sydnones of Formula XVI with appropriately substituted alkynes XVII. The reaction takes place at elevated temperatures generally between 80° C. and 200° C. The reaction may be performed in a variety of solvents with aromatic hydrocarbons such as xylenes being preferred.
Scheme 9 describes how compounds of Formula I can be made by the reaction of sydnones with appropriately substituted alkenes XVIII. The initial product of the reaction is a dihydro aromatic compound. Often this is converted directly to the desired structure (Ih) in situ. It is also possible to include an oxidant such as chloranil or other mild oxidizing agent in the reaction mixture so as to make the aromatization process more facile (this has been shown with simpler sydnones: Huisgen et al.; Chem. Ber. 1968, 101, 829). The conditions for the reaction are as described above. The sydnones used in the above-mentioned processes can be made using procedures known in the art. (see S. D. Larsen and E. Martinborough, Tet. Lett. 1989, 4625) The chemistry of bicyclic sydnones has been reviewed (see Kevin Potts in “1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Chemistry”, Volume II, pages 50-57; A. Padwa editor, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1984).
Scheme 10 describes an alternative synthesis of compounds of the invention by the photochemical cycloaddition of alkynyl substituted tetrazoles (XIX). The reaction can be performed in a variety of solvents, but is preferably carried out in inert solvents such as benzene or toluene. The reaction must be carried out in a vessel that allows the passage of light at wavelengths between 250 and 300 nm such as those made from quartz or vycor. The photolysis is preferably performed with a high pressure mercury arc lamp or other lamp which produces light above 250 nm. The reaction is carried out at room temperature or above.
Scheme 11 describes how the tetrazoles XIX are made by alkylation of the free tetrazole XX with a halide or sulfonate in the presence of an acid acceptor or base. Many different bases such as alkali carbonates, hydroxides or hydrides are suitable. A variety of solvents can be used, but solvents of high polarity such as dimethylformamide or dimethyl acetamide are preferred. Tetrazoles XX can also be alkylated with alcohols XXI using the Mitsonobu reaction with a phosphine and a diazodicarboxylate. There are many different solvents and conditions that can be used. (See O. Mitsonobu, Synthesis, 1981, 1) Especially useful conditions for the instant invention include carrying out the reaction in tetrahydrofuran with diethyl azodicarboxylate and triphenylphosphine. Under these conditions the desired 3-alkynyl tetrazole (V) is produced predominantly.
Scheme 12 describes how compounds of the instant invention (Ih or Ij, R 1 ═H) can be converted to other compounds of the present invention (Ih or Ij, R 1 ═Cl or Br) by reaction with halogenating agents. The reaction may be carried out with elemental halogens and also with N-halosuccinimides. The reaction with N-halosuccinimides gives particularly good results when conducted in dipolar aprotic solvents such as dimethylformamide.
Scheme 13 shows how compounds of Formula Ih can also be prepared by coupling compounds of Formula Ih, Q═SnR 3 , with aryl halides or sulfonates (XXVII) in the presence of palladium catalysts such as those described in Scheme 7. For an example of this type of coupling with monocyclic pyrazoles, see Yamanaka et al., Heterocycles, 33, 813-818 (1992). Compounds of Formula Ih, Q═SnR 3 , can be made by sydnone cycloaddition as described in Scheme 8 using stannylated acetylenes.
As shown in Scheme 14 some compounds of formula Ii where G 2 ═N can be prepared by catalytic hydrogenation of compounds of Formula XXIII. The conditions are those disclosed in Scheme 3. Compounds of Formula XXIII can be prepared by cyclization of N-aminopicoline salts (XXI) with acid chlorides (XXII). The reaction is best performed in the presence of a base, preferably an amine base. Specifically preferred conditions are to run the reaction at elevated temperature (50-80° C.) in the amine base, such as pyridine, as solvent (see Potts et al., J. Org. Chem., 33, 3767-3770 (1969).
Scheme 15 describes how other compounds of the invention (Ij) can be obtained by the reaction of Munchnones (reactive mesoionic intermediates) with acetylenes (III). The Munchnones are prepared in the presence of the dipolarphile by dehydrating N-acyl-aminoacids (XXIV). The cycloaddition reaction occurs at elevated temperatures, generally between 50° C. and 160° C. Dehydrating agents such as acetic anhydride are very useful in this process. Other reagents and conditions for generating Munchnones have been described by Huisgen et al., Chem. Ber., 1970, 103, 2315.
Scheme 16 describes how munchnones can also be made by the reaction of imides of structure (XXV) and a dehydrating agent in the presence of the alkene or alkyne. Many dehydrating reagents can be used. If the reagent used is acetic anhydride, it is convenient to use it as the solvent of the reaction. If a reagent such as a dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) is used, aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, or xylenes are preferred as solvents. The reaction is generally carried out at elevated temperature from 50° C. to 180° C. The chemistry of the bicyclic munchnones has been reviewed by Kevin Potts in “1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Chemistry”, Volume II, pages 41-49 (A. Padwa editor, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1984).
The alkenes and alkynes (XVII and XVIII) are often commercially available. Scheme 7 describes how a generally useful method of synthesis is to couple aryl bromides and iodides (XXVII) with alkenes and alkynes in the presence of palladium catalysts. Appropriate catalysts and conditions are described in detail by Heck in “Palladium Reagents in Organic Syntheses”, Academic Press, New York, 1985. The aryl halides (XXVII) used for the instant invention are either commercially available or synthesized via diazotization of known arylamines (XXVI). Suitable conditions for diazotization of arylamines (XXVI) and their conversion to aryl halides (XXVII) can be found in Furniss et al, “Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry, Fifth Edition”, Longman Scientific and Technical, Essex, England, pages 922-946. There are many other known methods to incorporate iodine into aromatic molecules (see, Merkushev, Synthesis, 9213-937 (1988).
Compounds of Formula Ik where R 12 ═OH can serve as intermediates for the synthesis of compounds of Formula I containing many different R 12 substituents. Scheme 18 shows some, but not all of the more useful transformations. In addition to well known alkylation and acylation chemistry, through the intermediacy of the triflate Il(R 12 ═OSO 2 CF 3 ) a wide variety of R 12 substituents can be introduced. To form esters (Im) (R 12 ═CO 2 R 17 )Il may be reacted with carbon monoxide and an alcohol in the presence of a suitable palladium catalyst (see Chem. Comm. 1987, 904-905). To form alkenes (In) the triflates (Il) may be reacted with an alkene in the presence of a palladium catalyst (see Heterocycles, 26, 355-358 (1987)). Ketones (Ip) may be formed by reaction of enol ethers under similar conditions (see J. Org. Chem., 57, 1481-1486 (1992)). Aryl groups (Iq) can be introduced by reaction of aryl boronic acids ArB(OH)2 with palladium catalysts (see Tetrahedron Lett., 32, 2273-2276 (1991) and references cited therein)). Alkyl groups (Ir) may be introduced by nickel or palladium catalyzed reaction with grignard reagents (see, J. Org. Chem., 57, 4066-4068 (1992) and references cited therein).
The preparation of the compounds of this invention is further illustrated by the following specific examples.
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation of 2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
A mixture of 8.4 g (89.2 mmol) 2-aminopyridine and 20.1 g (89.9 mmol) of 2,2′,4′-trichloroacetophenone in 300 ml of ethanol was heated at reflux with stirring for 14 h. At this point, another 5.0 g (22.4 mmol) of 2,2′, 4′-trichloroacetophenone was added and the reaction mixture heated an additional 6 h. Ethyl acetate (400 ml) and excess saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate were slowly added. After thorough mixing, the ethyl acetate layer was separated and washed with two fold excess water, saturated brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating the solvent in vacuo to almost dryness gave a wet solid residue to which n-butyl chloride was added. This solid was filtered and washed thoroughly with n-butyl chloride before drying. A yield of 9.0 g of the title compound was obtained (m.p. 173-175° C.) as a technical material which was not purified further but used directly in the next step.
EXAMPLE 2
Preparation of 2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
To 4.5 g (17.1 mmol) of the above 2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine in a Paar bottle, 100 ml of ethanol, 1.5 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid, and 0.4 g of platinum oxide were added. This mixture was placed on a Paar hydrogenator at 45 psi of hydrogen at room temperature for 15 minutes. Thin layer chromatography revealed that the reaction was complete. The mixture was filtered through celite and washed with 300 ml of ethyl acetate. To the filtrate, excess saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate was slowly added. The ethyl acetate layer was separated, washed with saturated brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating the solvent in vacuo gave a solid residue to which n-butyl chloride was added. The solid was filtered, washed with n-butyl chloride, and dried to give 1.2 g of the title compound (m.p. 134-136° C.). The filtrate was also concentrated in vacuo to give a sludge which on silica gel chromatography (5:1 followed by 3:1 followed in turn by 1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) afforded another 2.1 g of the title compound.
EXAMPLE 3
Preparation of 3-bromo-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
To 0.8 g (3.0 mmol) of the above 2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine stirring in 50 ml of methylene chloride at room temperature, 0.5 g (3.1 mmol) of bromine in 5 ml of methylene chloride was added dropwise. The solution was stirred for 2 h. Another 20 ml of methylene chloride and excess saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate were added. After sufficient mixing, the methylene chloride layer was separated, washed with water and brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating the solvent in vacuo gave a yellow solid residue which was purified by silica gel column chromatography (5:1 followed by 3:1 followed in turn by 1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) to yield a 0.55 g sample of the title compound (m.p. 112-113° C.).
EXAMPLE 4
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
A mixture of 1.0 g (3.7 mmol) of 2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine and 0.6 g (4.5 mmol) of N-chlorosuccinimide was stirred in 15 ml of dimethylformamide at room temperature overnight followed by heating at 70° C. for 20 minutes. An excess of water was added and the aqueous mixture extracted with 200 ml of ethyl acetate. The separated organic layer layer was washed with water, saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate, and brine. After drying over magnesium sulfate, the solvent was removed in vacuo to give a oily residue. Silica gel column chromatography (3:1 followed by 1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate followed in turn by 2:1 ethyl acetate/hexane) afforded the title compound as the main component (0.65 g, m.p. 99-101° C.).
EXAMPLE 5
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,8-dihydroimidazopyridine and 3-chloro-2-(2,4-diphenylphenyl)-5,6-dihydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
A mixture of 1.1 g (4.1 mmol) of 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine and 1.0 g (7.5 mmol) of N-chlorosuccinimide was stirred in 15 ml of dimethylformamide at room temperature overnight followed by heating at 60° C. for 45 minutes. At this point, another 0.5 g (3.7 mmol) of N-chlorosuccinimide was added and the reaction mixture heated at 60° C. for an additional 30 minutes. A mixture of components were observed by thin layer chromatography. The two main components were isolated by silica gel column chromato-graphy (5:1 followed by 3:1 followed in turn by 1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate). The first to elute was isolated as an oil (0.7 g) and identified as 3-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,8-dihydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine. NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz), δ: 2.30-2.47 (m, 1H), 2.85-3.10 (m, 1H), 4.00-4.47 (m, 2H), 4.73 (broad s, 1H), 5.38 (broad s, 1H), 7.28-7.57 (m, 3H).
The second main component to elute was isolated as a solid (150 mg) and identified as 3-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6-dihydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine (m.p. 104-105° C.).
EXAMPLE 6
Preparation of 5-bromo-6-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2,3-dihydroimidazo[2,1-b]thiazole
Step A
2-Aminothiazoline (4.7 g) and 2,2′,4′-trichloro-acetophenone (6.0 g) were dissolved in ethanol (50 ml) and treated with sodium acetate (5.0 g). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 1 h and then heated to reflux for 3.5 h. The cooled reaction mixture was evaporated to dryness and partitioned between water and methylene chloride. The organic layer was dried and evaporated. The residue was chromatographed on silica gel with hexanes/ethyl acetate (5:1-3:1) as eluent. The product was isolated as a yellow solid (m.p. 110-112° C.); NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz) δ: 8.0 (1H), 7.7 (1H), 7.3 (m, 2H), 4.1 (m, 2H), 3.8 (m, 2H).
Step B
The 6-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2,3-dihydroimidazo[2,1-b]thiazole (0.6 g) prepared above and N-bromosuccinimide (0.45 g) were dissolved in dimethylformamide (5 ml). The mixture was heated to reflux and stirred for 18 h at room temperature. The mixture was diluted with water (60 ml) and allowed to crystallize. The liquid was decanted and the residue was dissolved in methylene chloride and dried with magnesium sulfate. The organic residue was chromatographed on silica gel with hexanes/ethyl acetate (3:1) as eluent to give the desired product as a solid (m.p. 200-202° C.); NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz) δ: 7.4-7.2 (3H), 4.2 (m, 2H), 3.9 (m, 2H).
EXAMPLE 7
Preparation of 2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-methoxyphenyl)-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
Step A
By a known method [ Chem. Ber. 57, 1381 (1924)], solid potassium carbonate (24 g, 174 mmol) was added portionwise to a solution of 30 g (319 mmol) of chloroacetic acid stirring in 150 ml of water until efferescence ceased. A 30 g (102 mmol) sample of 2-aminopyridine was added and the reaction mixture heated at reflux for 8 h. After standing overnight, the solid that precipitated was filtered, washed with a minimal amount of water, and oven dried (yield: 14.0 g, m.p. 247-254° C. dec.).
To 7.0 g of the above dried solid stirring as a suspension in xylene, 50 g of phosphorous oxybromide was added and the stirred mixture heated at reflux for 1.5 h. On heating, a thick grey precipitate gradually resulted and stirring became difficult. The reaction mixture was quenched with ice/water followed by neutralization with aqueous sodium hydroxide. The dark aqueous mixture was extracted with 300 ml of ethyl acetate which was separated and washed with water, brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave a dark oily residue which was flash chromatographed on silice gel (1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) to give 3.9 g of 2-bromoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine (m.p. 83-85° C.)
Step B
To 2.0 g (7.0 mmol) of 2-chloro-4-fluoro-5-iodo-anisole (made from the compound of Example 11, Step A by methylation) stirring in 30 ml of diethyl ether at −78° C., 4.8 ml (7.7 mmol) of 1.6M n-butyl lithium was added dropwise (keeping the temperature below −69° C.). After stirring 0.5 h, 0.91 ml (8.0 mmol) of trimethyl borate in 15 ml of diethyl ether was added dropwise and the reaction mixture stirred 3 h before allowing to warm to room temperature. Slowly, 1N aqueous hydrogen chloride was added and the resulting biphase system stirred 1 h. The separated aqueous phase was separated and washed with an additional 30 ml of diethyl ether. Combined organic layers were washed with brine and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave a white solid which was suspended in hexane, filtered, and dried to afford 0.86 g of a technical sample of 4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-methoxyphenylboronic acid (m.p. 280-296° C.).
Step C
A mixture of 0.8 g (4.1 mmol) of 2-bromoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, 0.8 g (4.2 mmol) of 4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-methoxyphenylboronic acid, and 0.2 g (0.28 mmol) of bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(II) chloride were heated in 30 ml of glyme at reflux for 2 h. The reaction mixture was partitioned between 250 ml of ethyl acetate and 100 ml of water and the separated organic layer washed with brine and dried over magnesium sulfate. On evaporating in vacuo, the remaining residue was flash chromatographed on silice gel (1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) to afford 0.7 g of the title compound (m.p. 139-141° C.). NMR (CDCl 3 , 400 MHz); δ4.03 (s, 3H), 6.81 (t, 1H), 7.21 (m, 2H), 8.63 (d, 1H), 7.92 (d, 1H), 8.04 (s, 1H), 8.14 (d, 1H).
EXAMPLE 8
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-methoxyphenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
Step A
A mixture of 1.05 g (3.8 mmol) of 2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-methoxy)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, 3 ml of conc. hydrochloric acid, and a catalytic amount of platinum oxide in 85 ml of ethanol was shaken on a paar hydrogenator at 45 psi at room temperature for 45 minutes. The reaction mixture was filtered through celite and the filtrate concentrated in vacuo. An excess of saturated sodium bicarbonate and 250 ml of ethyl acetate were added. The separated organic extract was washed with water, brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave 1.2 g of solid which was taken directly to the next step.
Step B
To 1.2 g of the above solid prepared in Step A stirring in 40 ml of N,N-dimethylformamide, 0.48 g (3.6 mmol) of N-chlorosuccinimide was added and the mixture heated at 63° C. for 6 h. The reaction mixture was partitioned between excess water and 125 ml of ethyl acetate. The organic layer was separated and washed with water (3×), brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave a dark brown oil which was flash chromatographed on silica gel (10:1-1:1-1:3 hexane/ethyl acetate) to afford the main component as an oil. The title compound crystallized as a white solid on addition of hexane (yield: 0.7 g, m.p. 132-134° C.). NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz): δ2.02 (m, 4H), 2.93 (t, 2H), 3.92 (broad s, 5H), 7.18, 7.22 (dd, 2H).
EXAMPLE 9
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-[4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-(2-propynoxy)phenyl]-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
Step A
At 0° C., 5.0 ml of 1.0M boron tribromide in dichloromethane was added dropwise to a solution of 0.7 g (2.2 mmol) of 3-chloro-2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-methoxy)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine stirring in 25 ml of dichloromethane. After the addition, the reaction mixture was allowed to warm to room temperature and stirred 1.5 h. Water (10 ml) was slowly added and the resulting thick suspension concentrated in vacuo. Diethyl ether (15 ml) was added and the solid filtered and washed with water/diethyl ether followed by drying. This solid was taken directly to the next step.
Step B
To the above solid prepared in Step A and 3.5 g (25.4 mmol) of potassium carbonate stirring in 20 ml of N,N-dimethylformamide, 3.5 ml of propargyl chloride were added and the mixture heated at 60-70° C. for 2 h. The reaction mixture was partitioned between 200 ml of ethyl acetate and 125 ml of water. The organic layer was separated and washed with water (2×), brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave an oily solid residue which was flash chromatographed on silica gel (1:1 ethyl acetate/hexane) to afford 0.5 g the title compound as a white solid (m.p. 142-145° C.). NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz): δ1.96 (m, 2H), 2.05 (m, 2H), 2.54 (broad s, 1H), 2.91 (t, 2H), 3.90 (t, 2H), 4.79 (s, 2H), 7.20 (d, 1H), 7.31 (d, 1H).
EXAMPLE 10
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(2,4-dichloro-5-nitrophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine
A 1.1 g (3.85 mmol) sample of 3-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine was added to 8.0 ml of a 1:1 mixture of concentrated sulfuric/nitric acid at 0° C. The reaction mixture was stirred at 0° C. for 20 minutes followed by warming to 20° C. After pouring the reaction mixture onto ice/water, the resulting aqueous mixture was extracted with 400 ml of ethyl acetate. The separated organic layer was washed with water, brine, and dried over magnesium sulfate. The yellow oily solid residue obtained after evaporating in vacuo was flash chromatographed on silica gel (1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) to provide 0.8 g of the title compound as a yellow solid (m.p. 111-112° C.). NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz): δ1.95 (m, 2H), 2.05 (m, 2H), 2.91 (t, 2H), 3.92 (t, 2H), 7.66 (s, 1H), 8.09 (s, 1H).
EXAMPLE 11
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine
Step A: 2-Chloro-4-fluoro-5-iodophenol
5-Amino-2-chloro-4-fluorophenol (35 g, previously crystallized from ethyl acetate) was treated with 165 ml of aqueous HCl (6N) and stirred mechanically in a 2 liter flask. The mixture was cooled to 5° C. and treated dropwise with a solution of sodium nitrite (16.6 g) in 80 ml of water while keeping the temperature below 10° C. The mixture was treated dropwise with aqueous potassium iodide (41 g in 100 ml of water). The addition is accompanied by foaming and control of stirring is maintained by the addition of cold water (200 ml) during the course of the iodide addition. The mixture was allowed to come to room temperature and stirred for 1 h. The dark mixture was extracted with ether and washed with sodium thiosulfate sodium. The ether extract was subjected to silica gel chromatography in hexanes/ethyl acetate (15:1) to give a yellow oil (39.8 g).
Step B: 2-Chloro-4-fluoro-5-ethynylphenol
The product from Step A (39 g) was dissolved in triethylamine (200 ml) and treated with trimethylsilylacetylene (26 ml), dichlorobis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (1.95 g) and copper iodide (0.6 g). The reaction slowly heats up and a precipitate forms. After stirring for 2 h the triethylamine is removed by evaporation at reduced pressure. The residue is partitioned between saturated ammonium chloride and ether. The ether phase was dried over magnesium sulfate and the ether evaporated. The residue was dissolved in methanol (200 ml) and treated with potassium hydroxide (10 g). The black mixture was stirred for 45 minutes and the volatiles were removed by evaporation at reduced pressure. The residue was partitioned between aqueous hydrochloric acid (1N) and ether. The ether layer was dried over magnesium sulfate and subjected to silica gel chromatography with hexanes/ethyl acetate (15:1) to give the desired product (13.4 g). NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.1 (2H, ArH), 5.3 (1H, OH), 3.3 (1H, CH).
Step C: 2-(4-Chloro-2-fluoro-5-hydroxyphenyl)-4, 5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo 8 1, 5-a]pyridine
The product of Step B (13 g) was dissolved in xylenes (250 ml) and treated with 1′,2′,3′,4′-tetrahydropyrido[1′,2′-3,4]sydnone (13 g, J. Chem. Soc., 3303 (1961))., The mixture was refluxed for 5.5 h, cooled, and the solvent was removed at reduced pressure. The residue was triturated with butyl chloride and a small amount of ethyl acetate to afford the product as a white solid (8.8 g), m.p.=218-220° C. NMR (DMSO-D 6 ): δ10.3 (1H, OH), 7.8 (1H, ArH), 7.3 (1H, ArH), 4.0 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.85 (2H, CH 2 pyrazole), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
Step D: 3-Chloro-2- (4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5,6, 7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine
The product from Step C (8.3 g) was dissolved in dimethylformamide (40 ml) and was treated with N-chlorosuccinimide (4.4 g). The mixture was heated and at 65° C. a color change from yellow to red occurred. Heating was discontinued and the reaction was allowed to stir at room temperature overnight. The reaction mixture was diluted with water and ice and the solid was filtered and washed with water. After air drying the solid was taken up in ethyl acetate and dried further with magnesium sulfate. The ethyl acetate was removed by evaporation at reduced pressure to afford the product as a slightly pink solid (9.2 g), m.p.=177-178° C. NMR (DMSO-D 6 ): δ8 10.2 (OH), 7.3 (1H) , 6. 9 (1H), 3.9 (2H), 2.6 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.7 (2H).
EXAMPLE 12
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-(2-propenyloxy) phenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine
The compound of Example 1 (0.7 g) was dissolved in dimethylformamide (7 ml) and treated successively with potassium carbonate (1 g) and allyl bromide (0.6 ml). The mixture was stirred for 24 h, diluted with water and filtered. The solid was air dried and then dissolved in dichloromethane and dried further with magnesium sulfate. Evaporation of the solvent afforded the product as a solid (0.7 g), m.p.=91-92° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.3-7.1 (2H, ArH), 6.1 (1H, CH═), 5.4 (2H, CH 2 ═), 4.5 (2H, CH 2 C═), 4.1 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 pyrazole), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
EXAMPLE 13
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-(trifluoromethanesulfonoxyphenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine
The compound of Example 1 (9.1 g) was dissolved in pyridine (80 ml) and cooled in a water bath. Trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride (9.9 g) was added dropwise and the reaction was stirred at room temperature overnight. The pyridine was evaporated at reduced pressure and the residue was partitioned between dichloromethane and aqueous HCl (1N). The aqueous phase was reextracted with dichloromethane and the combined organic layers were dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated. The product was an oil which solidified (10 g), m.p.=64-65° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.3 (1H, ArH), 7.2 (1H, ArH), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
EXAMPLE 14
Preparation of ethyl 2-chloro-5-(3-chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridin-2-yl)-4-fluorobenzoate
The compound from Example 3 (2.73 g) was dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (15 ml) and ethanol (4 ml) and treated with triethylamine (1.5 ml). To this solution was added bis(1,3-diphenylphosphinopropane) (0.13 g) and palladium acetate (0.12 g) and then carbon monoxide was bubbled through the solution for 2 minutes at room temperature. The mixture was then heated under a carbon monoxide atmosphere (balloon) at 65-70° C. for 3 h. The mixture was partitioned between dichloromethane and water. The dichloromethane was washed with water and dried over magnesium sulfate. After evaporation of the solvent under reduced pressure the residue was subjected to silica gel chromatography with hexanes/ethyl acetate (10:1). The product (1.6 g) was isolated as a solid, m.p.=72-73° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ8.1 (1H, ArH), 7.3 (1H, ArH), 4.4 (2H, CH 2 O), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.4 (3H, CH 3 ).
EXAMPLE 15
Preparation of 1-((2-chloro-5-(3-chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-2yl)-4-fluorophenyl))-ethanone
The compound of Example 3 (1.5 g) was dissolved in dimethylformamide (10 ml) and treated with butylvinylether (2.5 ml), triethylamine (1.5 ml), bis(1,3-diphenylphosphinopropane) (0.1 g) and palladium acetate (0.05 g). The reaction was heated to 80-90° C. for 2.5 h. The reaction was cooled and treated with ether and aqueous HCl (1N). The ether layer was dried, evaporated at reduced pressure, and subjected to silica gel chromatography with hexanes/ethyl acetate (4:1-2:1). The desired product was isolated as an oil which solidified (0.3 g), m.p.=108-109° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.9 (1H, ArH), 7.3 (1H, ArH), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.6 (3H, CH 3 ), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
EXAMPLE 16
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(6-chloro-4-fluoro-(1,1-biphenyl))-3-yl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine
The compound of Example 3 (1 g) was dissolved in dimethoxyethane (30 ml) and treated with phenylboronic acid (0.5 g), tetrakis(triphenylphosphine) palladium (0.2 g), and sodium carbonate (1 g in 5 ml of water). The mixture was heated at reflux for 4.5 h and then partitioned between water and dichloromethane. The organic layer was washed two times with water and then dried over magnesium sulfate and evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified by silica gel chromatography with butyl chloride/ethyl acetate (15:1). The product (0.53 g) was an oil which eventually solidified. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.6-7.2 (7H, ArH), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
EXAMPLE 17
Preparation of 3-chloro-2-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-5-(1-methyl-2-propynyloxy)phenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine
The product of Example 1 (0.75 g) and triphenylphosphine (0.7 g) were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (15 ml) and treated with 2-butynol (0.3 ml) and diethylazodicarboxylate (1.35 ml of 40% solution in toluene). The mixture was stirred at room temperature and evaporated directly onto silica gel and subjected to chromatography on silica gel in hexanes/ethyl acetate (4:1 to 2:1). The product was isolated as a solid (0.7 g), m.p.=116-120° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.4 (1H, ArH), 7.1 (1H, ArH), 4.9 (1H, OCH), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.5 (1H, CH), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ) 1.7 (3H, CH 3 ).
EXAMPLE 18
Preparation of 6-(3-chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo-[1,5-a]pyridin-2-yl-7-fluoro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one
Step A: 6-Iodo-7-fluoro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one
7-Fluoro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one (15.8 g) was mixed with iodine monochloride (15.6 g) in acetic acid (150 ml) and heated to reflux for 36 h. The cooled mixture was treated with saturated aqueous sodium bisulfite until the color was dissipated. The solid was filtered and washed well with water. The solid was air dried and dried further by dissolution in dimethylformamide (100 ml) and evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure to give the desired product (26.3 g) contaminated with some starting material. (The reaction can be taken to completion by addition of more iodine monochloride and refluxing for 24 h longer.) The crude product was used in Step B.
Step B: 6-Ethynyl-7-fluoro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one
The product of Step A (26.3 g) was converted to the desired compound (5.7 g) by following the procedures used in Step B of Example 11. Final purification was done by silica gel chromatography in hexanes/ethyl acetate 3:1 to 1:3), m.p.=224-228° C. (decomp). NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ10.8 (1H, NH), 6.9 (2H, ArH), 4.5 (2H, CH 2 ), 3.3 (1H, CH).
Step C: 6-(4,5,6,7-Tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridin-2-yl-7-fluoro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one
The compound of Step B (5 g) and 1′,2′,3′,4′-tetrahydropyrido[1′,2′-3,4]sydnone (5 g), following the procedure of Step C of Example 1 gave the desired product (5 g), m.p.=249-251° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ8.2 (1H, NH), 7.5 (1H, ArH), 6.8 (1H, ArH), 6.4 (1H, ArH), 4.6 (2H, OCH 2 N), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 N), 2.9 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
Step D: 6-(3-Chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-2-yl-7-fluoro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one
The compound of Step C (5 g) was converted with N-chlorosuccinimide (2.4 g) to the desired product (5.1 g) by the procedure of Example 11 Step D, m.p.=231-234° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ10.7 (1H, NH), 7.0 (2H, ArH), 4.7 (2H, OCH 2 N), 4.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.7 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
EXAMPLE 19
Preparation of 6-(3-chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo-[1,5-a]pyridin-2-yl-7-fluoro-4-2-propynyl)-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one
The compound of Example 18 (1 g) was dissolved in dimethylformamide (10 ml) and treated with sodium hydride (0.27 g, 60% in mineral oil) and then stirred for 30 min at room temperature. A solution of propargyl bromide (0.4 ml of 80% in toluene) was added and stirring was continued for an hour. The reaction was quenched by addition of water and the aqueous phase was extracted with ether and then ethyl acetate. The combined organic layers were washed with water 3 times and then dried with magnesium sulfate. The residue from the organic layer was subjected to silica gel chromatography with hexanes/ethyl acetate (5:1 to 1:1) to give the product as a solid (0.65 g), m.p.=140-141° C. NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ7.4 (1H, ArH), 6.9 (1H, ArH), 4.7 (4H, 2×CH 2 ), 4.2 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.8 (2H, CH 2 ), 2.4 (1H, CH), 2.1 (2H, CH 2 ), 1.9 (2H, CH 2 ).
EXAMPLE 20
Preparation of 5-Bromo-4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-difluoromethyl-2-methylimidazole
Step A
A mixture of 8.0 g (32.4 mmol) of 2-acetoxy-2′,4′-dichloroacetophenone and 23 ml of formamide was heated neat at reflux for 3.5 h. On cooling, the reaction mixture was partitioned between 300 ml of ethyl acetate and 300 ml of water. The separated organic layer was washed with water (2×) and brine and dried over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave a dark oily solid residue which was flash chromatographed on silica gel (100:5:2-75:5:2-methylene chloride/methanol/glacial acetic acid followed by 5:1 methylene chloride/methanol) to afford two solids. The first component to elute was 4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1H-imidazole (1.2 g, m.p. 130-136° C.) and the second was a crude sample of 4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-methyl-1H-imidazole (1.8 g, m.p. 185-190° C.).
Step B
To 1.7 g (7.5 mmol) of 4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-2-methyl-1H-imidazole stirring in a mixture of 75 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 8 ml of 50% aqueous sodium hydroxide at room temperature, 8 ml of condensed chlorodifluoromethane was added dropwise from a gas addition funnel. The reaction mixture was stirred at ambient temperature overnight. After partitioning between an excess of ethyl acetate and water, the organic layer was separated, washed with water (3×) and brine, dried over magnesium sulfate, and evaporated in vacuo. The resulting dark red oil was flash chromatographed on silica gel (10:1-5:1-3:1-1:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) to give 940 mg of slightly impure 4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-difluoromethyl-2-methylimidazole, obtained as an oily solid residue and taken directly to the next step.
Step C
Bromine (0.54 g, 3.1 mmol), in 7 ml of methylene chloride, was added dropwise to a solution of 0.9 g (3.2 mmol) of 4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-difluoromethyl-2-methylimidazole stirring in 35 ml of methylene chloride. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. Another 0.3 g of bromine, in 5 ml of methylene chloride, were added and the reaction stirred overnight. Methylene chloride (250 ml) and saturated sodium bicarbonate (200 ml) were added and the organic layer separated and washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate and brine followed by drying over magnesium sulfate. Evaporating in vacuo gave a red oil residue. Flash chromatography on silica gel (20:1-10:1-5:1-3:1 hexane/ethyl acetate) afforded 0.7 g of 5-bromo-4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-difluoromethyl-2-methylimidazole as a white solid (m.p. 81-83° C.). NMR (CDCl 3 , 200 MHz) δ: 2.65 (s, 3H), 7.20 (t, 1H), 7.27-7.40 (m, 2H), 7.52 (s, 1H).
Using the techniques and procedures outlined in Schemes 1-18 and Examples 1-20, the compounds in the following tables can be prepared.
TABLE 1
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 12
R 13
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
OCH 2 CH═CMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
SMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 Ph
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCF 2 CHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 P(O)(OMe) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 SiMe 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
C(O)NMe 2
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHn-Bu
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
C(O)NHn-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 N═CMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 CH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH(Me) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NO 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
CN
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH—CHCO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CN
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CMe
Br
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CHMe
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
NMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHF
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHFC 3
CH 2
O
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CCH 2 C≡CH
CF 3
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
OCHF 2
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
OMe
CH 2
O
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
O
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
S
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
COOi-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
CN
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
CN
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
COOn-iPr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
CN
F
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
CN
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
CN
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
CN
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
H
CN
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
On-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
On-Hex
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
S-Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
S-Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
S-i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CO 2 -iPr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHCH 2 ≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CN
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
n-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
i-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═C(CH 3 )CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═C(Cl)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═C(Br)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH(Cl)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH(Cl)CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
r
COSMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
COSEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═NOMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═NOEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═NOCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH═NOn-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
COi-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
COn-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
COEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OSO 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCOEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCOCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
On-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
On-Hex
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
S-Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
S-Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
S-i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CN
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH(Me)CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH(Me)CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
n-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
i-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═C(CH 3 )CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═C(Cl)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═C(Br)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 CH(Cl)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 CH(Cl)CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Ci
COSMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
COSEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═NOMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═NOEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═NOCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH═NOn-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
COi-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
COn-Bu
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
COEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OSO 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCOEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCOCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
S—Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
S—Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
S-i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
NHSO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH═C(Br)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH═C(Me)CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
S—Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
S—Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
S-i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
NHSO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH═C(Br)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH═C(Me)CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 CH 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH 2 CH 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)C≡H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 C═CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 C═CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 C═CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 C═CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
CCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
On-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
OCH(Me)C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
SCH 2 C═CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
SCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 i-Pr
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 OCH 3
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
TABLE 2
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
Me
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
Me
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CHMe
CH
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Br
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CHCF 3
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
NHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
S
TABLE 3
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CF 3
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
H
H
O
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
Cl
H
Me
S
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
Cl
H
H
O
TABLE 4
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 16
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Et
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
n-Pr
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
CH 2 CH≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
CH 2 CH≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
CH 2 CH≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH 2 CH≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CF 3
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CHCl
O
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
NMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH(Me)C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH(Me)C≡CH
O
TABLE 5
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 16
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
C1
Cl
Et
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
n-Pr
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CHMe 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
CN
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
Me
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH(Me)C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH(Me)C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CO 2 Me
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH(CH 3 )CO 2 Me
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
n-Pr
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH 2 OMe
H
H
O
TABLE 6
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 14
R 15
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
Me
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
H
F
F
CH 2 CH 2
S
CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
H
H
CH 2 CH 2
O
CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
F
F
F
TABLE 7
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 4
R 11
R 12
R 13
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
CN
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
Cl
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH≡CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
COH 2 C(O)NHPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
OCH 2 CH═CMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
SMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
SO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 2 C≡CH
CI
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 Ph
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH(CF 3 ) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
SCH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCF 2 CHF 2
Cl
CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 P(O)(OMe) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 SiMe 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
C(O)NMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
C(O)NH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
C(O)NHPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
C(O)NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
C(O)NHn-Bu
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
F
C(O)NHn-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CO 2 CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CO 2 n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Me
F
CO 2 CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
CO 2 N═CMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
C(O)Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CO 2 n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
CO 2 CH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
NHSO 2 NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
NHSO 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH(Me) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
NO 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH═CHCO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
F
CN
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Br
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CMe
Br
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Me
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CHMe
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
NMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHF
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHCF 3
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
CF 3
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
OCHF 2
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
OMe
TABLE 8
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 4
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
Me
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CHMe
CH
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Br
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CF 3
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CHCF 3
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
NHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
H
H
O
TABLE 9
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 4
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Br
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CF 3
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
OMe
H
H
O
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
Cl
H
Me
S
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
H
H
O
TABLE 10
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 4
R 11
R 16
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Et
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
n-Pr
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Br
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 CF 3
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CHCl
O
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
NMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Me
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Br
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
O
TABLE 11
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 4
R 11
R 16
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Me
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Et
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
n-Pr
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 CF 3
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CHMe 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
W
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
Me
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
TABLE 12
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 4
R 11
R 14
R 15
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Me
Me
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
Me
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Br
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
I
F
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Br
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Me
Cl
H
H
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
Cl
F
F
F
TABLE 13
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 12
R 13
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHF
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CHF
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CHF
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CHFCHF
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
OCH(Me)CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
OCH 2 CH═CMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CHMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
SMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCHF 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 Ph
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH(CF 3 ) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OEt
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCF 2 CHF 2
Cl
CH 2
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 P(O)(OMe) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 TMS
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
C(O)NMe 2
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHPh
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHn-Bu
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
C(O)NHn-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 N—CMe 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
C(O)Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CO 2 n-Pr
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CO 2 Et
Br
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 CH 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 NHMe
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CF 3
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH(Me) 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
NO 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH═CHCO 2 Me
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CN
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CMe
Br
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH═CH
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
CHMe
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
NMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
NMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHF
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHCF 3
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
CF 3
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
OCHF 2
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
OMe
TABLE 14
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
Me
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
Me
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
I
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CHMe
CH
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Br
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CF 3
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CHCF 3
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
NHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
S
TABLE 15
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Br
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CF 3
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
OMe
H
H
O
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
NMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
Cl
H
Me
S
CH 2
CH═CH
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
Cl
H
Me
O
TABLE 16
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 16
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Et
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
n-Pr
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
F
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CF 3
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CHCl
O
CHMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
NMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
OH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
TABLE 17
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 16
R 14
R 15
W
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Et
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
S
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
n-Pr
H
H
O
CH
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CF 3
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CHMe 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
Me
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CHF 2
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Me
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CHMe
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
NMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
Me
Me
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
C
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
H
H
O
TABLE 18
X
Y
Z
R 1
R 11
R 14
R 15
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
Me
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
Me
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
F
H
H
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
CN
H
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Cl
Et
Et
CH 2
CH 2
S
Cl
F
F
F
NMe
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Br
Cl
H
H
CH 2 CH 2
CH 2
O
Cl
F
F
F
CH 2
CH 2
CH 2 CH 2
Cl
Br
F
F
TABLE 19
A
B
R 1
R 11
R 12
R 13
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Br
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
Br
Me
CHF 2
CN
Cl
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Br
Me
CHF 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCHF 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
Cl
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
F
Cl
H
Cl
Et
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
n-Pr
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
iso-Pr
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
CF 3
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
OCHF 2
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
OMe
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
SMe
CH═CHMe
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CN
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
NO 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CF 3
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OMe
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
Me
CHF 2
Cl
H
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OEt
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Br
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C(O)NMe 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NH 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHPh
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH(Me)CO 2 Et
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CMe 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OMe
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OEt
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OMe
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
SMe
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
SO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CF 3
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
SCH 2 CF 3
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CHF 2
Br
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCF 2 CHF 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
SCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 P(O)(OMe) 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 P(S)(OMe) 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH 2 OCHF 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCHF 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CO 2 CH 2 CH 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
C(O)NMe 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
C(O)NHMe
Cl
Me
CRF 2
Cl
F
C(O)NHPh
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CO 2 CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CO 2 CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
C(O)NH(CH 2 ) 3 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CO 2 N═CMe 2
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
C(O)Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
NHSO 2 NHMe
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 CF 3
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CH═CHCO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
H
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
H
Br
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Br
F
H
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Br
Cl
H
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Br
H
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
H
Br
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
H
Br
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Br
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
CO 2 Et
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C(O)NMe 2
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 C(O)NHMe
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
NHSO 2 Me
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
NHSO 2 NHMe
Cl
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
C(O)NHPh
Cl
Et
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Et
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Et
CHF 2
Cl
F
CO 2 Me
Cl
n-Pr
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Et
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
Et
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CHMe 2
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
n-Bu
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Et
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
H
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
OMe
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
OCH 2 Me 2
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Cl
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
OEt
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
F
H
Cl
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Et
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Br
Cl
CO 2 Me
Cl
Et
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
n-Pr
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Br
OCH 2 CO 2 Et
Cl
iso-Pr
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
OEt
Cl
OMe
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Cl
OCHMe 2
Cl
Me
Me
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
Me
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
Me
Me
Cl
F
H
Cl
Me
Me
Br
F
H
Cl
Me
Me
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Et
Me
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CHMe 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
n-Pr
Cl
Br
OCH 2 C≡CH
Br
Me
n-Pr
Br
Cl
OCHMe 2
Cl
Me
CHMe 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 CO 2 Me
Cl
SMe
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
SMe
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
SMe
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
CF 3
Me
Cl
F
H
Cl
CF 3
Me
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CF 3
Et
Br
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
CF 3
Me
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
OMe
Me
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
OEt
Me
Cl
F
H
Cl
OMe
Me
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
OEt
Me
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Cl
Me
Cl
F
H
Cl
Cl
Me
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Cl
Me
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
SMe
Et
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
SMe
Et
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
SMe
Et
Cl
F
H
Cl
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
Cl
t-Bu
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
H
Cl
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
OCHF 2
Me
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
OCHF 2
Me
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
OCH 2 CF 3
Me
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Br
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
OCHMe 2
Cl
Me
CH 2 CH 2 Cl
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
TABLE 20
A
B
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
Me
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Br
F
Cl
Me
H
O
Et
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
S
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Br
Br
H
H
O
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
Me
CHMe 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
Et
Et
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
CF 3
Me
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
OMe
Me
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
OCHMe 2
Me
Br
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
SMe
Et
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
SEt
Me
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
OMe
CHMe 2
Br
Cl
Cl
Me
Me
O
Cl
Et
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
t-Bu
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
Cl
Me
H
O
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CH 2 CH 2 Cl
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
TABLE 21
A
B
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 14
R 15
W
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
Me
H
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
Me
Me
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
S
Me
CHF 2
Br
F
Cl
H
Me
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
Et
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
OMe
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
OCHMe 2
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
Et
Et
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
Et
CHMe 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
CF 3
Me
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
OCH 2 CF 3
Me
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
Cl
Et
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
OCHMe 2
Me
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
SMe
Et
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
Me
O
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
O
Et
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
Me
CH 2 CH 2 Cl
Cl
F
Cl
H
H
O
TABLE 22
A
B
R 1
R 11
R 16
W
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
Me
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Et
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
CH 2 CH═CH 2
O
Et
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CHMe 2
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
S
Et
CHF 2
Br
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
n-Pr
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 CF 3
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CHMe 2
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
n-Pr
O
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Et
Et
Cl
Cl
Me
O
OCH 2 CF 3
Me
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CF 3
Me
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
OMe
Me
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
OCHMe 2
Me
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
SMe
Et
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
SMe
CHF 2
Cl
F
CH 2 OMe
O
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
CH 2 C≡CH
O
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
Me
O
TABLE 23
A
B
R 1
R 11
R 14
R 15
R 16
W
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
Me
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
H
n-Pr
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Et
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
S
CHMe 2
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 CH═CH 2
O
Me
CHF 2
Br
Cl
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
Me
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
O
t-Bu
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CH 2 CH═CH
Me
Cl
F
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
Cl
H
H
Et
O
Et
Et
Cl
Cl
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CF 3
Me
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
OCH 2 CF 3
Me
Cl
Cl
H
H
CH 2 CH═CH 2
O
OMe
Et
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
SMe
Me
Cl
F
Me
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
CHMe 2
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
Me
H
CH 2 C≡CH
O
Et
CHF 2
Br
F
H
H
CH 2 OMe
O
OCHMe 2
Me
Cl
F
H
H
CH 2 C═CH
O
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
H
Me
O
Me
CH 2 CH 2 Cl
Cl
Cl
H
H
Et
O
TABLE 24
A
B
R 1
R 11
R 14
R 15
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
H
H
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
Me
CHF 2
Cl
F
F
F
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
F
F
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
F
H
H
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Br
Cl
H
H
Me
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Br
F
F
Me
CH 2 CH═CH 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
Me
CH 2 C≡CH
Cl
F
F
F
Et
Et
Cl
Cl
H
H
Et
OMe
Br
Cl
F
F
OCHMe 2
Me
Cl
Cl
H
H
Me
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
Me
Me
SMe
Et
Cl
F
H
H
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
F
F
F
t-Bu
CHF 2
Cl
Cl
F
F
t-Bu
CH 2 CF 3
Cl
Cl
H
H
n-Pr
Me
Cl
F
F
F
Et
CHF 2
Cl
H
F
F
Me
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
F
F
Et
CF 2 CHF 2
Cl
F
H
H
Me
CH 2 CH 2 Cl
Cl
F
F
F
Formulation
Compounds of this invention will generally be used in formulation with an agriculturally suitable carrier comprising a liquid or solid diluent or an organic solvent. Use formulations include dusts, granules, pellets, solutions, suspensions, emulsions, wettable powders, emulsifiable concentrates, dry flowables and the like, consistent with the physical properties of the active ingredient, mode of application and environmental factors such as soil type, moisture and temperature. Sprayable formulations can be extended in suitable media and used at spray volumes from about one to several hundred liters per hectare. High strength compositions are primarily used as intermediates for further formulation. The formulations will typically contain effective amounts of active ingredient, diluent and surfactant within the following approximate ranges which add up 100 weight percent.
Weight Percent
Active
Ingredient
Diluent
Surfactant
Wettable Powders
25-90
0-74
1-10
Oil Suspensions,
5-50
40-95
0-15
Emulsions, Solutions,
(including
Emulsifiable
Concentrates)
Dusts
1-25
70-99
0-5
Granules and Pellets
0.01-99
5-99.99
0-15
High Strength
90-99
0-10
0-2
Compositions
Typical solid diluents are described in Watkins, et al., Handbook of Insecticide Dust Diluents and Carriers, 2nd Ed., Dorland Books, Caldwell, N.J. Typical liquid diluents and solvents are described in Marsden, Solvents Guide, 2nd Ed., Interscience, New York, 1950. McCutcheon's Detergents and Emulsifiers Annual, Allured Publ. Corp., Ridgewood, N.J., as well as Sisely and Wood, Encyclopedia of Surface Active Agents, Chemical Publ. Co., Inc., New York, 1964, list surfactants and recommended uses. All formulations can contain minor amounts of additives to reduce foam, caking, corrosion, microbiological growth, etc.
Solutions are prepared by simply mixing the ingredients. Fine solid compositions are made by blending and, usually, grinding as in a hammer mill or fluid energy mill. Water-dispersible granules can be produced by agglomerating a fine powder composition; see for example, Cross et al., Pesticide Formulations, Washington, D.C., 1988, pp 251-259. Suspensions are prepared by wet-milling; see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,084. Granules and pellets can be made by spraying the active material upon preformed granular a carriers or by agglomeration techniques. See Browning, “Agglomeration”, Chemical Engineering , Dec. 4, 1967, pp 147-48, Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1963, pages 8-57 and following, and WO 91/13546. Pellets can be prepared as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,714. Water-dispersible and water-soluble granules can also be prepared as taught in DE 3,246,493.
For further information regarding the art of formulation, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,361, Col. 6, line 16 through Col. 7, line 19 and Examples 10-41; U.S. Pat. No. 3,309,192, Col. 5, line 43 through Col. 7, line 62 and Examples 8, 12, 15, 39, 41, 52, 53, 58, 132, 138-140, 162-164, 166, 167 and 169-182; U.S. Pat. No. 2,891,855, Col. 3, line 66 through Col. 5, line 17 and Examples 1-4; Klingman, Weed Control as a Science, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1961, pp 81-96; and Hance et al., Weed Control Handbook, 8th Ed., Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1989.
In the following Examples, all percentages are by weight and all formulations are worked up in conventional ways. Compound numbers refer to compounds in Index Tables A and B.
Example A
High Strength Concentrate
Compound 1
98.5%
silica aerogel
0.5%
synthetic amorphous fine silica
1.0%
Example B
Wettable Powder
Compound 1
65.0%
dodecylphenol polyethylene glycol ether
2.0%
sodium ligninsulfonate
4.0%
sodium silicoaluminate
6.0%
montmorillonite (calcined)
23.0%
Example C
Granule
Compound 1
10.0%
attapulgite granules (low volative
90.0%
matter, 0.71/0.30 mm; U.S.S. No.
25-50 sieves)
Example D
Extruded Pellet
Compound 1
25.0%
anhydrous sodium sulfate
10.0%
crude calcium ligninsulfonate
5.0%
sodium alkylnaphthalenesulfonate
1.0%
calcium/magnesium bentonite
59.0%
Utility
The compounds of the present invention are active postemergence and preemergence herbicides. Several compounds of this invention are useful for the control of selected grass and broadleaf weeds with tolerance to important agronomic crops such as, but not limited to, rice ( oryza sativa ), soybean ( Glycine max ), wheat ( Tritium aestivum ) and to plantation crops.
Alternatively, compounds of this invention can be used in areas where complete control of all vegetation is desired, such as around fuel storage tanks, industrial storage areas, oil well sites, drive-in theaters, around billboards, highways and railroad structures and in fence rows.
In general, effective application rates for the compounds of this invention are 10 to 5000 g/ha with a preferred rate range of 20 to 2000 g/ha. Effective rates of application for this invention are determined by a number of factors. These factors include: formulation selected, method of application, amount and type of vegetation present, growing conditions, etc. One skilled in the art can select the effective rates for a given situation.
The compounds of this invention may be used alone or in combination with other commercial herbicides, insecticides or fungicides. The following list exemplifies some of the herbicides suitable for use in mixtures. A combination of a compound from this invention with one or more of the following herbicides may be particularly useful for weed control in plantation crops.
Compounds of this invention can be used alone or in combination with other commercial herbicides, insecticides or fungicides. A mixture of one or more of the following herbicides with a compound of this invention may be particularly useful for weed control. Examples of other herbicides with which compounds of this invention can be formulated are: acetochlor, acifluorfen, acrolein, 2-propenal, alachlor, ametryn, amidosulfuron, ammonium sulfamate, amitrole, anilofos, asulam, atrazine, barban, benefin, bensulfuron methyl, bensulide, bentazon, benzofluor, benzoylprop, bifenox, bromacil, bromoxynil, bromoxynil heptanoate, bromoxynil octanoate, butachlor, buthidazole, butralin, butylate, cacodylic acid, 2-chloro-N,N-di-2-propenylacetamide, 2-chloroallyl diethyldithiocarbamate, chloramben, chlorbromuron, chloridazon, chlorimuron ethyl, chlormethoxynil, chlornitrofen, chloroxuron, chlorpropham, chlorsulfuron, chlortoluron, cinmethylin, cinosulfuron, clethodim, clomazone, cloproxydim, clopyralid, calcium salt of methylarsonic acid, cyanazine, cycloate, cycluron, cyperquat, cyprazine, cyprazole, cypromid, dalapon, dazomet, dimethyl 2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate, desmedipham, desmetryn, dicamba, dichlobenil, dichlorprop, diclofop, diethatyl, difenzoquat, diflufenican, dimepiperate, dinitramine, dinoseb, diphenamid, dipropetryn, diquat, diuron, 2-methyl-4,6-dinitrophenol, disodium salt of methylarsonic acid, dymron, endothall, S-ethyl dipropylcarbamothioate, esprocarb, ethalfluralin, ethametsulfuron methyl, ethofumesate, fenac, fenoxaprop, fenuron, salt of fenuron and trichloroacetic acid, flamprop, fluazifop, fluazifop-P, fluchloralin, flumesulam, flumipropyn, fluometuron, fluorochloridone, fluorodifen, fluoroglycofen, flupoxam, fluridone, fluroxypyr, fluzasulfuron, fomesafen, fosamine, glyphosate, haloxyfop, hexaflurate, hexazinone, imazamethabenz, imazapyr, imazaquin, imazamethabenz methyl, imazethapyr, imazosulfuron, ioxynil, isopropalin, isoproturon, isouron, isoxaben, karbutilate, lactofen, lenacil, linuron, metobenzuron, metsulfuron methyl, methylarsonic acid, monoammonium salt of methylarsonic acid, (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)-acetic acid, S,S′-dimethyl-2-(difluoromethyl)-4-(2-methylpropyl)-6-(trifluoromethyl)-3,5-pyridinedicarbothioate, mecoprop, mefenacet, mefluidide, methalpropalin, methabenzthiazuron, metham, methazole, methoxuron, metolachlor, metribuzin, 1,2-dihydropyridazine-3,6-dione, molinate, monolinuron, monuron, monuron salt and trichloroacetic acid, monosodium salt of methylarsonic acid, napropamide, naptalam, neburon, nicosulfuron, nitralin, nitrofen, nitrofluorfen, norea, norflurazon, oryzalin, oxadiazon, oxyfluorfen, paraquat, pebulate, pendimethalin, perfluidone, phenmedipham, picloram, 5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-2-nitroacetophenone oxime-O-acetic acid methyl ester, pretilachlor, primisulfuron, procyazine, profluralin, prometon, prometryn, pronamide, propachlor, propanil, propazine, propham, prosulfalin, prynachlor, pyrazolate, pyrazon, pyrazosulfuron ethyl, quinchlorac, quizalofop ethyl, rimsulfuron, secbumeton, sethoxydim, siduron, simazine, 1-(a,a-dimethylbenzyl)-3-(4-methylphenyl)urea, sulfometuron methyl, trichloroacetic acid, tebuthiuron, terbacil, terbuchlor, terbuthylazine, terbutol, terbutryn, thifensulfuron methyl, thiobencarb, triallate, trialkoxydim, triasulfuron, tribenuron methyl, triclopyr, tridiphane, trifluralin, trimeturon, (2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid, 4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)butanoic acid, vernolate, and xylachlor.
In certain instances, combinations with other herbicides having a similiar spectrum of control but a different mode of action will be particularly advantageous for resistance management.
Selective herbicidal properties of the subject compounds were discovered in greenhouse tests as described below.
INDEX TABLE A
Compound
R 1
R 11
R 12
R 13
m.p. ° C.
2
Br
Cl
H
Cl
112-113
3
Cl
Cl
H
Cl
99-101
5
Cl
F
H
Cl
68-70
6
Br
F
H
Cl
86-88
7
Br
F
H
F
89-90
8
Cl
Cl
NO 2
Cl
111-112
9
Cl
F
OMe
Cl
132-134
10
Cl
F
OCH 2 C≡CH
Cl
142-145
11
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 CH 3
Cl
48-50
Compound
m.p. ° C.
1
104-105
4
oil
INDEX TABLE B
m.p. ° C. or
CMPD.
R 1
R 11
R 13
R 12
Phys. Prop.
12
Cl
F
Br
H
74-79
13
Cl
F
Cl
H
74-77
14
Cl
F
Cl
OH
177-178
15
Br
Cl
Cl
H
97-98
16
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 C≡mCH
123-124
17
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH 3
92-93
18
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
91-92
20
Cl
F
Cl
O(CH 2 ) 2 OCH 3
<50
21
Cl
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 ) 2
oil (a)
22
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 Ph
108-109
23
Cl
F
Cl
O(CH 2 ) 2 CH 3
oil (b)
24
Cl
F
Cl
O-cyclopentyl
oil (c)
25
Cl
F
Cl
OSO 2 CH 2 CH 3
oil (d)
26
Br
F
Cl
OCH 2 C≡CH
142-144
28
Cl
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 )CO 2 CH 3
oil (e)
29
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 3
114-115
30
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH(CH 3 ) 2
oil (f)
35
Cl
Cl
Cl
H
oil (g)
36
Cl
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 )C≡CH
116-120
37
Br
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
111-112
38
Br
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 ) 2
oil (h)
39
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 CH(CH 3 ) 2
102-104
40
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 C(Cl)═CH 2
109-110
42
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 CH 2 CH 3
82-84
43
Cl
F
Cl
CO 2 CH 3
101-105
44
Cl
F
Cl
CO 2 CH(CH 3 ) 2
oil (i)
45
Cl
F
Cl
COCH 3
108-109
46
Cl
F
Cl
C 6 H 5
solid (j)
47
Cl
F
Cl
OCOCH 2 CH 3
oil (k)
48
Cl
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 )CH 2 CH 3
oil (l)
49
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 Cl
oil (m)
52
Br
F
Cl
H
84-85
58
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 3
oil (n)
59
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 2 CH 3
79-81
60
Cl
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 )CN
oil (o)
61
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 CH 2 C≡CH
146-148
62
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 CH 2 CH═CH 2
94-95
64
Br
F
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 CH(CH 3 ) 2
94-95
65
Br
F
Cl
OCH 2 OCH 3
oil (p)
66
Br
F
Cl
OCH(CH 3 )C≡CH
oil (q)
68
Cl
Cl
Cl
OH
150-152
69
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 (C—C 3 H 5 )
oil (r)
70
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH(CH 3 ) 2
oil (s)
71
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH═CH 2
oil (t)
72
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 OCH 3
oil (u)
73
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 CO 2 CH 2 CH 3
83-87
74
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH(CH 3 )C≡CH
oil (v)
76
Cl
Cl
Cl
O(CH 2 ) 6 CH 3
oil (w)
77
Cl
Cl
Cl
OCH 2 COC(CH 3 ) 3
156-157
78
Cl
F
Cl
CO 2 CH 2 CH 3
72-73
79
Cl
F
Cl
OCH 2 CH 2 CH 2 F
80-81
81
Br
F
Cl
OH
179-180
82
Cl
F
Cl
C(NOCH 3 )CH 3
123-125
83
Cl
F
Cl
oil
84
Cl
F
Cl
oil
(a) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (2H), 4.5 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.4 (6H)
(b) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (1H), 7.1 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 4.0 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.8 (2H), 1.0 (3H)
(c) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (1H), 7.1 (1H), 4.8 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1-1.6 (12H)
(d) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.7 (1H), 7.3 (1H), 4.3 (2H), 3.4 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.6 (3H)
(e) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (1H), 7.1 (1H), 4.8 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 3.7 (3H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.7 (3H)
(f) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (1H), 7.1 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 3.8 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.3 (1H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(g) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5-7.1 (3H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(h) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (1H), 7.1 (1H), 4.5 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.7 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.35 (6H)
(i) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 8.1 (1H), 7.2 (1H), 5.2 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.4 (6H)
(j) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.6-7.2 (7H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H).
(k) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.4 (1H), 7.3 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.6 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.3 (3H)
(l) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.3-7.1 (2H), 4.3 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H); 1.8-1.6 (2H), 1.3 (3H), 1.0 (3H)
(m) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.3-7.1 (2H), 4.3 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 3.8 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(n) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.3 (1H), 7.2 (1H), 5.3 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 3.5 (3H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(o) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.7-7.2 (2H), 4.9 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.8 (3H)
(p) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.3-7.2 (2H), 5.2 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 3.5 (3H), 2.7 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(q) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.3 (1H), 7.2; (1H), 4.9 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.7 (2H), 2.5 (1H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.2 (3H)
(r) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5 (1H), 7.0 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 3.8 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.3 (1H), 0.6 (2H), 0.3 (2H)
(s) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5 (1H), 7.0 (1H), 4.5 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.4 (6H)
(t) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5 (1H), 7.0 (1H), 6.1 (1H), 5.4 (2H), 4.6 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(u) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5 (1H), 7.0 (1H), 4.2 (4H), 3.8 (2H), 3.5 (3H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(v) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5 (1H), 7.0 (1H), 4.8 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 3.5 (1H), 2.8 (2H), 2.5 (1H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.7 (3H)
(w) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.5 (1H), 7.0 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 4.0 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.8 (2H), 1.5-0.9 (1H)
INDEX TABLE C
m.p. or
CMPD.
R 1
R 16
Phys. Prop.
31
Cl
CH(CH 3 ) 2
153-154
32
Cl
(CH 2 ) 2 CH 3
129-130
33
Cl
CH 2 CH═CH 2
127-129
34
Cl
CH 2 C≡CH
140-141
41
Br
CH 2 CH═CH 2
94-98
50
Cl
CH(CH 3 )C≡CH
solid (a)
51
Cl
H
225-232
53
Cl
CH 2 CH 2 OCH 3
oil (b)
54
Cl
CH 2 CH 3
150-151
55
Cl
CH 2 OCH 3
141-142
56
Br
CH 2 C≡CH
164-165
57
Cl
(CH 2 ) 3 CH 3
solid (c)
63
Br
(CH 2 ) 2 CH 3
122-124
67
Br
CH 2 OCH 3
solid (d)
80
Br
H
201-203
85
Cl
oil (e)
27
(a) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.9 (1H), 6.9 (1H), 6.0 (1H), 4.5 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.6 (3H)
(b) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.3 (1H), 6.8 (1H), 4.6 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 4.1 (2H), 3.7 (2H), 3.4 (3H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
(c) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.2 (1H), 6.9 (1H), 4.6 (2H), 4.3 (2H), 4.0 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.7 (2H), 1.4 (2H), 0.9 (3H)
(d) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.1 (1H), 6.8 (1H), 4.6 (2H), 4.2 (2H), 3.9 (2H), 2.8 (2H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H), 1.7 (2H), 1.0 (3H)
(e) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.4 (1H), 6.9 (1H), 4.7 (2H), 4.5 (1H), 4.2 (2H), 3.7 (1H), 3.2 (1H), 2.8 (2H), 2.7 (1H), 2.1 (2H), 1.9 (2H)
INDEX TABLE D
m.p. or
CMPD.
B
A
Phys. Prop.
86
CHF 2
Me
81-83
87
CHF 2
H
oil (a)
88
FCH 2 CH 2 CH 2
H
oil (b)
(a) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 7.16 (t, 1H), 7.30 (d, 1H), 7.38 (d, 1H), 7.51 (s, 1H), 8.07 (s, 1H)
(b) NMR (CDCl 3 ): δ 2.15-2.30 (m, 2H), 4.19 (t, 2H), 4.44 (t, TH), 4.56 (t, 1H), 7.30 (d, 1H), 7.40 (d, 1H), 7.50 (s, 1H), 7.71 (s, 1H)
INDEX TABLE E
X
m.p. ° C.
Br Cl
126-127 125-126
209-211
Cl Br
100-101 109-111
Br
130-133
Br
121-125
Cl Br
63-65 84-86
Test A
Seeds of barnyardgrass ( Echinochchloa crus - galli ), cheatgrass ( Bromus secalinus ), cocklebur ( Xanthium pensylvanicum ), crabgrass (Digitaria spp.), giant foxtail ( Setaria faberii ), morningglory (Ipomoea spp.), sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), velvetleaf ( Abutilon theophrasti ), and wild oat ( Avena fatua ) were planted into a sandy loam soil and treated preemergence with test chemicals dissolved in a non-phytotoxic solvent. At the same time, these crop and weed species were also treated postemergence with test chemicals. Plants ranged in height from two to eighteen cm and were in the two to three leaf stage for the postemergence treatment. Treated plants and untreated controls were maintained in a greenhouse for approximately eleven days, after which all treated plants were compared to untreated controls and visually evaluated for injury. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table A, are based on a 0 to 10 scale where 0 is no effect and 10 is complete control. A dash (-) response means no test results.
TABLE A
COM-
COM-
POUND
POUND
Rate (2000 g/ha)
2
3
4
Rate (2000 g/ha)
2
3
4
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Barnyardgrass
9
9
4
Barnyardgrass
9
8
7
Cheatgrass
7
7
3
Cheatgrass
6
7
2
Cocklebur
10
10
8
Cocklebur
0
—
0
Crabgrass
7
7
4
Crabgrass
8
0
2
Giant foxtail
9
10
4
Giant foxtail
10
10
8
Morningglory
10
10
10
Morningglory
2
3
3
Sorghum
6
7
4
Sorghum
8
8
2
Velvetleaf
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
10
8
10
Wild oats
5
6
3
Wild oats
5
6
0
COM-
POUND
COMPOUND
Rate (1000 g/ha)
1
Rate (1000 g/ha)
1
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Barnyardgrass
5
Barnyardgrass
2
Cheatgrass
4
Cheatgrass
0
Cocklebur
8
Cocklebur
0
Crabgrass
5
Crabgrass
0
Giant foxtail
4
Giant foxtail
5
Morningglory
10
Morningglory
0
Sorghum
4
Sorghum
0
Velvetleaf
10
Velvetleaf
8
Wild oats
3
Wild oats
0
Test B
Seeds of barley ( Hordeum vulgare ), barnyardgrass ( Echinochloa crus - galli ), bedstraw ( Galium aparine ), blackgrass ( Alopecurus myosuroides ), cheatgrass ( Bromus secalinus ), chickweed ( Stellaria media ), cocklebur ( Xanthium pensylvanicum ), corn ( Zea mays ), cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum ), crabgrass (Digitaria spp.), giant foxtail ( Setaria faberii ), lambsquarters ( Chenopodium album ), morningglory ( Ipomoea hederacea ), rape ( Brassica napus ), rice ( Oryza sativa ), sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), soybean ( Glycine max ), sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris ), velvetleaf ( Abutilon theophrasti ), wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), wild buckwheat ( Polygonum convolvulus ), and wild oat ( Avena fatua ) and purple nutsedge. ( Cyperus rotundus ) tubers were planted and treated preemergence with test chemicals dissolved in a non-phytotoxic solvent. At the same time, these crop and weed species were also treated with postemergence applications of test chemicals. Plants ranged in height from two to eighteen cm (one to four leaf stage) for postemergence treatments. Treated plants and controls were maintained in a greenhouse for twelve to sixteen days, after which all species were compared to controls and visually evaluated. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table B, are based on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is no effect and 10 is complete control. A dash (-) response means no test result.
TABLE B
COMPOUND
Rate (400 g/ha)
2
3
4
5
6
7
14
15
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
2
2
3
2
5
3
6
6
Barnyardgrass
5
5
3
7
3
6
9
9
Bedstraw
3
8
3
8
8
6
10
8
Blackgrass
2
4
1
5
4
4
5
4
Cheatgrass
4
6
2
6
6
4
6
9
Chickweed
2
3
2
7
5
3
5
0
Cocklebur
8
7
6
8
7
8
9
7
Corn
4
4
3
4
3
4
5
5
Cotton
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
7
4
3
6
7
4
4
5
Giant foxtail
6
6
4
5
5
5
5
6
Lambsquarter
9
10
9
8
10
9
10
10
Morningglory
9
9
9
8
9
9
8
8
Nutsedge
0
0
0
2
1
2
3
2
Rape
9
10
3
9
8
7
10
10
Rice
4
4
4
5
5
5
4
6
Sorghum
5
5
4
4
3
6
5
5
Soybean
7
7
5
8
6
8
9
9
Sugar beet
10
10
7
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
9
10
9
10
9
9
10
10
Wheat
2
3
1
5
5
5
5
6
Wild buckwheat
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Wild oat
3
3
2
4
5
3
4
6
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
Barnyardgrass
2
4
0
3
3
2
3
8
Bedstraw
0
0
0
0
0
2
10
8
Blackgrass
0
0
0
2
3
2
7
5
Cheatgrass
0
2
0
2
3
0
5
9
Chickweed
0
0
—
2
2
3
0
0
Cocklebur
0
0
—
0
0
0
1
0
Corn
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
Cotton
2
0
0
0
2
0
2
2
Crabgrass
—
7
2
8
2
6
6
9
Giant foxtail
7
9
2
8
0
4
8
9
Lambsquarter
—
9
0
9
10
6
10
10
Morningglory
2
0
0
0
2
0
1
1
Nutsedge
0
0
0
10
0
2
0
0
Rape
0
0
0
1
2
0
2
7
Rice
0
1
0
2
0
0
1
0
Sorghum
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sugar beet
—
0
0
2
3
0
8
7
Velvetleaf
4
2
3
4
10
5
9
9
Wheat
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
3
Wild buckwheat
0
0
0
4
9
3
10
8
Wild oat
0
0
0
0
2
0
5
5
COMPOUND
Rate (200 g/ha)
1
2
3
8
9
10
11
12
13
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
3
3
2
3
4
4
4
7
7
7
6
5
10
4
5
3
4
5
6
6
Barnyardgrass
3
3
3
6
6
3
6
9
10
10
9
7
9
9
5
9
6
5
7
10
Bedstraw
3
4
6
4
8
8
7
10
10
10
7
9
9
9
8
9
7
9
9
10
Blackgrass
1
1
2
3
5
4
4
5
4
7
5
6
8
5
3
6
6
2
5
6
Cheatgrass
2
3
4
3
4
5
3
8
10
10
7
1
8
8
4
8
5
3
7
9
Chickweed
2
2
3
1
9
9
6
5
5
10
7
7
10
7
7
9
9
—
10
9
Cocklebur
4
6
6
6
8
10
9
10
9
10
7
10
9
10
8
10
9
8
10
10
Corn
2
4
4
5
5
3
6
4
6
6
4
5
5
6
4
6
5
6
5
9
Cotton
8
9
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
3
7
4
4
4
3
5
5
10
6
3
—
6
6
2
6
5
2
6
6
Giant foxtail
3
5
5
4
8
6
5
7
8
8
4
6
7
7
4
7
5
4
6
8
Lambsquarter
7
9
9
8
10
9
9
10
10
10
10
10
6
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
7
9
9
9
9
8
10
8
9
9
8
9
10
9
9
10
8
10
9
10
Nutsedge
0
0
0
2
3
2
5
2
4
3
1
2
4
3
2
3
4
8
4
5
Rape
3
9
7
5
10
10
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
7
10
7
10
10
10
Rice
3
4
4
3
4
5
6
5
7
6
5
6
5
6
5
6
5
9
6
7
Sorghum
4
5
5
5
4
3
8
5
7
6
5
6
6
6
5
6
6
5
6
9
Soybean
4
6
6
6
7
10
8
8
8
10
8
7
9
9
6
9
8
4
9
9
Sugar beet
10
10
9
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
6
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
8
8
9
9
8
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
9
9
10
10
10
10
10
Wheat
2
2
2
3
7
9
4
6
7
6
7
6
3
8
4
6
4
4
5
9
Wild buckwheat
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Wild oat
2
3
3
3
6
4
4
8
9
7
7
7
6
6
3
5
4
4
7
6
COMPOUND
Rate (200 g/ha)
29
30
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
51
52
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
7
6
4
6
6
6
6
5
5
4
3
6
3
3
4
5
5
3
7
Barnyardgrass
10
10
9
9
7
8
6
4
6
8
9
10
5
—
9
8
7
9
9
Bedstraw
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
—
10
9
10
9
10
8
10
9
9
10
10
Blackgrass
6
5
4
7
7
7
4
3
5
3
8
9
3
3
8
6
6
6
5
Cheatgrass
8
7
5
7
7
5
4
4
5
3
9
10
6
4
4
7
7
4
7
Chickweed
8
8
3
—
10
10
10
10
10
8
10
10
7
3
9
8
9
10
7
Cocklebur
10
10
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
8
—
9
9
8
10
8
Corn
7
4
7
6
8
5
5
5
5
9
10
6
5
—
5
3
4
6
8
Cotton
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
—
10
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
5
2
6
7
5
6
4
5
5
3
—
10
—
—
6
9
—
5
7
Giant foxtail
6
5
7
7
6
7
5
6
5
4
6
9
5
—
6
9
6
6
7
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
10
9
7
10
8
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
9
—
10
10
10
10
9
Nutsedge
4
5
3
5
4
4
4
4
4
5
3
8
6
—
8
5
6
3
5
Rape
10
9
9
10
10
10
10
8
10
10
10
10
10
4
6
6
6
10
10
Rice
7
5
6
6
6
6
6
5
7
6
9
9
6
—
5
8
6
5
6
Sorghum
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
6
5
8
5
5
—
4
6
5
6
7
Soybean
9
2
5
9
6
7
4
8
10
5
9
8
8
—
7
7
8
9
8
Sugar beet
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
—
Velvetleaf
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
—
9
10
10
10
10
Wheat
6
5
5
6
5
6
5
6
5
5
8
6
8
3
6
6
4
4
8
Wild buckwheat
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
Wild oat
7
6
4
6
6
5
3
5
4
3
7
8
3
2
3
6
4
3
8
COMPOUND
Rate (200 g/ha)
58
59
64
65
66
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
77
78
79
80
81
82
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
8
4
3
6
6
3
4
4
4
5
3
4
1
3
5
4
4
3
3
Barnyardgrass
9
9
7
9
9
3
6
7
8
7
9
7
2
8
9
7
8
7
7
Bedstraw
9
8
10
10
10
9
7
7
9
9
8
9
4
5
9
7
10
10
9
Blackgrass
7
5
3
7
6
3
5
3
6
7
5
6
2
3
7
5
6
4
3
Cheatgrass
10
6
3
6
6
3
6
4
6
6
6
6
1
3
7
4
6
4
3
Chickweed
10
8
5
9
—
1
3
3
3
3
3
7
0
3
10
5
7
3
3
Cocklebur
10
10
10
10
10
7
8
8
8
10
10
10
3
9
10
—
10
10
8
Corn
6
5
3
5
3
4
3
4
3
5
8
4
2
3
9
5
5
3
4
Cotton
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
3
5
5
7
5
4
4
6
3
2
6
5
3
6
5
5
6
6
4
Giant foxtail
6
7
3
8
6
4
5
5
6
5
5
5
2
6
6
6
7
8
5
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
10
10
10
8
10
10
10
10
10
4
10
10
10
10
10
9
Morningglory
10
10
10
10
10
8
7
8
10
9
9
9
1
9
10
10
10
10
10
Nutsedge
9
5
2
4
2
3
2
5
2
2
3
2
1
2
2
0
4
3
2
Rape
10
10
10
9
10
5
8
9
10
9
10
10
2
7
10
9
10
7
7
Rice
5
5
5
6
6
5
6
5
5
6
6
6
2
6
6
6
8
6
6
Sorghum
6
4
4
7
7
4
6
6
6
6
5
7
2
5
7
7
6
3
4
Soybean
9
7
5
8
8
6
5
6
7
7
5
6
2
7
9
8
9
7
6
Sugar beet
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
9
10
2
10
10
10
10
10
10
Wheat
8
6
2
5
5
4
6
5
6
5
4
5
2
5
7
6
4
4
4
Wild buckwheat
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
4
10
10
10
10
10
10
Wild oat
9
7
3
7
6
3
4
3
5
4
1
4
2
3
5
5
5
3
4
COMPOUND
Rate (200 g/ha)
1
2
3
8
9
10
11
12
13
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
3
10
2
4
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
Barnyardgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
9
9
4
6
7
7
5
6
4
6
7
1
Bedstraw
0
3
0
0
0
0
1
5
9
10
4
7
10
9
10
5
5
10
10
10
Blackgrass
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
7
9
8
4
5
7
7
5
7
8
3
6
4
Cheatgrass
0
0
1
0
1
2
0
9
10
7
8
7
6
6
3
6
4
3
7
6
Chickweed
0
0
0
0
8
10
4
1
10
10
8
9
10
7
2
6
3
9
10
7
Cocklebur
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
5
2
2
1
8
1
1
9
1
Corn
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
8
3
4
1
5
1
4
6
1
0
6
2
Cotton
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
7
10
0
5
9
7
4
5
8
5
9
0
Crabgrass
0
0
7
1
0
0
0
9
10
9
9
9
9
8
4
9
7
7
9
2
Giant foxtail
0
0
3
6
0
0
0
10
10
10
10
8
10
9
9
9
8
7
10
5
Lambsquarter
0
6
3
10
8
10
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
4
5
9
2
2
8
5
5
9
3
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
9
10
10
7
7
10
8
1
6
8
9
10
10
Rice
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
2
0
0
3
2
Sorghum
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
4
1
5
5
2
3
2
1
2
4
0
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
7
2
2
7
2
2
7
2
0
3
0
Sugar beet
0
0
0
2
4
2
0
9
10
10
3
10
10
9
9
10
9
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
0
0
2
0
9
0
0
10
10
10
7
10
3
10
5
10
9
10
10
10
Wheat
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
9
3
3
4
4
2
1
2
1
2
2
2
Wild buckwheat
0
0
0
0
4
6
0
9
10
10
10
8
10
9
5
10
5
10
10
7
Wild oat
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
9
7
6
7
8
6
1
6
2
4
6
2
COMPOUND
Rate (200 g/ha)
29
30
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
51
52
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
4
2
0
2
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
3
Barnyardgrass
8
6
7
5
4
1
2
3
6
0
2
8
5
—
0
3
5
9
9
Bedstraw
9
9
8
—
8
7
9
9
10
9
9
10
4
2
9
9
9
10
7
Blackgrass
7
0
4
10
6
1
2
2
7
0
5
6
3
0
3
5
2
6
6
Cheatgrass
8
4
5
6
6
3
2
4
5
0
3
6
2
0
0
2
2
5
10
Chickweed
7
3
9
—
9
0
5
5
10
0
10
9
2
2
2
4
8
10
9
Cocklebur
4
4
2
2
0
5
1
8
5
0
0
9
4
—
3
0
0
9
0
Corn
6
1
3
4
3
2
0
1
2
0
0
3
1
—
0
1
2
0
4
Cotton
7
6
4
6
7
9
0
7
2
0
1
8
0
—
2
9
2
5
3
Crabgrass
9
9
9
9
7
8
2
8
6
0
0
9
6
—
0
9
5
9
10
Giant foxtail
9
8
9
9
5
9
2
9
3
0
0
8
5
—
5
9
10
8
10
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
5
5
2
2
1
4
2
4
7
3
0
10
4
—
3
3
6
10
2
Nutsedge
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
10
3
—
8
6
8
10
6
10
3
9
8
7
0
2
9
6
10
9
Rice
2
2
2
4
0
2
0
0
0
2
2
2
3
—
0
2
0
2
1
Sorghum
1
0
3
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
2
2
1
—
0
1
1
0
3
Soybean
5
2
3
2
4
4
0
2
0
0
3
3
2
—
0
0
3
8
0
Sugar beet
10
9
4
9
9
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
9
7
8
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
10
10
10
10
9
7
4
8
10
6
10
8
0
—
4
4
1
10
10
Wheat
4
2
7
5
3
2
0
2
3
0
2
3
5
0
2
2
2
2
7
Wild buckwheat
10
6
1
10
10
10
10
9
10
7
10
9
10
4
9
10
10
10
10
Wild oat
7
3
3
6
7
5
0
4
6
0
4
6
2
0
2
3
4
2
4
COMPOUND
Rate (200 g/ha)
58
59
64
65
66
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
77
78
79
80
81
82
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
4
5
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass
7
8
1
9
7
0
1
0
5
3
0
1
0
3
6
6
6
0
6
Bedstraw
9
10
1
5
10
2
6
6
6
8
9
9
0
10
9
7
2
9
9
Blackgrass
7
5
2
7
7
8
2
0
0
4
0
8
0
3
7
5
3
3
4
Cheatgrass
8
5
2
4
6
3
4
2
2
3
2
4
0
5
4
4
3
4
6
Chickweed
10
9
0
3
5
2
0
0
0
9
4
5
0
1
8
3
3
9
0
Cocklebur
9
8
2
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
6
0
0
0
Corn
4
2
0
4
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
Cotton
0
7
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
Crabgrass
9
10
0
2
3
2
5
2
5
9
0
6
2
3
8
6
3
0
7
Giant foxtail
10
10
0
10
6
0
5
4
8
7
0
6
2
2
9
9
2
2
6
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
10
10
0
10
10
10
10
10
10
0
10
10
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
4
6
8
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
7
10
0
2
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
5
10
0
10
5
0
3
3
3
6
2
7
0
6
9
6
10
7
6
Rice
0
1
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
4
0
2
Sorghum
3
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
2
Soybean
0
4
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
6
Sugar beet
10
10
10
10
10
9
6
10
10
9
5
10
0
3
10
10
9
9
10
Velvetleaf
10
10
6
9
9
9
9
5
10
10
7
9
0
7
10
10
10
10
10
Wheat
7
4
0
5
3
3
2
3
2
3
2
0
0
0
4
2
2
2
2
Wild buckwheat
10
10
10
10
10
4
0
8
10
2
3
9
0
9
10
9
3
10
9
Wild oat
9
7
0
8
5
0
0
3
2
3
2
3
0
0
6
6
7
3
7
COMPOUND
Rate (100 g/ha)
2
3
4
5
6
7
14
15
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
2
2
2
2
4
2
5
4
Barnyardgrass
3
4
3
3
3
4
7
6
Bedstraw
3
6
3
4
—
4
10
7
Blackgrass
1
2
1
3
—
3
4
2
Cheatgrass
2
3
1
5
—
3
4
4
Chickweed
2
2
2
4
—
3
6
0
Cocklebur
7
6
5
6
6
7
9
5
Corn
3
4
3
3
2
3
4
4
Cotton
10
9
7
10
10
9
10
10
Crabgrass
3
3
3
—
6
4
3
2
Giant foxtail
4
4
3
5
6
5
5
4
Lambsquarter
9
9
7
8
—
8
9
9
Morningglory
9
9
5
8
9
8
7
5
Nutsedge
0
0
0
1
—
1
2
1
Rape
3
7
1
6
5
5
7
8
Rice
4
3
3
4
4
5
4
4
Sorghum
4
4
3
3
3
5
4
5
Soybean
6
6
4
6
6
8
8
7
Sugar beet
9
9
8
9
10
9
10
10
Velvetleaf
8
9
4
8
10
7
10
5
Wheat
2
2
1
3
4
3
5
3
Wild buckwheat
10
10
10
9
—
9
10
10
Wild oat
2
2
1
4
4
2
4
4
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
Bedstraw
0
0
0
—
0
0
10
2
Blackgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
2
Cheatgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
3
Chickweed
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cocklebur
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Corn
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cotton
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Crabgrass
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
8
Giant foxtail
0
2
0
0
0
3
2
3
Lambsquarter
0
0
0
5
8
0
9
10
Morningglory
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Rice
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sorghum
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sugar beet
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
3
Velvetleaf
—
0
0
2
2
1
0
2
Wheat
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Wild buckwheat
0
0
0
0
—
0
10
0
Wild oat
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
COMPOUND
Rate (50 g/ha)
1
2
3
8
9
10
11
12
13
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31
32
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
3
2
1
2
3
4
4
6
6
6
5
4
3
6
4
3
4
4
4
6
5
5
5
5
Barnyardgrass
2
3
3
5
3
1
4
5
7
8
6
4
6
6
3
7
4
3
5
7
8
6
6
5
Bedstraw
3
3
6
3
5
8
3
9
9
10
6
7
8
6
8
7
6
9
9
9
7
8
10
10
Blackgrass
0
1
1
1
4
4
3
2
3
4
3
4
5
3
3
6
2
2
4
4
3
5
4
5
Cheatgrass
2
2
3
2
3
4
3
8
8
7
5
5
5
5
3
6
3
3
5
6
4
6
6
5
Chickweed
0
1
1
0
6
9
3
2
2
9
5
7
8
8
—
—
8
—
10
—
—
5
10
—
Cocklebur
4
7
6
5
6
7
7
5
—
10
7
9
10
8
7
8
8
7
10
9
6
7
9
10
Corn
2
3
3
5
4
2
5
3
4
4
4
4
4
5
3
4
5
3
5
6
6
4
3
4
Cotton
7
9
9
9
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
2
3
2
3
3
2
3
4
6
4
4
3
3
2
3
2
5
3
2
5
4
3
4
5
Giant foxtail
3
4
3
4
4
4
6
6
6
6
4
4
5
4
3
5
4
3
4
5
3
4
5
5
Lambsquarter
4
9
9
8
9
10
8
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
8
10
9
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
6
9
9
8
8
8
9
7
6
9
7
10
9
10
5
8
9
8
9
8
8
8
10
10
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
2
1
3
1
2
3
0
1
2
1
2
2
3
2
—
2
4
2
5
4
Rape
1
5
4
5
8
9
5
10
10
10
9
7
10
6
4
6
5
10
9
10
8
5
9
10
Rice
4
3
3
3
4
3
5
3
5
5
5
5
6
5
4
4
5
4
5
5
4
5
7
7
Sorghum
4
4
4
5
3
3
4
4
5
5
5
5
6
5
5
4
5
4
5
7
5
4
4
6
Soybean
4
6
6
4
6
10
9
6
8
9
7
7
8
9
5
8
6
8
8
8
8
7
7
8
Sugar beet
8
9
9
7
10
10
8
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
3
9
9
7
7
10
7
6
10
10
9
8
10
10
6
9
10
8
10
10
8
7
10
10
Wheat
1
1
1
2
4
7
3
6
5
5
5
4
2
3
3
2
3
3
4
7
4
4
5
5
Wild buckwheat
5
10
10
5
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
Wild oat
2
2
2
2
5
3
2
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
3
3
5
5
5
5
6
4
COMPOUND
Rate (50 g/ha)
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
4
4
2
5
4
4
4
4
5
3
3
4
4
2
5
7
4
4
3
5
6
4
4
7
Barnyardgrass
7
5
5
6
5
6
4
4
3
5
7
8
3
—
6
4
3
4
8
9
6
5
6
4
Bedstraw
9
10
7
10
7
—
—
10
10
10
10
9
8
6
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
Blackgrass
5
6
3
5
4
3
4
2
2
2
7
8
6
2
4
6
4
6
6
4
5
6
7
7
Cheatgrass
4
5
3
5
4
4
4
4
3
1
6
7
4
3
4
6
4
6
4
4
4
7
8
6
Chickweed
10
10
—
—
5
9
8
10
10
4
—
—
8
3
9
9
7
10
10
5
9
10
10
10
Cocklebur
10
1
5
9
7
8
10
5
10
10
8
9
7
—
6
7
9
10
9
6
10
10
10
10
Corn
4
4
4
5
6
4
5
4
—
7
8
4
5
—
4
3
3
4
4
6
4
3
5
3
Cotton
10
10
9
9
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
—
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
5
4
3
5
4
5
5
4
3
2
4
—
—
—
3
8
4
4
4
6
4
3
3
6
Giant foxtail
4
5
4
6
5
5
4
5
4
3
5
6
5
—
4
6
4
4
4
5
6
4
6
6
Lambsquarter
10
10
9
10
9
10
9
9
10
9
8
10
10
9
7
10
—
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
10
1
5
8
7
8
8
3
9
9
10
9
8
—
9
10
10
10
9
9
10
9
10
9
Nutsedge
5
0
1
4
2
3
5
2
4
2
3
4
—
—
2
4
2
5
3
3
6
2
2
7
Rape
10
10
6
10
9
8
5
4
10
9
9
9
3
4
3
8
7
10
7
8
10
10
10
10
Rice
7
5
5
6
5
5
4
5
6
4
7
5
6
—
4
3
5
4
3
4
4
4
4
4
Sorghum
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
5
4
5
4
4
—
3
4
3
3
4
4
3
3
4
2
Soybean
9
10
4
9
5
5
2
5
9
4
8
8
8
—
7
7
8
9
8
10
9
9
9
8
Sugar beet
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
9
1
8
10
10
6
9
2
10
10
10
9
9
—
8
9
9
10
9
9
10
9
9
9
Wheat
5
5
2
5
4
4
4
4
5
2
3
6
3
2
3
5
5
4
3
4
7
6
6
7
Wild buckwheat
10
10
6
10
9
10
10
9
10
9
10
10
10
6
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
0
10
Wild oat
5
5
3
5
4
3
3
4
3
1
5
5
2
2
3
4
3
4
2
5
7
7
7
6
COMPOUND
Rate (50 g/ha)
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
77
78
79
80
81
82
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
4
6
4
4
2
1
5
2
3
5
6
3
4
3
3
4
2
2
2
3
4
3
3
2
Barnyardgrass
3
6
5
4
2
3
5
5
7
5
6
2
4
6
6
5
7
5
4
8
4
6
8
6
Bedstraw
9
10
10
9
9
9
8
10
10
10
10
7
5
8
8
7
7
8
4
6
5
8
9
8
Blackgrass
7
6
4
3
3
2
4
2
7
4
5
2
3
—
4
5
5
6
2
4
3
3
2
2
Cheatgrass
6
7
4
3
3
2
4
2
3
3
6
2
3
3
4
5
3
6
2
2
3
5
3
2
Chickweed
10
9
6
7
2
3
9
2
5
—
9
0
2
2
2
2
2
6
2
6
4
4
2
2
Cocklebur
9
6
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
9
9
6
8
8
7
8
8
9
7
8
8
9
8
7
Corn
4
5
4
3
5
5
2
5
4
3
4
3
3
4
3
3
5
2
3
7
3
4
2
3
Cotton
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
Crabgrass
3
3
4
2
2
2
3
3
4
4
6
3
4
3
3
2
3
3
5
4
3
4
4
3
Giant foxtail
6
6
6
4
2
3
3
3
5
7
6
4
5
5
5
4
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
10
9
9
10
9
10
10
10
10
8
9
10
10
9
9
10
10
9
10
10
7
Morningglory
10
9
8
7
10
9
10
9
10
10
10
8
7
7
10
7
10
9
8
10
10
10
9
10
Nutsedge
4
5
2
2
2
0
6
2
3
2
3
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
0
2
—
2
Rape
10
9
10
10
8
6
9
7
8
10
10
3
6
7
8
9
7
10
6
8
8
10
3
5
Rice
3
4
5
4
4
3
5
4
5
5
7
5
5
5
4
4
6
3
4
3
5
6
6
4
Sorghum
4
4
3
3
3
2
5
4
6
5
6
3
4
5
6
5
4
5
5
4
6
4
3
2
Soybean
8
7
8
4
3
8
5
6
6
9
4
2
5
6
6
2
6
5
10
7
8
6
4
Sugar beet
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
9
9
8
8
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
8
10
10
10
9
6
10
10
10
8
9
9
10
Wheat
7
7
7
4
3
2
5
3
6
5
6
3
4
4
4
5
2
4
2
A
5
4
3
3
Wild buckwheat
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Wild oat
7
7
7
4
2
2
6
3
7
5
7
2
3
2
3
3
1
4
1
3
4
4
2
2
COMPOUND
Rate (50 g/ha)
1
2
3
8
9
10
11
12
13
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31
32
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
3
1
2
6
2
2
4
1
2
2
0
4
2
3
1
Bedstraw
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
5
8
0
1
10
2
—
5
3
5
10
8
7
0
—
—
Blackgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
5
2
3
5
6
0
6
2
0
4
2
5
0
6
5
Cheatgrass
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
7
9
0
4
2
5
4
0
4
0
0
6
4
5
0
6
5
Chickweed
0
0
0
0
—
10
0
1
5
10
0
9
7
2
0
0
0
0
10
1
3
0
—
—
Cocklebur
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
3
5
Corn
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
1
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
Cotton
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
3
0
0
2
2
2
5
3
4
3
0
1
2
0
8
Crabgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
10
2
3
4
6
2
2
2
0
5
5
0
8
6
2
3
Giant foxtail
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
9
7
7
4
10
5
3
6
3
2
6
0
8
7
3
4
Lambsquarter
0
0
0
0
4
6
0
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
6
10
9
9
10
10
10
8
10
10
Morningglory
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
1
2
2
3
1
1
2
3
2
2
5
2
Nutsedge
—
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
5
1
1
1
3
3
0
3
2
0
3
9
8
0
1
2
Rice
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Sorghum
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
Sugar beet
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
9
7
9
9
9
10
1
9
9
7
9
10
7
5
10
7
Velvetleaf
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
6
10
8
3
5
5
1
4
1
1
1
10
5
10
5
9
10
Wheat
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
1
1
1
4
3
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
Wild buckwheat
—
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
8
8
5
6
10
7
2
0
3
8
7
7
8
0
10
8
Wild oat
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
7
3
3
1
6
4
0
3
0
0
3
0
3
0
4
5
COMPOUND
Rate (50 g/ha)
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
2
3
2
Barnyardgrass
3
4
1
3
0
0
0
1
4
0
0
5
0
—
0
2
0
0
9
5
2
3
6
0
Bedstraw
—
—
0
10
—
0
4
9
2
7
0
8
2
0
9
3
8
10
5
5
9
9
10
9
Blackgrass
5
6
0
4
0
1
0
—
6
0
2
4
2
0
2
0
0
6
2
4
6
3
7
6
cheatgrass
6
6
1
4
5
0
0
0
3
0
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
3
3
6
4
3
5
5
Chickweed
—
—
—
—
—
0
0
0
10
0
0
9
3
0
0
—
0
10
6
9
10
10
10
10
Cocklebur
5
2
0
0
0
0
0
5
2
0
0
6
0
—
2
—
0
0
2
0
1
0
2
2
Corn
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
Cotton
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
1
4
0
0
1
0
—
0
0
2
0
1
0
2
2
1
0
Crabgrass
6
9
4
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
—
0
2
0
0
2
2
6
0
6
3
Giant foxtail
7
6
2
5
2
2
5
9
1
0
0
7
2
—
0
6
4
3
2
9
8
8
8
0
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
10
10
0
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Morningglory
10
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
7
2
—
1
1
1
2
9
0
10
3
8
6
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
Rape
5
6
0
5
—
8
8
8
10
2
0
2
2
0
1
4
1
8
8
1
2
6
6
3
Rice
3
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
—
0
1
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
Sorghum
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
2
6
1
0
0
Soybean
2
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
—
0
0
0
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
Sugarbeet
10
9
0
9
9
8
8
9
10
10
9
10
7
0
1
9
9
10
10
9
9
9
10
9
Velvetleaf
9
10
2
8
1
0
2
2
2
0
5
4
2
—
2
0
0
0
10
8
9
10
10
10
Wheat
2
3
0
5
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
3
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
7
3
4
4
Wild buckwheat
—
8
0
10
9
8
10
—
10
0
8
9
3
0
0
9
7
7
10
7
9
10
10
9
Wild oat
7
7
0
3
2
0
0
0
2
0
2
4
2
0
0
0
0
3
0
4
8
2
9
5
COMPOUND
Rate (50 g/ha)
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
77
78
79
80
81
82
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
0
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass
3
4
6
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
6
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
2
3
0
0
2
Bedstraw
8
6
8
6
5
7
10
0
5
9
3
0
0
1
2
0
2
0
3
2
2
0
0
0
Blackgrass
6
4
4
0
2
0
3
1
7
—
8
2
—
0
0
0
0
0
2
4
1
0
0
0
Cheatgrass
5
4
4
2
2
0
2
2
2
1
6
—
0
0
0
0
0
4
3
2
2
2
0
2
Chickweed
9
10
4
4
3
0
9
0
1
4
6
2
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
6
0
0
0
6
Cocklebur
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Corn
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cotton
2
0
4
5
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Crabgrass
0
0
5
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
2
2
4
0
0
3
Giant foxtail
2
9
9
2
0
0
1
0
6
0
2
0
2
0
0
3
0
2
2
2
3
0
0
3
Lambsquarter
10
10
10
9
9
9
10
10
10
9
10
6
9
7
10
9
9
9
10
10
9
10
9
10
Morningglory
10
4
2
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
0
5
5
6
4
0
6
0
0
1
3
0
2
2
0
0
2
0
0
4
3
4
0
0
Rice
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
Sorghum
0
2
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sugar beet
9
9
9
9
10
10
10
9
9
8
9
0
3
6
5
0
5
0
3
9
9
8
0
8
Velvetleaf
10
10
10
6
10
2
7
3
9
6
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
5
3
10
5
9
3
0
Wheat
2
2
4
2
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
—
9
10
7
0
0
10
5
10
4
10
0
0
8
0
0
0
5
8
9
0
3
0
7
Wild oat
5
6
2
3
2
0
3
0
2
2
5
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
3
3
2
0
2
COMPOUND
Rate (10 g/ha)
31
32
33
34
50
53
54
55
56
57
60
61
62
63
67
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley
5
5
4
4
3
4
4
5
6
4
3
1
1
4
4
Barnyardgrass
4
3
4
4
3
3
3
2
3
3
3
2
2
3
5
Bedstraw
10
8
8
10
10
8
9
9
8
9
7
5
8
6
8
Blackgrass
4
4
4
4
6
5
5
5
6
4
3
2
1
4
4
Cheatgrass
5
4
4
4
5
5
5
6
5
4
3
2
1
4
5
Chickweed
10
10
10
10
9
9
e
9
9
8
3
2
0
5
7
Cocklebur
9
9
10
10
9
9
9
10
10
9
6
4
5
8
8
Corn
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
—
3
3
3
2
2
3
Cotton
10
10
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
10
9
10
Crabgrass
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
4
2
2
2
1
3
5
Giant foxtail
5
4
4
4
4
3
4
4
4
5
3
2
1
3
5
Lambsquarter
10
10
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
9
10
9
8
9
9
Morningglory
9
10
9
9
10
9
9
10
10
10
7
7
6
8
10
Nutsedge
2
2
0
—
4
6
2
2
4
2
1
0
0
1
1
Rape
5
6
10
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
6
1
1
9
9
Rice
4
4
6
5
6
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
3
3
6
Sorghum
5
6
6
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
3
2
2
3
5
Soybean
7
7
8
8
6
9
8
7
9
6
6
2
2
6
8
Sugar beet
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Velvetleaf
10
10
10
10
9
9
8
10
9
6
7
2
7
8
9
Wheat
5
5
3
5
4
7
6
8
7
7
3
2
2
4
5
Wild buckwheat
10
9
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
3
2
9
10
Wild oat
5
4
4
5
3
6
4
6
6
4
2
1
1
4
6
PREEMERGENCE
Barley
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass
0
0
2
3
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
Bedstraw
—
—
—
—
3
8
8
3
4
6
—
0
7
4
0
Blackgrass
3
5
3
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
0
0
0
0
3
Cheatgrass
2
2
3
3
2
3
1
1
5
3
0
0
0
2
2
Chickweed
—
0
—
—
0
10
9
9
9
6
—
—
—
0
0
Cocklebur
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
—
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cotton
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Crabgrass
0
2
2
3
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Giant foxtail
0
2
2
3
0
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Lambsquarter
9
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
10
8
9
5
5
—
9
Morningglory
0
0
2
2
0
7
—
2
2
5
0
0
0
0
1
Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Rape
0
3
2
3
0
2
0
0
—
0
0
0
0
2
0
Rice
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sorghum
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Soybean
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sugar beet
5
6
6
4
6
6
4
9
6
0
4
6
1
10
8
Velvetleaf
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
3
1
0
0
1
0
Wheat
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
0
—
0
2
3
10
9
2
5
6
0
0
0
0
10
Wild oat
2
2
2
3
2
7
3
3
3
3
2
2
0
3
3
Test C
The compounds evaluated in this test were formulated in a non-phytoxic solvent and applied to the soil surface before plant seedlings emerged (preemergence application), to water that covered the soil surface (flood application), and to plants that were in the one-to-four leaf stage (postemergence application). A sandy loam soil was used for the preemergence and postemergence tests, while a silt loam soil was used in the flood test. Water depth was approximately 2.5 cm for the flood test and was maintained at this level for the duration of the test.
Plant species in the preemergence and postemergence tests consisted of barley ( Hordeum vulgare ), bedstraw ( Galium aparine ), blackgrass ( Alopecurus myosuroides ), chickweed ( Stellaria media ), corn ( Zea mays ), cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum ), crabgrass ( Digitaria sanguinalis ), downy brome ( Bromus tectorum ), giant foxtail ( Setaria faberii ), lambsquarters ( Chenopodium album ), morningglory ( Ipomoea hederacea ), pigweed (Amaranthusretroflexus), rape ( Brassica napus ), ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum ), sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), soybean ( Glycine max ), speedwell ( Veronica persica ), sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris ), velvetleaf ( Abutilon theophrasti ), wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), wild buckwheat ( Polygonum convolvulus ), and wild oat ( Avena fatua ). All plant species were planted one day before application of the compound for the preemergence portion-of this test. Plantings of these species were adjusted to produce plants of appropriate size for the post-emergence portion of the test. Plant species in the flood test consisted of rice ( Oryza sativa ), umbrella sedge ( Cyperus difformis ), duck salad ( Heteranthera limosa ) and barnyardgrass ( Echinochloa crus - galli ) grown to the 1 and 2 leaf stage for testing.
All plant species were grown using normal greenhouse practices. Visual evaluations of injury expressed on treated plants, when compared to untreated controls, were recorded approximately fourteen to twenty one days after application of the test compound. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table C, were recorded on a 0 to 100 scale where 0 is no effect and 100 is complete control. A dash (-) response means no test result.
TABLE C
COMPOUND
Rate (250 g/ha)
13
20
26
28
29
30
43
44
48
49
50
66
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
85
50
50
50
90
70
60
60
40
60
50
60
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
100
100
100
—
100
Barnyardgrass
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
—
—
—
100
—
Bedstraw
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Blackgrass
98
70
70
70
90
80
90
80
60
70
60
80
Chickweed
70
100
100
80
95
70
100
100
80
80
100
100
Corn
100
70
50
90
50
40
90
90
50
50
60
60
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Crabgrass
100
60
40
50
50
20
60
50
40
40
50
50
Downy Brome
100
90
70
100
95
90
80
90
70
70
60
80
Duck salad
100
90
90
70
100
60
45
90
80
95
90
90
Giant foxtail
100
100
70
100
100
80
85
100
90
60
50
90
Lambsquarters
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Morningglory
80
90
100
100
100
90
100
100
95
100
100
100
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
Rice Japonica
90
95
85
85
90
60
75
85
60
60
90
25
Ryegrass
100
80
50
70
90
80
85
90
50
60
50
75
Sorghum
100
40
50
100
50
40
100
100
70
60
50
60
Soybean
90
80
60
80
100
50
90
70
50
80
90
70
Speedwell
100
100
100
—
—
—
—
—
—
100
—
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
100
80
100
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
95
100
100
70
95
80
70
100
70
95
95
80
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
Wheat
90
60
60
100
95
90
60
80
50
70
60
70
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Wild oat
90
60
50
70
90
80
60
60
60
60
50
60
COMPOUND
Rate (250 g/ha)
13
20
26
63
66
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
30
20
20
40
20
Bedstraw
80
50
100
100
90
Blackgrass
30
50
40
90
70
Chickweed
0
100
100
50
80
Corn
10
40
30
30
60
Cotton
50
100
100
70
90
Crabgrass
100
100
60
70
100
Downy Brome
50
30
20
50
70
Giant foxtail
100
100
100
75
100
Lambsquarters
100
100
100
100
100
Morningglory
0
—
100
100
60
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
50
20
30
100
30
Ryegrass
60
50
20
80
70
Sorghum
30
100
50
20
30
Soybean
0
100
100
20
20
Speedwell
100
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
100
Wheat
60
40
10
50
70
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
100
100
Wild oat
30
30
30
85
30
COMPOUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
13
36
39
40
41
42
52
58
59
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
70
50
40
40
60
40
50
60
60
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
—
60
100
100
100
Barnyardgrass
100
100
95
100
100
—
—
—
—
Bedstraw
100
100
100
60
90
100
100
100
100
Blackgrass
80
70
40
70
60
30
60
85
70
Chickweed
20
100
70
90
100
60
—
100
90
Corn
60
60
30
30
50
40
50
65
65
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Crabgrass
70
60
30
10
30
40
70
70
70
Downy Brome
100
50
40
60
60
50
90
90
90
Duck salad.
95
50
0
85
30
20
85
85
80
Giant foxtail
100
85
60
70
50
70
85
100
90
Lambsquarters
100
100
100
100
100
100
—
100
95
Morningglory
70
100
100
70
100
100
100
100
85
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
Rape
100
100
70
70
100
100
100
100
100
Rice Japonica
85
50
30
40
85
40
60
50
40
Ryegrass
70
50
20
40
40
40
60
85
80
Sorghum
70
70
60
50
50
70
60
85
70
Soybean
80
100
70
60
100
80
70
85
70
Speedwell
100
—
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
90
80
70
70
90
90
80
100
0
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Wheat
80
50
20
50
60
40
50
60
70
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Wild oat
70
50
30
40
50
30
60
75
60
COMPOUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
13
52
58
59
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
20
10
30
10
Bedstraw
70
80
70
70
Blackgrass
0
50
70
90
Chickweed
0
20
70
30
Corn
10
0
30
0
Cotton
0
0
40
50
Crabgrass
100
80
100
90
Downy Brome
30
50
70
60
Giant foxtail
100
90
100
90
Lambsquarters
100
100
100
100
Morningglory
0
0
30
10
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
Rape
20
60
70
40
Ryegrass
30
50
100
90
Sorghum
20
10
20
20
Soybean
0
0
0
0
Speedwell
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
Wheat
40
60
30
10
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
100
Wild oat
20
20
75
30
COMPOUND
Rate (62 g/ha)
13
20
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
36
38
39
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
40
50
40
40
60
50
50
50
60
40
30
50
30
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
100
—
Barnyardgrass
100
100
100
95
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
—
90
Bedstraw
80
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
70
Blackgrass
70
50
40
50
50
60
40
50
60
60
50
40
30
Chickweed
0
90
100
80
60
50
90
100
100
100
80
30
40
Corn
50
40
50
80
40
30
50
50
40
50
50
50
30
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Crabgrass
60
40
20
20
20
0
50
40
20
60
50
40
20
Downy Brome
80
70
50
60
80
60
40
50
60
50
40
40
30
Duck salad
95
80
70
30
95
40
40
60
80
40
30
50
0
Giant foxtail
70
70
50
100
70
50
40
70
70
70
75
50
30
Lambsquarters
100
100
100
80
100
90
95
100
100
100
100
70
100
Morningglory
70
70
70
100
80
80
100
100
100
100
100
95
100
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
80
60
Rice Japonica
70
90
80
65
70
50
50
75
85
90
40
30
30
Ryegrass
70
50
30
60
70
60
40
40
60
30
30
50
—
Sorghum
70
30
50
100
20
20
50
60
40
70
60
70
50
Soybean
60
80
60
70
60
50
80
90
100
100
80
60
60
Speedwell
100
100
100
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
95
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
85
90
95
20
90
30
80
60
80
80
70
50
60
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
100
Wheat
60
50
40
70
80
60
40
50
60
50
50
50
10
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
70
100
80
100
95
100
100
100
100
90
Wild oat
50
40
30
50
60
60
50
50
60
30
30
50
20
COMPOUND
Rate (62 g/ha)
40
41
42
43
44
48
49
50
54
55
56
66
67
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
30
50
30
50
40
30
40
40
50
50
50
50
50
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
40
—
100
95
100
—
100
100
—
100
95
Barnyardgrass
100
100
—
100
—
—
—
95
—
—
—
—
—
Bedstraw
—
80
100
70
80
100
70
100
100
100
100
100
80
Blackgrass
50
50
30
60
60
50
50
60
60
60
80
60
60
Chickweed
60
100
50
90
95
60
50
100
100
100
100
95
100
Corn
30
40
40
90
50
40
40
50
50
50
50
40
40
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Crabgrass
10
20
10
20
40
30
20
40
50
40
20
40
40
Downy Brome-
50
50
30
50
50
40
60
50
60
70
70
60
60
Duck salad
80
30
0
25
70
60
90
0
100
50
—
75
10
Giant foxtail
60
30
50
50
60
40
50
50
70
50
40
70
40
Lambsquarters
80
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Morningglory
50
100
100
90
95
60
100
100
100
100
100
85
100
Pigweed
100
100
90
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
70
100
95
100
100
50
70
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rice Japonica
40
80
20
70
60
30
50
65
85
90
—
10
90
Ryegrass
30
30
30
50
50
30
50
40
60
60
50
50
60
Sorghum
30
40
60
100
60
50
50
50
60
60
60
50
60
Soybean
50
70
60
70
50
40
70
90
95
95
95
60
95
Speedwell
100
100
100
—
—
—
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
60
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
10
80
70
60
80
40
90
75
70
90
—
0
70
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
100
100
75
100
Wheat
40
50
30
50
50
30
50
50
60
60
60
60
60
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Wild oat
30
40
30
50
50
40
50
30
60
60
60
50
60
COMPOUND
Rate (62 g/ha)
13
20
26
38
54
63
66
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
0
0
0
0
10
10
0
Bedstraw
70
50
100
50
50
100
80
Blackgrass
0
30
20
30
70
50
70
Chickweed
0
50
100
—
100
30
50
Corn
0
—
0
0
40
20
0
Cotton
0
0
0
0
40
20
40
Crabgrass
50
70
20
30
50
0
50
Downy Brome
20
20
0
0
30
20
30
Giant foxtail
100
100
70
0
60
20
20
Lambsquarters
100
100
100
—
100
95
100
Morningglory
0
20
20
20
20
40
10
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
0
20
20
30
10
85
20
Ryegrass
20
—
0
0
70
40
50
Sorghum
0
30
30
20
40
0
10
Soybean
0
0
0
0
10
0
0
Speedwell
100
100
100
20
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
70
100
100
100
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
100
100
70
Wheat
0
20
0
0
50
0
30
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
Wild oat
0
20
20
0
50
40
10
COMPOUND
Rate (31 g/ha)
13
36
39
40
41
42
52
58
59
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
40
30
30
30
40
30
40
50
50
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
—
20
100
100
100
Barnyardgrass
100
100
80
100
100
—
—
—
—
Bedstraw
80
100
60
30
70
90
70
—
100
Blackgrass
50
40
10
30
40
20
40
65
50
Chickweed
0
80
30
30
90
40
—
100
70
Corn
40
40
30
30
40
30
40
50
50
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
95
100
100
Crabgrass
60
30
10
10
10
10
40
60
40
Downy Brome
70
30
20
40
40
30
50
70
70
Duck salad
90
0
0
65
10
0
20
80
40
Giant foxtail
70
60
20
40
30
30
50
70
70
Lambsquarters
100
95
100
70
100
100
—
100
85
Morningglory
70
80
100
50
100
95
50
90
85
Pigweed
100
100
100
95
100
90
50
100
100
Rape
100
90
50
70
100
70
70
70
70
Rice Japonica
60
35
30
35
65
10
45
0
0
Ryegrass
20
30
10
20
20
20
40
60
40
Sorghum
40
50
30
20
30
50
50
50
60
Soybean
50
50
50
40
70
40
40
70
60
Speedwell
100
—
90
95
100
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
80
20
0
0
60
10
25
70
0
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
80
90
Wheat
50
30
10
30
50
20
30
50
60
Wild buckwheat
80
70
70
50
100
70
80
100
100
Wild oat
30
20
20
20
30
10
30
50
40
COMPOUND
Rate (31 g/ha)
13
52
58
59
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
0
0
0
0
Bedstraw
20
10
50
50
Blackgrass
0
0
60
50
Chickweed
0
0
10
10
Corn
0
0
0
0
Cotton
0
0
10
10
Crabgrass
30
10
50
30
Downy Brome
0
0
30
30
Giant foxtail
90
30
60
50
Lambsquarters
100
50
100
100
Morningglory
0
0
0
10
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
Rape
0
10
10
0
Ryegrass
0
10
50
50
Sorghum
0
0
10
10
Soybean
0
0
0
0
Speedwell
100
20
100
100
Sugar beet
100
70
90
50
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
95
Wheat
0
0
10
0
Wild buckwheat
90
10
100
50
Wild oat
0
0
10
0
COMPOUND
Rate (16 g/ha)
20
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
36
38
39
40
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
40
20
30
40
30
40
30
50
40
20
40
20
20
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
75
—
—
Barnyardgrass
100
100
50
100
95
90
100
95
95
100
—
50
100
Bedstraw
70
80
100
100
70
100
100
100
100
90
50
—
30
Blackgrass
40
40
30
30
20
30
30
50
50
30
20
10
20
Chickweed
60
80
50
40
20
80
90
85
100
70
20
20
30
Corn
25
40
25
20
20
40
40
30
40
30
40
20
30
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
100
100
Crabgrass
20
0
0
20
0
30
30
0
30
20
30
10
10
Downy Brome
50
40
40
60
40
40
40
60
40
20
30
10
30
Duck salad
75
60
0
85
30
40
30
65
0
0
20
0
0
Giant foxtail
20
40
60
20
20
30
50
20
40
50
40
10
30
Lambsquarters
80
80
80
60
70
85
100
80
100
90
70
70
70
Morningglory
70
70
80
80
50
100
100
90
100
80
95
60
50
Pigweed
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
90
Rape
80
90
70
100
80
95
95
100
100
85
40
20
50
Rice Japonica
50
65
45
65
40
35
30
60
35
20
10
20
35
Ryegrass
20
20
40
60
40
30
30
50
30
20
30
10
10
Sorghum
20
30
50
0
0
50
50
20
50
40
60
20
20
Soybean
60
50
30
50
20
60
70
80
100
50
40
30
40
Speedwell
100
100
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
90
90
Sugar beet
100
100
100
90
100
100
100
100
100
95
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
70
70
0
30
25
0
20
70
60
0
20
0
0
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
100
60
100
100
100
100
100
80
100
90
Wheat
40
20
60
30
30
30
30
50
40
20
30
10
20
Wild buckwheat
70
80
60
90
70
100
90
—
100
70
100
—
50
Wild oat
20
30
30
40
40
30
30
50
20
10
30
10
20
COMPOUND
Rate (16 g/ha)
41
42
43
44
48
49
50
54
55
56
66
67
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
30
20
40
30
20
20
30
50
40
50
30
30
Barnyardgrass 2
—
0
—
100
40
100
—
95
90
—
90
90
Barnyardgrass
90
—
95
—
—
—
70
—
—
—
—
—
Bedstraw
70
80
60
80
40
50
60
100
100
95
85
80
Blackgrass
40
10
30
40
30
40
50
50
50
65
40
50
Chickweed
90
20
80
80
30
50
80
100
100
100
70
95
Corn
40
20
50
40
30
30
40
40
50
40
30
30
Cotton
100
100
90
100
100
90
100
100
100
100
85
100
Crabgrass
10
10
20
30
20
10
20
30
30
10
20
30
Downy Brome
30
20
40
40
20
40
40
50
60
60
40
60
Duck salad
0
0
0
30
10
70
0
35
10
—
30
0
Giant foxtail
20
30
50
40
30
40
50
40
40
30
50
30
Lambsquarters
85
100
100
100
60
100
100
75
100
100
80
100
Morningglory
70
90
60
70
50
50
100
100
100
100
50
100
Pigweed
90
90
100
100
90
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
95
50
100
70
30
60
50
100
100
100
60
90
Rice Japonica
45
0
60
30
20
30
60
55
70
—
0
50
Ryegrass
10
10
40
30
20
40
30
40
40
40
30
50
Sorghum
20
40
60
40
40
40
50
50
50
50
40
40
Soybean
60
20
50
30
30
50
70
85
90
90
50
80
Speedwell
100
95
—
—
—
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
40
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
60
0
0
60
10
70
0
10
70
—
0
30
Velvetleaf
100
100
100
90
80
90
100
100
100
100
65
100
Wheat
40
10
40
30
20
20
30
60
50
60
40
50
Wild buckwheat
95
60
100
90
85
100
80
100
100
100
100
100
Wild oat
20
10
40
30
30
40
20
40
40
50
20
50
COMPOUND
Rate (16 g/ha)
20
26
38
54
63
66
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bedstraw
20
60
20
30
10
20
Blackgrass
0
0
0
20
30
20
Chickweed
30
50
—
20
20
0
Corn
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cotton
0
0
0
0
0
0
Crabgrass
20
0
10
0
0
0
Downy Brome
0
0
0
20
0
0
Giant foxtail
80
30
0
0
0
0
Lambsquarters
100
100
—
100
20
70
Morningglory
0
0
0
0
10
0
Pigweed
100
100
90
100
100
90
Rape
0
0
20
0
20
0
Ryegrass
20
0
0
30
0
20
Sorghum
20
20
10
0
0
0
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
Speedwell
100
100
0
100
90
90
Sugar beet
20
20
30
100
100
50
Velvetleaf
100
90
100
80
20
70
Wheat
0
0
0
10
0
0
Wild buckwheat
70
80
20
100
50
75
Wild oat
0
0
0
10
0
0
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (8 g/ha)
52
58
59
Rate (8 g/ha)
52
58
59
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
20
40
40
Barley Igri
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass 2
95
95
90
Bedstraw
0
10
0
Barnyardgrass
—
—
—
Blackgrass
0
20
20
Bedstraw
70
100
75
Chickweed
0
—
0
Blackgrass
20
50
30
Corn
0
0
0
Chickweed
—
70
40
Cotton
0
0
0
Corn
30
40
40
Crabgrass
0
0
0
Cotton
95
100
100
Downy Brome
0
0
0
Crabgrass
30
30
30
Giant foxtail
10
0
10
Downy Brome
20
40
50
Lambsquarters
0
100
95
Duck salad
0
20
0
Morningglory
0
0
0
Giant foxtail
40
40
40
Pigweed
50
100
100
Lambsquarters
—
85
70
Rape
0
0
0
Morningglory
30
70
70
Ryegrass
0
0
20
Pigweed
50
100
30
Sorghum
0
0
0
Rape
40
50
40
Soybean
0
0
0
Rice Japonica
20
0
0
Speedwell
0
100
50
Ryegrass
20
30
20
Sugar beet
0
85
30
Sorghum
40
50
40
Velvetleaf
30
40
40
Soybean
30
50
50
Wheat
0
0
0
Speedwell
30
70
100
Wild buckwheat
0
40
0
Sugar beet
70
100
100
Wild oat
0
0
0
Umbrella sedge
20
30
0
Velvetleaf
90
75
70
Wheat
20
40
40
Wild buckwheat
40
100
100
Wild oat
20
30
30
COMPOUND
Rate (4 g/ha)
20
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
38
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
10
20
20
20
30
30
30
40
30
30
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
20
Barnyardgrass
90
100
35
100
85
65
55
65
75
—
Bedstraw
60
70
90
90
50
85
90
90
95
50
Blackgrass
20
30
20
20
10
20
30
50
30
10
Chickweed
40
50
20
10
10
20
60
60
75
10
Corn
25
30
20
20
20
30
30
30
30
20
Cotton
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
80
Crabgrass
0
0
0
0
0
20
20
0
20
20
Downy Brome
20
20
10
20
20
20
30
40
30
20
Duck salad
0
55
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
Giant foxtail
0
0
20
0
0
20
30
0
30
30
Lambsquarters
70
80
50
30
50
—
80
70
100
60
Morningglory
50
50
50
70
30
100
70
70
100
30
Pigweed
100
100
100
50
100
100
100
100
100
30
Rape
80
80
50
90
50
60
85
100
100
30
Rice Japonica
45
40
0
30
35
0
20
50
25
10
Ryegrass
0
20
20
30
20
20
20
40
20
10
Sorghum
20
20
20
0
0
40
40
20
40
30
Soybean
50
20
0
10
0
40
50
40
70
20
Speedwell
100
90
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Sugar beet
100
100
100
—
80
100
100
100
80
70
Umbrella sedge
0
0
0
20
10
0
0
20
0
0
Velvetleaf
90
90
100
50
0
95
—
100
100
10
Wheat
40
20
40
20
20
30
30
40
30
20
Wild buckwheat
70
50
30
80
50
70
60
90
50
100
Wild oat
20
20
20
20
20
30
30
40
20
10
COMPOUND
Rate (4 g/ha)
43
44
48
49
50
54
55
56
66
67
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
30
10
10
10
20
40
30
30
30
30
Barnyardgrass 2
—
65
20
90
—
10
60
—
10
20
Barnyardgrass
45
—
—
—
60
—
—
—
—
—
Bedstraw
40
60
20
20
20
85
90
80
60
70
Blackgrass
20
30
20
10
30
40
40
40
20
40
Chickweed
60
30
10
20
30
75
70
80
30
70
Corn
20
30
10
10
30
30
40
30
30
20
Cotton
90
90
90
90
100
95
100
100
70
100
Crabgrass
10
20
10
10
20
20
10
0
10
20
Downy Brome
30
20
0
30
30
30
40
50
20
50
Duck salad
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
—
0
0
Giant foxtail
40
20
20
30
30
20
30
10
30
20
Lambsquarters
90
90
60
100
100
50
100
100
30
100
Morningglory
40
50
30
40
70
100
100
100
50
70
Pigweed
90
90
80
70
100
100
100
100
30
70
Rape
80
40
30
50
0
50
100
100
40
70
Rice Japonica
35
10
10
10
25
0
30
—
0
0
Ryegrass
30
20
10
20
20
30
30
40
10
40
Sorghum
40
30
30
30
50
40
40
30
30
30
Soybean
40
10
30
40
60
65
70
60
20
50
Speedwell
—
—
—
85
70
100
100
100
100
100
Sugar beet
30
80
100
100
100
100
100
100
80
100
Umbrella sedge
0
30
10
40
0
0
30
—
0
0
Velvetleaf
50
80
30
50
90
100
100
100
60
85
Wheat
20
20
10
10
20
40
40
50
20
30
Wild buckwheat
60
70
60
100
20
100
100
100
100
70
Wild oat
20
20
20
20
20
30
30
40
10
30
COMPOUND
Rate (4 g/ha)
20
26
38
54
63
66
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bedstraw
0
20
0
0
0
0
Blackgrass
0
0
0
10
10
0
Chickweed
0
50
—
0
10
0
Corn
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cotton
0
0
0
0
0
0
Crabgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
Downy Brome
0
0
0
0
0
0
Giant foxtail
30
0
0
0
0
0
Lambsquarters
90
80
—
60
10
0
Morningglory
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pigweed
20
30
0
90
0
0
Rape
0
0
10
0
0
0
Ryegrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
Sorghum
0
0
0
0
0
0
Soybean
0
0
0
0
0
0
Speedwell
80
90
0
100
0
0
Sugar beet
0
0
0
10
10
0
Velvetleaf
50
50
20
0
0
—
Wheat
0
0
0
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
30
20
0
0
0
0
Wild oat
0
0
0
0
0
0
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (2 g/ha)
52
58
59
Rate (2 g/ha)
52
58
59
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
10
30
30
Barley Igri
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass 2
25
0
0
Bedstraw
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass
—
—
—
Blackgrass
0
0
0
Bedstraw
50
60
50
Chickweed
0
10
0
Blackgrass
10
20
20
Corn
0
0
0
Chickweed
—
20
20
Cotton
0
0
0
Corn
20
40
30
Crabgrass
0
0
0
Cotton
70
95
95
Downy Brome
0
0
0
Crabgrass
10
20
10
Giant foxtail
0
0
0
Downy Brome
10
20
20
Lambsquarters
0
0
0
Duck salad
0
0
0
Morningglory
0
0
0
Giant foxtail
20
20
20
Pigweed
0
0
0
Lambsquarters
—
50
30
Rape
0
0
0
Morningglory
20
50
70
Ryegrass
0
0
0
Pigweed
20
90
30
Sorghum
0
0
0
Rape
10
30
20
soybean
0
0
0
Rice Japonica
0
0
0
Speedwell
0
0
—
Ryegrass
10
10
10
Sugar beet
0
10
0
Sorghum
30
30
20
Velvetleaf
0
0
0
Soybean
10
50
30
Wheat
0
0
0
Speedwell
—
40
100
Wild buckwheat
0
0
0
Sugar beet
70
100
90
Wild oat
0
0
0
Umbrella sedge
10
25
90
Velvetleaf
50
40
50
Wheat
10
30
10
Wild buckwheat
—
100
100
Wild oat
10
20
10
COMPOUND
Rate (1 g/ha)
31
32
33
34
38
50
54
55
56
67
POSTEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
20
20
20
20
10
0
30
20
30
20
Barnyardgrass 2
—
—
—
—
10
—
0
10
—
0
Barnyardgrass
20
30
35
60
—
—
—
—
—
—
Bedstraw
75
85
80
30
20
10
65
30
70
40
Blackgrass
10
10
30
20
10
20
30
30
30
30
Chickweed
—
30
40
75
0
20
60
30
65
70
Corn
20
20
20
20
10
20
30
30
20
10
Cotton
90
95
100
100
60
70
70
90
100
95
Crabgrass
10
10
0
10
10
10
10
10
0
10
Downy Brome
10
20
30
20
10
0
10
30
40
20
Duck salad
0
0
0
0
0
—
0
0
—
0
Giant foxtail
10
20
0
20
20
20
10
20
10
10
Lambsquarters
40
70
50
80
60
—
10
100
85
100
Morningglory
70
50
50
60
20
50
60
80
50
50
Pigweed
95
95
100
90
10
85
95
100
100
—
Rape
30
60
100
85
20
0
50
60
100
70
Rice Japonica
0
0
20
20
0
—
0
10
—
0
Ryegrass
10
10
30
10
0
0
10
10
20
20
Sorghum
20
30
0
30
20
30
20
30
20
20
Soybean
30
20
30
50
20
40
50
40
40
30
Speedwell
—
—
—
—
—
0
100
60
100
90
Sugar beet
60
80
100
—
20
20
100
100
100
100
Umbrella sedge
0
0
10
0
0
—
0
10
—
0
Velvetleaf
85
100
70
100
10
70
70
80
100
70
Wheat
10
10
30
20
0
0
20
30
30
10
Wild buckwheat
70
30
80
—
40
0
100
60
100
—
Wild oat
10
20
30
10
0
10
20
20
30
10
COMPOUND
Rate (1 g/ha)
38
54
PREEMERGENCE
Barley Igri
0
0
Bedstraw
0
0
Blackgrass
0
0
Chickweed
—
0
Corn
0
0
Cotton
0
0
Crabgrass
0
0
Downy Brome
0
0
Giant foxtail
0
0
Lambsquarters
—
0
Morningglory
0
0
Pigweed
0
0
Rape
0
0
Ryegrass
0
0
Sorghum
0
0
Soybean
0
0
Speedwell
0
50
Sugar beet
0
0
Velvetleaf
0
0
Wheat
0
0
Wild buckwheat
0
0
Wild oat
0
0
Test D
Plastic pots were partially filled with silt loam soil. The soil was then saturated with water. Japonica rice ( Oryza sativa ) seedlings at the 2.0 to 2.5 leaf stage, seeds selected from barnyardgrass ( Echinochloa crus - galli ), duck salad ( Heteranthera limosa ), umbrella sedge ( Cyperus difformis ), and tubers selected from arrowhead (Sagittaria spp.), and waterchestnut (Eleocharis spp.), were planted into this soil. After planting, water levels were raised to 3 cm above the soil surface and maintained at this level throughout the test. Chemical treatments were formulated in a non-phytotoxic solvent and applied directly to the paddy water. Treated plants and controls were maintained in a greenhouse for approximately 21 days, after which all species were compared to controls and visually evaluated. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table D, are reported on a 0 to 100 scale where 0 is no effect and 100 is complete control. A dash (-) response means no test result.
TABLE D
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (500 g/ha)
52
Rate (125 g/ha)
52
PADDY
PADDY
Arrowhead
40
Arrowhead
40
Barnyardgrass 2
100
Barnyardgrass 2
100
Duck salad
100
Duck salad
80
Japonica rice
30
Japonica rice
25
Umbrella sedge
80
Umbrella sedge
20
Waterchestnut
65
Waterchestnut
25
Rate (250 g/ha)
52
PADDY
Arrowhead
30
Barnyardgrass 2
100
Duck salad
80
Japonica rice
25
Umbrella sedge
50
Waterchestnut
40
COMPOUND
Rate (64 g/ha)
13
16
31
34
36
40
49
52
55
PADDY
Arrowhead
55
85
100
100
0
0
0
10
30
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
60
50
100
100
100
100
100
Duck salad
100
90
0
60
60
45
10
10
10
Japonica rice
35
40
30
50
25
30
20
20
25
Umbrella sedge
80
80
75
80
80
80
50
0
80
Waterchestnut
80
90
—
20
20
60
20
15
20
Rate (32 g/ha)
13
16
31
34
36
40
49
52
55
PADDY
Arrowhead
40
70
100
100
0
0
—
10
20
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
40
30
100
100
70
100
40
Duck salad
85
40
0
0
30
0
0
0
0
Japonica rice
30
35
25
40
20
20
15
20
25
Umbrella sedge
85
70
65
70
70
30
0
0
80
Waterchestnut
60
80
—
20
20
30
10
0
15
Rate (16 g/ha)
13
16
31
34
36
40
49
55
PADDY
Arrowhead
80
70
85
90
0
0
0
20
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
30
20
80
70
30
10
Duck salad
35
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
Japonica rice
25
30
20
55
15
15
10
20
Umbrella sedge
65
50
20
50
60
15
0
20
Waterchestnut
30
60
—
—
20
30
0
10
COMPOUND
Rate (8 g/ha)
13
16
31
34
36
40
49
55
PADDY
Arrowhead
20
70
60
90
0
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass 2
60
80
0
10
65
65
20
0
Duck salad
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Japonica rice
20
25
15
30
10
10
10
10
Umbrella sedge
45
30
0
20
0
0
0
0
Waterchestnut
20
35
—
20
10
20
0
0
Rate (4 g/ha)
13
16
31
34
36
40
49
55
PADDY
Arrowhead
10
70
50
85
0
0
0
0
Barnyardgrass 2
30
30
0
0
30
20
0
0
Duck salad
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Japonica rice
10
20
10
20
10
10
10
10
Umbrella sedge
30
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
Waterchestnut
20
—
—
20
10
20
0
0
Test E
Plastic pots were partially filled with silt loam soil. The soil was then flooded with water, Japonica rice ( oryza sativa ) sprouted seeds and 1.5 leaf transplants were planted in the soil. Seeds of barnyardgrass ( Echinochloa crus - galli ) were planted in saturated soil and plants grown to the I leaf, 2 leaf and 3 leaf stages for testing. At testing, the water level for all plantings was raised to 2 cm above the soil surface. Chemical treatments were formulated in a non-phytotoxic solvent and applied directly to the paddy water. Treated plants and controls were maintained in a greenhouse for approximately 21 days, after which all species were compared to controls and visually evaluated. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table E are reported on a 0 to 100 scale where 0 is no effect and 100 is complete control. A dash (-) response means no test result.
TABLE E
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (1000 g/ha)
13
Rate (250 g/ha)
13
15
16
34
Flood
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
100
100
Barnyardgrass 3
100
Barnyardgrass 3
100
—
100
95
Japonica 1
95
Japonica 1
60
65
80
100
Japonica 2
98
Japonica 2
45
25
50
95
Rate (500 g/ha)
13
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
Barnyardgrass 3
100
Japonica 1
75
Japonica 2
85
COMPOUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
13
15
16
34
36
40
41
50
52
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
100
100
100
85
98
55
100
Barnyardgrass 3
100
—
100
50
75
50
55
60
100
Japonica 1
70
25
60
98
25
20
95
75
55
Japonica 2
50
20
45
60
20
20
55
45
40
Rate (64 g/ha)
13
15
16
34
36
40
41
49
50
52
55
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
100
95
65
60
65
100
35
100
100
Barnyardgrass 3
100
—
100
45
50
40
45
70
35
100
75
Japonica 1
45
15
55
95
25
15
65
25
50
35
98
Japonica 2
35
15
35
45
15
15
45
30
35
25
35
Rate (32 g/ha)
13
15
16
34
36
40
41
49
50
52
55
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
100
98
90
55
45
55
90
25
100
80
Barnyardgrass 3
100
—
95
45
40
35
35
55
20
65
50
Japonica 1
30
10
30
85
20
15
45
0
40
20
85
Japonica 2
30
10
20
30
15
20
30
30
30
20
25
Rate (16 g/ha)
13
15
16
34
36
40
41
49
50
52
55
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
95
100
85
40
25
30
45
15
45
70
Barnyardgrass 3
100
—
80
35
35
20
25
45
15
55
40
Japonica 1
25
10
20
75
20
10
35
0
20
10
75
Japonica 2
25
10
15
25
0
15
20
20
20
15
20
Rate (8 g/ha)
13
36
40
41
49
50
52
55
Flood
Barnyardgrass 2
100
30
15
25
25
15
40
15
Barnyardgrass 3
90
30
25
20
35
10
35
20
Japonica 1
20
15
15
25
0
0
0
25
Japonica 2
20
10
10
15
0
15
10
15
Test F
Compounds evaluated in this test were formulated in a non-phytoxic solvent and applied to the soil surface before plant seedlings emerged (preemergence application) and to plants that were in the one-to-four leaf stage (postemergence application). A sandy loam soil was used for the preemergence test while a mixture of sandy loam soil and greenhouse potting mix in a 60:40 ratio was used for the postemergence test. Test compounds were applied within approximately one day after planting seeds for the preemergence test.
Plantings of these crops and weed species were adjusted to produce plants of appropriate size for the postemergence test. All plant species were grown using normal greenhouse practices. Crop and weed species include winter barley ( Hordeum vulgare cv. ‘Igri’), blackgrass ( Alopecurus myosuroides ), chickweed ( Stellaria media ), downy brome ( Bromus tectorum ), field violet ( Viola arvensis ), galium ( Galium aparine ), green foxtail ( Setaria viridis ), kochia ( Kochia scoparia ), lambsquarters ( Chenopodium album ), speedwell ( Veronica persica ), rape ( Brassica napus ), ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum ), sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris cv. ‘USl’), sunflower ( Helianthus annuus cv. ‘Russian Giant’), spring wheat ( Triticum aestivum cv. ‘ERA’), winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum cv. ‘Talent’), wild buckwheat ( Polygonum convolvulus ), wild mustard ( Sinapis arvensis ), wild oat ( Avena fatua ), and wild radish ( Raphanus raphanistrum ).
Blackgrass, galium and wild oat were treated at two growth stages. The first stage (1) was when the plants had two to three leaves. The second stage (2) was when the plants had approximately four leaves or in the initial stages of tillering. Treated plants and untreated controls were maintained in a greenhouse for approximately 21 to 28 days, after which all treated plants were compared to untreated controls and visually evaluated. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table F, are based upon a 0 to 100 scale where 0 is no effect and 100 is complete control. A dash response (-) means no test result.
TABLE F
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (250 g/ha)
26
Rate (250 g/ha)
13
26
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
30
Blackgrass (1)
95
40
Blackgrass (2)
15
Blackgrass (2)
40
40
Chickweed
100
Chickweed
30
100
Downy brome
10
Downy brome
100
40
Field violet
100
Field violet
100
100
Galium (1)
100
Galium (1)
100
100
Galium (2)
100
Galium (2)
100
100
Green foxtail
50
Green foxtail
100
100
Kochia
100
Kochia
—
—
Lambsquarters
100
Lambsquarters
—
—
Persn Speedwell
100
Persn Speedwell
100
100
Rape
100
Rape
60
100
Ryegrass
55
Ryegrass
60
80
Sugar beet
100
Sugar beet
100
100
Sunflower
60
Sunflower
0
60
Wheat (Spring)
20
Wheat (Spring)
55
20
Wheat (Winter)
20
Wheat (Winter)
20
20
Wild buckwheat
100
Wild buckwheat
100
100
Wild mustard
100
Wild mustard
—
—
Wild oat (1)
50
Wild oat (1)
50
30
Wild oat (2)
30
Wild oat (2)
80
50
Wild radish
60
Wild radish
100
100
Winter Barley
30
Winter Barley
20
20
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
26
50
Rate (125 g/ha)
13
26
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
10
40
Blackgrass (1)
60
20
Blackgrass (2)
10
20
Blackgrass (2)
40
40
Chickweed
100
100
Chickweed
0
100
Downy brome
50
0
Downy brome
100
30
Field violet
100
100
Field violet
100
100
Galium (1)
100
100
Galium (1)
100
100
Galium (2)
100
100
Galium (2)
100
100
Green foxtail
80
50
Green foxtail
100
100
Kochia
100
100
Kochia
—
100
Lambsquarters
100
100
Lambsquarters
—
100
Persn Speedwell
100
100
Persn Speedwell
100
100
Rape
100
100
Rape
20
80
Ryegrass
30
10
Ryegrass
40
60
Sugar beet
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
Sunflower
100
100
Sunflower
0
10
Wheat (Spring)
15
10
Wheat (Spring)
40
15
Wheat (Winter)
30
0
Wheat (Winter)
20
10
Wild buckwheat
100
100
Wild buckwheat
100
100
Wild mustard
100
100
Wild mustard
—
70
Wild oat (1)
45
0
Wild oat (1)
50
20
Wild oat (2)
20
0
Wild oat (2)
50
30
Wild radish
60
70
Wild radish
95
70
Winter Barley
30
50
Winter Barley
20
15
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (64 g/ha)
20
26
50
Rate (64 g/ha)
13
20
26
POSTEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
10
0
0
Blackgrass (1)
20
40
0
Blackgrass (2)
5
10
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
20
0
Chickweed
60
100
100
Chickweed
0
60
100
Downy brome
20
30
0
Downy brome
60
30
0
Field violet
100
100
100
Field violet
100
100
100
Galium (1)
60
100
100
Galium (1)
100
0
100
Galium (2)
100
100
100
Galium (2)
100
30
100
Green foxtail
70
70
50
Green foxtail
100
100
100
Kochia
100
100
100
Kochia
0
—
100
Lambsquarters
90
100
100
Lambsquarters
100
—
100
Persn Speedwell
100
100
100
Persn Speedwell
100
100
100
Rape
100
100
100
Rape
100
0
60
Ryegrass
40
20
0
Ryegrass
35
30
40
Sugar beet
100
100
100
Sugar beet
100
100
100
Sunflower
100
60
60
Sunflower
0
40
0
Wheat (Spring)
15
15
0
Wheat (Spring)
10
10
0
Wheat (Winter)
20
20
0
Wheat (Winter)
0
10
0
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
Wild buckwheat
70
—
100
Wild mustard
70
100
100
Wild mustard
30
—
80
Wild oat (1)
30
40
0
Wild oat (1)
20
20
10
Wild oat (2)
40
15
0
Wild oat (2)
0
10
20
Wild radish
100
60
55
Wild radish
80
100
40
Winter Barley
40
30
0
Winter Barley
0
10
0
COMPOUND
Rate (32 g/ha)
20
26
36
42
49
50
POSTEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
5
0
5
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
20
0
10
0
Chickweed
—
90
100
0
60
100
Downy brome
10
0
5
0
10
0
Field violet
100
100
100
80
100
100
Galium (1)
60
50
60
60
40
100
Galium (2)
60
60
70
60
40
100
Green foxtail
50
60
50
60
60
0
Kochia
100
100
100
100
100
100
Lambsquarters
80
100
60
100
70
50
Persn Speedwell
100
100
100
100
100
100
Rape
40
100
100
100
20
100
Ryegrass
20
5
35
30
20
0
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
100
Sunflower
100
20
60
100
0
60
Wheat (Spring)
15
15
20
10
20
0
Wheat (Winter)
20
15
50
10
20
0
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
—
100
100
Wild mustard
—
100
100
100
100
70
Wild oat (1)
30
25
20
10
30
0
Wild oat (2)
40
15
20
10
20
0
Wild radish
100
60
100
20
—
50
Winter Barley
25
20
25
10
20
0
COMPOUND
Rate (32 g/ha)
13
20
26
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
10
40
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
0
Chickweed
0
50
50
Downy brome
20
0
0
Field violet
100
100
100
Galium (1)
100
0
100
Galium (2)
100
0
100
Green foxtail
100
70
50
Kochia
0
—
80
Lambsquarters
100
—
100
Persn speedwell
100
100
100
Rape
0
0
20
Ryegrass
20
20
20
Sugar beet
100
100
70
Sunflower
0
0
0
Wheat (Spring)
0
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
0
100
100
Wild mustard
30
—
50
Wild oat (1)
0
0
0
Wild oat (2)
0
10
0
Wild radish
0
95
0
Winter Barley
0
10
0
COMPOUND
Rate (16 g/ha)
20
26
36
42
49
50
POSTEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
0
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
10
0
0
0
Chickweed
60
100
100
0
50
70
Downy brome
10
0
0
0
10
0
Field violet
100
100
100
70
60
100
Galium (1)
—
30
50
40
40
100
Galium (2)
45
100
60
60
40
100
Green foxtail
50
50
50
10
50
0
Kochia
100
100
60
100
100
100
Lambsquarters
70
50
60
100
50
30
Persn Speedwell
100
190
100
100
100
100
Rape
40
50
100
70
0
100
Ryegrass
10
0
20
0
0
0
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
—
100
Sunflower
100
0
50
60
0
40
Wheat (Spring)
15
0
15
10
10
0
Wheat (Winter)
15
0
20
10
10
0
Wild buckwheat
100
100
100
100
100
40
Wild mustard
60
100
100
100
—
70
Wild oat (1)
20
0
20
0
20
0
Wild oat (2)
20
0
20
0
0
0
Wild radish
50
60
100
20
100
50
Winter Barley
20
0
20
10
10
0
COMPOUND
Rate (16 g/ha)
13
20
26
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
0
Chickweed
0
—
45
Downy brome
0
0
0
Field violet
—
100
70
Galium (1)
0
0
0
Galium (2)
0
0
40
Green foxtail
100
60
20
Kochia
0
—
80
Lambsquarters
40
—
80
Persn Speedwell
0
0
100
Rape
0
0
0
Ryegrass
0
0
0
Sugar beet
—
100
60
Sunflower
0
0
0
Wheat (Spring)
0
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
0
100
30
Wild mustard
—
—
40
Wild oat (1)
0
0
0
Wild oat (2)
0
0
0
Wild radish
—
0
0
Winter Barley
0
0
0
COMPOUND
Rate (8 g/ha)
20
26
36
42
49
POSTEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
0
0
0
Chickweed
40
40
100
0
20
Downy brome
10
0
0
0
0
Field violet
100
100
100
10
60
Galium (1)
30
0
50
40
35
Galium (2)
40
50
60
30
30
Green foxtail
40
0
40
0
20
Kochia
—
100
60
80
80
Lambsquarters
50
50
50
60
—
Persn Speedwell
100
60
100
100
60
Rape
20
0
40
40
0
Ryegrass
5
0
10
0
0
Sugar beet
100
100
100
100
100
Sunflower
100
0
40
30
0
Wheat (Spring)
15
0
15
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
15
0
20
10
10
Wild buckwheat
100
100
—
100
100
Wild mustard
40
70
100
—
100
Wild oat (1)
20
0
20
0
20
Wild oat (2)
20
0
10
0
0
Wild radish
50
20
100
10
10
Winter Barley
20
0
20
10
10
COMPOUND
Rate (8 g/ha)
13
20
26
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
0
Chickweed
0
0
0
Downy brome
0
0
0
Field violet
—
100
0
Galium (1)
0
0
0
Galium (2)
0
0
20
Green foxtail
50
0
0
Kochia
0
—
0
Lambsquarters
0
—
70
Persn speedwell
0
—
80
Rape
0
0
0
Ryegrass
0
0
0
Sugar beet
0
70
50
Sunflower
0
0
0
Wheat (Spring)
0
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
0
100
0
Wild mustard
0
—
0
Wild oat (1)
0
0
0
Wild oat (2)
0
0
0
Wild radish
—
0
0
Winter Barley
0
0
0
COMPOUND
Rate (4 g/ha)
20
26
36
42
49
POSTEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
0
0
0
Chickweed
40
30
50
0
0
Downy brome
10
0
0
0
0
Field violet
100
100
100
0
—
Galium (1)
0
0
20
0
30
Galium (2)
40
50
40
0
30
Green foxtail
30
0
0
0
0
Kochia
—
100
20
80
60
Lambsquarters
50
—
50
60
50
Persn Speedwell
100
60
100
100
50
Rape
20
0
—
20
0
Ryegrass
0
0
0
0
0
Sugar beet
100
100
100
—
100
Sunflower
40
0
0
20
0
Wheat (Spring)
15
0
15
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
15
0
20
0
10
Wild buckwheat
50
100
—
60
100
Wild mustard
40
70
100
100
100
Wild oat (1)
10
0
10
0
10
Wild oat (2)
10
0
10
0
0
Wild radish
50
0
100
0
0
Winter Barley
15
0
20
10
0
COMPOUND
Rate (4 g/ha)
13
20
26
PREEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
0
Chickweed
0
0
0
Downy brome
0
0
0
Field violet
—
100
0
Galium (1)
0
0
0
Galium (2)
0
0
0
Green foxtail
0
0
0
Kochia
0
—
0
Lambsquarters
0
—
0
Persn Speedwell
0
—
50
Rape
0
0
0
Ryegrass
0
0
0
Sugar beet
0
20
0
Sunflower
0
0
0
Wheat (Spring)
0
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
0
0
0
Wild buckwheat
0
50
0
Wild mustard
0
—
0
Wild oat (1)
0
0
0
Wild oat (2)
0
0
0
Wild radish
—
0
0
Winter Barley
0
0
0
COMPOUND
Rate (2 g/ha)
42
49
POSTEMERGENCE
Blackgrass (1)
0
0
Blackgrass (2)
0
0
Chickweed
0
0
Downy brome
0
0
Field violet
0
—
Galium (1)
0
0
Galium (2)
0
0
Green foxtail
0
0
Kochia
75
20
Lambsquarters
55
—
Persn Speedwell
100
50
Rape
0
0
Ryegrass
0
0
Sugar beet
100
70
Sunflower
0
0
Wheat (Spring)
0
0
Wheat (Winter)
0
0
Wild buckwheat
60
100
Wild mustard
40
90
Wild oat (1)
0
0
Wild oat (2)
0
0
Wild radish
0
0
Winter Barley
10
0
Test G
Seeds, rhizomes, or plant parts of alfalfa ( Medicago ativa ), annual bluegrass ( Poa annua ), bermudagrass ( Cynodon dactylon ), broadleaf signalgrass ( Brachiaria plantaginea ), common purslane ( Portulaca oleracea ), common ragweed ( Ambrosia elatior ), dallisgrass ( Paspalum dilatatum ), goosegrass ( Eleusine indica ), guineagrass ( Panicum maximum ), itchgrass ( Rottboellia exaltata ), johnsongrass ( Sorghum halepense ), large crabgrass ( Digitaria sanguinalis ), peanut ( Arachis hypoagaea ), pitted morningglory ( Ipomoea lacunosa ), purple nutsedge ( Cyperus rotundus ), sandbur ( Cenchrus echinatus ), smooth crabgrass ( Digitaria ischaemum ) and yellow nutsedge ( Cyperus esculentus ) were planted into greenhouse pots containing greenhouse planting medium. Each pot contained only one plant species.
The test compound was dissolved in a non-phytotoxic solvent and applied preemergence and/or postemergence to the plants. Preemergence applications were made within one day of planting the seeds or plant parts. Postemergence applications were applied when the plants were in the two to four leaf stage (three to twenty cm). Test chemicals were dissolved in a non-phytotoxic solvent and applied preemergence and postemergence to the plants. Untreated control plants and treated plants were placed in the greenhouse and visually evaluated for injury at 13 to 21 days after herbicide application. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table G, are based on a 0 to 100 scale where 0 is no injury and 100 is complete control. A dash (-) response indicates no test result.
TABLE G
COMPOUND
Rate (250 g/ha)
14
16
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
POSTEMERGENCE
Alfalfa Var.
10
30
70
50
0
0
0
20
0
50
0
70
0
10
0
0
60
Ann Bluegrass
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bermudagrass
0
0
70
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Brdlf Sgnlgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cmn Purslane
40
80
100
70
90
70
50
70
60
90
60
80
60
80
80
80
100
Cmn Ragweed
20
100
20
20
100
20
20
0
0
100
60
60
0
100
60
50
100
Dallisgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Goosegrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Guineagrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Itchgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
Johnsongrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Large Crabgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Peanuts
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pit Morninglory
0
40
0
0
20
0
0
30
0
40
0
70
20
50
30
100
50
Purple Nutsedge
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
S. Sandbur
0
0
80
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Smooth Crabgras
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Yellow Nutsedge
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
COMPOUND
Rate (250 g/ha)
14
16
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
PREEMERGENCE
Alfalfa Var.
0
60
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
60
0
0
0
30
0
0
100
Ann Bluegrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
50
Bermudagrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
50
0
0
0
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
Brdlf Sgnlgrass
0
30
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cmn Purslane
0
100
100
100
0
0
100
0
0
100
0
100
0
100
100
40
100
Cmn Ragweed
0
100
100
0
50
0
0
0
0
20
0
40
0
70
0
0
0
Dallisgrass
0
50
20
0
40
0
20
30
0
20
0
90
0
0
0
0
80
Goosegrass
0
60
80
100
70
0
40
40
0
20
0
100
30
0
0
0
30
Guineagrass
0
30
70
70
0
0
0
0
0
30
0
100
0
100
0
0
0
Itchgrass
0
100
30
30
0
0
0
20
0
50
0
40
0
70
0
0
20
Johnsongrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Large Crabgrass
0
100
80
90
60
0
70
90
0
90
0
100
70
0
0
0
60
Peanuts
0
40
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pit Morninglory
0
40
0
0
20
0
0
50
0
20
0
30
0
0
0
0
30
Purple Nutsedge
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
S. Sandbur
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Smooth Crabgras
0
100
40
70
20
0
20
0
0
40
0
100
0
0
0
0
80
Yellow Nutsedge
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
COMPOUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
14
16
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
POSTEMERGENCE
Alfalfa Var.
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
40
Ann Bluegrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bermudagrass
0
0
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Brdlf Sgnlgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cmn Purslane
50
100
80
100
70
80
70
80
100
100
30
90
70
100
100
100
100
Cmn Ragweed
30
100
60
40
0
70
60
50
50
80
100
20
40
100
100
80
70
Dallisgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Goosegrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Guineagrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Itchgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Johnsongrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Large Crabgrass
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Peanuts
20
70
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
30
Pit Morninglory
0
70
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
50
70
30
30
Purple Nutsedge
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
10
10
20
S. Sandbur
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Smooth Crabgras
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Yellow Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
COMPOUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
14
16
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
PREEMERGENCE
Alfalfa Var.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Ann Bluegrass
0
0
0
0
30
0
0
30
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Bermudagrass
0
80
0
0
20
0
0
30
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Brdlf Sgnlgrass
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cmn Purslane
0
100
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
30
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cmn Ragweed
20
100
0
0
50
0
0
40
0
0
0
20
0
0
0
0
0
Dallisgrass
0
0
0
0
20
0
0
20
0
20
0
80
0
0
0
0
0
Goosegrass
0
100
0
0
100
0
90
90
0
70
0
90
0
0
0
0
0
Guineagrass
0
100
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Itchgrass
0
20
0
0
60
0
0
100
0
0
0
100
0
0
0
0
0
Johnsongrass
0
0
0
0
30
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Large Crabgrass
0
100
0
0
100
0
0
80
0
90
0
80
0
0
0
0
0
Peanuts
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pit Morninglory
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Purple Nutsedge
0
0
0
—
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
S. Sandbur
0
50
0
0
0
0
0
40
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Smooth Crabgras
0
70
0
0
70
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Yellow Nutsedge
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Test H
Seeds of barnyardgrass ( Echinochloa crus - galli ), black nightshade ( Solanum ptycanthum dunal ), cocklebur ( Xanthium pensylvanicum ), common ragweed ( Ambrosia elatior ), corn ( Zea mays ), cotton ( Gossypium hirsutam ), crabgrass (Digitaria spp.), giant foxtail ( Setaria faberii ), jimsonweed ( Datura stramonium ), johnson grass ( Sorghum halepense ), morningglory (Ipomoea spp.), smartweed ( Polygonum pensylvanicum ), soybean ( Glycine max ), velvetleaf ( Abutilon theophrasti ) and purple nutsedge ( Cyperus rotundus ) tubers were planted into a silt loam soil. These crops and weeds were grown in the greenhouse until the plants ranged in height from two to eighteen cm (one to four leaf stage), then treated postemergence with the test chemicals dissolved in a non-phytotoxic solvent. Pots receiving these postemergence treatments were placed in the greenhouse and maintained according to routine greenhouse procedures.
Treated plants and untreated controls were maintained in the greenhouse approximately 21 days after application of the test compound. Visual evaluations of plant injury responses were then recorded. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table H, are reported on a 0 to 10 scale where 0 is no effect and 10 is complete control.
TABLE H
COM-
COM-
POUND
POUND
Rate (500 g/ha)
13
Rate (250 g/ha)
13
PREEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Barnyardgrass
10
Barnyardgrass
10
Black Nightshade
10
Black Nightshade
10
Cocklebur
8
Cocklebur
0
Common Ragweed
10
Common Ragweed
6
Corn G4689A
10
Corn G4689A
4
Cotton
7
Cotton
0
Crabgrass
10
Crabgrass
10
Giant Foxtail
10
Giant Foxtail
10
Jimson weed
10
Jimson weed
10
Johnson Grass
10
Johnson Grass
5
Morningglory
0
Morningglory
0
Nutsedge
2
Nutsedge
0
Smartweed
10
Smartweed
10
Soybean
2
Soybean
0
Velvetleaf
10
Velvetleaf
10
COM-
COM-
POUND
POUND
Rate (125 g/ha)
13
Rate (16 g/ha)
34
PREEMERGENCE
POSTEMERGENCE
Barnyardgrass
6
Barnyardgrass
0
Black Nightshade
10
Black Nightshade
10
Cocklebur
0
Cocklebur
10
Common Ragweed
4
Common Ragweed
2
Corn G4689A
0
Corn G4689A
2
Cotton
0
Cotton
10
Crabgrass
7
Crabgrass
0
Giant Foxtail
7
Giant Foxtail
0
Jimson weed
10
Jimson weed
10
Johnson Grass
5
Johnson Grass
0
Morningglory
0
Morningglory
10
Nutsedge
0
Nutsedge
0
Smartweed
10
Smartweed
8
Soybean
0
Soybean
10
Velvetleaf
10
Velvetleaf
10
COM-
COM-
POUND
POUND
Rate (62 g/ha)
13
Rate (31 g/ha)
13
PREEMERGENCE
PREEMERGENCE
Barnyardgrass
0
Barnyardgrass
0
Black Nightshade
10
Black Nightshade
8
Cocklebur
0
Cocklebur
0
Common Ragweed
1
Common Ragweed
0
Corn G4689A
0
Corn G4689A
0
Cotton
0
Cotton
0
Crabgrass
3
Crabgrass
0
Giant Foxtail
4
Giant Foxtail
0
Jimson weed
2
Jimson weed
0
Johnson Grass
0
Johnson Grass
0
Morningglory
0
Morningglory
0
Nutsedge
0
Nutsedge
0
Smartweed
2
Smartweed
0
Soybean
0
Soybean
0
Velvetleaf
8
Velvetleaf
6
COM-
COM-
POUND
POUND
Rate (8 g/ha)
34
Rate (4 g/ha)
34
POSTEMERGENCE
POSTEMERGENCE
Barnyardgrass
0
Barnyardgrass
0
Black Nightshade
10
Black Nightshade
5
Cocklebur
10
Cocklebur
5
Common Ragweed
1
Common Ragweed
0
Corn G4689A
1
Corn G4689A
1
Cotton
10
Cotton
10
Crabgrass
0
Crabgrass
0
Giant Foxtail
0
Giant Foxtail
0
Jimson weed
10
Jimson weed
10
Johnson Grass
0
Johnson Grass
0
Morningglory
10
Morningglory
10
Nutsedge
0
Nutsedge
0
Smartweed
7
Smartweed
5
Soybean
7
Soybean
7
Velvetleaf
10
Velvetleaf
10
Test I
Plastic pots were partially filled with clay loam soil. Tansplanted seedlings of Japonica rice ( Oryza sative ) and seeds of barnyardgrass ( Echinoghloa oryzicola ) were planted in flooded pots. Plants were then grown to the 2 leaf, 2.5 leaf and 3 leaf stages for testing. At test, water levels for all plantings were kept to 3 cm above the soil surface. Chemical treatments were formulated in a non-phytotoxic solvent and applied directly to the paddy water. Treated plants and controls were maintained in a greenhouse for approximately 21 to 28 days, after which all species were compared to controls and visually evaluated. Plant response ratings, summarized in Table I are reported on a 0 to 10 scale where 0 is no effect and 10 is complete control.
TABLE I
COMPOUND
COMPOUND
Rate (64 g/ha)
13
15
16
Rate (16 g/ha)
13
15
16
FLOOD
FLOOD
Barnyardgrass 2.5
6
3
5
Barnyardgrass 2.5
3
1
2
Barnyardgrass 2
8
3
6
Barnyardgrass 2
6
2
4
Rice 1
4
2
6
Rice 1
2
1
3
Rice 2
4
3
6
Rice 2
3
2
4
Rate (32 g/ha)
13
15
16
Rate (8 g/ha)
13
15
16
FLOOD
FLOOD
Barnyardgra 2.5
3
2
4
Barnyardgra 2.5
2
1
2
Barnyardgrass 2
7
2
5
Barnyardgrass 2
2
0
5
Rice 1
2
2
5
Rice 1
2
2
3
Rice 2
3
2
5
Rice 2
3
1
3
|
This invention relates to certain phenylheterocyclic compounds, herbicidal compositions thereof and a method for their use as general and selective preemergent or postemergent herbicides or plant growth regulants.
| 2
|
This application is a U.S. national stage of International Application No. PCT/ES2008/000453 filed Jun. 26, 2008.
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention refers to the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions for anti-fibrinolytic treatment and haemorrhagic complications associated with hyper-fibrinolytic states or surgical procedures.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
The haemostatic system is responsible for maintaining circulatory fluidity and for preventing haemorrhage in response to vascular attack. Physiological haemostasis is controlled by mechanisms that promote coagulation and the formation of fibrin and by those favouring its degradation or fibrinolysis. Excessive activation of coagulation or a defect of fibrinolysis lead to the formation of clots that obstruct the blood vessels (intravascular thrombosis), causing ischemia and necrosis. However, a general situation of hyper-fibrinolysis encourages the beginning of haemorrhages.
Hyperfibrinolytic states caused by congenital abnormalities or acquired in the coagulation-fibrinolysis system cause predisposition to important haemorrhagic complications. Such states have been associated with thrombolytic treatment as well as with surgery in organs containing a high amount of plasminogen activators, such as the prostate glands, uterus and lung. Also, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), secondary to many medical and/or surgical processes, constitutes the prototype of the hyper-fibrinolytic state associated with massive haemorrhage in various organs.
In diseases with underlying haemorrhagic physiopathology caused by abnormal coagulation or increase in fibrinolysis, and aside from following transfusions of haemoderivatives, the pharmacological measures for treatment are often anti-fibrinolytic, but the treatment fails in approximately 30% of the cases.
Anti-fibrinolytic treatments seek to inhibit degradation of fibrin. The most common ones used in clinical treatment are synthetic analogues of lysine, such as epsilon-aminocaproic acid (EACA) and tranexamic acid (AMCHA), which compete with plasminogen for lysine binding sites, and aprotinin, that is a derivative of bovine lung with a broad protease inhibition spectrum.
These compounds have been shown to be effective in various clinical medical and surgical situations, such as intracraneal haemorrhage, surgery with elevated risk of haemorrhage and complications derived from thrombolytic treatment.
At a surgical level, the anti-fibrinolytic agents, in addition to reducing post-operative haemorrhage, can be an alternative to blood transfusion and other haemoderivatives in heart, liver and orthopaedic surgery. However, the use of these preparations has not become generalised, in part because there are insufficient studies demonstrating their effectiveness and also because they may increase the risk of thrombolytic complications (Mangano DT et al. The risk associated with aprotinin in cardiac surgery. N Engl J Med 2006; 354: 353-365).
For example, in hepatic surgery, fundamentally liver transplant, the use of anti-fibrinolytics such as aprotinin and AMCHA achieves a reduction in haemorrhagic complications, but can be associated with thrombolytic problems (de Boer MT et al. Minimizing blood loss in liver transplants: progress through research and evolution of techniques. Dig Surg 2005; 22: 265-275).
In intracranial haemorrhage, the anti-fibrinolytics have also not been incorporated into the clinical practice guides (You H et al. Hemostatic drug therapies for acute intracerebral haemorrhage. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006; CD005951). In the particular case of brain haemorrhage, primary or secondary to thrombolytic treatment, the use of recombinant factor VIIa is the only treatment that seems to have any beneficial effect in terms of the reduction of mortality (29% of patients receiving placebo compared to 18% of patients receiving factor VIIa) and of reduction of neurological sequelae (Mayer S. A., Brun N. C. et al.; “Recombinant Activated Factor VII Intracerebral Hemorrhage Trial Investigators. Recombinant activated factor VII for acute intracerebral hemorrhage”; N Engl J Med. 2005; 352: 777-785].
Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is another clinical condition that involves massive haemorrhage in which the administration of current anti-fibrinolytics is contraindicated as it encourages generalised thrombosis (Paramo JA. Coagulación intravascular diseminada. Med clin (Barc) 2006; 127: 785-9).
Thrombolysis with tPA or urokinase type plasminogen activators is one of the treatments of choice in acute heart attack and ischemic stroke but its use is associated with a high incidence of major haemorrhaging in up to 14% of cases and of intracranial haemorrhage in up to 4% of cases. In addition to treatment with haemoderivatives, the EACA or AMCHA type anti-fibrinolytics are indicated when there is excessive haemorrhaging, although their use can encourage thrombotic recurrence.
Excessive haemorrhaging after teeth extraction is one of the more common complications in patients with congenital coagulopathies such as haemophilia A. In these situations, the local use of anti-fibrinolytic and anti-haemorrhagic agents (e.g. tranexamic acid, desmopressin and Factor VII) contribute to the persistence of the clot and prevention of haemorrhage (Franchini M et al. Dental procedures in adult patients with hereditary bleeding disorders: 10 years experience in three Italian Hemophila Centers. Haemophilia 2005; 11: 504-509).
Anti-fibrinolytics are also the first line of treatment in women with menorrhagia associated with congenital coagulopathies in combination with hormonal therapy (Demers C et al. Gynaecological and obstetric management of women with inherited bleeding disorders. J Obstet Gynaecol 2005; 27: 707-732).
The application of topical treatment with fibrin gels has been an advancement in preventing haemorrhaging related to surgical wounds but its clinical use has still not been established (Gabay M. Absorbable hemostatic agents. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2006; 63: 1244-53).
The intravenous or topical application of inhibitors of MMPs can restore haemostasis more quickly, reducing local haemorrhagic complications or those associated with tPA (Lapchak P A, Araujo D M. Reducing bleeding complications after thrombolytic therapy for stroke: clinical potential of metalloproteinase inhibitors and spin trap agents. CNS Drugs. 2001; 15 :819-29), encouraging the persistence of the clot, the repair and the healing of surgical wounds. Although this is a promising strategic option, most clinical trials with inhibitors of MMPs have failed; either because of the low doses used (efficacy vs toxicity) or due to observed side effects (musculoskeletal syndrome). It would be necessary to find more selective inhibitors that only block the molecular mechanisms associated with a specific MMP thereby avoiding adverse effects (Peterson JT. The importance of estimating the therapeutic index in the development of matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors. Cardiovasc Res. 2006; 69: 677-687).
The purpose of the present invention is to provide alternative therapeutic compositions for anti-fibrinolytic treatment and for haemorrhagic complications that inhibit lysis of fibrin clots.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
FIG. 1 . Turbidimetric assay of recalcified plasma expressed as absorbance values at 405 nm against the duration of the experiment in minutes. A: The graph shows the differences in clot formation (maximum absorbance) of plasma alone (control) or in the presence of MMP-10 (200 nM) or MMP-3 (200 nM); B: The graph shows the formation and lysis of the recalcified plasma fibrin clot in the presence of plasminogen activators tPA (30 U/ml) and uPA (135 U/ml) alone, or combined with MMP-10 (200 nM) and also in the presence of an equivalent dose of MMP-3 (200 nM) combined with tPA (30 U/ml).
FIG. 2 . Polymerised fibrin plaque in which areas of lysis produced by tPA (1 U/ml) and MMP-10 (200 nM) alone or added together are shown.
FIG. 3 . Assay of MMP-10 (100 nM) activity in plasma with a fluorescent substrate of stromelysins. The concentration of the monoclonal antibody (MAb) that inhibits the activity of MMP-10 in plasma was determined by the reduction in the substrate formation gradient. An IgG isotype antibody was used as a control.
FIG. 4 . Western blot with the antibody that inhibits the activity of MMP-10. Molecular weight marker (lane 1), MMP-1 (lane 3), MMP-3 (lane 3), MMP-10 (lane 4). The antibody inhibitor of MMP-10 activity only recognises the MMP-10 proenzyme (55 kDa) and the active enzyme (45 kDa), without showing any cross reaction with other metalloproteases.
FIG. 5 . Turbidimetric assay of plasma recalcified with MMP-10 (200 nM) in the presence or absence of a monoclonal antibody (MAb) that inhibits the activity of MMP-10, and of an IgG isotype control antibody.
FIG. 6 . Fibrin plaque showing the differences in the area of lysis produced by tPA (1 U/ml) and MMP-10 (200 nM) in the presence or absence of a monoclonal antibody that inhibits the activity of MMP-10 (MAb) and an IgG isotype control antibody.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In a first aspect, the invention refers to the use of an antibody that neutralises matrix metalloproteinase-10 (MMP-10) in the preparation of a medicine for anti-fibrinolytic treatment.
MMP-10 (Enzyme code EC-Number 3.4.24.22) is also called matrix metallopeptidase, stromelysin-2 (STMY2), transin-2 or proteoglycanase-2. In humans, the gene coding for MMP-10 is located on chromosome 11 (11q22.3; HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee HGNC-ID: 7156; UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot Accession Number: P09238).
This metalloproteinase is expressed by various cell types, such as endothelial cells, monocytes and fibroblasts. It is known that it can be activated by plasmin, calicrein, tryptase, elastase and cathepsin G and can degrade a wide range of extracellular matrix substrates, such as agrecane, elastin, fibronectin, gelatin, laminin, tenascin-C, vitronectin and collagen types II, III, IV, IX, X and XI. MMP-10 can also activate other matrix metalloproteinases, such as proMMP-1, -3, -7, -8 and -9 [Nakamura H et al.; Eur. J. Biochem., 1998; 253: 67-75].
It is also known that MMP-10 participates in various physiological processes, such as bone growth and wound healing. It is also over-expressed in corneas of patients with diabetic retinopathy and has been related to some types of carcinomas and also with lymphoid tumours. Various in vitro studies have demonstrated that the expression of MMP-10 in keratinocyte cultures can be induced by growth factors (epidermal growth factor of keratinocytes or TGF-beta) and by proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1beta) [Rechardt O et al.; J. Invest. Dermatol., 2000; 115: 778-787]; [Li de Q et al.; Invest. Opthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2003; 44: 2928-2936].
Likewise, in communications prior to this invention, it was described that MMP-10:
can be an inflammatory biomarker of vascular risk [Montero I et al.; J. Am. Col. Cardiol., 2006; 47: 1369-1378]; [Orbe J et al.; J. Thromb. Haemost.; 2007; 5: 91-97]; is induced in endothelial cells that form capillaries in 3D collagen matrices and participates in the regression of the formation of capillaries by the activation of MMP-1 [Saunders WB et al.; J. Cell Sci., 2005; 118 :2325-2340]; and plays a fundamental role in the maintenance of intracellular unions that preserve vascular integrity in processes of remodelling and angiogenesis [Chang S et al.; Cell, 2006; 126: 321-334]. participates in healing of wounds, increasing the migration of keratinocytes and tissue reorganisation that occurs by the proteolytic degradation of matrix proteins [Krampert M, et al.; Mol Biol Cell, 2004; 5242-5254].
In the present invention, the effect of MMP-10 and MMP-3 on the formation and lysis of clots on human plasma were researched, as well as in other in vitro models of degradation of polymerised fibrin.
The inventors have been able to show that MMP-10 does not have direct thrombolytic activity and that it is not capable by itself of altering the formation of the clot nor degrading the fibrin. Surprisingly, they have also found that in the presence of thrombolysis activating agents, particularly plasminogen activators, MMP-10 encourages the dissolution of the fibrin clots and reduces the time of lysis. MMP-10 therefore acts as a facilitator or adjuvant of the thrombolytic action of other thrombolysis activators.
By contrast, a fibrinolytic matrix metalloproteinase such as MMP-3, with direct proteolytic activity on fibrin and fibrinogen, does not reduce clot lysis times, which activators of thrombolysis do by themselves.
Even more surprisingly, the inventors have found that the addition of antibodies specific against MMP-10 are capable of inhibiting the effect of MMP-10, leading to completely blocking the dissolution of the clot, even in the presence of fibrinolysis activators.
In consequence, a MMP-10 inhibiting agent, e.g. an antibody, could represent a significant advance in the control of haemorrhaging in medical and surgical areas, as well as being an alternative to blood transfusion in patients with excessive haemorrhaging caused by a fibrinolysis disorder,
1.—by its capacity to reduce and block the lysis of the fibrin clot even in the presence of plasminogen activators,
2.—by being a molecule that does not change the formation of the fibrin clot.
MMP-10, not being a protein that acts by a mechanism that is independent from the haemostatic system, does not present thrombolytic complications of conventional anti-fibrinolytics.
In addition, selective blocking of MMP-10 will not cause side effects associated with an non-selective inhibition of MMPs, such as the musculoskeletal syndrome, in which other MMPs such as MMP-9 and MMP-14 have been implicated.
MMP-10 Neutralising Antibody
Firstly, in the context of the invention, the term “antibody” includes polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, recombinant antibodies, kimeric antibodies, humanised antibodies and fully human antibodies.
Polyclonal antibodies are originally heterogeneous mixtures of antibody molecules produced in the serum of animals that have been immunised with an antigen. They also include monospecific polyclonal antibodies obtained from heterogeneous mixtures, for example by chromatography in a column with peptides of a single epitope of the antigen of interest.
A monoclonal antibody is a homogeneous population of antibodies specific for a single epitope of the antigen. These monoclonal antibodies can be prepared by conventional techniques that have been already described, e.g. in Köhler and Milstein [Nature, 1975; 256: 495-397] or Harlow and Lane [“Using Antibodies. A Laboratory Manual” by E. Harlow and D. Lane, Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.; 1998 (ISBN 978-0879695439)].
A kimeric antibody is a monoclonal antibody constructed by cloning or recombination of antibodies from different animal species. In a typical but non-limiting configuration of the invention, the kimeric antibody includes a part of a monoclonal antibody, generally the variable region (Fv) that includes the sites for recognition and binding to the antigen and another part corresponding to a human antibody, generally the part including the constant region and the adjacent constant region.
A humanised antibody is a monoclonal antibody constructed by cloning and grafting the hyper-variable complementarity determining regions (CDR) of a murine monoclonal antibody into a human antibody, substituting its own hyper-variable CDR.
A totally human antibody is an antibody or antibodies that has been produced in transgenic animals with the human immune system or by immunisation in vitro of human immune cells (including both genetic immunisation and traditional, with and without adjuvants, and with pure or impure antigen; or by any method of exposure of the antigen to the immune system) or by native/synthetic libraries produced from human immune cells. These antibodies can be obtained and selected from transgenic animals (e.g. mice) into which genes of human immunoglobulins have been cloned and which are immunised with the target antigen. Equally, these antibodies can be obtained by selecting single-chain variable fragments (scFv) or by binding to human antigen (Fab) presented in phage libraries (phage display) and later cloning and grafting into a human antibody or by any other method of production and display) of the libraries generated by cloning the variable regions of both chains and later combination/mutation of these to generate antibody libraries.
Also, the antibody or antibodies of the invention can be of any of immunoglobulin class or subclass and particularly IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgE.
In a particular embodiment, the antibodies are complete antibodies including all the functional regions that are typical of a natural immunoglobulin, particularly the regions for recognition and specific binding to the antigen.
Secondly, the term “antibody” also includes an antibody fragment, obtained from the protein or by recombinant technology, which expressed in prokaryotes, yeasts or eukaryotes, glycosylated or deglycosylated, and that can consist of the variable zones of antibodies linked to each other by a binding peptide (scFv) or the variable zone next to the CHI constant zone of the heavy chain (Fd) linked to the light chain by cysteins or by binding peptides and disulphide bridge (scFab), or new variants, such as only heavy chains, or any modification that is made of these with the aim of making them more specific, less immunogenic (humanised) or more stable in biological fluids and that have the capacity of inhibiting MMP-10 by binding to its active centre or to any other domain of the protein that reduces its activity.
In the context of the invention, the terms “neutralising” or “antagonist” antibody of MMP-10 refers to an antibody, defined in the terms indicated above, that is capable of recognising and specifically binding to MMP-10 with an affinity in the nanomolar or picomolar range. Also, this antibody is capable of inhibiting or blocking, totally or partially, the activity of MMP-10. In particular, this antibody is capable of inhibiting or blocking the action of MMP-10 as facilitator of the dissolution of fibrin clots, reducing the lysis times (fibrinolytic-thrombolytic activity). In a particular embodiment, the neutralising antibody inhibits the adjuvant action that MMP-10 exercises over plasminogen activators (tPA, uPA, etc.).
Obtaining MMP-10 Neutralising Antibodies
The neutralising antibodies of the invention can be produced by the conventional methods already known for the production of antibodies. Without this representing any limitation, the methods used can include: immunisation techniques in animals, including transgenic animals for human immunoglobulin genes, production of monoclonal antibodies by hybridomas, production by antibody libraries, that can be native, synthetic or derived from organisms immunised against the antigen of interest and that can be selected by very different methods of presentation or display (phage display, ribosome display, etc.) and later by means of genetic engineering techniques may be redesigned and expressed in vectors designed for the production of recombinant antibodies of different sizes, compositions and structures. A review of the main methods for the production and purification of antibodies can be found in:
“Handbook of Therapeutic Antibodies”, by S. Dübel, Publisher: Wiley-VCH, 2007, Vols: I to III (ISBN 978-3527314539);
“Antibodies: Volume 1: Production and Purification” by G. Subramanian Ed., Publisher: Springer, 1st Ed, 2004 (ISBN 978-0306482458);
“Antibodies: Volume 2: Novel Technologies and Therapeutic Use”, by G. Subramanian Ed., Publisher: Springer, 1st Ed, 2004 (ISBN 978-0306483158);
“Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory manual”, by J. Sambrook and D. W. Russel Eds., Publisher: Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Press, 3rd edition, 2001 (ISBN 978-0879695774).
In a particular non-limiting embodiment of the invention, a procedure for obtaining and producing a neutralising monoclonal antibody of MMP-10 could comprise the following stages:
1.—Immunise mice with a solution of MMP-10 or an immunogenic fragment of MMP-10 or plasmid containing MMP-10 or derivatives.
2.—Select those animals with polyclonal response against the antigen by Western Blot, ELISA or immunocytochemistry.
3.—Perform the fusion of the animal spleens with myeloma cells (SP2/O-Ag14; P3×63-Ag8.6.5.3; P3-NS-I-Ag4-1; etc.) to generate hybrids between the different cell types: and select those hybrids of animal lymphocyte B and myeloma cells that produce antibody and are immortal in culture with HAT (hypoxanthine, aminopterin and thymidine) medium.
4.—Select the hybridomas that secrete antibodies of interest, in other words, antibodies that inhibit the activity of MMP-10. To do this, take samples of the supernatant of all the wells containing hybridomas to subject them to an immunoassay: perform ELISA assays with plates coated with ng or μg amounts of MMP-10; after incubation for 15 hours at 4° C. and blocking with a suitable protein, the supernatants of the cultures are added, the wells are washed and then a secondary mouse anti-immunoglobulin is added. After washing and developing with an enzymatic reaction, the wells in which colour is detected or which have an increase in absorbance can contain clones of hybridomas that secrete antibodies against MMP-10.
5.—Select those hybridomas capable of inhibiting the activity of MMP-10 by performing an assay with fluorogenic substrate. Use a microplate coated with various concentrations of an anti-MMP-10 antibody (R&D systems, Clon110343) and the flurogenic substrate of stromelysins (MCA-Arg-Pro-Lys-Pro-Val-Glu-Nval-Trp-Arg-Lys-[DNP]-NH2) (R&D systems; ES002, Abingdon, UK). The fluorescence (320 nm excitation and 405 nm emission is measured in a spectrofluorometer (SpectraMAX GeminiXS, Molecular Devices, CA, USA) for 2 h with reading every 5 min. In relation to a constant concentration of active MMP-10, those hybrids that reduce the activity of MMP-10 by at least 50% (IC50) at the lowest concentration and after pre-incubation with the protein for 30 min at 37° C. are selected.
The cells producing antibodies in the well from which the selected supernatant comes are grown and frozen in liquid nitrogen.
6.—Ensure that each culture of cells secreting an anti-MMP-10 antibody is monoclonal. Apply the techniques of cloning or limiting dilution and grow the isolated cells in new culture microplates starting from the original culture or stem cells that are positive in the first ELISA assay and activity assay. Once new colonies arising from one or more cells have acquired sufficient size, take new supernatants of these and subject them to a new ELISA and activity assay. Repeat the process until 100% of the supernatants analysed contain antibodies against the activity of MMP-10.
7.—Purify the antibodies from the supernatants by liquid chromatography (chromatography of immunoaffincity, affinity, cation exchange, hydroxyapatite, hydrophobic interaction, gel filtration, etc.) in a AKTA FPLC equipment, GE Healthcare Bio-Science.
8.—Lastly, analyse the purity, specificity, affinity and fibrinolytic activity of those that have been selected.
The antibody purity can be determined, for example, by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) that is stained with Coomassie blue to demonstrate the presence of a single band.
The antibody specificity can be determined by Western blot against other metalloproteases (especially MMP-3 with which it shares the greatest homology) at ng to μg concentrations and developed by chemiluminescence.
The antibody affinity constant can be calculated from the dissociation constant (Kd), defined as the gradient obtained on representing the absorbance values of the ELISA coated with MMP-10 against increasing concentrations of antibody.
The neutralising capacity of the fibrinolytic activity of this antibody can be analysed by turbidimetric formation assay and lysis of fibrin clots and in polymerised fibrin assay, for example by the assays described in the examples 1 and 2.
Furthermore, the nucleic acid coding for the MMP-10 neutralising antibody can serve as an intermediate product for obtaining a kimeric or humanised antibody that is also a neutraliser of MMP-10.
Despite the above, the method for the production of the neutralising antibody of MMP-10 is not a critical aspect and therefore a person skilled in the art can easily produce the antibodies of the invention by means of any conventional method for the production of antibodies.
Therapeutic Indication for Anti-fibrinolytic Treatment
In general, the MMP-10 neutralising antibody (or the medicine containing it) is useful for anti-fibrinolytic treatment.
In a particular embodiment, the antibody of the invention is useful for the treatment, preventation or therapy, of haemorrhages or haemorrhagic complications.
In some cases, haemorrhagic complications to be treated can occur in patients with hyper-fibrinolytic states and coagulation defects that can be caused by congenital abnormalities (haemophilia A, von Willebrand disease, PAI-1 or alpha2-antiplasmin deficiency) or by acquired complications, e.g. derived from treatment with anti-coagulant agents or in patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), some surgery or tumours of tissues or organs rich in fibrinolysis activators, or in situations of failure to clear plasminogen activators, such as severe liver disease or acute promyelocytic leukaemia associated with DIC.
Excessive haemorrhagic complications included among thesemenstrual haemorrhage (menorrhagia), gastrointestinal haemorrhage, urinary haemorrhage, tooth haemorrhage and particularly haemorrhage in patients with coagulation defects for some of the causes mentioned above (haemophilia A, von Willebrand disease, anti-coagulant treatment, DIC, etc.).
In other cases, haemorrhaging and haemorrhagic complications to be treated can occur in surgical procedures (surgery in general, including transplants and biopsies), particularly surgery on organs rich in plasminogen activators (prostate, lung, uterus) and in surgery on patients in hyper-fibrinolytic states or with the coagulation defects as already indicated. In these cases, the purpose is to reduce the haemorrhage derived from surgery by a treatment (prior, during and/or post surgery) with a medicine comprising a MMP-10 neutralising antibody.
Also, the topical use of anti-MMP-10 antibodies could be useful for restoring vascular communication after performing a vascular graft, including the inhibitor in a fibrin gel-type formulation to prevent the haemorrhaging related to the surgical wound.
In the context of the invention, the term “treatment” includes the administration of the medicine containing the MMP-10 neutralising antibody to prevent or reduce the beginning of symptoms, complications or biochemical indications of a hyper-fibrinolytic state, and most particularly to prevent the early existence of haemorrhagic events. The treatment can be a prophylactic treatment to prevent the manifestation of clinical or sub-clinical symptoms. It can also be a therapeutic treatment to suppress or alleviate the symptoms after they have appeared and can be an alternative to blood transfusion if that should be necessary.
Pharmaceutical Composition
According to the invention, neutralising antibodies are used in the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition as a medicine for anti-fibrinolytic treatment.
Said pharmaceutical composition comprises at least a MMP-10 neutralising antibody in a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle.
The antibody or pharmaceutical composition of the invention is particularly useful for parenteral administration, for example for subcutaneous, intramuscular or intravenous administration.
In a specific but not limiting embodiment of the invention, the pharmaceutical composition contains a solution of neutralising antibody or antibodies against MMP-10 dissolved in an acceptable vehicle, e.g. an aqueous vehicle, such as water, buffered water, saline, glycine or other similar vehicle. These solutions are sterile and generally particulate free. The pharmaceutical composition can contain other additional ingredients, such as agents to adjust the pH, preservatives, etc.
In another embodiment, the pharmaceutical composition would be suitable for local administration, in the form of a gel or paste or even in the form of a drinkable ampoule of mouthwash in case of haemorrhages following dental extraction.
A review of the various compositions and pharmaceutical forms of medicine administration and of the excipients necessary for obtaining them can be found, for example in: “Tecnologia farmacéutica”, by J. L. Vila Jato, 1997 Vols I and II, Ed. Sintesis, Madrid; or in “Handbook of pharmaceutical manufacturing formulations”, by S. K. Niazi, 2004 Vols I to VI, CRC Press, Boca Raton.
The quantity of active ingredient (antibodies) that can be combined with the vehicle to make a single dose form will generally be the quantity that produces a therapeutic effect. The preparation of a parenteral pharmaceutical composition in the form of dosage units facilitates the administration and uniformity of the dose, so this is very beneficial. These dosage units can be prepared by a person skilled in the art according to conventional techniques and taking into account the specific therapeutic effect that is desired to be achieved and the specific therapeutic indication.
The effective dose of the pharmaceutical composition of the invention will depend on multiple factors, including the methods and ways of administration, target site of action, the patient's physiological state, other administered medications, of if this is a prophylactic or therapeutic treatment. However, in a particular embodiment, the dosage unit to be administered of the neutralising antibody of the invention will be between 1.0 and 10.0 mg/kg. Typically, the administration regime will include repeated administration of the composition with the antibodies of the invention, with intervals between each administration that can be daily, weekly, monthly, bimonthly or any other that the pharmacologist establishes according to the needs of the patient (specific indication, severity, etc.) and depending on the common standard pharmacological protocols.
EXAMPLES OF THE INVENTION
The examples illustrating the effects on fibrinolytic and thrombolytic activity of the matrix metalloproteinases MMP-10 and MMP-3, either directly or in combination with other plasminogen activators: urokinase (uPA) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) are described below.
For the examples, the following were used:
recombinant MMP-10, obtained as a pro-enzyme of 58 kDa with 20-30% of mature enzyme of 48 kDa (R&D Systems, 910-MP, Abingdon, UK), which was reconstituted with TCNB buffer (50 mM Tris-HCI, pH 7.5, 10 mM CaCl 2 , 150 mM NaCl, 0.05% Brij35).
recombinant MMP-3, obtained as a pro-enzyme of 52 kDa (R&D Systems, 513-MP, Abingdon, UK), supplied in a solution with 12.5 mM Tris, 5 mM CaCl 2 , 0.025% Brij35 and 50% glycerol.
Urokinase (uPA) (Vedim Pharma SA; 628602, Barcelona, Spain).
Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) (Boerhinger Ingelheim; 985937 Actilyse®, Ingelheim, Germany).
For the evaluation of the thrombolytic activity, a turbidimetric method was used to monitor the formation and lysis of the fibrin clot on samples of plasma, in accordance with the protocol previously described by von dern Borne and collaborators [Blood, 1995; 86: 3035-3042].
Also, to evaluate the activity on fibrin lysis, assays on fibrin plaques following the procedure described by Edward [J. Clin. Path., 1972; 25: 335-337] were used.
Example 1
Effect of MMP-10 and MMP-3 on the Formation and Lysis of Clots
As previously mentioned, the effect of MMP-10 and MMP-3 on the haemostatic system was evaluated according to the procedure described by von dern Borne et al. In this method, the changes in turbidity/absorbance as an indicator during the formation and lysis of clots were evaluated over time for both processes. The measurement of turbidity was performed by reading the absorbance at 405 nm during the formation and lysis phases of clots, using a photometric reader, in our case an ELISA reader (Fluostar Optima, BMG Labtech). The increase in turbidity/absorbance indicates the formation of the fibrin clot while the decrease in this parameter indicates the lysis of the clot.
For the formation of the clot, 75 μl of citrated plasma, 75μ of HEPES buffer (25 mM HEPES, 137 mM NaCl, 3.5 mM KCl, 6 mM CaCl 2 , 1.2 mM MgCl 2 , and 0.1% BSA, pH=7.5) and 10 μl of 150 mM CaCl 2 were mixed in a microplate well. The plate was incubated at 37° C. and the absorbance of 405 nm measured for 2 h, with readings every 30 seconds.
To study the effect of MMP-10 on the formation of the clot, activated MMP-10 (50, 100 and 200 nM) was added to the initial mixture of plasma and HEPES buffer. Before its use in experiments, MMP-10 was activated by thermal treatment at 37° C. for 1 hour.
In parallel assays, the effect on the formation of clots with MMP-3 (200 nM) was also analysed. In this case, MMP-3 was first activated with 1 mM p-aminophenylmercuric acetate (APMA, 164610, MD Biosciences, La Jolla, USA) at 37° C. for 24 h.
As can be seen in FIG. 1A , MMP-10 did not induce changes in the speed of clot formation nor on the maximum turbidity reached, at any of the doses used (Table 1). However, MMP-3 induced a decrease of 50% in the maximum absorbance/turbidity of the clot formed, probably by its direct proteolytic action on fibrinogen.
These results show that MMP-10, in contrast to that described for MMP-3, does not alter the rate of formation of the clot as it does not have any activity against fibrinogen.
Then, the rate of fibrin clot lysis was studied. As in the previous section, recalcified plasma in HEPES buffer was used, to which MMP-10 (or MMP-3) was added simultaneously with a plasminogen activator, chosen from 30 U/ml tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or 135 U/ml urokinase (uPA) at the start of turbidimetric measurements.
The concentrations of tPA and uPA to be used were determined in previous dose-response studies where the selected dose was that which completely lysed the fibrin clot in the space of 2 h.
As can be seen in FIG. 1B and Table 1, MMP-10 in the absence of tPA and uPA did not cause lysis of the fibrin clot, while in the presence of the two activators, tPA or uPA, it induced a significant increase in the rate of lysis of the fibrin clot. With the maximum dose of MMP-10 tested (200 nM), the reduction in lysis time (time in which half the clot was lysed) was 15 min (52.9 min vs 68.3 min, p<0.01) in the presence of tPA and 5 min in the presence of uPA (42 min vs 47.5 min), p<0.05). This reduction in lysis time represents a 20% reduction in the presence of tPA and 10% with uPA.
By contrast, MMP-3 did not change the rate of clot lysis in the presence of tPA.
These results indicate that MMP-10, in contrast to MMP-3, is not able to digest fibrin, but increases the fibrinolytic effect of plasminogen and fibrinolysis (tPA and uPA) activators. MMP-10, not having the capacity to act on endogenous fibrinolysis, would prevent or attenuate the beginning of haemorrhaging, which makes it a good candidate for use as co-adjuvant in thrombolytic therapy.
TABLE 1
Lysis time of fibrin clot (expressed in minutes)
in the presence of plasminogen activators (tPA or uPA)
uPA
tPA 30
tPA 20
tPA 15
135
U/ml
U/ml
U/ml
U/ml
Control
68.3
102.0
125.3
47.5
MMP-10 50 nM
65.5
—
—
—
MMP-10 100 nM
61.2
—
—
—
MMP-10 200 nM
52.9
84.7
108.7
42.0
MMP-2 200 nM
76.3
—
—
—
Anti-MMP-10
No lysis
—
—
No lysis
(MAb)
IgG isotype
74.3
—
—
48.3
control
Example 2
Effect of MMP-10 on the Degradation of Fibrin
In accordance with the above-mentioned Edward's procedure, the effect on fibrin lysis was studied by measuring the halo or area of lysis that occurred on a polymerised fibrin plaque.
The fibrin plaques were prepared starting with a solution of 6 mg/ml of human fibrinogen (Sigma, F3879, Saint Louis, Mo., USA) in veronal buffer (BioWhittaker, 12-624E, Cambrex, Md., USA) at 37° C., which was filtered, and to which an equal volume of 50 mM CaCl 2 was added. This solution (6 ml) was mixed with 1 international unit (NIH units) of thrombin (Enzyme Research Lab; HT1200a, Swansea, UK) and was allowed to polymerise for 6 h.
To evaluate fibrinolytic capacity, on different fibrin plaques, tPA (1 U/ml), MMP-10 (200 nM), or a combination of both were added.
As can be seen in FIG. 2 , MMP-10 alone did not produce lysis of the polymerised fibrin, while tPA produced a marked halo. However, the combination of tPA with MMP-10 significantly increased the area of lysis of polymerised fibrin (188.6%), a fact that confirms the facilitating effect of MPP-10 on fibrinolysis in combination with plasminogen activators as fibrinolytic agents.
Example 3
Inhibition of Fibrinolysis and Clot Lysis Induced by tPA with Anti-MMP-10 Antibodies
In accordance with the results of Examples 1 and 2, the specificity of the effect of MMP-10 on fibrin lysis in the clot induced by tPA was analysed by simultaneously adding different doses of active MMP-10, in the presence (ratio 1:2) and absence of a monoclonal antibody that blocked its activity (R&D Systems, MAB9101, Abingdon, UK), or of a murine IgG2B isotype control (eBioscience, 16-4732, San Diego, Calif., USA) at the same concentration.
The ratio of enzyme:antibody that blocked the enzyme activity was previously tested in an activity trial for MMP-10 in a microplate coated with an anti-MMP-10 antibody (R&D systems, Clon110343) and using the fluorogenic stromelysin substrate (MCA-Arg-Pro-Lys-Pro-Val-Glu-Nval-Trp-Arg-Lys-[DNP]-NH2) (R&D systems; ES002, Abingdon, UK) [Lombard et al.; Biochimie, 2005; 87: 265-272]. The fluorescence (320 nm excitation and 405 nm emission) was measured in a spectrofluorometer (SpectraMAX GeminiXS, Molecular Devices, CA, USA) for 1 h, establishing that the ratio 1:2 completely inhibited the concentration of active enzyme ( FIG. 3 ).
The specificity of the antibody was studied by Western blot to discard the existence of cross reaction with other metalloproteases ( FIG. 4 ). The MMP-10 inhibitor antibody only recognised this metalloprotease, so it exercised specific inhibition over it, despite the high homology in the metalloproteases family and in particular with the other stromelysin MMP-3.
The results show that the co-adjuvant effect on fibrinolysis is specific to MMP-10 as this is reduced in the presence of anti-MMP-10 antibody. This effect was very striking when said antibody was added to block the endogenous activity of plasma MMP-10 ( FIG. 5 ). The results establish that the absence of MMP-10 in plasma prevents lysis of the fibrin clot even in the presence of tPA or uPA (Table 1).
These results were corroborated in trials on polymerised fibrin plaques. As shown in FIG. 6 , in the presence of anti-MMP-10 antibody, the area of lysis produced by the combination tPA:MMP-10 was reduced (91.2% vs 188.6%), while the control antibody had no effect (184.6%). These data confirm that the use of a specific antibody for MMP-10 neutralises and blocks the pharmacological dissolution of fibrin clots.
Example 4
Haemorrhage Time
To analyse the effect of the absence of MMP-10, the haemorrhage time in 17 MMP-10 knockout mice (KO) and 14 wild mice (WT) of 1 month in age was studied. The animals were anaesthetised with a mixture of ketamine (100 mg/kg) and xylazine (5 mg/kg) intraperitoneally and were kept on a thermal blanket at 37° C. The last 5 mm of the tail was cut with a scalpel and submerged in 1 ml of 0.9% NaCl at 37° C. The time from the start of bleeding to when the blood stopped flowing spontaneously was measured. Also, the amount of blood loss was measured by the absorbance of the blood collected in the saline solution at 560 nm and the result was compared with a standard curve constructed with known volumes of mice blood.
Results
The haemorrhaging time provides an additional measure of haemostasis in vivo.
As can be seen in Table 2, the haemorrhaging time in MMP-10 KO mice was significantly less than that shown by wild mice. The blood loss during the time of haemorrhage was significantly lower, which indicates that in the absence of MMP-10, the capacity to control haemorrhage is greater than when it is present.
TABLE 2
MMP-10 KO
(WT)
p
Haemorrhage
44.0 ± 24.4
98.9 ± 64.0
0.008
time (s)
Blood loss (μl)
4.2 ± 0.9
12.1 ± 12.1
0.036
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The present invention concerns the use of a neutralizing antibody for matrix metalloproteinase-10 (MMP-10) in the preparation of a medicine useful for anti-fibrinolytic treatment, and for hemorrhages and hemorrhagic complications of various etiologies.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a mixed conductor which exhibits both electronic conduction and proton conduction. This mixed conductor can be used for the catalyst layer of a fuel cell, a gas diffusion catalyst and the like.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] The catalyst layer of a fuel cell is formed between a proton exchange membrane and a backing layer and supports a catalyst for accelerating an electrochemical reaction. A combination of the catalyst layer and the catalyst layer constitutes the electrodes of the fuel cell. In the catalyst layer on an air cathode side, for example, protons passing through the proton exchange membrane and electrons transferred to the air cathode are conducted up to the catalyst, thus binding oxygen and protons diffused onto the catalyst. Namely, the catalyst layer needs to exhibit both proton conduction and electronic conduction in order to improve the transfer loss of oxygen, protons and electrons. To this end, a mixture of poly electrolyte having catalysts supported on surfaces such as carbon particles (exhibiting electronic conduction) and Nafion (trade name, manufactured by E.I du Pont de Nemours, this applies hereafter) which exhibits ionic conduction is used in the fuel cell.
[0005] However, if a material having ionic conduction and a material having electronic conduction are used together, it is difficult to mix them up completely uniformly. As a result, protons and electrons cannot be uniformly transferred to all catalyst particles.
[0006] To solve this disadvantage, there has been proposed a mixed conductor which exhibits both ionic conduction and electronic conduction using one material.
[0007] For example, organic mixed conductors are disclosed in the following patent documents 1 to 4.
[0008] In addition, inorganic mixed conductors conducting electrons and oxygen ions are disclosed in the following patent documents 5 to 8.
[0009] Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-202971
[0010] Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-110428
[0011] Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-68321
[0012] Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application National Publication (Laid-Open) No. 2002-536787
[0013] Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (10)1998-255832
[0014] Patent Document 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (11)1999-335165
[0015] Patent Document 7: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-251533
[0016] Patent Document 8: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-18811
[0017] Since the organic mixed conductors are made of organic materials, they have many problems in terms of durability and heat resistance to be solved before being put to practical use.
[0018] As for the inorganic mixed conductors which transfer electrons and oxygen ions, operating temperatures thereof are high (about 800° C.). Due to this, it is considered that these inorganic mixed conductors are inappropriate for small-sized fuel cells suitably used in, for example, vehicles and cellular phones.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0019] After exerting utmost efforts in study to solve these disadvantages, the inventor of the present invention discovered a novel inorganic mixed conductor and finally completed the present invention.
[0020] That is, the inventor of the present invention discovered a mixed conductor characterized in that an electron conductor made of an inorganic material is fixed to a proton conductor made of an inorganic material so as not to dissolve in water.
[0021] As the electron conductor made of an inorganic material, an electron conductor of such a type as to cause a main chain to have one of or both of a carbon-carbon double bond and a carbon-carbon triple bond, the main chain contributing to an electronic conduction function as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. may be used or such a type as to transfer electrons through a side chain.
[0022] It is also preferable that such an electron conductor uses an inorganic material obtained by carbonizing an organic compound having a π bond. Examples of the organic compound having a π bond include aliphatic hydrocarbon, aromatic hydrocarbon and derivatives of the aliphatic hydrocarbon and the aromatic hydrocarbon. At least one of them is used for the organic compound having the π bond. Typical examples of the organic compounds include polyacetylene, resorcinol, phenol, phenylphenol, polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene, phenylphosphonic acid, and phenylsilane alkoxide.
[0023] Further, the inorganic material for the electron conductor can be a carbonaceous material such as graphite or a carbon nanotube or a metallic material containing a metal such as gold, palladium, platinum, magnesium, lithium or titanium, or an alloy thereof.
[0024] As the proton conductor made of an inorganic material, one of a phosphorus-containing compound, a sulfur-containing compound, carbonic acid, boric acid, and inorganic solid-state acid, particularly at least one of a phosphorus-containing compound, phosphoric acid, phosphoric ester, sulfuric acid, sulfuric ester, sulfuric acid, tungsten oxide hydroxide, rhenium oxide hydroxide, silicon oxide, tin oxide, zirconia oxide, tungstophosphoric acid, and tungstosilicic acid can be used.
[0025] According to the present invention, the inorganic electron conductor and the inorganic proton conductor are fixed to each other so as not to dissolve in water.
[0026] They may be fixed by a covalent bond, intercalation or inclusion. However, depending on production process conditions, these manners of fixing may possibly be mixed.
[0027] Further, whether the state of fixing is by covalent bond, intercalation or inclusion is set according to the types of the materials of the electron conductor and the proton conductor. For example, if the electron conductor is made of an inorganic material obtained by carbonizing an organic material, the fixing may be made mainly by a covalent bond. If the electron conductor is made of a metal material and an inorganic material, particularly an oxide is selected as a material for the proton conductor, for example, the both conductors can be fixed to each other by a covalent bond or inclusion.
[0028] The state in which the electron conductors and the proton conductors are fixed to each other by a covalent bond is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Since the electron conductors 1 or 3 and the proton conductors 2 bound by a covalent bond are arranged in close proximity, both the electron conductors and the proton conductors can contact with a catalyst particle (e.g., platinum) in nano order as shown therein. Accordingly, it is possible to supply electrons and protons necessary for a catalytic reaction to the catalyst in proper quantities.
[0029] Such a mixed conductor is formed as follows.
[0030] First, a precursor obtained by dispersing a proton conductor into a polymer of an organic compound having a π bond is prepared.
[0031] The precursor having a proton conductor dispersed into the polymer of an organic compound, or the precursor having both a proton conductor bound to an organic compound that constitutes the electron conductor by a covalent bond and a proton conductor separated from the former proton conductor and substantially in a dispersed state.
[0032] Further a high molecular precursor may be formed by polymerizing an organic compound having a π bond with a proton conducting material. In this high polymer precursor, it is considered that carbons mainly constituting the organic compound are polymerized with one another to form an electron conducting main chain having a π bond and also form a covalent bond with the proton conductor, and that this proton conductor bridges the carbon main chain of the electron conductor. By mixing the proton conductor in sufficient quantities, the distance between the proton conductors bound to the carbon main chain by covalent bonds is narrowed, and proton conduction is generated between the proton conductors. According to research by the inventor, putting the polymer precursor in a solution of hydrolytic cleavage at 100 to 200° C. for several hours promotes to form covalent bond between the electron conducting main chain and the proton conductor. It causes improvement on proton conductivity and prevention for releasing the material of proton conductivity from the polymer precursor.
[0033] This precursor is pyrolysis under an inert atmosphere. As a result, the organic compound is carbonized into an inorganic material, thereby ensuring electronic conduction.
[0034] In addition, the proton conductor is stably fixed to the electron conducting carbon skeletons. As a result, proton conduction is ensured. It is considered that the proton conduction is attained by arranging proton conductor allocation materials to be proximate to each other. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, if the proton conductors bridge the carbon skeletons, the positions of the proton conductors are fixed, thereby ensuring the proton conduction by the interaction between the proton conductors.
[0035] If the proton conductors are released from the carbon skeletons or if the proton conductors are not bound to the carbon skeletons from the state of the precursor, then it is considered that the proton conductors are intercalated into the carbon main chain or included in a mesh structure formed by the carbon main chain. In any case, it is considered that the proton conduction can be ensured as long as the proton conductors are in proximity.
[0036] As can be seen, since the proton conductors are bound, intercalated or included between the carbon skeletons, the proton conductor does not float. Due to this, even if the mixed conductor is used at a location where water is present, the proton conductor does not flow out by the water. That is, a rate of lowering the proton conduction by water is very low.
[0037] Now, examples of the organic compound having a π bond include unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon and aromatic hydrocarbon. More concretely, at least one of polyacetylene, resorcinol, phenol, phenylphenol, polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene, phenylphosphonic acid, and phenylsilane alkoxide can be selected as a material for the organic compound having a π bond.
[0038] Further, examples of the proton conducting material include a phosphorus-containing compound, a sulfur-containing compound, carbonic acid, boric acid, and inorganic solid-state acid. Examples of the phosphorus-containing compound include phosphoric acid and principle examples of the sulfur-containing compound include sulfuric acid and sulfonic acid. Further, an inorganic proton conducting material can be produced using a derivative of one of these compounds as a starting material. In this case, particularly at least one of a phosphorus-containing compound, phosphoric acid, ester phosphate, sulfuric acid, ester sulfate, sulfuric acid, tungsten oxide hydroxide, rhenium oxide hydroxide, silicon oxide, tin oxide, zirconia oxide, tungstophosphoric acid, and tungstosilicic acid can be used.
[0039] To mineralize the organic compound in the precursor, it is preferable that the precursor is burned under an inert atmosphere.
[0040] The inert atmosphere can be attained by putting the precursor under the distribution of nitrogen gas or helium gas or in vacuum.
[0041] If the precursor is pyrolysis under such an inert atmosphere, the organic component of the precursor is carbonized into an inorganic material. If the main chain of the organic component has a π bond, high electron conduction is ensured.
[0042] Heating temperature and heating time are appropriately selected according to the characteristics of the precursor.
[0043] Simultaneously with or after heating, a high energy other than heat can be applied to the precursor. Examples of the high energy include plasma radiation, microwave radiation and ultrasonic radiation.
[0044] As described above, the mixed conductor according to the present invention is made of inorganic materials and exhibit both an electron conducting function and a proton conducting function. In addition, even in a low temperature range close to a room temperature, the mixed conductor functions properly. Further, even if water is present, the mixed conductor exhibits both electron conduction and proton conduction.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0045] [0045]FIG. 1 is a typical view illustrating the structure of a mixed conductor according to the present invention;
[0046] [0046]FIG. 2 is a typical view illustrating the structure of the mixed conductor according to the present invention;
[0047] [0047]FIG. 3 is a typical view illustrating the structure of the mixed conductor in one embodiment according to the present invention;
[0048] [0048]FIG. 4 is a typical view of a holder for checking the proton conducting function of the mixed conductor in the embodiment;
[0049] [0049]FIG. 5 is a chart showing the current-voltage characteristics of the holder shown in FIG. 4; and
[0050] [0050]FIG. 6 is a chart showing the change of a phosphoric acid remaining rate with time in the mixed conductor in pure water in the embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0051] The above-stated advantages of the mixed conductor according to the present invention will be confirmed hereinafter by way of exemplary embodiments.
[0052] First, a method for producing a mixed conductor will be described with reference to the following chemical formula 1 as well as FIG. 3.
[0053] Resorcinol (10 g) and formaldehyde (13 ml) are dissolved in water (40 ml), and a solution obtained by hydrolyzing trimethyl phosphate is added to the solution. The solution is subjected to reflux at 100 to 200° C. for four hours and covalent bond between electron conductor and proton conductor in the solution is promoted. The resultant solution is dehydrated and condensed with Na 2 Co 3 as a catalyst to gelate the solution. This gel is dried at 120° C., thereby obtaining a precursor.
[0054] This precursor is subjected to a pyrolysis (at 500 to 1000° C.) under a nitrogen atmosphere to obtain a mixed conductor in the embodiment. This mixed conductor is constituted so that electronic conductor phases 7 of a graphite-like structure and proton conductor phase 9 containing phosphoric acid group are alternately aligned as shown in FIG. 3.
[0055] The mixed conductor thus obtained is ground, pressed into a plate, and put between current collecting plates to supply a DC current to the plate-formed mixed conductor. Specific resistance of each embodiment is obtained from a voltage at that time. Measurement temperature is a room temperature.
Embodiment 1 Embodiment 2 Embodiment 3 Heat treatment 500° C. 800° C. 1000° C. temperature Specific resistance 138 0.35 0.13 (Ω cm)
[0056] In the embodiments, the reason of high specific resistance at a heating temperature of 500° C. is considered to be insufficient carbonization of an organic material.
[0057] The heating temperature and heating time are parameters that can be appropriately selected according to the structure and the like of the organic compound.
[0058] Next, a proton conduction test will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
[0059] As shown in FIG. 4, a backing layer 17 consisting of a carbon cloth and catalyst layer 15 is attached to each side of a sample 11 in each of Embodiments 1 to 3. A Nafion membrane 13 transmits protons but blocks electrons.
[0060] A holder shown in FIG. 4 is put in a container, and nitrogen gas or hydrogen gas at a temperature of 60° C. and a relative humidity of 100% is introduced into the container. A voltage-current characteristic at that time is shown in FIG. 5.
[0061] As can be seen from FIG. 5, even if a voltage is supplied between the backing layers 17 while introducing the nitrogen gas, no current is carried. On the other hand, if hydrogen gas is introduced into the container, it can be seen that a current flows. This demonstrates that the sample 11 has proton conduction.
[0062] Further, the proton conductivity of each sample is calculated as follows.
Embodiment 1 Embodiment 2 Embodiment 3 Heat treatment 500° C. 800° C. 1000° C. temperature Proton conductivity 2.6 × 10 −3 1.3 × 10 −3 7.3 × 10 −4 (S/cm)
[0063] Further, as comparative examples, the proton conductivities of samples similarly subjected to a heat treatment by the formation method in the embodiments already described above and to which trimethyl phosphate are not added are calculated as follows.
Comparative Comparative Comparative Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Heat treatment temperature 500° C. 800° C. 1000° C. Proton conductivity (S/cm) 1.0 × 10 −6 1.0 × 10 −6 1.0 × 10 −6 or less or less or less
[0064] By comparing the samples to which trimethyl phosphate is added with those to which trimethyl phosphate is not added, the appearance of proton conduction by phosphorus is proven.
[0065] The relationship between immersion time and phosphorus remaining rate when samples (0.1 g) in the respective embodiments are immersed in 1000 cc of pure water at a room temperature is shown in FIG. 6.
[0066] In FIG. 6, the phosphorus remaining rate is measured by an EDX analyzer.
[0067] The result shown in FIG. 6 confirms that about 60% of phosphorus, about 80% of phosphorus, and about 90% of phosphorus (i.e., proton conduction) remains in the samples in Embodiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively.
[0068] This demonstrates that the mixed conductors in the embodiments keep their proton conducting functions even in a humid environment for a long time.
[0069] The mixed conductors can be used for fuel cells, and particularly suitably used for the catalyst layers constituting the respective fuel cells. The catalyst layer is a location where oxygen or hydrogen supplied from the outside through the backing layers is ionized, and is normally arranged between the proton exchange membrane and the backing layer.
[0070] Examples of a method for producing a catalyst layer if one of the mixed conductors is used as the catalyst layer will next be described.
EXAMPLE 1
[0071] Each of the mixed conductors produced above is ground to powder by a ball mill or the like, and the mixed conductor thus ground is caused to support a platinum catalyst. The mixed conductor can be made to support the platinum catalyst by the same method as that for causing a carbon holder in a process of forming a supported platinum carbon that constitutes the catalyst layer of an ordinary fuel cell to support a platinum catalyst. For example, chloroplatinic acid solution is impregnated with the mixed conductor powder and then subjected to a reducing treatment, whereby the mixed conductor can support platinum catalyst.
[0072] The supporting mixed conductor is mixed into a Nafion solution, a paste of a mixture thereof is produced, and this paste is screen-printed on each surface of an proton exchange membrane (a Nafion membrane in this example). As a result, a catalyst layer containing the mixed conductor is formed. Further, a backing layer is connected to the outside of the catalyst layer, whereby a unit fuel cell that constitutes the fuel cell, i.e., a unit cell can be produced.
EXAMPLE 2
[0073] Each of the mixed conductors produced above is ground to powder by a ball mill or the like, and the mixed conductor thus ground is caused to support a platinum catalyst.
[0074] Next, the powder of the mixed conductor which supports the catalyst is subjected to hot pressing, thereby forming the mixed conductor into a shape corresponding to a target electrode to produce a catalyst layer. This catalyst layer is superposed on the proton exchange membrane and hot press is conducted, whereby an integral formed article having the proton exchange membrane put between the catalyst layers is produced.
[0075] By further connecting a backing layer to the outside of the catalyst layer, a unit cell of the fuel cell can be produced.
[0076] In the tests stated above, the mixed conductors in the examples exhibit both proton conduction and electronic conduction at a low temperature in a range of a room temperature to 60° C. Depending on the presence of water, it is considered that the mixed conductors exhibit the equivalent functions up to 200° C. under an atmosphere.
[0077] It is seen that the mixed conductors in the embodiments can exhibit their functions even at an extremely low temperature as compared with the conventional inorganic-based mixed conductor which exhibits its functions at a high temperature of about 800° C.
[0078] Furthermore, as is obvious from the structure shown in FIG. 3, the electronic conductor phase 7 is connected to the proton conductor phase 9 by a covalent bond, so that they are quite proximate to each other. Due to this, even if a catalyst particle is very small, the electron conductor 7 and the proton conductor 9 can be always brought into contact with the catalyst particles simultaneously. This makes it possible to supply electrons and protons necessary for a catalytic reaction to the catalyst in proper quantities and thereby improve catalyst utilization efficiency.
[0079] The present invention is not limited at all by the embodiments and the description of the embodiments. The present invention also contains various changes and modifications thereto without departure from the description of claims which follow in a range that can be easily attained by a person having ordinary skill in the art.
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A mixed conductor of this invention includes an electron conductor made of a carbon-based inorganic material imparted electron conduction by causing a main chain to have a π bond, and a proton conductor made of an inorganic material having proton conduction, and the electron conductor and the proton conductor are fixed to each other by one of or all of a covalent bond, intercalation, and inclusion.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to the following U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/819,797 and entitled “Self-Authenticating File System in an Embedded Gaming Device,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Games of chance have been enjoyed by people for thousands of years and have enjoyed increased and widespread popularity in recent times. As with most forms of entertainment, players enjoy playing a wide variety of games and new games. Playing new games adds to the excitement of “gaming.” As is well known in the art and as used herein, the term “gaming” and “gaming devices” are used to indicate that some form of wagering is involved, and that players must make wagers of value, whether actual currency or some equivalent of value, e.g., token or credit.
[0004] One popular game of chance is the slot machine. Conventionally, a slot machine is configured for a player to wager something of value, e.g., currency, house token, established credit or other representation of currency or credit. After the wager has been made, the player activates the slot machine to cause a random event to occur. The player wagers that particular random events will occur that will return value to the player. A standard device causes a plurality of reels to spin and ultimately stop, displaying a random combination of some form of indicia, for example, numbers or symbols. If this display contains one of a preselected plurality of winning combinations, the machine releases money into a payout chute or increments a credit meter by the amount won by the player. For example, if a player initially wagered two coins of a specific denomination and that player achieved a payout, that player may receive the same number or multiples of the wager amount in coins of the same denomination as wagered.
[0005] There are many different formats for generating the random display of events that can occur to determine payouts in wagering devices. The standard or original format was the use of three reels with symbols distributed over the face of the reel. When the three reels were spun, they would eventually each stop in turn, displaying a combination of three symbols (e.g., with three reels and the use of a single payout line as a row in the middle of the area where the symbols are displayed.) By appropriately distributing and varying the symbols on each of the reels, the random occurrence of predetermined winning combinations can be provided in mathematically predetermined probabilities. By clearly providing for specific probabilities for each of the preselected winning outcomes, precise odds that would control the amount of the payout for any particular combination and the percentage return on wagers for the house could be readily controlled.
[0006] Other formats of gaming apparatus that have developed in a progression from the pure slot machine with three reels have dramatically increased with the development of video gaming apparatus. Rather than have only mechanical elements such as wheels or reels that turn and stop to randomly display symbols, video gaming apparatus and the rapidly increasing sophistication in hardware and software have enabled an explosion of new and exciting gaming apparatus. The earlier video apparatus merely imitated or simulated the mechanical slot games in the belief that players would want to play only the same games. Early video games therefore were simulated slot machines. The use of video gaming apparatus to play new games such as draw poker and Keno broke the ground for the realization that there were many untapped formats for gaming apparatus. Now casinos may have hundreds of different types of gaming apparatus with an equal number of significant differences in play. The apparatus may vary from traditional three reel slot machines with a single payout line, video simulations of three reel video slot machines, to five reel, five column simulated slot machines with a choice of twenty or more distinct pay lines, including randomly placed lines, scatter pays, or single image payouts. In addition to the variation in formats for the play of games, bonus plays, bonus awards, and progressive jackpots have been introduced with great success. The bonuses may be associated with the play of games that are quite distinct from the play of the original game, such as the video display of a horse race with bets on the individual horses randomly assigned to players that qualify for a bonus, the spinning of a random wheel with fixed amounts of a bonus payout on the wheel (or simulation thereof), or attempting to select a random card that is of higher value than a card exposed on behalf of a virtual dealer.
[0007] A video terminal is another form of gaming device. Video terminals operate in the same manner as conventional slot or video machines except that a redemption ticket is issued rather than an immediate payout being dispensed.
[0008] The vast array of electronic video gaming apparatus that is commercially available is not standardized within the industry or necessarily even within the commercial line of apparatus available from a single manufacturer. One of the reasons for this lack of uniformity or standardization is the fact that the operating systems that have been used to date in the industry are primitive. As a result, the programmer must often create code for each and every function performed by each individual apparatus. To date, no manufacturer prior to the assignee of the present invention is known to have been successful in creating a universal operating system for converting existing equipment (that includes features such as reusable modules of code) at least in part because of the limitations in utility and compatibility of the operating systems in use. When new games are created, new hardware and software is typically created from the ground up.
[0009] At least one attempt has been made to create a universal gaming engine that segregates the code associated with random number generation and algorithms applied to the random number string from the balance of the code. Carlson U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,286 describes such a device. This patentee recognized that modular code would be beneficial, but only contemplated making the RNG and transfer algorithms modular. Another attempt to build and market a slot operating system was the Shuffle Master game operating system that was designed as a two part system, an OS module and a Game module. The OS module presented an Application Programming Interface (API) to the Game module that was used in creating multiple game personalities capable of being run on a single common core.
[0010] The lack of a standard operating system has contributed to maintaining an artificially high price for the systems in the market. The use of unique and non-standardized hardware interfaces in the various manufactured video gaming systems is a contributing factor. The different hardware, the different access codes, the different pin couplings, the different harnesses for coupling of pins, the different functions provided from the various pins, and the other various and different configurations within the systems has prevented any standard from developing within the technical field. This is advantageous to the apparatus manufacturer, because the games for each system are provided exclusively by a single manufacturer, and the entire systems can be readily made obsolete, so that the market will have to purchase a complete unit rather than merely replacement software and hardware. Also, competitors cannot easily provide a single game that can be played on different hardware.
[0011] The invention of computerized gaming systems that include a common or universal video wagering game controller that can be installed in a broad range of video gaming apparatus without substantial modification to the game controller has made possible the standardization of many components and of corresponding gaming software within gaming systems. Such systems desirably will have functions and features that are specifically tailored to the unique demands of supporting a variety of games and gaming apparatus types, and will do so in a manner that is efficient, secure, and cost-effective.
[0012] In addition to making communication between a universal operating system and non-standard machine devices such as coin hoppers, monitors, bill validators and the like possible, it would be desirable to provide security features that enable the operating system to verify that game code and other data has not changed during operation.
[0013] Alcorn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,086 describes a gaming system that is capable of authenticating an application or game program stored on a mass media device such as a CD-ROM, RAM, ROM or other device using hashing and encryption techniques. The mass storage device may be located in the gaming machine, or may be external to the gaming machine. This verification technique therefore will not detect any changes that occur in the code that is executing because it tests the code residing in mass storage prior to loading into RAM. The authenticating system relies on the use of a digital signature and suggests hashing of the entire data set before the encryption and decryption process. See also, Alcorn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,396 and Alcorn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,522.
[0014] What is still desired is alternative architecture and methods of providing a gaming-specific platform that features secure storage and verification of game code and other data, provides the ability to securely change game code on computerized wagering gaming system, and has the ability to verify that the code has not changed during operation of the gaming machine.
[0015] In the field of gaming apparatus security, it is further desired that the game program code be identifiable as certified or approved, such as by the various gaming regulation commissions such as the Nevada Gaming Regulations Commission, New Jersey Gaming Regulations Commission or other regulatory agency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0016] The present invention covers a method and apparatus for pre-load authentication suitable for use in an operating system in an embedded gaming device. A user-space file system that can automatically authenticate its contents is disclosed. Said user-space file system can be deployed on a standalone system or using a client-server model such that a remote system server can coordinate with a local client to perform authentication. By moving the authentication into the file system functional block there is additional assurance that any game code or data stored in the file system cannot be accessed without first performing the required authentication.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0017] FIG. 1 is a Block Diagram of a File System.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a Block Diagram of a Client/Server Network File System.
[0019] FIG. 3 is a Block Diagram of the Hash Procedure of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] It is desirable in a gaming device to be able to authenticate a file or data set as having originated from a certain trusted source or having been approved by a certain gaming regulatory agency. The use of cryptographic encryption for authentication purposes in a gaming device has been a preferred technique (U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,086, U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,396, U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,522) to perform this type of authentication. Other types of cryptographic techniques have been used to validate gaming data or programs during continuous operation of a gaming device (U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,530).
[0021] A gaming operating system should automatically perform as many of the mandated gaming-related functions or tasks as possible. Such functions and tasks should happen transparently without the ability for a user-level program to change the behavior of the system. By separating the division of tasks in this manner it is possible to have an unchanging operating system binary together with an API that allows any third party vendor to create programs that dynamically couple to this operating system binary and by doing so automatically gain the benefits of the approved functions and tasks instead of having to write such functions themselves.
[0022] Referring now to FIG. 1 , a logical file system 100 is traditionally comprised of memory storage which can be categorized into three parts: data storage, file mapping information, and file metadata information. File mapping information organizes the data storage of the file system traditionally into a hierarchical directory structure that contains directories 101 each of which may contain individual files 102 s. This makes it easy to locate data in the underlying data storage typically by the use of a string (i.e. the filename and path) to index into the sections of the data storage that are mapped to the file of interest. Each individual file 102 may include metadata information (data that describes the file), for example, permissions, file length, type of file, author, etc. A file system will also typically provide an Application Programming Interface (API) 104 that includes function calls for use in accessing its logical components. These function calls can be linked statically or dynamically to client applications or alternatively used over a physical network to provide remote or networked file system access.
[0023] File systems are typically implemented directly in the operating system kernel due to the fact that they are critical to the operation of the system as a whole, and certain aspects of the file system, such as file access permissions, customarily belong at a level below that of a user program.
[0024] The present invention provides for a means for file authentication metadata to be associated with individual files for the purpose of validating the game data sets (which can be code, data or any game-related information) stored in the file system. By handling the authentication in the file system itself, the authentication metadata information need not be visible outside the file system. In addition, in a preferred embodiment, non-authenticated files will not show up in the directory listing at all.
[0025] Referring now to FIG. 2 , in one embodiment of the system of the invention the system is divided into a client/server arrangement to provide a networked media solution. In this embodiment the physical client 201 and server 204 coexist on a communications network. The game code 202 running on the client (the client in this configuration would be the gaming device itself) requests access to game data residing in a remote file system's data store 205 using local API stubs 203 that are statically linked to said game code in order to issue an access request 207 . The local API stubs query the file system API 206 over the communications network using a network access request 209 , said access request may employ message level encryption for security. The file system API 206 interrogates the data store 205 through a series of data store accesses 211 and retrieves the information. In some embodiments the file system API 206 performs authentication prior to sending the data over the network to the client. The information is returned using a network access response 210 which in some embodiments can be message level encrypted communications using a stream cipher, block cipher or any other acceptable means. Upon receiving the file information in some embodiments the local API stubs 203 may perform additional authentication to validate the contents as coming from a trusted or authorized source. If the authentication is successful, access is granted and indicated to the game code 202 with a success response 208 . If authentication fails, the response returns a “file not found” or other suitable error message to the game code.
[0026] Use of client/server communication for the file system in this form may in some embodiments include the use of client-side file caching to improve speed and access times and prevent errors. In this case the file information returned by the server 210 is authenticated and then stored locally in a transient cache for use with further accesses.
[0027] Referring now to FIG. 3 the preferred embodiment of the system of the invention provides for authentication based on challenge/response pairs as part of a zero knowledge proof sequence. Zero knowledge proof (ZKP) pairs as they relate to the system of the invention are comprised of 1) a secret that can be demonstrated without revealing its exact value or its nature, 2) a commitment to a particular choice or problem, 3) a random bit chosen after the commitment, and 4) the ability to be able to complete the protocol no matter which bit is chosen. To achieve this, at least one challenge 301 is combined with at least one game data set 302 and fed into a cryptographic hash function 303 to obtain a hash or abbreviated bit stream 304 . Said cryptographic hash function may be any suitable one way hash algorithm such as MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 or similar. The abbreviated bit stream 304 is used as a series of random bits (step 3 in the ZKP steps) and the challenges 301 represent the commitment stage.
[0028] Referring now to FIG. 4 a, in the preferred embodiment, to set up the protocol prior to actual deployment in a game, the signer generates a random number X to be used as the private key and stores this private key in a safe place 401 . The signer then generates a public key 402 using the formula X 2 mod M where M is a product of two large prime numbers chosen for the protocol. The modulus M assumed to be known by all parties, however the two large prime numbers used to generate M are secret and should be discarded as they are not necessary to complete the protocol (the purpose of using two large primes to generate M is to make M unfactorable). The public key and the chosen prime number are known by all parties, and in this embodiment the public key and prime are stored in read-only memory storage in the physical gaming apparatus.
[0029] To sign a file, directory or other game data, the signer then chooses N random numbers Q 1 through Q N 403 and generates challenges from these random numbers 404 using the formula C n =Q n 2 mod M. The signer hashes the collection 405 of N challenges and the data to be signed to obtain an abbreviated bit stream H. The collection of N challenges and the game data may be combined using any method deemed appropriate, it is only necessary to ensure that the N challenges and the game data (or any bit stream derived from the N challenges and game data) are input to the cryptographic hash function.
[0030] Finally, for the first N bits of H, the signer generates responses for each challenge 404 using alternate formulas: if bit n=0, the signer generates response R n =Q n , or if bit n=1, the signer 405 generates response R n =XQ n , mod M. The challenges and responses generated by the signer 406 are collectively taken to be the signature of the file 407 .
[0031] Referring now to FIG. 4 b, once a file has been signed (by a signer, presumably a software manufacturer or a gaming regulatory authority), the authentication 408 in the gaming device proceeds as follows. The authenticator (gaming device) 410 hashes the collection of N challenges 409 and the file to be authenticated to obtain an abbreviated bit stream H′. For the first N bits in H′, the authenticator then verifies that the challenges and the responses are correct using alternate formulas: if bit n=0, the authenticator verifies challenge C n =R n 2 mod M, or if bit n=1, the authenticator verifies that response R n 2 mod M=C n ·PUB mod M, where PUB is the public key stored in the gaming device and M is the product of primes stored in the gaming device.
[0032] Using this protocol, the authenticator has verified that the signer has knowledge of the private key, otherwise they would not be able to complete the zero knowledge responses for bits=1. In addition, the authenticator knows that the zero knowledge responses were generated with knowledge of the bit pattern H′, because a cheater can cheat the protocol with probability 0.5 for each bit, so for N sufficiently large, the probability of successfully completing the protocol becomes arbitrarily small. Finally, because the hash function that generated H′ is a one-way hash function, the authenticator can assume that the original file is valid and intact, because even a one-bit error in the original file will result in a completely different bit pattern that would cause the zero knowledge sequence to fail. Hence, the file has been validated without requiring an encryption of any hash value, as with a typical digital signature such as the one specified in prior art (Alcorn et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,643,086, 6,106,396 and 6,149,522).
[0033] The challenges must be hashed along with the file as the signer is committing to these values. The actual pattern of the abbreviated bit stream is unknown to the signer prior to hashing, but because the signer knows the private key completing the protocol will not be a problem. An impostor that does not know the private key will be able to cheat the protocol with probability (0.5) N . For N=20, the probability is less than 1 in 1 million. Suitable values for N in actual gaming devices will most likely be greater than 60.
[0034] In the system of the invention, the challenges and the responses generated by the signer in the process of signing a file become part of the file metadata in the file system on the gaming device (or in the case of a networked client server setup, they may reside at either the client or the remote site). In either case, they are not viewable to the end user, only to the file system internally. If a file has a valid signature, the file system control process grants access to the file, otherwise, the file has not been authenticated and is hidden.
[0035] It is to be noted that although numerous specific examples have been given to assist in an appreciation and understanding of the generic concepts of this disclosure and inventions included therein, the examples are not intended to be limiting with respect to the claims and the scope of the invention.
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A method and apparatus for pre-load authentication suitable for use with an operating system in an embedded gaming device. A user-space file system that can automatically authenticate its contents is disclosed. The user-space file system can be deployed on a standalone system or using a client-server model such that a remote system server can coordinate with a local client to perform authentication. By moving the authentication into the file system functional block there is additional assurance that any game code or data stored in the file system cannot be accessed without first performing the required authentication.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/572,466 filed Aug. 10, 2012, currently pending, which, in turn, claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. DE 102011081618.6 titled “Sliding Door Arrester” filed Aug. 26, 2011, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD
[0003] The present disclosure relates to a door arrester for sliding doors of motor vehicles, which may be moved between a closed position and an open position.
BACKGROUND
[0004] Convenient means for locking a vehicle sliding door are desirable.
[0005] A door arrester for blocking a sliding door with a latching pawl is disclosed in DE 103 47 324 B4. Said sliding door is mounted in a guide rail on a vehicle and movable between a closed position and an open position. The latching pawl is able to be attached in a region of the guide rail such that it may be brought into engagement with a latching element which is arranged on the sliding door and is displaceable in the guide rail and in the process blocks the sliding door in the region of its open position. The latching pawl is pretensioned by a spring element in the direction of the contact region with the latching element. The spring element is arranged for adjusting the spring force in the contact region with a latching pawl carrier, by the interposition of a support element configured in a torsionally resistant manner on the latching pawl carrier, preferably as a sheet-metal nut, on an adjusting screw for altering the spacing between the ends of the spring element. The adjusting screw may be screwed into the support element and is supported by means of a collar on the side of the latching pawl carrier facing the support element.
[0006] Also disclosed in DE 101 33 938 A1 is a door arrester for sliding doors of motor vehicles with a retaining arm that is fastened via a holder to the bodywork that can be pivoted counter to a pretensioned spring. A retaining arm is latched via a latching member to a counter latching member arranged on the sliding door in the open position of the sliding door. A lug is arranged as a latching member on the retaining arm and a latching cam is arranged as a counter latching member that acts transversely to the direction of travel of the sliding door.
[0007] There is a problem, however, when a vehicle with an open sliding door starts to move forward and then brakes with the use of the known arresters. The sliding door may be released and closed and/or slammed shut on its own accord in an unrestrained manner.
[0008] A device for hooking a door into an opening of a vehicle with a closing bolt and a receiver is disclosed in DE 100 42 282 B4. In this reference the receiver is pivotably mounted and comprises a receiver portion for the closing bolt spaced apart from its pivot axis and at least one closing portion for the closing bolt and a mass. A mass that is spaced apart from a pivot axis after pivoting is brought into a positive connection with the closing bolt. The receiver is fixedly connected to the further mass which is arranged spaced apart from the pivot axis, and the further mass pivots the receiver due to its inertial force. Thus the pivotable vehicle door is hooked onto the bodywork via the normal door lock in the event of an accident or side impact and the forces are introduced into the bodywork.
[0009] Therefore, it is desirable to provide a sliding door arrester which prevents automatic closure of the sliding door during braking.
SUMMARY
[0010] The present disclosure teaches a sliding door arrester which prevents automatic closure of the sliding door during braking. Such sliding door arresters have proven advantageous as they are simple to construct and to fasten. In addition, such arresters permit easy actuation by a user despite the sliding door being arrested.
[0011] In one embodiment, a sliding door mechanism for a vehicle includes a roller attached to a sliding door and a latching a cam biased to engage the roller and configured to deflect upon contact with the roller. The sliding door mechanism further includes a locking element stationary with respect to the vehicle. The locking element includes an inertia lock rotatable to engage the latching cam preventing deflection of the latching cam and displacement of the roller during deceleration of the vehicle.
[0012] In another embodiment, a sliding door mechanism for a vehicle includes a sliding element displaceable along a guide rail and a biasing member biased to engage the sliding element to normally prevent displacement along the guide rail and wherein the biasing member deflects upon application of a force greater than a predetermined force to allow displacement of the sliding element along the guide rail. The sliding door mechanism further includes a locking element having a base fixed relative to the guide rail and a shaft pivotally attached to the base. The shaft includes a mass and a lock. The shaft rotates relative to the base during a deceleration event of the vehicle to engage the lock with the biasing member to prevent displacement of the sliding element.
[0013] In yet another embodiment, a sliding door mechanism for a vehicle includes a bracket fixed relative to a guide rail and a shaft pivotally attached to the bracket. The shaft includes a mass and a lock. The shaft rotates relative to the bracket during deceleration of the vehicle to engage the lock with a biasing member to prevent deflection of the biasing member relative to the guide rail preventing movement of a sliding element along the guide rail.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] Further details, features and advantages of the invention are revealed from the following description of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the drawing, in which:
[0015] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a door arrester for sliding doors of motor vehicles in a resting position; and
[0016] FIG. 2 shows a schematic, perspective view of the door arrester of FIG. 1 when a vehicle is braking.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic, perspective view of the door arrester and the guide rail.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] Referring now to FIGS. 1 , 2 and 3 , a door arrester for sliding doors of motor vehicles, denoted as a whole by 1 , is shown in the figures.
[0019] Door arrester 1 comprises a latching cam 2 that may be brought into engagement with a roller 3 . The roller is arranged on a portion of the sliding door 20 and is displaceable in a guide rail 18 . The latching cam 2 acts as a latching element for blocking the sliding door in an open position, as shown in FIG. 1 . In this case, the roller 3 bears against one side of the latching cam 2 .
[0020] For closing the sliding door, the latching cam 2 can be overcome by subjecting the door to a force acting in the closing direction (i.e., in the direction of arrow 8 , i.e. along the rail). Latching cam 2 is guided by roller 3 to move against a pretensioning produced by a spring element 9 when the latching cam 2 deviates from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 2 .
[0021] In this case, therefore, the cam 2 deviates to a side, transverse to the closing direction and/or direction of the rail, and the roller 3 is able to roll across the cam 2 .
[0022] A leaf spring 9 simultaneously forms the latching cam 2 in an angled portion of the spring.
[0023] In order to prevent an open sliding door from slamming shut during braking, the door arrester additionally comprises a locking element 4 . Locking element 4 is configured for locking the deviation movement of the latching cam 2 by means of negative acceleration (or braking acceleration). When subject to the braking acceleration locking element is movable between a position of release and a locked position.
[0024] To this end, the locking element 4 is configured to be pivotable about a shaft 10 , which is aligned transversely (or perpendicularly) to the direction of travel. The shaft 10 is attached to a bracket 12 that is stationary with respect to a body of the vehicle.
[0025] In the position of release, as shown in FIG. 1 , the locking element 4 is located adjacent to the leaf spring 9 and in the locked position a block-like locking segment 7 of the locking element bears against the cam 2 and thus blocks the deviation thereof.
[0026] The locking element 4 is operatively connected to an inertial mass 5 such that during acceleration the inertial mass 5 moves the locking element 4 and/or the locking segment 7 thereof into its locked position, as shown in FIG. 2 . The inertial mass 5 is connected to the shaft 10 of the locking element and drives said locking element at a ratio of 1:1 in the illustrated embodiment.
[0027] The locking element 4 is further pretensioned by a spring 6 in order to return to the position of release, as shown in FIG. 1 . The spring 6 acts on the shaft 10 of the locking element 4 and/or inertial mass 5 .
[0028] In normal operation, upon contact with the roller 3 the resiliently configured latching cam 2 is able to deviate counter to the inherent spring force so that the sliding door is able to slide the rail in the sliding direction from the open position into the closed position (and vice versa).
[0029] If the sliding door is open and is subjected to a negative acceleration, for example by braking of the motor vehicle (“−m/s 2 ” as shown in FIG. 2 ), the locking element 4 and/or the locking segment 7 is moved, driven by the inertial mass 5 into the locked position. The locking element 4 prevents a deviation of the latching cam 2 so that the roller 3 is not able to overcome the latching cam 2 and is arrested in the rail. If the negative acceleration decreases, the locking element 4 is moved by the restoring spring 6 into the position of release.
[0030] The locking element is provided for locking the movement of a latching cam in the sliding door. The locking element is movable by means of a negative acceleration (for example braking acceleration) between the position of release and the locked position. With the present teachings it is possible to prevent the sliding door from slamming shut. By means of the locking element it is now more difficult for the latching element to overcome the latching cam which is stationary.
[0031] The latching cam, which would otherwise deviate by contact with the latching element counter to the pretensioning of the spring, is now not able to deviate as the spring is blocked and locks the movement of the latching cam.
[0032] The spring, which is in the form of a leaf spring, forms the latching cam at the same time, for example in the form of an angled portion.
[0033] For adopting the locked position, the locking element is designed to be pivotable about an axis which is aligned transversely to the direction of travel. Thus, the axis can accordingly be aligned horizontally or vertically.
[0034] If in the locked position, the locking element blocks the spring element against deviation of the latching cam.
[0035] The locking element is operatively connected to an inertial mass such that during acceleration the inertial mass moves the locking element into its locked position. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the locking element acts automatically.
[0036] Additionally, if the inertial mass is articulated to the rotational axis of the locking element, at the same time, the locking element may be pretensioned by a spring for returning to the position of release. The spring force of said “restoring spring” is then designed to correspond to the masses of the sliding door and the door arrester.
[0037] It is particularly preferred in this case that the spring acts on the rotational axis of the locking element and/or inertial mass.
[0038] The latching cam is thus configured in a resilient manner able to deviate against the spring force upon contact with the latching element, which is configured, for example as a roller, so that the sliding door is able to slide in the sliding direction from the open position into the closed position (and vice versa). If the sliding door is opened and subjected to negative acceleration, for example by braking of the motor vehicle, the locking element is then moved, driven by the inertial mass, into the locked position and preventing deviation of the latching cam, so that the latching element is not able to overcome the latching cam. If the negative acceleration decreases, the locking element is moved by the restoring spring into the position of release.
[0039] The sliding door is movable between a closed position and an open position along the rail. It is held by the door arrester in the open position.
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A sliding door for a motor vehicle includes a sliding door arrester to prevent the sliding door from inadvertently closing during a deceleration event. The sliding door arrestor includes a base fixed relative to a guide rail and a locking element pivotally attached to the base. The locking element includes a mass and a lock. The locking element rotates relative to the base during a deceleration event of the vehicle to engage the lock with a biasing member to prevent movement of a sliding element that is displaceable along the guide rail.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of forming composite images by simultaneously superimposing transparent film images. A plurality of films, each containing a separate image characteristic, are superimposed over a lighted viewing area to form a composite image. Various control mechanisms on the outside of the device permit each film strip to be wound from a feed reel past the viewing area and then onto a take-up reel. By rotating the driving control knob in the opposite direction, the film direction is reversed in a trouble-free wind-up procedure without any binding of the film taking place.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Fitz Gerald Pat. No. 2,813,457 involves a device for overhead projection in which a series of many film layers provide a composite image. This device cannot be handheld.
The Minasy Pat. No. 3,336,681 discloses an imagemaking device in which a series of elongated strips of relatively thick and stiff transparent photographic film are placed in a vertical holder to form a composite image with each film strip being moved vertically up and down to select the desired image. These straight film strips are not rolled onto spools.
The Gorrell et al Pat. No. 3,687,536 discloses a multi-film projector. Each of the series of upper and lower film spools are connected by a belt drive so that as the upper spool is rotated by its control knob the lower spool will be rotating at the same angular velocity as the upper spool. When there is an unequal amount of film on the two spools, this can cause an accumulative buildup of slack or tension to the film causing problems in holding the film in precise position when other films are rotated over or under it.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a viewing device which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art by utilizing either a single knob control for the entire device or a single control knob for each film spool pair that permits the film to move in a forward or reverse direction without binding. The present construction permits one reel to wind up the film while the other reel of the associated pair is in a free rotating state. A series of overlaying film spools form a composite image which can be used for identification.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates a device according to one of the embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the device shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of the device shown in FIG. 1 of the gear mechanism.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional end view of the device shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional perspective end view of the device shown in FIG. 1 showing the gear configuration.
FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 4 from the opposite end.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the control key engaging mechanism shown in FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 illustrates a device according to a second embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 9 is an internal cross-sectional side view of the device shown in FIG. 8.
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional end view of the device taken along the line A--A of FIG. 9.
FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional end view of the device taken along line B--B of FIG. 9.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a control key shown in FIG. 9.
FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the control keys and the upper guide means shown in FIG. 9.
FIG. 14 illustrates a device according to a further embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional side view of the device as shown in FIG. 14.
FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional top view of the device shown in FIG. 14.
FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional side view of the device shown in FIG. 14 illustrating the gears.
FIG. 18 is a schematic representation of the electrical circuit for the device shown in FIG. 14.
FIG. 19 is a detailed section of a control knob and the associated gears.
FIG. 20 is a detailed section of the front roller combs shown in FIG. 15.
FIG. 21 is a detailed view of the gears taken along line A--A of FIG. 19.
FIG. 22 is an end view of a gear shown in FIG. 21.
FIG. 23 is a side view of the gear shown in FIG. 22.
FIG. 24 is a detailed side view of the lower gear shown in FIG. 21.
FIG. 25 is an exploded perspective view of a device according to a further embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
One of the preferred embodiments utilizes a single control knob and an internal gear configuration as illustrated in FIGS. 1-7. The device 1 in FIG. 1 has an aperture 2 in the front panel 4 through which the operator views the composite image being formed within the device. The single control dial 8 extends from the right side panel 6 to control the positioning of each of the individual film strips forming the composite. The ten projecting control key caps 12a-j on top panel 10 can be individually depressed into engagement so that as the control dial 8 is turned, one of the ten films will be rotated.
The key button return slide 14 in the front panel normally functions to retain a single control key 110 in a depressed, engaged position. Pulling out knob 14 permits the spring biased depressed control key to return upward to its non-engaging position.
A cross-sectional side view of the device through the middle is shown in FIG. 2 with bottom panel 20, back panel 22, top panel 10, and front panel 4. The magnifying lens 24 in the front panel enhances the viewing of the composite image made of the superimposed small images on each of the ten 35 mm film strips.
The composite film image is illuminated by a light bulb 26 positioned in lamp shade 28 that is connected to a lamp assembly plate behind the film. Any type of power source can be used to light the lamp, such as a 110 household voltage, a 12 volt car battery, etc., which have had their voltages appropriately reduced. In the illustrated embodiment batteries 30 positioned in the central portion of the device are employed. Battery compression spring 32 maintains the batteries in electrical contact and a conductive spacer element 34 in the battery channel provides electrical contact with the battery access screw cap 36. Electrical element 38 extends from the screw cap and spacer element to a push button switch 40 which is connected by wire 42 to the other terminal of the light.
Spaced along the length of the device are ten pairs of film reels. Although greater or lesser than ten film rolls could be used, composites made from ten films have been found to be adequate for facial identification. The device, of course, can be used with other films having different types of images. The upper reel consists of film reel spools 44a-j having spool edges 46a-j on either side. Each 35 mm film 48 is wound on its corresponding spool and passes up over its film guide roller 50a-j to the front of the device where it passes over its film position comb 54a-j. The comb can be in the form of a roller or a solid stainless steel rod. Each film continues over its comb and down across the front of the device where it is pressed against the light assembly surface 29 by film compressor spring 56. The film then passes down around its symmetric film position combs 58a-j and back to a film return guide roller 60b-j and then is wound around the reel spools 62a-j between the side elements 66 of the film spool. The film that has already been wound is shown as 64a-j.
A cross-sectional view of the device through the control keys is illustrated in FIG. 3 to show the configuration of the gear train and the vertical positioning of the control keys 12. The control dial 8 rotates shaft 74 inside the device on which are two parallel independently rotating main drive gears represented generally as 212 and 216 which are seen in more detail in FIG. 5. Each of these gears is on its own one-way roller clutch manufactured by the Torrington Company, Torrington, Connecticut, which permits the shaft 74 to rotate each gear in only one direction. For a given gear, when the shaft rotates in the opposite direction, the Torrington roller clutch spins free so the gear does not rotate.
One of the main drive gears 216 engages upper gear 218 on shaft 82 and the shaft 82 in turn rotates transmission gear 78 which causes the ten gears 84a-j which are in serial engagement to simultaneously rotate about their shafts 86a-j since gear 78 engages gear 84a which in turn engages gear 84b, etc. Each of these gears 84a-j are located adjacent one of the vertically extending control keys 110. These gears are continually engaged and they all rotate as the control knob 8 is rotated in the first direction.
When the control knob is rotated in the opposite direction, the other main gear 212 is in engagement with the lower gear 214 on shaft 92. Shaft 92 in turn rotates transmission gear 88 which similarly engages a complementary series of gears 96a-j which each rotate about shafts 98a-j adjacent to the lower portion of control keys 110a-j.
As shown in FIG. 3, the control keys 110a-d and 110f-j are normally biased in an upward, nonengaging position by control key springs 112a-j with control key 110e shown down in the locked, engaged position. Each of the springs is contained within an opening 114 in the horizontal extension 116 of the right side panel 6. The other end of the spring presses against the opening 118 within the bottom of the control key 110. The vertical movement of the control key is guided by lower guide elements 120a-k which are arranged between the control keys and the upper guide elements 126a-k which also are positioned between the control key elements.
Each control key 110 in its upper section has a portion cut out of one side defined by inwardly sloping upper edge 132 extending inward to a vertical wall 134 which extends down to the inwardly extending horizontal surface 135. At the same level as this indentation defined by surfaces 132 and 135 is a key lock slide 140. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the key lock slide comprises spaced apart side members 142 and 144 on either side of the control key 110 with a series of rods 146 joining the two sides. FIG. 3 shows the one side element 144 with rods 146 projecting therefrom. The slide element 140 extends the length of the device and is connected to key button return slide 14 outside of the device. In normal operation each locking rod 146 is positioned in the recessed portions of each control key defined by surfaces 132, 134, and 135.
The front end of the control key lock slide 140 has a downwardly extending member 150 with a protruding key lock slide guide rod 152 as shown in FIG. 3. This rod slides into a complementary slot 158 in projection 156 with the front panel 4. Spring 154 maintains the key lock slide guide biased in the backward direction so that the locking rods 146a-j are normally maintained against the above-described indentation in the control key.
In order to maintain a control key in a downward, engaged position, recess 136 having a horizontal surface 137 is provided in the control key at a position just above the outer edge of surface 132. By pushing down on the control key, the rod 146 will slide rightwardly against the sloping surface 132 until the surface 137 passes below the rod. At that point, spring 154 forces rod 146 into the recess 136 and maintains the surface 137 in the lowered position as illustrated by control key 110e in FIG. 3. Later when either button 14 is pulled or another control key is depressed, the rod 146e will move to the right and out of recess 136e so control key 110e will then return to its normal upward, nonengaging position due to the bias of its bottom spring 112e.
FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view when looking back from a midpoint end of the device to show the relationship between the control key and the gear driven spool. The view is taken as a section of FIG. 5. The interlocking construction of the top panel 10, the right side panel 6 with its horizontal lip 114, bottom panel 20 and left side panel 170 is illustrated. Inner panel 172 divides the device into the film area on the left and the control and gear mechanism on the right. The upper rotatable film spool support 174 extends through inner panel 172 and is connected on the right side to a spool clutch plate 178. On either side of the rotatable spool 174 are spacer extending elements 180 from the left side panel 170 and 182 from the inner panel 172. Similar construction is found in the lower part of the device where lower rotatable spool support 184 is connected through the inner panel 172 to the lower spool clutch plate 186. Again, extensions 188 from the left side panel 170 and 190 from the inner panel 172 serve as spacing elements for a film spool which fits over and engages with the lower rotatable spool support 184. In this film section the upper film guide 50 and the lower film guide 60 are as shown in FIG. 2.
When the control dial 8 is rotated in a given direction, either all the gears in the gear train in the upper section will be rotating or else all in the lower section will rotate. If, for example, a clockwise rotation of control dial 8 rotates the upper gears, then as the control dial clockwise rotates, gear 84 shown in FIG. 4, will also rotate. Since the button 12 of the control key 110 in FIG. 4 is not depressed, the rotation of gear 84 does not engage the upper rotatable spool clutch plate 178 so there is no movement of the film positioned about the upper rotatable spool support 174. The film is not subjected to any accidental movement since the spool clutch plate brake 200 positioned under the gear is in contact with the upper spool clutch plate 178 to prevent any rotation. When the control key 110 is pushed downwardly, the gear 84 and its gear shaft 86 move in a leftward direction by the beveled edge 204 of the control key to cause the gear 84 to frictionally engage the spool clutch plate 178.
A similar configuration exists in the lower section where gear 96 does not engage the lower spool clutch plate 186 since the beveled portion 206 of the lower part of the control key 110 is not yet forcing the lower gear shaft 98 in the leftward direction. Also, in this bottom section a lower spool clutch plate brake 202 is in frictional engagement with the lower spool clutch plate 186 to prevent any rotation of the lower rotatable spool support 184.
This figure also illustrates the key lock slide 140 with its right side member 142 and a left side member 144 straddling the control key 110. Between these two members is a locking rod 146.
FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional perspective view of the device looking in a backward direction from the front end of the device where the main drive gears are located.
The rotation of control knob 8 rotates shaft 74 extending into the device upon which are positioned two Torrington roller clutches, each of which rotates in a single, opposite direction. Surrounding the first Torrington roller clutch 208 is the primary gear 212 which engages lower gear 214 on shaft 92. Spaced apart from lower gear 214 is a second gear 88 also connected to rotating shaft 92 which is in alignment with the remaining gears 96 in the lower train to cause them to rotate.
The second Torrington roller clutch 210 on shaft 74 rotates in the opposite direction to that of the first. Surrounding the second Torrington bearing is a primary gear 216 which engages the upper gear 218 on shaft 82. Spaced adjacent to upper gear 218 is a second gear 78 also connected to rotating shaft 82 which is in alignment with the remaining gears 84 in the upper train to cause them to rotate.
On the left film side of the device shown in FIG. 5, are the upper film position combs which are generally referred to as 230. They contain the ten combs 54a to 54j, which are maintained between the two additional side wall elements 232 and 234. Similarly, in the bottom portion referred to generally as 236, there are the lower ten film position combs 58a to 58j.
FIG. 6 illustrates an exploded view of the control key 110 and the associated upper rotatable spool support. By pressing the control key button 12, the control key 110 moves downwardly and causes the upper gear shaft 86 to move into the spool support 174 due to the increasing inward force exerted by the beveled surface 204. Shaft 86 is normally biased outwardly by spring 252 located within cavity 250 in upper rotatable spool support 174 with the shaft 86 being engaged with the beveled surface 204 of control key 110. As the upper gear shaft 86 is forced inwardly into the spool support 174, the associated gear 84 and its rubber clutch washer 192 engage the upper spool clutch plate 178 and thus rotate the spool support 174.
The upper rotatable spool support 174 shown in FIG. 6 extends through the opening 256 in the inner panel 172 and engages the bearing 254 in the side wall 170. Spacing projection element 180 extends from inner panel 170, and spacing projection element 180 extends from the side wall 170 to maintain the film spool 258 in a central position.
When the control key 110 is not in the depressed, operating position, upper spool clutch plate brake 200 engages the upper spool clutch plate 178 to prevent accidental rotation and the spool clutch plate maintains the control key within the device.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the control key shown in FIG. 6. The two elements 142 and 144 of the key lock slide 140 straddle the control key 110 and have the locking rods 146 extending between them. The beveled surfaces 204 and 206 on the upper and lower portions respectively of the control key engage the spring biased gear shafts. The upper spool clutch plate brake 200 with its braking surface 260 engages surface 262 of the upper spool clutch plate 178.
A second embodiment of the viewing device without a gear train drive is illustrated in FIGS. 8-14. The external view in FIG. 8 is similar to the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-7. It consists of the unit 300 having the front panel 302, a top panel 304, a left side panel 306 through which extends control dial 308 with a small vernier control 310. Control buttons 314a-j extend through the top panel 304 and permit each of the ten film units to individually engage the drive transmitted from control dial 308. The key button return slide 316 on the front panel 302 has the same function and structure as does return slide 14 described in the first embodiment.
The cross-sectional view in FIG. 9 illustrates the drive mechanism. Here the back panel 318 and the bottom panel 320 are shown in addition to the front panel 302 and top panel 304. The drive mechanism is made of an upper O-ring 322 and a lower O-ring 324. When the external control dial 308 is rotated, its connecting shaft 325 shown in this figure rotates the two Torrington roller clutches. One of the roller clutches is within a first O-ring drive assembly 326a which engages the lower O-ring, and the second roller clutch is within the second O-ring drive assembly 326b which engages the upper O-ring as further illustrated in FIG. 11. The two Torrington roller clutches are arranged to transmit rotation in opposite directions so that as the control knob is rotated in one direction, one of the O-rings rotates while the other is disconnected and free-floating. Similarly, when the control knob rotates in the opposite direction, the reverse occurs. The O-ring compressor roller 328 maintains the two rings in contact with the O-ring drive assemblies 326a and 326b.
The lower O-ring 324 is driven by drive assembly 326a and passes over O-ring guide roller 330 to the back of the device where it passes up around a similar O-ring guide roller 334 and along a series of horizontal guide rollers 340j-a to the front of the device.
The upper O-ring is driven by guide roller 326b and passes up over a series of horizontal guide rollers 342a-k. It passes downward to a back roller 342 (not shown) behind roller 332 and then to the front of the device where it returns up around O-ring guide roller 346 (shown in FIG. 11) to O-ring drive assembly 326b as shown in FIG. 11.
The control keys 314a-j are guided in their vertical movement by upper key slide guide studs 350a-k and at an intermediate position by a similar series of control guide studs 352a-k. As in the first embodiment, each of the control keys has a spring 354a-j to return the control key in the upright position. The springs are positioned in openings 356a-j in bottom panel 320 and extend into openings 358a-j in the bottom of the control keys.
Each of the control keys has a perpendicularly extending shaft 362a-j about which rotates a corresponding O-ring engaging roller 360a-j. Positioned below these rollers are horizontal shelf extensions 370a-j with semicircular vertically extending brake members 372a-j thereon as seen in FIGS. 10 and 12. A similar construction is found in the bottom portion of the control key for the lower O-ring. There engaging rollers 364a-j rotate about shafts 366a-j extending from the control keys. Again below these rollers are the lower horizontal shelf projections 374a-j having thereon the semicircular brake elements 376a-j as also seen in FIGS. 10 and 12.
This cross-sectional view illustrates the upper film spool pulleys 380a-j which rotate the upper film spools. These pulley and shaft assemblies are not connected to the control keys 314a-j. A similar construction is found in the lower section where the lower spool pulleys 386a-j engage the shafts 386a-j which rotate the lower film spools.
The FIG. 9 also illustrates the end of the battery holder assembly 390 with electrical element 392 connected to push button switch 394 which is in switch engagement with the return electrical element 396 connected to the light within the device.
Spring 398 retains the control key return slide element 316 in an inwardly directed position so that it is in engagement with all of the control keys 314.
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A--A of FIG. 9 when looking toward the front of the device. Walls 306 and 410 support top panel 304 and bottom panel 320 with inner panel 412 dividing the device into the film section on the right and a drive section on the left. The upper spool pulley 380 is on shaft 382 which extends through opening 418 in the inner panel 412 and into the opening 422 in wall 306 which serves as a bearing for the shaft. Around the shaft in the film section is upper film spool 414.
A similar construction is found in the lower section where lower spool pulley 384 is on shaft 386 which passes through opening 420 in inner wall 412 and then into opening 424 in wall 306 which serves as a bearing for the shaft. Around the shaft in the film section is lower film spool 416. The control key 314 shown in FIG. 10 is locked in the downward engaging position with roller 360 forcing the upper O-ring 322 into engagement with the upper spool pulley 380 and roller 364 forcing the lower O-ring 324 into engagement with pulley 384. When the control dial 308 is rotated in one direction, for example, then only the Torrington roller clutch driving the upper O-ring will be rotating and thus only the upper spool pulley 380 will rotate to wind the film around film spool 414. When the control knob 308 rotates in the opposite direction, then only the lower O-ring 324 will be driven by the other Torrington roller clutch and in that case only the lower spool pulley 384 rotates to wind the film on the lower spool 416.
As also seen in FIG. 10, when the control key 314 is depressed against spring 354, the rollers 360 and 364 engage the O-rings with the spool pulleys 380 and 384 while the brakes 372 and 376 on shelf extensions 370 and 374 respectively are moved out of braking engagement with the spool pulleys 380 and 384 so that they are free to rotate.
FIG. 11 presents the view taken along section line B--B in FIG. 9 when looking from the front of the device as shown in FIG. 9 toward the back of the device.
This view shows the relationship between the control dial 308 with its associated shaft 325 and the O-ring drive assemblies 326a and 326b. Each of these pulleys 326a and 326b are engaged about a separate Torrington one-way roller clutch on shaft 325 with each roller clutch transmitting rotation in an opposite direction. As a result, when the control knob 308 is rotated in one direction, only one of the pulleys 326a or 326b will rotate; and when the control knob 308 is rotated in the opposite direction, the other pulley will rotate. When a pulley is not being rotated by the control dial 308 and its associated shaft 325, then the pulley is in a freewheeling condition, and it will rotate only if its associated O-ring is moving.
In FIG. 11 the control key 314 is shown in the upper, locked position. Here the brake 372 on shelf extension 370 engages in a braking relation with the upper spool pulley 380 to prevent any rotation of the pulley spool 380 and its associated film spool 414.
FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view of the control key 314 with its engaging rollers 360 and 364 which rotate upon fixed shafts 362 and 366. Associated beneath each of these rollers are the horizontal shelf projections 370 and 374 upon which braking elements 372 and 376 are located to engage in a braking relation with the spool pulleys 380 and 384.
FIG. 13 illustrates a schematic arrangement in which the control key return slide 316 has triangular elements which extend between the two sides of the slide assembly to engage the inwardly beveled portion of the control key 314 in a manner similar to the round rods 146 shown in FIG. 7 of the first embodiment.
A third embodiment of the invention is a multi-roll film viewer with individual control knobs as shown in FIGS. 14-24.
In FIG. 14 the device is generally shown as unit 500 having one side 502 with a series of hand-controlled film rollers 504b, 504d, 504f, 504h, and 504j. These five rollers on this side control five of the film rollers while on the opposite side there are an additional five rollers to rotate the remaining film rollers. A lamp access screw plate assembly 506 in the side wall 502 can be opened to change the lamp. Extending from the front wall 508 is a viewing assembly 511 with an opening 512 in which is placed a four power viewing lens to magnify the composite film image on, and an on-off push button switch 514 on top of the assembly 511 turns on the light behind the film to illuminate this composite image. Support elements 516 and 518 below the viewing extension hold a swivel wire stand 520 which can be rotated down to the position shown in FIG. 14 to elevate the front end of the device. At the back end a rubber bumper 522 prevents the device from slipping when placed on a flat surface.
FIG. 15 illustrates a side view from the side opposite the one shown in FIG. 14 with top and bottom walls 524 and 526, and back end wall 528. The viewing assembly 511 projects from front wall 508 and has the lens 512 and on-off switch 514. Positioned within the device are ten film assemblies. They each contain upper film rollers 530a-j onto which the film ends can be taped to the shafts. The films 534a-j from the rollers 530a-j extend over upper film rollers 356a-j and down past the viewing screen to lower rollers 538a-j where the films then pass over lower film roller guides 540a-j which rotate about shafts 542a-j. The films are then wound onto rollers 544a-j which rotate about shafts 546a-j. Rollers 544a-j have side elements 548a-j to guide the film.
In the gear train to be described below, there can be slip and play when the lower gear is driven by indirect drive. To overcome this effect the diameter of the lower roller is selected to have a larger diameter than the upper roller or shaft. The difference in diameters can be varied with the lower roller preferably being about 30% larger than the effective diameter of the upper roller. Spacer elements can be placed on either side of film roller shaft 530a-j and film roller 544a-j to align the film when the length of the shafts in the film section is greater than the width of the film.
Around lamp 550 is a lamp shade 554 to direct the light to the viewing surface plate 552 upon which the composite film images are pressed. The lens 512 can be a four power lens with a focal length of three inches which is the approximate distance between the lens and plate 552 upon which the composite film image is formed.
FIG. 16 presents a top view showing the relationship of the five control dials on each side of the device. Extending from wall 502 are the control dials 504b, d, f, h, and j while from the opposite wall 560 extend control dials 504a, c, e, g, and i. Each of these control dials directly rotates the upper film roller shafts 530a-j to which one end of the film is attached.
Attached to each of the shafts is part of the one-way drive mechanism which includes Torrington one-way roller clutches 600a-j as shown in FIG. 17 over which are fitted gears 562a-j. The Torrington roller clutches allow the gears to rotate with the shaft when the control knob is turned in a first direction. However, when the control knob is turned in the opposite direction, the Torrington roller clutch does not transmit the rotation of the shaft to its outer surface so the surrounding gears 562a-j do not rotate and consequently, do not rotate the lower gears 602a-j as shown in FIG. 17.
FIG. 17 illustrates a side view of the device taken along a vertical plane through the gears. As in FIG. 15, the top wall 524, bottom wall 526, and end wall 528 are shown with the upper and lower rows of rotating shafts. The upper row comprises shafts 532a-j around which are the Torrington roller clutches 600a-j surrounded by upper gears 562a-j. These upper gears 562a-j engage the lower gears 602a-j on lower shafts 546a-j. Each of the lower gears has a projection 604 extending from the gear which is divided into two sections by the slit 606 as shown in FIGS. 18, 22, and 23. Compression spring 654 around this projection serves as an adjustable driving engagement element and is adjusted in compression to permit the gear to rotatably engage the shaft while further permitting the gear to slip about the shaft when necessary. For example, when the lower roller is being indirectly driven to wind the film on it, the gear will slip on the shaft since the lower roller has a larger diameter than the upper roller.
The drag line 566 shown in FIGS. 16, 17, and 19 is anchored at the back end by anchor 568 and is held in tension by spring 750 that engages anchor 572 at the front end of the device. The drag line is threaded under and over the successive lower shafts 546a-j on the surface of the shaft between the gears 602a-j and the wall 560 to allow the Torrington clutch to index while backstopping. The play between the engaging upper and lower gears would not allow the Torrington roller clutch to index properly and keep proper tension on the film. Thus, the drag line serves as a drag means to keep the gear teeth in a non-play mesh engagement.
The electrical power supplied in the front portion 511 of the device is transmitted by means of electrical springs 578 to a stationary contact power plate 576 in the other portion of the device which in turn is connected to lines 616 and 618 that pass through hole 620 in the inner panel 574 to the light 550. One of the springs is connected by line 586 to one end of the battery 582 while the wire 584 connected to the other spring engages the on-off switch 514. The other terminal of the on-off switch is connected by wire 608 to an external jack 610 which in turn is connected in parallel with the battery 582 by wires 612 and 614.
The external jack 610 permits the use of power which can be supplied by either an adaptor which converts 110 volts to 3 volts or by an adaptor such as one which fits into a lighter of an automobile to convert 12 volts to 3 volts as further shown in FIG. 18.
As shown in FIG. 17, front sections 508 and 511 attaches to the rest of the device by screws 509 and 510. Screw 509 passes through top 524 and screws into stud 624 which is integral with the front wall 508. Similarly, screw 510 passes through front wall 508 and screws into lower stud 626 which is integral with the bottom wall 526.
FIG. 18 illustrates schematically the electrical wiring for the device. Battery 582 is connected in parallel with the external jack 610 and these two power sources are connected to lamp 550 via the push button switch 514. The external jack 610 can be supplied with external power either by means of a 12 volt source with an adaptor to reduce it down to 3 volts or by means of a 110 volt source which also has an adaptor to reduce it to 3 volts.
FIG. 19 is a detailed view of the upper and lower shafts with their gears in engagement. In the upper portion of the figure, control knob 504 rotates shaft 532 upon which is a Torrington roller clutch with gear 562 surrounding the clutch. Shaft 532 is supported by the three walls and passes through opening 642 in wall 502 and opening 644 in middle wall 574 and terminates in bearing 646 in wall 560. The rotation of shaft 532 in one direction is transmitted by the Torrington roller clutch and gear 562 to the lower gear 602 which in turn rotates shaft 546. Shaft 546 is positioned within bearing 648 in wall 560, passes through opening 650 in middle wall 574, and terminates in bearing 652 in wall 502. To maintain the gear 602 in slip engagement with the shaft, compression spring 654 compresses together the two portions of the gear extension 604.
The engagement of the two gears is shown in further detail in FIG. 21 and the lower gear 602 is shown in further detail in FIGS. 22-24.
FIG. 19 illustrates the drag line 566 which is in frictional engagement with the bottom shaft 546. Also illustrated is the lower guide roller 540 which rotates about shaft 542 that is positioned within bearing 658 in wall 574 and bearing 660 in wall 502.
FIG. 20 is a detailed section looking through opening 512 to show the construction of the upper and lower comb guides 536 and 538. The outer wall 502 is made of a thin section 502a and a second section 502b with bores to hold the shafts about which rollers 536a-j and 538a-j rotate. Similarly, the middle wall 574 has a first portion 574a and the second portion 574b in which similar bores hold the opposite ends of the shafts for rotating rollers 536a-j and 538a-j. Film alignment guide plates 670 and 672 are positioned adjacent inside walls 502 and 574 to guide and align the film as it passes through the viewing section. Rectangular box 674 presents a reference mark to align the identifying indicia on each of the films to make the images congruent.
FIG. 21 is a detailed view of the engagement of the two gears with the upper gear 562 surrounding a Torrington roller clutch 600 which engages the rotating shaft 532. The upper gear 562 is in gear engagement with the lower gear 602 which engages lower shaft 546 due to the pressure that compression spring 654 exerts on the two halves of the gear extension 604 to cause them to frictionally engage the shaft 546.
FIGS. 22 and 23 are detailed end and side views of the lower gear 602 showing the extension 604 which is divided into two sections by the slit opening 606.
FIG. 24 illustrates three possible positions for the compression spring 654 to be oriented about the extension 604 with respect to the slit opening 606. In position I the maximum compression of the spring is obtained since the spring is forcing the two sections together across the slit opening 606. By positioning the ends of the compression spring 654 at position II, the two sides of the compression ring do not exert such a large force on the two halves of the gear extension 604 against the shaft 546, and a position III the least pressure is exerted.
The multi-control knob embodiment shown in FIGS. 14-24 can be further modified to have all of the film spool rollers and the associated controls on a single, internal frame element which can be easily assembled inside the top and bottom cover members. FIG. 25 is an exploded perspective view of this embodiment. The center portion is the integral frame unit generally designated 700 made of the two longitudinal walls 702 and 704 between which are spaced the ten upper film control elements 706a-j which are made of the control knobs on alternate sides as shown in FIG. 14, and the gears 708a-j which are on Torrington roller clutches and which are located outside of the wall 702. These upper gears engage the lower gears 710a-j in a manner shown in FIG. 19. The upper and lower shafts are supported by the walls 702 and 704 and the compression springs 712a-j are positioned on the gears which are outside of wall 702 as shown in FIG. 25. The lower film guide rollers are on shaft pins 714a-j which extend from wall 702 underneath the lower gears and between these pins and the lower gears is a drag line 716 preferably made of nylon rope that allows the Torrington roller clutch to index while backstopping as discussed with regard to the corresponding function of the drag line 566 in FIGS. 17 and 19.
As in the previous embodiment, the diameter of the lower, indirectly driven roller is larger than that of the upper film winding element and the lower gears 710a-j are adapted to slip on the lower shafts 714a-j.
The front end of the internal frame unit 700 has vertically extending members 720 and 722. In the upper portion there are ten film comb rollers 724a-j which can be steel rods with plastic cylindrical rollers rotating about the rod. In the lower portion there are the similar ten lower rollers 726a-j.
On the front edge of the two vertical walls 720 and 722 are two additional rollers 728 and 730. The ten films are threaded inside these rollers so that two rollers serve as aligning means to compress the ten films together in the central viewing section.
The rigidity of the two walls 702 and 704 of the internal structure is maintained by the connecting back wall 732.
Power receiving plug 736 attaches to side wall 702 and front vertical wall 720 by screw 738 which extends into wall 720. By removing the screw 738, the plug 736 and its associated light socket and light bulb are removed to permit replacement of the light bulb. After the bulb has been replaced, the plug 736 is screwed back into the wall 720 so the light bulb extends behind the composite films inside the light reflecting shield.
As shown in exploded view 25, the upper cover member 744 and lower cover member 746 fit around this integral central unit and are secured by screws into the back wall 732. The front end of the device has a power supply and viewing member 748 which generally corresponds to the viewing assembly 511 in FIG. 15. In this embodiment the bottom wall is made flush with the bottom of the lower cover member 746 with a lens positioned within the assembly to magnify the composite image. The viewing assembly 748 has support extensions 750 and 752 which extend back from the top and bottom underneath the upper cover member 744 and above the lower cover member 746 respectively. The front end view assembly is fastened to the rest of the device by sliding these two support extensions within the top and bottom covers and screwing them together. Also extending back from the viewing assembly 748 is plug 754 which makes the electrical connection with plug 736 to transmit the power supply in the front of the device to the light behind the composite film strips.
As shown in FIG. 25, the external power receiving jack 760 may be located on top of the front viewing assembly adjacent to the on-off push button switch 762.
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A viewing device with a series of image bearing films that are individually positioned to form a composite image. Each film is wound from one roller, past the composite image forming area and onto a take-up roller. In one embodiment a single knob for the entire device operates a drive-chain which is capable of separately engaging the pair of rollers for each film. In another embodiment a control knob and a one-way mechanism is provided for each roller pair to permit the film to be wound precisely back and forth without any binding of the film. The device can be used for facial identification.
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CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] (Not Applicable)
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0002] (Not Applicable)
BACKGROUND
[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to exposure of telecommunication (“telecom”) services as web services, and relates more particularly to providing an application programming interface (API) that models telecom services using a uniform resource identifier (URI).
[0004] Application programmers, including application developers for web-based services, often provide users or customers with software platforms that enable various services for the user or customer. For example, an application may be provided to a user of a given website to permit the user to send a text message to a chosen text message address. In such a case, the application programmer provisions the application with the text messaging feature, and exposes various inputs to permit the user to activate the feature to implement the text messaging. The application programmer may implement the service of text messaging based on knowledge of application programming interfaces (APIs) that are offered by various telecom providers of text messaging services. Each telecom provider tends to have proprietary or specific APIs used to invoke the desired services, such as a text messaging service. The application programmer utilizes the APIs provided by the telecom providers, with the appropriate parameters, to invoke a text message service, for example.
[0005] Due to the potentially large number of APIs that may be used to implement services from various service providers, some APIs follow a particular paradigm in their invocation and usage. For example, a common paradigm or usage for web-based services that use APIs is referred to as a representational state transfer (REST) style of software architecture. Application software that conforms to REST constraints is typically referred to as being “RESTful.” REST-style architectures typically consist of clients and servers. Clients typically initiate requests to servers, which process requests and return appropriate responses. Requests and responses are built around the transfer of “representations” of “resources”. A resource can be essentially any coherent and meaningful concept that may be addressed. A representation of a resource typically captures the current or intended state of a resource.
[0006] RESTful web service APIs are ubiquitous, used for everything from search engines to social networking web-sites. A RESTful API typically models the “resource” to which a request is applied as part of a uniform resource identifier (URI) web service and the action requested in the HTTP method (GET, POST, DELETE, PUT). Parameters relating to the request can be encoded using XML in the payload of the request. This approach—where the API models the resource—supports the notion of interacting with a tangible object. For example, a request can be made to POST a new feature request to a website, or GET an existing feature. An API with a RESTful format is very familiar to web application developers, and the provision of an API may benefit from having this type of form in accordance with RESTful principles from the standpoint of usability.
[0007] Among telecom service providers that might provide different types of telecom services, the APIs are typically nonstandard, or proprietary, and may not always correspond to or support a RESTful resource model. Typically, many third party telecom web service providers have unique APIs, some of which may be based on RESTful principles, and which model a service as a resource in the URI. For example, a third party telecom web service provider may model an SMS service with a URI of /<web_server>/sms and a location-based service with a URI of /<web_service>/location_service, where <web_server> represents an IP address of a web server providing the third party telecom web service. With this type of definition for access to an API, an application developer might view the conceptual model of the URI as an SMS transmission engine, or as a location identification agent, respectively. Accordingly, the third party telecom web service provider offers an API that provides access to resources modeled as services.
[0008] When the resource is modeled as a service being offered, such as sending an SMS text message, for example, the application programmer typically apprises him/herself of the underlying infrastructure and how the request is to be made. Accordingly, the application programmer learns a number of proprietary or unique interfaces among the different service providers, adding to the complexity and difficulty of provisioning a web-based application with telecom services. It would be highly desirable to obtain a more standardized or readily usable service interface for use with web-based applications.
SUMMARY
[0009] The presently disclosed systems and methods provide an API for accessing telecommunication services that models the resource as an object, which object can be essentially any coherent and meaningful concept that may be addressed in a telecommunication network. The object can be referenced using a uniform resource identifier (URI), and the API can be used to submit a service request to an addressable resource in a telecommunication network. Equipment in the telecommunication network can respond to the service request that references the object, such as when the equipment may have status information about the object. The object may be a message destination, i.e., address in the telecommunication network, and can be a communication device, which for example, may be a mobile phone or other mobile device. The API conforms with RESTful principles and provides a conceptually simpler model to permit access to web services. For example, the presently disclosed API provides a resource model that can permit the appearance of the application directly interacting with the object identified in an API access. By modeling the resource as an object, access to the API can be viewed as accessing a webpage dedicated to the object. Retrieving information about the object or providing messages to the object follows the same model as like interactions with a webpage. Accordingly, the presently disclosed API can be conceptually understood more rapidly than previously offered APIs. The conceptual simplicity of the API model contributes to ease of use of the API for integration into web service applications, marking a significant advantage over prior APIs that provide resources modeled as a service.
[0010] According to an aspect, the present disclosure provides a telecommunication device that permits access to a communication device, such as a mobile phone or other mobile device, by a web-based application. The telecommunication device includes a processor and memory that are used to execute instructions to implement an API in accordance with the present disclosure. The API exposes an interface that, upon invocation, accepts a URI that identifies the communication device. The application programmer provisions the web-based application with a facility for using a uniform resource locator (URL) that includes the URI identifying the communication device. With such an interface, the API models the desired resource as a device, rather than a service.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The present disclosure is described in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary architecture for exposing telecommunication services to a web-based application; and
[0013] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary web-based application invoking a telecommunication service of a communication device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0014] Referring to FIG. 1 , a diagram of an exemplary telecommunication service architecture 100 for exposing telecommunication service as a web service is illustrated. In architecture 100 , a web-based client 102 hosts a web-based application 112 that receives input from and provides output to a user interface 110 . User interface 110 can be implemented, for example, as a device with a display 106 and a user input mechanism 108 , such as might be implemented with a keyboard. Client 102 can be implemented with a PC, a web enabled mobile device, a terminal with a connection to an IP network, or any other type of wireless, mobile or land-line connected device capable of interacting with web-based application 112 . User interface 110 can send messages to and receive messages from web-based application 112 to permit the exchange of commands and/or data. Although client 102 is illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of architecture 100 as hosting web-based application 112 and user interface 110 , these two components need not be co-located or co-hosted. For example, client 102 may be implemented as a server hosting web-based application 112 , which communicates with user interface 110 at a remote location. Thus, web-based application 112 can be implemented to be a network application that exposes web pages to users for input/output, and that interacts with a telecommunication service, as discussed further below.
[0015] Client 102 includes an IP interface 120 that is used to send and receive messages over an IP network connection 104 . Upon receiving a prompt from user interface 110 , web based application 112 can provide service requests to IP interface 120 , which service requests are then directed over IP network connection 104 to the desired address specified by web based application 112 . According to an exemplary embodiment, such an address is provided in the form of a URL that identifies a telecommunication service station 214 ; and the URL includes a URI that identifies a specific communication device that is the ultimate target of the service request.
[0016] Station 214 can provide various telecommunication services, including text messaging. It should be understood that station 214 may be provisioned to offer a broad range of telecommunication services, including voice and data communications, streaming communications including voice and video, and any other type of information that might be communicated over a telecommunication network. Generally, station 214 exposes application programming interfaces (APIs) 221 - 224 that can be invoked to call for services provided by station 214 . Generally, any number of APIs 221 - 224 may be provided in station 214 , including, for example, a number greater or less than what is shown and described herein, with APIs 221 - 224 serving as non-limiting illustrative examples. APIs 221 - 224 provide an interface construct for specifying the type of service and service parameters that web-based application 112 might seek to invoke. Accordingly, web-based application 112 has knowledge or intelligence concerning the constructs of one or more of APIs 221 - 224 provided by station 214 to permit web-based application 112 to invoke one or more of APIs 221 - 224 . As an example of an implementation, API 221 may include an API name or identifier for invoking API 221 , as well as a specific arrangement of data or parameters that might be expected by API 221 for proper invocation. Once web-based application 112 invokes API 221 , station 214 performs the actions indicated by API 221 , using any attendant data or commands provided with the invocation, to implement the desired service.
[0017] Station 214 includes a processing engine 210 and processing storage 220 that operate together to provide the desired services. Processing storage 220 includes APIs 221 - 224 , which are program modules in the form of instructions that are executable by processing engine 210 . Web-based application 112 can invoke an API 221 , for example, by sending an invocation message through IP network connection 104 via IP interface 120 . The invocation message is delivered to IP interface 216 via network connection 204 . Processing engine 210 receives the invocation message through IP interface 216 and executes API 221 as identified by the exemplary API invocation.
[0018] Station 214 includes a communication interface 212 that provides access to a telecommunication network 240 , which is composed of equipment and devices (not shown) that can provide telecommunication services, including connectivity and access to communication devices 230 - 235 , as is generally known in the art. Telecommunication network 240 provides connectivity with addressable objects, which objects may be a message destination, a network device such as communication devices 230 - 235 that can be queried, or any other addressable function provided by telecommunication network 240 . Examples of addressable objects or functions include SIM cards and short codes, which need not be associated with a specific device. When API 221 , for example, is executed, processing engine 210 sends messages through communication interface 212 to telecommunication network 240 to implement the service request. Equipment in telecommunication network 240 may be able to respond to the service request, even if the request is directed to one or more of devices 230 - 235 . Alternately, or in addition, the targeted communication device of devices 230 - 235 may respond to the service request.
[0019] APIs 221 - 224 exposed by station 214 , upon invocation, execute operations to implement the desired services. Examples of some of the services that APIs 221 - 224 may represent include SMS text messaging, device location queries, and any other types of services that may be provisioned in telecommunication network 240 and/or devices 230 - 235 that station 214 can access for actuation. As processing engine 210 executes API 221 , for example, messages are sent through communication interface 212 to telecommunication network 240 for implementation of the requested.
[0020] Telecommunication network 240 provides a connection for communicating with one or more of the devices 230 - 235 , and may involve any typical known communication technique or protocol, as desired or as indicated by devices 230 - 235 . For example, device 235 may have an RF connection with service interface 212 , such as may be provided in the case of a wireless mobile device. Device 234 may have an IP network connection to service interface 212 , while device 233 may have a landline telephone connection to service interface 212 . Typically, station 214 may implement a service interface 212 that can be expanded to include most types of communication techniques and/or protocols. It should be understood that devices 230 - 235 are shown for illustration purposes, and the number of devices is not limited to—and thus can be greater or less than—the number of devices shown.
[0021] In accordance with the disclosed systems and methods, APIs 221 - 224 in processing storage 220 model a resource in telecommunication network 240 and/or model one or more devices 230 - 235 as a resource. This modelling approach treats the resource as an object, rather than as a service, to simplify the invocation of APIs 221 - 224 by web-based application 112 . Web-based application 112 and user interface 110 permit a user to invoke an API 221 , for example, of station 214 through web-based client 102 . Accordingly, an application programmer provisions web-based client 102 with a facility for invoking API 221 through the configuration and arrangement of web-based application 112 . The application programmer configures web-based application 112 to accept a prompt, such as through user interface 110 , to make the API invocation using parameters such as those supplied or indicated by a user through user interface 110 .
[0022] The API invocation has a particular form as specified by the configuration of the API that is invoked. When the application programmer configures web-based application 112 in web-based client 102 , user interface 110 may be set up to have display 106 show a template with fields that can be filled-in in accordance with the user invocation to make the API call. The data provided to the template, such as by operation of user input 108 , can provide the parameters used for an API invocation in keeping with the specification for invoking the given API. The parameters may be drawn from additional or alternative sources, so that user input 108 may be used to initiate the service request with preselected or inferred parameters. For example, user interface 110 or web-based application 112 may have access to parameter values such as telephone numbers from a database. In such a case, the user may initiate a service request with predetermined parameters rather than inputting the parameters through user input 108 .
[0023] In accordance with the presently disclosed systems and methods, the form of the template and/or API call or invocation is arranged in accordance with the invoked resource modeled as an object rather than as a service. The invocation of the resource through the given API therefore appears as the invocation of an object, rather than as the invocation of a service for the application programmer configuring web-based application 112 in web-based client 102 . APIs 221 - 224 that are invoked in accordance with this exemplary arrangement are configured to accept an invocation formatted in accordance with a resource modeled as an object. Thus, the invocation of APIs 221 - 224 appears to the application programmer as the invocation of a service in relation to an object, rather than as an invocation of a service based on a resource modeled as a service.
[0024] API 221 , for example, in processing storage 220 is executed by processing engine 210 upon invocation to provide the service indicated by the invocation of API 221 . For example, if web-based client 102 invokes API 221 to send a text message to device 230 , web-based application 112 provides a call to API 221 in the form of a device identifier coupled with the service invocation. Upon execution of API 221 being invoked, processing engine 210 causes messages to be sent through service interface 212 to device 230 using the identifier provided in the formatted API invocation. Processing engine 210 then supplies the information provided in the API invocation to device 230 in accordance with the content of the API invocation.
Example 1
[0025] In accordance with the disclosed systems and methods, an exemplary format of an API invocation to send a text message to an object, such as a communication device, which may be a mobile phone for example, has the following form.
[0026] HTTP URL: http://web-service/6175551342/sms_inbox
[0027] HTTP Method: PUT
[0028] Request HTTP Payload:: <text>Happy Birthday!</text>
[0029] In this EXAMPLE 1, the URI addresses a resource using the ten digit telephone number 617-555-1342. Accordingly, the service request is directed, or addressed, to a resource modeled as an object, in this case a mobile phone. The mobile phone and the mobile phone inbox are modeled as a URL, and web-based application 112 makes an HTTP PUT request to the inbox of the mobile phone to send the text message found in the HTTP payload. In this example, user interface 110 may have an input field to permit the user to input the text message payload, and the telephone number of the mobile phone to which the text message is to be directed. When the user provides an input to indicate that the text message is to be sent, the API invocation is made to station 214 , which is identified with the exemplary placeholder “web_service”, which may be provided as an IP address of station 214 in the URL of the API invocation. Processing engine 210 in station 214 receives the API invocation of the present example and executes API 221 out of processing storage 220 . The parameters of the exemplary
[0030] API invocation are used in the API execution to cause the service request to be implemented. Processing engine 210 provides the signaling and data to send a text message through communication interface 212 to the device identified in the API invocation, in this EXAMPLE 1, device 230 .
Example 2
[0031] In this EXAMPLE 2, web-based application 112 receives a text message that might be displayed on display 106 of user interface 110 . The text message service may be invoked with the following API call.
[0032] HTTP URL: http://web_service/6175551432/sms_inbox
[0033] HTTP Method: GET
[0034] Response HTTP Payload: <text>Meet at Dave's</text>
[0035] In this example, the text message is provided by device 231 , which might be a mobile phone, for example. API 221 , for example, is invoked with the URI for device 231 , which is the object modeled by the invocation of API 221 . Web-based application 112 sends a request to and receives a response from device 231 using the URI in the API invocation, i.e., “6175551432.” The reference “web_service” is a placeholder used to address station 214 for API 221 which is invoked using the GET method to obtain the text message payload indicated. The response is provided to web-based application 112 through station 214 in accordance with the sms_inbox parameter for device 231 . As in EXAMPLE 1, it is the object (URI of device 231 ) that is modeled as the resource for API invocation, with methods being applied to the modeled object in accordance with this API invocation.
Example 3
[0036] In this EXAMPLE 3, a request is made to device 232 to obtain location information. Device 232 represents a mobile phone, for example, that can be addressed using a telephone number. API 222 is invoked, for example, and the API invocation can take the following form.
[0037] HTTP URL: http://web_service/6175551243/location
[0038] HTTP Method: GET
[0039] Response HTTP Payload: <location>“location information”</location>
[0040] As with the previous EXAMPLE 1 AND EXAMPLE 2, the placeholder value “web_service” indicates a parameter value, such as an IP address, that addresses station 214 , while the telephone number “6175551243” provided in the HTTP URL addresses device 231 for the location request. API 222 uses the HTTP GET method to request the location of the object indicated in the URI. Telecommunication network 240 responds by providing the HTTP response payload with the requested location information. The response is provided to communication interface 212 , and forwarded by processing engine 210 to web-based client 102 , where the location information might be provided on display 106 of user interface 110 by web-based application 112 .
[0041] In each of the above EXAMPLE 1, EXAMPLE 2 and EXAMPLE 3, the API invocation is based on a resource that is modeled as an object, rather than a service. The API model for the object permits interaction with web-based application 112 so that the application appears to be directly interacting with the object of interest. One way this API model might be viewed is as if each object is assigned a webpage, so that interacting with the object is the same as interacting with a webpage. A webpage is an interface construct that generally permits a user to interact with an application, such as a web-based application. The API model addresses the object as the principle resource rather than the abstract service as the principle resource, leading to simplicity and ease of use for API 221 - 224 in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0042] Referring now to FIG. 2 , a flowchart 300 illustrates an exemplary process for an application program that invokes a telecommunication service of a communication device in accordance with the present disclosure. A block 310 illustrates the receipt of a prompt by the application program to initiate a service request. Such a prompt might be provided by a user interacting with user interface 110 ( FIG. 1 ) to supply parameters for a service request and initiate the request. Once the operation indicated in block 310 executes, the application program parses the prompt to obtain an object address for use in constructing the API call, as illustrated in a block 312 . Once the operation illustrated in block 312 executes, the application program, such as web-based application 112 ( FIG. 1 ) formats the service request as an API call with the object address provided as a URI in a URL, as indicated in a block 314 . When the service request is formatted, as indicated in block 314 , the application program forwards the service request to the telecommunication server, such as station 214 ( FIG. 1 ), as illustrated in a block 316 of flowchart 300 . Once the service request is forwarded to the telecommunication server as indicated in block 316 , the telecommunication server invokes the API specified in the service request, using the URI parameter(s) as input for the API execution, as indicated in a block 318 . The service request is subsequently provided to the object address in the URI that was provided, at least in part, by the user, in accordance with the communication technique or protocol used between the addressed object and the telecommunication server.
[0043] With the process illustrated in flowchart 300 , the application programmer can provision the application program with a facility to accept an object address, such as a telephone number, and direct the service requests to the addressed object. Such a facility is conceptually easier to understand and more in line with generally familiar principles, i.e., RESTful principles, than prior API models that model a resource as a service. This facility can lead to more rapid prototyping and/or development of an application program that provides access to telecommunication services, as well as simplify maintenance.
[0044] The API model of the present disclosure exhibits characteristics in accordance with RESTful principles, so that invocation is aligned with generally familiar, or more intuitive usages, and is thus more appealing to application programmers. An API that can be quickly understood and implemented can provide a significant advantage for an application programmer tasked with dealing with multiple service providers and highly integrated systems. For example, if an application programmer can provide an API invocation based on an operation on a modeled object, the application programmer's job can become more simplified and can potentially be completed more rapidly than would be the case if/when providing API calls that expose services. For example, an API model that exposes services may expose unnecessary details about the underlying infrastructure behind the service, so that applications interact with infrastructure rather than the object itself. Such a service-oriented API can be difficult to understand and/or implement if it is based on obtaining knowledge of a service with which a device is provisioned.
[0045] The operations herein described are purely exemplary and imply no particular order. Further, the operations can be used in any sequence when appropriate and can be partially used. With the above embodiments in mind, it should be understood that the in accordance with the present disclosure there can be employed various computer-implemented operations involving data transferred or stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared and otherwise manipulated.
[0046] Any of the operations described herein that form part of the present disclosure are useful machine operations. The present disclosure also relates to a device or an apparatus for performing these operations. The apparatus can be specially constructed for the required purpose, or the apparatus can be a general-purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer. In particular, various general-purpose machines employing one or more processors coupled to one or more computer readable medium, described below, can be used with computer programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required operations.
[0047] The disclosed system and method can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can be thereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include hard drives, read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetic tapes and other optical and non-optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network-coupled computer system so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.
[0048] The foregoing description has been directed to particular embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that other variations and modifications may be made to the described embodiments, with the attainment of some or all of their advantages. The procedures, processes and/or modules described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, embodied as a computer-readable medium having program instructions, firmware, or a combination thereof. For example, the function described herein may be performed by a processor executing program instructions out of a memory or other storage device. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
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An application programming interface (API) provides telecommunication services in the form of a resource modeled as an object, which object can be essentially any coherent and meaningful concept that may be addressed. The API model permits simpler and more intuitive invocation and usage of the API. The object model for the API avoids having to understand service infrastructure for proper API invocation and tends to increase the usability of the service represented by the API. With the object-modeled resource, the device can be made to appear to an application programmer as a webpage, so that interacting with the device is the same as interacting with a webpage, such as by utilizing HTTP requests and responses. The object-model API can increase the ease with which an application programmer can utilize the services offered, as well as increase the ease with which the API may be integrated into an overall communication system.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to electric steam irons which comprise a sole having a base heated by means of an electric resistance and an ironing plate mounted below the base, a so-called principal vaporization chamber provided in the base, closed by a cover and supplied by water by means of an injection device through an opening provided in the cover, and a chamber for distributing steam in communication with steam outlet holes pierced in the plate.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
In known steam irons of this type, the steam distribution chamber is provided in the upper surface of the heating base, at the periphery of the base and outside the principal vaporization chamber, being separated from the latter by a partition, and communicating with the vaporization chamber through at least one opening provided in the partition; the distribution chamber comprises steam distribution openings corresponding to steam outlet holes pierced in the ironing plate. This type of iron has the great drawback of not being able to provide perfect sealing between the principal vaporization chamber and the distribution chamber. Thus, as a result of improper fabrication or mounting, a certain play can be present between the cover and the partition separating the two chambers, such that unvaporized water can pass directly from the vaporization chamber to the distribution chamber, giving rise to the risk of projection of droplets of water through the outlet holes. Projection of water moistens the laundry, which detracts from the quality of pressing, and after several thermal cycles, small platelets of calculus pass into the distribution chamber, finally plugging the distribution openings, and hence the outlet holes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has particularly for its object to overcome these drawbacks and to provide a steam iron, of the type described above, whose sole involves an improved design permitting high quality ironing, suitable for mass production and at reduced cost.
According to the invention, the principal vaporization chamber comprises at least one steam passage which opens on the lower surface of the base and which is arranged such that the vapor moves into said principal vaporization chamber along a path suitable to promote the vaporization of the water before reaching said passage, and the steam distribution chamber is arranged in the lower surface of the base and is in communication with the outlet of said steam passage.
Thus, the provision of the steam distribution chamber in the lower surface of the heating base, and no longer in the upper surface of the latter as in the prior art, whilst communicating in a simple manner with the principal vaporization chamber thanks to the opening of the passage, now permits overcoming the problem of sealing between the two chambers particularly if there has been improper production or mounting of the closing cover. Moreover, the heating base being obtained by molding, the provision of the distribution chamber directly in the lower surface of the base permits greatly simplifying the existing mold.
According to another important characteristic of the invention, the principal vaporization chamber being delimited by a peripheral partition on which bears the cover and comprising a plurality of steam passages, these passages are constituted by vertical chimneys arranged about the periphery of said peripheral partition, opening into the steam distribution chamber and proceeding upward toward the cover by leaving on at least one portion a small space with said cover so as to permit the passage of the steam through said space in the upper portion of each of the chimneys.
Thus, thanks to this steam passage in the upper portion of the chimneys, the unvaporized droplets of water can almost not at all leave these chimneys, and hence pass into the subjacent distribution chamber, thereby avoiding any risk of projection of water through the outlet holes, and thus any blocking of the distribution chamber. Moreover, this escape of steam through the upper portion of the chimneys ensures excellent operation of the iron in a vertical position to smooth delicate cloth.
According to a preferred embodiment, the vertical chimneys are two in number and are arranged respectively on the two opposite lateral sides of the peripheral partition of the principal vaporization chamber. Preferably, the two vertical chimneys are symmetrical relative to the longitudinal axis of the sole and are each located substantially in the central lateral region of the vaporization chamber.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description which follows, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a sole provided with a cover of a steam iron according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a heating base of the sole of FIG. 1, the cover being omitted;
FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of this heating base;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view on the line IV--IV of FIG. 2, the cover being in place; and
FIG. 5 is a plan view of the external surface of an ironing plate of the sole of FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5, the electric steam iron comprises a sole, designated by the general reference 10 in FIG. 1, which extends longitudinally from a region forming a point 12 toward a region forming a heel 13 and which comprises a base or body 15 made of a molded metallic material such as for example aluminum, provided with a cover 17 of sheet metal and heated by means of a shielded electric resistance 18 embedded in its mass and having a U shape, as well as a thin ironing plate 21 made of metallic material such as for example chromium steel or stainless steel, mounted on the lower surface 23 of the heating base 15 by any suitable securement means and whose external surface 25 forms an ironing surface. The heating base 15 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and the ironing plate 21 (FIG. 5) of the sole have the same longitudinal axis of symmetry, designated XX'.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, in the heating base 15 of the sole 10 is provided a so-called principal vaporization chamber 28 delimited by a vertical peripheral partition 30 better seen in FIG. 2, closed by the cover 17 bearing on the peripheral partition 30 (see FIG. 4), and communicating with a steam distribution chamber, shown at 32 in FIG. 3 and which will be described hereinafter, which is closed by the plate 21 and which communicates with the steam outlet holes 33 pierced in said plate 21. As is seen in FIG. 2, the branches of the shielded resistance 18 of U shape (symbolized by broken lines in FIG. 2) are closely surrounded by the vaporization chamber 28.
The principal vaporization chamber 28, of large volume, for example of the order of 50 cm 3 , is adapted to produce a continuous stream of steam at low pressure by being supplied with water through an injection device (not shown) through an opening 26 provided in the cover 17.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, there is shown at 38 a long groove with rounded ends which is sunk horizontally with a slight downward slope, for example along the axis XX', and with very little depth in the vaporization chamber 28 and of which the forward portion 41 is adapted to receive water falling through the injection opening 36.
According to the invention, concerning FIGS. 2 and 3, the principal vaporization chamber 28 comprises at least one steam passage 44 which opens on the lower surface 23 of the heating base 15 and which is arranged such that the vapor travels into the vaporization chamber 28 along a path adapted to promote the vaporization of the water before reaching the passage 44, and the steam distribution chamber 32 is provided in the lower surface 23 of the base 15 and is in communication with the outlet of the steam passage 44.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, there are provided, purely by way of illustration and in no way limiting, two steam passages 44 which are arranged on the inner side of the peripheral partition 30 of the principal vaporization chamber 28 to open into the steam distribution chamber 32.
In this example, the two outlet steam passages 44 are constituted by two identical vertical chimneys provided respectively on the two opposite lateral sides of the peripheral partition 30 of the vaporization chamber 28, and which are symmetrical relative to the axis XX' each being located substantially in the central lateral region of the principal vaporization chamber 28.
According to an important aspect of the invention, the two lateral chimneys 44 rise toward the closing cover 17 leaving at least a small portion of internal space, visible at 46 in FIG. 4, with the cover 17, so as to permit the passage of steam through said small space 46 in the upper portion of each of the two chimneys 44. Thus, the steam cannot leave the principal vaporization chamber 28 other than from the upper portion of each of the two chimneys 44, which are almost not at all subjected to projections of droplets of water, thereby permitting avoiding any blocking of the holes of the pressing plate 21, and as a result obtaining a high quality of pressing, even in the case of vertical smoothing.
Moreover, each of the two lateral chimneys 44 has a minimum predetermined cross section of the order of at least 20 mm 2 , which minimum value corresponding to a sufficient escape of steam from the upper portion of the two chimneys so as to ensure a diffusion of continuous steam jets over the laundry to be pressed.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, each of the two lateral chimneys 44 has a substantially oblong shape and is delimited vertically by a section 30a of the peripheral partition 30 of the principal vaporization chamber 28 and a partition 48 formed in the vaporization chamber 28 and extending adjacent the cover 17 so as to provide with the latter the internal space 46 for the passage of the steam from the upper portion of the chimney 44, see FIG. 4.
As to FIG. 3, the steam distribution chamber 32 is constituted in this case by a groove sunk in the lower surface 23 of the heating base 15 and having a substantially V shape whose two branches 32a, 32b extend respectively along and adjacent the two lateral edges 15a, 15b of the base 15 and whose point 50 is located in the region 12 forming a point of the base. In each of the two branches 32a, 32b of the V-shaped distribution groove 32 opens one of the chimneys 44, as is seen in FIG. 3, and the steam outlet openings 33 pierced in the plate 21 (FIG. 5) are distributed so as to coincide with the distribution groove 32.
As shown in FIG. 3, in the lower surface 23 of the heating base 15 is also provided at least one transverse channel 52, in this case two in number, disposed in parallel, which open at the two free ends of the V-shaped distribution groove 32 and which is adapted, by means of circular recesses 54 of small depth, to bring the steam travelling in the groove 32 into a region located approximately in the rear transverse region of the pressing plate 32 via corresponding steam outlet holes 56 pierced in the plate 21 and coinciding with the recesses 54 of each channel 52.
As to FIG. 2, within the principal vaporization chamber 28 are provided two identical decantation chambers 60, of a small volume compared to that of the principal vaporization chamber 28, of the order of 5 cm 3 each, in the illustrated embodiment, which are associated respectively with the two chimneys 44 and which each comprise a small passage, visible at 62 in FIG. 4, adapted to cause to enter it the steam travelling into the principal vaporization chamber 28. The two decantation chambers 60 are disposed respectively above the two lateral branches of the shielded U-shaped resistance 18, as shown schematically in FIG. 2; the shielded resistance 18 extend adjacent each of the two lateral chimneys 44.
More precisely, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, each of the two decantation chambers 60 is delimited vertically by a section 30b of the peripheral partition 30 of the principal vaporization chamber 28 which extends the front of the section 30a of this peripheral partition 30, the partition 48 serving to delimit the associated chimney 44, and a partition 64 having, on the one hand, a longitudinal section 64a connecting with the front of the section 30a of the peripheral partition 30 bordering the chimney 44 and extending to the same height as the peripheral partition 30 such that the cover 17 also bears on this longitudinal section 64a (see FIG. 4) , and on the other hand, a transverse section 64b connecting to the section 30b of the peripheral partition 30 and extending adjacent the cover 17 so as to provide with this latter an interstice forming the inlet passage 62 (FIG. 4) for steam in the decantation chamber 60.
Thus, each of the two decantation chambers 60 fulfills preferably both the function of instantaneous vaporization of all droplets of water entering the decantation chamber through the passage 62, and that of trapping or recovering the plates of calculus susceptible to form therein.
Upon an injection of water into the principal vaporization chamber 28, and at present at the level of the front portion 41 of the longitudinal groove 38 sunk in the vaporization chamber 28, through the opening 36 of the cover 17 in the sole 10, the injected water (at the point A located on the axis XX' in FIG. 2) is transformed into steam in contact with the metal heated by the shielded resistance 18. The steam travelling in the groove 38 from the chamber 28 by being guided in this groove 38, enters through each of the two passages 62 (see FIG. 4) into the corresponding decantation chamber 60 in which any droplets of water penetrating therein are vaporized instantaneously, then leaves through the upper portion of each of the two chimneys 44 through the small space 46 (see FIG. 4) to empty into the corresponding lateral branch 32a; 32b of the V-shaped steam distribution groove 32, as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG. 2.
From there, the steam is transmitted into the distribution groove 32 and is distributed in part in each of the two transverse channels 52, as shown by the arrows on FIG. 3, and leaves in continuous low pressure jets through the corresponding holes 33 and 56 of the pressing plate 21.
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An iron with a lower housing includes a heating base and a sole plate under the base, an evaporation chamber and a steam distribution chamber in communication with steam outlets in the sole plate. The evaporation chamber includes at least one steam channel having an outlet in the lower surface of the base and arranged in such a way that the steam flows through the evaporation chamber along a path which promotes evaporation of the water before it reaches said channel, and the distribution chamber is provided in the lower surface of the base and communicates with the outlet of the steam channel.
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[0001] This application claims priority based on the U.S. Provisional Application 61/178,245 filed on May 14, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a liquid crystal (LC) composition, a LC device, and a method of making the same. The invention finds particular application in conjunction with e.g. polymer stabilized isotropic LC, a liquid crystal display and a phase modulator, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention has further application in related technology areas as will be understood by those skilled in the relevant field of technology.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are dominant in the flat panel display market, accounting for more than 100 billion US dollars annually. State-of-the-art LCDs in large volume production use optical anisotropic, or birefringent, liquid crystals. They are operated between a bright and a dark state, or in any state between these states. In both the bright and dark states, the liquid crystal material is optically anisotropic but the optical axes are in different directions. One of the major problems with the LCDs is that in the dark state the liquid crystal material is in the anisotropic state. In this state, there is residual optical retardation at the off-axis viewing angles, causing light leakage at these viewing angles. The light leakage severely limits the viewing angle and contrast ratio of the LCDs.
[0004] A more recent LCD is the polymer stabilized blue phase (PB) LCD. In the PB-LCD dark state, the liquid crystal material is in the optical isotropic blue phase. This LCD experiences no residual optical retardation at off-axis viewing angles, and therefore the PB-LCD has a good viewing angle. Nonetheless, the PB-LCD exhibits continuing problems. One such problem is that the blue phases are exhibited by chiral liquid crystals. Without dispersed polymers, the blue phases usually exist in a very narrow temperature region, around 1 degree or less. In order to use the blue phases in display applications, polymer stabilization is employed to widen the temperature of the blue phase. The polymer stabilization is achieved by mixing the liquid crystal with a small amount of monomer (or oligomer) and polymerizing the monomer in the blue phase. During the polymerization, the temperature must be precisely controlled so that the mixture is in the blue phase. This is a problem in manufacturing PB-LCD. The blue phase possesses a cubic structure. It is difficult to manufacture large size display with uniform optical state. This is another problem in manufacturing PB-LCD.
[0005] Advantageously, the present invention overcomes the foregoing problems by providing polymer stabilized isotropic (PSI) liquid crystals. These PSI liquid crystals can be used for displays and as phase modulators, and exhibit many technical merits, such as providing a large viewing angle, fast response time, and enhanced contrast ratio. In addition, the PSI liquid crystals of the present invention are easy to manufacture as large size displays, such displays exhibiting improved dark state. Further, they are amenable to an easy manufacturing process having a wider temperature range. Finally, the PSI phase modulator of the present invention exhibits polarization-insensitivity. These attributes, among others, are found in the PSI liquid crystals according to the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0006] One aspect of the invention provides a liquid crystal composition comprising a liquid crystal and a polymer, wherein the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property in the absence of the polymer under a condition, and the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition.
[0007] Another aspect of the invention provides a liquid crystal composition comprising a liquid crystal and a polymer, wherein the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property in the absence of the polymer under a condition, the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition, and the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer exhibits the macroscopic anisotropic property when an electrical field is applied thereon.
[0008] Still another aspect of the invention provides a liquid crystal device comprising a cell, wherein the cell comprises a liquid crystal composition which comprises a liquid crystal and a polymer, wherein the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property in the absence of the polymer under a condition, the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition, and the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer exhibits the macroscopic anisotropic property when an electrical field is applied thereon.
[0009] A further aspect of the invention provides a method of modifying the property of a liquid crystal comprising: (i) providing a liquid crystal that alone exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property under a condition; and (ii) combining the liquid crystal with a polymer; wherein the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition, and the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer exhibits the macroscopic anisotropic property when an electrical field is applied thereon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the basic structure of a polymer stabilized isotropic liquid crystal display in an embodiment of the invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 shows the transmittance of a cell containing PSI LC prepared from a mixture of nematic LC, monomers and a chiral dopant in the weight ratio of 70:20:10 as a function of applied electrical filed in an embodiment of the invention;
[0012] FIG. 3 shows the transmittance of a cell containing PSI LC prepared from a mixture of nematic LC, monomers and a chiral dopant in the weight ratio of 60:20:20 as a function of applied electrical filed in an embodiment of the invention;
[0013] FIG. 4 shows the transmittance of a cell containing PSI LC prepared from a mixture of nematic LC, monomers and a chiral dopant in the weight ratio of 65:15:20 as a function of applied electrical filed in an embodiment of the invention;
[0014] FIG. 5 shows the transmittance of a cell containing PSI LC prepared from a mixture of nematic LC, monomers and a chiral dopant in the weight ratio of 65:20:15 as a function of applied electrical filed in an embodiment of the invention; and
[0015] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates the basic structure of a polymer stabilized isotropic liquid crystal phase modulator in an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0016] In various embodiments, the liquid crystal composition of the invention comprises a liquid crystal and a polymer. The liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property in the absence of the polymer and under a condition such as a temperature in the range of from about 0° C. to about 200° C. The polymer can stabilize the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition such as the temperature in the range of from about 0° C. to about 200° C. It should be understood that the term “condition” used in this specification includes any condition which affects the liquid crystal's physical, chemical, optical, and electrical properties, except that it does not include an electrical field.
[0017] In various embodiments, the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property when an electrical field is applied thereon.
[0018] Although there is no specific limitation on the macroscopic anisotropic property and the macroscopic isotropic property, in typical embodiments they are both an optical property.
[0019] Examples of the liquid crystal that can be used in the liquid crystal composition of the invention include, but are not limited to, chiral or achiral LCs; liquid crystals with positive dielectric anisotropy in the absence of the polymer; and liquid crystals in the anisotropic liquid crystal state, such as nematic, cholesteric, and smectic phases, when in the absence of the polymer.
[0020] In exemplified embodiments, the liquid crystal is selected from a nematic liquid crystal such as E31 LV, E49, BL036, TL203, or any mixture thereof. E31 LV, E49, BL036, and TL203 are commercially available from EM Industries, Inc., and their molecules comprise rigid phenyl ring(s) and/or cyclohexane ring(s), flexible hydrocarbon tail(s) and polar group(s).
[0021] The liquid crystal composition of the invention may further comprise any suitable additional ingredient, such as a chiral dopant. Examples of suitable chiral dopants include but are not limited to R811, S811, R1011, CB15, and any mixture thereof. R811, S811, R1011, and CB15 are all commercially available from EM Industries, Inc.
[0000]
[0022] The liquid crystal composition of the invention may further comprise any suitable additional ingredient such as a chiral dopant. Examples of the chiral dopant may be selected from R811, S811, R1011, CB15, and any mixture thereof. R811, S811, R1011, and CB15 are all commercially available from EM Industries, Inc.
[0023] In embodiments, the liquid crystal and the polymer in the composition of the invention may have a weight ratio generally in the range of from about 100:1 to about 1:1, preferably in the range of from about 20:1 to about 2:1, and more preferably in the range of from about 10:1 to about 3:1.
[0024] The invention also provides a liquid crystal device, such as a liquid crystal display or a phase modulator, including one or more cells, wherein at least one of the cells comprises a liquid crystal composition. The composition comprises a liquid crystal and a polymer, wherein the liquid crystal exhibits an anisotropic property in the absence of the polymer under a condition such as the operation temperature of the device, and the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition. Typically, the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property under an electrical field. For example, the macroscopic anisotropic property and the macroscopic isotropic property may both be an optical property. A liquid crystal display is a device that can show arbitrary pictures. A phase modulator is a device that can vary the optical length.
[0025] In some exemplary embodiments, the cell comprises two substrates with transparent electrodes. The transparent electrodes are thin electric conducting layers coating on glass or plastic substrates, one example of which is ITO (Indium Tin oxide).
[0026] A liquid crystal display of the invention may have a viewing angle in the range of from about −60° to about 60°, and a response time shorter than 1 ms. The response time means the time intervals of the transmittance changes from low to high and from high to low when a voltage is turned on or turned off. When no electric field is applied, the display may have a low transmittance, such as lower than 1%. When an electric field is applied, the display may have a high transmittance, such as greater than 5%. The intensity of the electric field may range from about 0 V/micron to about 20 V/micron, and preferably range from about 2 V/micron to about 10 V/micron.
[0027] When no electric field is applied, a phase modulator of the invention may have a polarization-insensitivity with an optical retardation value in a range such as from about 0 micron to about +/−1.0 micron. Such a phase modulator may have a polarization-insensitivity with a second optical retardation value in a range such as from about +/−0.00001 micron to about +/−5 micron when an electric field is applied. The polarization-insensitivity is used to characterize that the optical phase change when light propagates through the device is independent of the polarization of the incident light.
[0028] The invention provides a method of modifying the property of a liquid crystal comprising:
[0029] (i) providing a liquid crystal that alone exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property such as an optical property under a condition; and
[0030] (ii) combining the liquid crystal with a polymer;
[0031] wherein the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property such as an optical property under the same condition.
[0032] The method of the invention may further include a step of applying an electrical field to the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property.
[0033] According to the invention, one process for combining the liquid crystal with the polymer comprises:
[0034] (a) mixing the liquid crystal with monomers and/or oligomers at a first temperature, wherein the liquid crystal exhibits an anisotropic property at the first temperature;
[0035] (b) heating the mixture from step (a) to a second temperature, wherein the liquid crystal alone exhibits an isotropic property at the second temperature; and
[0036] (c) polymerizing the monomers and/or oligomers into a polymer at the second temperature;
[0037] wherein the polymer stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property at the first temperature.
[0038] Polymerizing the monomers and/or oligomers into the polymer may be accomplished by free radical polymerization, cationic polymerization, anionic polymerization, and photo-polymerization, among others.
[0039] In an embodiment, a chiral or achiral liquid crystal is mixed with monomers and/or oligomers. In either case, the liquid crystal has a positive dielectric anisotropy and tends to be aligned parallel to an applied electric field. In this embodiment, the LC/polymer mixture is filled into the display or modulator cell, which generally consists of two substrates with transparent electrodes. Once filled, the cell is heated to an elevated temperature such that the mixture is in the isotropic phase. Under the heated condition, the monomers (oligomers) are polymerized in the isotropic phase to form an isotropic polymer network. When the cell is cooled to the operation temperature of the display, the liquid crystal retains the isotropic state, rendering a cell substantially in the macroscopic isotropic optical state.
[0040] Without the intention to be bound by any particular theory, it is believed that, on the sub-micron or smaller scale, the liquid crystal may be in an anisotropic liquid crystal state, i.e., in a nematic, cholesteric or smectic phase. When light propagates through the material at any angle with respect to the cell normal, the net optical retardation of the material is substantially zero. The material also has a very small scattering effect on the light, and further does not change the polarization of the light. When an electric field is applied to the material, the liquid crystal molecules are tilted toward the field direction.
Example 1
Polymer Stabilized Isotropic Liquid Crystal Display
[0041] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the basic structure of a polymer stabilized isotropic liquid crystal display. With reference to FIG. 1 , a composition including a polymer network 102 and macroscopic isotropic liquid crystals 103 stabilized by network 102 is shown. The composition is sandwiched between two substrates 104 and 105 . On one of the substrates such as substrate 105 there are inter-digitated electrodes 106 , as in an in-plane-switch (IPS) display or a bump display, through which electrical field with field direction 101 can be applied to the material. The transmission axes (denoted as two-way straight arrows) of the polarizer 107 and analyzer 108 (as shown on 107 and 108 ) are orthogonal to each other. The electrodes make the angle about 45° with respect to the transmission axes of the polarizer and analyzer. In a pixel where no voltage is applied, the liquid crystal is in a random orientation state. When linearly polarized light goes through it, the polarization state does not change, because the material is optically isotropic. The light is absorbed by the analyzer, and the pixel is dark. In contrast, in the same pixel where voltage is applied, the liquid crystal is tilted toward the electric field direction and therefore exhibits birefringence. When linearly polarized light goes through it, the polarization is rotated toward the transmission axis of the analyzer. The light passes the analyzer and the pixel is bright.
Example 2
Electro-Optical Properties of a LC Display Using a PSI LC Formulation
[0042] Nematic liquid crystal E31LV (68%), Monomer RM 25 (20%), Chiral dopant R811 (10%) and photo-initiator BME from Polyscience Inc. (2%) were mixed. The mixture was filled into an IPS cell with a thickness of 4 microns. The width of the electrode was also 4 microns, and the distance between any two consecutive electrodes was 10 microns. Once filled, the cell was heated to 100° C. and the monomer was photo-polymerized for 30 minutes. After curing, the electro-optical properties of the cell were measured at room temperature (22° C.) by standard electro-optical equipment. FIG. 2 shows the transmittance of the cell containing PSI LC as a function of the applied electrical filed. The legend “LC:Mo(+M2):Ch=70:20:10” in FIG. 2 denotes that the PSI LC was prepared from a mixture of the nematic LC, the monomers and the chiral dopant, in the weight ratio of 70:20:10.
Example 3
Electro-Optical Properties of a LC Display Using a PSI LC Formulation
[0043] Similar to Example 2, nematic liquid crystal E31 LV (58%), Monomer RM 257 (20%), Chiral dopant R811 (20%) and photo-initiator BME (2%) were mixed. The mixture was filled into an IPS cell with a thickness of 4 microns. The width of the electrode was 4 microns and the distance between any two consecutive electrodes was 10 microns. The cell was heated to 100° C. and the monomer was photo-polymerized for 30 minutes. After curing the electro-optical properties of the cell were measured at room temperature (22° C.) by standard electro-optical equipment. FIG. 3 shows the transmittance of the cell containing PSI LC as a function of the applied electrical filed. The legend “LC:Mo(+M2):Ch=60:20:20” in FIG. 3 denotes that the PSI LC was prepared from a mixture of the nematic LC, the monomers and the chiral dopant, in the weight ratio of 60:20:20.
Example 4
Electro-Optical Properties of a LC Display Using a PSI LC Formulation
[0044] Similar to Example 2, nematic liquid crystal E31LV (63.5%), Monomer RM 257 (15%), Chiral dopant R811 (20%) and photo-initiator BME (1.5%) were mixed. The mixture was filled into an IPS cell with a thickness of 4 microns. The width of the electrode was 4 microns and the distance between any two consecutive electrodes was 10 microns. The cell was heated to 100° C. and the monomer was photo-polymerized for 30 minutes. After curing, the electro-optical properties of the cell were measured at room temperature (22° C.) by standard electro-optical equipment. FIG. 4 shows the transmittance of the cell containing PSI LC as a function of the applied electrical filed. The legend “LC:Mo(+M2):Ch=65:15:20” in FIG. 4 denotes that the PSI LC was prepared from a mixture of the nematic LC, the monomers and the chiral dopant, in the weight ratio of 65:15:20.
Example 5
Electro-Optical Properties of a LC Display Using a PSI LC Formulation
[0045] Similar to Example 2, nematic liquid crystal E31LV (63%), monomer RM 257 (20%), chiral dopant R811 (15%) and photo-initiator BME (2%) were mixed. The mixture was filled into an IPS cell with a thickness of 4 microns. The width of the electrode was 4 microns and the distance between any two consecutive electrodes was 10 microns. The cell was heated to 100° C. and the monomer was photo-polymerized for 30 minutes. After curing, the electro-optical properties of the cell were measured at room temperature (22° C.) by standard electro-optical equipment. FIG. 5 shows the transmittance of the cell containing PSI LC as a function of the applied electrical filed. The legend “LC:Mo(+M2):Ch=65:20:15” in FIG. 5 denotes that the PSI LC was prepared from a mixture of the nematic LC, the monomers and the chiral dopant, in the weight ratio of 65:20:15.
Example 6
Polymer Stabilized Isotropic Liquid Crystal Phase Modulator
[0046] The material used in this example can be prepared in the same way as for a polymer stabilized isotropic liquid crystal display. FIG. 6 schematically illustrates the basic structure of a polymer stabilized isotropic liquid crystal phase modulator. With reference to FIG. 6 , a composition including a polymer network 602 and macroscopic isotropic liquid crystal 603 stabilized by network 602 is shown. The composition is sandwiched between two substrates 604 and 605 . Electrodes 606 and 607 are on the inner surface of both substrates 604 and 605 and the electric field is in the cell normal direction 601 . When no voltage is applied, the liquid crystal is in the random oriented state. When normal incident light goes through it, the refractive index of the material is n iso =[(n e 2 +2n o 2 )/3] 1/2 , where n e and n o are the extraordinary and ordinary refractive indices of the liquid crystal in the absence of the polymer, respectively. The optical phase retardation is 2πn iso d/λ, where d is the cell thickness and λ is the wavelength of the light. When a voltage is applied across the cell, the liquid crystal is tilted toward the electric field direction, and the refractive index of the material changes to a value n eff which is smaller than n iso . The optical phase retardation becomes 2πn eff d/λ. The higher the applied voltage, the smaller the effective refractive index. Therefore, by varying the applied voltage, the optical phase retardation can be modulated. For example, this material can be used to make an electrically tunable Fabry-Perot interferometer.
[0047] The invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the invention be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
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The invention provides a liquid crystal (LC) composition, a LC device such as a liquid crystal display and a phase modulator, and a method thereof. The liquid crystal composition comprises a liquid crystal and a polymer. The liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic anisotropic property such as optical property in the absence of the polymer under a condition such as certain temperature. The polymer in the composition stabilizes the liquid crystal so that the liquid crystal exhibits a macroscopic isotropic property under the same condition, and the liquid crystal stabilized by the polymer exhibits the macroscopic anisotropic property when an electrical field is applied thereon. The devices exhibit technical merits such as large viewing angle, fast response time, better contrast ratio, easy manufacturability of large size display with improved dark state, easy manufacturing process with wider temperature region, and polarization-insensitivity of PSI phase modulator, among others.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The application is a continuing application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/688,632 (filed Oct. 17, 2003) now U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,676 entitled “Instrumentation and Methods for Use in Implanting a Cervical Disc Replacement Device” (“the '632 application”), which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/382,702 (filed Mar. 6, 2003) now U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,484 entitled “Cervical Disc Replacement” (“the '702 application”), which '632 and '702 applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to systems and methods for use in spine arthroplasty, and more specifically to instruments for inserting and removing cervical disc replacement trials, and inserting and securing cervical disc replacement devices, and methods of use thereof.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The structure of the intervertebral disc disposed between the cervical bones in the human spine comprises a peripheral fibrous shroud (the annulus) which circumscribes a spheroid of flexibly deformable material (the nucleus). The nucleus comprises a hydrophilic, elastomeric cartilaginous substance that cushions and supports the separation between the bones while also permitting articulation of the two vertebral bones relative to one another to the extent such articulation is allowed by the other soft tissue and bony structures surrounding the disc. The additional bony structures that define pathways of motion in various modes include the posterior joints (the facets) and the lateral intervertebral joints (the unco-vertebral joints). Soft tissue components, such as ligaments and tendons, constrain the overall segmental motion as well.
Traumatic, genetic, and long term wearing phenomena contribute to the degeneration of the nucleus in the human spine. This degeneration of this critical disc material, from the hydrated, elastomeric material that supports the separation and flexibility of the vertebral bones, to a flattened and inflexible state, has profound effects on the mobility (instability and limited ranges of appropriate motion) of the segment, and can cause significant pain to the individual suffering from the condition. Although the specific causes of pain in patients suffering from degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine have not been definitively established, it has been recognized that pain may be the result of neurological implications (nerve fibers being compressed) and/or the subsequent degeneration of the surrounding tissues (the arthritic degeneration of the facet joints) as a result of their being overloaded.
Traditionally, the treatment of choice for physicians caring for patients who suffer from significant degeneration of the cervical intervertebral disc is to remove some, or all, of the damaged disc. In instances in which a sufficient portion of the intervertebral disc material is removed, or in which much of the necessary spacing between the vertebrae has been lost (significant subsidence), restoration of the intervertebral separation is required.
Unfortunately, until the advent of spine arthroplasty devices, the only methods known to surgeons to maintain the necessary disc height necessitated the immobilization of the segment. Immobilization is generally achieved by attaching metal plates to the anterior or posterior elements of the cervical spine, and the insertion of some osteoconductive material (autograft, allograft, or other porous material) between the adjacent vertebrae of the segment. This immobilization and insertion of osteoconductive material has been utilized in pursuit of a fusion of the bones, which is a procedure carried out on tens of thousands of pain suffering patients per year.
This sacrifice of mobility at the immobilized, or fused, segment, however, is not without consequences. It was traditionally held that the patient's surrounding joint segments would accommodate any additional articulation demanded of them during normal motion by virtue of the fused segment's immobility. While this is true over the short-term (provided only one, or at most two, segments have been fused), the effects of this increased range of articulation demanded of these adjacent segments has recently become a concern. Specifically, an increase in the frequency of returning patients who suffer from degeneration at adjacent levels has been reported.
Whether this increase in adjacent level deterioration is truly associated with rigid fusion, or if it is simply a matter of the individual patient's predisposition to degeneration is unknown. Either way, however, it is clear that a progressive fusion of a long sequence of vertebrae is undesirable from the perspective of the patient's quality of life as well as from the perspective of pushing a patient to undergo multiple operative procedures.
While spine arthroplasty has been developing in theory over the past several decades, and has even seen a number of early attempts in the lumbar spine show promising results, it is only recently that arthoplasty of the spine has become a truly realizable promise. The field of spine arthroplasty has several classes of devices. The most popular among these are: (a) the nucleus replacements, which are characterized by a flexible container filled with an elastomeric material that can mimic the healthy nucleus; and (b) the total disc replacements, which are designed with rigid endplates which house a mechanical articulating structure that attempts to mimic and promote the healthy segmental motion.
Among these solutions, the total disc replacements have begun to be regarded as the most probable long-term treatments for patients having moderate to severe lumbar disc degeneration. In the cervical spine, it is likely that these mechanical solutions will also become the treatment of choice.
It is an object of the invention to provide instrumentation and methods that enable surgeons to more accurately, easily, and efficiently implant fusion or non-fusion cervical disc replacement devices. Other objects of the invention not explicitly stated will be set forth and will be more clearly understood in conjunction with the descriptions of the preferred embodiments disclosed hereafter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The preceding objects are achieved by the invention, which includes cervical disc replacement trials, cervical disc replacement devices, cervical disc replacement device insertion instrumentation (including, e.g., an insertion plate with mounting screws, an insertion handle, and an insertion pusher), and cervical disc replacement device fixation instrumentation (including, e.g., drill guides, drill bits, screwdrivers, bone screws, and retaining clips).
More particularly, the devices, instrumentation, and methods disclosed herein are intended for use in spine arthroplasty procedures, and specifically for use with the devices, instrumentation, and methods described herein in conjunction with the devices, instrumentation, and methods described herein and in the '702 application. However, it should be understood that the devices, instrumentation, and methods described herein are also suitable for use with other intervertebral disc replacement devices, instrumentation, and methods without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, while the trials described herein are primarily intended for use in distracting an intervertebral space and/or determining the appropriate size of cervical disc replacement devices (e.g., described herein and in the '702 application) to be implanted (or whether a particular size can be implanted) into the distracted intervertebral space, they can also be used for determining the appropriate size of any other suitably configured orthopedic implant or trial to be implanted (or whether a particular size can be implanted) into the distracted intervertebral space. And, for example, while the insertion instrumentation described herein is primarily intended for use in holding, inserting, and otherwise manipulating cervical disc replacement devices (e.g., described herein and, in suitably configured embodiments, in the '702 application), it can also be used for manipulating any other suitably configured orthopedic implant or trial. And, for example, while the fixation instrumentation described herein is primarily intended for use in securing within the intervertebral space the cervical disc replacement devices (e.g., described herein and, in suitably configured embodiments, in the '702 application), it can also be used with any other suitably configured orthopedic implant or trial.
While the instrumentation described herein (e.g., the trials, insertion instrumentation, and fixation instrumentation) will be discussed for use with the cervical disc replacement device of FIGS. 1 a - 3 f herein, such discussions are merely by way of example and not intended to be limiting of their uses. Thus, it should be understood that the tools can be used with suitably configured embodiments of the cervical disc replacement devices disclosed in the '702 application, or any other artificial intervertebral disc having (or being modifiable or modified to have) suitable features therefore. Moreover, it is anticipated that the features of the cervical disc replacement device (e.g., the flanges, bone screw holes, and mounting holes) that are used by the tools discussed herein to hold and/or manipulate these devices (some of such features, it should be noted, were first shown and disclosed in the '702 application) can be applied, individually or collectively or in various combinations, to other trials, spacers, artificial intervertebral discs, or other orthopedic devices as stand-alone innovative features for enabling such trials, spacers, artificial intervertebral discs, or other orthopedic devices to be more efficiently and more effectively held and/or manipulated by the tools described herein or by other tools having suitable features. In addition, it should be understood that the invention encompasses artificial intervertebral discs, spacers, trials, and/or other orthopedic devices, that have one or more of the features disclosed herein, in any combination, and that the invention is therefore not limited to artificial intervertebral discs, spacers, trials, and/or other orthopedic devices having all of the features simultaneously.
The cervical disc replacement device of FIGS. 1 a - 3 f is an alternate embodiment of the cervical disc replacement device of the '702 application. The illustrated alternate embodiment of the cervical disc replacement device is identical in structure to the cervical disc replacement device in the '702 application, with the exception that the vertebral bone attachment flanges are configured differently, such that they are suitable for engagement by the instrumentation described herein.
More particularly, in this alternate embodiment, the flange of the upper element extends upwardly from the anterior edge of the upper element, and has a lateral curvature that approximates the curvature of the anterior periphery of the upper vertebral body against which it is to be secured. The attachment flange is provided with a flat recess, centered on the midline, that accommodates a clip of the present invention. The attachment flange is further provided with two bone screw holes symmetrically disposed on either side of the midline. The holes have longitudinal axes directed along preferred bone screw driving lines. Centrally between the bone screw holes, a mounting screw hole is provided for attaching the upper element to an insertion plate of the present invention for implantation. The lower element is similarly configured with a similar oppositely extending flange.
Once the surgeon has prepared the intervertebral space, the surgeon may use one or more cervical disc replacement trials of the present invention to distract the intervertebral space and determine the appropriate size of a cervical disc replacement device to be implanted (or whether a particular size of the cervical disc replacement device can be implanted) into the distracted cervical intervertebral space. Preferably, for each cervical disc replacement device to be implanted, a plurality of sizes of the cervical disc replacement device would be available. Accordingly, preferably, each of the plurality of trials for use with a particular plurality of differently sized cervical disc replacement devices would have a respective oval footprint and depth dimension set corresponding to the footprint and depth dimension set of a respective one of the plurality of differently sized cervical disc replacement devices.
Each of the cervical disc replacement trials includes a distal end configured to approximate relevant dimensions of an available cervical disc replacement device. The distal end has a head with an oval footprint. The upper surface of the head is convex, similar to the configuration of the vertebral body contact surface of the upper element of the cervical disc replacement device (but without the teeth). The lower surface of the head is flat, similar to the configuration of the vertebral body contact surface of the lower element of the cervical disc replacement device (but without the teeth). The cervical disc replacement trial, not having the teeth, can be inserted and removed from the intervertebral space without compromising the endplate surfaces. The cervical disc replacement trial further has a vertebral body stop disposed at the anterior edge of the head, to engage the anterior surface of the upper vertebral body before the trial is inserted too far into the intervertebral space.
Accordingly, the surgeon can insert and remove at least one of the trials (or more, as necessary) from the prepared intervertebral space. As noted above, the trials are useful for distracting the prepared intervertebral space. For example, starting with the largest distractor that can be wedged in between the vertebral bones, the surgeon will insert the trial head and then lever the trial handle up and down to loosen the annulus and surrounding ligaments to urge the bone farther apart. The surgeon then removes the trial head from the intervertebral space, and replaces it with the next largest (in terms of height) trial head. The surgeon then levers the trial handle up and down to further loosen the annulus and ligaments. The surgeon then proceeds to remove and replace the trial head with the next largest (in terms of height) trial head, and continues in this manner with larger and larger trials until the intervertebral space is distracted to the appropriate height.
Regardless of the distraction method used, the cervical disc replacement trials are useful for finding the cervical disc replacement device size that is most appropriate for the prepared intervertebral space, because each of the trial heads approximates the relevant dimensions of an available cervical disc replacement device. Once the intervertebral space is distracted, the surgeon can insert and remove one or more of the trial heads to determine the appropriate size of cervical disc replacement device to use. Once the appropriate size is determined, the surgeon proceeds to implant the selected cervical disc replacement device.
An insertion plate of the present invention is mounted to the cervical disc replacement device to facilitate a preferred simultaneous implantation of the upper and lower elements of the replacement device. The upper and lower elements are held by the insertion plate in an aligned configuration preferable for implantation. A ledge on the plate maintains a separation between the anterior portions of the inwardly facing surfaces of the elements to help establish and maintain this preferred relationship. The flanges of the elements each have a mounting screw hole and the insertion plate has two corresponding mounting holes. Mounting screws are secured through the colinear mounting screw hole pairs, such that the elements are immovable with respect to the insertion plate and with respect to one another. In this configuration, the upper element, lower element, and insertion plate construct is manipulatable as a single unit.
An insertion handle of the present invention is provided primarily for engaging an anteriorly extending stem of the insertion plate so that the cervical disc replacement device and insertion plate construct can be manipulated into and within the treatment site. The insertion handle has a shaft with a longitudinal bore at a distal end and a flange at a proximal end. Longitudinally aligning the insertion handle shaft with the stem, and thereafter pushing the hollow distal end of the insertion handle shaft toward the insertion plate, causes the hollow distal end to friction-lock to the outer surface of the stem. Once the insertion handle is engaged with the insertion plate, manipulation of the insertion handle shaft effects manipulation of the cervical disc replacement device and insertion plate construct. The surgeon can therefore insert the construct into the treatment area. More particularly, after the surgeon properly prepares the intervertebral space, the surgeon inserts the cervical disc replacement device into the intervertebral space from an anterior approach, such that the upper and lower elements are inserted between the adjacent vertebral bones with the element footprints fitting within the perimeter of the intervertebral space and with the teeth of the elements' vertebral body contact surfaces engaging the vertebral endplates, and with the flanges of the upper and lower elements flush against the anterior faces of the upper and lower vertebral bones, respectively.
Once the construct is properly positioned in the treatment area, the surgeon uses an insertion pusher of the present invention to disengage the insertion handle shaft from the stem of the insertion plate. The insertion pusher has a longitudinal shaft with a blunt distal end and a proximal end with a flange. The shaft of the insertion pusher can be inserted into and translated within the longitudinal bore of the insertion handle shaft. Because the shaft of the insertion pusher is as long as the longitudinal bore of the insertion handle shaft, the flange of the insertion handle and the flange of the insertion pusher are separated by a distance when the pusher shaft is inserted all the way into the longitudinal bore until the blunt distal end of the shaft contacts the proximal face of the insertion plate stem. Accordingly, a bringing together of the flanges (e.g., by the surgeon squeezing the flanges toward one another) will overcome the friction lock between the distal end of the insertion handle shaft and the stem of the insertion plate.
Once the insertion handle has been removed, the surgeon uses a drill guide of the present invention to guide the surgeon's drilling of bone screws through the bone screw holes of the upper and lower elements' flanges and into the vertebral bones. The drill guide has a longitudinal shaft with a distal end configured with a central bore that accommodates the stem so that the drill guide can be placed on and aligned with the stem. The distal end is further configured to have two guide bores that have respective longitudinal axes at preferred bone screw drilling paths relative to one another. When the central bore is disposed on the stem of the insertion plate, the drill guide shaft can be rotated on the stem into either of two preferred positions in which the guide bores are aligned with the bone screw holes on one of the flanges, or with the bone screw holes on the other flange.
To secure the upper element flange to the upper vertebral body, the surgeon places the drill guide shaft onto the stem of the insertion plate, and rotates the drill guide into the first preferred position. Using a suitable bone drill and cooperating drill bit, the surgeon drills upper tap holes for the upper bone screws. The surgeon then rotates the drill guide shaft on the stem of the insertion plate until the guide bores no longer cover the upper bone screw holes. The surgeon can then screw the upper bone screws into the upper tap holes using a suitable surgical bone screw driver. To then secure the lower element flange to the lower vertebral body, the surgeon further rotates the drill guide shaft on the stem of the insertion plate until the drill guide is in the second preferred position, and proceeds to drill the lower bone screw tap holes and screw the lower bone screws into them in the same manner.
Once the upper and lower elements are secured to the adjacent vertebral bones, the surgeon removes the drill guide from the stem of the insertion plate and from the treatment area. Using a suitable surgical screw driver, the surgeon then removes the mounting screws that hold the insertion plate against the elements' flanges and removes the insertion plate and the mounting screws from the treatment area.
Once the mounting screws and the insertion plate are removed, the surgeon uses a clip applicator of the present invention to mount retaining clips on the flanges to assist in retaining the bone screws. Each of the clips has a central attachment bore and, extending therefrom, a pair of oppositely directed laterally extending flanges and an upwardly (or downwardly) extending hooked flange. The clips can be snapped onto the element flanges (one clip onto each flange). Each of the laterally extending flanges of the clip is sized to cover at least a portion of a respective one of the bone screw heads when the clip is attached in this manner to the flange so that the clips help prevent the bone screws from backing out.
Also disclosed is an alternate dual cervical disc replacement device configuration suitable, for example, for implantation into two adjacent cervical intervertebral spaces. The configuration includes an alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device (including an upper element and an alternate lower element), for implantation into an upper cervical intervertebral space, and further includes an alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device (including an alternate upper element and a lower element), for implantation into an adjacent, lower, cervical intervertebral space. The illustrated alternate, upper, embodiment is identical in structure to the cervical disc replacement device of FIGS. 1 a - 3 f , with the exception that the flange of the lower element is configured differently and without bone screw holes. The illustrated alternate, lower, embodiment is identical in structure to the cervical disc replacement device of FIGS. 1 a - 3 f , with the exception that the flange of the upper element is configured differently and without bone screw holes.
More particularly, in the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device of this alternate configuration, the flange of the alternate lower element does not have bone screw holes, but does have a mounting screw hole for attaching the alternate lower element to an alternate, upper, insertion plate. Similarly, in the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device of this alternate configuration, the flange of the alternate upper element does not have bone screw holes, but does have a mounting screw hole for attaching the alternate upper element to an alternate, lower, insertion plate. The extent of the flange of the alternate lower element is laterally offset to the right (in an anterior view) from the midline, and the extent of the flange of the alternate upper element is laterally offset to the left (in an anterior view) from the midline, so that the flanges avoid one another when the alternate lower element of the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device, and the alternate upper element of the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device, are implanted in this alternate configuration.
The alternate, upper, insertion plate is identical in structure to the insertion plate described above, with the exception that the lower flange is offset from the midline (to the right in an anterior view) to align its mounting screw hole with the offset mounting screw hole of the alternate lower element. Similarly, the alternate, lower, insertion plate is identical in structure to the insertion plate described above, with the exception that the upper flange is offset from the midline (to the left in an anterior view) to align its mounting screw hole with the offset mounting screw hole of the alternate upper element.
Accordingly, the upper and lower elements of the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device, being held by the alternate upper insertion plate, as well as the upper and lower elements of the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device, being held by the alternate lower insertion plate, can be implanted using the insertion handle, insertion pusher, drill guide, clips (one on the uppermost element flange, and one on the lowermost element flange, because only the uppermost element and the lowermost element are secured by bone screws), and clip applicator, in the manner described above with respect to the implantation of the cervical disc replacement device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIGS. 1 a - c show anterior ( FIG. 1 a ), lateral ( FIG. 1 b ), and bottom ( FIG. 1 c ) views of a top element of a cervical disc replacement device of the invention.
FIGS. 2 a - c show anterior ( FIG. 2 a ), lateral ( FIG. 2 b ), and top ( FIG. 2 c ) views of a bottom element of the cervical disc replacement device.
FIGS. 3 a - f show top ( FIG. 3 a ), lateral ( FIG. 3 b ), anterior ( FIG. 3 c ), posterior ( FIG. 3 d ), antero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 3 e ), and postero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 3 f ) views of the cervical disc replacement device, assembled with the top and bottom elements of FIGS. 1 a - c and 2 a - c.
FIGS. 4 a - g show top ( FIG. 4 a ), lateral ( FIG. 4 b ), anterior ( FIG. 4 c ), posterior ( FIG. 4 d ), antero-lateral perspective (head only) ( FIG. 4 e ), and postero-lateral perspective (head only) ( FIG. 4 f ) views of a cervical disc replacement trial of the present invention.
FIGS. 5 a - d show top ( FIG. 5 a ), lateral ( FIG. 5 b ), anterior ( FIG. 5 c ), and posterior ( FIG. 5 d ) views of an insertion plate of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention. FIGS. 5 e and 5 f show anterior ( FIG. 5 e ) and antero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 5 f ) views of the insertion plate mounted to the cervical disc replacement device.
FIGS. 6 a - d show top ( FIG. 6 a ), lateral ( FIG. 6 b ), anterior ( FIG. 6 c ), and postero-lateral ( FIG. 6 d ) views of an insertion handle of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention. FIG. 6 e shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the insertion handle attached to the insertion plate. FIG. 6 f shows a magnified view of the distal end of FIG. 6 e.
FIGS. 7 a - c show top ( FIG. 7 a ), lateral ( FIG. 7 b ), and anterior ( FIG. 7 c ) views of an insertion pusher of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention. FIG. 7 d shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the insertion pusher inserted into the insertion handle. FIG. 7 e shows a magnified view of the proximal end of FIG. 7 d.
FIGS. 8 a - c show top ( FIG. 8 a ), lateral ( FIG. 8 b ), and anterior ( FIG. 8 c ) views of a drill guide of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention. FIG. 8 d shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the drill guide inserted onto the insertion plate. FIG. 8 e shows a magnified view of the distal end of FIG. 8 d.
FIG. 9 a shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the cervical disc replacement device implantation after bone screws have been applied and before the insertion plate has been removed. FIG. 9 b shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the cervical disc replacement device after bone screws have been applied and after the insertion plate has been removed.
FIGS. 10 a - f show top ( FIG. 10 a ), lateral ( FIG. 10 b ), posterior ( FIG. 10 c ), anterior ( FIG. 10 d ), postero-lateral ( FIG. 10 e ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 10 f ) views of a retaining clip of the present invention.
FIGS. 11 a - c show top ( FIG. 11 a ), lateral ( FIG. 11 b ), and anterior ( FIG. 11 c ) views of a clip applicator of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention. FIG. 1 d shows a postero-lateral perspective view of the clip applicator holding two retaining clips. FIG. 11 e shows an antero-lateral perspective view of FIG. 11 d.
FIG. 12 a shows the clip applicator applying the retaining clips to the cervical disc replacement device. FIGS. 12 b - h show anterior ( FIG. 12 b ), posterior ( FIG. 12 c ), top ( FIG. 12 d ), bottom ( FIG. 12 e ), lateral ( FIG. 12 f ), antero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 12 g ), and postero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 12 h ) views of the cervical disc replacement device after the retaining clips have been applied.
FIGS. 13 a - b show a prior art one level cervical fusion plate in anterior ( FIG. 13 a ) and lateral ( FIG. 13 b ) views. FIGS. 13 c - d show a prior art two level cervical fusion plate in anterior ( FIG. 13 c ) and lateral ( FIG. 13 d ) views.
FIGS. 14 a - e show an alternate, dual cervical disc replacement device configuration and alternate insertion plates for use therewith, in exploded perspective ( FIG. 14 a ), anterior ( FIG. 14 b ), posterior ( FIG. 14 c ), lateral ( FIG. 14 d ), and collapsed perspective ( FIG. 14 e ) views.
FIGS. 15 a - c show an alternate upper element of the configuration of FIGS. 14 a - e , in posterior ( FIG. 15 a ), anterior ( FIG. 15 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 15 c ) views.
FIGS. 16 a - c show an alternate lower element of the configuration of FIGS. 14 a - e , in posterior ( FIG. 16 a ), anterior ( FIG. 16 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 16 c ) views.
FIGS. 17 a - c show an alternate, upper, insertion plate of the configuration of FIGS. 14 a - e in anterior ( FIG. 17 a ), posterior ( FIG. 17 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 17 c ) views.
FIGS. 18 a - c show an alternate, lower, insertion plate of the configuration of FIGS. 14 a - e in anterior ( FIG. 18 a ), posterior ( FIG. 18 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 18 c ) views.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
While the invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood at the outset that persons skilled in the art may modify the invention herein described while achieving the functions and results of the invention. Accordingly, the descriptions that follow are to be understood as illustrative and exemplary of specific structures, aspects and features within the broad scope of the invention and not as limiting of such broad scope. Like numbers refer to similar features of like elements throughout.
A preferred embodiment of a cervical disc replacement device of the present invention, for use with the instrumentation of the present invention, will now be described.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 a - 3 f , a top element 500 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 is shown in anterior ( FIG. 1 a ), lateral ( FIG. 1 b ), and bottom ( FIG. 1 c ) views; a bottom element 600 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 is shown in anterior ( FIG. 2 a ), lateral ( FIG. 2 b ), and top ( FIG. 2 c ) views; and an assembly 400 of the top and bottom elements 500 , 600 is shown in top ( FIG. 3 a ), lateral ( FIG. 3 b ), anterior ( FIG. 3 c ), posterior ( FIG. 3 d ), antero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 3 e ), and postero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 3 f ) views.
The cervical disc replacement device 400 is an alternate embodiment of the cervical disc replacement device of the '702 application. The illustrated alternate embodiment of the cervical disc replacement device is identical in structure to the cervical disc replacement device 100 in the '702 application (and thus like components are like numbered, but in the 400 s rather than the 100 s, in the 500 s rather than the 200 s, and in the 600 s rather than the 300 s), with the exception that the vertebral bone attachment flanges are configured differently, such that they are suitable for engagement by the instrumentation described herein. (It should be noted that, while the '702 application illustrated and described the cervical disc replacement device 100 as having an upper element flange 506 with two bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b , and a lower element flange 606 with one bone screw hole 608 , the '702 application explained that the number of holes and the configuration of the flanges could be modified without departing from the scope of the invention as described in the '702 application.)
More particularly, in this alternate embodiment, the upper element 500 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 has a vertebral body attachment structure (e.g., a flange) 506 that preferably extends upwardly from the anterior edge of the upper element 500 , and preferably has a lateral curvature that approximates the curvature of the anterior periphery of the upper vertebral body against which it is to be secured. The attachment flange 506 is preferably provided with a flat recess 507 , centered on the midline, that accommodates a clip 1150 a (described below) of the present invention. The attachment flange 506 is further provided with at least one (e.g., two) bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b , preferably symmetrically disposed on either side of the midline. Preferably, the holes 508 a , 508 b have longitudinal axes directed along preferred bone screw driving lines. For example, in this alternate embodiment, the preferred bone screw driving lines are angled upwardly at 5 degrees and inwardly (toward one another) at 7 degrees (a total of 14 degrees of convergence), to facilitate a toenailing of the bone screws (described below and shown in FIGS. 12 a - h ). Centrally between the bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b , at least one mounting feature (e.g., a mounting screw hole) 509 is provided for attaching the upper element 500 to an insertion plate 700 (described below) for implantation.
Similarly, in this alternate embodiment, the lower element 600 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 also has a vertebral body attachment structure (e.g., an oppositely directed and similarly configured vertebral body attachment flange) 606 that preferably extends downwardly from the anterior edge of the lower element 600 , and preferably has a lateral curvature that approximates the curvature of the anterior periphery of the lower vertebral body against which it is to be secured. The attachment flange 606 is preferably provided with a flat recess 607 , centered on the midline, that accommodates a clip 1150 b (described below) of the present invention. The attachment flange 606 is further provided with at least one (e.g., two) bone screw holes 608 a , 608 b , preferably symmetrically disposed on either side of the midline. Preferably, the holes 608 a , 608 b have longitudinal axes directed along preferred bone screw driving lines. For example, in this alternate embodiment, the preferred bone screw driving lines are angled downwardly at 5 degrees and inwardly (toward one another) at 7 degrees (a total of 14 degrees of convergence), to facilitate a toenailing of the bone screws (described below and shown in FIGS. 12 a - h ). Centrally between the bone screw holes 608 a , 608 b , at least one mounting feature (e.g., a mounting screw hole) 609 is provided for attaching the lower element 600 to the insertion plate 700 (described below) for implantation.
Prior to implantation of the cervical disc replacement device, the surgeon will prepare the intervertebral space. Typically, this will involve establishing access to the treatment site, removing the damaged natural intervertebral disc, preparing the surfaces of the endplates of the vertebral bones adjacent the intervertebral space, and distracting the intervertebral space. (It should be noted that the cervical disc replacement device of the present invention, and the instrumentation and implantation methods described herein, require minimal if any endplate preparation.) More particularly, after establishing access to the treatment site, the surgeon will remove the natural disc material, preferably leaving as much as possible of the annulus intact. Then, the surgeon will remove the anterior osteophyte that overhangs the mouth of the cervical intervertebral space, and any lateral osteophytes that may interfere with the placement of the cervical disc replacement device or the movement of the joint. Using a burr tool, the surgeon will then ensure that the natural lateral curvature of the anterior faces of the vertebral bodies is uniform, by removing any surface anomalies that deviate from the curvature. Also using the burr tool, the surgeon will ensure that the natural curvature of the endplate surface of the upper vertebral body, and the natural flatness of the endplate surface of the lower vertebral body, are uniform, by removing any surface anomalies that deviate from the curvature or the flatness. Thereafter, the surgeon will distract the intervertebral space to the appropriate height for receiving the cervical disc replacement device. Any distraction tool or method known in the art, e.g., a Caspar Distractor, can be used to effect the distraction and/or hold open the intervertebral space. Additionally or alternatively, the cervical disc replacement trials of the present invention can be used to distract the intervertebral space (as described below).
Referring now to FIGS. 4 a - f , a cervical disc replacement trial 1200 of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 4 a ), lateral ( FIG. 4 b ), lateral (head only) ( FIG. 4 c ), posterior ( FIG. 4 d ), anterior ( FIG. 4 e ), antero-lateral perspective (head only) ( FIG. 4 f ), and postero-lateral perspective (head only) ( FIG. 4 g ) views.
Preferably, a plurality of cervical disc replacement trials are provided primarily for use in determining the appropriate size of a cervical disc replacement device to be implanted (or whether a particular size of the cervical disc replacement device can be implanted) into the distracted cervical intervertebral space (e.g., the cervical disc replacement device 400 of FIGS. 1 a - 3 f ). Preferably, for each cervical disc replacement device to be implanted, a plurality of sizes of the cervical disc replacement device would be available. That is, preferably, a plurality of the same type of cervical disc replacement device would be available, each of the plurality having a respective footprint and depth dimension combination that allows it to fit within a correspondingly dimensioned intervertebral space. For example, the plurality of cervical disc replacement devices could include cervical disc replacement devices having oval footprints being 12 mm by 14 mm, 14 mm by 16 mm, or 16 mm by 18 mm, and depths ranging from 6 mm to 14 mm in 1 mm increments, for a total of 27 devices. Accordingly, preferably, each of the plurality of trials for use with a particular plurality of differently sized cervical disc replacement devices would have a respective oval footprint and depth dimension set corresponding to the footprint and depth dimension set of a respective one of the plurality of differently sized cervical disc replacement devices. For example, the plurality of trials for use with the set of cervical disc replacement devices described, for example, could include trials having oval footprints being 12 mm by 14 mm, 14 mm by 16 mm, or 16 mm by 18 mm, and depths ranging from 6 mm to 14 mm in 1 mm increments, for a total of 27 static trials. It should be understood that the cervical disc replacement devices and/or the trials can be offered in a variety of dimensions without departing from the scope of the invention, and that the dimensions specifically identified and quantified herein are merely exemplary. Moreover, it should be understood that the set of trials need not include the same number of trials for each cervical disc replacement device in the set of cervical disc replacement devices, but rather, none, one, or more than one trial can be included in the trial set for any particular cervical disc replacement device in the set.
Each of the cervical disc replacement trials (the cervical disc replacement trial 1200 shown in FIGS. 4 a - g is exemplary for all of the trials in the plurality of trials; preferably the trials in the plurality of trials differ from one another only with regard to certain dimensions as described above) includes a shaft 1202 having a configured distal end 1204 and a proximal end having a handle 1206 . Preferably, the proximal end is provided with a manipulation features (e.g., a hole 1216 ) to, e.g., decrease the weight of the trial 1200 , facilitate manipulation of the trial 1200 , and provide a feature for engagement by an instrument tray protrusion. The distal end is configured to approximate relevant dimensions of the cervical disc replacement device. More particularly in the illustrated embodiment (for example), the distal end 1204 has a trial configuration (e.g., a head 1208 having an oval footprint dimensioned at 12 mm by 14 mm, and a thickness of 6 mm). The upper surface 1210 of the head 1208 is convex, similar to the configuration of the vertebral body contact surface of the upper element 500 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 (but without the teeth). The lower surface 1212 of the head 1208 is flat, similar to the configuration of the vertebral body contact surface of the lower element 600 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 (but without the teeth). The illustrated embodiment, therefore, with these dimensions, approximates the size of a cervical disc replacement device having the same height and footprint dimensions. The cervical disc replacement trial, not having the teeth, can be inserted and removed from the intervertebral space without compromising the endplate surfaces. The cervical disc replacement trial 1200 further has an over-insertion prevention features (e.g., a vertebral body stop 1214 ) preferably disposed at the anterior edge of the head 1208 , to engage the anterior surface of the upper vertebral body before the trial 1200 is inserted too far into the intervertebral space. The body of the trial 1200 preferably has one or more structural support features (e.g., a rib 1216 extending anteriorly from the head 1208 below the shaft 1202 ) that provides stability, e.g., to the shaft 1202 for upward and downward movement, e.g., if the head 1208 must be urged into the intervertebral space by moving the shaft 1202 in this manner. Further, preferably as shown, the head 1208 is provided with an insertion facilitation features (e.g., a taper, decreasing posteriorly) to facilitate insertion of the head 1208 into the intervertebral space by, e.g., acting as a wedge to urge the vertebral endplates apart. Preferably, as shown, the upper surface 1210 is fully tapered at approximately 5 degrees, and the distal half of the lower surface 1212 is tapered at approximately 4 degrees.
Accordingly, the surgeon can insert and remove at least one of the trials (or more, as necessary) from the prepared intervertebral space. As noted above, the trials are useful for distracting the prepared intervertebral space. For example, starting with the largest distractor that can be wedged in between the vertebral bones, the surgeon will insert the trial head 1208 (the tapering of the trial head 1208 facilitates this insertion by acting as a wedge to urge the vertebral endplates apart), and then lever the trial handle 1206 up and down to loosen the annulus and surrounding ligaments to urge the bone farther apart. Once the annulus and ligaments have been loosened, the surgeon removes the trial head 1208 from the intervertebral space, and replaces it with the next largest (in terms of height) trial head 1208 . The surgeon then levers the trial handle 1206 up and down to further loosen the annulus and ligaments. The surgeon then proceeds to remove and replace the trial head 1208 with the next largest (in terms of height) trial head 1208 , and continues in this manner with larger and larger trials until the intervertebral space is distracted to the appropriate height. This gradual distraction method causes the distracted intervertebral space to remain at the distracted height with minimal subsidence before the cervical disc replacement device is implanted. The appropriate height is one that maximizes the height of the intervertebral space while preserving the annulus and ligaments.
Regardless of the distraction method used, the cervical disc replacement trials are useful for finding the cervical disc replacement device size that is most appropriate for the prepared intervertebral space, because each of the trial heads approximates the relevant dimensions of an available cervical disc replacement device. Once the intervertebral space is distracted, the surgeon can insert and remove one or more of the trial heads to determine the appropriate size of cervical disc replacement device to use. Once the appropriate size is determined, the surgeon proceeds to implant the selected cervical disc replacement device.
A preferred method of, and instruments for use in, implanting the cervical disc replacement device will now be described.
Referring now to FIGS. 5 a - f , an insertion plate 700 of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 5 a ), lateral ( FIG. 5 b ), anterior ( FIG. 5 c ), and posterior ( FIG. 5 d ) views. FIGS. 5 e and 5 f show anterior ( FIG. 5 e ) and antero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 5 f ) views of the insertion plate 700 mounted to the cervical disc replacement device 400 .
The insertion plate 700 has a base 702 with a first mounting area 704 a (preferably an upwardly extending flange) and a second mounting area 704 b (preferably a downwardly extending flange), and a primary attachment feature (e.g., an anteriorly extending central stem) 706 . The connection of the stem 706 to the base 702 preferably includes an axial rotation prevention feature, e.g., two oppositely and laterally extending key flanges 708 a , 708 b . The stem 706 preferably has a proximal portion 710 that is tapered to have a decreasing diameter away from the base 702 . That is, the tapered proximal portion 710 has an initial smaller diameter that increases toward the base 702 gradually to a final larger diameter. The base 702 preferably has a posteriorly extending ledge 716 that has a flat upper surface and a curved lower surface.
The insertion plate 700 is mounted to the cervical disc replacement device 400 to facilitate the preferred simultaneous implantation of the upper and lower elements 500 , 600 . The upper and lower elements 500 , 600 are held by the insertion plate 700 in a preferred relationship to one another that is suitable for implantation. More particularly, as shown in FIGS. 3 a - f , 5 e , and 5 f , the elements 500 , 600 are preferably axially rotationally aligned with one another, with the element perimeters and flanges 506 , 606 axially aligned with one another, and held with the bearing surfaces 512 , 612 in contact. The ledge 716 maintains a separation between the anterior portions of the inwardly facing surfaces of the elements 500 , 600 to help establish and maintain this preferred relationship, with the flat upper surface of the ledge 716 in contact with the flat anterior portion of the inwardly facing surface of the upper element 500 , and the curved lower surface of the ledge 716 in contact with the curved anterior portion of the inwardly facing surface of the lower element 600 .
While any suitable method or mechanism can be used to mount the elements 500 , 600 to the insertion plate 700 , a preferred arrangement is described. That is, it is preferred, as shown and as noted above, that the flanges 506 , 606 of the elements 500 , 600 (in addition to having the bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b , 608 a , 608 b described above) each have at least one mounting feature (e.g., mounting screw hole 509 , 609 ), and the insertion plate 700 has two (at least two, each one alignable with a respective mounting screw hole 509 , 609 ) corresponding mounting features (e.g., mounting screw holes 712 a , 712 b ), spaced to match the spacing of (and each be colinear with a respective one of) the mounting screw holes 509 , 609 on the flanges 506 , 606 of the elements 500 , 600 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 when those elements 500 , 600 are disposed in the preferred relationship for implantation. Accordingly, mounting screws 714 a , 714 b or other suitable fixation devices are secured through the colinear mounting screw hole pairs 509 , 712 a and 609 , 712 b (one screw through each pair), such that the elements 500 , 600 are immovable with respect to the insertion plate 700 and with respect to one another. Thus, in this configuration, the upper element 500 , lower element 600 , and insertion plate 700 construct is manipulatable as a single unit.
Preferably, for each size of cervical disc replacement device, the described configuration is established (and rendered sterile in a blister pack through methods known in the art) prior to delivery to the surgeon. That is, as described below, the surgeon will simply need to open the blister pack and apply the additional implantation tools to the construct in order to implant the cervical disc replacement device. Preferably, the configuration or dimensions of the insertion plate can be modified (either by providing multiple different insertion plates, or providing a single dynamically modifiable insertion plate) to accommodate cervical disc replacement devices of varying heights. For example, the positions of the mounting screw holes 712 a , 712 b on the flanges 704 a , 704 b can be adjusted (e.g., farther apart for replacement devices of greater height, and close together for replacement devices of lesser height), and the size of the flanges 704 a , 70 b can be adjusted to provide structural stability for the new hole positions. Preferably, in other respects, the insertion plate configuration and dimensions need not be modified, to facilitate ease of manufacturing and lower manufacturing costs.
It should be noted that the described configuration of the construct presents the cervical disc replacement device to the surgeon in a familiar manner. That is, by way of explanation, current cervical fusion surgery involves placing a fusion device (e.g., bone or a porous cage) in between the cervical intervertebral bones, and attaching a cervical fusion plate to the anterior aspects of the bones. Widely used cervical fusion devices (an example single level fusion plate 1300 is shown in anterior view in FIG. 13 a and in lateral view in FIG. 13 b ) are configured with a pair of laterally spaced bone screw holes 1302 a , 1302 b on an upper end 1304 of the plate 1300 , and a pair of laterally spaced bone screw holes 1306 a , 1306 b on a lower end 1308 of the plate 1300 . To attach the plate 1300 to the bones, two bone screws are disposed through the upper end's bone screw holes 1302 a , 1302 b and into the upper bone, and two bone screws are disposed through the lower end's bone screw holes 1306 a , 1306 b and into the lower bone. This prevents the bones from moving relative to one another, and allows the bones to fuse to one another with the aid of the fusion device.
Accordingly, as can be seen in FIG. 5 e , when the upper and lower elements 500 , 600 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 are held in the preferred spatial relationship, the flanges 506 , 606 of the elements 500 , 600 , and their bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b , present to the surgeon a cervical hardware and bone screw hole configuration similar to a familiar cervical fusion plate configuration. The mounting of the elements 500 , 600 to the insertion plate 700 allows the elements 500 , 600 to be manipulated as a single unit for implantation (by manipulating the insertion plate 700 ), similar to the way a cervical fusion plate is manipulatable as a single unit for attachment to the bones. This aspect of the present invention simplifies and streamlines the cervical disc replacement device implantation procedure.
As noted above, the cervical disc replacement device 400 and insertion plate 700 construct is preferably provided sterile (e.g., in a blister pack) to the surgeon in an implant tray (the tray preferably being filled with constructs for each size of cervical disc replacement device). The construct is preferably situated in the implant tray with the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 facing upwards for ready acceptance of the insertion handle 800 (described below).
Referring now to FIGS. 6 a - e , an insertion handle 800 of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 6 a ), lateral ( FIG. 6 b ), anterior ( FIG. 6 c ), and postero-lateral (distal end only) ( FIG. 6 d ) views. FIG. 6 e shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the insertion handle 800 attached to the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 . FIG. 6 f shows a magnified view of the distal end of FIG. 6 e.
The insertion handle 800 is provided primarily for engaging the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 so that the cervical disc replacement device 400 and insertion plate 700 construct can be manipulated into and within the treatment site. The insertion handle 800 has a shaft 802 with an attachment feature (e.g., a longitudinal bore) 804 at a distal end 806 and a manipulation feature (e.g., a flange) 810 at a proximal end 808 . Preferably, the longitudinal bore 804 has an inner taper at the distal end 806 such that the inner diameter of the distal end 806 decreases toward the distal end 806 , from an initial larger inner diameter at a proximal portion of the distal end 806 to a final smaller inner diameter at the distal edge of the distal end 806 . The distal end 806 also preferably has an axial rotation prevention feature, e.g., two (at least one) key slots 814 a , 814 b extending proximally from the distal end 806 . Each slot 814 a , 814 b is shaped to accommodate the key flanges 708 a , 708 b at the connection of the base 702 to the stem 706 when the distal end 806 is engaged with the stem 706 . The material from which the insertion handle 800 is formed (preferably, e.g., Ultem™), and also the presence of the key slots 814 a , 814 b , permits the diameter of the hollow distal end 806 to expand as needed to engage the tapered stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 . More particularly, the resting diameter (prior to any expansion) of the hollow distal end 806 of the insertion handle 800 is incrementally larger than the initial diameter of the tapered proximal portion 710 of the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 , and incrementally smaller than the final diameter of the tapered proximal portion 710 of the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 . Accordingly, longitudinally aligning the insertion handle shaft 802 with the stem 706 , and thereafter pushing the hollow distal end 806 of the insertion handle shaft 802 toward the insertion plate 700 , causes the hollow distal end 806 to initially readily encompass the tapered proximal portion 710 of the stem 706 (because the initial diameter of the tapered proximal portion 710 is smaller than the resting diameter of the hollow tapered distal end 806 ). With continued movement of the insertion handle shaft 802 toward the insertion plate base 702 , the hollow distal end 806 is confronted by the increasing diameter of the tapered proximal portion 710 . Accordingly, the diameter of the hollow distal end 806 expands (by permission of the shaft 802 body material and the key slots 814 a , 814 b as the slots narrow) under the confrontation to accept the increasing diameter. Eventually, with continued movement under force, the inner surface of the hollow distal end 806 is friction-locked to the outer surface of the tapered proximal portion 710 . Each of the key slots 814 a , 814 b straddles a respective one of the key flanges 708 a , 708 b at the connection of the base 702 to the stem 706 . This enhances the ability of the insertion handle 800 to prevent rotation of the insertion handle shaft 802 relative to the insertion plate 700 (about the longitudinal axis of the insertion handle shaft 802 ). It should be understood that other methods or mechanisms of establishing engagement of the stem 706 by the insertion handle 800 can be used without departing from the scope of the invention.
Once the insertion handle 800 is engaged with the insertion plate 700 , manipulation of the insertion handle shaft 802 effects manipulation of the cervical disc replacement device 400 and insertion plate 700 construct. The surgeon can therefore remove the construct from the implant tray, and insert the construct into the treatment area. More particularly, according to the implantation procedure of the invention, after the surgeon properly prepares the intervertebral space (removes the damaged natural disc, modifies the bone surfaces that define the intervertebral space, and distracts the intervertebral space to the appropriate height), the surgeon inserts the cervical disc replacement device 400 into the intervertebral space from an anterior approach, such that the upper and lower elements 500 , 600 are inserted between the adjacent vertebral bones with the element footprints fitting within the perimeter of the intervertebral space and with the teeth of the elements' vertebral body contact surfaces 502 , 602 engaging the vertebral endplates, and with the flanges 506 , 606 of the upper and lower elements 500 , 600 flush against the anterior faces of the upper and lower vertebral bones, respectively. (As discussed above, the flanges 506 , 606 preferably have a lateral curvature that approximates the lateral curvature of the anterior faces of the vertebral bones.)
Referring now to FIGS. 7 a - e , an insertion pusher 900 of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 7 a ), lateral ( FIG. 7 b ), and anterior ( FIG. 7 c ) views. FIG. 7 d shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the insertion pusher 900 inserted into the insertion handle 800 . FIG. 7 e shows a magnified view of the proximal end of FIG. 7 d.
Once the construct is properly positioned in the treatment area, the surgeon uses the insertion pusher 900 to disengage the insertion handle shaft 802 from the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 . More particularly, the insertion pusher 900 has a longitudinal shaft 902 having a preferably blunt distal end 904 and a proximal end 906 preferably having a flange 908 . The shaft 902 of the insertion pusher 900 has a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the insertion handle shaft 802 , such that the shaft 902 of the insertion pusher 900 can be inserted into and translated within the longitudinal bore 804 of the insertion handle shaft 802 . (The longitudinal bore 804 preferably, for the purpose of accommodating the insertion pusher 900 and other purposes, extends the length of the insertion handle shaft 802 .) The shaft 902 of the insertion pusher 900 is preferably as long as (or, e.g., at least as long as) the longitudinal bore 804 . Accordingly, to remove the insertion handle shaft 802 from the insertion plate 700 , the shaft 902 of the insertion pusher 900 is inserted into the longitudinal bore 804 of the insertion handle shaft 802 and translated therein until the blunt distal end 904 of the pusher shaft 802 is against the proximal end of the tapered stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 . Because the shaft 902 of the insertion pusher 900 is as long as the longitudinal bore 804 of the insertion handle shaft 802 , the flange 810 of the insertion handle 800 and the flange 908 of the insertion pusher 900 are separated by a distance (see FIGS. 7 d and 7 e ) that is equivalent to the length of that portion of the stem 706 that is locked in the distal end 806 of the insertion handle shaft 802 . Accordingly, a bringing together of the flanges 810 , 908 (e.g., by the surgeon squeezing the flanges 810 , 908 toward one another) will overcome the friction lock between the distal end 806 of the insertion handle shaft 802 and the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 , disengaging the insertion handle shaft 802 from the insertion plate 700 without disturbing the disposition of the cervical disc replacement device 400 and insertion plate 700 construct in the treatment area.
Referring now to FIGS. 8 a - e , a drill guide 1000 of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 8 a ), lateral ( FIG. 8 b ), and anterior ( FIG. 8 c ) views. FIG. 8 d shows an antero-lateral perspective view of the drill guide 1000 inserted onto the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 . FIG. 8 e shows a magnified view of the distal end of FIG. 8 d.
Once the insertion handle 800 has been removed, the surgeon uses the drill guide 1000 to guide the surgeon's drilling of the bone screws (described below) through the bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b and 608 a , 608 b of the upper 500 and lower 600 elements' flanges 506 , 606 and into the vertebral bones. More particularly, the drill guide 1000 has a longitudinal shaft 1002 having a configured distal end 1004 and a proximal end 1006 with a manipulation feature (e.g., lateral extensions 1008 a , 1008 b ). The lateral extensions 1008 a , 1008 b are useful for manipulating the shaft 1002 . The distal end 1004 is configured to have a shaft guiding feature (e.g., a central bore 1010 ) suitable for guiding the shaft 1002 in relation to the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 therethrough. For example, the central bore 1010 accommodates the stem 706 so that the drill guide 1000 can be placed on and aligned with the stem 706 . The longitudinal axis of the bore 1010 is preferably offset from the longitudinal axis of the drill guide shaft 1002 . The distal end 1004 is further configured to have two guide bores 1012 a , 1012 b that have respective longitudinal axes at preferred bone screw drilling paths relative to one another. More particularly, the central bore 1010 , drill guide shaft 1002 , and guide bores 1012 a , 1012 b , are configured on the distal end 1004 of the drill guide 1000 such that when the central bore 1010 is disposed on the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 (see FIGS. 8 d and 8 e ), the drill guide shaft 1002 can be rotated on the stem 706 into either of two preferred positions in which the guide bores 1012 a , 1012 b are aligned with the bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b or 608 a , 608 b on either of the flanges 506 or 606 . Stated alternatively, in a first preferred position (see FIGS. 8 d and 8 e ), the drill guide 1000 can be used to guide bone screws through the bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b in the flange 506 of the upper element 500 , and in a second preferred position (in which the drill guide is rotated 180 degrees, about the longitudinal axis of the stem 706 , from the first preferred position), the same drill guide 1000 can be used to guide bone screws through the bone screw holes 608 a , 608 b in the flange 606 of the lower element 600 . When the drill guide 1000 is disposed in either of the preferred positions, the longitudinal axes of the guide bores 1012 a , 1012 b are aligned with the bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b or 608 a , 608 b on the flanges 506 or 606 , and are directed along preferred bone screw drilling paths through the bone screw holes.
Accordingly, to secure the upper element flange 506 to the upper vertebral body, the surgeon places the drill guide shaft 1002 onto the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 , and rotates the drill guide 1000 into the first preferred position. Preferably, the surgeon then applies an upward pressure to the drill guide 1000 , urging the upper element 500 tightly against the endplate of the upper vertebral body. Using a suitable bone drill and cooperating drill bit, the surgeon drills upper tap holes for the upper bone screws. Once the upper tap holes are drilled, the surgeon rotates the drill guide shaft 1002 on the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 until the guide bores 1012 a , 1012 b no longer cover the upper bone screw holes 508 a , 508 b . The surgeon can then screw the upper bone screws into the upper tap holes using a suitable surgical bone screw driver.
Additionally, to secure the lower element flange 606 to the lower vertebral body, the surgeon further rotates the drill guide shaft 1002 on the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 until the drill guide 1000 is in the second preferred position. Preferably, the surgeon then applies a downward pressure to the drill guide 1000 , urging the lower element 600 tightly against the endplate of the lower vertebral body. Using the suitable bone drill and cooperating drill bit, the surgeon drills lower tap holes for the lower bone screws. Once the lower tap holes are drilled, the surgeon rotates the drill guide shaft 1002 on the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 until the guide bores 1012 a , 1012 b no longer cover the lower bone screw holes 608 a , 608 b . The surgeon can then screw the lower bone screws into the lower tap holes using the suitable surgical bone screw driver.
It should be noted that the bone screws (or other elements of the invention) may include features or mechanisms that assist in prevent screw backup. Such features may include, but not be limited to, one or more of the following: titanium plasma spray coating, bead blasted coating, hydroxylapetite coating, and grooves on the threads.
Once the elements 500 , 600 are secured to the adjacent vertebral bones, the surgeon removes the drill guide 1000 from the stem 706 of the insertion plate 700 and from the treatment area (see FIG. 9 a ). Using a suitable surgical screw driver, the surgeon then removes the mounting screws 714 a , 714 b that hold the insertion plate 700 against the elements' flanges 506 , 606 , and removes the insertion plate 700 and the mounting screws 714 a , 714 b from the treatment area (see FIG. 9 b ).
Referring now to FIGS. 10 a - f , a retaining clip 1150 a of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 10 a ), lateral ( FIG. 10 b ), posterior ( FIG. 10 c ), anterior ( FIG. 10 d ), postero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 10 e ), and antero-lateral perspective (FIG. 10 f ) views. (The features of retaining clip 1150 a are exemplary of the features of the like-numbered features of retaining clip 1150 b , which are referenced by b's rather than a's.) Referring now to FIGS. 11 a - e , a clip applicator 1100 of the insertion instrumentation of the present invention is shown in top ( FIG. 11 a ), lateral ( FIG. 11 b ), and anterior ( FIG. 11 c ) views. FIG. 11 d shows a postero-lateral perspective view of the clip applicator 1100 holding two retaining clips 1150 a , 1150 b of the present invention. FIG. 11 e shows an antero-lateral perspective view of FIG. 11 d . Referring now to FIGS. 12 a - h , the clip applicator 1100 is shown applying the retaining clips 1150 a , 1150 b to the cervical disc replacement device 400 . FIGS. 12 b - h show anterior ( FIG. 12 b ), posterior ( FIG. 12 c ), top ( FIG. 12 d ), bottom ( FIG. 12 e ), lateral ( FIG. 12 f ), antero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 12 g ), and postero-lateral perspective ( FIG. 12 h ) views of the cervical disc replacement device 400 after the retaining clips 1150 a , 1150 b have been applied.
Once the mounting screws 714 a , 714 b and the insertion plate 700 are removed, the surgeon uses the clip applicator 1100 to mount the retaining clips 1150 a , 1150 b on the flanges 506 , 606 to assist in retaining the bone screws. As shown in FIGS. 10 a - f , each of the clips 1150 a , 1150 b preferably has an applicator attachment feature (e.g., a central attachment bore 1152 a , 1152 b ) and, extending therefrom, a pair of bone screw retaining features (e.g., oppositely directed laterally extending flanges 1156 a , 1156 b and 1158 a , 1158 b ) and a flange attachment feature (e.g., an upwardly (or downwardly) extending hooked flange 1160 a , 1160 b ). The extent of the hook flange 1160 a , 1160 b is preferably formed to bend in toward the base of the hook flange 1160 a , 1160 b , such that the enclosure width of the formation is wider than the mouth width of the formation, and such that the extent is spring biased by its material composition toward the base. The enclosure width of the formation accommodates the width of the body of a flange 506 , 606 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 , but the mouth width of the formation is smaller than the width of the flange 506 , 606 . Accordingly, and referring now to FIGS. 12 b - h , each clip 1150 a , 1150 b can be applied to an element flange 506 , 606 such that the hook flange 1160 a , 1160 b grips the element flange 506 , 606 , by pressing the hook's mouth against the edge of the element flange 506 , 606 with enough force to overcome the bias of the hook flange's extent toward the base, until the flange 506 , 606 is seated in the hook's enclosure. The attachment bore 1152 a , 1152 b of the clip 1150 a , 1150 b is positioned on the clip 1150 a , 1150 b such that when the clip 1150 a , 1150 b is properly applied to the flange 506 , 606 , the attachment bore 1152 a , 1152 b is aligned with the mounting screw hole 509 , 609 on the flange 506 , 606 (see FIGS. 12 b - h ). Further, the posterior opening of the attachment bore 1152 a , 1152 b is preferably surrounded by a clip retaining features (e.g., a raised wall 1162 a , 1162 b ), the outer diameter of which is dimensioned such that the raised wall 1162 a , 1162 b fits into the mounting screw hole 509 , 609 on the element flange 506 , 606 . Thus, when the clip 1150 a , 1150 b is so applied to the element flange 506 , 606 , the element flange 506 , 606 will be received into the hook's enclosure against the spring bias of the hook's extent, until the attachment bore 1152 a , 1152 b is aligned with the mounting screw hole 509 , 609 , at which time the raised wall 1162 a , 1162 b will snap into the mounting screw hole 509 , 609 under the force of the hook's extent's spring bias. This fitting prevents the clip 1150 a , 1150 b from slipping off the flange 506 , 606 under stresses in situ. Each of the laterally extending flanges 1156 a , 1156 b and 1158 a , 1158 b of the clip 1150 a , 1150 b is sized to cover at least a portion of a respective one of the bone screw heads when the clip 1150 a , 1150 b is attached in this manner to the flange 506 , 606 (see FIGS. 12 b - h ), so that, e.g., the clips 1150 a , 1150 b help prevent the bone screws from backing out.
Referring again to FIGS. 11 a - e , the clip applicator 1100 has a pair of tongs 1102 a , 1102 b hinged at a proximal end 1104 of the clip applicator 1100 . Each tong 1102 a , 1102 b has an attachment feature (e.g., a nub 1108 a , 1108 b ) at a distal end 1106 a , 1106 b . Each nub 1108 a , 1108 b is dimensioned such that it can be manually friction locked into either of the attachment bores 1152 a , 1152 b of the retaining clips 1150 a , 1150 b . Thus, both clips 1150 a , 1150 b can be attached to the clip applicator 1100 , one to each tong 1102 a , 1102 b (see FIGS. 11 d and 11 e ). Preferably, as shown in FIGS. 11 d and 11 e , the clips 1150 a , 1150 b are attached so that their hook flanges 1154 a , 1154 b are directed toward one another, so that they are optimally situated for attachment to the element flanges 506 , 606 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 (see FIG. 12 a ).
Preferably, the clips 1150 a , 1150 b are attached to the clip applicator 1100 as described above prior to delivery to the surgeon. The assembly is preferably provided sterile to the surgeon in a blister pack. Accordingly, when the surgeon is ready to mount the clips 1150 a , 1150 b to the element flanges 506 , 606 of the cervical disc replacement device 400 , the surgeon opens the blister pack and inserts the tongs 1102 a , 1102 b of the clip applicator 1100 (with the clips 1150 a , 1150 b attached) into the treatment area.
Accordingly, and referring again to FIGS. 12 a - h , the clips 1150 a , 1150 b can be simultaneously clipped to the upper 500 and lower 600 elements' flanges 506 , 606 (one to each flange 506 , 606 ) using the clip applicator 1100 . More particularly, the mouths of the clips 1150 a , 1150 b can be brought to bear each on a respective one of the flanges 506 , 606 by manually squeezing the tongs 1102 a , 1102 b (having the clips 1150 a , 1150 b attached each to a set of the distal ends of the tongs 1102 a , 1102 b ) toward one another when the mouths of the clips 1150 a , 1150 b are suitably aligned with the flanges 506 , 606 (see FIG. 12 a ). Once the clips 1150 a , 1150 b have been attached to the flanges 506 , 660 with the raised walls 1162 a , 1162 b fitting into the mounting screw holes 509 , 609 of the flanges 506 , 606 , the clip applicator 1100 can be removed from the clips 1150 a , 1150 b by manually pulling the nubs 1108 a , 1108 b out of the attachment bores 1152 a , 1152 b , and the clip applicator 1100 can be removed from the treatment area.
After implanting the cervical disc replacement device 400 as described, the surgeon follows accepted procedure for closing the treatment area.
Referring now to FIGS. 14 a - e an alternate dual cervical disc replacement device configuration and alternate insertion plates for use therewith, suitable, for example, for implantation in two adjacent cervical intervertebral spaces, are illustrated in exploded perspective ( FIG. 14 a ), anterior ( FIG. 14 b ), posterior ( FIG. 14 c ), lateral ( FIG. 14 d ), and collapsed perspective ( FIG. 14 e ) views. Referring now also to FIGS. 15 a - c , an alternate upper element of the configuration is shown in posterior ( FIG. 15 a ), anterior ( FIG. 15 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 15 c ) views. Referring now also to FIGS. 16 a - c , an alternate lower element of the configuration is shown in posterior ( FIG. 16 a ), anterior ( FIG. 16 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 16 c ) views. Referring now also to FIGS. 17 a - c , an alternate, upper, insertion plate of the configuration is shown in anterior ( FIG. 17 a ), posterior ( FIG. 17 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 17 c ) views. Referring now also to FIGS. 18 a - c , an alternate, lower, insertion plate of the configuration is shown in anterior ( FIG. 18 a ), posterior ( FIG. 18 b ), and antero-lateral ( FIG. 18 c ) views.
More particularly, the alternate dual cervical disc replacement device configuration 1350 is suitable, for example, for implantation into two adjacent cervical intervertebral spaces. The configuration preferably, as shown, includes an alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device 1400 (including an upper element 1500 and an alternate, lower, element 1600 ), for implantation into an upper cervical intervertebral space, and further includes an alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device 2400 (including an alternate, upper, element 2500 and a lower element 2600 ), for implantation into an adjacent, lower, cervical intervertebral space. The illustrated alternate, upper, embodiment of the cervical disc replacement device is identical in structure to the cervical disc replacement device 400 described above (and thus like components are like numbered, but in the 1400 s rather than the 400 s, in the 1500 s rather than the 500 s, and in the 1600 s rather than the 600 s), with the exception that the flange 1606 of the lower element 1600 is configured differently and without bone screw holes. The illustrated alternate, lower, embodiment of the cervical disc replacement device is identical in structure to the cervical disc replacement device 400 described above (and thus like components are like numbered, but in the 2400 s rather than the 400 s, in the 2500 s rather than the 500 s, and in the 2600 s rather than the 600 s), with the exception that the flange 2506 of the upper element 2500 is configured differently and without bone screw holes.
More particularly, in the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device 1400 of this alternate configuration, the flange 1606 of the lower element 1600 does not have bone screw holes, but has at least one mounting feature (e.g., a mounting screw hole) 1609 for attaching the lower element 1600 to the alternate, upper, insertion plate 1700 (described below). Similarly, and more particularly, in the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device 2400 of this alternate configuration, the flange 2506 of the upper element 2500 does not have bone screw holes, but has at least one mounting feature (e.g., a mounting screw hole) 2509 for attaching the upper element 2500 to the alternate, lower, insertion plate 2700 (described below). As can be seen particularly in FIGS. 14 a - c , 15 b , 16 b , 17 a , and 18 a , the extent of the flange 1606 is laterally offset to the right (in an anterior view) from the midline (and preferably limited to support only the mounting screw hole 1609 ), and the extent of the flange 2506 is laterally offset to the left (in an anterior view) from the midline (and preferably limited to support only the mounting screw hole 2509 ), so that the flanges 1606 , 2506 avoid one another when the alternate lower element 1600 of the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device 1400 , and the alternate upper element 2500 of the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device 2400 , are implanted in this alternate configuration ( FIGS. 14 a - e ).
It should be noted that the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device 1400 does not require both elements 1500 , 1600 to be secured to a vertebral body. Only one need be secured to a vertebral body, because due to natural compression in the spine pressing the elements' bearing surfaces together, and the curvatures of the saddle-shaped bearing surfaces preventing lateral, anterior, or posterior movement relative to one another when they are compressed against one another, if one element (e.g., the upper element 1500 ) is secured to a vertebral body (e.g., to the upper vertebral body by bone screws through the bone screw holes 1508 a , 1508 b of the element flange 1506 ), the other element (e.g., the alternate, lower, element 1600 ) cannot slip out of the intervertebral space, even if that other element is not secured to a vertebral body (e.g., to the middle vertebral body). Similarly, the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device 2400 does not require both elements 2500 , 2600 to be secured to a vertebral body. Only one need be secured to a vertebral body, because due to natural compression in the spine pressing the elements' bearing surfaces together, and the curvatures of the saddle-shaped bearing surfaces preventing lateral, anterior, or posterior movement relative to one another when they are compressed against one another, if one element (e.g., the lower element 2600 ) is secured to a vertebral body (e.g., to the lower vertebral body by bone screws through the bone screw holes 2608 a , 2608 b of the element flange 2606 ), the other element (e.g., the alternate, upper, element 2500 ) cannot slip out of the intervertebral space, even if that other element is not secured to a vertebral body (e.g., to the middle vertebral body).
Accordingly, the alternate, upper, insertion plate 1700 is provided to facilitate a preferred simultaneous implantation of the upper and lower elements 1500 , 1600 of the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device 1400 into the upper intervertebral space. Similarly, the alternate, lower, insertion plate 2700 is provided to facilitate a preferred simultaneous implantation of the upper and lower elements 2500 , 2600 of the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device 2400 into the lower intervertebral space. The upper and lower elements 1500 , 1600 are held by the insertion plate 1700 (preferably using mounting screws 1714 a , 1714 b ) in a preferred relationship to one another that is suitable for implantation, identical to the preferred relationship in which the upper and lower elements 500 , 600 are held by the insertion plate 700 as described above. Similarly, the upper and lower elements 2500 , 2600 are held by the insertion plate 2700 (preferably using mounting screws 2714 a , 2714 b ) in a preferred relationship to one another that is suitable for implantation, identical to the preferred relationship in which the upper and lower elements 500 , 600 are held by the insertion plate 700 as described above.
The illustrated alternate, upper, insertion plate 1700 is identical in structure to the insertion plate 700 described above (and thus like components are like numbered, but in the 1700 s rather than the 700 s), with the exception that the lower flange 1704 b is offset from the midline (to the right in an anterior view) to align its mounting screw hole 1712 b with the offset mounting screw hole 1609 of the alternate lower element 1600 of the alternate, upper, cervical disc replacement device 1400 . Similarly, the illustrated alternate, lower, insertion plate 2700 is identical in structure to the insertion plate 700 described above (and thus like components are like numbered, but in the 2700 s rather than the 700 s), with the exception that the upper flange 2704 a is offset from the midline (to the left in an anterior view) to align its mounting screw hole 2712 a with the offset mounting screw hole 2509 of the alternate upper element 2500 of the alternate, lower, cervical disc replacement device 2400 .
Accordingly, the upper and lower elements 1500 , 1600 , being held by the insertion plate 1700 , as well as the upper and lower elements 2500 , 2600 , being held by the insertion plate 2700 , can be implanted using the insertion handle 800 , insertion pusher 900 , drill guide 1000 , clips 1150 a , 1150 b (one on the upper element flange 1506 , and one on the lower element flange 2606 , because only the upper element 1500 and the lower element 2600 are secured by bone screws), and clip applicator 1100 , in the manner described above with respect to the implantation of the cervical disc replacement device 400 .
It should be noted that the described alternate configuration (that includes two cervical disc replacement devices) presents the cervical disc replacement devices to the surgeon in a familiar manner. That is, by way of explanation, current cervical fusion surgery involves placing a fusion device (e.g., bone or a porous cage) in between the upper and middle cervical intervertebral bones, and in between the middle and lower vertebral bones, and attaching an elongated two-level cervical fusion plate to the anterior aspects of the bones. Widely used two-level cervical fusion devices (an example two level fusion plate 1350 is shown in anterior view in FIG. 13 c and in lateral view in FIG. 13 d ) are configured with a pair of laterally spaced bone screw holes 1352 a , 1352 b on an upper end 1354 of the plate 1350 , a pair of laterally spaced bone screw holes 1356 a , 1356 b on a lower end 1358 of the plate 1350 , and a pair of laterally spaced bone screw holes 1360 a , 1360 b midway between the upper and lower ends 1354 , 1358 . To attach the plate 1350 to the bones, bone screws are disposed through the bone screw holes and into the corresponding bones. This prevents the bones from moving relative to one another, and allows the bones to fuse to one another with the aid of the fusion device.
Accordingly, as can be seen in FIG. 14 b , when the upper and lower elements 1500 , 1600 of the cervical disc replacement device 1400 , and the upper and lower elements 2500 , 2600 of the cervical disc replacement device 2400 , are held in the preferred spatial relationship and aligned for implantation, the upper element flange 1506 and lower element flange 2606 , and their bone screw holes 1508 a , 1508 b and 2608 a , 2608 b , present to the surgeon a cervical hardware and bone screw hole configuration similar to a familiar two level cervical fusion plate configuration (as described above, a middle pair of bone screws holes is not needed; however, middle bone screw holes are contemplated by the present invention for some embodiments, if necessary or desirable). The mounting of the elements 1500 , 1600 to the insertion plate 1700 allows the elements 1500 , 1600 to be manipulated as a single unit for implantation (by manipulating the insertion plate 1700 ), similar to the way a cervical fusion plate is manipulatable as a single unit for attachment to the bones. Similarly, the mounting of the elements 2500 , 2600 to the insertion plate 2700 allows the elements 2500 , 2600 to be manipulated as a single unit for implantation (by manipulating the insertion plate 2700 ), similar to the way a cervical fusion plate is manipulatable as a single unit for attachment to the bones. This aspect of the present invention simplifies and streamlines the cervical disc replacement device implantation procedure.
While there has been described and illustrated specific embodiments of cervical disc replacement devices and insertion instrumentation, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variations and modifications are possible without deviating from the broad spirit and principle of the invention. The invention, therefore, shall not be limited to the specific embodiments discussed herein.
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A method of replacing at least a portion of an intervertebral disc of an intervertebral disc space of a spinal column, the intervertebral disc space defined at least by respective endplates of first and second adjacent vertebral bones, the method comprising the steps of inserting at least one intervertebral disc replacement trial into the intervertebral disc space to distract same in a direction along a longitudinal axis of the spinal column and simultaneously inserting first and second members of an intervertebral disc replacement device into an intervertebral disc space of the spinal column. The method also comprising maintaining first and second articulation surfaces of the respective first and second members of an intervertebral disc replacement device as a single assembly by way of an insertion plate. This may include the use of an insertion handle that is adapted to detachably engage the insertion plate.
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This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/315,529, filed Sep. 30, 1994.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The following co-assigned application is included herein by reference:
Filing
Docket #
Serial #
Date
Inventors
Title
TI-19552
08/291636
8/17/94
Jain
Enhancement in Through-
put and Planarity During
CMP Using a Dielectric
Stack Containing HDP-
SiO 2 Films
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to interconnection layers for microelectronic devices, and more particularly to planarization of insulated interconnection layers.
2. Background of the Invention
Integrated circuits such as those found in computers and electronic equipment may contain millions of transistors and other circuit elements fabricated on a single crystal silicon chip. To achieve a desired functionality, a complex network of signal paths must be routed to connect the circuit elements distributed on the surface of the chip. Efficient routing of signals across a chip becomes increasingly difficult as integrated circuit complexity grows. To ease this task, interconnection wiring, which not too many years ago was limited to a single level of metal conductors, on today's devices may contain as many as five (with even more desired) stacked interconnected levels of densely packed conductors. Each individual level of conductors is typically insulated from adjacent levels by an interlevel dielectric (ILD) such as a silicon dioxide film.
Conductors typically are formed by depositing one or more layers of conductive film over an insulated substrate (which usually contains vias, or through holes, allowing the conductive film to contact underlying circuit structure where electrical connections are needed). Portions of the conductive film are selectively etched away using a mask pattern, leaving a pattern of separate conductors with similar thickness and generally rectangular cross-section on the substrate. Usually, after patterning, the conductors are covered with an ILD before additional conducting layers are added.
Ideally, a completed ILD has a planar upper surface. This ideal is not easily achieved and in multilayer conductor schemes, the inherent topography of the underlying conductors is often replicated on the ILD surface. After several poorly planarized layers of ILD with imbedded conductors are formed, problems due to surface topography that adversely affect wiring reliability are likely to occur, e.g., uneven step coverage or via under/overetching.
To overcome such problems, several methods are in common use for ILD planarization. Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) abrasively polishes the upper surface of the ILD to smooth topography. Another approach is the etchback process, which generally requires depositing a sacrificial spin-on layer which smooths topography (such as photoresist) over the ILD. The sacrificial layer is etched away, preferably with an etchant which etches the ILD material at a similar rate. Done correctly, the etchback reduces high spots on the ILD layer more than it reduces low spots, thus effecting some level of planarization. Both of these methods can be expensive, time-consuming, and generally require a thick initial ILD deposition, since a top portion of the ILD is removed during planarization.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides interconnect structures and methods for increased device planarity. A typical interconnection level contains conductors of several different widths. Conductors which will carry a small current during operation may be layed out using a minimum width established in the design rules for a specific fabrication process. Other conductors which must carry larger current or conform to other design requirements (e.g. alignment tolerances) may be layed out with larger widths. Generally, the largest conducting regions, such as power bus lines and bondpads. are formed on the topmost conducting level, where planarization is not a great concern.
It has now been found that certain ILD deposition processes may naturally planarize conductors (i.e. create a planar ILD upper surface over the conductor edge) narrower than a critical width. Given a specific conductor height, desired ILD deposition depth, and desired planarity, the critical width may be determined for such processes, usually by experimentation. The present invention exploits this property on a conducting level where it is desired to construct a variety of conductors, some of which require a width greater than the critical width. It has now been found that a network of integrally-formed conducting segments may be used to form a conductor which improves ILD deposition planarity and provides a large conductive cross-section. This is apparently the first use of a reticulated (i.e. meshlike) conductor structure to improve ILD planarity. Although such a conductor may require more surface area on the substrate (as compared to a non-reticulated conductor of equivalent length and resistivity), such conductors generally populate a small fraction of the overall area on a given level. In at least one embodiment using reticulated conductors, the ILD planarizes during deposition, thus obviating the need for a CN4P or etchback step after deposition. In an alternate embodiment, CMP polish time may be reduced dramatically.
In accordance with the present invention, a method is described herein for constructing a planarized dielectric over a patterned conductor and adjacent regions on a semiconductor device. This method comprises depositing a layer of conducting material on a substrate, and removing the layer of conducting material in a circumscribing region, thereby defining a location for and peripheral walls for a conductor. The method further comprises removing the layer of conducting material from one or more regions within the circumscribing region to form internal walls for the conductor (both removing conducting material steps are preferably performed simultaneously). The current-carrying capability for the conductor is thereby divided amongst two or more integrally-formed conducting segments of smaller minimum horizontal dimension than the overall conductor width. The method may further comprise forming an insulating layer over the conductor and the substrate, preferably by a method which selectively planarizes features in order of smallest to largest, based on minimum horizontal dimension (and more preferably by a method of simultaneous chemical vapor deposition and back-sputtering).
An insulating seed layer may be deposited prior to a back-sputtered deposition, as well as a conventional CVD overlayer (i.e. without significant back-sputter) deposited after a back-sputtered deposition. Alternately, a selectively planarizing deposition may be deposited as a spin-coated dielectric. The conducting segments may be formed at a size and/or spacing equivalent to minimum design rules for the semiconductor device. The device may be chemical mechanical polished after deposition, e.g. to further enhance planarity.
A method is described herein for forming a planarized insulated interconnection structure on a semiconductor device. This method comprises depositing a first layer of conducting material on a substrate, and removing sections of the first layer in a predetermined pattern to form a plurality of conducting regions. At least one of the conducting regions is formed as a reticulated conductor, comprising a set of conducting segments integrally-formed to provide multiple conducting paths between opposing ends of the conductor. The method further comprises depositing at least one insulating layer over the conducting regions and substrate by a method of simultaneous deposition and back-sputtering (preferably CVD and back-sputtering, preferably using constituent gasses silane, O 2 , and argon). The method may further comprise chemical mechanical polishing of the insulating layer. The method may further comprise depositing and patterning a second layer of conducting material over the insulating layer.
The present invention further comprises a metallization structure on a semiconductor device, comprising a plurality of first conducting regions formed on a substrate. At least one of the first conducting regions is a non-reticulated conductor, and at least one of the first conducting regions is a reticulated conductor, comprising a set of conducting segments (preferably formed at a size and/or spacing equivalent to minimum design rules for the device) integrally-formed to provide multiple conducting paths between opposing ends of the reticulated conductor. The structure further comprises one or more insulating layers overlying the first conducting regions and the substrate and providing a top surface which is locally (measured within a 10 μm radius) planar to at least 3000 Å. The structure may further comprise a plurality of second conducting regions formed over the insulating layers, at least one of the second conducting regions electrically connected to at least one of the first conducting regions through the insulating layers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
This invention, including various features and advantages thereof, can be best understood by reference to the following drawings, wherein:
FIGS. 1 and 2 A- 2 C show, respectively, a plan view and cross-sectioned elevations taken along section line 2 A— 2 A, of a prior art method of planarizing an ILD;
FIGS. 3A-3D show cross-sectioned elevations of a method of constructing a planarized ILD;
FIG. 4 shows a plan view of a prior art slit structure used to prevent cracking of a passivation layer due to stresses incurred during resin mold packaging;
FIGS. 5 and 6 show, respectively, a plan view and a cross-sectioned elevation taken along sectin line 6 — 6 of a conductor/ILD embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 7-11 show plan views of various embodiments of a reticulated conductor which may be usable in the invention; and
FIGS. 12 and 13 show, respectively, a plan view and a cross-sectioned elevation taken along section line 13 — 13 of two conducting levels illustrative of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
It has long been the practice in semiconductor design to form patterned conductors of different widths. For example, widths are often adjusted based on current-carrying requirements for a given conductor, such that reliability problems (e.g. electromigration) may be avoided. Where low currents are expected, conductor size is however limited to a minimum width specific to a given device and/or semiconductor fabrication process. FIG. 1 shows a plan view of two conductors (e.g. of Al 0.05% alloy) formed on a substrate 20 (e.g. with a top SiO 2 insulating layer), conductor 22 representing a large conductor of twice minimum width (much larger conductors usually exist on a given circuit layout) and conductor 24 representing a minimum width conductor. FIG. 2A shows a cross-sectioned elevation of the same conductors. FIG. 2B shows the conductors after deposition of an ILD 26 by a known method (e.g. PETEOS, or plasma-enhanced tetraethylorthosilicate, deposition) which forms a generally conformal layer having rectangular ridges 33 and 34 overlying conductors 24 and 22 . These ridges usually require planarization by one of the previously described methods before another conducting layer can be layed over ILD 26 , resulting in improved planarization as shown in FIG. 2 C.
An ILD silicon dioxide deposition technique has now been developed which improves planarization over such conductors, herein referred to as high density plasma (HDP) deposition. HDP deposition comprises, for example, the following steps: a wafer (containing the substrate) is mounted in a reaction chamber such that backside helium cooling may be used to control temperature; the chamber is then evacuated to 7 millitorr, and a mixture of 68 sccm O 2 and 100 sccm Ar are supplied to the chamber; 2500 W of source rf power are used to create a plasma (which also heats the wafer), and the temperature of the wafer is stabilized at approximately 330 C. by backside cooling; after 50 seconds of operation, 50 sccm silane is also introduced into the chamber, causing a silane oxide to deposit on the wafer (shown as seed layer 30 in FIG. 3 A); after 56 seconds of operation, 1600 W of bias power is applied to initiate back-sputtering; at this point, net deposition rate drops to 40 Å/sec, as some of the oxide being deposited sputters back off. During such an HDP deposition, it is believed that back-sputtering preferentially affects oxide along the top edges of a conductor, eventually building a triangular cross-section ridge along such a conductor.
FIG. 3B illustrates one possible ILD cross-section after deposition of an HDP ILD 32 approximately to the depth of conductors 22 and 24 . Ridge 33 over conductor 24 has a generally triangular cross-section and a very low net deposition rate by this point. In contrast, ridge 34 has not yet formed a triangular peak and is still growing at roughly the same rate as ILD being deposited over the substrate areas.
If HDP deposition is continued as shown in FIG. 3C, ridge 34 peaks even as the bases of ridges 33 and 34 are swallowed by the HDP deposition growing from the substrate. This forms an ILD with planarization superior to that of the prior art PETEOS example of FIG. 2 B. Ridge 34 is less planarized than ridge 33 which formed over a minimum width conductor. This trend may be generalized: i.e., for a given deposition depth narrower conductors are better planarized by the HDP deposition than wider conductors. Thus for a given deposition thickness and maximum desired deviation from planarity, a critical width may be determined such that conductors narrower than the critical width are sufficiently planarized by HDP deposition alone. For instance, it has been found that for a conductor thickness of 7500 Å and an HDP oxide thickness of 10000 Å, conductors narrower than about 0.45 μm will meet a 1000 Å planarity requirement after HDP deposition.
Planarization of the ILD having imbedded conductors wider than the critical width may still require, e.g., a CMP step after HDP deposition. In general, CMP is more effective on an HDP oxide ILD than a PETEOS ILD (possibly because of the smaller, narrower ridges), resulting in the highly planar ILD 32 shown in FIG. 3 D. This advantage may not be clear, however, for structures with extremely wide conductors (e.g. 10×minimum width) imbedded therein, which are poorly planarized by the HDP process. Because of this phenomenon, it may be preferable to only partially build an ILD using, HDP oxide (e.g. to the level shown in FIG. 3B) and complete the ILD using PETEOS, silane-deposited oxide, or a similar technique which deposits faster than HDP oxide.
One alternate method for producing a selectively-planarizing insulating layer is as a spin-coated dielectric. For example, hydrogen silsesquioxane available from Dow Coming may be spin-coating onto a wafer containing substrate 20 and conductors 22 and 24 to produce an insulating layer. The deposition profile may be made similar to that of layer 32 in FIG. 3B or FIG. 3C (albeit less angular by nature and may or may not requiring seed layer 30 ), by adjusting viscosity of the spin-coating before application to the wafer and/or adjusting wafer spin rate (rates of 1000 to 6000 rpm are typical). Insulating layer thicknesses of 0.2 μm to 1 μm (as measured on an unpatterned wafer or open field on a patterned wafer) are easily fabricated by such a method. It is preferable to construct only a partial ILD by a spin-on technique (e.g. to the level of layer 32 in FIG. 3 B), with the remainder of the ILD formed using PETEOS or silane-deposited CVD oxide, for example.
It is known that for semiconductors packaged in resin-molded packages, large conductors near the comers of a chip may be formed with slits or rows of small holes to alleviate stress cracking of the top passivation layer during packaging (U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,227, Hara et al., Nov. 25, 1986). As shown in FIG. 4, on a substrate 36 are formed a wire lead 38 connected to a bond pad 39 and a guard ring (e.g. a V cc power bus) 40 surrounding such bond pads. A slit 42 , formed at the comer of guard ring 40 , reduces the width of a typically 100 μm to 200 μm conductor to 40-80 μm segments in the comer regions, thereby preventing the overlying passivation layer from cracking during packaging.
It has now been discovered that slits or small holes formed in a large conductor, when combined with a planarizing ILD deposition such as HDP oxide or a spin-coated dielectric, may advantageously increase planarization of such an ILD. Slits or small holes such as those disclosed in the '227 patent generally do not provide such a feature: they are meant for top-level metallization, where planarization is generally unimportant and a planarizing deposition has little advantage; only portions of certain conductors contain the slits, leaving many large conductors and partially-slitted conductors, such that only small regions of the overall chip surface might see any improvement at all (with the dimensions discussed in the '227 patent, HDP deposition would not planarize even in the vicinity of the slits); slit 42 creates a section of increased resistivity in conductor 40 , which may cause electromigration if conductor 40 carries significant current.
Conductors and conducting regions patterned according to the present invention are described as reticulated; that is, a pattern of slits or holes is created in a conductor, breaking the conductor into a set of integrally-formed conducting segments. To achieve maximum planarization benefit, such a pattern is preferably: created using minimum design rules; repeated along an entire large (greater than critical width) conductor; and included on every large conductor on a lower-level metallization (this may not be required, e.g., if part of the lower-level metallization has no conductors overlying it). Also, it is preferred to maintain an appropriate conductor cross-section for the current requirements of a given conductor; i.e. cutting holes in an existing conductor without increasing overall conductor width is not preferred (unless the conductor width was overdesigned to start with).
In accordance with the present invention, FIG. 5 shows a reticulated conductor 52 and a minimum width conductor Z 4 formed on a substrate 20 . Reticulated conductor 52 has an interior region 50 where conducting material has been removed. Such a conductor may be designed directly into the mask pattern, such that interior region 50 is created at the same time as the outer walls of the conductor. Conductor 52 can be described as comprising a set of connected conducting segments: right segment 44 , left segment 46 , bottom segment 48 , and top segment 49 . Segments 44 and 46 provide multiple current paths between top and bottom segments 49 and 48 .
FIG. 6 contains a cross-sectional elevation of FIG. 5, taken through small conductor 24 and left and right segments 46 and 44 along section line 6 — 6 . A seed layer 30 and HDP oxide layer 32 deposition are shown to illustrate the excellent ILD planarity achievable above the conductor segments 44 and 46 , as well as conductor 24 , where widths of such are all smaller than the critical width.
FIG. 7 shows a reticulated conductor 52 containing two cross-conducting segments 56 and three non-conductive interior regions 50 surrounded thereby. Such an arrangement has less resistance and more redundant conduction paths than conductor 52 in FIG. 5, and yet planarizes comparably. For conductors requiring a cross-section generally greater than three times minimum, more elaborate segment layouts, such as those shown for reticulated conductors 52 in FIGS. 8 and 9 may be chosen. Note that in these reticulation patterns individual conducting segments are less distinct; however, conducting segment size may be defined by a “minimum horizontal dimension” measured between neighboring regions 50 . FIG. 10 shows a reticulated conductor 52 with a landing pad 55 on an end. Reticulation schemes may produce both interior regions 50 and notch regions 54 , as illustrated in both FIGS. 9 and 10. In an extreme case, each as landing pad 55 connected to minimum-width conductor 24 in FIG. 11, only notch regions 54 may be included in the reticulation pattern.
FIG. 12 is a plan view illustrating a portion of two levels of conductors. The first level of conductors contains a reticulated conductor 52 and three non-reticulated conductors 64 , two of which terminate at conductor 52 and one of which terminates at reticulated landing pad 55 . The latter conductor is electrically connected through via 58 to one of the second level conductors 60 (the second level may or may not contain reticulated conductors). In the cross-sectional elevation taken along line 13 — 13 and shown in FIG. 13, HDP ILD 32 and second-level conductor 60 both exhibit the high degree of planarity achievable with a reticulated conductor and an appropriate ILD deposition method.
Reticulated conductors fabricated in accordance with the present invention may be designed with segments of greater than critical width. Although the region above such conductors may still require planarization after ILD deposition, it has been found that such a reticulated conductor/ILD generally polishes down faster with CMP than an equivalent non-reticulated conductor/ILD. This may be useful, for instance, to reduce CMP polish time where CMP for a conductor/ILD level is unavoidable because of other constraints.
The invention is not to be construed as limited to the particular examples described herein, as these are to be regarded as illustrative, rather than restrictive. The principles discussed herein may be used to design many other reticulation patterns not shown herein which produce the same effect. Other ILD deposition techniques may be applicable to the present invention under appropriate conditions, including sequential deposition and back-sputter cycling (as opposed to continuous simultaneous deposition and back-sputtering), combined sputter/back-sputter techniques, and methods requiring no seed layer. The seed layer itself may be produced by many known processes, if such a layer is included. A deposition+back-sputter method may, for instance, only be used for one layer of the overall ILD, with the remainder formed from a conformal deposition. Other materials such as silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride may be included in the ILD. A large variety of dielectric materials may be applicable to ILD deposition by spin-on technique, since selective planarization for such a deposition is primarily a function of viscosity and wafer spin rate. The conductors themselves may be formed of virtually any conducting materials compatible with a semiconductor process (or include non-conducting sublayers), since patterned conductors tend to exhibit similar shape irrespective of composition.
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A semiconductor device and process for making the same are disclosed which use reticulated conductors and a width-selective planarizing interlevel dielectric (ILD) deposition process to improve planarity of an interconnect layer. Reticulated conductor 52 is used in place of a solid conductor where the required solid conductor width would be greater than a process and design dependent critical width (conductors smaller than the critical width may be planarized by an appropriate ILD deposition). The reticulated conductor is preferably formed of integrally-formed conductive segments with widths less than the critical width, such that an ILD 32 formed by a process such as a high density plasma oxide deposition (formed by decomposition of silane in an oxygen-argon atmosphere with a back-sputtering bias) or spin-coating planarizes the larger, reticulated conductor as it would a solid conductor of less than critical width. Using such a technique, subsequent ILD planarization steps by e.g., chemical mechanic polishing or etchback, may be reduced or avoided entirely.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to storage systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatuses that utilize large capacity disk drives.
[0002] The capacity of a single HDD (Hard Disk Drive) unit provided by HDD vendors is increasing at a rapid rate in the HDD market. The capacity of a SSD (Solid State Disk) unit is also increasing. In order to avoid loss of data due to the failure of a disk unit, most storage systems adopt data protection with redundancy such as mirroring and RAID technology. As disclosed in “A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)” by D. A. Patterson, G. Gibson and R. H. Kats, published in Proc. ACM SIGMOD, pp. 109-116, June 1988, RAID configurations are classified in accordance with so-called RAID levels. RAID4, RAID5 and RAID6 configurations use parity code generated from stored data as redundant information. By using the parity code, data stored in multiple disks in a distributed manner can be reconstructed for an occurrence of a disk failure. In this manner, high data availability is accomplished. In the article, having the same data in multiple disks, so called mirroring, is introduced as one method to protect data and is categorized as RAID1.
[0003] U.S. Pat. No. 7,386,758 discloses an Object-based Storage Device (OSD) that uses RAID technology and perform reconstruction of data according to the OSD's information indicating where each object is stored in the OSD.
[0004] Because the recovery of data is achieved by copying and/or generating the same data as the data stored in the failed disk, the recovery process needs considerable time. This disk failure causes the following influences from occasion of the disk failure to completion of the recovery: the reduction of possibility to avoid unavailability and data loss due to the reduction of redundancy, and the deterioration of performance due to the load of copying data.
[0005] Applying large capacity disk drives causes the lengthening of the above duration because the amount of data to be recovered becomes large in comparison with using traditional small capacity disk drives. Therefore, a disk failure recovery method that aligns to the users' applications and usage is required at present.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Exemplary embodiments of the invention provide a storage system which has the capability to prioritize the location of data to be recovered at the occurrence of a disk failure. In one embodiment, the prioritization is achieved by monitoring the access characteristics such as access frequency. The storage system monitors the access characteristics as usage of data and determines the priority regarding the recovery process according to the statistics. In another embodiment, the priority is specified by the host computer or management computer based on the usage and/or importance of data stored in the storage system. The priority is registered to the storage system by the host computer or management computer. The storage system performs recovery from a disk failure according to the specified priority. In yet another embodiment, the priority is determined by the storage system based on the area assignment/release (i.e., usage) of thin provisioned volumes. Using the above approaches, the area to store data in one disk drive can be classified into multiple priorities and recovery from the failure of the disk can be performed according to the priority. The invention is particularly advantageous when applied to the recovery of data stored in a large capacity disk drive.
[0007] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method of utilizing storage in a storage system comprises prioritizing a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and performing data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities. Data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system.
[0008] In some embodiments, the prioritizing comprises monitoring access characteristics of the storage areas in the storage system; and prioritizing the storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities based on the monitored access characteristics. The access characteristics comprise at least one of access frequency, access rate, or access interval.
[0009] In specific embodiments, the prioritizing comprises assigning the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system. The different priorities are assigned based on at least one of usage or importance of data in the storage areas. The method further comprises, if the different priorities are assigned based on the usage of data in the storage areas, analyzing the usage of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities and updating the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the analyzed usage; and if the different priorities are assigned based on the importance of data in the storage areas, analyzing the importance of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities and updating the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the analyzed importance.
[0010] In some embodiments, for a storage volume which is a thin provisioned volume, the prioritizing comprises determining the different priorities based on area assignment and release of the thin provisioned volume using information regarding assignation process and information regarding release process for the thin provisioned volume.
[0011] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a storage system comprises a data processor and a memory; a plurality of storage areas which have different priorities for data recovery; and a storage controller which performs data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities. Data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system.
[0012] Another aspect of the invention is directed to a computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a data processor to utilize storage in a storage system. The plurality of instructions comprise instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and instructions that cause the data processor to perform data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities. Data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system.
[0013] These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the following detailed description of the specific embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a system in which the method and apparatus of the invention may be applied.
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a memory in the storage system of FIG. 1 .
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates the structure and method for providing thin provisioned volumes.
[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the mapping information.
[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the pool information.
[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the volume information.
[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the relationship among disks, parity groups, pool volumes, and conventional volumes.
[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method for generating parity information.
[0022] FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary method for calculating a new parity value when the relevant date is updated.
[0023] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method for reconstructing a data stripe from the parity and the other data stripes.
[0024] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of the internal volume information.
[0025] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the parity group information.
[0026] FIG. 13 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating an overview of a process for a write request from the host computer.
[0027] FIG. 14 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating an overview of a process for a read request from the host computer.
[0028] FIG. 15 is an example of flow diagram illustrating a write process for the thin provisioned volume.
[0029] FIG. 16 illustrates an example of the access information regarding access for segments.
[0030] FIG. 17 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a read process for the thin provisioned volume.
[0031] FIG. 18 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a write process for the conventional volume.
[0032] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of the access information for the conventional volume.
[0033] FIG. 20 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a read process for the conventional volume.
[0034] FIG. 21 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a release request process for the thin provisioned volume.
[0035] FIG. 22 illustrates an example of the releasability information.
[0036] FIG. 23 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process of releasing chunks of the thin provisioned volume.
[0037] FIG. 24 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process to determine recovery priority of each area of the conventional volumes and thin provisioned volumes.
[0038] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of the recovery priority information.
[0039] FIG. 26 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process for registration of recovery priority of each area of the volumes based on performance requirement.
[0040] FIG. 27 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process for registration of recovery priority of each area of the volumes based on importance of data.
[0041] FIG. 28 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process to generate recovery priority of each area of the thin provisioned volumes based on area assignment/release (i.e., usage) of the thin provisioned volumes.
[0042] FIG. 29 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process for recovery from a disk failure according to the recovery priority.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0043] In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the disclosure, and in which are shown by way of illustration, and not of limitation, exemplary embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. In the drawings, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. Further, it should be noted that while the detailed description provides various exemplary embodiments, as described below and as illustrated in the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described and illustrated herein, but can extend to other embodiments, as would be known or as would become known to those skilled in the art. Reference in the specification to “one embodiment,” “this embodiment,” or “these embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention, and the appearances of these phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Additionally, in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that these specific details may not all be needed to practice the present invention. In other circumstances, well-known structures, materials, circuits, processes and interfaces have not been described in detail, and/or may be illustrated in block diagram form, so as to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention.
[0044] Furthermore, some portions of the detailed description that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations within a computer. These algorithmic descriptions and symbolic representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the essence of their innovations to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is a series of defined steps leading to a desired end state or result. In the present invention, the steps carried out require physical manipulations of tangible quantities for achieving a tangible result. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals or instructions capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, instructions, or the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “displaying,” or the like, can include the actions and processes of a computer system or other information processing device that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system's memories or registers or other information storage, transmission or display devices.
[0045] The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may include one or more general-purpose computers selectively activated or reconfigured by one or more computer programs. Such computer programs may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to optical disks, magnetic disks, read-only memories, random access memories, solid state devices and drives, or any other types of media suitable for storing electronic information. The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs and modules in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform desired method steps. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. The instructions of the programming language(s) may be executed by one or more processing devices, e.g., central processing units (CPUs), processors, or controllers.
[0046] Exemplary embodiments of the invention, as will be described in greater detail below, provide apparatuses, methods and computer programs for prioritizing the location of data to be recovered during failure which are particularly advantageous in large capacity disk drives.
[0047] According to exemplary embodiments, a method of the invention
[0048] A. System Configuration
[0049] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a system in which the method and apparatus of the invention may be applied. A storage system 100 has a storage controller 110 , a main processor 111 , a switch 112 , a host interface 113 , a memory 200 , a cache 300 , a disk controller 400 , a disk 600 (e.g., HDD and SSD), and backend path 601 (e.g., Fibre Channel, SATA, SAS, and iSCSI(IP)).
[0050] The main processor 111 performs various processes regarding the storage controller 110 . The main processor 111 and other components use the following information stored in the memory 200 as shown in FIG. 2 : mapping information 201 , pool information 202 , volume information 203 , access information 204 , segment group Information 205 , internal volume information 206 , parity group information 207 , releasability information 208 , and recovery priority information 209 .
[0051] The main processor 111 performs the processes by executing the following programs stored in memory 200 as shown in FIG. 2 : write process program 211 , read process program 212 , release registration program 213 , release program 214 , recovery priority determination program 215 , recover priority registration program 216 , and recovery program 217 . The details of these processes are described later.
[0052] The host 500 and management computer 520 are connected to the host interface 113 via the SAN 900 (e.g., Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and iSCSI(IP)). The host 500 and management computer 520 and storage controller 110 are connected with each other via the LAN 902 (e.g., IP network).
[0053] The host 500 has a file system 501 , an operating system OS 502 , and an application program 503 . To run these programs, the host 500 also has resources such as processor, memory, storage devices not shown in FIG. 1 .
[0054] The management computer 520 has a file system 501 , an OS 502 , and a management program 523 . To run these programs, the management computer 520 also has resources such as processor, memory, storage devices not shown in FIG. 1 . The management computer 520 maintains the recovery priority information 529 on the memory as described below.
[0055] B. Overview of Method for Providing Volumes
[0056] In one embodiment, the storage system 100 provides thin provisioned volumes (TPVs) 610 and conventional (not thin provisioned) volumes 630 . Regarding these types of volumes, U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,600 to Kano discloses a storage system that provides conventional volumes and thin provisioned volumes. FIG. 3 illustrates the structure and method to provide TPVs 610 . The storage system 100 has pool volumes 620 and divides the pool volumes 620 into a number of fixed-length areas called chunks 690 . The storage system 100 assigns a chunk 690 to a segment of a virtual volume (TPV) on write access. In other words, the physical storage area is assigned on demand. In FIG. 3 , a TPV 610 is constituted by multiple segments virtually, and a chunk 690 is allocated from the pool volume 620 and assigned to a segment (i.e., a fixed length area (page) of TPV 610 ). For example, the chunk 4 is assigned to the segment 6 in FIG. 3 . That is, a TPV 610 is a page-based volume.
[0057] To achieve this, the storage controller 110 uses the mapping information 201 and pool information 202 . FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the mapping information 201 . This information maintains the mapping between chunks and segments of each volume. The status of assignation is “No” if no chunk is assigned to the segment. This information can be constructed as a list or a directory of each element for faster search.
[0058] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the pool information 202 . This information manages whether a chunk is used or not. By using this information, the storage controller 110 is able to find free (unused) chunks in the write process described below. This information also can be constructed as a list or directory of each element to search a free chunk quickly.
[0059] The storage system 100 also provides conventional volumes 630 . The storage controller 110 allocates storage areas to the whole area of the conventional volume 630 at the creation of the volume as shown in FIG. 1 . In order to manage the storage area for the conventional volumes 630 , the storage controller 110 uses the volume information 203 .
[0060] FIG. 6 shows an example of the volume information 203 . This information includes the type (i.e., conventional or TPV), size, and public volume ID for each volume. This volume ID is used to recognize the volume by other computers including the host computers 500 . With the internal volume ID, as described below, the storage controller 110 can recognize the relationship between the conventional volumes 630 and the parity groups 603 (see FIG. 7 ) by also referring to the internal volume information 206 and parity group information 207 . The volume information 203 also maintains the relation (mapping) between the public volume ID and internal volume ID of a conventional volume 630 .
[0061] The volume information 203 is also used to supply the TPVs 610 as data storage volumes provided by the storage system 100 to the host 500 , by referring to the TPV ID. In other words, the volume information 203 maintains the relation (mapping) between the public volume ID and the TPV ID. The volume information 203 also includes information regarding the segment size of each volume of not only the TPV 610 but the conventional volume 630 . That is, both the TPV and conventional volume have a fixed-length segment. The segment size may be selectable and registered by the user via the host 500 , the management computer 520 , and/or the management terminal of the storage system 100 .
[0062] C. Parity Groups and Data Protection
[0063] FIG. 7 illustrates the relationship among the disks 600 , parity group 603 , pool volumes 620 , and conventional volumes 630 . The parity group 603 is a collection of multiple physical storage disks 600 . With the RAID technology, data and parity generated from the data are distributed among multiple disks 600 within the parity group 603 . The parity group provides storage resources to store the data in a distributed manner. The storage area provided by the parity group is subdivided into volumes (i.e., conventional volumes 630 and pool volumes 620 ). Each of the conventional volumes 630 and a pool volume 620 can also include storage areas of multiple parity groups 603 .
[0064] FIGS. 8 , 9 , and 10 illustrate exemplary methods for generating parity and reconstructing data based on the RAID technology. Specifically, FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method for generating the parity information. Parity is generated by means of an XOR (exclusive OR) calculation, wherein Data-A, Data-B and Data-C are data sets (stripes) that generate one unit of parity and represent information units distributed to each disk in a single parity group. In particular, the parity is calculated using the formula: Data-A XOR Data-B XOR Data-C=Parity.
[0065] To maintain the above relationship between the data stored in the physical disks and the parity, the parity must be changed when the stored data is changed. FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary method for calculating a new parity value when the relevant data is updated. The new parity value is obtained using the following calculation: new Data-A XOR old Data-A XOR old Parity=new Parity.
[0066] Because the above relationship between the data and the parity is always maintained, one data stripe can be reconstructed from the other data stripe and the parity value. That is, if a portion of the stored data is lost due to a failure of a disk in a parity group, the lost data stripe can be recovered. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method for reconstructing a data stripe from the parity and the other data stripes. Specifically, Data-C can be reconstructed using the following calculation: Data-A XOR Data-B XOR Parity=Data-C. The storage systems configured in accordance with the RAID level 6 (RAID6) can recover the data even upon losing two data stripes because the RAID6 maintains two parity codes and distributes them to two different disks.
[0067] Moreover, data stored in disks 600 may be protected also by mirroring of the data (i.e., RAID1). With mirroring, in the recovery of data stored in a failed disk 600 , data stored in disk 600 that forms a mirroring pair with the failed disk 600 is copied to another disk 600 .
[0068] To manage the above relationship among the disks 600 , parity groups 603 , and volumes, the storage controller 110 maintains the internal volume information 206 and parity group information 207 . FIG. 11 shows an example of the internal volume information 206 . This information indicates the relationship regarding how an area on parity groups 603 is assigned to each of the volumes (i.e., conventional volume 630 and pool volume 620 ). This information has the internal volume ID, type of each volume, size of each volume, parity group ID, and start address of the area for the volume. FIG. 12 shows an example of the parity group information 207 . This information maintains the construction of each parity group 603 and type of data protection for the parity group 603 . For example, parity group # 0 is constructed by four disks 600 and secured with mirroring (i.e., RAID1). In the example, disk # 0 and disk # 1 make a mirroring pair and have the same data as well as a pair made with disk # 2 and disk # 3 .
[0069] D. Overview of Write Process
[0070] FIG. 13 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating an overview of a process for a write request from the host computer 500 . At step 1001 , the host 500 issues a write request and transfers write data to the storage controller 110 . At step 1002 , the storage controller 110 checks the target volume of the write access by referring to the write request. At step 1003 , if the type of the target volume is TPV, the storage controller 110 performs a write process for TPV (step 1004 ). Otherwise, the storage controller 110 performs a write process for conventional volume (step 1005 ). Each of the detailed write processes is described below.
[0071] E. Overview of Read Process
[0072] FIG. 14 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating an overview of a process for a read request from the host computer 500 . At step 1101 , the host 500 issues a read request to the storage controller 110 . At step 1102 , the storage controller 110 checks the target volume of the read access by referring to the read request. At step 1103 , if the type of the target volume is TPV, the storage controller 110 performs a read process for TPV (step 1104 ). Otherwise, the storage controller 110 performs a read process for conventional volume (step 1105 ). Each of the detailed read processes is described below.
[0073] F. Write Process for TPV
[0074] FIG. 15 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a write process for the TPV 610 . At step 1201 , the storage controller 110 checks the target TPV 610 and the target area of the write access by referring to the write request. At step 1202 , the storage controller 110 checks the mapping information 201 for a segment in the target area. If a chunk has already been assigned to the segment, the process proceeds to step 1205 . If not, the process proceeds to step 1203 .
[0075] At step 1203 (a chunk has not been assigned), the storage controller 110 assigns a new chunk to store the write data. To do this, the storage controller 110 updates the mapping information 201 and pool information 202 . By using the pool information 202 , the storage controller 110 finds the new chunk from internal storage. At step 1204 , the storage controller 110 stores the write data to the new chunk, and then the process proceeds to step 1206 .
[0076] At step 1205 (a chunk has been assigned), the storage controller 110 stores the write data to the existing chunk.
[0077] At step 1206 , the storage controller 110 updates the access information 204 . This information records the access characteristics regarding the segment (i.e., page). At step 1207 , if the storage controller 110 has checked all segments of the target area, the process ends. If not, the storage controller 110 advances the check to the next segment (step 1208 ).
[0078] FIG. 16 illustrates an example of the access information 204 regarding the access for the segments. As shown in FIG. 16 , this maintains information regarding access to each segment group such as the access rate per unit time, last access time, and average access length, for each of read and write. A segment group is a collection of segment of the TPV and it is composed of a fixed number of contiguous segments. The number of segments in one segment number is defined in the segment group information 205 and can be selected by the users directly or via the management computer 520 . When the value is set to one, a segment group becomes equivalent to a segment. Using a small number as the number of segments in a segment group realizes fine statistics while it increase the size of the memory to store the statistics. The information regarding the average access length may be initialized at a certain interval. By referring this information, the access frequency and access interval related to each segment group can be obtained.
[0079] G. Read Process for TPV
[0080] FIG. 17 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a read process for TPV 610 . At step 1301 , the storage controller 110 checks the target TPV 610 and target area of the read access by referring to the read request. At step 1302 , the storage controller 110 checks the mapping information 201 for a segment in the target area. If a chunk has already been assigned to the segment, the process proceeds to step 1303 . If not, the process proceeds to step 1305 .
[0081] At step 1303 (a chunk has been assigned), the storage controller 110 transfers data stored in the chunk to the host 500 . At step 1304 , the storage controller 110 updates the access information 204 . At step 1305 (a chunk has not been assigned), the storage controller 110 sends data of zero (0) to the host 500 . Finally, at step 1306 , if the storage controller 110 has checked all segments of the target area, the process ends. If not, the storage controller 110 advances the check to the next segment (step 1307 ).
[0082] H. Write Process for Conventional Volume
[0083] According to embodiments of this invention, the access information 204 is recorded (i.e., access characteristics is monitored) also for the conventional volumes 630 .
[0084] FIG. 18 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a write process for the conventional volume 630 . At step 1401 , the storage controller 110 checks the target conventional volume 630 and target area of the write access by referring to the write request. At step 1402 , the storage controller 110 stores the write data to the target area of the write access. At step 1403 , the storage controller 110 updates the access information 204 .
[0085] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of the access information 204 for the conventional volume. This is the same as the access information 204 shown in FIG. 16 except for having the conventional volume ID and the conventional volume segment ID.
[0086] I. Read Process for Conventional Volume
[0087] FIG. 20 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a read process for the conventional volume 630 . At step 1501 , the storage controller 110 checks the target conventional volume 630 and target area of the read access by referring to the read request. At step 1502 , the storage controller 110 transfers data stored in the target area of the read access to the host 500 . At step 1503 , the storage controller 110 updates the access information 204 .
[0088] J. Release Request Process for TPV
[0089] The host 500 can inform of no longer used areas (i.e., segments) to the storage system 100 and require reclaiming the chunks 690 from the segments.
[0090] FIG. 21 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a release request process for the TPV 610 . At step 1601 , the host 500 searches unused area of TPVs 610 and issues a release request to the storage controller 110 . The above process of seeking unused segments may be performed by the file system 501 because the file system 501 can recognize the status of data storing and the usage of storage area in the TPVs 610 . At step 1602 , the storage controller 110 checks the target TPV 610 and target area to be released by referring to the received request. At step 1603 , the storage controller 110 updates the releasability information 208 for the target area.
[0091] FIG. 22 illustrates an example of the releasability information 208 . This information indicates the releasability of each segment. With the release request, the storage controller 110 changes “releasable” to “Yes” for the target area.
[0092] K. Process of Releasing Chunks of TPV
[0093] FIG. 23 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process of releasing chunks of the TPV 610 . This process is repeated at a predetermined interval or performed when the load of the storage system 110 is low. At step 1701 , the storage controller 110 checks the releasability information 208 . If there are segments marked as releasable, the process proceeds to step 1702 . If not, the process ends. At step 1702 , the storage controller 110 updates the releasability information 208 . The storage controller 110 changes “releasable” status to “No” for the segment having chunks 690 to be released. At step 1703 , the storage controller 110 releases the chunks 690 from the above segments by updating the mapping information 201 and pool information 202 .
[0094] L. Recovery Priority Determination Process
[0095] FIG. 24 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process to determine recovery priority of each area of the conventional volumes 630 and TPVs 610 . In this example, the priority is determined according to access characteristics such as access rate, frequency, and interval. At step 1801 , the storage controller 110 detects a failure of a disk 600 . At step 1802 , the storage controller 110 finds the affected area of the TPVs 610 and conventional volumes 630 regarding the failure. The storage controller 110 can obtain the affected area by referring to the mapping information 201 , internal volume information 206 , and parity group information 207 in regard to the failed disk 600 . At step 1803 , the storage controller 110 checks the access information 204 for the affected area in order to obtain the access characteristics such as access frequency. At step 1804 , the storage controller 110 classifies the area to several (e.g., three) priorities such as high, middle, and low according to the access characteristics. For example, the storage controller 110 obtains order (ranking) of access frequency for each area or segment group and separate them into the three classes. At step 1805 , the storage controller 110 records the obtained priority in the recovery priority information 209 .
[0096] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of the recovery priority information 209 . In this example, the volume ID column shows the identifiers used in the volume information 203 . As shown in FIG. 25 , the areas in volumes including conventional volume 630 and TPV 610 are classified into multiple classes such as high priority group, middle priority group, and low priority group for the recovery process. In this example, an area having high access frequency has high priority and an area having low access frequency has low priority. Other factors of access characteristics can be used as another example of determining the priority. In regard to the manner to indicate an area, as another example, the segment ID or segment group ID can also be applied instead of using the start address and area length. As another example of method regarding the invention, access characteristics monitored by host 500 may be used to determine the priority.
[0097] M. Recovery Priority Registration Process for Performance Requirement
[0098] As another method to obtain the priority or classification for recovery from a disk failure, registration of the priority from host 500 or management computer 520 can be performed. FIG. 26 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process for registration of recovery priority of each area of the volumes based on performance requirement. In this example, the host 500 or management computer 520 analyzes the performance requirement of each area of each volume. For example, the data of database application, especially index of data base, requires performance. The data of transaction application also requires performance. The host 500 or management computer 520 can assign high priority to the area storing such data. The host 500 or management computer 520 can evaluate the difference of performance requirement among multiple applications.
[0099] At step 1901 , the management computer 520 analyzes the performance requirement for data stored on area in volumes. At step 1902 , the management computer 520 obtains the location of the data and classifies the area into several (e.g., three) priorities such as high, middle, and low according to the analyzed difference of the performance requirement. At step 1903 , the management computer 520 records the obtained priority in the recovery priority information 529 . An example of the recovery priority information 209 as shown in FIG. 25 can also be applied for this information 529 . At step 1904 , the management computer 520 issues a recovery registration request to the storage controller 110 . With this request, the content of the recovery priority information 529 is transferred to the storage controller 110 . At step 1905 , the storage controller 110 updates the recovery priority information 209 by referring to the received information. As another example, the management computer 520 may specify just the high priority area instead of multiple classes.
[0100] N. Recovery Priority Registration Process Based on Importance of Data
[0101] Another factor to consider is the importance of data. In other words, the priority may be evaluated based on the necessity to avoid loss of the data. FIG. 27 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process for registration of recovery priority of each area of the volumes based on importance of data. In this example, the host 500 or management computer 520 analyzes the importance of each area of each volume. For example, the metadata used by the file system 501 , OS 502 , and application program 503 is important because the loss of the metadata may cause the loss or unavailability of the whole data used by the software. The host 500 or management computer 520 can assign high priority to the area storing such data. In addition, from the user's viewpoint, most application programs 503 maintain both of important user data and unimportant data. That is, there is a difference of importance. The host 500 or management computer 520 can evaluate the difference of importance among multiple types of data maintained by multiple applications.
[0102] At step 2001 , the management computer 520 analyzes the importance mentioned above for the data stored on area in volumes. At step 2002 , the management computer 520 obtains the location of the data and classifies the area into several (e.g., three) priorities such as high, middle, and low according to the analyzed difference of importance or necessity to avoid loss of the data. At step 2003 , the management computer 520 records the obtained priority in the recovery priority information 529 . An example of the recovery priority information 209 as shown in FIG. 25 can also be applied for this information 529 . At step 2004 , the management computer 520 issues a recovery registration request to the storage controller 110 . With this request, the content of the recovery priority information 529 is transferred to the storage controller 110 . At step 2005 , the storage controller 110 updates the recovery priority information 209 by referring to the received information. As another example, the management computer 520 may specify just the high priority area instead of multiple classes.
[0103] O. Recovery Priority Determination Based on Processes for TPV
[0104] As described above, processes to provide TPVs 610 include the assignation and release request of the chunk 910 . The information regarding the assignation process and the release process can be used to generate the recovery priority information 209 . FIG. 28 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process to generate recovery priority of each area of the thin provisioned volumes based on area assignment/release (i.e., usage) of the thin provisioned volumes. By this process, areas that are expected to continue storing data acquire high priority for recovery from a disk failure.
[0105] At step 2101 , the storage controller 110 detects a failure of a disk 600 . At step 2102 , the storage controller 110 finds the affected area of the TPVs 610 regarding the failure. The storage controller 110 can obtain the affected area by referring mapping information 201 , internal volume information 206 , and parity group information 207 in regard to the failed disk 600 . At step 2103 , the storage controller 110 resets the recovery priority information 209 to “Low” as the initial value. At step 2104 , the storage controller 110 checks the mapping information 201 for a segment in the affected area. If a chunk has already been assigned to the segment, the process proceeds to step 2105 . If not, the process proceeds to step 2108 . At step 2105 , the storage controller 110 checks the releasability information 208 for the segment. If the segment is marked as releasable, the process proceeds to step 2108 . If not, the process proceeds to step 2106 . At step 2106 , the storage controller 110 classifies the area of the segment as high priority for recovery. At step 2107 , the storage controller 110 records the obtained priority in the recovery priority information 209 . At step 2108 , if the storage controller 110 has checked all segments of the affected area, the process ends. If not, the storage controller 110 advances the check to the next segment (step 2109 ).
[0106] P. Recovery Process
[0107] FIG. 29 is an example of a flow diagram illustrating a process for recovery from a disk failure according to the recovery priority described above. At step 2201 , the storage controller 110 obtains the recovery priority of each area on the disk 600 to be recovered. The storage controller 110 refers to the volume information 203 , internal volume information 206 , and/or mapping information 201 to recognize the location on the disk 600 . The storage controller 110 also refers to the recovery priority information 209 to obtain the priority. At step 2202 , the storage controller 110 recovers the data stored in the failed disk 600 to another disk 600 by using the aforesaid methods according to the obtained priority.
[0108] To achieve the recovery based on the priority, the storage controller 110 can allocate computing resource (e.g., processing time of main processor 111 and disk controller 400 , memory 200 , and bandwidth of backend paths 601 ) to each of the concurrent recovery processes for multiple locations according to the priority of each location. The storage controller 110 can also control execution order of recovery processes according to the priority. With the methods and processes described above, disk failure recovery methods that align to the users' applications and usage can be achieved.
[0109] Of course, the system configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 is purely exemplary of information systems in which the present invention may be implemented, and the invention is not limited to a particular hardware configuration. The computers and storage systems implementing the invention can also have known I/O devices (e.g., CD and DVD drives, floppy disk drives, hard drives, etc.) which can store and read the modules, programs and data structures used to implement the above-described invention. These modules, programs and data structures can be encoded on such computer-readable media. For example, the data structures of the invention can be stored on computer-readable media independently of one or more computer-readable media on which reside the programs used in the invention. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples of communication networks include local area networks, wide area networks, e.g., the Internet, wireless networks, storage area networks, and the like.
[0110] In the description, numerous details are set forth for purposes of explanation in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that not all of these specific details are required in order to practice the present invention. It is also noted that the invention may be described as a process, which is usually depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged.
[0111] As is known in the art, the operations described above can be performed by hardware, software, or some combination of software and hardware. Various aspects of embodiments of the invention may be implemented using circuits and logic devices (hardware), while other aspects may be implemented using instructions stored on a machine-readable medium (software), which if executed by a processor, would cause the processor to perform a method to carry out embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, some embodiments of the invention may be performed solely in hardware, whereas other embodiments may be performed solely in software. Moreover, the various functions described can be performed in a single unit, or can be spread across a number of components in any number of ways. When performed by software, the methods may be executed by a processor, such as a general purpose computer, based on instructions stored on a computer-readable medium. If desired, the instructions can be stored on the medium in a compressed and/or encrypted format.
[0112] From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the invention provides methods, apparatuses and programs stored on computer readable media for prioritizing the location of data to be recovered during failure which are particularly advantageous in large capacity disk drives. Additionally, while specific embodiments have been illustrated and described in this specification, those of ordinary skill in the art appreciate that any arrangement that is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments disclosed. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of the present invention, and it is to be understood that the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined entirely by the following claims, which are to be construed in accordance with the established doctrines of claim interpretation, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
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A method of utilizing storage in a storage system comprises prioritizing a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and performing data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities. Data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system. In various embodiments, the prioritization is achieved by monitoring the access characteristics, or the priority is specified by the host or management computer based on the usage and/or importance of data stored in the storage system, or the priority is determined by the storage system based on the area assignment/release (i.e., usage) of thin provisioned volumes.
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 326,228, filed Jan. 24, 1973, now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for conversion of soluble biodegradable organic compounds into useful products. The process of the invention converts such soluble biodegradable organic compounds into useful products, such as, high protein concentrates for animal fodder and sources of protein, enzymes and vitamins. The process of the invention can be used for treating certain food processing wastes and for treating certain industrial wastes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Municipal sewage generally contains about 100 to 300 mg/l solubles and about 100 to 500 mg/l solids and the treatment in a municipal sewage plant is to break down and remove both solubles and solids. The predominant problem, however, with municipal sewage treatment is to remove the solids and since the amount of solubles present in material to be treated generally is minor, there is little concern with the solubles present. In contrast, biodegradable industrial wastes generally contain about 1000 to 100,000 mg/l. For example, cheese whey has a solubles content of about 60,000 mg/l and only a trace of solids.
Industrial wastes in this form cause extreme problems and upsets to sewage treatment plants because of the high concentration of waste and as a result of the high level, the material must either be treated prior to treatment by municipal sewage treatment plants or disposed of using alternative methods. Conventional treatment of industrial wastes is dilution with water and then to treat the diluted wastes in the same manner as municipal sewage or simply disposal by injecting of the waste into deep wells. These wastes are not, therefore, recovered.
Present day conventional methods for treatment of municipal sewage wastes generally containing a large solids content and minor amounts of solubles on a relative basis are based upon subjecting the wastes to microbial oxidation by the activated sludge process. Activated sludge and flocculated waste generally has a solids content of about 200,000 mg/l and in the activated sludge process used to treat such wastes up to 90% of the organic material is removed as a solid residue or a semi-solid sludge. The sludge and flocculated wastes are stabilized in an anaerobic digester for about 30 days. The waste then must be disposed of by such methods as use as land fillings, disposal at sea, incineration, further treatment to produce fertilizers, and use in soil conditioning, etc. Where the product is to be used as a land fill, additional problems arise due to the presence of pathogenic organisms and generally thermophilic conditions are employed in the digester to destroy pathogenic bacteria. Due to environmental concerns of space limitations, of odors and air quality, of problems with pathogenicity, the above methods of disposal are expensive and environmentally of concern. Therefore, at the present time, there is great interest and activity in research on waste treatment methods.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,275 discloses a process in which solid, organic biodegradable wastes such as solid sludge from primary sewage treatment plants, activated sludge from secondary sewage treatment plants, and solid wastes obtained by coagulation or flocculation of dilute aqueous waste containing suspensions, i.e., coagulation or flocculation is used since the solid materials have about the same specific gravity as the medium and do not settle, are treated with mixed populations of selected thermophilic microorganisms under aerobic conditions at temperatures of from 45° to 80°C. Cellular proteinaceous materials and other cellular products are disclosed as being produced by the above-described process. The emphasis in this process is the treatment of solid waste materials, i.e., sewage sludge, activated sludge, animal wastes containing about 20% by weight solids with low solubles levels or the concentration by flocculation of dilute suspensions of solid wastes and the utilization of organisms and conditions which promote the breakdown or organic polymers such as cellulose materials, the fungi present in such a mixed population being so favored and producing cellular proteinaceous material and products which, due to their nature, are useful as feeds only for ruminants or must be further processed for ready availability by other animals by extraction of the crude proteins with hot alkali followed by purification.
The above-described process is not and the prior art in general has not been concerned with the problems of soluble biodegradable organic waste materials present, for example, in food processing wastes, e.g., various types of cheese whey, and in industrial waste solutions such as those generated in the petroleum and photographic industries, these materials comprising generally soluble organic waste materials. These materials generally contain soluble wastes dissolved in solution and at concentrations which are sufficiently high to cause environmental problems if discharged directly into the biosphere and generally cause severe treatment problems if not pretreated, e.g., by dilution with water, if fed directly to solid waste treatment plants.
It is an object of this invention to provide a waste treatment method for disposing of food processing wastes and industrial biodegradable wastes.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a process for producing proteins, vitamins, enzymes and unidentified growth factors from sources of soluble biodegradable waste materials.
It is additionally an object of this invention to provide a process for producing proteins from such soluble wastes in a high yield.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for producing a source of proteins as animal feeds and feed supplements which can be readily utilized and metabolized by a wide variety of animals without the need for further significant treatment or processing.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of producing from soluble biodegradable waste materials an effluent low in biochemical oxygen demand, low in nitrogen, and low in phosphorus which meets present Federal Environmental Water Quality Standards in most locations and can be discharged directly into rivers and streams without causing pollution problems or which can be discharged through conventional municipal sewage systems without providing an unreasonable load to such sewage systems.
These and other objects of the invention are obtained in the practice of the process of this invention as hereinafter described.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The process of this invention comprises treating soluble biodegradable organic waste materials in a liquid medium with selected thermophilic microorganisms, as hereinafter described, and holding the mixture at temperatures of from about 45°C to 70°C while supplying oxygen and required nitrogen and trace minerals to the mixture for a time sufficient for conversion of the soluble organic wastes. Within this temperature range, under these aerobic conditions and in the presence of the added nitrogen and minerals the thermophilic microorganisms multiply and convert the soluble organic waste materials to cellular proteinaceous materials and other cellular products.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
The accompanying drawing is a flowsheet illustrating an embodiment of the process of this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The water-soluble organic biodegradable waste materials which can be treated in accordance with the process of this invention basically can include the waste materials from any process which gives rise to wastes containing water-soluble biodegradable materials, including fresh cheese whey, cottage cheese whey, deproteinated cheese whey, butter whey, vegetable processing wastes, brewery wastes, chemical processing wastes, soy bean processing wastes, sugar processing wastes, corn processing wastes, cellulose acetate processing wastes, photographic film developing wastes containing sources of carbon such as acetic acid, hydrocarbon refining wastes, and plastic manufacturing wastes.
The amount of soluble biodegradable organic waste materials utilized as a starting material in the process of this invention which can be present in the liquid medium is not critical and can be as low as about 1 gram per liter to as high as about 100 grams per liter or higher. Use of less than 1 gram per liter is not desired from an economic standpoint and it is especially preferred for economic reasons to employ a biodegradable mixture which contains at least 10 grams per liter of biodegradable organic material since employing waste materials which contain greater than 990 grams per liter of water requires the heating of excessive amounts of water without any commensurate advantages. Use of amounts substantially higher than 100 grams per liter, while possible, gives rise to processing problems such as high oxygen transfer demand.
Oxygen is necessary in the process of this invention, and any conventionally known technique for supplying oxygen into a substantially liquid system can be employed. For example, oxygen or an oxygen containing gas such as air can be supplied under normal or superatmospheric pressures by bubbling the oxygen or air into the reaction mixture containing the thermophilic microorganisms, the soluble biodegradable organic waste materials and the necessary nitrogen and trace minerals and agitating the reaction mixture. While the amount of oxygen added generally will be dependent upon the amount of soluble biodegradable organic waste materials present it is desirable that the mixture contains at least 0.01 mg of oxygen per liter of the mixture. The amount of dissolved oxygen can be as high as 4 mg per liter of mixture or higher, for example, up to the oxygen saturation point. The upper limit on the amount of oxygen present is merely an economical consideration. Large amounts of oxygen can be utilized but give no economical advantage in the process of this invention.
In the practice of this invention, trace elements must be present with the thermophilic microorganisms to favor the growth of the thermophilic microorganisms and, thereby, the efficient conversion of the soluble organic biodegradable wastes in accordance with this invention. Generally a wide variety of trace elements are present inherently in waste materials but even when these trace elements are present they usually are not present at a high enough level for sustaining the efficient propagation of thermophilic bacteria and to obtain high yields. Generally, for propagation of bacteria elements such as manganese, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and nitrogen are required. In this invention manganese must be present in the mixture to an extent of at least one part by weight to 50 parts by weight of 10,000 parts by weight of carbon in the waste source. Any soluble salt containing manganese, such as manganese sulfate, manganese acetate, and manganese chloride, can be utilized to provide the manganese required. Iron must be present in the mixture to an extent of at least one part by weight to 50 parts by weight of iron to 10,000 parts by weight of carbon in the waste source. Any soluble salt containing iron, such as ferrous sulfate, ferric chloride and ferrous acetate can be used. Ferrous sulfate is the preferred iron source. Phosphorus also must be present in the mixture to an extent of at least one part by weight to 5 parts by weight of phosphorous to 100 parts by weight of carbon in the waste source. Any soluble material containing phosphorous, such as potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, magnesium phosphate and phosphoric acid, can be used. Potassium phosphate is the preferred phosphorus source. Magnesium must be present in the mixture to an extent of at least one part by weight to 10 parts by weight of magnesium to 1,000 parts by weight of carbon in the waste source. Any soluble salt containing magnesium, such as magnesium sulfate, magnesium chloride and magnesium acetate, is suitable. Magnesium sulfate is preferred. Nitrogen must be present in the mixture to an extent of at least one part by weight of 6 parts by weight of nitrogen to 50 parts by weight of carbon. Any soluble nitrogen containing compound such as ammonia, urea, nitric acid, ammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphate can be suitably employed. Ammonia is the preferred source of nitrogen.
It is also possible, where desired, to utilize the same source material for two of the above required trace elements. For example, magnesium phosphate could be used to provide simultaneously both the source of magnesium and phosphorus. In view of the differing ranges set forth above, where a common source material is used it may be necessary to additionally achieve the level of the element required in a higher amount. For example, since magnesium should be present at a lower level than the phosphorous where magnesium phosphate is used, it may be necessary to use an additional source of phosphorus to achieve the phosphorus content range set forth above.
It should be emphasized with respect to the above set forth trace elements that the process of this invention is, as described above, applicable to a broad range of different types of soluble biodegradable organic wastes. These wastes will, of course, vary in their chemical constitution and even within the same type of waste material the chemical constitution may fluctuate, in the case of food processing wastes due to their natural product nature or in the case of industrial wastes due to changes in the processing conditions employed in the processes which produce them. Thus, with respect to the above set forth ranges for the trace elements and nitrogen which are employed in the process of this invention, depending upon the chemical constitution of the organic waste material it may not be necessary affirmatively to add the magnesium, the iron, the manganese or the phosphorus, if sufficient levels are present inherently in the raw waste material such that the reaction mixture prepared for subjecting to the process of this invention contains the above set forth materials in the prescribed ranges.
Other minerals can be added as is well known and customary in the art for mesophilic bacteria.
As has been pointed out above, the temperature at which process of this invention is operated can range from about 45° to 70°c. However, for best results, it is preferred to employ temperatures of from about 55° to 60°C. In this temperature range, the thermophilic microorganisms multiply rapidly in the presence of oxygen and in addition, where temperatures in excess of about 55°C are used, cellular proteinaceous materials and other cellular components produced are simultaneously pasteurized; that is, the pathogenic organisms, etc., which may be present in the waste material utilized are destroyed at these temperatures, thereby yielding a solid product which can be further employed as feed for animals or as feed supplements for animals without introducing pathogenic organisms into the animals. Temperatures outside the above ranges set forth are not conducive to the growth of the thermophilic organisms and the conversion of the waste material.
In the practice of this process, it is advantageous to control the pH of the system. The pH of the system should be maintained between about 5.5 and 9. It is preferred that the pH of the reaction mixture be maintained at approximately 6-8. The addition of ammonia or another nitrogen source can be utilized where desired to achieve pH control within this above set forth range. The pH range, above described, favors the growth of the thermophilic microorganisms and thereby promotes a more efficient conversion of the soluble organic biodegradable waste material.
In the practice of this invention, a mixed culture of thermophilic aerobic microorganisms is used and this mixed culture of thermophilic aerobic microorganisms can be obtained, for example, from a compost heap, baby foods, pasteurized milk, the rumen of a cow, etc. A preferred culture source is pasteurized milk. The microorganisms adapt to the carbonaceous material in the waste source. Under the controlled conditions described above, the microorganisms thrive and multiply rapidly and digest the soluble organic biodegradable waste to yield cellular proteinaceous and other cellular materials, and at the same time, if temperatures in excess of 55°C are employed, any pathogenic organisms are destroyed and a pasteurized proteinaceous product is produced. After the process is initiated, it may be advantageous to heat or cool the reaction mixture to regulate the temperature in order to hold the temperature within the range above described which is conducive to the microbiological activity occurring. When the microorganisms have consumed most of the biodegradable material, additional waste material, trace elements, etc., can be added and the process continued. The waste source can be added on a continuous basis and the spent material can be removed on a continuous basis. Thus, the process can be conducted on a batch basis, a semi-continuous basis or a continuous basis. The average residence time of the waste source in conducting the process of this invention can range from about 1 to 20 hours. A preferred average residence time is from about 2 to 10 hours.
The populations of thermophilic microorganisms that are employed in the process of this invention are selected in order that soluble organic biodegradable wastes such as the sugars, alcohols, organic acids, fatty acids, fats, amino acids and proteins, etc., can be converted at practical rates. The mixed populations of thermophilic microorganisms useful in the process of this invention include any or all of the following: Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus alimentophilus, Bacillus violaceous, Bacillus thermoindifferens, other Bacillus species, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, other Lactobacillus species, Micrococcus thermophilus and other Micrococcus species, Pseudomonas species, Flavabacterium species, etc.
While not desiring to be bound by theory, it is believed that the soluble organic source material being of a relatively low molecular weight, the processing conditions utilized and the addition of nitrogen and high levels of trace elements provide conditions favoring the growth of bacteria to the exclusion of other microorganisms such as fungi, the latter being favored, for example, by the organic source materials and processing conditions utilized in U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,275. This results in the product produced having differing characteristics. The fungal protein product produced in U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,275, while easily harvested, has the disadvantage in the difficult digestibility of the fungal product by non-ruminants and the low protein content of the product. In contrast to this, the process of this invention favors the growth of bacteria which, when subsequently recovered from the reaction mixture after conducting the process of this invention, provides a source of readily available proteins in high yield, the product being readily digestible, high in protein level and essentially utilizable in a wide variety of applications without any substantial additional processing. For example, the protein contained in the bacterial cells can be easily digested without any treatment such as extraction, but it may be desirable to heat the product to kill the bacteria where used directly. The protein contained in the product of the process of this invention is loosely contained in bacterial cell walls and the protein content of the product of this invention ranges from about 60 to 80% by weight. This loosely bound nature renders it readily available for use without additional processing. The protein produced in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,275 is tightly bound within fungal cell walls which must be extracted and contains a protein content of only about 30 to 50% by weight. Yields generally obtainable using the process of this invention range from about 30 to 80, more generally about 50, parts by weight for each 100 parts by weight of soluble biodegradable organic waste material.
The mixed population is not limited to the above-mentioned microorganisms but includes other uncharacterized strains. Such a population includes organisms the growth of which will, as discussed above, not be favored, but also those organisms which cannot live in the mentioned substrates. These latter organisms may be beneficial in that they may contribute to the overall assimilation rate by producing growth factors for the active organisms.
At the end of the process, the reacted waste mixture can be processed by separation of solids and liquids, as for example, by ultrafiltration, for the recovery of the cellular proteinaceous materials and other cellular components produced. Centrifugation can be used but it is not desired because of the expense. Drying of the reaction mixture also can be used as a method of recovery but has the disadvantage of the possibility of thermal degradation of the protein product and the pressure of high salt levels in the product. Ultrafiltration of the bacterial cells is preferred as a recovery method. The liquid separated is sufficiently pure that in most locations it may be passed to a river or a stream or processed through a municipal sewage system, alternatively.
With the process of this invention, about 80 to 95% of the soluble biodegradable organic waste material is removed.
The progress of the process of this invention can be followed using conventional techniques. The static and dynamic dissolved oxygen level can be used to monitor the growth rate. Use of biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand of the waste material before processing and after processing can be used to determine the level of pollutants removed. The yield of the bacteria can be determined by removal of the bacterial cells, e.g., using a 0.45 micron filter, drying and weighing. In a continuous process, the process usually is monitored continuously and the results evaluated after a steady state has been reached, e.g., after about 20 hours. The trace minerals added are added step-wise during continuous operation. In the batch process the reaction mixture is prepared and the reaction stops when the biological oxygen demand or chemical oxygen demand stops decreasing or meets an acceptable level. The liquid effluent separated from the solid cellular proteinaceous material can be analyzed using standard water analysis methods (as prescribed by the American Water Works Association) and if the phosphorus and nitrogen level, or the biochemical oxygen demand of the liquid is too high, it may be recycled for further processing in accordance with the process of this invention.
Turning now to the accompanying drawing, the accompanying drawing illustrates the flowsheet of an embodiment of the process of this invention. In greater detail, 13 represents a thermophilic aerobic growth chamber to which a waste source 10 containing soluble biodegradable organic materials, after pH measurement and adjustment, if necessary, is added. Trace minerals and elements 16 are added to the waste source and a source of oxygen, shown in the flowsheet by air source 15 and oxygen source 14 for easy maintenance of the dissolved oxygen level, is provided. The pH of the reaction medium in growth chamber 13 is adjusted by nitrogen source addition 12. The thermophilic aerobic growth chamber can be heated or cooled as necessary using heating or cooling means 17, for example, by heating coils or baffles. At the end of the process, the converted waste mixture is withdrawn through conduit 18 and passed to an ultrafiltration unit 19 whereby the liquid 20 can be either disposed of or recycled. The solid material (converted proteinaceous material) separated at 19 is passed through conduit 21 to dryer 23 where a major proportion of the water from the solid material is removed. The dried material is then passed via conduit 25 to a packaging unit 24.
The following examples of this invention are given for the purposes of illustrating the invention in greater detail and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.
EXAMPLE 1
A 1-liter sample of cheese whey was mixed with two liters of water containing 100 PPM ferrous sulfate, 100 PPM magnesium sulfate, and 100 PPM manganese sulfate. This mixture contained 1.2 g/l whey protein. The temperature was held at 57°C and the pH maintained at 7.2 by adding ammonia and the amount of dissolved oxygen in the mixture was maintained greater than 0.01 mg per liter of the mixture by sparging air and agitating. Ten ml of liquid from the rumen of a cow was added as inoculum. After 10 hours, the organic material in the cheese whey had been consumed by thermophilic aerobic microorganisms. At that time, material of the same composition as was present originally in the growth chamber was added on a continuous basis and spent material was removed at the same rate. After operating continuously for at least 48 hours, the liquid medium contained 8.1 g/l cellular material. The spent broth was collected and concentrated by ultrafiltration. The solid cellular material obtained by drying contained 78% by weight protein. In excess of 70% of the biochemical oxygen demand had been removed from the cheese whey. The fermentation process caused a 5-fold increase in the protein content of the whey. The solid cellular material was fed to a dog that relished it. Pigs and calves to which the solid cellular material was fed also thrived on it. Sufficient pasteurized and converted whey protein could be produced by the process to supply one-half the daily requirements of dairy calves as a milk replacer made from the waste whey.
EXAMPLE 2
An industrial waste involved in the chemical treatment of cellulose that contained low levels of methanol, formic acid and phenol and containing 30 grams per liter of acetic acid was mixed with the following salts (g/l m = grams per liter of mixture): Na 2 HPO 4 , 2.0 g/l m; KH 2 PO 4 , 0.3 g/l m; MgSO 4 .7H 2 O ), 0.3 g/l m; MnSO 4 , 0.10 g/l m; FeSO 4 , 0.20 g/l m. The mixture was maintained at 55°C and a pH of 7.2 by the addition of ammonia and the dissolved oxygen was maintained at greater than 0.01 mg of oxygen per liter of mixture by sparging air and agitating. Ten grams of material from a compost heap were added to three liters of the above-described mixture. After 20 hours, the acetic acid methanol and formic acid had been consumed by the bacteria and addition of fresh waste containing trace minerals was started. The spent broth was removed at the same rate. After operating for 24 hours under steady state conditions, no phenol could be detected (less than 10 parts per billion). The solid biomass was harvested and found to contain 81% by weight protein and high levels of B vitamins. The reaction medium contained 9.3 g/l cellular material before harvesting. After harvesting the BOD of the supernatant material was 1100 PPM compared to 26,000 PPM for the waste material before subjecting to the process of this invention.
EXAMPLE 3
Wastes from processing carrots were mixed with the following salts (grams per liter of mixture): KH 2 PO 4 , 0.1 g/l m, MnSO 4 , 0.05 g/l m, FeSO 4 .7H 2 O, 0.05 g/l m. The mixture was maintained at 50°C and a pH of 7.2 by adding ammonia and the dissolved oxygen was maintained at greater than 0.1 mg oxygen per liter by sparging air and agitating. Three liters of this mixture was inocculated with 25 milliliters of pasteurized milk. After 6 hours, 90% of the biochemical oxygen demand was removed by the growing bacteria. The biomass contained high levels of vitamins and enzymes. No putrifying odors were noticed during the process.
While the invention has been described in detail and in terms of specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various changes and modifications can be made therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.
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A process for treating soluble biodegradable organic waste material which comprises:
A. preparing a reaction mixture of soluble biodegradable organic waste material and a thermophilic aerobic microorganism culture capable of digesting such soluble material and containing soluble sources of manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and nitrogen in a liquid medium and at a pH ranging from about 5.5 to 9, the soluble organic material content being in excess of 1 gram per liter,
B. introducing oxygen into the mixture so as to maintain the dissolved oxygen content at least 0.01 mg per liter of said mixture while
C. maintaining said mixture at a temperature of from 45° to 70°C for a time sufficient to convert the organic waste material into cellular proteinaceous material, and
D. separating the cellular proteinaceous material produced.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] A wiping device, in particular a wiping device for a motor vehicle pane, with a spoiler unit, is already known.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention is based on a wiping device, in particular a wiping device for a motor vehicle pane, with a spoiler unit.
[0003] It is proposed that the spoiler unit is produced in a co-extrusion process whereby the spoiler unit can be produced in a particularly stable manner and at the same time economically. The term “spoiler unit” in this context in particular means a unit which is provided to deflect travel wind acting on the wiping device and/or to use this to press a wiper blade onto a vehicle pane. A “co-extrusion process” in this context in particular means the merging of at least two plastic melts of different types before they leave a profile nozzle. A “wiper blade” in this context in particular is a strip which is provided to wipe a vehicle pane. Preferably the wiper blade is made of a rubber material. The term “provided” in particular should be understood as specially designed and/or equipped. Preferably the spoiler unit has at least one concave outer face.
[0004] Furthermore it is proposed that the spoiler unit has two spoiler part elements of different hardness, whereby advantageously weight can be reduced and strength increased.
[0005] Furthermore it is proposed that the harder spoiler part element terminates the spoiler unit laterally, whereby the softer spoiler part element can advantageously be protected from damage. The term “laterally” in this context is understood in particular as when viewed in the wiping direction. “Terminate” in this context in particular means cover, surround and/or conceal.
[0006] In a further embodiment of the invention, it is proposed that the softer spoiler part element has a longitudinal channel with a triangular cross section, whereby advantageously material and weight can be saved. “Triangular” in this context means a contour with three corners. The corners can also be rounded, depending on application.
[0007] If the softer spoiler part element and the harder spoiler part element are joined together by material fit over a wide area in a plane running parallel to a wiping direction, a particularly stable connection of the spoiler part elements can be achieved. The term “wiping direction” in this context in particular means the direction which extends parallel to a surface to be wiped and/or vertically to the main orientation of the wiper blade. The phrase “over a wide area” in this context in particular means over a majority of a joining area. A “majority” in this context is in particular more than 50%, preferably more than 80%.
[0008] Furthermore it is proposed that the wiping device comprises a holding unit which has a holding element with a longitudinal guidance channel to guide a spring element, wherein the holding element has at least one fixing element which is provided to couple the spoiler unit by form fit in mounted state, whereby a particularly secure mounting of the spoiler unit can be achieved. A “holding unit” in this context means in particular a unit which is provided to connect the spoiler unit with a wiper blade. A “holding element” in this context in particular means an element which is provided to connect a spoiler unit, a spring element and a wiper blade by form fit. A “fixing element” in this context is in particular an element which is provided to create a form fit with a corresponding component. A “longitudinal guidance channel” in this context in particular is a guidance channel which extends parallel to a longitudinal direction of the holding unit. Preferably the longitudinal guidance channel comprises a cavity and at least one channel wall adjacent to the cavity. A “longitudinal direction” in this context is in particular a direction which extends substantially parallel to a longitudinal extension of the holding element. A “longitudinal extension” in this context in particular means as large as possible an extension. “Substantially” in this context in particular means a deviation of less than 10°, preferably less than 5°. An “extension” of an element in this context in particular is a maximum distance between two points of a vertical projection of the element on a plane. A “spring element” in this context in particular is a spring-elastic element which has at least one extension which in normal operating state can be varied elastically by at least 10%, in particular by at least 20%, preferably by at least 30% and particularly advantageously by at least 50%, and which in particular generates a counter-force depending on the change in extension and preferably proportional to the change, which counters the change. “Coupling” in this context means connecting and/or joining.
[0009] In a main contact flow region of the wiping device, joints and hence flow resistances and/or noise can be avoided if the spoiler unit lies at least partly laterally on the holding element in the region of the longitudinal guidance channel. “Laterally” in this context in particular means viewed from the wiping direction.
[0010] Furthermore it is proposed that the holding element has at least one fixing means which with a free end faces the longitudinal guidance channel and is provided to create a form fit with the spoiler unit, whereby the wiping device can be formed in a particularly stable manner.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] Further advantages arise from the description of the drawings below. The drawings show 16 exemplary embodiments of the invention. The drawings, description and claims contain numerous features in combination. The person skilled in the art shall where applicable also consider the features individually and combine these into further sensible combinations.
[0012] The drawings show:
[0013] FIG. 1 a cross section view of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0014] FIG. 2 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0015] FIG. 3 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0016] FIG. 4 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0017] FIG. 5 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0018] FIG. 6 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0019] FIG. 7 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0020] FIG. 8 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0021] FIG. 9 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0022] FIG. 10 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0023] FIG. 11 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0024] FIG. 12 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0025] FIG. 13 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0026] FIG. 14 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0027] FIG. 15 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit;
[0028] FIG. 16 a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device with a holding unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] FIG. 1 shows a cross section view of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 a with a holding element 12 a having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 a to guide a spring element 16 a . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 a.
[0030] The holding element 12 a has two fixing elements 18 a , 20 a . The fixing elements 18 a , 20 a are formed integrally with the holding element 12 a . At their free ends 24 a , 26 a , the fixing elements 18 a , 20 a point in directions away from each other, parallel to a wiping direction 88 a . Furthermore the fixing elements 18 a , 20 a extend in an L-shape from channel walls 36 a , 38 a which delimit the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a . A distance between the free ends 24 a , 26 a is greater than a width of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a . The fixing elements 18 a , 20 a are provided to couple a spoiler unit 22 a by form fit in a mounted state. For this the free ends 24 a , 26 a of the fixing elements 18 a , 20 a are surrounded by the spoiler unit 22 a . The spoiler unit 22 a has two L-shaped fixing means 44 a , 46 a and support bodies 48 a , 50 a adjacent to the fixing means 44 a , 46 a.
[0031] To guide the spring element 16 a , side walls 52 a , 54 a of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a border the channel walls 36 a , 38 a . The channel walls 36 a , 38 a here enclose a right angle with the side walls 52 a , 54 a . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 a is arranged on the side walls 52 a , 54 a which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a in the direction of a wiper blade 40 a . The side walls 52 a , 54 a extend from the intermediate wall 56 a in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 a . The holding element 12 a has a longitudinal opening 84 a which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a towards the spoiler unit 22 a.
[0032] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 a , 60 a of the holding unit 10 a are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 a . The guide profiles 58 a , 60 a are formed integrally with the holding element 12 a . The guide profiles 58 a , 60 a each have a side guide 62 a , 64 a and a vertical guide 66 a , 68 a . The vertical guides 66 a , 68 a enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 a , 64 a . The vertical guides 66 a , 68 a point towards each other. The side guides 62 a , 64 a each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 a . The guide profiles 58 a , 60 a point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 a , 68 a . The guide profiles 58 a , 60 a and the intermediate wall 56 a form a piping rail 70 a in which the wiper blade 40 a is introduced.
[0033] The holding element 12 a is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0034] The spoiler unit 22 a is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 a , 34 a of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 a has two spoiler sides 76 a , 78 a which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 a , the first spoiler part element 32 a has a connecting web 80 a which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 a , 78 a . The connecting web 80 a and the spoiler sides 76 a , 78 a surround a longitudinal channel 82 a with a triangular cross section.
[0035] The first spoiler part element 32 a is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 a and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 a has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 a . The L-shaped fixing means 44 a , 46 a and the support bodies 48 a , 50 a adjacent to the fixing means 44 a , 46 a are molded onto the second spoiler part element 34 a . The harder spoiler part element 34 a surrounds the fixing elements 18 a , 20 a and thus terminates the holding unit 10 a laterally.
[0036] Furthermore the second spoiler part element 34 a has two support webs 72 a , 74 a . The support webs 72 a , 74 a lie with their free ends on the fixing elements 18 a , 20 a on a side facing away from the wiper blade 40 a . The support webs 72 a , 74 a are provided for transmitting contact forces which occur at the spoiler unit 22 a when exposed to travel wind. The support webs 72 a , 74 a extend over the entire length of the spoiler unit 22 a.
[0037] The spring element 16 a is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a . The spring element 16 a is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 a in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0038] For assembly, first the spring element 16 a is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 a . Then the wiper blade 40 a is pushed into the piping rail 70 a and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 a . The spoiler unit 22 a is now pushed over the fixing elements 18 a , 20 a and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0039] FIGS. 2 to 16 describe 15 further exemplary embodiments of the invention. The descriptions below are substantially restricted to the differences between the exemplary embodiments, wherein with regard to components, features and functions which remain the same, reference can be made to the description of the first exemplary embodiment. To distinguish the exemplary embodiments, the letter a in the reference numerals of the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 1 is replaced by the letters b to p in the reference numerals of the exemplary embodiments in FIGS. 2 to 16 . With regard to components of the same designation, in particular components with the same reference numerals, in principle reference can also be made to the drawings and/or the description of the first exemplary embodiment.
[0040] FIG. 2 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 b with a holding element 12 b having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 b to guide a spring element 16 b . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 b.
[0041] The holding element 12 b has two fixing elements 18 b , 20 b . The fixing elements 18 b , 20 b are formed integrally with the holding element 12 b . At their free ends 24 b , 26 b , the fixing elements 18 b , 20 b point in directions away from each other. Furthermore the fixing elements 18 b , 20 b form two channel walls 36 b , 38 b which border the longitudinal guidance channel 14 b on a side facing away from the wiper blade. In the region of their free ends 24 b , 26 b , the fixing elements 18 b , 20 b are formed as barbs. The ends 24 b , 26 b are surrounded by a spoiler unit 22 b . For this, the spoiler unit 22 b has two fixing means 44 b , 46 b.
[0042] To guide the spring element 16 b , side walls 52 b , 54 b of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 b border the channel walls 36 b , 38 b . The channel walls 36 b , 38 b here enclose a right angle with the side walls 52 b , 54 b . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 b is arranged on the side walls 52 b , 54 b which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 b in the direction of a wiper blade 40 b . The side walls 52 b , 54 b extend from the intermediate wall 56 b in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 b . The holding element 12 b has a longitudinal opening 84 b which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 b towards the spoiler unit 22 b.
[0043] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 b , 60 b of the holding unit 10 b are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 b . The guide profiles 58 b , 60 b are formed integrally with the holding element 12 b . The guide profiles 58 b , 60 b each have a side guide 62 b , 64 b and a vertical guide 66 b , 68 b . The vertical guides 66 b , 68 b enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 b , 64 b . The vertical guides 66 b , 68 b point towards each other. The side guides 62 b , 64 b each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 b . The guide profiles 58 b , 60 b point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 b , 68 b . The guide profiles 58 b , 60 b and the intermediate wall 56 b form a piping rail 70 b in which the wiper blade 40 b is introduced.
[0044] The holding element 12 b is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0045] The spoiler unit 22 b is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 b , 34 b of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 b has two spoiler sides 76 b , 78 b which are formed concave towards the outside.
[0046] The softer spoiler part element 32 b and the harder spoiler part element 34 b are joined together by material fit over a wide area in a plane 86 b running parallel to a wiping direction 88 b . The plane 86 b extends parallel to a surface 28 b to be wiped by the wiper blade 40 b . To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 b , the second spoiler part element 34 b has a connecting web 80 b which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 b , 78 b . The connecting web 80 b and the spoiler sides 76 b , 78 b are joined together by material fit and surround a longitudinal channel 82 b which has a rectangular cross section.
[0047] The first spoiler part element 32 b is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 b and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 b has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 b . The fixing means 44 b , 46 b are molded onto the second spoiler part element 34 b . The fixing means 44 b , 46 b are formed with an acute angle and lie by form fit on the fixing elements 18 b , 20 b . The harder spoiler part element 34 b surrounds the fixing elements 18 b , 20 b and thus terminates the holding unit 10 b laterally. The spring element 16 b is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 b . The spring element 16 b is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 b in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0048] For assembly, first the spring element 16 b is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 b . Then the wiper blade 40 b is pushed into the piping rail 70 b and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 b . The spoiler unit 22 b is now pushed over the fixing elements 18 b , 20 b and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0049] FIG. 3 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 c with a holding element 12 c having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 c to guide a spring element 16 c . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 c.
[0050] The holding element 12 c has two fixing elements 18 c , 20 c . The fixing elements 18 c , 20 c are formed integrally with the holding element 12 c . At their free ends 24 c , 26 c , the fixing elements 18 c , 20 c point in directions away from each other. Furthermore the fixing elements 18 c , 20 c form two channel walls 36 c , 38 c which border the longitudinal guidance channel 14 c on a side facing away from the wiper blade. In the region of their free ends 24 c , 26 c , the fixing elements 18 c , 20 c are formed as barbs. The ends 24 c , 26 c are surrounded by a spoiler unit 22 c . For this, the spoiler unit 22 c has two fixing means 44 c , 46 c.
[0051] To guide the spring element 16 c , side walls 52 c , 54 c of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 c border the channel walls 36 c , 38 c . The channel walls 36 c , 38 c here enclose a right angle with the side walls 52 c , 54 c . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 c is arranged on the side walls 52 c , 54 c which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 c in the direction of a wiper blade 40 c . The side walls 52 c , 54 c extend from the intermediate wall 56 c in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 c . The holding element 12 c has a longitudinal opening 84 c which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 c towards the spoiler unit 22 c.
[0052] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 c , 60 c of the holding unit 10 c are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 c . The guide profiles 58 c , 60 c are formed integrally with the holding element 12 c . The guide profiles 58 c , 60 c each have a side guide 62 c , 64 c and a vertical guide 66 c , 68 c . The vertical guides 66 c , 68 c enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 c , 64 c . The vertical guides 66 c , 68 c point towards each other. The side guides 62 c , 64 c each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 c . The guide profiles 58 c , 60 c point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 c , 68 c . The guide profiles 58 c , 60 c and the intermediate wall 56 c form a piping rail 70 c in which the wiper blade 40 c is introduced.
[0053] The holding element 12 c is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0054] The spoiler unit 22 c is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 c , 34 c , 42 c of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 c has two spoiler sides 76 c , 78 c which are formed concave towards the outside. The softer spoiler part element 32 c and the harder spoiler part elements 34 c , 42 c are joined together by material fit over a wide area in a plane 86 c running parallel to a wiping direction 88 c . The plane 86 c extends parallel to a surface 28 c to be wiped by the wiper blade 40 c . To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 c , the first spoiler part element 32 c has a connecting web 80 c which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 c , 78 c . The connecting web 80 c and the spoiler sides 76 c , 78 c are joined together by material fit and surround a longitudinal channel 82 c with a triangular cross section.
[0055] The first spoiler part element 32 c is formed integrally with the spoiler part elements 34 c , 42 c and is provided to deflect travel wind. The spoiler part elements 34 c , 42 c have a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 c . The spoiler part elements 34 c , 42 c are formed separately from each other. The spoiler part element 34 c forms the fixing means 44 c . The spoiler part element 42 c forms the fixing means 46 c . The fixing means 44 c , 46 c are formed with an acute angle and lie by form fit on the fixing elements 18 c , 20 c . The harder spoiler part element 34 c surrounds the fixing elements 18 c , 20 c and thus terminates the holding unit 10 c laterally. The spring element 16 c is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 c . The spring element 16 c is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 c in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0056] For assembly, first the spring element 16 c is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 c . Then the wiper blade 40 c is pushed into the piping rail 70 c and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 c . The spoiler unit 22 c is now pushed over the fixing elements 18 c , 20 c and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0057] FIG. 4 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 d with a holding element 12 d having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 d to guide a spring element 16 d , and a spoiler unit 22 d . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 d.
[0058] The holding unit 10 d has channel walls 36 d , 38 d which are formed integrally with the holding element 12 d . The channel walls 36 d , 38 d border the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d on a side facing away from the wiper blade. Two longitudinal extensions 90 d , 92 d are arranged on each channel wall 36 d , 38 d on a side facing away from the wiper blade. The spoiler unit 22 d has two L-shaped fixing means 44 d , 46 d and support bodies 48 d , 50 d adjacent to the fixing means 44 d , 46 d.
[0059] To guide the spring element 16 d , side walls 52 d , 54 d of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d border the channel walls 36 d , 38 d . The channel walls 36 d , 38 d here enclose a right angle with the side walls 52 d , 54 d . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 d is arranged on the side walls 52 d , 54 d which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d in the direction of a wiper blade 40 d . The side walls 52 d , 54 d extend from the intermediate wall 56 d in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 d . The holding element 12 d has a longitudinal opening 84 d which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d towards the spoiler unit 22 d.
[0060] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 d , 60 d of the holding unit 10 d are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 d . The guide profiles 58 d , 60 d are formed integrally with the holding element 12 d . The guide profiles 58 d , 60 d each have a side guide 62 d , 64 d and a vertical guide 66 d , 68 d . The vertical guides 66 d , 68 d enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 d , 64 d . The vertical guides 66 d , 68 d point towards each other. The side guides 62 d , 64 d each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 d . The guide profiles 58 d , 60 d point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 d , 68 d . The guide profiles 58 d , 60 d and the intermediate wall 56 d form a piping rail 70 d in which the wiper blade 40 d is introduced.
[0061] The holding element 12 d is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0062] The spoiler unit 22 d is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 d , 34 d , 42 d of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 d has two spoiler sides 76 d , 78 d which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 d , the first spoiler part element 32 d has a connecting web 80 d which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 d , 78 d . The connecting web 80 d and the spoiler sides 76 d , 78 d surround a longitudinal channel 82 d with a triangular cross section.
[0063] The first spoiler part element 32 d is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 d , 42 d and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 d , 42 d has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 d . The L-shaped fixing means 44 d , 46 d and the support bodies 48 d , 50 d adjacent to the fixing means 44 d , 46 d are molded onto the second spoiler part element 34 d , 42 d . The harder spoiler part element 34 d , 42 d surrounds the holding element 12 d in the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d.
[0064] Furthermore the second spoiler part element 34 a , 42 d has two support webs 72 d , 74 d . The support webs 72 d , 74 d lie with their free ends on the channel walls 36 d , 38 d on a side facing away from the wiper blade 40 d . The support webs 72 d , 74 d are provided for transmitting contact forces which occur at the spoiler unit 22 d when exposed to travel wind. The support webs 72 d , 74 d extend over the entire length of the spoiler unit 22 d . The longitudinal extensions 90 d , 92 d partially surround the support webs 72 d , 74 d in a wiping direction 88 d.
[0065] The spring element 16 d is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d . The spring element 16 d is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 d in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0066] For assembly, first the spring element 16 d is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 d . Then the wiper blade 40 d is pushed into the piping rail 70 d and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 d . The spoiler unit 22 d is now pushed over the holding element 12 d and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0067] FIG. 5 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 e with a holding element 12 e having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 e to guide a spring element 16 e . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 e . The wiping device shown substantially corresponds to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 .
[0068] In the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 e , a side strip 94 e , 96 e is molded on the holding element 12 e on each side pointing in a wiping direction 88 e . The side strips 94 e , 96 e in the mounted state create a form fit with a spoiler unit 22 e . The form fit prevents a movement of the spoiler unit 22 e relative to the holding element 12 e in a vertical direction 102 e . The vertical direction 102 e extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the wiping direction 88 e.
[0069] FIG. 6 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 f with a holding element 12 f having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 f to guide a spring element 16 f . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 f . The wiping device shown substantially corresponds to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 .
[0070] The holding unit 10 f has channel walls 36 f , 38 f which are formed integrally with the holding element 12 f . The channel walls 36 f , 38 f border the longitudinal guidance channel 14 f on a side facing away from the wiper blade. A longitudinal extension 90 f , 92 f is arranged on the channel walls 36 f , 38 f on a side facing away from the wiper blade.
[0071] In the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 f , a side strip 94 f , 96 f is molded on the holding element 12 f on each side pointing in a wiping direction 88 f . The side strips 94 f , 96 f in the mounted state create a form fit with a spoiler unit 22 f . The form fit prevents a movement of the spoiler unit 22 f relative to the holding element 12 f in a vertical direction 102 f . The vertical direction 102 f extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the wiping direction 88 f.
[0072] The spoiler unit 22 f is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 f , 34 f , 42 f of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 f has two spoiler sides 76 f , 78 f which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 f , the first spoiler part element 32 f has a connecting web 80 f which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 f , 78 f . The connecting web 80 f and the spoiler sides 76 f , 78 f surround a longitudinal channel 82 f with a triangular cross section.
[0073] The first spoiler part element 32 f is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 f , 42 f and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 f , 42 f has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 f . The L-shaped fixing means 44 f , 46 f and the support bodies 48 f , 50 f adjacent to the fixing means 44 f , 46 f are molded onto the second spoiler part element 34 f , 42 f . The harder spoiler part element 34 f , 42 f surrounds the holding element 12 f in the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 f.
[0074] Furthermore the second spoiler part element 34 f , 42 f has two support webs 72 f , 74 f . The support webs 72 f , 74 f lie with their free ends on the spring element 16 f on a side facing away from the wiper blade 40 f . The support webs 72 f , 74 f are provided for transmitting to the spring element 16 f contact forces which occur at the spoiler unit 22 f when exposed to travel wind. The support webs 72 f , 74 f extend over the entire length of the spoiler unit 22 f . The longitudinal extensions 90 f , 92 f lie partially on the support webs 72 f , 74 f in a wiping direction 88 f.
[0075] FIG. 7 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 g with a holding element 12 g having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 g to guide a spring element 16 g , and a spoiler unit 22 g . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 g.
[0076] The longitudinal guidance channel 14 g is formed as a trough. The longitudinal guidance channel 14 g is open over the entire width and length in the direction of the spoiler unit 22 g.
[0077] To guide the spring element 16 g , the longitudinal guidance channel 14 g has side walls 52 g , 54 g . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 g is arranged on the side walls 52 g , 54 g which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 g in the direction of a wiper blade 40 g . The side walls 52 g , 54 g extend from the intermediate wall 56 g in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 g . The holding element 12 g has a longitudinal opening 84 g which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 g completely towards the spoiler unit 22 g.
[0078] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 g , 60 g of the holding unit 10 g are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 g . The guide profiles 58 g , 60 g are formed integrally with the holding element 12 g . The guide profiles 58 g , 60 g each have a side guide 62 g , 64 g and a vertical guide 66 g , 68 g . The vertical guides 66 g , 68 g enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 g , 64 g . The vertical guides 66 g , 68 g point towards each other. The side guides 62 g , 64 g each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 g . The guide profiles 58 g , 60 g point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 g , 68 g . The guide profiles 58 g , 60 g and the intermediate wall 56 g form a piping rail 70 g in which the wiper blade 40 g is introduced.
[0079] The holding element 12 g is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0080] The spoiler unit 22 g is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 g , 34 g , 42 g of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 g has two spoiler sides 76 g , 78 g which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 g , the first spoiler part element 32 g has a connecting web 80 g which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 g , 78 g . The connecting web 80 g and the spoiler sides 76 g , 78 g surround a longitudinal channel 82 g with a triangular cross section.
[0081] The first spoiler part element 32 g is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 g , 42 g and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 g , 42 g has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 g . The L-shaped fixing means 44 g , 46 g and the support bodies 48 g , 50 g adjacent to the fixing means 44 g , 46 g are molded onto the second spoiler part element 34 g , 42 g . The harder spoiler part element 34 g , 42 g surrounds the holding element 12 g in the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 g.
[0082] Furthermore the second spoiler part element 34 g , 42 g has two support webs 72 g , 74 g . The support webs 72 g , 74 g lie with their free ends on spring element 16 g on a side facing away from the wiper blade 40 g . The support webs 72 g , 74 g are provided for transmitting contact forces which occur at the spoiler unit 22 g when exposed to travel wind. The support webs 72 g , 74 g extend over the entire length of the spoiler unit 22 g . The support webs 72 g , 74 g prevent a movement of the spring element 16 g in a vertical direction 102 g . The vertical direction 102 g extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the wiping direction 88 g.
[0083] The spring element 16 g is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 g . The spring element 16 g is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 g in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0084] For assembly, first the spring element 16 g is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 g . Then the wiper blade 40 g is pushed into the piping rail 70 g and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 g . The spoiler unit 22 g is now pushed over the holding element 12 g and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0085] FIG. 8 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 h with a holding element 12 h having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 h to guide a spring element 16 h , and a spoiler unit 22 h . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 h.
[0086] The longitudinal guidance channel 14 h is formed as a trough. The longitudinal guidance channel 14 h is open over the entire width and length in the direction of the spoiler unit 22 h.
[0087] To guide the spring element 16 h , the longitudinal guidance channel 14 h has side walls 52 h , 54 h . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 h is arranged on the side walls 52 h , 54 h which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 h in the direction of a wiper blade 40 h . The side walls 52 h , 54 h extend from the intermediate wall 56 h in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 h . The holding element 12 h has a longitudinal opening 84 h which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 h completely towards the spoiler unit 22 h.
[0088] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 h , 60 h of the holding unit 10 h are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 h . The guide profiles 58 h , 60 h are formed integrally with the holding element 12 h . The guide profiles 58 h , 60 h each have a side guide 62 h , 64 h and a vertical guide 66 h , 68 h . The vertical guides 66 h , 68 h enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 h , 64 h . The vertical guides 66 h , 68 h point towards each other. The side guides 62 h , 64 h each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 h . The guide profiles 58 h , 60 h point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 h , 68 h . The guide profiles 58 h , 60 h and the intermediate wall 56 h form a piping rail 70 h in which the wiper blade 40 h is introduced.
[0089] The holding element 12 h is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0090] The spoiler unit 22 h is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 h , 34 h , 42 h of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 h has two spoiler sides 76 h , 78 h which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 h , the first spoiler part element 32 h has a connecting web 80 h which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 h , 78 h . The connecting web 80 h and the spoiler sides 76 h , 78 h surround a longitudinal channel 82 h with a triangular cross section.
[0091] The first spoiler part element 32 h is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 h , 42 h and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 h , 42 h has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 h . The L-shaped fixing means 44 h , 46 h are molded onto the second spoiler part element 34 h , 42 h . The harder spoiler part element 34 h , 42 h surrounds the holding element 12 h in the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 h.
[0092] Furthermore the second spoiler part element 34 h , 42 h has two support webs 72 h , 74 h . The support webs 72 h , 74 h lie with their free ends on spring element 16 h on a side facing away from the wiper blade 40 h . The support webs 72 h , 74 h are provided for transmitting contact forces which occur at the spoiler unit 22 h when exposed to travel wind. The support webs 72 h , 74 h extend over the entire length of the spoiler unit 22 h . The support webs 72 h , 74 h prevent a movement of the spring element 16 h in a vertical direction 102 h . The vertical direction 102 h extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the wiping direction 88 h.
[0093] The spring element 16 h is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 h . The spring element 16 h is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 h in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0094] For assembly, first the spring element 16 h is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 h . Then the wiper blade 40 h is pushed into the piping rail 70 h and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 h . The spoiler unit 22 h is now pushed over the holding element 12 h and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0095] FIG. 9 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 i with a holding element 12 i having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 i to guide a spring element 16 i , and a spoiler unit 22 i . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 i.
[0096] The longitudinal guidance channel 14 i is formed as a trough. The longitudinal guidance channel 14 i is open over the entire width and length in the direction of the spoiler unit 22 i.
[0097] To guide the spring element 16 i , the longitudinal guidance channel 14 i has side walls 52 i , 54 i . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 i is arranged on the side walls 52 i , 54 i which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 i in the direction of a wiper blade 40 i . The side walls 52 i , 54 i extend from the intermediate wall 56 i in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 i . The holding element 12 i has a longitudinal opening 84 i which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 i completely towards the spoiler unit 22 i.
[0098] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 i , 60 i of the holding unit 10 i are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 i . The guide profiles 58 i , 60 i are formed integrally with the holding element 12 i . The guide profiles 58 i , 60 i each have a side guide 62 i , 64 i and a vertical guide 66 i , 68 i . The vertical guides 66 i , 68 i enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 i , 64 i . The vertical guides 66 i , 68 i point towards each other. The side guides 62 i , 64 i each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 i . The guide profiles 58 i , 60 i point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 i , 68 i . The guide profiles 58 i , 60 i and the intermediate wall 56 i form a piping rail 70 i in which the wiper blade 40 i is introduced.
[0099] The spoiler unit 22 i is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 i , 34 i of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 i has two spoiler sides 76 i , 78 i which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 i , the first spoiler part element 32 i has a connecting web 80 i which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 i , 78 i . The connecting web 80 i and the spoiler sides 76 i , 78 i surround a longitudinal channel 82 i with a triangular cross section.
[0100] The first spoiler part element 32 i is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 i and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 i has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 i . The second spoiler part element 34 i is formed integrally with the holding element 12 i and made from a plastic. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0101] Furthermore the second spoiler part element 34 i has two support webs 72 i , 74 i . The support webs 72 i , 74 i lie with their free ends on spring element 16 i on a side facing away from the wiper blade 40 i . The support webs 72 i , 74 i are provided for transmitting contact forces which occur at the spoiler unit 22 i when exposed to travel wind. The support webs 72 i , 74 i extend over the entire length of the spoiler unit 22 i . The support webs 72 i , 74 i prevent a movement of the spring element 16 i in a vertical direction 102 i . The vertical direction 102 i extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the wiping direction 88 i.
[0102] The spring element 16 i is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 i . The spring element 16 i is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 i in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0103] For assembly, first the spring element 16 i is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 i . Then the wiper blade 40 i is pushed into the piping rail 70 i and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 i.
[0104] FIG. 10 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 j with a holding element 12 j having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 j to guide a spring element 16 j , and a spoiler unit 22 j . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 j.
[0105] To guide the spring element 16 j , the longitudinal guidance channel 14 j has side walls 52 j , 54 j . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 j is arranged on the side walls 52 j , 54 j which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 j in the direction of a wiper blade 40 j . The side walls 52 j , 54 j extend from the intermediate wall 56 j in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 j . A fixing means 98 j , 100 j is molded onto each side wall 52 j , 54 j and with its free end 108 j , 110 j faces the longitudinal guidance channel 14 j . The fixing means 98 j , 100 j are formed L-shaped and border the side walls 52 j , 54 j at an obtuse angle of 60°.
[0106] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 j , 60 j of the holding unit 10 j are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 j . The guide profiles 58 j , 60 j are formed integrally with the holding element 12 j . The guide profiles 58 j , 60 j each have a side guide 62 j , 64 j and a vertical guide 66 j , 68 j . The vertical guides 66 j , 68 j enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 j , 64 j . The vertical guides 66 j , 68 j point towards each other. The side guides 62 j , 64 j each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 j . The guide profiles 58 j , 60 j point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 j , 68 j . The guide profiles 58 j , 60 j and the intermediate wall 56 j form a piping rail 70 j in which the wiper blade 40 j is introduced.
[0107] The spoiler unit 22 j is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 j , 34 j of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 j has two spoiler sides 76 j , 78 j which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 j , the first spoiler part element 32 j has a connecting web 80 j which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 j , 78 j . The connecting web 80 j and the spoiler sides 76 j , 78 j surround a longitudinal channel 82 j which has a substantially pentagonal cross section.
[0108] The first spoiler part element 32 j is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 j and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 j has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 j . The first spoiler part element 32 j lies on two fixing webs 112 j , 114 j which are formed integrally with the connecting web 80 j . The fixing webs 112 j , 114 j enclose an angle of 60° with the connecting web 80 j . The second spoiler part element 34 j has two fixing grooves 104 j , 106 j which create a form fit with the fixing means 98 j , 100 j.
[0109] The holding element 12 j is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0110] The free ends 108 j , 110 j of the fixing means 98 j , 100 j are surrounded by the second spoiler part element 34 j . The harder spoiler part element 34 j here lies on the fixing means 98 j , 100 j by form fit. The harder spoiler part element 34 j has two support bodies 48 j , 50 j which lie on the fixing means 98 j , 100 j and on the spring element 16 j . A connecting web 80 j joins the support bodies 48 j , 50 j together.
[0111] The spring element 16 j is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 j . The spring element 16 j is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 j in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0112] For assembly, first the spring element 16 j is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 j . Then the wiper blade 40 j is pushed into the piping rail 70 j and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 j . The spoiler unit 22 j is now pushed into the holding element 12 j and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0113] FIG. 11 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 k with a holding element 12 k having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 k to guide a spring element 16 k , and a spoiler unit 22 k . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 k . The wiping device shown substantially corresponds to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 10 .
[0114] The holding element 12 k has two channel walls 36 k , 38 k which border the longitudinal guidance channel 14 k . The channel walls 36 k , 38 k extend parallel to a wiping direction 88 k and partially terminate the longitudinal guidance channel 14 k in a direction facing away from the wiper blade 40 k . The holding element 12 k furthermore has a longitudinal opening 84 k which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 k towards the spoiler unit 22 k.
[0115] The spoiler unit 22 k is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 k , 34 k of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 k has two spoiler sides 76 k , 78 k which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 k , the first spoiler part element 32 k has a connecting web 80 k which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 k , 78 k . The connecting web 80 k and the spoiler sides 76 k , 78 k surround a longitudinal channel 82 k which has a substantially pentagonal cross section.
[0116] The harder spoiler part element 34 k has two support bodies 48 k , 50 k which lie on the fixing means 98 k , 100 k and on the channel walls 36 k , 38 k . A connecting web 80 k joins the support bodies 48 k , 50 k together. The connecting web 80 k lies on the channel walls 36 k , 38 k . The first spoiler part element 32 k lies on two fixing webs 112 k , 114 k which are formed integrally with the connecting web 80 k . The fixing webs 112 k , 114 k enclose an angle of 60° with the connecting web 80 k . A width of the first spoiler part element 32 k corresponds to twice the width of the fixing webs 112 k , 114 k.
[0117] FIG. 12 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 l with a holding element 12 l having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 l to guide a spring element 16 l . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 l . The wiping device shown substantially corresponds to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 11 . A width of a first spoiler part element 32 l corresponds to the width of the fixing webs 112 l , 114 l . The first spoiler part element 32 l runs together pointed in an end region 116 l facing away from the wiper blade 40 l.
[0118] FIG. 13 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 m with a holding element 12 m having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 m to guide a spring element 16 m , and a spoiler unit 22 m . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 m . The wiping device shown substantially corresponds to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 12 . A width of a first spoiler part element 32 m corresponds to the width of the fixing webs 112 m , 114 m . The first spoiler part element 32 m runs together rounded in an end region 116 m facing away from a wiper blade 40 m.
[0119] FIG. 14 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 n with a holding element 12 n having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 n to guide a spring element 16 n . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 n.
[0120] To guide the spring element 16 n , the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n has side walls 52 n , 54 n . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 n is arranged on the side walls 52 n , 54 n which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n in the direction of a wiper blade 40 n . The side walls 52 n , 54 n extend from the intermediate wall 56 n in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 n . A second intermediate wall 118 n terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n in the direction of a spoiler unit 22 n . Thus the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n is completely surrounded.
[0121] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 n , 60 n of the holding unit 10 n are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 n . The guide profiles 58 n , 60 n are formed integrally with the holding element 12 n . The guide profiles 58 n , 60 n each have a side guide 62 n , 64 n and a vertical guide 66 n , 68 n . The vertical guides 66 n , 68 n enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 n , 64 n . The vertical guides 66 n , 68 n point towards each other. The side guides 62 n , 64 n each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 n . The guide profiles 58 n , 60 n point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 n , 68 n . The guide profiles 58 n , 60 n and the intermediate wall 56 n form a piping rail 70 n in which the wiper blade 40 n is introduced.
[0122] The spoiler unit 22 n is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 n , 34 n , 42 n of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 n has two spoiler sides 76 n , 78 n which are formed concave towards the outside. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 n , the first spoiler part element 32 n has a connecting web 80 n which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 n , 78 n . The connecting web 80 n and the spoiler sides 76 n , 78 n surround a longitudinal channel 82 n which has a substantially pentagonal cross section.
[0123] The first spoiler part element 32 n is formed integrally with the second spoiler part element 34 n , 42 n and is provided to deflect travel wind. The second spoiler part element 34 n , 42 n has a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 n.
[0124] The second spoiler part elements 34 n , 42 n lie on the holding element 12 n by form fit in the region of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n and partially surround the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n . The second spoiler part elements 34 n , 42 n each have three walls. The first and second walls enclose an angle of 90°. The second wall encloses an angle of 77° with the third wall, which can lead to a high torsional rigidity.
[0125] The second spoiler part elements 34 n , 42 n are surrounded by the first spoiler part element 32 n in both a wiping direction 88 n and a vertical direction 102 n . Contact of the second spoiler part elements 34 n , 42 n with an environment is thus avoided.
[0126] The holding element 12 n is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0127] The spring element 16 n is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n . The spring element 16 n is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 n in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0128] For assembly, first the spring element 16 n is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 n . Then the wiper blade 40 n is pushed into the piping rail 70 n and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 n . The spoiler unit 22 n is now pushed over the holding element 12 n and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0129] FIG. 15 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 o with a holding element 12 o having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 o to guide a spring element 16 o . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 o.
[0130] The holding element 12 o has two fixing elements 18 o , 20 o . The fixing elements 18 o , 20 o are formed integrally with the holding element 12 o . At their free ends 24 o , 26 o , the fixing elements 18 o , 20 o point in directions away from each other. Furthermore the fixing elements 18 o , 20 o form two channel walls 36 o , 38 o which border the longitudinal guidance channel 14 o on a side facing away from the wiper blade. In the region of their free ends 24 o , 26 o , the fixing elements 18 o , 20 o are formed as piping. The ends 24 o , 26 o are surrounded by a spoiler unit 22 o . For this the spoiler unit 22 o has two fixing means 44 o , 46 o . The fixing means 44 o , 46 o each form a C-shaped receiving region and hence a piping rail.
[0131] To guide the spring element 16 o , side walls 52 o , 54 o of the longitudinal guidance channel 14 o border the channel walls 36 o , 380 . The channel walls 36 o , 38 o here enclose a right angle with the side walls 52 o , 54 o . Furthermore an intermediate wall 56 o is arranged on the side walls 52 o , 54 o which terminates the longitudinal guidance channel 14 o in the direction of a wiper blade 40 o . The side walls 52 o , 54 o extend from the intermediate wall 56 o in a direction away from the wiper blade 40 o . The holding element 12 o has a longitudinal opening 84 o which opens the longitudinal guidance channel 14 o towards the spoiler unit 22 o.
[0132] Two L-shaped guide profiles 58 o , 60 o of the holding unit 10 o are arranged on the intermediate wall 56 o . The guide profiles 58 o , 60 o are formed integrally with the holding element 12 o . The guide profiles 58 o , 60 o each have a side guide 62 o , 64 o and a vertical guide 66 o , 680 . The vertical guides 66 o , 68 o enclose an angle of 90° with the respective side guides 62 o , 64 o . The vertical guides 66 o , 68 o point towards each other. The side guides 62 o , 64 o each enclose an angle of 90° to the intermediate wall 56 o . The guide profiles 58 o , 60 o point in directions towards each other at their free ends of the vertical guides 66 o , 680 . The guide profiles 58 o , 60 o and the intermediate wall 56 o form a piping rail 70 o in which the wiper blade 40 o is introduced.
[0133] The holding element 12 o is produced integrally from polyethylene in an extrusion process. A person skilled in the art in this context will consider various plastics which appear suitable such as in particular polypropylene, polyamide, polyvinyl chloride and/or polystyrene.
[0134] The spoiler unit 22 o is produced in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 o , 34 o , 42 o of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 o has two spoiler sides 76 o , 78 o which are formed concave towards the outside. The softer spoiler part element 32 o and the harder spoiler part elements 34 o , 42 o are joined together by material fit over a wide area. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 o , the first spoiler part element 32 o has a connecting web 80 o which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 o , 780 . The softer spoiler part element 32 o surrounds a longitudinal channel 82 o which has a pentagonal cross section.
[0135] The first spoiler part element 32 o is formed integrally with the second spoiler part elements 34 o , 42 o and is provided to deflect travel wind. The spoiler part elements 34 o , 42 o have a greater strength and hardness than the first spoiler part element 32 o . The spoiler part elements 34 o , 42 o are formed separately from each other. The spoiler part element 34 o forms the fixing means 44 o . The spoiler part element 42 o forms the fixing means 46 o . The fixing means 44 o , 46 o are formed circular and lie by form fit on the fixing elements 18 o , 20 o . The spring element 16 o is let into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 o . The spring element 16 o is made from spring steel and is provided to form the holding unit 10 o in an elastically deflectable manner.
[0136] For assembly, first the spring element 16 o is introduced into the longitudinal guidance channel 14 o . Then the wiper blade 40 o is pushed into the piping rail 70 o and creates a form fit with the holding element 12 o . The spoiler unit 22 o is now pushed over the fixing elements 18 o , 20 o and is then connected therewith by form fit.
[0137] FIG. 16 shows a cross section view of a further exemplary embodiment of a wiping device according to the invention with a holding unit 10 p with a holding element 12 p having a longitudinal guidance channel 14 p to guide a spring element 16 p . The section plane runs perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the holding element 12 p . The wiping device shown substantially corresponds to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 15 .
[0138] A spoiler unit 22 p is formed in a co-extrusion process from two spoiler part elements 32 p , 34 p of different hardness. The first spoiler part element 32 p has two spoiler sides 76 p , 78 p which are formed concave towards the outside. The softer spoiler part element 32 p and the harder spoiler part element 34 p are joined together by material fit over a wide area. To reinforce the spoiler unit 22 p , the first spoiler part element 32 p has a connecting web 80 p which joins together the concave spoiler sides 76 p , 78 p . The softer spoiler part element 32 p surrounds a longitudinal channel 82 p which has a pentagonal cross section.
[0139] The spoiler unit 22 p has two fixing means 44 p , 46 p . The fixing means 44 p , 46 p each form a C-shaped receiving region and hence a piping rail. The fixing means 44 p , 46 p are joined together via a second connecting web 30 p . The fixing means 44 p , 46 p and the connecting web 30 p are formed integrally.
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The invention relates to a wiping device, in particular a wiping device for a motor vehicle pane, comprising a spoiler unit ( 22 a - 22 p ). According to the 88a invention, said spoiler unit ( 22 a - 22 p ) is produced in a co-extrusion process.
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 200,665, filed May 3, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,747.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to photothermographic materials and in particular to dry silver systems capable of producing colour images.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Dry silver photosensitive compositions comprise an intimate mixture of a light sensitive silver halide and another silver compound such as a silver salt of an organic acid, e.g. silver behenate or silver saccharine, which upon reduction gives a visible change and which is substantially light insensitive. Such a mixture is usually prepared in suspension and the resulting dispersion spread as a layer on a suitable substrate. When dry, the layer is exposed to a light image and thereafter a reproduction of the image can be developed by heating the layer in the presence of a reducing agent already contained in the coating.
It is because the exposure and development of the layer occur without using water, that these materials are often referred to as dry silver, light sensitive materials. Such materials are well known in the art. Minor amounts of a photosensitive silver halide, which acts as a catalyst (silver) progenitor are associated in catalytic proximity with major amounts of a heat sensitive oxidation-reduction image forming reaction mixture. The mixture reacts more rapidly in the presence of the catalyst (silver) resulting upon exposure (photoreduction) of the silver halide. Examples of such materials are described in British Patent Specification No. 1 110 046 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,839,049 and 3,457,075.
A wide range of reducing agents have been disclosed in dry silver systems including amidoximes such as phenylamidoxime, 2-thienylamidoxime and p-phenoxyphenylamidoxime, azines, e.g. 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde azine; a combination of aliphatic carboxylic acid aryl hydrazides and ascorbic acid, such as 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionyl-beta-phenyl hydrazide in combination with ascorbic acid; a combination of polyhydroxybenzene and hydroxylamine, a reductone and/or a hydrazine, e.g. a combination of hydroquinone and bisethoxyethylhydroxylamine, piperidinohexose reductone or formyl-4-methylphenyl hydrazine, hydroxamic acids such as phenylhydroxamic acid, p-hydroxyphenyl hydroxamic acid, and beta-alanihe hydroxamic acid; a combination of azines and sulphonamidophenols, e.g. phenothiazine and 2,6-dichloro-4-benzenesulphonamidophenol; alpha-cyanophenylacetic acid derivatives such as ethyl-alpha-cyano-2-methylphenylacetate, ethyl alpha-cyanophenylacetate; bis-beta-naphthols as illustrated by 2,2'dihydroxy-1,1' -binaphthyl, 6,6'-dibromo-2,2'-dihydroxy-1,1'-binaphthyl, and bis(2-hydroxy-l-naphthyl)methane; a combination of bis-beta-naphthol and a 1,3-dihydroxybenzene derivative, eg. 2,4-dihydroxy-benzophenone or 2'4'-dihydroxyacetophenone; 5-pyrazolones such as 3-methyl-l-phenyl-5-pyrazolone; reductones as illustrated by dimethylamino hexose reductone, anhydzo dihydco amino hexose reductone, and anhydro dihydro piperidino hexose reductone; sulphonamidophenol reducing agents such as 2,6-dichloro-4-benzenesulphonoamidophenol, and p-benzenesulphonamidophenol; 2-phenylindane-l,3-dione and the like; chromans such as 2,2-dimethyl-7-t-butyl-6-hydroxychroman; 1,4-dihydro-pyridines such as 2,6-dimethoxy-3,5-dicarbethoxy-1,4-dihydropyridine; bisphenols e.g. bis(2-hydroxy-3-t-butyl-5-methylphenyl)methane, 2,2-bis(4-hydroxy- 3-methylphenyl)propane, 4,4-ethylidene-bis(2-tert- butyl-6-methylphenol), and 2,2-bis(3,5-dimethyl-4- hydroxyphenyl)propane; ascorbic acid derivatives, e.g. 1-ascorbylpalmitate, ascorbylstearate and unsaturated aldehydes and ketones such as benzil and diacetyl; 3-pyrazolidones and certain indane-1,3-diones.
A fundamental difference exists between the requirements of a black and white system and that of a colour system in dry silver materials. In the black and white system what is required is a black image, which is generally obtained from the silver formed. The literature discloses additives, "toners", which improve the black image. The silver itself may be formed in a variety of particle sizes and generally gives a brownish image. The toning hue cannot always be predicted. Addition of toners produces different types of silver precipitation and can be used in black and white dry silver to enhance the black colour characteristics of the image.
Examples of toners include phthalimide and N-hydroxyphthalimide; cyclic imides such as succinimide, pyrazolin-5-ones, and a quinazolinone, 3-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one, 1-phenylurazole, quinazoline, and 2,4-thiazolidinedione; naphthalimides, e.g. N-hydroxy-l,8-naphthalimide; cobalt complexes, e.g. cobaltic hexammine trifluoroacetate; mercaptans as illustrated by 3-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole, 2,4-dimercaptopyrimidine, 3-mercapto-4,5-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazole, and 2,5-dimercapto-l,3,4-thiadiazole; N-(aminomethyl)aryl dicarboximides, eg. N-(dimethylaminomethyl)-phthalimide, and N-(dimethylaminomethyl)naphthalene-2,3-dicarboximide; and a combination of blocked pyrazoles, isothiuronium derivatives and certain photobleach agents, e.g. a combination of N,N'-hexamethylene bis(1-carbamoyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazole), 1,8-(3,6-diazaoctane)bis(isothiuronium trifluoracetate) and 2-(tri-bromomethylsulphonyl)benzothiazole); and merocyanine dyes such as 3-ethyl-5[(3-ethyl-2-benzo- thiazolinylidene)-1-methylethylidene]-2-thio-2,4-oxazolidinedione; phthalazinone, phthalazinone derivatives or metal salts of these derivatives such as 4-(1-naphthyl)phthalazinone, 6-chlorophthalazinone, 5,7-dimethoxyphthalazinone, and 2,3-dihydro-l,4- phthalazinedione; a combination of phthalazinone plus sulphinic acid derivatives, e.g. 6-chlorophthalazinone plus sodium benzene sulphinate or 8-methylphthalazinone plus sodium p-toluenesulphinate; a combination of phthalazinone plus phthalic acid; a combination of phthalazine (including an adduct of phthalazine and maleic anhydride) and at least one compound consisting of a phthalic acid, a 2,3-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid or an o-phenylene acid derivative and anhydrides thereof, e.g. phthalic acid, 4-methylphthalic acid, 4-nitrophthalic acid, and tetrachlorophthalic anhydride; quinazolinediones, benzo-oxazine or naphthoxazine derivatives; rhodium complexes functioning not only as tone modifiers but also as sources of halide ion for silver halide formation in situ, such as ammonium hexachlororhodate (III), rhodium bromide, rhodium nitrate and potassium hexachlororhodate (III); inorganic peroxides and persulphates, e.g. ammonium peroxydisulphate and hydrogen peroxide; benzoxazine-2,4-diones such as 1,3-benzoxazine-2,4-dione; 8-methyl-1,3-benzoxazine-2,4-dione, and 6-nitro-1,3-benzoxazine-2,4-dione, pyrimidines and asym-triazines, e.g. 2,4-dihydfoxypyrimidine, 2-hydroxy-4-aminopyrimidine, and 2,4-dihydroxypyrimidine, 2-hydroxy-4-aminopyrimidine, and azauracil, and tetrazapentalene derivatives, e.g. 3,6-dimercapto-1,4-diphenyl-1H,4H-2,3a,5,6a-tetrazapentalene, and 1,4-di(o-chlorophenyl)3,6-dimercapto-1H,4H-2,3a,5,6a-tetrazapentalene.
A substantially different result is desired in a colour system One does not want a black or grey silver image as this affects the overall colour intensity and rendition of the dye species. A number of methods have been proposed for obtaining colour images with dry silver systems. Such methods include incorporated coupler materials, e g. a combination of silver benzotriazole, well known magenta, yellow and cyan dye-forming couplers, aminophenol developing agents, a base release agent such as guanidinium trichloroacetate and silver bromide in poly(vinyl butyral); a combination of silver bromoiodide, sulphonamidophenol reducing agent, silver behenate, poly(vinyl butyral), an amine such as n-octadecylamine and 2-equivalent or 4-equivalent cyan, magenta or yellow dye-forming couplers; incorporating leuco dye bases which oxidizes to form a dye image, e.g., Malachite Green, Crystal Violet and para-rosaniline; a combination of in situ silver halide, silver behenate, 3-methyl-l-phenylpyrazolone and N,N'-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine hydrochloride; incorporating phenolic leuco dye reducing agents such as 2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-diphenylimidazole, and bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)phenylmethane; incorporating azomethine dyes or azo dye reducing agents; silver dye bleach process, e.g. an element comprising silver behenate, behenic acid, poly(vinyl butyral), poly(vinyl- butyral) peptized silver bromiodide emulsion, 2,6-dichloro- 4-benzenesulphonamidophenol, 1,8-(3,6-diazaoctane)bis-isothiuronium-p-toluene sulphonate and an azo dye was exposed and heat processed to obtain a negative silver image with a uniform distribution of dye which was laminated to an acid activator sheet comprising polyacrylic acid, thiourea and p-toluene sulphonic acid and heated to obtain well defined positive dye images; and incorporating amines such as aminoacetanilide (yellow dye-forming), 3,3-dimethoxybenzidine (blue dye-forming) or sulphanilanilide (magenta dye-forming) which react with the oxidized form of incorporated reducing agents such as 2,6-dichloro-4-benzene- sulphonamido-phenol to form dye images. Neutral dye images can be obtained by the addition of amines such as behenylamine and p-anisidine.
There has been a very strong, specific continuing need for improved photothermographic materials for providing a developed image in colour. Ideal characteristics required for the image forming dyes are as follows:
(a) the dye precursors should assist in the toning action of the silver to give as low a visual density of silver metal as possible,
(b) the dyes must have a hue suitable for three colour reproduction,
(c) the dyes must have large molecular extinction coefficients,
(d) the dyes must be stable to light, heat and in the presence of other additives in the system, such as the dye releasing activator,
(e) the dye precursors must be easily synthesized.
It has been found that a range of benzylidene leuco compounds are capable of dye formation in dry silver systems.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore according to the present invention there is provided a photothermographic element comprising a support bearing a photothermographic medium, the medium comprising a light sensitive silver halide in reactive association with a silver salt of an organic acid and a colour generating reducing agent which is a leuco compound oxidizable by silver ions into a coloured dye of the general formula: ##STR2## in which:
n=0, 1 or 2,
R 1 represents H, CN, lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, aryl or COOR 6 in which R 6 is lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or aryl of up to 8 carbon atoms,
R 2 and R 3 independently represent CN, NO 2 , COOR 6 , SO 2 R 6 , CONHR 6 in which R 6 is as defined above, or R 2 and R 3 together represent the necessary atoms to form a 5- or 6-membered carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring having ring atoms selected from C, N, O and S atoms, which carbocyclic or heterocyclic rings possess at least one conjugated electron withdrawing substituent,
R 4 and R 5 independently represent H, CN or lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or together represent the necessary atoms to complete a 5- or 6-membered carbocyclic ring, and
Ar represents:
(a) a thienyl group which may be substituted with one or more lower alkyl groups of 1 to 5 carbon atoms,
(b) a furyl group which may be substituted with one or more lower alkyl groups of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or
(c) a phenyl group which may be substituted with one or more groups selected from halogen, hydroxy, lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, lower alkoxy of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, NR 7 R 8 in which R 7 and R 8 are independently selected from H, lower alkyl group of 1 to 5 carbon atoms which may possess substituents selected from CN, OH, halogen and phenyl, and phenyl group optionally substituted with substituents selected from OH, halogen, lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or lower alkoxy of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or R 7 and R 8 together represent the necessary atoms to complete a morpholino group, or said phenyl group may be part of a larger ring structure comprising two or more rings which may be aromatic or heterocyclic containing up to 20 ring atoms selected from C, N, O and S.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The leuco compounds employed as colour generating reducing agents in the invention are the reduced form of the coloured dyes of the above general formula. The reduced form of the dyes must absorb less strongly in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and be oxidised by silver ions back to the original coloured form of the dye.
Benzylidene dyes have extremely sharp spectral characteristics giving high colour purity of low grey level. The dyes have large extinction coefficients typically in the order of 10 4 to 10 5 and possess good compatibility and heat/light stability. The dyes are readily synthesized and the reduced leuco forms of the compounds are very stable.
The heat-developable colour photographic material can simultaneously provide a toned silver image and dye formation. That is, when the heat-developable colour photographic material of the present invention is imagewise exposed to light and developed by heating, an oxidation-reduction reaction occurs between the exposed light-sensitive silver halide and/or an organic silver salt and the leuco dye compound in an area where the exposed light-sensitive silver halide exists to form a silver image in the exposed area plus dye image. The aforementioned silver image appears to have a neutral density due to in situ toning action of the leuco compound. According to this process, an unreacted leuco compound does not form a coloured image during processing.
The light sensitive silver halide used in the present invention can be employed in a range of 0.0005 mol to 5 mol and, preferably, from 0.005 mol to 1.0 mol per mole of organic silver salt.
Examples of silver halide which may be used in the invention include silver chloride, silver chlorobromide, silver chloroiodide, silver bromide, silver iodobromide, silver chloroiodobromide and silver iodide.
The silver halide used in the present invention may be employed without modification. However, it may be chemically sensitised with a chemical sensitising agent such as a compound containing sulphur, selenium or tellurium etc. or a compound containing gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium or iridium, etc., a reducing agent such as a tin halide, etc. or a combination thereof. The details of these procedures are described in T. H. James "The Theory of the Photographic Process", Fourth Edition, Chapter 5, pages 149 to 169.
The organic silver salt which can be used in the present invention is a silver salt which is comparatively stable to light and which forms a silver image by reacting with the above described leuco compound or an auxiliary developing agent which is coexisting with the leuco compound, if desired, when it is heated to a temperature of above 80° C., and, preferably, above 100° C. in the presence of exposed silver halide.
Suitable organic silver salts include silver salts of organic compounds having a carboxy group. Preferred examples thereof include a silver salt of an aliphatic carboxylic acid and a silver salt of an aromatic carboxylic acid. Preferred examples of the silver salts of aliphatic carboxylic acids include silver behenate, silver stearate, silver oleate, silver laurate, silver caprate, silver myristate, silver palmitate, silver maleate, silver fumarate, silver tartarate, silver furoate, silver linoleate, silver butyrate and silver camphorate, mixtures thereof, etc. Silver salts which are substituted with a halogen atom of a hydroxyl group can also be effectively used. Preferred examples of the silver salts of aromatic carboxylic acid and other carboxyl group-containing compounds include silver benzoate, a silver substituted benzoate such as silver 3,5-dihydroxybenzoate, silver o-methylbenzoate, silver m-methylbenzoate, silver p-methylbenzoate, silver 2,4-dichlorobenzoate, silver acetamidobenzoate, silver p-phenyl benzoate, etc., silver gallate, silver tannate, silver phthalate, silver terephthalate, silver salicylate, silver phenylacetate, silver pyromellitate, a silver salt of 3-carboxymethyl-4-methyl-4-thiazoline-2-thione or the like as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,830, and silver salt of an aliphatic carboxylic acid containing a thioether group as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,663, etc.
Silver salts of compounds containing mercapto or thione groups and derivatives thereof can be used. Preferred examples of these compounds include a silver salt of 3-mercapto-4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole, a silver salt of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole, a silver salt of 2-mercapto-5-aminothiadiazole, a silver salt of 2-(s-ethylglycolamido) benzothiazole, a silver salt of thioglycolic acid such as a silver salt of a S-alkyl thioglycolic acid (wherein the alkyl group has from 12 to 22 carbon atoms) as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 28221/73, a silver salt of a dithiocarboxylic acid such as a silver salt of dithioacetic acid, a silver salt of thioamide, a silver salt of 5-carboxyl-1-methyl-2-phenyl-4-thiopyridine, a silver salt of mercaptotriazine, a silver salt of 2-mercaptobenzoxazole, a silver salt as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,274, for example, a silver salt of 1,2,4-mercaptotriazole derivative such as a silver salt of 3-amino-5-benzylthio-1,2,4-triazole, a silver salt of thione compound such as a silver salt of 3-(2-carboxyethyl)-4-methyl-4-thiazoline-2-thione as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,678.
Furthermore, a silver salt of a compound containing an amino group can be used. Preferred examples of these compounds include a silver salt of benzotriazole and a derivative thereof as described in Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 30270/69 and 18146/70, for example, a silver salt of benzotriazole, a silver salt of alkyl substituted benzotriazole such as a silver salt of methylbenzotriazole, etc., a silver salt of a halogen substituted benzotraizole such as a silver salt of 5-chlorobenzotriazole, etc., a silver salt of carboimidobenzotriazole, etc., a silver of 1,2,4-triazole, of 1-H-tetrazole as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,709, a silver salt of imidazole and an imidazole derivative, and the like.
The silver halide and the organic silver salt which form a starting point of development should be in reactive association i.e. in the same layer, in adjacent layers or layers separated from each other by an intermediate layer having a thickness of less than 1 micron. It is preferred that the silver halide and the organic silver salt are present in the same layer.
The silver halide and the organic silver salt which are separately formed in a binder can be mixed prior to use to prepare a coating solution, but it is also effective to blend both of them in a ball mill for a long period of time. Further, it is effective to use a process which comprises adding a halogen-containing compound in the organic silver salt prepared to partially convert the silver of the organic silver salt to silver halide.
Methods of preparing these silver halide and organic silver salts and manners of blending them are described in Research Disclosure, No. 17029, Japanese Patent Application Nos. 32928/75 and 42529/76, U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,458, and Japanese Patent Application Nos. 13224/74 and 17216/75.
A suitable coating amount of the light-sensitive silver halide and the organic silver salt employed in the present invention is in a total from 50 mg to 10 g/m 2 calculated as an amount of silver as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,927.
The dyes generated by the leuco compounds employed in the elements of the invention are known and are disclosed, for example, in:
Colour Index 1971, Vol 4, page 4437 published by The Society of Dyes and Colourists,
The Chemistry of Synthetic Dyes, K. Venkataraman 1952 Vol. 2, Academic Press, Page 1206,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,927,
The Cyanine Dyes and Related Compounds, F. M. Hamer, 1964, J. Wiley & Sons Ltd., Publishers pages 471-475, and
The Cyanine Dyes and Related Compounds, F. M. Hamer, 1964 page 492 J. Wiley and Sons Ltd, Publishers.
The leuco compounds may readily be synthesized by techniques known in the art. There are many known methods of synthesis from precursors since the reaction is a simple two hydrogen reduction step. Suitable methods are disclosed, for example, in:
N. Kucharczyk et al. Collect Czech. Chem. Commun. 1968 33(1) 92-9 CA 68(11): 49384W,
T. Dumpis et al. Dokl. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R. 1961 141 1093; ibid 1962 142 1308,
T. Dumpis et al. Dokl. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R. 1959 125 549; Latvijas PSR Zinatnu Akad Vestis 1961 (2) 241.
F. X. Smith et al. Tetrah. Letts 1983 24 (45) 4951-4954,
X. Huang. L. Xie, Synth. Commun. 1986 16(13) 1701-1707,
H. Zimmer et al. J. Org. Chem 1960 25 1234-5,
M. Sekiya et al. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1972 20(2), 343. ibid 1974 22(2) 448, and
T. Sohda et al. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1983 31(2) 560-569.
Preferred leuco compounds/dyes used in the invention are of the formula: ##STR3## in which:
X is O or S, preferably O
Ar and R 1 are as defined above,
R 9 and R 10 independently represent lower alkyl groups of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, aralkyl groups of up to 10 carbon atoms or phenyl.
Other preferred dye formed by oxidation of the leuco compounds used in the invention include those of the formula: ##STR4## in which:
Ar and R 1 are as defined above.
Examples of dyes generated by the leuco compounds used in the invention are reported in the following Tables. Barbituric Acid Derivatives of the formula: ##STR5##
______________________________________ λmax (ethanol)Compound No. R.sup.11 nm______________________________________1 CH.sub.3 4682 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3 4683 n-C.sub.8 H.sub.17 4704 tert-butyl 4495 cyclohexyl 468______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ MAX (ETHANOL)COMPOUND FORMULA nm__________________________________________________________________________ 6 ##STR6## 483 7 ##STR7## 475 8 ##STR8## 510 9 ##STR9## 600 (CHCl.sub.3)10 ##STR10## 623 (CHCl.sub.3)11 ##STR11## 46812 ##STR12##13 ##STR13##14 ##STR14##15 ##STR15##16 ##STR16##17 ##STR17##18 ##STR18##19 ##STR19##20 ##STR20##21 ##STR21##22 ##STR22##23 ##STR23##24 ##STR24##25 ##STR25##26 ##STR26##27 ##STR27##28 ##STR28##29 ##STR29##30 ##STR30##31 ##STR31##32 ##STR32##33 ##STR33##34 ##STR34##35 ##STR35##36 ##STR36##37 ##STR37##38 ##STR38##39 ##STR39##40 ##STR40##41 ##STR41##42 ##STR42##43 ##STR43##44 ##STR44##45 ##STR45##__________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________ λmax (ethanol)Compound No. R.sup.12 R.sup.14 R.sup.13 nm______________________________________46 H OCH.sub.3 H 40247 C.sub.2 H.sub.5 OCH.sub.3 H 41048 C.sub.2 H.sub.5 OCH.sub.3 m-OCH.sub.3 42049 C.sub.2 H.sub.5 OCH.sub.3 o-OCH.sub.3 440______________________________________ ##STR46##
______________________________________Dyes incorporating nuclei other than λmaxbarbituric acid: (ethanol)______________________________________50 43051##STR47## 47052##STR48## 40453##STR49## 45654##STR50## 39855##STR51## 43656##STR52## 44057##STR53## 50258##STR54## 490 (CHCl.sub.3)59##STR55## 53560##STR56## 53461##STR57## 560______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ ##STR58## λmax (ethanol)Compound No. R.sup.2 R.sup.3 R.sup.7 R.sup.8(1) R.sup.15 nm__________________________________________________________________________62 CN CN CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN H 41063 CN CN R.sup.7 = CH.sub.3 H 421 R.sup.8 = CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN64 CN CO.sub.2 CH.sub.3 CH.sub.3 H 41765 CN CO.sub.2 CH.sub.3 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN H 39966 CN CO.sub.2 CH.sub.3 R.sup.7 = CH.sub.3 H 413 R.sup.8 = CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN67 CN CO.sub.2 Et CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN H 40368 CN CONH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN H 39269 CN CONHPh CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN H 40070 CN CO.sub.2 CH.sub.3 ##STR59## H 40571 CN CO.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CHCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN H 40372 CN CO.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CHCH.sub.2 R.sup.7 = CH.sub.3 H 415 R.sub.2 = CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN73 CN CN CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN CH.sub.3 42374 ##STR60## 458__________________________________________________________________________ .sup.(1) R.sup.7 = R.sup.8 unless otherwise stated.
__________________________________________________________________________ ##STR61##No. Z R.sup.7 R.sup.8 λmax (ethanol)__________________________________________________________________________75 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3 42476 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN 404 77 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 ##STR62## 41178 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3 423 R.sup.7 CH.sub.379 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 413 R.sup.8 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN80 (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3 425 R.sup.7 CH.sub.381 (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.2 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 415 R.sup.8 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 CN82 ##STR63## 52083 ##STR64## 53584 ##STR65## 426(CH.sub.3 OH)85 ##STR66## 590(CHCl.sub.3)86 ##STR67## 62087 ##STR68## 636__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________ ##STR69##Compound No. Ar R.sup.1 λmax(MeOH)nm__________________________________________________________________________88 ##STR70## H 34389 ##STR71## H 38190 ##STR72## H 38491 ##STR73## H 414(584)*92 ##STR74## H 42893 ##STR75## H 436(538)*94 ##STR76## H 48295 ##STR77## H 49096 ##STR78## CN 570(CHCl.sub.3)97 ##STR79##98 ##STR80## 63099 ##STR81## 665100 ##STR82## 553__________________________________________________________________________ *λmax pH dependent.
Exemplary methods of preparing dyes used in the invention are as follows:
Synthesis of (p-Dimethylaminobenzylidene dimethyl-barbituric acid (Compound No. 1)
A mixture of dimethylamino-benzaldehyde (47.66 g) and N,N-dimethyl-barbituric acid (52.0 g) was heated in ethanol (500 ml) at 60° C. for 4 hours, triethylamine (1 ml) having been added as catalyst. The precipitated dye was filtered, washed with ethanol (200 ml) and dried. Yield 89.6 g (94%).
Synthesis of the Leuco form of Compound No. 1
42.6 g of Compound No. 1 was dissolved in a mixture of ethanol (500 ml) and glacial acetic acid (84 ml). Zinc dust (79.4 g) was added portionwise over a period of 2 hours. The mixture was then heated to 60° C. and sonicated. When all the colour had discharged the suspension was filtered and the residue washed with ethanol. The combined extracts were evaporated under vacuum to give an oily solid. Ethanol (100 ml) was then added and the solid crystallised fully. The solid was filtered, washed with more ethanol (200 ml) and dried in a vacuum over 2 days to yield a white dry solid.
Synthesis of [4-dimethylamino-1-naphthalylidene]malononitrile (Compound No. 53)
A mixture of 4-dimethylamino-1-naphthaldehyde (4.8 g) and malononitrile (1.59 g) were heated in ethanol (200 ml) with triethylamine (0.5 ml) as catalyst. The reaction was heated to 60° C. for 4 hours then reduced in volume to 50 ml. The mixture was left overnight to crystallise.
Yield 5.4 g (92%): λmax 456 nm (EtOH)
λmax 452 nm (CH 3 OH): ε=2.1×10 4
______________________________________Analysis for C.sub.16 H.sub.13 N.sub.3 : C % H % N %______________________________________Calculated 77.71 5.30 16.99Found 77.55 5.43 17.51______________________________________
Synthesis of Leuco Form of Compound No. 53
Compound No. 53 (4.95 g) was dispersed in ethanol (100 ml) and glacial acetic acid (12 g). Zinc dust (10 g) was added proportionwise with stirring. The dispersion was then sonicated to completely decolourise any residue solid via solubilisation and reduction. The mixture was then filtered to remove the zinc and then evaporated to dryness to remove any residue acetic acid. Ethanol (50 ml) was then added and the mixture was heated to dissolve the leuco form. The solution was cooled slowly to crystallise the leuco compound. Initial yield of leuco compound was 0.65 g in the form of white crystals.
Synthesis of the Leuco Form of Compound 54
To a suspension of 2-(p-methoxybenzylidene)malononitrile (1.83 g) in boiling ethanol (20 ml), sodium cyanide (0.5 g) in distilled water (5 ml) was added dropwise with stirring. A red solution formed which was additioned with water (100 ml) and acidified with glacial acetic acid (5 ml), at room temperature. The pale mauve precipitate formed was filtered, washed repeatedly with distilled water (500 ml) and dried in a vacuum oven.
Yield (crude) 1.92 g (91%).
'H.N.M.R. (CDCl 3 , 90MHZ) 3.8 (s, 3H), 5.4 (d, J=9HZ, 1H), 5.76 (d, J=9Hz, 1H), 6.9-7.6 (m, 4H).
Synthesis of 1,1,2-tricyano-2-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) ethane (Leuco form of Compound 55)
To a suspension of 1,1-dicyano-2-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) ethene (8.5 g, 0.035 moles) in boiling ethanol (150 ml), sodium cyanide (1.77 g, 0.0351 moles) was added dropwise from a pipette. A dark solution formed which was additioned with distilled water (500 ml) and acidified with glacial acetic acid (to pH2) at room temperature. No precipitate formed. With stirring, water (20 ml) was added, consequently precipitating out dirty white crystals. The crystals were filtered, washed repeatedly with water (500 ml) and dried in a vacuum oven. The product was recrystallised from ethanol.
Yield 6.74 g (71%).
H' NMR (CDCl 3 , 90MHz) 3.72 (s, 3H), 3.84 (s, 6H, 5.42 (d, J=12Hz, 1H), 5.72 (d, J=12HZ, 1H), 6,88 (s, 2H).
Synthesis of 2-[p-dimethylaminocinnamylidene]-N',N'-dimethyl barbituric acid (Compound No. 83)
A mixture of p-dimethylamino-cinnamaldehyde (17.5 g) and N',N'-dimethylbarbituric acid (15.6 g) were heated in ethanol (250 ml) at 70° C. for 6 hours. The dye formed, crystallised overnight. The material was filtered and washed with ethanol (220 ml).
Yield 30.54 g (94.6%) max 533.4nm(EtOH); (EtOH) =3.36×10 4 .
Synthesis of Leuco Form of Compound No. 83
Compound No. 83 (3.13 g) was dispersed in ethanol (20 ml) and borane, dimethylamine complex (4.37 g) was added portionwise with stirring over a 3 hour period The magenta dye decolourised slowly. This decolourisation was assisted by heat at 50° C. The reaction was then quenched in ice water (50 g:50 ml) with dilute hydrochloric acid (20 ml). The single phase solution was then extracted with methylene chloride (500 ml), twice. The organic layer was separated and dried with anhydrous magnesium sulphate. Evaporation to dryness gave fawn coloured crystals. The material was washed twice with ethanol (2×50 ml) and dried in a vacuum oven at room temperature.
Yield 2.05 g (65%). Off white crystals.
'H N.M.R. (CDCl 3 90MHZ) 2.9 (s, 6H), 3,0 (M, 2H), 3,26 (s, 6H), 3.6 (t, J=5Hz, 1H), 5.5-5.9 (dt, J d =15 Hz, J t =7.6 Hz, 1H), 6.4 (d, J d =15Hz, 1H), 6.5-7.2 (m, 4H).
General synthesis for the preparation of 2-(substituted-benzylidene)-1,3-indandiones (Compound Nos. 88 to 95)
1,3-Indandione (1.46 g, 0.01 mol) and an aromatic aldehyde (0.01 mole) are refluxed in absolute ethanol (15-25 ml) over a period of 1.5 to 3.0 hours. The heat is removed and the reaction mixture kept at room temperature until crystallisation was completed. The crystals are filtered and washed with cold ethanol followed by recrystallisation from ethanol or DMF (1 g/10 ml) and drying in vacuum oven.
General synthesis of the Leuco Forms of Compound Nos. 88 to 95.
Compound No. 88 to 95 (0.01 mole) is suspended in abs. ethanol in a round bottomed flask equipped with a condenser, magnetic stirrer and nitrogen inlet. Zinc powder (2.0 g) is added at once followed by addition of 0.5 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid. The reaction mixture is stirred at 40° to 45° C. under nitrogen gas for a period of 10 to 20 hours during which decolourisation is completed and TLC in hexane/ether (70:30) indicates no presence of starting material. The reaction mixture is filtered through a diatomaceous earth layer "Celite". The filtrate is concentrated on a rotary evaporator and refrigerated to give crystals. The crystals are filtered, air dried and recrystallised from a suitable solvent. During recrystallisation the temperature is kept to below 50° C.
Synthesis of 2-[-Cyano-2-dimethylaminophenyl]-ethyl-1,3-indandione - Leuco Form Compound No. 96
To a stirred suspension of 1.4 g of 2-(p-dimethylaminobenzylidene) indandione in 20 ml boiling ethanol was added an aqueous solution of 0.5 g sodium cyanide in 5 ml water. After the dye had bleached, the solution was cooled to room temperature and 100 ml water acidified with acetic acid was added. The precipitate was filtered, washed repeatedly with distilled water and dried.
Yield 1.3 g (85%).
NMR, (CDCl 3 2.85 (S, CH 3 , 6H); 3. (D, CH, 1H); 4.7 (D, CH, 1H); 6.5;7.9 (M, AzH, 8H)
The leuco compound may be placed in a layer with the silver salt and light sensitive silver halide. It may alternatively be placed in a separate layer provided that the compound can react during development. The optimum placement of the leuco compound will, for example, depend on the choice of binder.
The coatings used in the following experimental were derived from silver behenate dispersions and in particular silver behenate half soaps. The half soaps are behenic acid dispersions where only about half the behenic acid has been reacted to form the silver salt. The other half remains as behenic acid.
The method used for making silver soap dispersions is well known in the art and is disclosed in Research Disclosure April 1983 (22812), ibid October 1983 (23419) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,565.
The following silver soap dispersion was used in the Examples.
127 g of the 15% silver soap dispersion was mixed with 0.1 g of polyvinylbutyral resin (Butvar B-76). 12 ml of mercuric bromide solution (2.36 g/100 ml of methanol) was added with stirring after which an additional 68 g of Butvar B-76 was added. Methyl ethyl ketone (180 g) and 180 g of additional toluene were added to obtain the proper coating viscosity. To this dispersion was then added blue sensitising dye.
The dispersion was coated at a wet thickness of 76 microns and dried at 82° C. in an oven for 5 minutes. A topcoat was applied over this coating comprising
Leuco Compound: 0.2 g
Dimethylformamide: 3 ml
Phthalazinone: 0.2 g
Butvar B76 (15% in methyl ethyl ketone): 10 g
This was coated at 76 micron wet thickness and dried at 70° C. for 4 minutes. The leuco compound was therefore placed in the topcoat.
As an alternative to incorporating the leuco compound in a topcoat employing an organic solvent based coating formulation, further examples were prepared where an aqueous based, polyvinyl alcohol, topcoat was employed. Here the leuco compound was incorporated in the silver halide layer rather than in the topcoat. It was added in a quantity of 0.45% relative to the total coating formulation at the time of addition of the blue sensitising dye.
This was then given a topcoat of:
5% polyvinyl alcohol (Vinol® 523) dissolved in a 50:50 mixture of water and methanol and containing 0.4% phthalazinone which was coated at 76 micron wet and dried for 5 minutes at 70° C.
Samples were exposed to a white light source through a step wedge and developed by heating to 120° to 140° C. for 30 seconds.
The density of dyes formed was measured using a MacBeth densitometer (using blue filter type for yellow dyes). Visual evaluation of sample quality was also used.
Imaged samples of selected leuco compounds were exposed to ultraviolet radiation for 4 hours. The light source utilized was a General Electric Daylight Fluorescent Tube of 1200 ft-candles (1.29×10 41x ) Environmental conditions were 60% Relative Humidity. Measurements of the maximum and minimum densities were then taken.
The leuco compounds of the invention have oxidation potentials within the range 0.65 to 1.2 volts. This may be influenced by the environment around the leuco compound.
The following Table shows the effect of pH and moisture on the oxidation potentials of the leuco forms of compound Nos. 1 and 7. Because of the influence of acidity and moisture content of binders, consideration must be given to where the leuco compound is to be placed in the overall construction
______________________________________LEUCO OXIDATIONFORM OF POTENTIALS EtOHCOM- (V) IN H.sub.2 OPOUND EtOH + EtOH + plusNO. alkali EtOH acid EtOH/H.sub.2 O acid______________________________________1 -- +0.71 & 0.96 & +0.63 & +0.93 1.08 1.3 0.937 +0.62 & +0.88 +0.93 -- -- 0.93______________________________________
These results tend to suggest that the oxidation potentials of leuco form of the benzylidene dyes is pH sensitive and accordingly the coating formulations may be adjusted to alter the reactivity of particular compounds
This effect is clearly illustrated by the different results obtained employing the leuco form of Compound No. 1 in dry silver element having the organic topcoat system described above with the separate addition of phthalic acid, phthalazine and phthalazinone (the latter two compounds are toner/activator compounds which have been employed in known dry silver systems). After exposure and development of the samples the following results were observed.
______________________________________Formulation Image Comments______________________________________phthalic acid no image very stablephthalazine fogged very reactivephthalazinone good differential good imagenone image formed______________________________________
A series of leuco forms of dyes of formula (I) were incorporated in dry silver materials as described above. The visual assessment of the materials after exposure and development as above are reported in the following Table.
______________________________________ Aqueous (A)Leuco form Organic (O)of Compound No. topcoat Image colour______________________________________1 O green/yellow1 A yellow/orange2 O green/yellow2 A yellow/orange3 O green/yellow3 A yellow orange4 O grey, coloured at higher temp.4 A yellow/orange visible grey5 O grey, coloured at higher temp.5 A yellow/orange, grey visible6 A yellow/orange7 O green/yellow7 A yellow/orange high Dmin8 O slight development11 A yellow/orange53 O poor development, grey56 O poor development, grey57 O poor development, grey92 O yellow93 O brown image, yellow background95 O yellow/brown97* O yellow/brown, low density good Dmin97* A orange/brown, low density good Dmin______________________________________ *Compound No. 97 is a u.v. absorber; the only visible image is the silver image as the dye does not absorb in the visible region.
The formation of a grey or poor quality image reported in the above table does not negate the use of a particular leuco compound. The colours formed are formulation dependent.
Post Image Stability
Maximum and minimum density measurements were made using a blue filter on a MacBeth Densitometer on certain of the above developed dry silver materials before and after exposure to u.v. light for 4 hours as described above. The results are reported in the following Table.
______________________________________ Dmax DminCompound No. Before After Before After______________________________________1 1.29 1.29 0.20 0.252 1.84 1.84 0.18 0.233 1.96 1.96 0.23 0.284 1.30 1.30 0.15 0.275 1.89 1.89 0.19 0.2711 1.20 1.20 0.18 0.2092 1.17 1.17 0.28 0.35______________________________________
No change in Dmax was observed indicating good dye stability.
Three colour formulation
The two layer coating of the leuco form of Compound No. 2 as described previously with addition of a blue sensitising dye was prepared. The third coating was made by using 127 g of the 10% half soap dispersion to which was added 157 g of toluene. To this was added, with stirring, 3 ml of a 4% solution in methanol of mercuric acetate. 3 ml of a 3.6% mercuric bromide solution in methanol was then added. This was followed by the addition of 6 ml of a 2.36% solution of calcium bromide 69 g of Butvar B-76 dissolved in 400 g of toluene was then added. To this 30 grams of 20% VAGH (Union Carbide) solution in methyl ethyl ketone was added. 0.2 grams of syringaldazine dissolved in 12 ml of tetrahydrofuran was added to 50 grams of the aforementioned dispersion 2 ml of a green sensitising dye was also added. This dispersion was then coated at 76 microns wet thickness and dried for 5 minutes at 82° C.
A fourth coating consisting of 20% polystyrene 685D (Dow Chemical Co.) in 50% acetone and 50% toluene with 0.4% phthalazinone was added and coated at 76 microns and dried 5 minutes at 82° C.
The fifth coating was made from a 10% silver behenate dispersion in ethanol. To 54 g of this dispersion was added 190mg of ethanol. 1.2 ml of mercuric bromide dissolved in methanol was added with stirring. Then 13 g of Butvar B-72 and 5 g of Butvar B-76 was added. A solution of Pergascript Turquoise dissolved 3.4 g in 26 g of toluene was added. 0.001 g of red sensitising dye dissolved in 1.3 ml of methanol was added and dispersion was coated at 76 micron over the fourth coating and dried 5 minutes at 82° C.
The sixth and final coating was composed of the following formula: 46 g of Gantrez ES-225 (GAF Corporation) was mixed with 26lg of methanol and 238 g of ethanol. 14 g of EASB Resin was dissolved in the solution. 20 g of Gantrez S-97 (GAF Corporation) was also dissolved. 5 g of phthalic acid, 0.3 g of 4-nitrophthalic acid and 0 3 g of benzotriazole were dissolved in 12 ml of methanol and added to the solution of resins. This was coated over the fifth coating at 76 micron wet and dried 5 minutes at 82° C.
The resulting tripack was exposed to a colour negative and developed for 20 seconds on a heated blanket. A full 3 colour image was produced giving yellow, magenta and cyan colours of the following maximum densities.
______________________________________ Dmax Dmin______________________________________Yellow 1.42 0.21Magenta 2.19 0.14Cyan 1.9 0.24______________________________________
The sensitising dyes used were:
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A photothermographic element comprising:
(A) a coating comprising a support bearing a photothermographic medium, the medium comprising a light sensitive silver halide in reactive association with a silver salt of an organic acid and a color generating reducing agent which is a leuco compound which is oxidizable by silver ions into a colored dye of the general formula: ##STR1## in which: n=0, 1 or 2,
R 1 represents H, CN, lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, aryl or COOR 6 in which R 6 is lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or aryl,
R 2 and R 3 independently represent CN, NO 2 , COOR 6 , SO 2 R 6 , CONHR 6 in which R 6 is as defined above or R 2 and R 3 together represent the necessary atoms to form a 5- or 6-membered carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring having ring atoms selected from C, N, O and S atoms, whch carbocyclic or heterocyclic rings possess at least one conjugated electron withdrawing substituent,
R 4 and R 5 independently represent H, CN or lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or together represent the necessary atoms to complete a 5- or 6-membered carbocyclic ring, and
Ar represents:
(a) a thienyl group which may be substituted with one or more lower alkyl groups of 1 to 5 carbon atoms,
(b) a furyl group which may be substituted with one or more lower alkyl groups of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or
(c) a phenyl group which may be substituted with one or more groups selected from halogen, hydroxy, lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, lower alkoxy of 1 to 5 carbon atoms, NR 7 R 8 in which R 7 and R 8 are independently selected from H, lower alkyl group of 1 to 5 carbon atoms which may possess substituents selected form CN, OH, halogen and phenyl, and phenyl group optionally substituted with substituents selected from OH, halogen, lower alkyl of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or lower alkoxy of 1 to 5 carbon atoms or R 7 and R 8 together represent the necessary atoms to complete a morpholino group, or said phenyl group may be part of a larger ring structure comprising two or more rings which may be aromatic or heterocyclic containing up to 20 ring atoms selected from C, N, O and S; and
(B) a topcoat comprising a polyvinyl alcohol resin in contact with said coating.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a differential pulse code modulation arrangement having an input for receiving a sequence of samples to be encoded, an output for supplying encoded samples, processing circuits, more specifically:
a differential circuit for producing differential samples between the samples to be encoded and prediction samples,
a prediction circuit to produce prediction samples from encoded samples.
2. Prior Art
An encoding arrangement of this type is used with particular advantage in digital television.
In this type of usage, the problem is the speed of the processing operations to be effected. Actually, if one wants to encode a television picture at a picture element rate of 13.5 MHz, an interval of 74 ns is available for a processing operation.
When locking into conventional differential pulse modulation arrangements, it appears that this 75 ns interval, once it has been distributed over the operation to be effected by the differential circuit, by the prediction circuit and also by other circuits - such as the quantizing circuits etc. . . . - is not long enough for the available circuits.
For that reason it has been proposed to effect different operations in parallel by the processors: see the article "DISTRIBUTED VLSI PROCESSORS FOR PICTURE CODING", by S. C. Knauer, published in ICC 84 Conf. Rec. (Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 84), pages 718-723.
The arrangement described in said article has the following disadvantage: it requires the same number of processors as there are parallel operations to be effected, not counting the interconnection circuits to be provided between the processors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has for its object to provide a coding arrangement of the type set forth in the opening paragraph which to a large extent obviates the said disadvantage and which consequently is of a simpler construction.
Such an arrangement is characterized in that separating means are provided for separating the processing circuits into encoding units to provide that the processing operations of each unit are effected independently of the other units and also an ordering member to provide the sequences of samples to be encoded as a sequence of ordered samples to ensure that the processing operations effected on a sample are performed in a coherent manner.
The invention also relates to an associated decoding arrangement and a transmission system comprising at least such an encoding or decoding arrangement.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The following description, given by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings will make it better understood how the invention can be put into effect.
FIG. 1 shows an encoding arrangement according to the invention.
FIG. 2 shows some scanning lines of a television picture.
FIG. 3 shows an interleaving member.
FIG. 4 shows the shapes of some signals used in the coding arrangement according to the invention.
FIG. 5 shows how the interleave is realised.
FIG. 6 shows the routing of the samples in the encoding arrangement of the invention.
FIG. 7 shows the routing of the samples in the prediction circuit.
FIG. 8 shows: on the one hand a decoding arrangement in accordance with the invention and also a transmission system in accordance with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a television camera which produces the "Y" information about the luminance of the picture. An analog-to-digital converter 10 applies the different digital samples representing this luminance signal to the input 12 of the encoding arrangement 15 in accordance with the invention.
The encoding arrangement comprises:
a differential circuit 20 for producing the difference between a sample coming from the input 12 and another sample coming from a prediction circuit 22,
a quantizing circuit 24 for reducing the number of bits of the result produced by the differential circuit,
an inverse quantizing circuit 26,
an adder circuit 28 for adding a sample received from the prediction circuit 22 to the sample produced by the inverse quantizing circuit 26,
an activity circuit 30 cooperating with the prediction circuit which acts on the quantizing circuit 24 and on the inverse quantizing circuit 26. A definition of this notion "activity" can be found in the article by Peter PIRSCH "Design of DPCM Quantizers for Video Signals Using Subjective Tests", published July 1981 in the periodical "IEEE Transactions on Communications", Vol. COM-29, No. 7.
The activity defines a luminance transition between the picture elements. The activity is greater when the transition is more abrupt. A coarse characteristic is associated with great activity, since it will be shown that it is not necessary to encode with precision the level situated on either side of the transition. Consequently a finer characteristic is associated with a weaker activity.
The word encoded by the arrangement 15 ultimately appears at the output terminal 35 which is connected to the output of the quantizing circuit 24.
In accordance with the invention, the arrangement is characterized in that it is divided into four circuit sections E1, E2, E3 and E4, and in that interleaving means are present to provide that each of these sections effects different operations.
The section E1 is constituted by the differential circuit 20, the section E2 by the quantizing circuit 24, the section E3 by the inverse quantizing circuit 26 and the adder circuit 28 and the section E4 by the prediction circuit 22 in combination with the activity measuring circuit 30.
The different circuit sections are separated by a first series of registers 51, 52, 53 and 54, which are placed between the respective sections E1 and E2, between E2 and E3, between E3 and E4, and between E4 and E1; in addition, an interleaving circuit 60 is present to provide that two consecutive samples at its input are separated by three samples at its output. The encoding arrangement 15 also includes a second series of registers 61, 62, 64, 65 and 66 for delaying different information components; the registers 61 and 62 of this second series connect the output of the register 54 to an input of the adder 28, the registers 64 and 65 connect the output of the activity measuring circuit 30 to the quantizing control input of the circuit 24 and the register 66 connects the output of the register 64 to the input of the inverse quantizing control circuit 26.
FIG. 2 shows some lines LL1, LL2, LL3 and LL4 for the decomposition of a television picture effected by the camera 1. Each line is also broken up into "L" picture elements (pels). Let Y(n) be the luminance of a pel(n) in the line LL3. The prediction circuit 22 will determine the prediction value P(n) with respect to Y(n) from adjacent pels: the preceding pel "(N-1)" located in the same line LL3 and two pels on the preceding line LL2: "n-1-L" and "n-L".
The predicted luminance P(n) of these pels is a function of the luminance values IR(. .) established at the output of the adder 28 such that it is possible to write:
P(n)=αIR(n-1)+βIR(n-1-L)+γIR(n-L) (1)
where for example:
α=0,8125
β=-0,5625
γ=0,75
The activity measuring circuit 30 determines the value ACT(n) for the pel "n":
ACT(n)=Max|IR(i)-IR(j)| (2)
where "i" and "j"=n-1, n-1-L, n-L and n-L+1 and i≠j
As a result thereof the identification will be made:
IR(n-L+1)=P0
IR(n-L)=P1
IR(n-L-1)=P2
IR(n-1)=IRD
The different values P0, P1, P2 are obtained from the respective different cascaded shift registers 80, 81 and 82. The register 80 has six positions whilst the registers 81 and 82 have four positions. The value IRD is determined by the output signal of the register 53.
In order to obtain the prediction, three multiplying members 85, 86 and 87 are used which multiply the respective information components IRD, P1 and P2 by α, γ, and β, and finally an adder member 90 produces the prediction value from the results processed by the members 85, 86 and 87.
The input of the shift register 80 is connected to the output of a double-throw switch 92. When this switch is adjusted to its first position (I), it connects the input of the shift register 80 to the output of an assembly of two cascade-arranged registers 95 and 96, the input of this assembly is connected to the output of the register 53. When the switch 92 is adjusted to its second position (II), the input of the shift register 80 is connected to the output of a register 97 whose input is also connected to the output of the register 53.
FIG. 3 shows in detail the interleaving circuit 60. It is formed on the basis of a random access memory 100; this memory stores and outputs data on a common line 105 which is connected to the output of a three-stage buffer register 106; the input of this register is connected to the terminal 12. The data to be registered are obtained from the input terminal 12 via the register 106 and the data obtained from the memory 100, or having been submitted to the operation of the differential circuit 20, pass through a buffer register 110. This memory 100 is written in accordance with an address code provided by a counter 112 and is read in accordance with an address code provided by a read-only memory 114, the latter memory being addressed by the counter 112. This memory 114 then effects a translating operation. A change-over switch 116 renders it possible for either a code supplied by the counter 112 or a code coming from the output of the read-only memory 114 to serve as an address code for the memory 100.
All the operations effected by the encoding arrangement according to the invention are performed at the rate of the signal h, h, h1/4, h3/4 and RZ, which are produced by a time base 150. The shape of the signals is shown in FIG. 4.
The signals "h" are applied to the analog-to-digital converter 10 under the control of the registers 51, 52, 53, 54, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 110 (FIG. 3), under the shift control of the registers 80, 81 and 82, under the write-read control WE of the memory 100, under the change-of-position control of the change-over switch 116, to the incrementing input of the counter 112 and to the adjust-to-the-open-state output of the register 106.
The signals h which are the complements of the signal h are applied to the write control of the register 106.
The signals h1/4 are applied to the write control of the registers 95 and 96 and to the change-of-position control of the change-over switch 92; the signals h3/4 are applied to the write control of the register 97 and finally the signals RZ reset the content of the counter 112 to zero to provide that the content of this counter corresponds to a predetermined value which will be described hereinafter, when the signal h1/4 is active.
For a better understanding of how the arrangement according to the invention operates, let it be assumed that each picture line includes only six pels. It will then be easy for a person skilled in the art to apply this concept to any number of pels per line.
The memory 100 has a capacity which is sufficiently large to contain the information about sixty-four picture elements distributed over four lines, each divided into four sections PL1, PL2, PL3 and PL4. FIG. 4 shows the signals which control the manner in which the memory 100 is written and read. They are the logic values of the signals "h" which determine reading and writing of this memory; for h=0, writing then occurs for h=1, the reading operation is effected and it is assumed that the content of the counter 112 is incremented by one unit at each transition from 0 to 1 of the value of the signals "h". Consequently, for each value of the counter 112 a reading operation h=1 is first performed and thereafter writing of the memory 100 (h=0) is effected. The different address codes for writing WAD and for reading RAD are represented by two digits separated by ";", the first digit indicating the number of the line and consequently extending from 1 to 4, whilst the second digit indicates the location on the line and consequently extends from 1 to 16. The samples appearing at the output of the register 106 are successively stored for the values "h"=0 in all the cells of the memory 100. At this value h=0 addressing the memory is effected by the content of the counter 112 via the change-over switch 116 which is in the appropriate position. The memory 112 is adjusted to the write state by this samesignal "h" applied to the control WE. The codes WAD, which are supplied by this counter continuously evolve from 1;1 to 1;16 to store the sixteen pels of a line LL1, thereafter from 2;1 to 2;16 for storing the pels of the subsequent line LL2, thereafter from 3;1 to 3;16 for the pels of the line LL3 and finally from 4;1 to 4;16 for the pels of the line LL4 and the cycle restarts with the code WAD: 1;1. . . .
When h=1, the switch 116 is switched over, the memory 100 is addressed by the output code RAD of the read-only memory 114, the control WE authorizes reading of this memory. Thus, the code WAD (1;1) is generated immediately after the read code RAD (4;1) which corresponds to the first pel of the quarter line PL1 of line 4; thereafter the read code (1;2) immediately follows after the read code (3;5), that is to say the first pel of the quarter line PL2 of line 3 and so forth. It will be clear that the reading operation is effected starting by the first pel of the quarter PL1 of the line LL4, thereafter by the pel of PL2 of line LL3, thereafter by thepel of PL3 of line LL2, this continues with the pel of the quarter line PL4 of the line LL1; there, a change is thereafter made to the second pel of the quarter line PL1 of the line LL4 and so forth. If then the sequence of pels at the output of the register 0.110 is examined, the addresses are: (4;1) (3;5) (2;9) (1;13) (4;2) . . . . Consequently there are three pels between two consecutive pels (4;1) and (4;2). The sample interleave is illustrated in FIG. 5. In this Figure one can see that two consecutively stored elements are separated, on reading, by three elements.
It is now possible to follow the routing of the different information components within the encoding arrangement of the invention. This routing is effected at the rate of the rising transitions in the signals "h".
Let it be assumed that at a given instant "t1" (see FIG. 6), the information I(3;5) at the output of the circuit 60 relates to the element (3;5); a difference E formed by the circuit 20 corresponding to this element corresponds to said information which can be written as: E(3;5), this information E(3;5) results in an information EQ(3;5) at the output of the quantizing circuit 24, at the instant "t2". The information IR (3;5) is obtained at the instant "t3", at the output of the adder circuit 28. The information IRD (3;5) is obtained at the output of the register 53 at the instant "t4". This information IRD(3;5) is applied to the prediction circuit 22. As can be seen from formula (1) which relates to the prediction, the output signal PA relates to the following picture element: it is then written: PA (3;6); the prediction information P(3;6) which occurs at the instant "t5" appropriately corresponds to the picture element I(3;6) occurring at that instant.
The prediction information PD(3;6) occurring at the instant "t6" appears at the output of the register 61 simultaneously with the information EQ(3;6) at the output of the quantizing circuit 24, so that at the instant "t7" the adder circuit 28 will perform the adding operation IR(3;6) of the information components relating to the same picture element:
IR(3;6)=PDD(3;6)+EQ.sup.-1 (3;6)
if the information components at the outputs of the register 22 and the inverse quantizing circuit 26, respectively are designated VDD and EQ -1 .
Now a more detailed examination will be made of the routing of the information components within the prediction circuit 22 (see FIG. 1). Starting point is the instant "tt1" where the information IRD (3;10) is available, this information is stored in the register 97 by an active transition in the signal h3/4 and, at the instant "tt2", becomes the information P3/4(3;10) at the output of the register 97 and since the switch 92 is in the position II, the input information P(IN) of the shift register 80 always relates to this picture element (3;10); at the instants "tt2" and "tt3" the information components IR(2;14) and IRD(1;2) appear which follow the same path as the preceding information and at the input of the shift register 80 the information components PIN(2;14) and PIN(1;2) are available at the instants "tt3" and "tt4".
When the information IRD(4;7) appears, the signals h1/4 become active and the signals h3/4 become inactive so that from instant "tt5", the information P1/4(4;7) is obtained at the output of the flip-flop 96. This information remains there until the instant "tt9" where, once again, the signals h1/4 become active. Then the information PD1/4(4;7) is obtained at the output of the register 95 and, hence, at the input of the register 80 the information PIN(4;7) is available at the instant "tt9". The information PIN(4;8) is found at the instant "tt13". If the sequence of information components IRD and the sequence of the information components PIN are considered, it will be noted that there is a shift of the information components in the line 4. Thus, the pel (4;7) is found in the position of the pel (4;8) and the pel(4;8) in the position of the pel (4;9) etc. . . .
The information IRD(3;10), used to provide the prediction PA(3;11) must also be employed for the prediction of PA(4;10) and PA(4;11). The prediction PA(4;10) must be effected when IRD(4;9) appears, that is to say at the instant "tt12". An information P1(3;10) must be present at the output of the register 81 and an information P2(3;9) at the output of the register 82, which is easy to check. It will be noted that shifting the elements (4; . . .) at the imput of the register 80 renders it possible to preserve the appropriate information component for the predictions relative to the line 1.
It is easy to check that the activity measurement effected for any pel is appropriately effected on the neighbouring pels as defined in formula (2).
Taking account of the different delays: it can be derived therefrom that the signal h1/4 must be active for a content of the counter 112(1;2) and reproduce itself periodically with a period equal to four times that of the signal "h" (FIG. 4).
It will be obvious that several variations can be realised without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, instead of grouping two circuits in four units, it would be possible to do so in two units. In that case, the circuit 60 will convey two picture lines and will be read half by half instead of quarter by quarter. Although this circuit has been described for an array of lines having 16 picture elements, the invention of course also covers the case in which these lines comprise a much higher number of picture elements. Thus in a general way, the lines are formed from 4N picture elements (this holds for the situation in which there are four units). It can be demonstrated that the register 80 has 4N-10 positions.
FIG. 8 shows a transmission system according to the invention. It is formed by a transmission section 200 comprising the elements which were already shown in FIG. 1 and in addition a transmission circuit 205 intended to act as an interface between the data available at the terminal 35 and the transmission medium denoted by an arrow 310 and also a receiving section 300; this section 300 comprises a receiver circuit 305 which, from the signals coming from the transmission means, applies data to an input terminal 312 of a decoder circuit 315 in accordance with the invention and which consequently, is associated with the encoding circuit 15. The circuit 305 also applies signals to a receiving time base 350. The signal decoded by the decoder 315 appears at the output terminal 435, they are thereafter converted to the analog form by the digital-to-analog converter 440 for display by a display unit 442. The decoder circuit 315 must correspond as much as possible to the encoder circuit 15. Furthermore, a circuit assembly ER3 is present, which comprises an inverse quantizing circuit 526 with an adder circuit 528, all this similar to the circuit E3 which comprises the circuit 26 and 28. There is also an assembly ER4 comprising the prediction and the activity measuring circuits 622 and 630 which are of an identical structure as the circuits 22 and 30. The circuit assemblies ER3 and ER4 are separated by a register 653. The adder circuit 528 receives the output signal from the prediction circuit 622 via the three cascaded registers 700, 701 and 702. Now also three cascade-arranged registers 800, 801 and 802 are provided between the output of the activity measuring circuit 630 and the inverse quantizing control circuit 526. The input 312 is connected to the input of the inverse quantizing circuit via a register 850. The output terminal 435 is connected to the output of the adder circuit via an inverse re-organizing circuit 860 whose structure is almost identical tothat of the circuit 60. The difference between the read-only memory is programmed differently to output the picture information components sequentially. The write controls of these different registers 653, 700, 701, 702, 800, 801, 802 and 850 receive the signals "hR" which represent the signals "h" recovered by the receiver time base which also supplies the useful signals for the prediction circuit 622 associated with the activity measuring circuit 630 and for the inverse re-organizing circuit 860.
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This encoding arrangement has an input (12) for receiving a sequence of samples to be encoded, an output for supplying encoded samples, processing circuits, more specifically:
a differential circuit (20) for producing differential samples between the samples to be encoded and prediction samples,
a prediction circuit (22) to produce prediction samples from the encoded samples.
It is characterized in that the processing circuits are separated into encoding units (E1, E2, E3 and E4) for each effecting a processing operation on each sample to be encoded and that an interleaving member (60) is provided to convert the sequence of samples to be encoded into a sequence of interleaved samples so as to ensure that all the processing operations to be effected on a sample are indeed effected.
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 732,810 filed May 10, 1985, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 476,760 filed Mar. 18, 1983 now abandoned.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In FIG. 1A, there is shown a conventional laminated insulation paper 30, used as a low-loss insulation paper for an electric power cable, which paper is integrally formed of two cellulose papers 10 and 12 and a film-like plastic sheet 20 sandwiched therebetween.
In the cable insulation assembly using the laminated insulation paper 30 thus constructed, oil flow resistance in the radial direction is undesirably very large.
Under this circumstance, it has been proposed to provide through holes 22 in the plastic sheet 20 as shown in FIG. 1B. An example of such a construction is disclosed in British Patent 1,057,744. In the cable insulation assembly using a tape with the above through holes thus constructed, the through holes 22 undesirably form oil gaps, where the gap length d in the electric field direction is equal to the thickness of the plastic sheet 20, to thereby cause an electrical defect.
Further, the conventional laminated insulation paper 30 having the plastic sheet 20 with the through holes 22 has been made in a manner such that, at first, through holes 22 are provided in the plastic sheet 20 as shown in FIG. 1(C); cellulose papers 10 and 12 are then laminated on the front and back surfaces of the plastic sheet 20 respectively, and are then passed through a pair of heat rollers 40 and 42 to thereby integrally form the three layers.
In such a case, however, the plastic sheet 20 is heated by the heat rollers up to near its melting point and is pressed by the heat rollers, and therefore the through holes 22 have been apt to be crushed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a laminated insulation paper having a plastic portion with through holes and a method of making the same, the laminated insulation paper having about the same reduction effect on the oil flow resistance as the tape with through holes shown in FIG. 1(B), and less electric defect, and further with no fear of crushing the through holes 22 by means of the plastic sheet per se.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view for explaining a conventional laminated insulation paper;
FIG. 1B is a similar view of a laminated insulation paper having a plastic sheet with through holes;
FIG. 1C is a view illustrating a conventional method of making a laminated insulation paper;
FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the construction of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a cable insulation assembly;
FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are views illustrating steps in the construction of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a view showing another method of making a laminated insulation paper according to the present invention;
FIGS. 9 and 10 are views of an embodiment of an apparatus using the present invention;
FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of features appearing in FIG. 10;
FIGS. 12, 13 and 15 are views of different apparatuses using the present invention; and
FIG. 14 illustrates a method of heating the heated roller 50.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to FIG. 2, the construction of the present invention will be hereinafter explained. In FIG. 2, the laminated insulation paper 30 is characterized in that:
(1) There are provided through holes 24 in the plastic sheet 20;
(2) The through holes 24 are blocked by at least one of the two cellulose papers 10 and 12; and
(3) The two cellulose papers are closely contacted by means of the through holes 24.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a cable insulation layer made by winding the laminated insulation paper 30 thus constructed.
As mentioned above, the through holes 24 per se are filled by the cellulose papers 10 and 12, and therefore no oil gap is formed. However, oil gaps 26 are formed at recessed portions 26 of the papers 10 and 12. The length D in the electric field direction is half of the thickness of the plastic sheet 20, and therefore is half of the length of the oil gaps due to the through holes shown in FIG. 1B. This achieves a similar effect as where the length of the oil gaps in the electric field direction produced at a contact portion when a thin tape is wound are made small, to thereby reduce the electrical defect.
Referring to the construction of the invention, the method of making the laminated insulation paper is characterized by the following steps:
(1) At first, a laminated insulation paper 30 is provided which is integrally formed with two cellulose papers 10 and 12 and a film-like plastic sheet 20 therebetween, as shown in FIG. 4.
(2) A heated cylindrical pin 44, the end point of which is rounded, is pressed onto at least one of the cellulose papers 10 and 12 to produce a recess in and to heat and melt a portion of the plastic sheet 20 through the cellulose paper 10, as shown in FIG. 5.
(3) The pin 44 is further depressed to the extent that the cellulose paper 10 contacts the opposite cellulose paper 12 as shown in FIG. 6, and is then stopped and pulled from the cellulose paper 10 as shown in FIG. 7.
Thus, the melted plastic sheet 20 is pressed and the plastic displaced and the heated pin 44 then removed to thereby form a through hole in the plastic sheet 20. In the through holes of the plastic sheet 20 the cellulose papers are closely contacted with each other. Insulating oil can flow into the laminated insulation paper 30 through the contacted portion of the cellulose papers.
FIG. 7 shows the state of the laminated insulation paper in which the cellulose paper 12, as well as the cellulose paper 10, has risen upwardly by the resiliency of the cellulose paper 10 per se after the pin 44 is removed from the upper paper.
In FIGS. 5 to 7, numeral 46 designates a supporting base for the laminated insulation paper 30. It is preferable for the operation of the providing the through holes to maintain the supporting base at a predetermined temperature slightly lower than that of the melting temperature of the plastic sheet 20.
Further, it may be preferable to press the laminated insulation paper simultaneously with an upper heated pin 44 and a lower heated pin 48, as shown in FIG. 8, for example.
Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, an embodiment of an apparatus for providing the through holes will be explained. Heated rollers 50 and 54 having the same diameter are uniformly rotated by an electric motor 58 and a well-known chain drive mechanism 60. The heated roller 50 has a plurality of pins 52 corresponding to the pin 44 mentioned above. The pins 52 have dimensions of about 0.8 mm in diameter, about 0.5 mm in length and a cylindrical formation. The outer surface 520 of the pin 52 is formed in such a manner that it is composed of a portion of an outer surface 522 of a cylindrical body coaxial to the heated roller 50. The temperature of the heated roller 50 is maintained at a predetermined temperature slightly higher than the melting temperature of the plastic sheet 20, and the temperature of the heated roller 54 is maintained at a predetermined temperature slightly lower than the melting temperature thereof. Numeral 62 designates a pinch roller.
When the synthetic insulation paper 30 shown in FIG. 4 is passed through the heated rollers 50 and 54, the through holes mentioned above are provided in the plastic sheet 20 by the pins 52.
In FIG. 12, a driving roller 64 is additionally provided, and the moving speed of the laminated insulation paper 30 between the driving roller 64 and the heated rollers 50 and 54 is made adjustable.
Referring to FIG. 13, an alternative embodiment is illustrated, wherein a preheating device 66 is preferably provided for the laminated insulation paper 30.
FIG. 14 shows a method of heating the heated rollers 50 or 54. In particular, the heated rollers are composed of a heat pipe. Namely, a space 504 is provided between the outer wall 500 and an axle 502 and a composition such as one of diphenyl and diphenyl oxide is enclosed in the space 504 as a heat medium. Numeral 506 designates fins, and the pins 52 are formed at positions corresponding to the fins 506, respectively. The inner surface of the axle 502 is oxided. Numerals 508 designate bearings and 510 designates a heater such as a sheath heater or an induction heater.
Thus constructed, the axle 502 is heated by the heater 510 to thereby heat the outer wall 500 due to the operation of the heat pipe. According to the above configuration, the temperature distribution in the longitudinal direction on the outer surface of the heated roller 50 becomes uniform, and as a result the provision of holes in the plastic sheet 20 with uniform dimensions can be achieved.
FIG. 15 shows an example utilizing heat plates 70 and 74, with numeral 72 designating pins. In this case, the laminated insulation paper 30 is intermittently moved, and is pressed by the pins 72 during the stopped state of the same. The other operations of this example are the same as that of the embodiment described above.
As stated above, according to the invention, an effect of reducing the oil flow resistance in the radial direction can be obtained without increasing the electrical defect in an electric cable.
Further, according to the invention, a laminated insulation paper having a plastic portion formed with through holes can be made without introducing a problem such as the filling of the through holes by the plastic sheet per se.
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A laminated insulation paper of the type having two cellulose layers separated by a plastic layer is formed with through holes in the plastic layer such that the respective cellulose layers may contact one another through the through holes. The insulation paper is formed by pressing heated, rounded pins into one of the cellulose layers while backing the other layer until the two cellulose layers are contacted through the hole thus formed in the plastic layer.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is often desirable to image biological tissue through intervening tissues or structure, for example, through overlying light transmissive layers of cells (e.g., in the breast) or through fluids (e.g., the aqueous or vitreous humor in the eye). Imaging through intervening tissue or structure allows tissue to be studied in relatively thick sections or in vivo.
To a limited extent, such imaging of internal structures may be done using a conventional microscope by focusing the microscope objective “through” the overlying layers so that the structure of interest is at the focal plane of the microscope objective and sharply in focus and other overlying structures are defocused.
Confocal microscopy takes this process a step further by placing a light stop in the optical path to block all light not received from the single focal spot of the microscope objective. Scanning the focal spot through the tissue and measuring variations of brightness as a function of that scan, can produce an image free from light interference from adjacent layers in the tissue. Unfortunately, the optical stop significantly limits the light through the confocal microscope, requiring a bright light source usually provided by a laser and long exposure times.
Recently developed techniques allow virtually any protein in a cell to be tagged with fluorescent molecules. The fluorescent molecules, and thus the tagged cells, can then be visualized by exciting the fluorescent molecule with an excitation light beam. The excitation beam is typically of a different frequency than the frequency of fluorescence so that a dichroic filter can be used to block the excitation beam, making the tagged tissue stand out.
Referring to FIG. 1 , an improved variation on confocal microscopy makes use of this fluorescent tagging in a process called multi-photon fluorescence. In multi-photon fluorescence, a fluorescent molecule 10 may simultaneously absorb two (or more) photons 12 to move to an excited state 14 elevated by at least twice the energy of each individual photon 12 . A subsequently emitted fluorescence 16 will have approximately twice the frequency of the stimulating photons 12 to be readily distinguishable from the photons 12 of the exciting beam. Importantly, the property of multi-photon fluorescence is nonlinearly related to light intensity and thus multi-photon fluorescence can be controlled to occur in only small regions where the excitation light beam is focused to an intensity causing significant multi-photon fluorescence. Tissue before and after this focused region, even if tagged by the fluorescent molecules, will exhibit only weak multi-photon fluorescence.
Referring to FIG. 2 , a multi-photon microscope 20 , exploiting this principal, typically employs a light source 22 and provides an excitation beam 23 of stimulating photons 12 which are then received by an optical assembly 24 which focuses the beam 23 at a focal plane 26 to a focal spot 30 . As the beam 12 narrows with focusing, the intensity increases and the amount of multi-photon fluorescence 32 increases rapidly causing the tissue to fluoresce principally only at the focal spot 30 in the focal plane 26 . Light 35 from that fluorescence passes backward through the optical assembly 24 and is reflected off a dichroic mirror 36 separating it from an excitation beam 23 to be received by a photodetector 38 . The spot 30 is scanned through tissue in a three-dimensional raster pattern 40 , and brightness values obtained by the photodetector 38 are mapped to the locations in the tissue to provide the ability to reconstruct images of embedded structures in the tissue free from the influence of underlying or overlying tissue.
Such multi-photon fluorescence techniques have been used to provide sharp images of in vivo tissue up to a depth of about 600 μm. Beyond this depth, the ability to provide a small focal spot 30 (which ultimately determines the resolution of the image) degrades because of inhomogeneities in the optical properties of the intervening tissue, principally refractive index, which distort the incident waveform preventing sharp focus.
The principles of adaptive optics have been applied to correct the problem of wavefront distortion. Here the goal is to pre-distort the wavefront of the excitation beam to exactly offset the aberration caused by the intervening tissue. Such approaches may use deformable mirrors which have a continuous surface electrically flexed to change local elevation of the surface and thereby advance or retard a wavefront reflected from that surface, by precise amounts. Alternative approaches use liquid crystal devices (LCDs) which change an index of refraction as a function of voltage over their surface, for example, by using LCDs as Fresnel lenses.
Such LCD devices are relatively slow with low contrast and power handling capabilities while deformable mirrors are extremely costly and/or of relatively low resolution. The amount of phase shift achievable in a deformable mirror is severely limited by the small deformation range and the constraints imposed by a continuous mirror surface. Limitations in phase shift range prevent such devices from producing the significant phase shifts necessary to accommodate phase distortions incident to imaging structure deep within tissue. For the deformable mirror, the deflection range is smaller for higher resolution devices, effecting an undesired trade-off between the imaging depth and resolution.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a phase shifting element that works not by changing the optical path length of portions of the light beam but rather by blocking portions of the light beam to produce diffractive phase shifting. Using this approach, the amount of phase shift is essentially unlimited. In one embodiment, a micro-mirror array intended for spatial intensity modulation for television and the like is used, providing an inexpensive source of high resolution, phase shifting devices.
Specifically then, the present invention provides an optical system having a light source for producing a beam of light and a micro-mirror array for receiving the beam of light shifting the phase of the beam by different amounts in different portions of the cross-section of the beam according to a control signal. An optical system focuses the beam of light into a spot within light transmissive tissue of varying optical properties. A control system, communicating with the micro-mirror array, controls the shifting of the phase of the beam to correct for the varying optical properties of the light transmissive tissue. The micro-mirror array is an electrically controlled multi-mirror diffractive element shifting the phase of the beam by constructive and destructive interference.
It is thus a feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide an improved mechanism for controlling the phase shift and thus wavefront of a light beam in a system that must transmit light through transparent but in homogenous tissue. It is another feature of the invention to provide a mechanism that may produce an arbitrary amount of corrective phase shifting required to correct for such tissue aberration, not limited by actuator range or the index of refraction of electrically active materials. It is another feature of the invention to provide for an optical system that may handle large amounts of optical power to be suitable not only for microscopy but also for laser surgery and the like. The micro-mirror array presents a readily available spatial intensity modulator widely used in the television industry for spatial phase modulation.
The light source may have a wavelength to promote multi-photon fluorescence of the light transmissive tissue at the spot.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a system for improved multi-photon fluorescence microscopy of deep structures.
The system may further include a light sensor receiving light reflected from the light transmissive tissue at the spot and wherein the control system dynamically controls the phase shifter to maximize light reflected from the spot.
It is thus a feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple method of wavefront correction in an unknown biological material
The light source may be an infrared source.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a phase shifter that may work over a range of frequencies including infrared frequencies.
The light source may be a laser and the invention may further include resizing optics matching the beam to the area of the phase shifter.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to match a large area spatial modulator to the small cross-sectional area of the wavefront of a laser beam.
The diffraction pattern created by the phase modulator may be calculated from the interference of an undiffracted wavefront and a hypothetical wavefront emanating from the focal spot and passing through the light transmissive tissue of varying optical properties from the focal spot to the phase modulator.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a simple method of calculating the necessary diffraction pattern for diffractive phase shifting.
The control system may control multiple elements of the phase shifter in tandem according to Zernike coefficients.
It is thus a feature of one embodiment of the invention to limit the amount of iteration necessary to determine the necessary diffraction pattern for an unknown transition medium by modifying groups of diffraction elements according to their contribution to common types of aberration.
The control system may iteratively select multiple elements of the phase shifter to maximize the brightness of the reflected light.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to allow correction of an unknown optical transmission medium simply by observing the intensity of reflected light.
The control system may select multiple elements of the phase shifter to vary iteratively based on the setting of the multiple elements at a previous focal spot of less depth in the light transmissive tissue.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a method of reducing the necessary iteration by employing progressive measurements deeper into the optical medium.
The light source may include different frequency sources individually activated by the control system and the control system may store a set of diffraction patterns to switch among these diffraction patterns as different light sources are enabled.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to enable a multispectral multi-photon fluorescence microscope.
The device may further include a wavefront sensor for sensing reflected light and the phase of the reflected light over a variety of paths and the control system may correct the phase shifter according to the signal from the wave front sensor.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to limit or eliminate the need for iteration in the phase shifter by wavefront analysis.
The phase corrector may be positioned before the optical system and the optical system may receive the beam from the phase corrector.
It is thus another feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a system that may be easily added to existing multi-photon microscopes or other optical instruments without modification of the instruments.
The scanning microscope may be a confocal microscope.
It is another feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide the benefit of wavefront correction to conventional confocal microscopy.
These particular features and advantages may apply to only some embodiments falling within the claims and thus do not define the scope of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an electron energy diagram illustrating the principle of multi-photon fluorescence;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an existing multi-photon fluoroscopy microscope showing the optical path of light through tissue as aligned with a plot of mulitiphoton fluorescence versus distance along the optical axis;
FIG. 3 is block diagram similar to that of FIG. 2 showing a multi-photon fluoroscopy microscope of the present invention employing a diffractive phase shifter;
FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a micro-mirror array implementing the diffractive phase shifter showing the mirrors in both a first and second state for switching individual rays of an excitation beam;
FIG. 5 a and FIG. 5 b are simplified representations of an excitation light beam directed into biological tissue showing in FIG. 5 a distortion of the wavefront by the varying refractive indexes of the tissue which prevents a high intensity focal spot and in 5 b compensation of the waveform to produce a high intensity focal spot;
FIG. 6 is a phase diagram of the excitation light beam illustrating the Huygens-Fresnel process in which an advancing wave may be regarded as the sum of secondary waves emitted from points previously traversed by the wave and showing how blocking of emissions at some points can bend the resultant wave front;
FIG. 7 is a simplified diffraction pattern that may be produced by the phase shifter of the present invention correcting for a wavefront aberration;
FIG. 8 is a flow chart that may be implemented by software running on the controller of FIG. 3 to determine the necessary diffraction pattern;
FIG. 9 is a fragmentary view of an alternative embodiment of FIG. 3 showing the use of three frequencies of light with three separate diffraction patterns and a wavefront analyzer;
FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view of FIG. 3 or 9 showing bidirectional wavefront correction as may be used for confocal microscopy;
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing calculation of the arbitrary diffraction pattern when the optical properties of the traversed medium are known; and
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing operation of the invention for laser surgery where a low intensity beam is used for pre-calculating the necessary wavefront corrections.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to FIG. 3 , a wavefront correction system of the present invention may be used to produce a scanning microscope 50 having a laser light source 52 directing a beam 54 toward a beam expander 56 . The beam expander 56 increases the area of the beam 54 to enlarged beam 54 ′ sized generally to direct the light along axis 60 to illuminate an active area of a controllable reflection/diffraction element 58 angled with respect to axis 60 to reflect light along axis 62 .
The controllable multizone diffraction element may, for example, be a micro-mirror array such as uses the Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology of Texas Instruments of Dallas, Tex. Importantly, the controllable multizone diffraction element may controllably create multi-region diffraction zones at which light is selectively blocked or transmitted.
Referring also to FIG. 4 , when the reflection/diffraction element 58 is the DLP technology, the surface of the reflection/diffraction element 58 provides a series of micro-mirrors 68 which may be oriented in a first state (shown by micro-mirrors 68 ) to have their outward facing reflective surfaces tipped relative to the surface of the reflection/diffraction element 58 , or in a second state 68 ′ where their reflective surfaces are co-planar and generally parallel to with respect to the surface of the reflection/diffraction element 58 . When the micro-mirrors 68 are in the first state ( 68 ), light from the beam 54 incident along axis 60 is reflected acutely along axis 62 to provide beam 54 ″ directed to an objective lens/scanning system 70 , and when the micro-mirrors 68 are in the second state ( 68 ′), the light from beam 54 incident along axis 60 is directed along axis 64 into beam stop 66 (shown in FIG. 3 ) where it is absorbed.
Thus beam 54 ′ is masked by a diffraction pattern established by the position of micro-mirrors 68 and 68 ′ which in turn can be electrically configured by a computerized control system 55 . The DLP chip used for the reflection/diffraction element 58 may for example be approximately 2×1.5 cm with each micro-mirror 68 being 16 μm square and representing one pixel width in a created diffraction mask. The resolution is approximately 1024×768 providing 786,432 mirrors which may be individually controlled.
It will be understood that the beam 54 ′ provides an intensity hologram that will exhibit multiple orders at multiple angles with respect to the surface of the reflection/diffraction element 58 . The amounts of phase modulation provided by the beam 54 ′ will generally be a function of the order. In this regard, the orientation of the micro-mirrors 68 may be used to provide a “blazed” hologram accentuating a particular order of the hologram. In the blazed hologram, the micro-mirrors 68 are oriented to reflect the light beam in a direction that coincides with the angle of the desired order, the latter being a function of the mirror spacing and the wavelength of light. The production of a blazed hologram allows the use of higher hologram orders providing increased phase modulation.
Beam 54 ″, as diffractively modulated, is received by the objective lens/scanning system 70 which focuses the beam 54 to a focal spot 30 in focal plane 26 . Reflection/diffraction element 58 is positioned at a conjugate plane of the objective lens/scanning system 70 , and because it may be placed on the back side of the objective lens/scanning system 70 may be readily retrofit to a number of existing multi-photon microscopes providing the objective lens/scanning system 70 .
The focal plane 26 may be scanned in depth and the focal spot scanned in two dimensions within the focal plane 26 , by known optical or mechanical means, to provide for a three dimensional scanning of the focal spot 30 within the tissue. At each location of the focal spot 30 , light fluorescing from the focal spot 30 may pass back through the objective lens/scanning system 70 along axis 62 to be received by a dichroic mirror 72 passing light of the frequency of beam 54 ′ and diverting only light fluorescently generated by the tissue at the focal spot 30 to a photodetector 74 .
A computerized control system 55 executing a stored program may control the reflection/diffraction element 58 based on signals from the photodetector 74 as will be described below.
Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 a , when micro-mirror 68 are all set to fully reflect beam 54 ′ to beam 54 ″ (providing no diffraction of the beam) the objective lens/scanning system 70 will produce a wavefront 76 that, absent refractive effects of tissue 78 , would produce a planar wavefront focusing at focal plane 26 . Refractive effects of intervening tissue 78 , however, distort the wavefront 80 at the focal plane 26 preventing the formation of a compact focal spot 30 with high photon density sufficient to produce sufficient multi-photon fluorescence. Referring to FIG. 5 b , in the present invention, the reflection/diffraction element 58 is operated to produce a distorted wavefront 76 ′ that when conversely distorted by the intervening tissue 78 , results in a planar wavefront 80 ′ converging at a point at the focal plane 26 producing a high intensity at focal spot 30 of small area and suitable to establish a high resolution multi-photon fluorescent activity.
Referring now to FIG. 6 , the ability to use a spatial modulator such as the DLP to adjust the phase of a wavefront may be understood by considering the light beam 54 as a series of point emitters 82 . Under the Huygens-Fresnel principle, planar wavefronts 84 may be thought of as a summation of the radially emanating wavefronts 86 from many point emitters 82 positioned along an immediately preceding wavefront. For an infinite wavefront 84 with a large number of emitters 82 , it will be understood that the wavefront 84 at any point will be the vector sum of the wavefronts 86 from a given emitter 82 directly behind that point (providing a vector perpendicular to the wavefront at the point) and from the emitters 82 that symmetrically flank the given emitter 82 whose pair-wise vector summations also provide a resultant vector that remains perpendicular to the plane of the wavefront 84 . Thus a planar wavefront 84 is maintained.
Referring still to FIG. 6 , if some emitters 82 ′ are subsequently blocked, for example, by the diffraction pattern of the reflection/diffraction element 58 , the symmetry of the vector sums of the wavefronts 86 from emitters 82 ″ is upset. In this case, the wavefront 84 ′ after of the blocked emitters 82 ′ is retarded (as shown) as a result of the longer path length from emitters 82 ″ and distorted because of the failure of local pairwise symmetry among flanking emitters 82 . The net effect is a warping of the wavefront 84 ′ in beam 54 ″. This diffractive effect may be used to introduce an arbitrary phase delay in any portion of the beam 54 ″ limited only by the area of the reflection/diffraction element 58 and its resolution.
Referring now to FIG. 11 , if the properties of the tissue 78 are known, the exact form of a diffraction mask implemented by reflection/diffraction element 58 may be computed by considering the interference between a planar beam 54 ′ (unaffected by diffraction) and a beam 90 hypothetically generated by a point source 92 at the focal spot 30 having (initially) a planar wavefront distorted by the intervening tissue 78 to produce a distorted wavefront 94 interfering with beam 54 ′ at the plane of the reflection/diffraction element 58 .
Referring to FIG. 7 , the switching of the element in reflection/diffraction element 58 will thus produce a diffraction mask 95 having light and dark zones in rings or bands depending on the type of aberration where the black bands are areas of suppressed light and the light bands are areas of transmitted light.
If the tissue 78 is well-characterized, this calculation may be performed by the computerized control system 55 to produce the necessary driving signals for the reflection/diffraction element 58 . When tissue 78 is not well-characterized, it may be approximated or its properties may be modeled and tested to produce diffraction patterns according to this general theory.
More typically, an iterative determination of the necessary diffraction pattern to be produced by the reflection/diffraction element 58 will be employed. Referring to FIG. 8 , in an iterative approach, at process block 96 , the objective lens/scanning system 70 will be set by the computerized control system 55 to “park” the focal spot 30 at a point in the tissue 78 . The computerized control system 55 will then adjust the mirrors of reflection/diffraction element 58 to maximize the brightness detected by photodetector 74 such as generally indicates proper convergence of the phases of the beam 54 . In one embodiment, this first measurement may be at a very shallow depth where no correction is required or very little correction is required so that optimized determination of the mirror settings may be produced quickly by well known “hill-climbing” techniques such as simulated annealing or Monte Carlo processes.
In addition or alternatively, as indicated by process block 98 , various combinations of mirrors may be simultaneously iterated to reduce the solution space during the process of maximizing the reflected light and thus to reduce convergence time and the possibility of damage or photobleaching to the tissue. In the preferred embodiment, the search space is limited to an adjustment of groups of mirrors linked by Zernike polynomials. Zernike polynomials are orthogonal polynomials with simple rotational symmetry that arise in the expansion of wavefront function for an optical system with a circular pupil. Zernike coefficients corresponded various forms of aberration that are encountered in optical systems with circular pupils. Iterating through the polynomial coefficients thus provides a significantly reduced set of choices.
After the optimized Zernike polynomial coefficients are obtained, then at process block 100 , optional additional fine adjustment of the mirrors may be had using conventional hill climb techniques.
At process block 102 , the focal plane 26 may be scanned with these settings (making an assumption of constant aberration at a given depth) or with the Zernike coefficients held constant and fine adjustments allowed, or with a repetition of process block 98 and process block 100 at each scan point.
After the focal plane 26 is scanned, at process block 104 the focal spot may be parked at a greater depth (e.g., at a deeper focal plane 26 ) and this process repeated. Preferably, for each focal plane 26 , the process of block 98 begins with the coefficients previously established at the preceding focal plane 26 , as indicated by process block 106 , further reducing the amount of iteration required.
Similarly it may be possible to pre-characterize the aberration at various points in the tissue and then to use those aberrations samples as a starter point for limited iteration on the tissue at a later time.
Referring now to FIG. 9 , the reflection/diffraction element 58 , being simply a mask formed of mirrors, is not limited to operation with a given frequency of light and may be used for different light frequencies with changes in the diffraction pattern. Accordingly the light source 52 may be made up of three light sources 108 a - c each corresponding, for example, to a different mode of fluorescent excitation.
The computerized control system 55 in this case may develop multiple diffraction patterns 110 and use those successively to control reflection/diffraction element 58 as the computerized control system 55 switches on each of the light source 108 a - c in turn, for example, by controlling corresponding light gate elements 112 . The particular beam from one light source 108 a - 108 c may be routed to create beam 54 ′ by means of combining mirrors and beam splitters 114 .
In this embodiment or the previous embodiment, the photodetector 74 may be replaced with a wavefront detector 116 , such as a Shack-Hartmann sensor detecting local tilt of the wavefront as received from the dichroic mirror 72 from the focal spot 30 . The actual wavefront from the focal spot may thus be approximated by a piecewise fitting of the detected slopes of the wavefront to allow correction of the beam 54 ″ by reflection/diffraction element 58 without iteration or with reduced iteration. This correction process uses the deduced wavefront distortion detected by the wavefront detector 116 in the calculation described with respect to FIG. 11 .
Referring now to FIG. 10 , the present invention may also be used in a regular or confocal microscope, optionally using any of the embodiments described before, with the addition of a second reflection/diffraction element 58 ′ providing a beam of light to a confocal analyzer 120 providing the light stop and light detector associated with a confocal microscope. The reflection/diffraction element 58 ′ provides the conjugate wavefront modification provided by the reflection/diffraction element 58 to correct the wavefront exiting the tissue 78 . In this way, wavefront aberration is corrected not only in the beam 54 ″ going to the focal spot but also in the beam returning from the focal spot and being processed by a stop in the confocal analyzer 120 .
Referring now to FIG. 11 and FIG. 3 , the same optical system described above as use in a scanning microscope may be employed for laser surgery, for example, of the retina, by employing a laser light source 52 of increased power. In this case the objective lens/scanning system 70 is used to manipulate the focal spot 30 of the laser to the desired depth and location for the surgery. As shown by process block 120 , the laser light source 52 (or alternate light source not shown) may be first operated in a low-power mode illuminating the focal spot 30 without significant heating of the tissue to allow for iterative correction of the wavefront per process block 122 as was described above. When the focal spot 30 has been minimized by wavefront correction to a sufficient degree, laser light source 52 is pulsed at a high power per process block 124 to provide for surgical heating of tissue at the focal spot 30 .
The present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment, and it is recognized that equivalents, alternatives, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated, are possible and within the scope of the appending claims.
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A multi-photon fluoroscopy microscope employs an electronically controlled diffraction mask to affect correcting phase adjustments in an incident waveform to allow a precise focus of the stimulating beam of light to a focal point within tissue having a varying and inhomogeneous index of refraction.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a horizontal speed indicator for a rotary-wing aircraft, especially a helicopter, used when the aircraft is moving in all directions.
Such indicators are generally intended to equip search and rescue helicopters for hovering flight especially above the sea or alternatively for antisubmarine warfare. For this reason, by extension, they will also be known hereinafter as "hovering flight indicators".
Hitherto, hovering flight indicators have usually been of the electromechanical type. These indicators display the speed with respect to the ground (more succinctly known as the groundspeed), or horizontal speed, measured for example using a Doppler-effect radar. This speed is resolved along the X--X axis and Y--Y axis of the helicopter (where X--X represents the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and Y--Y is orthogonal to X--X) and its components Vx, Vy are each represented by a pointer, the two points forming a sort of cross wire (two pointers or wires intersecting at right angles).
However, such indicators already have a drawback insofar as the information they display can be interpreted in two ways. This is because in a conventional indicator marked with a cross at its center and where the vertical pointer (wire) moves laterally to indicate a lateral speed and the horizontal pointer indicates a longitudinal speed:
either the intersection of the pointers marks the end of the groundspeed vector, while the center of the indicator marks the origin of the vector (or the helicopter);
or, conversely, the intersection of the pointers represents the zero reference of the groundspeed.
So-called screen indicators of this type are also known, and they also use the above principle but can represent the current groundspeed in the form of a vector rather than using intersecting pointers. In this case, the instrument also gives a representation of space and can display the objective to be reached (ship in distress or shipwrecked for example). For this, stationary concentric marks centered on a central reference representing the helicopter indicate both distances and speed magnitudes.
Furthermore, the logic involved in providing on-screen displays tends to deviate from that employed in conventional indicators. This is because circular representations are, on the one hand, very cumbersome for transmitting to a screen and, on the other hand, because the movement of a reference point along a stationary scale is not consistent with one's perception of one's surroundings (in this sense, the altimeter for example is organized in a way which goes against that of the artificial horizon which has the advantage of instinctive analogy). For this reason it is difficult for an indicator of the above type to be integrated into an organization consistent with that of the artificial horizon where the vehicle is represented as stationary (for the pilot) in moving surroundings.
Furthermore, it would seem that for this last type of indicator, for reasons associated with the way in which it is determined, the current speed displayed always has a lag. Furthermore, with fixed scales, the fields of distance and of speed that can be displayed remain limited.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to avoid these drawbacks.
To achieve this, the horizontal speed indicator for a rotary-wing aircraft, especially a helicopter, used when the aircraft is moving in all directions, is noteworthy, according to the invention, in that it comprises:
a first sensor and a second sensor for the heading and the horizontal speed of the aircraft, respectively,
means of processing the signals delivered by said first sensor and said second sensor, and
means of displaying the processed signals, showing on a display screen:
a symbol representing the position of the aircraft, the extensions of which symbol denote the longitudinal axis X--X and transverse axis Y--Y of the aircraft,
a compass rose which can rotate when the aircraft alters its heading,
a scale which represents the horizontal speed of the aircraft, the scale consisting of cross wires and of concentric circles each of which represents a given value of horizontal speed and which is capable of moving with respect to the compass rose, the travel of said scale in the window formed by the compass rose, with the axes X--X and Y--Y and the axes of said cross wires remaining respectively parallel, showing the current horizontal speed of the aircraft at each moment.
Thus such a display makes it possible to guarantee complete consistency with the other indicators on the control panel, especially the artificial horizon. Furthermore, there is no limitation imposed on the field of groundspeeds, particularly as regards the speed Vx along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft.
In particular, said symbol representing the position of the aircraft may be a thick cross.
Advantageously, the indicator according to the invention additionally displays on the display screen a demanded-speed symbol, which may be a thin cross, representing the longitudinal and lateral speed reference values Vx and Vy. This symbol thus represents, in advance, the objective which is to be reached and avoids a succession of progressive adjustments.
The window of the compass rose preferably represents a flat circular space of adjustable radius, where the calculated position of an objective to be reached by the aircraft, or the direction in which said objective lies, can be represented.
Furthermore, the field of omnidirectional speed and/or a symbol representing the strength and direction of the wind may be displayed on the display screen.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The figures of the appended drawing will make it easy to understand how the invention may be embodied. In these figures, identical references denote similar elements.
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the aircraft horizontal speed indicator according to the invention, showing an example of a layout of the display screen of the indicator on an aircraft control panel screen.
FIG. 2 shows the indicator display screen when the aircraft is in hovering flight.
FIG. 3 shows the indicator display screen for an aircraft moving at a (relatively) high horizontal speed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 shows the aircraft horizontal speed indicator 1 according to the invention.
The indicator 1 comprises various sensors, in particular, as shown, the heading sensor 2 and the horizontal speed sensor 3, especially a Doppler-effect radar. These sensors 2, 3 deliver their information to a computer 4 which may be integrated into the aircraft navigation computer which allows the various processed items of information to be displayed on a display screen 5, this being achieved through the use of a symbol generator (not represented).
More specifically, the various aforementioned information items are displayed on the display screen 5 with the aid of:
a symbol representing the position of the aircraft, advantageously a thick cross 6 (the extensions of which denote the longitudinal axis X--X and transverse axis Y--Y of the aircraft),
a compass rose 7 which can rotate when the aircraft alters its heading it will be noted that in FIG. 1 the current heading 8 (30°) is denoted by an inverted T, while the axis of the trajectory (route actually followed) with groundspeed and windspeed taken into account, is denoted by a diamond 9!,
a scale 10 representing the horizontal speed of the aircraft consisting of cross wires 11 (in this context, the term "crosswires" denotes two axes intersecting at right angles) and of concentric circles 12 each of which represents a given horizontal speed value (for example, as shown, 5, 30 and 60 knots) and which can move with respect to the compass rose 7, the travel of the speed scale 10 in the window formed by the compass rose, with the X--X axis and Y--Y axis and the axes of the crosswires 11 remaining respectively parallel, showing the current horizontal speed of the aircraft at each moment, in terms of value and in terms of "bearing". In addition, in FIG. 1, the demanded heading is denoted 8A.
Furthermore, a demanded-speed symbol 13 (represented by way of example by a thin cross in FIG. 1 and by a circle in FIGS. 2 and 3) is displayed on the display screen 5.
The demanded-speed symbol gives the pilot advanced indications and very greatly reduces his workload. It represents the speed reference values Vx and Vy. This may be a circle, a luminous spot or any other appropriate indication which travels across the groundspeed scale. The pilot thus instantaneously can see the reference value given, that the automatic pilot will eventually stabilize. Permanent monitoring is no longer necessary, and commands can be corrected slightly, making a visual check, still instantaneously, of what is commanded.
For completeness, it is emphasized that the Doppler-effect radar (current speed) measures frequency changes. The signals emitted are modulated as a function of the reflections by the forward, rear, etc. speed. The frequency variations received are converted into terms of speed. Where the ground is uneven, especially if there are waves, a lag in groundspeed occurs.
Thus when the pilot acts on the automatic pilot by operating a wheel, the aircraft accelerates, if that corresponds to the command given, and depending on the aforementioned lag, the pilot adjusts upward or downward to achieve the desired speed, which takes a few seconds. This is because on a conventional indicator the pilot cannot see the demanded speed and because there is a delay in indicating the groundspeed. Displaying the demanded-speed symbol as described above, makes it possible to eliminate this drawback.
The horizontal speed indicator according to the invention, as can be seen in FIG. 1, therefore comprises a compass rose 7 that the operator can consider as being a window in the horizontal plane through which he can see the groundspeed scale 10 move as a function of commands given to the aircraft. For example, if the aircraft is moving forward and to the right, the groundspeed scale will move backward (toward the bottom of the figure) and to the left.
Furthermore, the compass rose 7 represents a flat circular space the radius of which can be chosen by the operator (for example one nautical mile) and in which the calculated position of the objective, here represented by a diamond 14 can be shown. It will be noted that this position is indicated to the navigation computer 4 either by its coordinates, referenced, for example, using a beacon, or by the aircraft overflying the objective. The objective thus remains displayed while the aircraft maneuvers to return to hover over the objective or approach the latter without having it directly in sight.
Furthermore, as shown, the field of omnidirectional speed 15 (airspeed) can be displayed, together with a symbol representing the strength and direction of the wind 16, in order to avoid displaying excessively high non-axial speeds. This is because the pilot has to comply with strict crosswind and tailwind speed limits. As the instrument measures only groundspeeds, it is accurate only for zero windspeeds, or, for crosswinds, with the condition that the wind is axial. Furthermore, in the presence of a headwind, the pilot may underestimate the backward speed possibilities. The field of airspeed is determined by trials. For the indicator, the center of its line experiences a translational movement which corresponds to the current wind condition from the zero reference of the groundspeed scale.
Moreover, various fields on the display screen 5 may be reserved for displaying various items of information relating especially to aircraft navigation.
Thus on the strip 17, the following information may be displayed, with navigation source known as A.NAV:
the desired route or course,
the bearing of the next marker,
the estimated time to arrive at this marker,
the estimated distance to the marker,
the speed of the aircraft, estimated by the navigation computer with respect to information received from the marker.
Furthermore, the altimeter 18 may be displayed to the right of the compass rose 7 in FIG. 1, the information including the cruising speed altitude that the aircraft has to arrive at, the current altitude of the aircraft, and the decision altitude on approaching which the pilot has to take a certain action, for example lowers the landing gear, and any indicator 19 used in navigation may also be displayed to the left of the compass rose 7.
It will furthermore be noted that FIG. 2 illustrates the display screen 5 when the aircraft is in hovering flight (zero horizontal speed) above the objective 14.
FIG. 3 for its part shows the display screen 5 for an aircraft moving at a (relatively) high horizontal speed (in this example, of the order of 48 knots) and this horizontal speed is, in this case, equal to the demanded speed (the thick cross 6 and thin cross 13 are superimposed). In this figure, it has been assumed that the objective was outside the window of the compass rose: but the direction in which it lies is still indicated as 20.
Comparing FIGS. 1 to 3 clearly shows the "travel" of the groundspeed scale as the horizontal speed of the aircraft varies.
Thanks to such an on-screen display, the indicator of the invention allows full consistency with the other control panel indicators, especially including the artificial horizon, for which instruments the vehicle (aircraft) is shown stationary in moving surroundings, with scales that can move past a stationary reference point, which is consistent with the pilot's natural perception. Furthermore, the design of the indicator makes it possible to make the two "schools of flying" cited in the introduction, namely flying using groundspeeds and flying with groundspeed zero reference, tally.
What is more, by contrast with conventional indicators, which allow groundspeeds to be displayed only between 0 and approximately 30 knots (higher than this the indicator remains against the limit stop), the indicator according to the invertion imposes no limit on the field of groundspeeds displayed, particularly as regards the speed Vx along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, for which the limits in forward translational flight are naturally far higher than those for backward or lateral speeds (Vy).
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A horizontal speed indicator for a rotary-wing aircraft includes first and second sensors for determining, respectively, the heading and the horizontal speed of the aircraft. The indicator processes the signals delivered by the first and second sensors, and displays the processed signals on a screen, which includes a compass rose which can rotate when the aircraft alters its heading, and a scale which represents the horizontal speed of the aircraft. The scale includes cross wires and concentric circles, and is capable of moving with respect to the compass rose.
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This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/618,688, filed Mar. 21, 1996, abandoned, which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/356,434, filed Dec. 15, 1994, abandoned, which is a Division of application Ser. No, 08/246,532, filed May 20, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,853.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to silicided contacts for semiconductor devices.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As lithography allows for further scaling down of lateral dimensions in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, raised source and drain regions are being more commonly utilized to provide for a high performance transistor having ultra-shallow junctions. Raised source/drain regions, however, present a unique set of problems. For example, a physical facet is formed at the interfaces between the source/drain regions and the isolation field oxide of the transistor structure, and at the interfaces between the raised source/drain regions and the sidewall spacer adjacent to the gate conductor. Unfortunately, silicide contact can create a "spike" in these facets, and the spike may penetrate into the underlying substrate and through the shallow junction. Such a defect can lead to unwanted and detrimental device leakage.
The construction of transistors with raised source and drain regions demands highly controlled diffusion of dopants for creating the shallow junctions of the transistor. Current technology employs an ion implantation prior to deposition of the raised source and drain regions in order to form the electrical connection to the channel region of the device. However, the elevated temperatures inherent to the process of depositing the raised source and drain regions may cause the implanted dopant profile to further diffuse past the point of optimal device performance.
Further, the formation of silicided junctions can lead to problems when integrated with raised source and drain regions. When the gate conductor is not fully isolated from the raised source and drain regions, the silicided process can cause undesirable electrical contact between the gate and source and drain regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,150, issued Mar. 5, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,180, issued Jan. 7, 1992, both to Rodder and Chapman, disclose a raised "moat" region formed by epitaxial deposition. A thin sidewall insulator is used to allow lateral tailoring for the overlap capacitance while maintaining shallow transistor junctions. A second insulating spacer is used to separate the field insulating region and the raised source and drain regions. As a result, the tendency for silicide spike formation into the substrate is suppressed. Disadvantageously, the process disclosed requires scrupulous surface preparation and high temperature processing of epitaxial deposition. Further, a sidewall spacer is used to lengthen the distance between the raised source/drain regions and the top of the isolating gate. Deposition or growth of an epitaxial layer results in the formation of the raised source and drain regions. Rodder and Chapman acknowledges the drawbacks of high temperature processing, but unfortunately includes the associated anneal that causes unwanted diffusion of dopants within the substrate. Additionally, Rodder and Chapman limit the sidewall spacer thickness to 100-300 nm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,639, issued Jun. 2, 1992, to Roth and Kirsch discloses forming elevated source and drain regions by depositing silicon onto prepared nucleation sites. These patterned sites allow the propagation of the selective deposition process. The end result of depositing such an electrically conductive material is a contact to the surface substrate with the gate electrode being isolated with insulating spacers and cap material. Roth and Kirsch assume the use of a high temperature selective polysilicon deposition, and suggest that the preparation of the nucleation site interface is marginal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,545, issued Feb. 7, 1978, to De La Moneda discloses a decoupled source/drain fabrication from that of the contact. De La Moneda uses ion implantation for the contact and epitaxial deposition for the junctions. However, this patent requires the removal of gate oxide by wet etch, followed by the deposition of epitaxial silicon over the seed regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,745, issued Aug. 14, 1990, to Pfiester and Sivan discloses a process that uses the insulating cap over the gate electrode to pattern the gate. The cap is then removed to allow the second deposition of polysilicon. The second deposition of polysilicon extends laterally up onto the field oxide region. Pfiester and Sivan use sidewall spacers to isolate the elevated source/drain electrodes and the gate electrode. Again, such a structure is limited by the complexity of the growth of selective silicon.
Thus, there remains a need in semiconductor device technology for a reliable and manufacturable raised source/drain field effect structure.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide for an improved semiconductor device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for a silicided contact for a semiconductor device.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide for a reliably manufacturable semiconductor device having a gate electrode, and including raised source and drain regions.
Still another object of the invention is to provide for a semiconductor device having raised source and drain junctions that are substantially free of crystal defects.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for a semiconductor device which includes low resistance palladium silicide contacts to raised source and drain regions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to accomplish the above and other objects of the present invention, a contact for a semiconductor device is provided by depositing a layer of palladium on a silicon substrate, causing the palladium to react with the substrate for forming palladium silicide, removing unreacted palladium from the substrate, depositing silicon on the palladium silicide and substrate, implanting the silicon with dopant, such that the palladium silicide blocks introduction of the dopant into the substrate, and causing the silicon to be transported through the palladium silicide for recrystallizing on the substrate for forming epitaxially recrystallized silicon regions on the substrate. The palladium silicide is lifted above the epitaxially recrystallized silicon regions for forming a silicided contact to highly doped silicon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages will be more readily apparent and better understood from the following detailed description of the invention, in which:
FIGS. 1A-F show process steps for fabricating a semiconductor device having raised source and drain regions with silicided contacts in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring initially to FIG. 1A, a semiconductor device or, more specifically, a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET), 2 is shown. The semiconductor device 2 includes a silicided gate 4 comprising a gate oxide or insulating film 6 deposited on a semiconductor substrate 8, a polysilicon layer 12, a silicide layer 14 and a dielectric or insulating layer 16. Isolations 10 function to isolate or separate the device 2 from other devices, and may be, for example, shallow trench isolations. The silicided gate 4 and isolations 10 can be fabricated by conventional techniques. Generally, the thickness of the gate oxide film 6 may be approximately 5 nm, the thickness of the polysilicon layer 12 may be approximately 150 nm and can be n+ or p+ doped, and the thickness of the dielectric or insulating capping layer 16 may be approximately 200 nm. The silicide layer 14 can be comprised, for example, of a refractory metal, such as W, Ti, Ta, or a metal silicide, such as TiSi 2 .
Sidewall spacers 18 are formed adjacent to the sidewall of the gate conductor, for example, by conventional low pressure chemical vapor deposition and etching of silicon nitride. As further explained hereinbelow, the thickness of the sidewall spacers 18 should be appropriate for preventing certain material from forming or growing onto the sides of the gate conductor, and for allowing proper junction formation. For example, appropriate thickness for the sidewall spacers 18 for certain applications can be approximately 20-30 nm.
In accordance with the invention, the active silicon junction surfaces 20 are then prepared for a palladium metal deposition. In this regard, such preparation may include a 40 second dip in 40:1 water:buffered HF, followed by a water rinse and isopropanol dry to remove any remaining gate oxide, photoresist and interfacial contaminant films.
As shown in FIG. 1B, palladium 23 is then deposited on the device 2. For the aspect ratio associated with a 0.25 um CMOS process, an approximately 15 nm thick layer of palladium is required to be deposited. Sputtering is the preferred method for deposition of the palladium 23. Typical sputtering conditions may include approximately 600 watts of (DC) power in an argon gas, at a sputtering gas pressure on the order of approximately 6 mTorr. Under these conditions, a 15 nm palladium film will require approximately 20 seconds for deposition.
With reference now to FIG. 1C, the palladium 23 is then caused to react with the active silicon surfaces 20 to form metal-rich junction silicide 24, specifically, palladium silicide, on these surfaces 20. Note that the reaction causes a portion of the silicon substrate to be consumed as part of the palladium silicide 24, such that a portion of the palladium silicide 24 thus formed is positioned below the original surface of the silicon surfaces 20. As an example, a low temperature anneal (for e.g., 350° C.) in nitrogen for approximately 30 minutes will initiate the solid state reaction between the palladium and the active silicon. The palladium reacts with the active silicon surface 20 to form palladium silicide 24 on these surfaces 20, but the palladium 23 does not react with the sidewall spacers 18, capping layer 16, or field oxide regions 22 on the isolations 10. A layer of palladium 23 having a thickness of approximately 15 nm will produce palladium silicide 24 having a thickness of approximately 33 nm. Note that the sidewall spacers 18 insulate the gate 4 from the palladium silicide 24.
As shown in FIG. 1D, the unreacted palladium metal must then be stripped off of the sidewall spacers 18, capping layer 16 and field oxide regions 22, while retaining the palladium silicide 24. A wet etch comprising, for example, a 1:10:10 HCl:HNO 3 :CH 3 COOH solution, provides the capability for such stripping. At an etch rate of approximately 100 nm/minute, etching for 40 seconds will adequately strip a 15 nm palladium film.
Referring now to FIG. 1E, a film or layer of amorphous or fine-grained silicon 26 is then deposited on the device 2 by, for example, sputtering. More specifically, the silicon layer 26 is deposited on the gate 4, sidewall spacers 18, palladium silicide 24 and isolations 10. Illustratively, the silicon layer 26 is deposited to a thickness approximately approximately 40 nm. Note that conformality of the silicon layer 26 is unimportant, since the silicon is needed only on the planar surfaces of the palladium silicide 24. As required and appropriate, the silicon layer 26 is then implanted with the proper dopant species. The proper dopant species depends on the polarity of the device 2. Advantageously, since the palladium silicide 24 possesses high nuclear stopping power, the palladium silicide 24 blocks the implanted species from being introduced into the substrate 8. The thickness of the silicon and the implant energy can both be optimized to the particular design of the device.
The device 2 is then annealed at a temperature of, for example, approximately 600° C. At such a temperature, the palladium silicide 24 acts as a transport media for the solid phase epitaxy of the sputter deposited silicon 26. The amorphous, unseeded silicon layer 26 is transported through the palladium silicide 24 and epitaxially recrystallizes on the active silicon junction surfaces 20 to form doped epitaxial silicon regions 28, as shown in FIG. 1F. The palladium silicide/silicon substrate interface functions as a template for recrystallization of the silicon, and thus the doped epitaxial silicon regions 28 form at the locations where the palladium silicide 24 was situated prior to the transport and recrystallization. These doped epitaxial silicon regions 28 are the raised source and drain regions of the device 2. Note that the sidewall spacers 18 insulate the gate 4 from the epitaxial silicon regions 28. The palladium silicide 24 formerly below the deposited silicon layer 26 is lifted or relocated to the surface, above the doped epitaxial silicon regions 28 via solid phase epitaxy, and emerges as low resistance palladium silicide contacts 24' to the epitaxial silicon regions 28. See, for example, Poate, Tu, Mayer, "Thin Films--Interdiffusion and Reactions", Wiley and Sons, New York (1978), pp. 450-460; J. Electrochem, Soc.: Solid-State Science and Technology, Vol. 122, No. 12, "Kinetics of the Initial Stage of Si Transport Through Pd-Silicide for Epitaxial Growth" by Z. L. Liau, et al., pp. 1696-1700; Journal of Applied Physics,. Vol. 46, No. 7, Jul. 1975, "Solid-Phase Epitaxial Growth of Si Through Palladium Silicide Layers" by C. Canali, et al., pp. 2831-2836; and Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 28, No. 3, 1 Feb. 1976, "Antimony Doping of Si Layers Grown by Solid-Phase Epitaxy" by S. S. Lau, et al., pp. 148-150.
As indication that palladium silicide provides for low resistance contacts, bulk resistivity of palladium silicide has been measured to be approximately 25-28 microohms-cm; and for a 100 nm palladium silicide film, the sheet resistance has been measured to be approximately 2.5 ohms/square.
Such formation by solid phase epitaxy provides for a self-aligned fabrication process for the palladium silicide contacts 24', and also provides for atomically clean silicide/silicon and recrystallized silicon/silicon substrate interfaces.
Advantageously, the palladium silicide contacts 24 reduce RC delay time. For example, a palladium silicide contact having a thickness of 33 nm will have a sheet resistance of approximately 6 ohms/sq.
Further, such palladium silicide contacts 24' reduce the contact resistance between the contacting silicide and the junctions. In this regard, ideally, a contact to a p-n junction or bipolar transistor should impose no barrier to the flow of charge carriers. Such an ohmic contact offers negligible resistance to current flow compared to the bulk. Metal silicide films deposited on semiconductors produce nonohmic, rectifying, contacts. The contact resistance, R c , for such a metal/semiconductor system is orders of magnitude too large for integrated circuit applications. Instead of utilizing a contact where current transport is determined by thermionic emission over the Schottky energy barrier, a metal silicide in contact with a heavily doped semiconductor shows ohmic behavior determined by tunneling through the energy barrier. This process of forming a palladium silicide layer on a degenerately, i.e., highly, doped layer produces ohmic contacts with contact resistance, R c , values on the order of 1E-6 ohm-cm2, and as such are ideally suited for ULSI geometries.
At the low annealing temperature of approximately 600° C., the dopants are redistributed into the recrystallized silicon regions 28, and thus the recrystallized silicon regions 28 function as concentration reservoirs for the dopants.
The remaining silicon on the sidewall spacers 18, gate insulating cap 16 and field oxide regions 22 is then removed, for example, by conventional reactive ion etching.
The dopant profiles are now poised for a high temperature diffusion process, such as furnace annealing at approximately 850° C. for about 10 minutes. Such a high temperature diffusion process will cause the outdiffusion of dopants from the doped epitaxial silicon regions 28 into the substrate silicon 8 so as to form shallow outdiffused junctions 30. The sidewall spacers 18 should be of a thickness which is sufficiently thin to allow dopants associated with the junctions to advance a sufficient distance laterally so as to provide an electrical connection between the junctions and the transistor channel region, while still maintaining the shallow junction requirements. Thus, the sidewall spacers 18 define the diffusion distance under the gate 4. Advantageously, such a diffusion process will not introduce crystal defects, which would otherwise be expected from an ion implantation process.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is broadly applicable to any semiconductor device in which it is necessary to provide a silicided contact on epitaxially recrystallized silicon regions.
While the invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments, it is evident in view of the foregoing description that numerous alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the invention is intended to encompass all such alternatives, modifications and variations which fall within the scope and spirit of the invention and the appended claims.
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A contact for a semiconductor device is provided by depositing a layer of palladium on a silicon substrate, causing the palladium to react with the substrate for forming palladium silicide, removing unreacted palladium from the substrate, forming doped silicon on the palladium silicide and substrate, causing the silicon to be transported through the palladium silicide for recrystallizing on the substrate for forming epitaxially recrystallized silicon regions on the substrate and lifting the palladium silicide above the epitaxially recrystallized silicon regions for forming a silicided contact therefor, and removing the doped silicon from the substrate.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a current limiter for limiting overload currents by means of a semiconductor element with at least one controllable semiconductor which has characteristic curves typical of a field-effect transistor (FET).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In the case of protective switchgear, such as power switches, motor protection switches or automatic cut-outs, and in the case of automatic circuit-breakers in general, it is desirable to sense overload currents, in particular short-circuit currents, quickly and to limit the overload currents to minimum possible values and finally to disconnect the overload currents. In the case of substantially mechanical automatic circuit-breakers, for example automatic cut-outs, use is made of so-called instantaneous trips, in which both the magnetic circuit is optimally designed and a magnet armature, often a plunger armature, quickly and forcibly makes impact with the contact system. Nevertheless, it has not been possible in practice to achieve contact opening times any shorter than about one millisecond. In this case, the short-circuit current continues to increase unhindered until contact opening. Only after contact opening is an arc produced, quickly conducted into an arc chamber and cooled at quenching plates, splitting the arc. The high arc voltages which this generates have the effect of limiting the short-circuit current and finally disconnecting it.
In the case of known automatic circuit-breakers, with a prospective short-circuit current of 6 kA, cos phi=0.6 and psi=60°, it is scarcely possible to obtain current time values any less than 4 ms for the rise time to the peak value, with a switching current of 4000 A, and an integral of the square of the current over time of 30,000 A 2 s.
It has been suggested to use semiconductors for the current limitation in protective switchgear. This approach, however, is hampered or prevented in practice by various circumstances: 1) semiconductor elements generally have an inadequate current-limiting effect and an insufficient permissible energy absorption; 2) semiconductor elements generally have, in normal operation, a forward resistance of above 10 milliohms at 16 A; and 3) semiconductor elements also generally have an insufficient dielectric strength.
PCT International Application WO 93/11608 describes a power switch which acts as a current limiter for limiting overload currents by means of a semiconductor element with at least one controllable semiconductor with an electron source (source), an electron acceptor (drain) and a control electrode (gate) controlling the electron flow, which current limiter has characteristic curves of a field-effect transistor (FET), the load current flowing through the semiconductor element and, in the case of alternating voltage, two FETs being antiserially connected. In this case, an external control voltage is provided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is based on the object of developing a current limiter comprising a semiconductor element with at least one controllable semiconductor, which reduces the previously customary disadvantages of semiconductor circuits to a technically usable extent.
The described object is achieved according to the present invention by a current limiter for limiting overload currents by means of a semiconductor element with at least one controllable semiconductor with an electron source (source), an electron acceptor (drain) and a control electrode (gate) controlling the electron flow of the load current flowing through the semiconductor element. The current limiter of the present invention has characteristic curves typical of a field-effect transistor and includes, if appropriate, as in the case of alternating voltage, two FETs connected antiserially, and means for internally obtaining the control voltage required for driving the semiconductor element from at least part of the voltage drop over the semiconductor element and/or at least part of the load current flowing through the semiconductor element. In this case, the control voltage required for driving the semiconductor element is obtained from at least part of the load current which flows through the semiconductor element. The control voltage can also be obtained from at least part of the voltage drop over the semiconductor element. The control voltage can also be achieved from the two measures in combination.
According to the present invention, the means for driving the semiconductor element using the voltage drop may be respectively a drive circuit connected to the drain and the gate of the semiconductor. The means for driving the semiconductor element using the load current can be a current-to-voltage converter situated in the load current.
The drive circuit in the case of direct voltage may, in the simplest case, comprise a resistor which is connected between the drain terminal and the gate terminal of an FET. A drive circuit in the case of alternating voltage may, in the simplest way, be constructed such that the drain terminals of two antiserially connected FETs are connected to the gate terminals via a valve and via a resistor, respectively. Such a circuit is suitable in connection with FETs of the enhancement type, that is to say with normally-off FETs, which have an n-channel, as a starting circuit, which makes it possible for the current limiter to run up into the operating state. Such a starting circuit is not required if normally-on FETs with n-channels, i.e., of the depletion type, are used. Depletion MOSFETs are particularly suitable in that case.
Also suitable as a drive circuit in the case of direct voltage is a constant-current source which is connected between the drain terminal and the gate terminal. A drive circuit in the case of alternating voltage may be advantageously constructed such that the drain terminals of two antiserially connected FETs (i.e., serially connected complimentary FETs) are connected to the gate terminals via respectively a valve and via a constant-current source.
Particularly suitable as the current-to-voltage converter for driving the semiconductor element using the load current is a transformer to whose secondary winding an element is connected for limiting the voltage in both directions of polarity, in particular two antiserially connected zener diodes, whose outputs are connected to the gate terminals via a rectifier circuit. Antiserially connected zener diodes are considered here to comprise all elements which have the effect of a voltage-limiting zener diode. In the case of alternating voltage, characteristic curves in the first and third quadrants of a diagram with the drain-source current on the y-axis against the drain-source voltage on the x-axis are limited to a desired drain-source current.
The use of a transformer between two antiserially connected FETs as an inductance for limiting short-circuit current is described in European Patent Application No. 92 116 358.0 (see, FIGS. 4 and 7), assigned to Siemens AG. In this case, the transformer serves at the same time for tying in a control voltage to be applied externally.
In the case of the current limiter with a transformer designed as a current-to-voltage converter, the drive voltage is obtained from the load current, i.e., internally. Furthermore, the advantage is achieved that the load current can be carried in a low-impedance primary winding with few turns and that the secondary side can be of a high-impedance design with many turns, in order to derive a voltage for the driving from the load current. It is in this case ensured by the voltage-limiting element that the drain-source current on a curve with the corresponding parameter of the gate-source voltage is limited in a low-loss manner.
It is advantageous to connect to a transformer, at its secondary winding, a rectifier circuit and to connect a capacitor between direct-voltage potential points for the driving voltage. More specifically, in such an embodiment, there is connected to the transformer at its secondary winding a rectifier circuit whose direct-voltage potential points are connected on the one hand to the gate terminals of the FETs and on the other hand via a central tap of the primary winding and a capacitor is connected between the direct-voltage potential points for the control voltage. The capacitor may be formed, if appropriate, by the gate-source capacitance of the FET if this is of adequate size. If voltage-limiting elements are used, it is advantageous for them to comprise zener diodes connected as a bridge rectifier whose output is connected to the gates.
The rectifier circuit may advantageously also be designed as a voltage multiplier circuit.
Finally, the current-to-voltage converter may be a chopper with a downstream voltage multiplier, whereby the driving voltage can be obtained from the load current without a transformer.
The solutions according to the present invention and their advantages can be further enhanced if the FETs are made from silicon carbide (SiC). In this case, the advantages of an FET made of silicon carbide and those of a current limiter complement one another.
A current limitation in connection with means for driving the semiconductor element using a voltage drop or from a load current can generally be achieved by connecting between the gate terminal and the source terminal an element with the effect of a current-limiting zener diode which is dimensioned such that the gate voltage of the semiconductor element is set to a value at which the desired limitation of the overload current occurs.
In addition to obtaining the drive voltage internally, it is also possible to provide on the semiconductor element a drive device for additional external driving, in which case corrective control voltages can be applied externally. It is also possible, by external driving to generate a voltage turning off the semiconductor element when a predetermined input signal is received. Such a current limiter then acts as a cut-out switch and can generally be constructed with semiconductors which have the described special properties. The current limiter may be designed as an integrated circuit on a chip, with discrete components or in a hybrid structure.
It may be advantageous for certain applications to arrange at least one mechanical switching contact in series with the semiconductor element. A relatively simple switching contact without special quenching means then suffices, since the current rise is limited by the current limiter. On the other hand, when it has been opened, the switching contact protects the current limiter against long-term overloading. This interaction permits advantageous configurations.
PCT International Application WO 93/11608 describes a protective switch of an automatic circuit-breaker design with two antiserially arranged FETs and a mechanical switching contact. In the case of this earlier protective switch, designed as a power switch, a unit comprising relays and switching contacts is connected in parallel with two antiserially connected FETs. In such a switch, the switching contacts are arranged in series with the interconnection of the FETs. However, the internal resistance of the semiconductor element at a certain control voltage has a low value, and with increasing voltage over the working electrodes there is a jump in the internal resistance, so that the triggering element of the relay is supplied with voltage and can initiate the disconnecting operation.
The mode of operation of the current limiter with a mechanical switching contact arranged in series differs fundamentally. The switching contact may be in engaging connection with a magnetic system directly or indirectly via an energy store, which magnetic system opens the switching contact in dependence on the current limiter.
A particularly favorable interaction of the semiconductor element and the magnetic system for the switching contact is achieved in an embodiment of the present invention in which the magnetic system has a primary winding of low impedance, relative to the secondary winding, and on the one hand forms the transformer for obtaining a control voltage from the load current and on the other hand forms, with the low-impedance primary winding, the excitation winding for the respective magnetic system whose armature is in operative connection with the switching contact. In this case, multiple use of structural elements in combined arrangement is achieved. In particular, the armature air gap may be bridged by an auxiliary yoke so that a well-closed magnetic circuit is produced for the current-to-voltage converter. The yoke is dimensioned in such a way that it already goes into saturation at comparatively low currents. As a result, both the function of the armature and that of the magnetic circuit for the current-to-voltage converter remain unimpaired in practice.
Thus, for this purpose, the working air gap is bridged by an auxiliary yoke which is dimensioned in such a way that it already goes into magnetic saturation at currents which are less than the desired operating current for the magnet armature.
The semiconductor element may generally be used in an automatic circuit-breaker, such as for example a power switch, an automatic cut-out or in a motor protection switch or other protective devices, as a current-limiting part with the function of a so-called limiter. The semiconductor element and the mechanical switching contact may be part of physically separate switching devices.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a first, simplified exemplary embodiment of a current limiter in accordance with the present invention, in which the control voltage is obtained from the voltage drop over the semiconductor element.
FIG. 2 illustrates a current limiter whose control voltage is obtained from the load current.
FIG. 3 depicts a current limiter whose control voltage is obtained from the voltage drop over the semiconductor element.
FIG. 4 illustrates a current limiter whose control voltage is obtained from the load current and from the voltage drop over the semiconductor element.
FIG. 5 shows a the current limiter with a current-to-voltage converter between two antiserially connected FETs, with the control voltage being obtained from the load current and a switching contact being used in series with the current limiter.
FIG. 6 depicts a current limiter with a switching contact, in which antiserially connected zener diodes are arranged as voltage-limiting elements in bridge connection on the secondary side of the current-to-voltage converter and in which a capacitor is connected across the rectified voltage output for the control voltage on the secondary side.
FIG. 7 diagrammatically illustrates the use of a voltage multiplier circuit for a current limiter in accordance with FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a current limiter with control from the load current, which includes a current-to-voltage converter designed as a chopper with a downstream voltage multiplier.
FIG. 9 illustrates a current limiter with control voltage conversion from the load current.
FIG. 10 illustrates a current limiter with control voltage conversion in which the current-to-voltage converter is divided up by an auxiliary voltage conversion on the secondary side and a voltage conversion for the gates.
FIG. 11 how additional external driving can be performed based on the current limiter of FIG. 10.
FIG. 12 depicts an alternative design for a command element for additional external driving according to FIG. 11.
FIG. 13 shows an exemplary embodiment of a current limiter in which a transformer as a current-to-voltage converter is in combination with the magnetic system for actuation of the switching contact.
FIG. 14 represents the full symbol for a normally-off FET, with an n-channel, and thereunder the corresponding abbreviated symbol as used in the present application.
FIG. 15 illustrates operating characteristics of a current limiter in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 16 depicts a magnetic system for a current limiter whose working air gap is bridged by an auxiliary yoke which is dimensioned in such a way that it already goes into magnetic saturation at currents which are less than the desired operating current for the magnet armatures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 illustrates a first exemplary embodiment of a current limiter in accordance with the present invention in which a semiconductor element 1 comprises field-effect transistors (FETs) 3. In the exemplary embodiment, the FETs 3 may, corresponding to the representation in FIG. 14, be understood as those of the enhancement type, which are normally off and have, for example, an n-channel. An abbreviated symbol for such a FET is also shown in FIG. 14. Represented in FIG. 1 is a current limiter for alternating voltage, which with two polarities to be switched operates with two antiserially connected FETs 3. For driving the semiconductor element, or the FET, the required control voltage is obtained from the voltage drop across the semiconductor element 1 by connecting from the drain terminal the FET 3 a valve 4, for example a diode, in series with a resistor 5 which is coupled to the gate terminal 6 of the FET 3. In the case of a current limiter adapted for alternating voltages, in which two antiserially connected FETs 3 are used (as shown in FIG. 1), a connection to the gate terminals 6 of the FETs is established between the drain terminals 7 via respective valves 4 and via a resistor 5. The source terminals 8 of the FETs 3 are connected to one another.
If only a single-ended potential is to be switched, it suffices, on the basis of FIG. 1, to have either the upper or lower FET 3 in connection with the corresponding valve 4 and the resistor 5. The source terminal 8 may then be connected to ground.
In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, with two antiserially connected FETs 3 as the voltage-limiting element 9 there is a zener diode connected between the gate terminals 6 and the connection 10 of the source terminals 8 of the antiserially connected FETs 3. The connection 10 carries the load current.
The gate voltage of the antiserially connected FETs 3 is thus obtained via the valves 4 and via the resistor 5. The voltage-limiting element 9 has the effect of limiting the gate voltage and consequently a short-circuit current flowing at a maximum.
In FIG. 2 it is illustrated how the control voltage U s is obtained as a function of the load current I, U s =f(I). In FIG. 3 it is illustrated that the control voltage Us can be achieved as a function of the voltage drop U over the semiconductor element, i.e., U s =f(U). In FIG. 4 it is illustrated how the control voltage U s can be obtained as a function of the load current and as a function of the voltage drop over the semiconductor element, i.e., U s =f(I) and U s =f(U).
In the embodiment according to FIG. 5, a mechanical switching contact 2 is connected in series with the current limiter. The current limiter operates with two antiserially connected FETs, which are interconnected by their source terminals via a primary winding 12 of a current-to-voltage converter 11. A further essential feature in this embodiment is that there is connected to the current-to-voltage converter 11 on its secondary side, or at its secondary winding 13, an element 14 limiting voltage in both directions of polarity, in particular two antiserially connected zener diodes 15. Zener diodes 15 connected on the secondary side limit the voltage on the secondary side so that a voltage drop of only a few tens of millivolts occurs on the primary side, owing to the transformation ratio of the current-to-voltage converter 11. Load current also flowing through the FETs 3 on the primary side is consequently limited by the low-loss limitation of the voltage on the secondary side by the current-to-voltage converter. This effect acts in concert with the limitation inherent in semiconductors brought about by the special driving of the FETs 3. On the other hand, the transformation ratio of the current-to-voltage converter 11 permits a relatively high voltage to be carried as the gate-source voltage to the primary side, whereby the ON resistance is reduced. R ON is obtained with large gate-source voltages. Details of the effect are to be explained later with reference to FIG. 15.
In the case of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 5, there is further connected to the current-to-voltage converter 11 on its secondary side a rectifier circuit 16, which is connected on the one hand to the gate terminal 6 of the FETs 3 and on the other hand via a central tap 18 of the primary winding 12. In the exemplary embodiment, a capacitor 19 performs a dual function as a storage capacitor. On the one hand, the capacitor 19 isolates the direct-voltage potential points 17 for the control voltage. In addition, the capacitor 19 ensures that, in the family of current-voltage characteristic curves of the semiconductor element 1 with the antiserially connected FETs 3, it is not required in each case to run up to the ON resistance between the parameter-dependant characteristic curves for the gate-source voltage in the first and third quadrants, but that even in the case of alternating voltage it is possible to operate between the first and the third quadrants at the ON resistance. This is to be explained further with reference to FIG. 15. The capacitor 19 in the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 6 serves in this second function. In said exemplary embodiment, the direct-voltage potential points 17 of the rectifier circuit 16 are also provided without the capacitor 19.
In the case of the current limiter according to FIG. 5, the current-to-voltage converter 11 is not terminated in the customary way by a resistor, but by the zener diodes 15 of the voltage-limiting element 14. The tap of the direct-voltage potential points 17 has the effect that on the primary side of the converter there is carried a gate auxiliary voltage, which supplements or substitutes the auxiliary voltage generation on the primary side, as has been explained with reference to FIG. 1. On the secondary side of the current-to-voltage converter 11, for example at a zener voltage of about 9.1 V and a forward voltage of about 0.9 V over the zener diodes 15 in one direction, a voltage totalling about 10 V is achieved. Thus, if a current large enough to overcome the inductive resistance flows in the primary winding 12, there occurs on the primary side, as a result of the 10 V on the secondary side, a voltage corresponding to the transformation ratio of the current-to-voltage converter 11. For example, with a transformation ratio of 1 to 1000, a voltage of just 10 mV therefore occurs at the primary winding 12.
The operation of the circuit according to FIG. 5 will now be described in further detail.
If there is a voltage at the connection terminals 20 and 21 of the automatic circuit-breaker as the result of a switched-on load, there flows via the valves 4, or the diodes, a current dependent on the polarity of the alternating voltage. As a result of the voltage drop over the resistor 5 there is at the gate terminals 6 a potential which is less positive with regard to the positive terminal voltage at 20, so that at the FETs 3 there is an opening gate-source voltage and the drain-source paths are brought into the ON state. The current flowing through the primary winding 12 of the current-to-voltage converter 11 generates at the high-impedance secondary winding a voltage which, on reaching the zener voltage of the upper or lower zener diode 15, is limited to the zener voltage plus the forward voltage of the other zener diode, to be precise, in both directions of current flow corresponding to the alternating voltage. At the secondary winding 13, there is produced in this case a virtually square-wave alternating voltage, which generates by means of the diodes 22 for the rectification in the circuit of a full-wave rectifier at the capacitor 19 a direct voltage of the size of the zener voltage of each of the zener diodes 15. This direct voltage is fed to both gate-source paths of the FETs 3, whereby the latter are kept in the ON state, without continuing to require a voltage drop over the resistor 5. In other words, current no longer flows through the resistor 5.
In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 6, the voltage-limiting element 14 takes the form of a bridge circuit comprising four zener diodes 15. In this circuit, there is no need for a current-limiting element 9 on the primary side of the current-to-voltage converter 11. A switching contact 23 is again arranged in series.
The amplitudes of the alternating voltage in the secondary winding 13 of the current-to-voltage converter 11 can be kept smaller if a voltage multiplier circuit 24 is connected downstream of the voltage-limiting element 14, as is illustrated in FIG. 7.
For driving from the load current, the current-to-voltage converter according to FIG. 8 may be designed as a chopper 39 with a downstream voltage multiplier circuit 24. The voltage occurring at a resistor 55 under load current is present at the chopper 39. For limiting the voltage drop and to minimize the power loss, it is advantageous to provide a voltage-limiting means 40. In the exemplary embodiment, this may be the two diodes connected in antiparallel, which limit the voltage drop over the resistor 5 to the forward resistance of the diodes.
In FIG. 9, the generation of the control voltage between the gate terminals 6 and the source terminals 8 of the field-effect transistors 3 is diagrammatically reproduced. The generation of the control voltage may be divided between a control voltage generation 25, in the case of starting, and an auxiliary voltage generation 26, as has been explained in detail with reference to FIG. 5.
In FIG. 10, the construction of a current limiter with control voltage supply 25 and auxiliary voltage supply 26 is illustrated diagrammatically. The control voltage supply 25 may be designed as a starting circuit, so that the control voltage is then taken over in working operation by the auxiliary voltage supply 26.
To be able to also drive the semiconductor element externally, an external drive device 41 according to FIG. 11 may be provided. If actuation contacts 42 are closed, the gate-source voltage is short-circuited, so that a normally-off FET switches over into the off state.
The external drive device 41 may also operate with semiconductor contacts 43 according to FIG. 12.
In FIG. 13 there is illustrated on the one hand an advantageous refinement of the arrangement according to FIG. 10 in which the auxiliary voltage conversion takes the form of a voltage multiplier circuit, and on the other hand a development according to which the low-impedance primary winding is in operative connection with an armature 27, which is to be brought into engaging connection with the switching contact 23. Such a design is particularly inexpensive, since the current-to-voltage converter 11 and the magnetic system 36, which opens the switching contact via the armature 27, are structurally and functionally combined. In addition, an energy store 38 of the latch type may be provided. In this case, a high-impedance winding with many turns may be applied as a secondary winding 13 to the low-impedance primary winding 12, driving the armature. In this case, a small auxiliary yoke 37 (see FIG. 16) may close the magnetic circuit for the functioning of the current-to-voltage converter 11. The auxiliary yoke 37 is advantageously dimensioned so that it already goes into saturation at comparatively low currents, so that the function of the armature 27 acting on the switching contact 23 is virtually uninfluenced. The low-impedance primary winding 12 may comprise few turns, for example two to four turns, and a favorable voltage range for the auxiliary voltage conversion may be raised on the secondary side up to a desired voltage value by the voltage multiplier circuit. The voltage multiplier circuit comprises the capacitors 28 and 19, the capacitors 19 at the same time providing the direct voltage for the driving of the FETs 3, and also the diodes 29, which in the circuit reproduced at the same time supply the rectification.
The control supply 25 according to FIG. 13 shows one possibility for producing a "fall-back" characteristic curve. The essential components for this are the transistor 30 and the resistors 131, 132 and 133. The operation of this part of the circuit will now be described. If the current-limiting action of the FETs 3 commences due to increased current, such as occurs for example in the case of a short-circuit, the voltage across the terminals 20 and 21 increases. This voltage appears at the bridge rectifier, which is formed by the diodes of the valves 4 and the body (or "inverted") diodes 31 of the FETs 3. As is known, the term "body diode" refers to the internal diode action, inherent in every boundary layer, in particular a MOSFET, of the pn junction from source to drain. The voltage present at the bridge rectifier described is also present at the series connection of the resistors 131 and 133, causing a voltage drop across the resistor 133 which switches the transistor 30 to a conductive state. The size of the resistor 132 can cause the turning on of a gate-source voltage which becomes smaller and smaller with increasing voltage at the terminals 20 and 21 and consequently reduces a load current through the FETs 3.
The exemplary embodiment shown illustrates only one possibility for producing a fall-back characteristic curve on the principles according to the present invention. As is known, any desired characteristic curve can be produced with an operational amplifier.
In FIG. 14, the full symbol for an FET is reproduced in the upper representation and the abbreviated symbol, as used in the present description, is reproduced in the lower representation. The customary abbreviations for drain, gate and source are used and the positive direction of the drain-source current is indicated. The representation according to FIG. 14 shows an FET of the enhancement type, that is to say a normally-off FET, which has an n-channel. In particular, the manner of representation according to FIG. 14 is to be understood as a MOSFET. It goes without saying that the reproduced circuits according to FIGS. 1 to 13 can also be realized by other corresponding components, in particular by other FETs. For instance, if p-channel FETs are used, just the customary polarity reversal has to be carried out. What is essential is that characteristic curves such as those represented in FIG. 15 can be realized, and hence that, for direct voltage, a maximum current can be set irrespective of the voltage and that, for alternating voltage, such conditions prevail in two diagonally opposite quadrants. The circuits reproduced here by way of example on the basis of certain FETs are to be regarded in this general sense.
The operation of the current limiter will now be described with reference to FIG. 15.
FIG. 15 shows a graph of the drain-source current I DS , plotted on the y-axis, and the drain-source voltage U DS , plotted on the x-axis. An FET of the type described here, such as that explained with reference to FIG. 14, intrinsically has a characteristic curve 32 which, with a negative drain-source voltage, goes over into the characteristic curve 33 of the body diode. The horizontal characteristic curves are obtained with a parameter of gate-source voltage and limit the drain-source current in the case of corresponding wiring. At high gate-source voltages, a steep ON resistance, R ON , is achieved. With an antiserial connection of FETs, for the case of alternating voltage, a symmetrical mode of operation is achieved between the first quadrant and third quadrant, the characteristic curve 33 of the body diode no longer having any effect. A circuit with a current-to-voltage converter, as described, achieves the effect of running up over the characteristic curve 35, which enters into the straight line for the physically predetermined ON resistance of the FETs used.
Running up for each direction of polarity of an alternating voltage is avoided in an antiserial arrangement of FETs if a capacitor 19 is used as a storage capacitor, as described. The current-limiting action of the antiserially connected FETs then develops between a chosen horizontal characteristic curve with the corresponding gate-source voltage as the parameter in the first quadrant and one in the third quadrant in connection with a transition of the characteristic curve 34 for the ON resistance. In this case, the area between the characteristic curve 32 and a characteristic curve chosen on the left in the first quadrant acts as the loss saving, as can be seen illustrated by the product of the drain-source current and the drain-source voltage. The possibilities of the principles described are further enhanced in a considerable way by the use of FETs of silicon carbide. The semiconductor element 1, which is connected in series with the switching device, can be realized in the various types of design in each case as a complete unit or partially as an integrated circuit. The current limiter can also have a wide variety of applications without a switching device.
FIG. 16 shows a magnetic system 36 with a primary winding 12 and a secondary winding 13, which system has an auxiliary yoke 37 and an armature 27. Such a magnetic system is advantageous for the structural combination of a current limiter with a switching device, as has already been explained.
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A device for limiting overload currents by means of a semiconductor element with at least one controllable semiconductor having an electron source (source), an electron acceptor (drain) and a control electrode (gate) controlling the electron flow, which device has characteristic curves typical of a field-effect transistor (FET). In the case of alternating voltage, two FETs are connected in series, in complementary fashion. Means are provided for internally obtaining the control voltage required for driving the semiconductor element from at least part of the load current and/or from at least part of the voltage drop across the semiconductor element.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to a method and apparatus for preparing sugarcane stalks for subsequent, and more particularly to such methods and apparatus uniquely adapted to separate the pith, rind, and epidermis components of sugarcane stalk in a relatively efficient manner.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Miller et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,877, discloses a process for treating sugarcane to obtain utilized strips of laterally interconnected fibers of sugarcane rind by removing the pith from one side of the rind and the epidermis material from the other side of the rind without disturbing the rind fibers. The rind fiber strips are subjected to forming pressure and utilized in a desired configuration.
Miller et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,881, discloses a structural building product manufactured from substantially uncrushed and pith-free sugarcane rind fiber bundles, said product formed by applying heat and pressure to the fiber bundles to bond and shape the bundles.
Tilby, U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,510, discloses a method and apparatus for separating the pith, rind, and epidermis components of split sugarcane stalk. Each split stalk portion is flattened and milled on the pith side to separate pith from rind and milled on an opposite side to remove epidermis. While the milling away of pith and epidermis is being effected, the rind is maintained in a flattened condition and is positively engaged by rind, velocity-controlling, gripping means which partially penetrate the ring periphery. The rind milling apparatus is characterized by a milling roll having a plurality of generally radially extending milling ridges. Each milling ridge has a planar milling side parallel to radial plan of the roll and a peripheral, arcuate, rind-contacting which intersects the planar milling side. The separator apparatus is incorporated with component conveying and handling systems to facilitate the modular stacking of separator units. This modulator stacking increases plant capacity and facilitates a secondary separation of residual pith from rind, after the primary rind and pith separation has taken place.
Tilby, U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,459, discloses a method for preparing a mass of randomly oriented, slender cane stalks for subsequent processing at a selected location. The method is intended to deliver the stalks in cleaned condition, chopped into uniform, relatively shorter lengths and aligned longitudinally in their direction of motion.
Miller et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,809, discloses a process for sustaining livestock which involves providing the livestock with a feed comprising sugarcane pith which contains substantially all of its naturally present sugar juice and the fine inner fibers of the sugarcane stalk interior, but which is substantially free from the highly lignified outer rind fibers of the sugarcane. The sugarcane pith may be obtained by longitudinally opening the sugarcane without expressing a significant amount of the sugar juice from the pith, and then separating the pith from the outer rind fibers while retaining substantially all of the sugar juice in the pith.
Tilby, U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,278, discloses an apparatus for fabricating boards from sugarcane rind fibers wherein a board is formed by accumulating a mass of sugarcane rind fibers in a collection zone ahead of a horizontally reciprocable first-stage plunger that has a sweep face. The first-stage plunger is shifted horizontally toward a fiber compression zone to horizontally compact the sugarcane rind fibers and orient the fibers in vertical planes disposed substantially parallel to the sweep face. A second-stage plunger is shifted vertically downwardly from above the compression zone to push the horizontally compacted sugarcane rind fibers downwardly into a generally vertical passage means while vertically compressing the fibers. Consequently, the fibers are oriented in substantially horizontal planes to define a board segment comprised of sugarcane rind fibers having their axes disposed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the board segment. The steps of accumulating, horizontally shifting, and vertically shifting are repeated to establish a column of abutting board segments in the extrusion passage. The board segments are heated at a heating station to melt natural resinous binder substances of the sugarcane rind fibers. Subsequently, the board segments are cooled at a setting station location below said heating station to re-harden the natural resinous binder substances and bind together the board segments into a unitary board structure.
Villavicencio, U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,136, discloses a bagasse depithing method wherein the pith removal from bagasse fiber is significantly enhanced by the flow of fiber directly from one depithing zone to a second depithing zone without any intermediate settling or pilings of the fiber. The fiber is maintained in a separated condition during the flow from one depithing zone to another depithing zone. The result is a bagasse fiber having a greater quantity of the pith removed with less fiber damage. It is also advantageous to provide a number of conveyors to transport fibrous material to a dual zone depithers and for the removal of depithed fiber and pitch from these depithers. This reduces fiber handling before, during and after depithing.
Cundiff, U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,263, discloses an apparatus and process for separating the pith from the bast of sweet sorghum. Cut and headed stalks of the plant are arranged as a mat of the required width on a conveyor and are forcibly advanced endwise into a rotating flail having a multiplicity of dull beating or striking elements which catch the advancing stalks against a stationary bar. The output of the process is a hail of small discrete particles of wet sugar-laden pith used in the production of fuel alcohol and elongated strings of fiber which had been the organized structural backbone of the plant. The quite differently sized and shaped products are separated by vibrating screens or elutriation in an air stream.
O'Sullivan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,952, discloses a process for the solid phase fractionation of sugarcane into three fractions comprising a fibrous fraction derived from the fibrous sclerenchyma cells from the rind of the cane, a fibrous fraction derived from the fibrous sclerenchyma cells of the fibrovascular bundles of the cane and a non-fibrous fraction derived from the parenchyma cells of the cane. The process comprises the steps of (a) subjecting pieces of the cane to a disintegrating force to cause a physical separation of the fibrous sclerenchyma cells from the non-fibrous parenchyma cells, (b) drying the sugarcane material, and (c) separating the sugarcane into the aforementioned three fractions.
Andrews, U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,645, discloses a flour-type product derived from sugarcane which contains a high dietary fiber concentration. This product is made by separating the pith of the sugar cane from the rind and epidermal layer and then removing from the pith any rind residue from a first stage separation and long fibrovascular bundles embedded in the parenchyma cells of the pith. The clean pith is dried and milled to shred the walls of the parenchyma cells into fiber having a length not exceeding 300 microns.
Tilby, U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,422, discloses sugarcane separation equipment having movable carriages adjacent to the tower-like central unit, such carriages being movable toward and away from such central unit and having dermax removal apparatus thereon. Secondary and tertiary carriages can be included on each side of the central unit to provide additional downstream functions or earlier diversion of the product streams, as desired.
Tilby, U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,316, discloses an apparatus and method for separating milled sugarcane pith from flattened rind upon discharge from a depithing station. The method includes dividing the discharge by a fixed deflector, preferably with a blunt upstream edge, into a primary pith flow and a rind flow which includes a secondary pith flow, and thereafter removing pith from the rind flow and diverting it to join pith from the primary pith flow. Preferred embodiments capture the pith in interstices of a rotating brush which merges with the secondary pith flow, turning such pith away from the rind flow, and then releasing it.
Miller et al, CA 789,214, discloses a process of segregating the rind of sugarcane stalks comprising removing material from the exterior of a stalk of sugarcane to expose the exterior fiber bundles of the rind, and removing from the interior fiber bundles substantially all of the pith of the stalk.
Tilby et al, CA 1,006,410, discloses a method of processing sugarcane stalk material comprising the steps of delivering sugarcane stalk material to a feed zone, resiliently gripping the sugarcane stalk material at the feed zone between a pair of circumferentially grooved resilient feed rolls having a plurality of tines projecting therefrom, rotating the resilient rolls so that the tines impale the stalk material and cause a feeding of the stalk material in response to frictional and tined engagement between the stalk material and the grooved rolls, and separating components of the stalk material.
The related art described above discloses apparatuses and methods for separating pith, rind, and epidermis components of a sugarcane stalk. However, the prior art fails to disclose such an apparatus that is adjustable to accommodate a wide range of stalk thicknesses while maintaining its ability to efficiently separate the sugarcane components. In addition, the prior art fails to disclose such an apparatus that is as compact, yet efficient, as the present invention. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This disclosure teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
The stalk of a sugarcane plant includes an outer rind which is a hard, wood-like fibrous substance. The rind surrounds a central core of pith, which bears nearly all of the sugar juice from which various sugar products are made. In addition, the outer surface of the rind has a thin, waxy epidermal layer, herein referred to simply as the epidermis.
It has been recognized in the sugarcane industry that a number of very useful products may be produced from sugarcane, other than simply sugar, if the sugarcane stalk is first separated into its rind, pith, and epidermis components. The many useful end-products made possible by such separation can provide great economic benefit. Such separation provides significant efficiencies in the production of sugar as well.
Currently, the common method to separate these components involves a system that includes a multi-step operation executed by various portions of a split-cane machine. Sugarcane billets, i.e., cut lengths of cane stalk preferably about 25-35 cm long, are driven downwardly over a splitter to divide them lengthwise into semi-cylindrical half billets. The two half billets of a split billet are then processed individually by symmetrical downstream portions of a split-cane machine. The first of such downstream portions of the separator is a depithing station which includes a cutting roll and holdback roll for milling pith away from the rind of the half billet while simultaneously flattening the rind. The next downstream portion is an epidermis removal station from which the rind emerges ready for subsequent processing in a variety of ways, including slitting, chipping, and/or many other processing steps. The pith is conveyed away from the split-cane machine to an extraction station where its sugar juice is removed.
The prior art discloses split-cane machines that require a plurality of pith-removing rolls in order to ensure that all of the pith is removed from the rind before further processing is performed on the rind. The present invention improves on this by providing a single set of pith-removing rolls and a deflector blade positioned to efficiently mill away the pith from the rind.
Each pair of opposing rolls is adjustable in order to modify the amount of space between the opposing rolls, enabling the present invention to accommodate and process a wide range of sugarcane stalk thicknesses while maintaining its ability to efficiently separate each one of the sugarcane components.
In addition, the present invention is much more compact than prior art split-cane machines, and is able to efficiently separate the pith, rind, and epidermis components while consuming significantly less power.
A primary objective inherent in the above described apparatus and method of use is to provide advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide a split-cane apparatus that is adjustable in order to accommodate a wide range of sugarcane stalk thicknesses while maintaining its ability to efficiently separate each one of the sugarcane components.
A further objective is to provide such an apparatus that is able to efficiently separate each one of the sugarcane components using a smaller number of rolls than the prior art.
A still further objective is to provide such an apparatus that is able to efficiently separate each one of the sugarcane components using significantly less power than the prior art.
A still further objective is to provide such an apparatus that is smaller and more compact than the prior art.
A still further objective is to provide such an apparatus that accomplishes the separation and processing of sugarcane stalk in a single, self-contained, compact unit.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the presently described apparatus and method of its use.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
Illustrated in the accompanying drawings is at least one of the best mode embodiments of the present invention In such drawings:
FIG. 1 is a mechanical schematic diagram of the presently described apparatus;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a drive thereof having a plurality of synchronized direct drive motors;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a sugarcane billet of a type processed in the described apparatus; and
FIG. 4 is a perspective view thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The above described drawing figures illustrate the described apparatus and its method of use in at least one of its preferred, best mode embodiment, which is further defined in detail in the following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may be able to make alterations and modifications to what is described herein without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, it must be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for the purposes of example and that it should not be taken as a limitation in the scope of the present apparatus and method of use.
Described now in detail is a split-cane apparatus for separating pith 6 , rind 8 , and epidermis 10 components of a sugarcane stalk, as shown in detail in FIG. 3 . As shown in FIG. 1 , the apparatus comprises a frame 12 supporting and interconnecting a plurality of components. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2 , a separate drive 14 is used for driving each one of the rotatable components. Preferably, each one of the rotatable components is driven by a direct drive variable speed electric motor. Driving the rotatable components in this way eliminates the need for gear boxes, belt drives, and chain drives which can potentially create many problems, given that sugarcane processing plants typically operate in areas having high levels of salt in the atmosphere. Thus, direct drives provide a more efficient and reliable means for driving the rotatable components. Clearly, the independent drive motors 14 are controlled by a controller (not shown) to provide the necessary speed synchronization and differential speed control. It should be noted that other means for driving the rotatable components may be substituted.
As shown in FIG. 1 , a pair of first feed rolls 16 are positioned for frictionally engaging opposing sides of a pre-cut length of sugarcane stalk, herein referred to as a billet 2 . The first feed rolls 16 are configured for guiding the billet 2 over a splitter blade 18 positioned for splitting the billet 2 longitudinally into two billet portions 4 , as shown in FIG. 4 . In the preferred embodiment, the splitter blade 18 has a cutting angle of 60 degrees. Preferably, the splitter blade 18 is vertically adjustable for accommodating billets of varying thicknesses. The two billet portions 4 are then processed individually by symmetrical processing paths 20 . For each one of the two processing paths 18 , a pair of second feed rolls 22 are positioned for frictionally engaging opposing sides of one of the billet portions 4 and directing it along the corresponding processing path 20 . Preferably, each one of the first and second feed rolls 16 and 22 provide a gripping surface which enables the first and second feed rolls 16 and 22 to frictionally engage the billet 2 more effectively. The gripping surface is preferably concrete nails embedded into the first and second feed rolls 16 and 22 head first, such that a length of the tip of each one of the nails is exposed. However, other types of gripping surfaces may be substituted.
A first holdback roll 24 and a first cutting roll 26 are adjustably spaced apart and positioned for receiving the billet portion 4 from the second feed rolls 22 . The first holdback roll 24 and first cutting roll 26 are adapted for removing the pith 6 from the rind 8 while simultaneously flattening the rind 8 . Preferably, the first holdback roll 24 rotates at a slightly slower speed than the first cutting roll 26 . In addition, the first holdback roll 24 provides both circumferentially positioned teeth as well as longitudinally positioned grooved teeth adapted for preventing acceleration of the billet portion 4 while the first cutting roll 26 is removing the pith 6 . In one embodiment the first cutting roll 26 provides rows of 30 cutting teeth along the circumference of the first cutting roll 26 , with an included angle of 12 degrees between each of the cutting teeth. In an alternate embodiment, the first cutting roll 26 provides rows of 36 cutting teeth along the circumference of the first cutting roll 26 , with an included angle of 10 degrees between each of the cutting teeth. It should be noted that both the 30-tooth cutting roll and the 36-tooth cutting roll have the same diameter; thus, they can be used interchangeably in the present invention with no additional calibration. The prior art teaches similar teeth on both holdback rolls and cutter rolls, including the shape and material that such rolls may be comprised of. Please refer to Tilby, U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,316 which is hereby incorporated by reference into this disclosure.
The position of the first cutting roll 26 is fixed, while the position of the first holdback roll 24 is laterally adjustable for increasing or decreasing the space between the first cutting roll 26 and first holdback roll 24 . This adjustability enables the present invention to accommodate billet portions 4 of various thicknesses.
A deflector 28 is positioned downstream from the first cutting roll 26 . The deflector 28 provides a cutting edge 30 that is directed toward the first cutting roll 26 and positioned for removing pith remnants (i.e., any pith 6 that was not removed by the first cutting roll 26 ) from the rind 8 . The deflector 28 is able to be adjusted slightly to increase or decrease the space between the cutting edge 30 and the first cutting roll 26 , in order to accommodate billet portions 4 of varying thicknesses. As shown in FIG. 1 , the deflector 28 further provides a pith side 28 A and a rind side 28 B. The pith side 28 A is adapted and positioned for directing the removed pith 6 along a pith processing path. The pith processing path transports the pith 6 to a centralized pith receiver 32 positioned between the symmetrical processing paths 20 , as shown in FIG. 1 . The pith receiver 32 may be a large container, a conveyor belt, or any other means known to persons of ordinary skill to collect the pith 6 and prepare it for further processing. The rind side 28 B is adapted and positioned for directing the flattened rind 8 along a rind processing path, discussed below.
A second holdback roll 34 and a second cutting roll 36 are adjustably spaced apart and positioned for receiving the flattened rind 8 from the rind side 28 B of the deflector 28 . The second holdback roll 34 and second cutting roll 36 are adapted for removing the epidermis 10 from the rind 8 . Preferably, the second holdback roll 34 rotates at a slightly slower speed than the second cutting roll 36 . In addition, the second holdback roll 34 provides both circumferentially positioned teeth as well as longitudinally positioned grooved teeth adapted for preventing acceleration of the billet portion 4 while the second cutting roll 36 is removing the epidermis 10 . The second cutting roll 36 provides cutting teeth arrangements similar to that of the first cutting roll 26 described above.
The position of the second holdback roll 34 is fixed, while the position of the second cutting roll 36 is laterally adjustable for increasing or decreasing the space between the second holdback roll 34 and second cutting roll 36 . This adjustability enables the present invention to accommodate billet portions 4 of various thicknesses.
As shown in FIG. 1 , at least one shredder disc 38 is positioned for receiving the separated epidermis 10 and rind 8 from the second cutting roll 36 . In the preferred embodiment, at least two knurled shredder discs 38 are positioned in a stacked overlapping fashion in order to efficiently shred both the epidermis 10 and rind 8 .
As shown in FIG. 1 , a perforated tumbling drum 40 is positioned for receiving both the shredded epidermis 10 and the shredded rind 8 . A plurality of perforations 42 in the tumbling drum 40 are sized for separating the shredded epidermis 10 from the shredded rind 8 by allowing the shredded epidermis 10 to pass through the perforations 42 and into an epidermis receiver 44 . In addition, the tumbling drum 40 is angled, allowing the shredded rind 8 to pass through an opening 46 in the tumbling drum 40 and into a rind receiver 48 .
The present invention, as described above, is thus able to separate pith 6 , rind 8 , and epidermis 10 components of a sugarcane stalk. The method of doing so comprises the steps of: interconnecting and arranging the frame 12 and the plurality of direct drives 14 with a plurality of components along a processing path 20 ; forcing the billet 2 with the first feed rolls 16 over the splitter blade 18 ; removing the pith 6 from the rind 8 , and flattening the rind 8 using the first holdback roll 24 and first cutting roll 26 ; removing pith remnants from the rind 8 and directing the pith 8 and pith remnants to the pith receiver 32 ; removing the epidermis 10 from the rind 8 using the second holdback roll 34 and second cutting roll 36 ; shredding the epidermis 10 and rind 8 using the at least one shredder disc 38 ; and separating the shredded epidermis 10 from the shredded rind 8 using a tumbling drum 40 .
The enablements described in detail above are considered novel over the prior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of the apparatus and its method of use and to the achievement of the above described objectives. The words used in this specification to describe the instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word or words describing the element.
The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein are meant to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements described and its various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim.
Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what incorporates the essential ideas.
The scope of this description is to be interpreted only in conjunction with the appended claims and it is made clear, here, that each named inventor believes that the claimed subject matter is what is intended to be patented.
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A compact, self-contained, energy-efficient split-cane apparatus and method of use for separating pith, rind, and epidermis components of a sugarcane stalk, wherein sugarcane billets are driven over a splitter blade, dividing them longitudinally into two billet portions. The billet portions are processed individually by symmetrical processing paths. The pith is milled away from the rind while simultaneously flattening the rind. A deflector is adapted and positioned for directing the pith along a pith processing path, and further directing the rind along a rind processing path. The epidermis is removed from the rind, and each are subsequently shredded by at least one shredder disc, at which point an at least one perforated tumbling drum separates the shredded epidermis from the shredded rind. In addition, the apparatus is adjustable, enabling it to accommodate a wide range of sugarcane stalk thicknesses while maintaining its ability to efficiently separate each sugarcane component.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of hand square tools. More particularly, this invention is directed to a square with unique features presented by an extendible measurement straightedge element.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Hand squares are well known in the construction industry being used to measure, mark and cut construction materials. Cutting materials in the building industry typically requires the measuring and marking of a work piece at pre-selected angles relative to a dimension of the work piece for purposes of fitting into structures. A variety of hand squares are known that are specialized for a particular measuring and marking functions.
For example, the combination square is typically used to measure and mark a cut line perpendicular to the edge of a plank. Framing squares are used for measuring and marking rafters or stringers. Layout squares are used for joists and studs.
The triangular square, also commonly known as a speed square, comprises a right triangular shape flat plate with units of measure scribed in convenient locations along the hypotenuse edge of the flat plate to indicate angles projected from and relative to a pivot point located at the intersection of the right angle of the flat plate and the horizontal edge of the flat plate. By positioning the pivot point at the edge of building material such as a plank of wood, and further rotating the speed square, now placed flush on the plank such that a pre-selected angle determined for marking is aligned with the edge of the plank, the vertical edge of the speed square is now defines a straight line on the plank whereby when a cut is made in the plank along this line, the cut will be at the pre-selected angle. Therefore, the triangular square may be used to determine line along which the plank should be cut to achieve the desired angle.
Prior art triangular squares are typically sized for convenience of marking and storage therefore, the vertical edge used for marking the cut line do not reach the entire required length of the cut line without the assistance of an additional straight edge or repositioning the square to the other side of the work piece.
An example of a construction task requiring multiple hand squares is framing wherein a framing square, a combination square and a triangular square are commonly required. Similarly, finishing work typically requires the use of combination and triangular squares. Consequently, multiple tools are required.
Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to provide an improved hand square presenting sufficient features so as to reduce the number of necessary tools and to facilitate a more efficient means of measurement, marking and scribing.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a hand square for use in the construction industry, and more particularly to a sliding ruler square generally comprising a right triangularly shaped base with a fence attached to one base edge, a sliding straightedge on the other base edge and markings along the straightedge and the hypotenuse of the base and other edges of the base to present a variety of ways to measure, mark and scribe. The straightedge element, being slidably attached to the base of the square, may be adjusted to extend to provide a longer edge for marking and measuring purposes. The straightedge element positioned by the user relative to the base of square to present rule markings arranged for convenient use for a particular task thereby permitting the creation of a variety of configurations providing additional marking and scribing functionality not presented in a single fixed configuration tool.
The straightedge element approximates the shape of a ruler having a top, a bottom, a front and a back having linear rule markings on the front and back at the top and bottom edges. The straightedge element is attached at the bottom of the straightedge to the triangular base and is slidable relative to the triangular base. The top of the fence is flush with the top of the straightedge element and the intersection creates the pivot point for the square when used as a triangular square. The fence has a cut out fashioned to allow the straightedge element to be slid through the fence extending the straightedge to the left. A locking thumbscrew located in the triangular base is prevents the straightedge moving after a particular configuration is selected. Besides the linear rule marking on the straightedge element and the base, the base also has angle markings relative the pivot point along the hypotenuse edge of the base on the front and back surfaces. The straightedge element may be of any convenient length however experiments have shown that the length should be long enough to reach across a typical work piece at a typical angle encountered during framing tasks.
Sliding the straightedge to the left creates a configuration similar to a combination square when the work piece is positioned against the fence and the straightedge. Sliding the straightedge to the right with the right edge of the straightedge flush with the hypotenuse of the base yields a configuration with features of a triangular or layout square. Extending the straightedge further to the right creates configuration similar to a framing square. Other new measuring and marking functions not presented by the prior art squares are also available because of the configurability of the new square as created by the user. The many features of the new square in combination therefore substantially obviates the necessity for multiple tools, repositioning the tool relative to the typical work piece and other limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the features, advantages, and principles of the invention.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a front plan view according to the present invention showing the extendible element in a home position.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged front plan view of the extendible element in the home position and markings in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a left end view according to the present invention illustrating the fence element.
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 4 — 4 of FIG. 2 illustrating the special relationship between the extendible element and the fence according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 5 — 5 of FIG. 1 showing the locking thumb screw placement in the ruler square base relative to the extendible element and in the locked position.
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 6 — 6 of FIG. 3 showing the fence screw fasteners securing the fence to the ruler square base in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 7 — 7 of FIG. 6 showing a fence screw fasteners securing the fence to the ruler square base in one embodiment of the present invention and illustrating the recessed construction of the attachment point between the fence and the speed square base as well as the preferred centering within the thickness of the ruler square base.
FIG. 8 is a front plan view of the present invention with the extendible element extended behind the fence forming a ruler square configuration approximating a conventional layout square.
FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the present invention in the configuration of FIG. 8 with the extendible element extended behind the fence forming a ruler square configuration approximating a conventional layout square.
FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 10 — 10 of FIG. 5 further illustrating the spatial relationship between the locking thumb screw, the ruler square base and the extendible element with the locking thumb screw in a locked position.
FIG. 11 is a front plan view of the present invention with the extendible element in the home position and the fence positioned square to a work piece illustrating the utility of the straightedge portion of the extendible element to reach across a standard 2″×10″ plank.
FIG. 12 is a front plan view of the present invention with the extendible element in an extended position reaching across a standard 2″×10″ plank and the fence angled from the pivot point to a typical angle for marking a cut line and illustrating a capability not available when using a standard layout square.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims. Referring now in greater detail to the various figures of the drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like parts, there is shown at 10 in FIG. 1 , a new type of square used in the construction industry for assisting the marking and scribing of cut lines at pre-selected offset angles on a work piece.
Referring to FIG. 1 , showing the ruler square according to the present invention, the ruler square is generally comprised of a base 12 being of a right triangular shape have a left edge, a top edge and a hypotenuse edge, a fence 14 element fixed to and integral to the base extending along the left base edge of the triangular base and an extendible straightedge element 16 movably attached to the top base edge. The left edge and the top edge form the base edges of the right triangular shape. The straightedge is secured in a pre-selected position by tightening the locking thumbscrew 18 . Referring briefly to FIG. 9 , the fence includes front and back portions projecting oppositely from the front and back faces of the triangular base 12 of FIG. 1 forming a substantially flat member fixed to the triangular base 12 such that the front and back portions are perpendicular to the base. An extendible straightedge element 16 is movably attached to the top base edge of the triangular base 12 .
Referring to FIG. 5 , the straightedge element 16 having a top edge and a bottom edge and a thickness of the base is attached so as to slide longitudinally along the base by means of a female dovetail 40 formed in the bottom edge of the straight edge accordingly sized to capture a mating male dovetail 44 fashioned into the top edge of the base 12 . Alternative fastening methods may be used to create a sliding attachment of the base to the straightedge element. The locking thumbscrew 18 is inserted in a threaded hole centered in the edge of an opening in the base to accommodate access to the thumbscrew and bored through the center of the male dovetail of the base so as to protrude to touch the bottom of the female dovetail 40 of the straightedge element thereby permitting the thumbscrew to be tightened against the straightedge to restrict movement. The thumbscrew placement is further shown in FIG. 10 taken along lines 10 — 10 of FIG. 5 . The width of the head of the thumbscrew does not exceed the thickness of the base so as to permit the square to lay flat on a surface.
The thumbscrew cutout 30 of FIG. 1 in the base permits ready access to the screw whilst grasping the square with the fence in the user's palm and thumb on one side and index figure on the other side of the base. This is a typical grasping maneuver by a user prior to positioning of the square on a work piece.
The fence extends above the base with the top end of the fence being flush with the top of the straightedge element. The fence has a slot cut to the thickness of the straightedge element and located centrally at the top of the fence thereby permitting the straightedge to slide back and forth along the top edge of the base and through the fence such that the straightedge may protrude through the fence. The intersection of the top of the fence and the top of the straightedge form the pivot point for the square as found on a typical triangular square.
In the preferred embodiment the straightedge has markings used for measurement purposes on the front and back faces of the along the top and bottom edges. Referring to FIG. 1 , the right triangular base 12 is optionally marked on the faces of the base being along the hypotenuse with angle marks as illustrated at 20 being relative the pivot point 22 . The pivot point 22 is positioned by placing the fence against the edge of a work piece at the pivot point location with the ruler square bottom face placed on the face of a work piece as illustrated in FIG. 11 . The fence is rotated away from the work piece edge with the pivot point remaining in contact with the work piece until a pre-selected angle marking on the hypotenuse of the base aligns with the edge of the work piece as illustrated in FIG. 12 . The top of the straightedge element is now positioned at the pre-selected angle and may be used to scribe a cut line on the work piece. The straightedge element having sufficient length to at minimum reach across the entire width of a standard 2″×10″ work piece as commonly used in the construction industry, may now be slid to extend along the top edge of the base 12 to the a length sufficient so as to project the desired cut line across the entire width at angles typically required for scribing in the construction industry.
As illustrated in FIG. 2 , the extendible straightedge may comprise markings typified at 24 that define a linear ruler marking along the top edge of the extendible straightedge element useful for alignment with the pivot point 22 such that a user may scribe a line of a pre-selected length relative to the edge of the work piece. Similar markings along the bottom edge of the straightedge typified at 28 suitable for alignment with rule markings typified at 26 on the triangular base are useful for positioning the extendible straightedge in the home or other pre-selected position relative to the base.
Further referring to FIG. 2 , additional markings typified at 34 along the right edge 32 of the straightedge element 16 form an extension of the angle markings of FIG. 1 , at 20 onto the straightedge element when the straight edge element is positioned as illustrated in FIG. 8 .
FIG. 3 illustrates the left view of the present invention showing the fence 14 attached to the base with fasteners 36 and 38 . FIG. 6 taken along lines 6 — 6 of FIG. 3 and FIG. 7 taken along lines 7 — 7 of FIG. 6 show how the fasteners protrude through the fence 14 and into the left base edge of the triangular base wherein the base is drilled and threaded to accept the fasteners. The heads of the fasteners are preferably flush with the surface of the fence.
The ruler square is so engineered as to allow the extendible straightedge element to slide along the top edge of the base towards and through the fence so as to protrude through the fence to the left. This feature permits the scribing of lines with the fence placed against a work piece and without the triangular base over the work piece thereby creating a configuration similar to a combination square. The configuration of the ruler square as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 , permit the ruler square to be used as a combination square. Pencil cutout 42 of FIG. 8 in the left end of the straightedge provides a convenient opening to guide a pencil for marking or other scribe tool.
The preferred embodiment of the right triangular base is approximately 7″ along the left and top edges with the extendible straightedge approximately 12″ along the length so as to approximate a standard 1 foot ruler. 7″ sides are typical of many standard hand squares. When the apparatus is configured as in FIG. 1 , the straightedge element extends approximately 5″ beyond the end of the base. This additional length in this home configuration provides a long straightedge for marking and scribing wide work pieces.
Although the square may be utilized in many ways, FIGS. 11 and 12 show the square of the present invention being used for scribing functions typically unobtainable by prior art squares intended for marking angled cut lines. In FIG. 11 , the square shown has a base with dimensions typically found in a conveniently sized square. Note that the base with the fence 14 when placed flush against the edge of a standard 2″×10″ work piece 50 does not reach across the width of the work piece, whilst the straightedge element 16 provides the additional length 52 to reach across the full width of the work piece. Still further, illustrating the advantages of the present invention, FIG. 12 shows the square 10 with fence 14 positioned along the edge of the work piece 50 and pivoted around pivot point 22 with the pre-selected angle marking 56 on the hypotenuse aligned with the edge of the work piece illustrating the additional required length 54 is also provided the straightedge element 16 . Wider work pieces can be accommodated by sliding the straightedge element to an extended position to mark the cut line without repositioning the square.
Durability of the ruler square is a desirable feature for those in the construction industry whilst minimizing the cost as tools of this nature are easily lost. Therefore the preferred embodiment is constructed of aluminum plate with the optional markings being painted, etched, embossed or otherwise marked. Other materials may also be utilized. Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in the accompanying figures is comprised of multiple elements, the base and fence elements may be combined into one continuous component as produced by manufacturing techniques such as, but not limited to, forging, extruding, molding, or other process.
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The present invention is a sliding ruler square that provides an adjustable and extendible straightedge element permitting a user to conveniently scribe lengthy cut lines at pre-selected angles across a work piece typically utilized in the construction industry without the necessity as exhibited by the prior art to reposition the tool. The inventions comprises a right triangularly shaped base with a fence on one base edge, a sliding straightedge on the other base edge and markings along the straightedge and the hypotenuse and other edges of the base to present a variety of ways to measure and mark. The tool combines a number of measurement and scribing functions typically requiring several tools.
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The Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. F33614-74-C-2059 awarded by the Department of the Air Force.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuel control system for integral rocket-ramjets which is automatically actuated upon transition from rocket to ramjet propulsion and which provides the limiting functions necessary to prevent the engine, air inlet and vehicle from operating in unacceptable regions. The fuel control modulates thrust by controlling fuel flow to perform the functions of ramjet light-off, inlet margin limiting, maximum fuel-to-air ratio limiting, vehicle velocity or Mach number limiting, and lean blowout limiting. Inlet margin limiting and vehicle velocity or Mach number limiting are performed in a closed loop fashion to provide extremely accurate control, particularly during the period immediately after ramjet light-off.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The concept of ramjet propulsion for vehicles was initiated in the early 1900's and practical development evolved in the 1940's. Since then numerous advances have been made in this technology, and applications to advanced missiles is predicted for the future.
Rockets have been known for many centuries and led to practical applications during World War II and thereafter, with both solid fueled and liquid fueled rockets used as weapons and for space exploration.
The marriage of the ramjet and rocket took place during the 1960's when the integral rocket-ramjet (IRR) was developed for missile applications. In 1967, the low altitude short-range missle, LASRM, was developed. The basic IRR is a combined propulsion system. Ramjet fuel is sealed off from the rocket fuel so that the IRR starts out as a pure rocket engine using rocket fuel in the ramjet combustion chamber, and a rocket nozzle inside the ramjet nozzle. During the rocket boost, the ramjet air inlets are typically covered with blow-off fairings and the air openings to the combustion chamber are sealed off with blow-off plugs. When the rocket fuel burns out, the blow-off fairings, inlet plugs and rocket nozzle are ejected leaving a ramjet propulsion system which is then ignited. Numerous configurations of IRR's have been developed, and this invention is applicable to any IRR in which a liquid fuel is fed to the ramjet combustion chamber and ignited upon termination of the rocket phase.
The basic ramjet consists of a supersonic air inlet, a combustor, a fuel supply system and an exhaust nozzle. The supersonic air inlet admits air to the engine, reduces the air velocity, and interfaces with the combustor which develops combustor pressure. The combustor adds heat and mass to the air by burning the fuel from the fuel supply and thereby increases combustor pressure. The nozzle converts combustion chamber pressure to kinetic energy to produce thrust.
The fuel to the ramjet is supplied from a storage tank by pumping or pressurization. A fuel control modulates fuel flow to prevent the engine, inlet and vehicle from operating in unacceptable regions. The control must permit thrust modulation over as large a range as is practical without exceeding the operating constraints to optimize vehicle performance. The fuel control matches fuel flow with airflow to maintain the fuel-to-air ratio within limiting values for both lean and rich mixtures. Operation is closely interrelated with conditions in both inlet and combustor. The fuel control must also maintain an appropriate initial flow of fuel during transition from rocket to ramjet operation, control inlet pressure margin, and limit flight Mach number. A ramjet fuel control may be considered an air inlet control in that it positions the shock wave at a desirable location in the ramjet inlet and meters fuel as required to maintain that shock position for the inlet margin limiting region of the flight envelope.
Numerous fuel controls for ramjets are known in the prior art, most of which have disadvantages such as inability to provide proper fuel flow over the large range of operating conditions encountered during high performance ramjet operation. More specifically, prior art ramjet fuel controls did not take into account the effect of the shock wave produced at the air inlet and thus often encountered operating conditions where vehicle performance deteriorated.
The present invention improves high performance ramjet operation by scheduling fuel via a novel fuel control system in which some functions are performed open loop, while the more critical functions are performed in a more accurate, closed loop fashion. The fuel schedules prevent the engine, inlet and vehicle from operating in inefficient or unacceptable regions, and provide thrust modulation over a wide range of operating conditions. The control is adaptable to a wide variety of vehicle configurations, and has the advantages of low cost, high reliability, and low weight and volume.
The basic control parameters are derived using electronic devices, and are adapted to digital implementation, while the actual fuel metering is performed by proven hydromechanical controls.
It is thefore an object of this invention to provide a ramjet fuel control which meters fuel to the ramjet combustor to insure safe ram burner light-off and transition from rocket to ramjet propulsion.
Another object of this invention is a ramjet fuel control which meters fuel to the ramjet combustor via a closed loop control to prevent the air inlet from operating in an unstable region.
A further object of this invention is a ramjet fuel control which provides both maximum and minimum fuel-to-air ratio limits for optimizing operation and preventing lean burner blow-out.
Another object of this invention is a ramjet fuel control which provides a closed loop maximum vehicle Mach number control.
A still further object of this invention is a ramjet fuel control in which closed loop Mach number and air inlet controls modulate fuel flow via a control parameter-defined as the ratio of combustion pressure to a reference pressure.
Another object of this invention is a ramjet fuel control in which scheduled values of the ratio of fuel flow to combustion chamber pressure are used to provide the desired fuel flow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with a preferred embodiment and the best operating mode of this invention, there is provided a ramjet fuel control system for an integral rocket-ramjet vehicle. Upon termination of the rocket boost and jettisoning of the rocket nozzle and inlet and combustor port covers, air is admitted to the ramjet combustor, ramjet fuel flow is initiated and ignition of the fuel occurs.
The control schedules a reduced fuel flow for light-off. A closed loop inlet margin control schedules fuel flow immediately after ramjet light-off to maintain the desired air inlet margin and properly position the shock wave at the inlet. The inlet margin control schedules the ratio of combustor pressure to a reference pressure as a function of vehicle Mach number and angle of attack. A closed loop vehicle Mach number control is provided where the limiting Mach number is a function of pressure altitude and schedules a ratio of combustor pressure to a reference pressure to limit vehicle speed to acceptable structural and/or aerodynamic heating characteristics. A least select circuit is used to select the Mach number schedule or the inlet margin schedule, whichever calls for the lowest fuel flow. The selected signal is then compared with the measured ratio of combustor pressure to the reference pressure to provide an error signal. The error signal schedules fuel flow proportional to the integral of chamber pressure error. Clamps are provided to insure that fuel flow does not exceed either a minimum or a maximum fuel-to-air ratio, the maximum schedule providing optimum operating conditions during acceleration and the minimum schedule preventing lean burner blow-out during certain operating conditions. The fuel scheduling parameter is the ratio of fuel flow to combustion chamber pressure. The fuel flow is modulated by a hydromechanical control in response to measured combustion chamber pressure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an integral rocket-ramjet vehicle.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing the control limits for the ramjet fuel control as a function of Mach number versus the ratio of combustion pressure to a reference pressure.
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a simplified implementation of the ramjet fuel control system.
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of the complete ramjet fuel control system.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a representative integral rocket-ramjet vehicle 10 in schematic form. The precise vehicle structure will vary and numerous designs are possible but the basic operation is similar. While FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic drawing, it shows the essential features of the vehicle. The rocket portion of the vehicle 10 includes a dual purpose combustion chamber 12 which contains solid rocket fuel 14, and a rocket nozzle 16 clamped to the back end of the combustion chamber. An air inlet 18 is blocked by a combustion port cover 20. Operation of rockets is well known and does not form a part of this invention. At the termination of rocket thrust, the booster nozzle 16 and its associated clamp, and the port cover 20, are jettisoned. In some vehicles both an air inlet port cover and a combustor port cover are used. In either case, air is now fed through inlet 18 into combustion chamber 12 and ramjet operation is initiated. A ramjet nozzle is located as shown by reference numeral 22. Ramjet fuel is contained in a chamber 24 at the front of the vehicle and fed via duct 26 into turbopump 27 and thence into the combustion chamber 12 through injectors, not shown. A fuel control 28 for modulating the flow of ramjet fuel is connected to a valve 30 in the fuel supply duct 26. The valve 30 is opened in response to a signal that rocket boost is terminated, typically by a switch connected to the combustor cover 20 which provides a signal indicating that it has been jettisoned, thereby admitting air to the combustion chamber. At the same time a signal is fed to a solenoid which initiates ramjet ignition. The above sequence of operation is well known and does not form a part of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows the control limits provided by the novel fuel control of this invention. The limits are shown in the form of a control limit map in which the limits are plotted as a function of vehicle Mach number versus a scheduling parameter P C /P PL where P C is combustion chamber pressure or an inlet pressure closely related to combustion chamber pressure and P PL is a reference pressure, preferably provided by a pitot probe located on the cowl lip or on the compression ramp. The ratio P C /P PL is the control parameter used to determine inlet pressure recovery. The control limits consist of: air inlet margin limiting, line A; maximum fuel-to-air ratio limit, line B; vehicle velocity of Mach number limit, line C; and minimum fuel-to-air ratio limit, also referred to as blow-out limit, line D. Ordinarily the air inlet margin limit is encountered immediately following transition from rocket to ramjet propulsion. Then as the vehicle accelerates to its cruise condition, the maximum fuel-to-air ratio limit is encountered until the vehicle Mach number or velocity limit is reached, the latter limit generally being scheduled as a function of altitude. The Mach number limiting function and the inlet margin limit are controlled in a closed loop manner, while the other functions are scheduled or open loop controls. The minimum fuel-to-air ratio limit, or blow-out limit, is required to prevent lean burner blow-out for dive conditions where the vehicle Mach number exceeds the limiting value and fuel flow is considerably reduced.
In integral rocket-ramjet applications, there is a need to make a rapid transition from the booster or rocket mode of operation to ramjet operation to minimize the Mach number loss during this unpowered portion of flight. The following sequence of events typically occurs in this transition region. A decay in booster thrust, known as booster tail-off begins with a typical duration of about 0.1 seconds. Upon the sensing of booster tail-off, the booster rocket nozzle, the inlet cover and the combustor port cover are ejected. Airflow then exists through the booster case which is also used as the ramjet combustion chamber. The fuel control shut-off valve is opened near the end of booster tail-off, and the ramjet fuel manifold is rapidly filled to provide fuel flow through the injector nozzles into the ramjet combustion chamber as soon as possible after booster tail-off. The ramjet igniter is then energized, the turn-on time and time duration sequenced such that the igniter is operative when ramjet fuel flow starts through the injectors. Ramjet burner ignition occurs essentially as a step function, and since immediately after ignition additional energy sources such as igniter fuel, liner material and insulating material can burn and provide a substantial rise in the temperature and pressure of the ramjet combustion chamber. It is important to schedule a fuel-to-air ratio for light-off which will prevent inlet unstart even when the additional energy sources contribute to the combustor pressure rise immediately after ignition. Since the ignition occurs essentially as a step function and the inlet shock motion is extremely rapid, it is impossible to make the closed loop control respond fast enough to prevent an inlet unstart if the light-off flow is excessive. After the light-off a closed loop inlet margin control assures safe and stable inlet operation while the additional sources of energy are consumed and during the vehicle acceleration phase.
Since an excess of ramjet fuel should not be in the combustion chamber during ramjet light-off in order to prevent inlet unstart, the safest and preferred fuel control operation is to open the ramjet fuel shut-off valve when the combustor port cover is released.
Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a simplified schematic implementation of the fuel control of this invention. The heart of the fuel control is the electronic control 40 to which is fed input signals consisting of vehicle Mach number, Mn, via signal line 42, vehicle pressure altitude P AMB , via signal line 44, and vehicle angle of attack, α, via signal line 46. These signals may be provided by an air data computer if one is available. As an alternative, a typical conical or wedge probe which senses nose pitot pressure and top and bottom static pressures can be used to provide Mach number, angle of attack and altitude information. A separate pressure transducer may be used to provide the pressure altitude signal.
Also fed to the electronic control 40 is a signal indicative of the jettisoning of the combustor port cover via signal line 48, a combustion chamber pressure signal, P C , on line 50, and a reference pressure signal on line 52, this pressure being shown as P PL and preferably being provided by a pitot probe at the cowl lip. Other pressures such as a pitot probe pressure from the inlet compression ramp can also be used as the reference pressure. Ideally, it is desirable to use a reference pressure such that the control parameter P C /P PL would be essentially constant to achieve a constant inlet margin over the complete range of operating conditions, i.e. Mach numbers and angles of attack.
The electronic control 40 is preferably a digital computer or microprocessor which schedules desired fuel flow, W REF, on signal line 54.
The signal on line 54 is fed to the interface electronics, block 56, and, as will be described in detail with respect to FIG. 4, is converted on signal line 58 into a torque motor current signal, I TM , fed to a hydromechanical control 60. The hydromechanical control 60 meters the flow of fuel to the combustor nozzles via duct 62.
Feedback is provided from the hydromechanical control 60 to the interface electronics 56 via a signal line 64 which contains a linear variable displacement transducer.
The combustor port cover signal on signal line 48 schedules, via electronic control 40, a shut-off valve signal on line 66 which opens the metering valve in the hydromechanical control 60. This signal also schedules, on signal line 68, a signal which actuates the igniter solenoid to create ignition in the combustion chamber at the proper time.
FIG. 4 shows the preferred implementation of the fuel control system. Shown in dotted lines are the details of the electronic control 40. The interface electronics 56, and the hydromechanical control 60, as shown in blocks in FIG. 3. The electronic control 40 will be assumed to be implemented in a digital manner, this being considered the best mode, but analog circuitry may also be used.
The light-off schedule and the maximum fuel-to-air ratio schedule, line B of FIG. 2, are combined in block 74 of electronic control 40. A switch 76 is connected to the combustor port cover 20 of FIG. 1, and is actuated upon jettisoning of the port cover 20 during booster rocket tail-off. The switch 76 produces a signal, t sw , on signal line 48, this signal being fed to a timer 70 to initiate actuation of the timer and produce a signal, t-t sw where t is time, the signal t-t sw being fed via line 72 to schedule block 74. The t sw signal on line 48 is also fed to a time delay circuit 78, and then via signal line 68 to the ramjet igniter solenoid, not shown, to initiate light-off of the ramjet after the fuel manifold in the combustion chamber has been filled with fuel. The t sw signal on line 48 is also fed via line 66 to the hydromechanical control 60 where it de-actuates the shut-off solenoid 80 of fuel flow valve 82 permitting flow of fuel therethrough as scheduled by the fuel control system. Fuel from the tank 24, and a portion of the air bled from inlet 18 via a bleed duct, not shown, and illustrated in FIG. 4 as reference numeral 84, are fed via lines 86 and 88 respectively to a turbopump 90, the pump being driven by the bleed air and fuel being fed by the turbopump via duct 26 to valve 82. Valve 82 is a metering valve and typically includes a throttle valve, shut-off valve and pressure regulating valve. The construction of the valving arrangement is well known to those skilled in the art and is not described in detail.
Also fed to the light-off and maximum fuel-to-air ratio schedule block 74 is the pressure altitude signal, P AMB , on signal line 44. Schedule block 74 is bi-variant in that it provides at its output a W f /P C signal as a function of both the t-t sw signal on line 72, and as a function of the P AMB altitute signal on line 44, so that the light-off value of W f /P C and the time duration thereof are determined as a function of altitude, a lower light-off value being provided at lower altitudes where inlet unstart is more apt to occur. W f is fuel flow rate. In essence, for a time after the port cover is jettisoned, fuel flow is scheduled at a low light-off value, and after a time determined by the schedule in block 74 is increased to the maximum fuel-to-air ratio value. The time delay in energizing the igniter provided by block 78 permits the fuel to fill the manifold between the fuel shut-off valve and the fuel injectors prior to initiating ignition. Thus, initially the output signal from schedule block 74 on signal line 90 schedules a reduced light-off fuel flow, the precise value thereof being a function of pressure altitude and P AMB , and then at a later time, scheduled as a function of altitude, is increased to a maximum value of W f /P C . The signal W f /P C on line 90 is fed as one input to a comparator 92.
Immediately after ramjet ignition has occurred, it is desirable to modulate fuel flow to provide the maximum ramjet thrust available at the particular flight conditions. In general, at low Mach numbers, the maximum thrust is limited by the air inlet operating conditions. Ram burner ignition occurs essentially as a step function, and inlet unstart can occur in a few milliseconds. Immediately after ignition, additional energy sources exist such as igniter fuel, liner material, insulation or thermal protection material, etc., which can provide a substantial temperature and pressure rise in the ramjet combustion chamber. As noted with respect to scheduling block 74, a lower than normal fuel-to-air ratio light-off schedule is required to maintain satisfactory inlet margin during this period. However, immediately after ramjet ignition occurs, a closed loop inlet margin control takes over control of fuel flow. There is no need to wait until the additional sources of energy are completely consumed with a feedback type of closed loop control since the control will modulate fuel flow up and down from the light-off value to achieve the chamber pressure required at the existing operating condition. During and immediately following light-off, the ramjet fuel flow must be near the minimum fuel-to-air ratio blowout limit to prevent inlet unstart. Immediately after ramjet ignition has occurred, it is desirable to modulate fuel flow to provide the maximum ramjet thrust which is available at that flight condition. Some inlets may allow operation in the slightly subcritical region, while others may require supercritical operation to avoid unsatisfactory inlet performance. The fuel control must operate so as to maintain the desired inlet operating conditions over the complete range of Mach numbers and angles of attack. The closed loop inlet margin control senses some parameter which is indicative of inlet performance, in the present application a pressure tap located in the inlet which produces a pressure signal P C , and modulates fuel flow until the sensed pressure reaches the value that gives the desired inlet margin limit. The actual operating point is determined only by the accuracy with which this desired operating point can be scheduled and sensed.
Mach number and angle of attack can be synthesized from pressure measurements, so all errors can be related to errors in pressure measurements and differences in probe location and performance characteristics due to manufacturing tolerances. Since closed loop control is not influenced by many of the parameters and performance characteristics that affect an open loop mode of control, a closed loop control can meet a prescribed accuracy requirement better than an open loop control, especially if the performance characteristics of the pressure sensors are known.
More accurate inlet margin control via a closed loop schedule means that the nominal set point can be closer to the stable subcritical or supercritical operating point. This in turn provides additional acceleration margin or thrust at the critical takeover conditions which can be used for more rapid acceleration or reduced time to target, or for steeper climb angles to increase range. More acceleration margin can also be traded off to a lower required takeover Mach number which means less booster rocket requirement, and lower weight and volume.
The preferred closed loop inlet margin schedule is shown in block 94. The inlet margin schedule 94 responds to input signals of Mach number on signal line 42, and angle of attack on signal line 46, and the bi-variant schedule produces an output signal on line 96 of the parameter P C /P PL . This signal is fed through lead network 98 and then via line 100 to a least select circuit 102.
Also fed to the least select circuit via signal line 104 is a signal indicative of desired P C /P PL produced by the Mach number limiter schedule 106. The Mach number schedule 106 produces on signal line 108 a signal indicative of Mach number reference, M N REF, as a function of the input signal pressure altitude, P AMB on signal line 44. The output signal on line 108, M N REF, is fed to a comparator 110 where it is compared with actual Mach number on signal line 42. The Mach number error, appearing on signal line 112, is fed through gain circuit 114 where it is converted to the P C /P PL signal required to limit Mach number, and via line 104 to least select circuit 102.
The least select circuit 102 selects the signal on either signal line 100 or signal line 104 which calls for the least value of the P C /P PL , and the selected signal appears on signal line 116 as P C /P PL REF. The selected signal on line 116 is then fed to comparator 118.
The actual ratio of P C /P PL is produced in divider circuit 120 which receives the measured inputs P C on line 50 and P PL on line 52. The actual P C /P PL signal from divider circuit 120 is fed via signal line 122 to comparator 118. The output from comparator 118, a signal indicative of P C /P PL error, appears on signal line 124 and is fed through lead circuit 126 to comparator 128.
The Mach number schedule 106 is a maximum Mach number limit, or equivalent vehicle velocity, which is scheduled as a function of altitude to provide structural protection and prevent the vehicle from exceeding the structural and/or temperature limits. Mach number information and average static pressures are utilized to provide the maximum Mach number limit as a function of pressure altitude.
In effect, the closed loop approach to controlling supercritical margin senses combustion chamber pressure, P C , compares it to the value of combustion pressure which will provide the desired inlet margin, and varies fuel flow until the sensed combustion pressure agrees with the desired value. In order to maintain the desired inlet margin over the range of operating conditions, chamber pressure over reference pressure, P PL , is scheduled as a function of Mach number and angle of attack. The output from comparator 128 is fed through an integral control block 130 where the K PC /S expression in the closed loop chamber pressure control indicates that fuel flow is proportional to the integral of chamber pressure error, that is, fuel flow will vary at a rate proportional to error, and sensed chamber pressure will equal desired chamber pressure in steady state.
The output from the integral control block 130 is fed via signal line 132 to comparator 92, comparator 134, and a multiplier 136. The comparator 92 compares the signal on signal line 132, indicative of desired W f /P C with the maximum fuel-to-air ratio signal on signal W f /P C MAX line 90. Any error therebetween is fed via signal line 136 to a high limit circuit 138 which provides a signal on line 140, fed to comparator 128, which will limit the signal on signal line 132 to a value no higher than that on signal line 90.
Likewise, the desired W f /P C signal on signal line 132 is fed to comparator 134 where it is compared with a W f /P C MIN signal, generated in block 142 and fed to comparator 134 via signal line 144. Any difference therebetween is fed via signal line 146 to low limit circuit 148, a signal being sent via signal line 150 if the W f /P C signal on signal line 132 is below the minimum scheduled in block 142.
The signal on line 132, constrainted to be between the maximum and minimum values of W f /P C as defined by elements 74 and 142, is fed to multiplier 136. Also fed to multiplier 136 is the P C signal on line 152, measured just upstream of the fuel injectors. The output from the multiplier 136 on signal line 54 is the fuel reference signal, W f REF, which is fed to a summing amplifier 154 with amplifier gain K A . The output signal from the summing amplifier is torque motor current I TM which is fed to a torque motor and servo shown in block 156. The output from block 156 is a mechanical position representing the desired fuel flow. Feedback occurs around the torque motor and servo via signal line 158, through a linear variable displacement transducer 160 and feedback line 162 to summing amplifier 154. The output from the torque motor and servo 156 is then fed via signal line 164 which is a mechanical linkage to valve 82 to schedule the fuel flow, W f , to the nozzles via duct 62. If the electronic control 40 is digital, a digital-to-analog converter is required in line 54.
The fuel control sequence is initiated from the combustion port cover switch 76 which assures that airflow exists in the ram combustion chamber before fuel is turned on.
First the shutoff valve 80 is opened and the manifold is quick-filled. The throttle valve/pressure regulating valve 82 in the hydromechanical control 60 provides an inherent quick-fill feature. A time delay is used so that the igniter flow is available when fuel flow occurs through the injector nozzles. The light-off schedule is used until ignition occurs, approximately 0.25 seconds longer than the quick-fill features fills the manifold. The least selector 102 in the electronic control 40 chooses the lower P C /P PL control signal from the inlet margin schedule 94 and the Mach number schedule 106. The closed loop integrator 130 is limited at high and low values of W f /P C to achieve the maximum or light-off limit in schedule 74, or the minimum blowout limit in schedule 142. Lead compensation networks 126 and 98 are used to achieve fast, stable response in the closed loop pressure controls as well as to reduce inlet margin transient errors for rapid angle of attack changes.
The digital control logic functions in electronic control 40 can be programmed into a simple, low cost microprocessor or can be included in a flight control computer. The control system is sufficiently flexible to easily allow changes to assure desired performance if system components are modified or if their performance is different than anticipated.
While the invention has been described with respect to its best mode and preferred embodiment, it is apparent that modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
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In an integral rocket-ramjet having a combustor which initially serves as a rocket combustion chamber for booster propellant, and after the booster propellant is expended serves as a ramjet combustor where fuel and air are burned, a fuel control system is described for the ramjet stage by which ram burner light-off is automatically initiated upon transition from rocket to ramjet propulsion. The fuel control regulates fuel flow to the combustor over the entire flight regime and responds to operating conditions to provide a light-off schedule, to stabilize the shock wave at the air inlet, to provide a maximum fuel-to-air ratio limit, to limit the maximum vehicle Mach number, and to prevent lean burner blowout by providing a minimum fuel-to-air ratio limit. Mach number limiting and air inlet margin limiting are performed in closed loop fashion, while the other functions are scheduled or open loop controls. The closed loop functions are performed by scheduling a ratio of combustion chamber pressure to a reference pressure, and comparing this ratio to the ratio of the pressures as measured, any error therebetween being used to produce a desired fuel flow to combustion chamber pressure ratio. By measuring the actual combustion chamber pressure, the desired fuel flow is obtained.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of flood control, and more particularly to the field of flood control devices that can expand as they absorb flooding liquids to create a barrier.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] There are numerous situations in which it is desirable to contain or control the spread of flooding liquids. For example, many sites are subject to occasional or infrequent flooding. Often, these floods are controlled by erecting walls or banks of sand bags. However, the use of sand bags is very labor intensive, as sand must often be transported to the site where they are used, and each bag must be filled with sand and placed in position. The process of erecting a barrier is slow. Further, the sand is heavy, adding to the difficulties of transportation and working with the filled sand bags. When the threat of flooding has ended, the sand bags may then be removed. This process also is slow and labor intensive, and may require moving even heavier, water-saturated sand. Moreover, the entire process must be repeated each time a new flood threatens the area.
[0005] In some locations, localized weather conditions may create situations where water levels rise rapidly, endangering low-lying areas with little or no warning. For example, unseasonably warm spring weather may dramatically increase run-off due to snow melting in higher, mountainous areas, creating a flood hazard along streams arising in the mountains. Another situation in which flooding can occur rapidly and unpredictably is when severe rain storms dramatically increase local runoff. In these situations, it may be impractical to erect barriers of sand bags quickly enough to prevent localized flooding in lower-lying areas.
[0006] Thus, there is a need for a method of controlling floods that is economical and easy to perform and that requires less labor than conventional methods. There is also a need for a flood control device that can easily be transported and emplaced rapidly without requiring extensive labor. There is a further need for a flood control device that can be transported easily to and from a flood site. There is yet a further need for a temporary flood control device that can be stored easily and compactly when not in use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of controlling floods that is economical, easy to perform, and requires less labor than conventional methods.
[0008] It is also an object of the present invention to provide a flood control device that can easily be transported and deployed rapidly without requiring extensive labor.
[0009] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a flood control device that can be transported easily to and from a flood site.
[0010] It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a flood control device that can be stored easily and compactly when not in use.
[0011] To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention broadly described herein, one embodiment of this invention comprises a flood control barrier. The barrier includes a filler material capable of taking up liquid and expandible upon liquid take-up; an outer skin, at least a part of which is liquid permeable; and means for sealing the skin to contain the filler material therein. The skin is adapted to accommodate expansion of the filler material. The apparatus may have a pillow-like form, and it may be adapted to conform to surfaces against which it rests. The apparatus may comprise a plurality of compartments which are adapted to be secured to at least one other compartment and/or an adjacent structure. The outer skin and the filler material may be substantially unreactive chemically with and insoluble in the liquid. The filler material may comprise a material selected from the group consisting of biopolymers, synthetic polymers and copolymers, polymer gels, and combinations thereof, and it also may comprise at least one component selected from the group consisting of growth inhibitors, anti-microbial agents, surfactants, and weighting agents. The apparatus may be used as a flood control barrier, and it may be re-usable.
[0012] Another embodiment of this invention comprises an expandible flood control barrier unit, including a filler material capable of taking up liquid and expandible upon liquid take-up, and an outer skin enclosing the filler material. The outer skin may be adapted to accommodate expansion of the filler material, and at least a part of the outer skin is permeable to the liquid and impermeable to the filler material.
[0013] Another embodiment of this invention comprises a method for containing and controlling floods. The method includes the step of providing an expandible apparatus comprising an outer skin, at least a part of which is partially liquid permeable, and a filler material contained within the outer skin. The filler material is capable of taking up liquid and expandible upon liquid take-up. The apparatus is adapted to conform to surfaces against which it rests. The method also comprises the steps of placing the apparatus where flooding liquid can contact it and allowing the liquid to penetrate through the outer skin and be taken up by the filler material inside the skin, thereby causing the barrier to expand. The placing step may comprise securing the apparatus to at least one adjacent structure. A weighting agent may be added to the apparatus. Also, the method may also comprise one or more additional steps of removing at least a portion of the liquid which has been taken up by the filler material and storing the apparatus for re-use.
[0014] The apparatus may be modular, and the method may further comprise the step of joining a plurality of the modules together. The method may also further comprise the step of selecting a quantity of the modules for use at a desired location.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, where:
[0016] [0016]FIG. 1 a is a top view of one embodiment of the present invention;
[0017] [0017]FIG. 1 b is a vertical cross sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 a along plane A-A, with the filler material in a dry, compact state;
[0018] [0018]FIG. 1 c is a vertical cross sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 a along plane A-A, with the filler material in a wet, expanded state;
[0019] [0019]FIG. 2 is a side view of a dam formed with compartments in accordance with the present invention;
[0020] [0020]FIG. 3 is a top view of a flood contained by compartments in accordance with the present invention;
[0021] [0021]FIG. 4 a is cross sectional view of part of a series of compartments in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
[0022] [0022]FIG. 4 b is aside view of the series of compartments shown in FIG. 4 a , with the compartments rolled up for storage and/or transportation;
[0023] [0023]FIG. 5 a is a top view of another embodiment of the present invention; and
[0024] [0024]FIG. 5 b is aside view of two connected compartments of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 a.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0025] As used herein, the term “flood” includes inundations, streams, surges, spillovers, runoff, swells, and large or copious flows or rises of liquid.
[0026] In accordance with the present invention, one embodiment of an apparatus for controlling floods is shown in FIG. 1 and comprises one or more flexible compartments 10 having an outer skin 11 encasing an absorbent or adsorbent filler material 12 . The sack or compartment should be sufficiently flexible to conform to minor variations in surfaces against which it is placed for flood control. Although pillow-like or sausage-like compartments are preferred, apparatus 10 can have any convenient size or shape suitable for the specific manner in which it is to be used. The ends of compartment 10 may be sealed in any manner known in the art. For example the ends may be tied with a suitable cord or wire, as shown at 13 , or heat-sealed or crimped, as shown at 14 . Alternatively, the ends of compartment 10 could be stitched or glued.
[0027] The outer skin 11 should preferably comprise a flexible fabric or other material which will contain the filler material 12 . At least a portion of the outer skin 11 is permeable to the type of liquid to be absorbed or adsorbed by the filler material 12 , so as to allow liquid contacting the skin to reach the filler material. The permeable portion of the fabric should be porous with a smaller pore size than the particle size of the filler material 12 to prevent filler material from leaking out of the skin. Also, the outer skin 11 should be substantially insoluble in and substantially unreactive chemically with the liquid.
[0028] The filler material 12 comprises at least one substance which expands as it absorbs or adsorbs liquid. The filler material 12 may be particulate or single-piece, and it may be a solid, a gel, or sponge-like. The material 12 may comprise a swellable polymeric material, a gel, or a combination thereof. The polymeric material or gel may comprise a synthetic polymer, a biopolymer, copolymers thereof, or combinations thereof. Many such materials are known in the art, and some polymeric materials are capable of absorbing 100 or more times their weight of liquid. The relatively light weight and compactness of the dry filler material make the compartments convenient and easy to store, transport, and deploy. In some applications, it is desirable that the expansion of the filler material is reversible, and, in this case, the filler material should shrink as the adsorbed or absorbed liquid is removed from the compartment, such as by application of pressure to the compartment, or by evaporation, such as during exposure to sunlight and warm ambient air or by application of heat.
[0029] In accordance with the present invention, the filler material 12 is selected to be compatible with the liquid to be absorbed. For example, if the invention is to be used to control aqueous floods, the filler material should be hydrophilic. Preferably, the filler material should also be insoluble in the liquid to be taken up and chemically unreactive with the liquid.
[0030] Preferably, the filler material 12 is somewhat porous when it has taken up less than its full capacity of liquid, allowing the flood liquid to penetrate the material substantially completely. The apparatus may include one or more chemicals that enhance liquid take-up by the filler material. For example, the filler material may include a surfactant to enhance liquid penetration. Preferably, the filler material becomes substantially impermeable to the liquid when the material is substantially fully saturated with the liquid, thereby preventing significant leakage of liquid through a barrier formed by placement of the compartment.
[0031] To allow for expansion of the filler material as it takes up liquid, the dry filler material 12 may occupy less than the full interior volume of the outer skin 11 , with outer skin 11 also enclosing void space 15 , as shown in FIG. 1 b . As the filler material 12 takes up liquid, it expands to fill the void space, as shown in FIG. 1 c . Alternatively, the outer skin could be formed from a stretchable material which expands as the filler material expands. The apparatus may also include a weighting material to enhance its ability to stay where it is positioned. The weighting material may either be in the form of elements attached to or integrated with the outer skin, or it may be included as particles 16 in the filler material 12 . Examples of weighting materials include pieces of metal or stone and particles of insoluble and unreactive compounds containing heavy elements.
[0032] In one embodiment, the apparatus of the present invention is reusable. To promote longevity for use on multiple occasions, the skin and filler material are durable and preferably resistant to rot, mildew, and other forms of biological and chemical degradation, including burrowing or ingestion by worms, rodents, and other animals. Either the skin or filler material may include a growth inhibitor or antimicrobial agent. Preferably, the skin is resistant to abrasion.
[0033] Two or more compartments may be positioned adjacent each other and/or stacked to form a larger or longer flood control barrier, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. To facilitate placement in a variety of situations, the compartments 20 or 30 are preferably modular. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, compartments 20 may be stacked in a local low area 21 to create a dam or wall 22 across low area 21 which is prone to flooding. As another example, shown in FIG. 3, compartments 30 may be placed so as to contain and absorb a flood 31 , such as of a liquid in an industrial environment. Preferably, compartments 20 and 30 are capable of conforming to the shape defined by one or more surfaces against which they are placed. Compartments of different sizes may be combined to form a barrier, such as to ensure that the barrier fits in the space where it is erected.
[0034] Referring to FIG. 4, in one embodiment of the present invention, compartments 40 are formed from a continuous length of skin 41 . As can be seen for the series of compartments 40 shown in FIG. 4 a , skin material 41 may be continuous, with filler material 42 sealed in compartments 40 at seals 43 , with and portions 44 of unfilled skin material between the seals 43 , similar to sausages in a casing.
[0035] As shown in FIG. 4 b , the connected compartments 40 may be provided wrapped around a drum or reel 45 . Compartments 40 can be unrolled from reel 45 and placed where needed to contain and/or absorb a flooding liquid. A number of compartments 40 may be selected, based on the length needed, such as to construct the flood control barrier as shown in FIG. 2 or to contain a flood as shown in FIG. 3. The selected compartments 40 are separated from the supply on the reel by cutting or tearing the portion 44 of skin material between adjacent seals 43 . The portions 44 may be perforated or scored to facilitate separation.
[0036] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5, the modules may be provided as individual units 50 which can be joined together for use. The modules 50 may also be adapted for attachment to the ground or to adjacent structures, such as trees, rocks, abutments, walls, buildings, or other compartments, when it is installed for controlling a flood. The modules 50 may be anchored vertically and/or laterally. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 a , compartment 50 has an outer skin 51 with one or more extensions 52 into which grommets 53 may be mounted. A stake 54 or a tie line 55 may be inserted into each grommet hole for anchoring the compartment 50 . Also, one or more weights 56 may be secured to compartment 50 , such as with connection 57 . As shown in FIG. 5 b , hooks 58 can be used to connect adjacent compartments 50 . Other types of temporary or permanent fasteners known in the art can also be used. For example, hook-and-loop fasteners, such as Velcro®, or adhesives could be used. It should be appreciated that a series of connected compartments 50 could be wound on a reel for storage and transportation, or rolled into a coil without a reel.
[0037] The apparatus of the present invention can be quickly and easily installed at a site where flooding is expected or occurring. As discussed above, the apparatus of the present invention may be provided in the form of a series of linked sausage-like compartments (FIG. 4) or as modular compartments adapted to be connected to each other (FIG. 5). The connections may be temporary or permanent. When the filler material is in its relatively compact and dry state prior to use, it is relatively light weight and easy to transport and emplace.
[0038] To facilitate use, the compartments are preferably transportable as a roll of material, as shown in FIG. 4 b , to be unrolled and possibly anchored at a site where it is deployed. The material may be simply rolled about itself or wrapped around a drum or reel.
[0039] If the apparatus is provided with an outer skin which forms a continuous tube, such as is shown in FIG. 4, the tube is unrolled and cut to obtain the desired length of the barrier. The compartments 40 may be filled with filler material and sealed prior to use, or they may be filled and sealed at the time of use. The ends can be sealed by any method known in the art, such as by tying, crimping, heat sealing, stitching, or gluing. The severed compartments are secured in place at the site of deployment.
[0040] Alternatively, if the apparatus is provided in the form of modular compartments, as shown in FIG. 5, the compartments can be arranged end-to end to obtain the desired length for the particular site at which the apparatus is deployed. It should be appreciated that the individual compartments may be fastened together at the deployment site, or they may be preassembled and transported to the site. For example, an assembled series of compartments can be wrapped around a drum for storage and transportation, similar to the continuous tube discussed above and illustrated in FIG. 4.
[0041] Multiple lengths of linked compartments can be placed end-to-end or stacked on top of one another to form a larger barrier. The compartments may be secured in place, such as with stakes, weights, or other means known in the art. Multiple barrier units, in the form of individual compartments or series of linked compartments, may be secured to each other. If weighting elements are used, they may be attached to the units. The weighting elements may be attached in a manner which allows them to be detached at later time, such as for storage of the apparatus for subsequent re-use, or to allow the weighting elements to be reused even when the absorbent units are disposed of.
[0042] As the flooding liquid reaches the units, the liquid passes through the outer skin and is absorbed or adsorbed by the filler material, which swells, as shown in FIGS. 1 b and 1 c , thereby increasing the size and weight of the barrier. Once the filler material is swollen, substantial quantities of liquid cannot pass through the barrier, making the apparatus suitable for use in controlling floods. Also, the compartments become heavier as they absorb water or other liquid, increasing their ability to remain where positioned rather than being moved by flowing liquid which contacts them.
[0043] The apparatus may be disposed of in a suitable manner after it has taken up the flooded liquid. If the liquid comprises a hazardous material, it may be desirable to dispose of the compartments which have been partly or fully saturated with the liquid. In this case, the preferred filler material may form a gel with the liquid it takes up, allowing the compartments to be transported to a disposal site with minimal leakage of the liquid from the gel.
[0044] Alternatively, if the present invention is used to control a flood of a non-toxic liquid, the filler material may be allowed to dry out after the flood situation has ended, such as after flood waters recede. Depending on the type of filler material, the units may be squeezed, such as by rolling them up, to remove a large fraction of the water they hold. They can then be unrolled to continue the drying process. The liquid held in the filler material may be allowed to evaporate. Evaporation may be promoted by heating, either with a heating device or due to an increased ambient temperature brought by improved weather and/or direct sunlight on the compartments.
[0045] The compartments of the present invention are re-usable. The apparatus may be left in place, such as when it is installed at a location subject to repeated floods. Alternatively, the linked compartments can be rolled up for storage, such as on a reel or drum, when the filler material is substantially dry. If weights have been attached, they may be removed prior to rolling up the units. The rolled up compartments may be conveniently transported and stored in this lightweight, compact form.
[0046] The foregoing description is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and process shown as described above. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the invention.
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Apparatus and method for flood control. The apparatus comprises at least one expandible compartment that may conform to surfaces against which it rests. The compartment comprises a filler material capable of taking up liquid and expandible upon liquid take-up; an outer skin, at least a part of which is liquid permeable; and means for sealing said skin to contain said filler material therein. The compartments may be dried or purged of liquid after use and retained for subsequent re-use.
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CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/657,147, filed Feb. 28, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to attaching components and more particularly to attaching components to form articles used in automotive vehicles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Historically, fabrication techniques for the manufacture of articles involved the fabrication of separate components and the joining of the components using fastening mechanisms. The fastening mechanisms typically include mechanical fasteners (e.g., rivets, screws, nuts and bolts, snap fit devices, or the like) and adhesives. However, these fastening mechanisms have drawbacks. For example, many traditional adhesives have difficultly in bonding different materials together (e.g., plastic to metal or two different types of plastic) or require several steps (e.g., priming a component, multiple applications of an adhesive, cleaning a surface, mixing adhesive compounds, or evaporating a solvent). Additional adhesive bonding limitations include long curing time, short shelf life or short open time. Adhesives may also have difficulty bonding non-planar or discontinuous surfaces or bonding multiple components sharing a common joint. Further, bonds with multiple planes may leads to smearing of the adhesive when the components are assembled together.
[0004] The inventors have recognized solutions to one or more of these problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention includes a method of bonding two or more components to form a unitary article. The method involves placing the components in their a proposed assembled position to create a joint cavity, filling the cavity with an adhesive and curing the adhesive so that it can be handled without dissociating the components. The invention also relates to articles formed by the disclosed methods.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] Embodiments of the present invention will be described herein below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
[0007] FIGS. 1 a - b show, in cross section, one embodiment of the present method where two components are placed relative to each other to form a cavity followed by filling the cavity with an adhesive;
[0008] FIG. 2 a shows, in an exploded perspective, another embodiment of the present method where three components are place relative to each other. FIG. 2 b shows, in close up, the three components placed to form a pair of joint cavities. FIG. 2 c shows, in cross-section, the joint cavities filled with an adhesive;
[0009] FIGS. 3 a - b show an exploded view and a compact view, respectively, of a front end assembly of an automobile in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0010] The present invention includes methods of attaching two or more components to form a bonded article. The methods include placing two or more components in their proposed assembled positions relative to one another thereby creating a joint cavity, filling the joint cavity with an adhesive, and at least partially curing the adhesive.
[0011] Referring to FIGS. 1 a - b , the method includes placing a first component 10 and a second component 12 relative to each other to form a joint cavity 14 . The components may or may not contact each other during the placing step or once they are placed. The components may be fixed together using clamps, rivets, screws, snaps or other mechanical fastening methods, to limit relative motion of the components during adhesive injection and curing. Spacing ribs or protrusions may be used on one or both of the components to maintain the joint thickness. Joint cavity 14 is then filled with an adhesive 16 . The joint cavity may be filled through an access point in one of the components, e.g. aperture 18 , or through an exposed edge of the cavity, e.g. edge 20 . Once the cavity is at least partially filled, the adhesive is at least partially cured to form a bonded article 22 .
[0012] Referring to FIG. 2 a - c , a method of bonding three components is shown where, a first component 30 , a middle component 32 , and a third component 34 are joined. A first joint cavity 36 is created by the first and middle components and a second joint cavity 38 is created by the middle and third components. The joint cavities may be filled with adhesive through a single access point 40 in the first component 30 , with the adhesive traveling through one or more access points 42 (e.g., an aperture) in the middle component. Alternately, the joint cavities may be filled individually through access points in the first and third components, i.e. with no aperture in the middle component. In another embodiment, the three components cooperate to form a single joint cavity.
[0013] Placing of the components may be manually accomplished or through the use of a robot. In one preferred embodiment, the components are held in place during the filling step through the use of a securing mechanism. Any mechanism that maintains or helps maintain the size of the joint cavity between the two components is suitable. In a preferred embodiment, the securing mechanism is used until after the curing step begins. More preferably the securing mechanism is used until the adhesive is sufficiently cured to maintain the position and/or orientation of the components in the absence of the securing mechanism. Suitable securing mechanisms include those that prevent the components from moving relative to one another. For example, the components may be held in place by one or more clamps.
[0014] Alternately, the securing mechanism may be one or more forms, such as trays/fixtures, that position the components relative to one another. In another embodiment, the components are gripped by robotic arms and positioned by the robotic arms. In addition, electromagnetic energy may be used to secure the components in place. For example, static electricity may be used to secure components (e.g., plastic components) to a suitable platform or electricity may be used to magnetize metal components to secure them in place. Combinations of securing mechanism are also suitable.
[0015] Furthermore, other securing mechanisms such as mechanical fasteners, like snap-fit fasteners or friction fit fasteners, may be used to secure the components together in their relative positions before, during or after the cavity is filled or the adhesive is cured.
[0016] The one or more components may include one or more guidance mechanisms to facilitate positioning of the components. For example, a mortise-and-tenon or tongue-and-groove guides may be used to maintain the components in the desired relative position or orientation. Further, the guidance mechanisms may be used to ensure the desired volume of the joint cavity is maintained during filling or curing. For example, stops or spacers may be used to make sure the cavity does not become too small. Likewise, mechanical fasteners may be used to make sure the joint cavity does not become too large. In addition, the guidance mechanism may be used to limit the area on the components that the adhesive contacts such that over spreading of adhesive is limited.
[0017] Before, during or after formation of the joint cavity, the joint cavity is filled with an adhesive. The joint cavity may be filled through any access point to the cavity. Exemplary access points include one or more apertures or through holes in one of the components. Other access points include near an edge of one or more of the components adjacent to the joint cavity.
[0018] Any suitable filling technique may be used. In one embodiment, the adhesive can be injected into the cavity. Without limitation, injection techniques include applying positive or negative pressure to the adhesive; thus, forcing it through the access point. This can be accomplished using a syringe and plunger, a screw and extruder, combinations thereof, or the like.
[0019] In one embodiment, the access point is covered or closed after the joint cavity is filled, although this is not necessarily the case. For example, the aperture may be closed by a plug, rivet, stopper, cap, screw, patch, combinations thereof, or the like.
[0020] The curing step increases the strength of the bond between the components. The adhesive need only be cured to the extent that the bond has sufficient strength to permit handling of the bonded article.
[0021] The curing method will depend on the type of adhesive selected, and the type of adhesive selected will depend on the materials comprising the components. Curing may be accomplished upon application of adhesive via a variety of known mechanisms including heat cure, infrared cure, ultraviolet cure, chemical cure, radio frequency cure, solvent loss cure, moisture cure, shear force application cure, although the preferred adhesive requires only exposure to ambient conditions to cure. In another embodiment, the curing of the adhesive can be delayed to constitute a cure-on-demand adhesive that requires a separate operation to cause the adhesive to begin to cure. In one embodiment this is achieved by using an encapsulated curing agent that ruptures during assembly. In another embodiment this is achieved by removing a protective coating to expose the adhesive to ambient conditions.
[0022] The methods of the present invention may suitably be used to form any bonded article from two or more components. For example, the methods may be used to make articles for transportation vehicles (e.g., automobiles, boats, trains, tractors, motorcycles, or airplanes), buildings, electronics, or other manufactured products. In one preferred embodiment, the articles may be useful in or on automobiles. For example, front-end carrier assemblies, cross-car beam assemblies, tailgate/liftgate assemblies, door assemblies, water conductor assemblies, radiator end tank assemblies, oil pan assemblies, engine intake manifold assemblies, valve cover cylinder head assemblies, other engine components, other exhaust system components, exterior trim, interior trim (e.g. instrument panels), structural supports and components to automotive vehicle frames (e.g. bumpers), combinations thereof, or the like are all suitable articles that may be manufactured according to the present methods. Exemplary components may be found in application Ser. No. 10/051,417 (“Adhesively Bonded Valve Cover Cylinder Head Assembly”), Ser. No. 09/922,030 (“Adhesively Bonded Water Conductor Assembly”), Ser. No. 09/921,636 (“Adhesively Bonded Oil Pan Assembly”), and Ser. No. 09/825,721 (“Adhesively Bonded Radiator Assembly”), hereby incorporated by reference.
[0023] The present methods preferably are used to bond components made of dissimilar materials (e.g., metal to plastic, metal to wood, plastic to ceramic, a plastic to a different plastic, metal to glass, combinations thereof, or the like). Nevertheless, the present methods may also be used to bond components made of like materials.
[0024] Suitable components to be bonded may comprise a variety of structures (e.g., planar, hollow, tubular, solid, webbed, combinations thereof, or the like) without limitation. Components can be sized and shaped to compliment one another to form a joint cavity (e.g., a male component and a female component, a C-shaped surface complimented by a U-shaped surface, components that each include one of a pair of opposing surfaces that are spaced apart, combinations thereof, or the like).
[0025] Without limitation, components can be formed from filled or unfilled plastics (e.g., thermoplastics, thermosets, combinations thereof, or the like), metals (e.g., steel, aluminum, combinations thereof, or the like), woods, glass, ceramics, combinations thereof, or the like. Components may be surface treated, primed, coated or comprise additional layers of materials, combinations thereof, or the like. Suitable surface treatments include any of a number of techniques that alter the molecular state of a polymer in the component, a technique that bonds a material having the desired surface characteristic to the component, or a combination thereof. By way of specific example, one or any combination of a suitable corona treatment, flame spray treatment, or surface coating treatment may be employed. Suitable coatings include cured e-coating for metals. Suitable primers may be selected based on the selected adhesive. In one embodiment, at least one of the components is surface treated to achieve a desired surface energy. In another embodiment, only one of the components is surface treated. In another embodiment an adhesive primer is not used on a component made of plastic. In another embodiment, the assembled article comprising a finishing treatment such as painting, a decorative coating, or the like. Preferably, a class A surface finish is provided.
[0026] The first component preferably comprises a polymeric material. In a particularly preferred embodiment, at least one of the components includes a high strength thermoplastic and/or thermoset resin selected from styrenes, polyamides, polyolefins, polycarbonates, polyesters, polyvinyl esters, mixtures thereof or the like. Still more preferably they are selected from the group consisting of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate/acrylonitrile/butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, polyphenylene oxide/polystyrene, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyphenylene oxide, polyphenylene ether, syndiotactic polystyrene, ethylene alpha olefin, polybutylene terephthalate/polycarbonate, polyamide (e.g., nylon), polyesters, polyurethane, sheet molding compound (SMC) (e.g., polyesters, polyvinyl esters), thermoset polyurethane, polypropylene, polyethylene (e.g., high density polyethylene (HDPE)), poly acrylics, and mixtures thereof or the like. More preferably, at least one of the components comprises a polypropylene.
[0027] It is also contemplated that all of the polymeric materials above may be fiber reinforced or otherwise reinforced with ceramic, glass, polymer, natural synthetic or other fibers. According to one preferred embodiment, for reinforcement, the polymeric materials include glass fibers that are between approximately 0.1 mm and approximately 30.0 mm in length. More preferably, the fibers are between approximately 0.5 mm and approximately 20.0 mm in length. Most preferably, the fibers are between approximately 1.0 mm and approximately 5.0 mm in length. It is also contemplated that one or more fillers may be included with the polymeric materials.
[0028] The second and third components may comprise the same material or different material as the first component. Material for the second and third component may be selected from the materials discussed above with respect to the first component. Preferably, the second component comprises a metal; more preferably, the second component comprises steel; and most preferably, the second component comprises a cured e-coat.
[0029] The joint cavity, formed when the constituent components are placed relative to each other, can take any volume and shape. The cavity can be open to the environment, or it can be substantially closed with the only opening being an aperture in one of the components. Preferably, the cavity is defined by at least one surface from each of the components. More preferably, the cavity is defined by at least two surfaces from each of the components. In addition to one access point, the cavity may include one or more additional access points through which the cavity may be filled or through which air can be displaced as the volume of the cavity is filled with adhesive.
[0030] The access point can take any shape or size such that it allows adhesive to pass through to fill the cavity. Preferably, the aperture is sized and shaped to substantially conform to the size and shape of the nozzle that dispenses the adhesive into the joint cavity; however, this is not critical.
[0031] The adhesive of the present invention may optionally be a one-part or two-part adhesive that is capable of achieving a flowable state in the desired manufacturing environments for the bonded article. The adhesive may be soluble in low vapor pressure solvents (e.g., alcohols, ethers, acetone, benzenes, methanes, ethanes, combinations thereof, or the like), flowable (e.g., hot melt flowable, flowable at room temperature, and the like), foamable, combinations thereof, or the like. Preferably, the adhesive is flowable at temperatures between about −10° C. to about 240° C.; more preferably, between about −5° C. and about 160° C.; and most preferably, between about 5° C. and 30° C. Hot melt flowable adhesives should have a melting temperature substantially below the temperature at which the components to be bonded lose structural integrity.
[0032] Preferred adhesives include those that, after cure, can withstand the operating conditions of an automotive vehicle. Preferably, such an adhesive does not decompose or delaminate at temperatures of up to about 30° C., more preferably up to about 40° C., and even more preferably, greater than 60° C. Though not critical, in one embodiment, the adhesive that is employed in a joint herein has a resulting tensile strength of at least about 70 psi (about 500 kPa), more preferably about 145 psi (about 1 MPa), still more preferably about 420 psi (about 3 MPa. In some applications, such as where a structural adhesive is used, the resulting tensile strength may be as high as about 5 MPa, more preferably at least about 10 MPa), and still more preferably at least about 24 MPa.
[0033] Furthermore, the preferred adhesive is capable of withstanding prolonged exposure to the ambient operating conditions of the bonded article. For example, preferred adhesives include those that can withstand prolonged exposure to hydrocarbon materials, sodium chloride, calcium chloride, other salts, brake fluid, transmission fluid, glycol coolants, windshield washer solvents, detergents, and the like, at ambient conditions or at the above-mentioned temperatures and the pressures.
[0034] The adhesive can comprise any number of components; but preferably comprises two components. While other adhesive families are contemplated as well (e.g., urethanes, silanes, or the like), the preferred adhesive comprises one or more polyurethane based adhesives, epoxy resins, phenolic resins, polyimides, hi-bred polyimide/epoxy resin adhesives, acrylic resins, or epoxy novolac/nitrile rubber adhesives. Preferably, the adhesive is one that is flowable at room temperature and bonds low energy substrates; more preferably, the adhesive comprises a polyurethane or acrylic based adhesive; and most preferably, the adhesive is a Betamate LESA for low energy substrates such as those disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,710,145, 6,713,579, 6,713,578, 6,730,759, 6,949,603, 6,806,330 and U.S. Patent Publications 2005-0004332 and 2005-0137370, which are incorporated by reference. Other suitable adhesives include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,539,070; 6,630,555; 6,632,908; and 6,706,831, which are incorporated by references.
[0035] Compositions for possible adhesives are disclosed in a patent application titled, “Amine Organoborane Complex Polymerization Initiators and Polymerizable Compositions”, PCT Publication No. WO 01/44311 A1, U.S. Ser. No. 09/466,321, herein incorporated by reference.
[0036] Adhesive may be used in the presence of primers or other adhesion promoting layers applied to one or more of the components, although preferably the adhesive is used in the absence of a primer.
[0037] With reference to FIGS. 3 a - b , one embodiment of a bonded article made according the disclosed methods is shown. A vehicle front end assembly 50 is made up of a plastic front-end carrier 52 bonded to a horizontal metal reinforcement cross-member 54 . Two additional vertical metal reinforcements 56 and 58 are also bonded to the front-end carrier and the horizontal cross member.
[0038] It will be further appreciated that functions or structures of a plurality of components or steps may be combined into a single component or step, or the functions or structures of one step or component may be split among plural steps or components. The present invention contemplates all of these combinations. Unless stated otherwise, dimensions and geometries of the various structures depicted herein are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, and other dimensions or geometries are possible. Plural structural components or steps can be provided by a single integrated structure or step. Alternatively, a single integrated structure or step might be divided into separate plural components or steps. In addition, while a feature of the present invention may have been described in the context of only one of the illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, for any given application. It will also be appreciated from the above that the fabrication of the unique structures herein and the operation thereof also constitute methods in accordance with the present invention.
[0039] The explanations and illustrations presented herein are intended to acquaint others skilled in the art with the invention, its principles, and its practical application. Those skilled in the art may adapt and apply the invention in its numerous forms, as may be best suited to the requirements of a particular use. Accordingly, the specific embodiments of the present invention as set forth are not intended as being exhaustive or limiting of the invention. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. The disclosures of all articles and references, including patent applications and publications, are incorporated by reference for all purposes.
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The present invention includes methods of bonding two or more components to form a unitary article. The methods involve placing the components in their final assembled position to create a joint cavity, filling the cavity with an adhesive, and curing the adhesive so that it can be handled without dissociating the components. The invention also relates to articles formed by the disclosed methods.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a reciprocating compressor for compressing gas such as air, and more particularly to a reciprocating compressor having a cylinder provided with a gas passage for passing compressed gas therethrough.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 5 shows a conventional reciprocating compressor. Referring to FIG. 5, a piston 33 having a plurality of piston rings 36 on an outer circumferential surface thereof is adapted to be vertically reciprocated in a cylinder 31. When the piston 33 is lowered, gas is sucked from a suction valve 37 into the cylinder 31. Thereafter, when the piston 33 is lifted to come near a top dead center, the compressed gas in the cylinder 31 is discharged from a discharge valve 38 to the outside.
To reduce sliding friction between outer circumferential surfaces 47 of the piston rings 36 and an inner circumferential surface 41 of the cylinder 31 during vertical reciprocation of the piston 33 without using lubricating oil (i.e., in case of what is called an oil free type), the piston rings 36 are made of synthetic resin having a heat resistance and a low coefficient of friction, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (tetrafluoride resin) polychlorotrifluoroethylene (trifluoride resin).
The above-mentioned synthetic polymeric fluoride resins have a low coefficient of friction, but also have a low wear resistance. In particular, the amount of wear of the piston rings 36 greatly increases with an increase in sliding surface pressure of the outer circumferential surfaces 47 of the piston rings 36 against the inner circumferential surface 41 of the cylinder 31.
The piston rings 36 are engaged with ring grooves 35 formed on an outer circumferential surface 43 of the piston 33, and they are elastically projected from ring grooves 35 outwardly in a radial direction of the piston 33. During a gas compression stroke of the piston 33, the compressed gas of high pressure in the cylinder 31 penetrates from an upper surface of the piston 33 through a gap between the outer circumferential surface 43 of the piston 33 and the inner circumferential surface 41 of the cylinder 31 into the ring grooves 35. The compressed gas having entered the ring grooves 35 acts as a back pressure depicted by arrows 45 against inner circumferential surfaces 48 of the piston rings 36 so as to radially outwardly urge the piston rings 36. The back pressure against the inner circumferential surfaces 48 of the piston rings 36 is increased near the top dead center to further increase the sliding surface pressure of the outer circumferential surfaces 47 of the piston rings 36 against the inner circumferential surface 41 of the cylinder 31. Accordingly, the wear of the piston rings 36 made of the above-mentioned synthetic resin becomes remarkable. As a result, the durability of the piston rings 36 is reduced, and the synthetic resin powdered by the wear is mixed with the compressed gas in the cylinder 31 to contaminate the compressed gas.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to prevent wear of a piston ring due to the sliding friction between the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder and the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring during vertical reciprocation of the piston.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce the sliding surface pressure of the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring against the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder by applying the compressed gas from the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder to the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring when the piston is lifted up to near the top dead center at which a back pressure to the piston ring becomes maximum.
To achieve the above objects, the reciprocating compressor of the present invention comprises a cylinder having an inner circumferential surface and adapted to suck gas thereinto; a piston having an outer circumferential surface and adapted to vertically reciprocate along the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder; an annular groove formed on the outer circumferential surface of the piston; an annular piston ring engaged with the annular groove and having an outer circumferential surface contacting the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder so as not to allow the escape of gas compressed during a lifting stroke of the piston through a gap between the outer circumferential surface of the piston and the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder; and a gas passage provided in a wall portion of the cylinder for introducing the compressed gas in the cylinder to the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring so as to radially inwardly urge the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring.
With this construction, when the piston is lifted to compress the gas in the cylinder, the compressed gas is introduced through the gas passage formed in the wall portion of the cylinder to the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring so as to radially inwardly urge the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring, thereby canceling the back pressure radially outwardly urging the piston ring.
Accordingly, the sliding surface pressure of the outer circumferential surface of the piston ring against the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder can be reduced to thereby reduce the wear of the piston ring and accordingly prolong the service life. Consequently, a reciprocating compressor having a superior durability can be provided.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following figures wherein:
FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a reciprocating compressor according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross section taken along the line II--II in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of an essential part illustrating a gas passage according to the first preferred embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, illustrating a second preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of an essential part of the reciprocating compressor in the prior art.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
There will now be described some preferred embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1 which is a sectional side view of a reciprocating compressor according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylinder made of metal such as aluminum alloy. In the cylinder 1, a piston 3 is adapted to be vertically reciprocated through a piston pin 4 rotatably engaged with an upper end of a connecting rod 2. A plurality of ring grooves 5 are annularly formed on an outer circumferential surface of the piston 3 at suitable positions below an upper end of the piston 3. With each ring groove 5 is engaged a piston ring 6 made of a material having a small coefficient of sliding friction, such as polymeric resins of polytetrafluoroethylene or polychlorotrifluoroethylene. The connecting rod 2 is connected with a crank shaft (not shown) adapted to be rotated by a prime mover (not shown), so that the vertical reciprocation of the piston 3 in the cylinder 1 as mentioned above is caused by vertical movement of the connecting rod 2. In a lowering stroke of the piston 3, a suction valve 7 provided on a cylinder head 14 is opened to suck the gas to be compressed, such as air, into a cylinder chamber 10. In a lifting stroke of the piston 3, the gas in the cylinder chamber 10 is compressed, and a discharge valve 8 provided on the cylinder head 14 is opened in the vicinity of a top dead center to discharge the compressed gas of high pressure to be introduced to an outside necessary place.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an orifice 9 is provided in an inner circumferential wall portion (thick wall portion) of the cylinder 1. The orifice 9 is comprised of an upper inlet 9a for admitting the compressed gas from the cylinder chamber 10, a vertical passage 9b continuing from the upper inlet 9a, and a plurality of lower outlets 9c continuing from the vertical passage 9b for discharging the compressed gas to outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6. When the piston 3 is lifted up to near the top dead center, the high-pressure gas compressed by the piston 3 in the cylinder chamber 10 is introduced from the upper inlet 9a of the orifice 9. The compressed gas introduced from the upper inlet 9a passes through the vertical passage 9b extending vertically in the inner circumferential wall portion of the cylinder 1 to reach the lower outlets 9c. Then, the compressed gas is discharged from the lower outlets 9c in such a manner as to radially inwardly urge the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6 (see arrows in FIG. 3). Incidentally, the inner circumferential wall portion of the cylinder is provided with a cooling passage for passing a cooling water or a cooling air therethrough.
In operation, when the piston 3 is lifted to come near the top dead center, the gas pressure in the cylinder chamber 10 is rapidly increased. The high-pressure gas in the cylinder chamber 10 passes through a gap between an outer circumferential surface 16 of the piston 3 and an inner circumferential surface 17 of the cylinder 1 to enter the ring grooves 5 and radially outwardly urge inner circumferential surfaces 18 of the piston rings 6. As a result, a back pressure to the piston rings 6 is increased to accordingly increase a sliding surface pressure of the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6 against the inner circumferential surface 17 of the cylinder 1. However, as mentioned above, the high-pressure gas compressed by the piston 3 also passes through the orifice 9 formed in the inner circumferential wall portion of the cylinder to reach the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6 and radially inwardly urge the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6.
In this manner, the compressed gas in the cylinder chamber 10 partly passes through the orifice 9 and acts in such a direction as to cancel the back pressure to the piston rings 6. Accordingly, the sliding surface pressure of the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6 against the inner circumferential surfaces 17 of the cylinder 1 can be reduced to that extent.
FIG. 4 shows a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, a porous member 12 is embedded in the inner circumferential wall portion of the cylinder 1 over a distance from near the top dead center of the piston 3 in association with its vertical reciprocation to a lower position by a distance approximately equal to the height H3 of the piston 3. That is, the porous member 12 is embedded over such a distance that when the piston 3 is lifted up to near the top dead center, the compressed gas is prevented from flowing through the porous member 12 to a lower side of the piston 3.
The porous member 12 is made of a porous ceramic material having a superior pressure resistivity, constituted of alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, SnO2, or SiO2.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that an unnecessary pore portion of the porous member 12 is sealed by a suitable sealing member 13, so as to effectively concentrate the high-pressure gas in the cylinder chamber 10 toward an inner circumferential surface of the porous member 12 facing the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6 (see dashed arrows in FIG. 4). The sealing member 13 is provided along the inner circumferential surface 17 of the cylinder 1 over the entire circumference thereof or at circumferential intervals with a suitable height (H2) to extend below a lower surface of the cylinder head 14 by a distance at least equal to the height (H1). The sealing member 13 is made of thermosetting synthetic resin, metal, ceramic, or cermet (which is a sintered material of a mixture of metal powder and ceramic). The sealing member 13 is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the porous member 12 by a suitable method such as melt impregnation, thermal spraying, or plating, according to the material employed for the sealing member 13.
In embedding the porous member 12, it is preferable that a recess 15 is first formed by cutting the inner circumferential surface of the cylinder at an upper portion thereof to a suitable depth (L) and a suitable height (H3), and then the porous member 12 having numerous pores therein communicating with the outer circumferential surfaces 19 of the piston rings 6 is embedded in the recess 15. According to this method, the porous member 12 can be very easily provided in the inner circumferential wall portion of the cylinder 1 so as to be exposed to the inner circumferential surface 17 of the cylinder 1, so that manufacturing costs can be greatly reduced.
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A compressor includes a passage in the sidewall of the cylinder for directing compressed gas against circumferential surfaces of piston rings. The pressure of the gas from the passage counteracts the pressure of gas between the piston ring groove and the piston ring, and urges the piston rings inwardly. The force with which the piston ring is urged into engagement with the cylinder walls is lessened, thereby reducing wear of the piston rings. The arrangement is especially useful for compressors having piston rings formed of low friction polymeric materials, such as fluorine-containing polymers.
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CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority from co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/298,612 filed Jun. 15, 2001 entitled METHOD FOR GENERATING SECURE ELLIPTIC CURVES USING AN ARITHMETIC-GEOMETRIC MEAN ITERATION which is hereby incorporated by reference, as if set forth in full in this document, for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of invention
[0002] The present invention relates to elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) and, more particularly, to the fast generation of secure elliptic curves over binary fields.
[0003] Since Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC) was proposed in the mid-1980s by Koblitz [Kob1987] and Miller [Mil1987] following the work of Lenstra [Len1987], its security and efficiency have been subject to intense study. In recent years, it has become widely accepted as an alternative to cryptosystems based on factorization or discretelogarithms in finite fields, especially for constrained environments. ECC is now covered by standards from such bodies as ANSI, IEEE, ISO and NIST. See [ANS11999], [IEEE2000], [IS01998] and [NIST2000].
[0004] One of the initial steps in protocols based on ECC is to pick a suitable curve. In public-key ECC, public and private keys typically contain information identifying such a curve along with certain other data such as a point on it. To ensure that the ECC system is secure, the curve must be chosen to have a number of points which is divisibly a large prime number in order to ensure that the curve is not vulnerable to known generic methods of attack. To check this, it is necessary to know the exact number of points on the curve.
[0005] Some special elliptic curves have particular properties which make computing the number of points on them easy, or which accelerate arithmetic operations occurring in cryptographic protocols. However such special curves have repeatedly been found to be vulnerable to specific methods of attack.
[0006] The most striking example is curves of trace one for which polynomial time attacks were discovered independently by Smart [Sma1999], Satoh-Araki [SA1998] and Semaev [Sem1998]. Supersingular curves and curves of trace two were broken in sub-exponential time by Menezes, Okamoto and Vanstone [MOV1991] and by Frey and Ruck [FR1994]. Curves with many automorphisms. These include curves defined over small fields as proposed by Koblitz, and some complex-multiplication curves (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,755, 5,351,297 and 5,497,423.) are vulnerable to exponential-time attacks which are faster than generic attacks, see [Har1998], [WZ1998], [GLV1998] and DGM1999].
[0007] Gaudry, Hess and Smart [GHS2000] have shown that some curves defined over composite extension fields are also weak. Thus in order to ensure security, the base field should be chosen to be a prime field or an extension of prime degree.
[0008] These results suggest that to maximize security one must avoid choosing curves from particular families of curves with special properties or extra structure and instead examine arbitrary candidate curves, ideally chosen at random, to find one whose number of points is divisible by a large prime number. This procedure first became feasible with the SEA method for point-counting due to Schoof [Sch1985], [Sch1995], Elkies [Elk1998] and Atkin [Atk1988]. If desired, one may also check that the resulting curve does not accidentally fall into a known family of vulnerable curves (a very rare occurrence).
[0009] Finding such a secure curve requires testing many candidates. Candidate curves may be prefiltered by rejecting some whose numbers of points can be determined in advance to be divisible by certain small divisors, as done by Lercier in [Ler1997]. However even with this strategy, finding secure curves using the SEA method was a slow process. Johnson and Menezes [JM1999] recently described it as a “complicated and cumbersome task” requiring “a few hours on a workstation” for 200 bits.
[0010] It was possible to work around this difficulty to a certain extent by precomputing a limited number of secure curves in advance and then deploying those curves widely. For instance, this is common practice with several of the curves described by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST2000]. However such a practice is deemed risky by experts [INRIA2000], in part because of the actual choice of curves and in part because any discovery of methods of attack against a widely-deployed curve would have widespread implications.
[0011] An ability to generate new secure elliptic curves is deemed to be highly desirable. For instance in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,420, Vanstone, et al. write:
[0012] “The elliptic curve cryptography method has a number of benefits. First, each person can define his own elliptic curve for encryption and decryption, which gives rise to increased security. If the private key security is compromised, the elliptic curve can be easily redefined and new public and private keys can be generated to return to a secure system. In addition, to decrypt data encoded with the method, only the parameters for the elliptic curve and the session key need be transmitted.”
[0013] While in theory it is easy to incorporate a new curve into an ECC system, in practice it remained difficult to generate new secure curves dynamically. Recently a partial solution to this problem was provided by Satoh's method for point-counting [Sat2000] and by Fouquet, Gaudry and Harley's extension of it to the practically useful case of binary fields, see [FGH2000] and also [Skj2000], [UPU2001]. This allowed secure curves to be generated more rapidly than had been done previously [FGH2001].
[0014] The present invention comprises a new Arithmetic-Geometric Mean (AGM) method for point-counting which is significantly faster than those in the prior art and allows secure curves to be generated very quickly so that, for instance, this can be done at will by users of ECC systems. For instance a secure 163-bit curve, whose number of points is two times a prime number, can presently be generated in two seconds on average using a certain workstation (Alpha, 750 MHz) and a 239-bit curve takes eight seconds. Furthermore the new method can be implemented with a small amount of program memory and of random-access memory so that it is suitable for constrained devices such as a Personal Digital Assistant or mobile telephone.
[0015] Note that several applications of converging AGM iterations are known in the art for use with non-binary fields (see [HM1989]) whereas the present invention involves a non-converging iteration for use with binary fields. Note also that the present method can be extended to some hyperelliptic curves by combining it with ideas described in [BM1988].
[0016] A particular advantage of the new method for environments with high security requirements, is that it is now practical to generate secure curves locally and never reveal them to third parties. For instance communicating parties may initially share a secret curve, or each of them may generate the same shared secret curve by selecting it from a pseudo-random sequence initialized with a seed value which is a shared secret constructed using a standard protocol such as Diffie-Hellman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,770). With ECC techniques based on publicly known curves, an eavesdropper who listens in on ECC transactions can attempt to attack them by using certain computations on the curves. However an eavesdropper who does not even know which curve is used for a particular transaction will have no such avenue of attack. One of the principal advantages of ECC over competing cryptosystems such as Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829) is that it draws high levels of security from much smaller keys. With the technique just described, security is further enhanced while maintaining small keys.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] An object of the present invention is to provide a new method for determining the exact number of points on an arbitrary elliptic curve defined over a binary field.
[0018] A second object of the present invention is to thereby enable the rapid generation of secure elliptic curves for use in elliptic-curve cryptography by making use of the new point-counting method.
[0019] A third object of the present invention is to ensure that the methods described herein be implementable in devices which may be constrained in the amount of program memory available or in the amount of random-access memory available or in the processing power available or some combination of these.
[0020] To these ends, the present invention provides a new method for point-counting which is significantly faster than prior art methods, while being efficient in terms of program size and memory usage. The new method comprises two phases:
[0021] The first phase, called lifting, consists of a procedure which takes as input a given elliptic curve over a binary field and, by certain techniques described below, produces as output a precise approximation of a certain related elliptic curve.
[0022] The second phase consists of a procedure which takes as input the lifted elliptic curve and computes, by certain techniques described below, the norm of a related quantity in such a way as to determine the number of points of the initially given curve.
[0023] The inventive steps of this new method, relative to methods known from prior art, include use of the AGM iteration in new techniques for implementing either or both of the above phases efficiently. Further details of the new method will become readily apparent from the detailed description below.
[0024] The new method can be embodied in several forms:
[0025] In one form, the first phase is implemented using the new AGM method described below and the second phase is implemented using any other means for norm computation, such as one existing in prior art.
[0026] In another form, the first phase is implemented using any standard means for curve lifting, such as one existing in prior art, and the second phase is implemented using the new AGM method described below.
[0027] In another form, both phases are implemented using the new AGM method described below.
[0028] In practice these forms may be embodied as program code such as a C language program running on a general purpose microprocessor (as is the case for existing prototypes at the time of filing). Another envisaged embodiment is as a program running on a constrained device such as a smartcard chip. Another envisaged embodiment is a hardware design, either a dedicated design implementing the entire method or a design providing hardware assistance for some critical portions of it.
[0029] The result of a process using the new present invention is the number of points on a given elliptic curve. It takes the tangible form of an integer value stored in registers or memory cells of a device carrying out the process.
[0030] To generate a secure curve quickly, the present invention is applied repeatedly to a sequence of candidate curves. The candidates may optionally be prefiltered using an early-abort strategy such as one of those known from prior art. A brief outline is given next for purposes of exposition. Some details are omitted as being analogous to details known in the art for use with other point-counting methods. See [Ler1997], [MP1998] or [FGH2001].
[0031] A sequence of candidate curves over a binary field is generated by any appropriate means, such as by choosing curves randomly or pseudo-randomly.
[0032] An early-abort strategy may be applied to select from this sequence a sub-sequence of curves with improved likelihood of being secure. To do this, some of the curves which are not secure are filtered out by determining that their numbers of points are divisible by certain small divisors.
[0033] The numbers of points on the selected curves are computed with the new AGM method.
[0034] The number of points on each selected curve is checked to determine if it is divisible by a sufficiently large prime number for the curve to be deemed secure.
[0035] One may also check at any stage whether each curve falls into a known family of weak curves.
[0036] As a particular example, one may accept curves whose number of points is two times a large prime number (note that the number of points is always even). In such a case one could filter out curves whose number of points is divisible by 4, 3, 5 or 7 before applying the new AGM method for point-counting.
[0037] Various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. For instance one could also accept curves whose number of points is four times a large prime number. In such a case, pairs consisting of curves and their twisted curves may be handled simultaneously as described in [MP1998].
[0038] The final result of a process for generating secure elliptic curves using the new AGM method is one or more coefficients defining the curve. These coefficients take the tangible form of bit-string values stored in registers or memory cells of a device carrying out the process.
[0039] In one embodiment the invention provides a method for generating a cryptographic key for use in a digital processing system, the method comprising analyzing points on an elliptic curve by using a non-converging arithmetic geometric mean calculation; and deriving a cryptographic key from the analysis.
[0040] The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0041] [0041]FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a sequence of steps in a first phase of computation; and
[0042] [0042]FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a sequence of steps in a second phase of computation.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0043] The present invention provides a new method for determining the exact number of points on an arbitrary elliptic curve defined over a binary field i.e., a finite field of characteristic two. The following describes preferred embodiments of this method.
[0044] Several abstract structures are defined for the purposes of exposition. However they each have a concrete representation in a device implementing the invention.
[0045] Define Z.sub.2 (the symbol sub. denotes a subscript) to be the ring of 2-adic integers i.e., normal integers considered modulo successive powers of two. Define f(x) to be a polynomial of degree d with coefficients in Z.sub.2 that has it's leading coefficient equal to one and that is irreducible modulo 2. Let q be 2 ^ d (the symbol ^ denotes taking a power). Define Z.sub.q to be the ring of polynomials over Z.sub.2 considered modulo f(x). Note that Z.sub.q is of characteristic zero.
[0046] Concretely, elements in Z.sub.2 and in Z.sub.q are represented to some working precision in a device implementing the invention. An element in Z.sub.2 is represented to precision n by storing the first n bits of its value in an array of n bits in the natural way. An element in Z.sub.q is represented to precision n by storing it's coefficients in an array of d elements, each of which is an element in Z.sub.2 to precision n. For efficiency purposes, f(x) can be chosen to be sparse, for instance having 3 or 5 coefficients equal to one and the others all equal to zero. Other representations are clearly possible.
[0047] Define F.sub.q to be the binary field of q elements with the representation that follows naturally by considering Z.sub.q modulo 2. Further details relating to representation issues and similar are omitted, as they are conventional and well known in the art.
[0048] As is usual, the equation of an ordinary elliptic curve over the binary field F.sub.q can be put into the form:
y^ 2+x*y=x^ 3+ c
[0049] with coefficient c in F.sub.q, by taking the quadratic twist of the curve if necessary.
[0050] The input to the new AGM method of point-counting is the coefficient c specifying an ordinary elliptic curve. The new method makes use of the following steps. It employs variables A, B, C and T, which are in Z.sub.q, to a certain working precision. Working to precision ((d+1).div. 2)+4 is sufficient (the symbol .div. denotes truncated division).
[0051] The arithmetic operations employed below operate modulo f(x) so that they are significantly more complicated than ordinary numerical operations, however methods for computing them are well known in the art.
[0052] The first phase computes a lifted curve as illustrated in FIG. 1 and as follows:
[0053] 1. Variable C is chosen to be any value that coincides with c, modulo 2. This is done by simply filling in arbitrary bits.
[0054] 2. Variable A is set to the initial value 1+8*C.
[0055] 3. Variable B is set to the initial value 1.
[0056] 4. The following steps are repeated in a loop ((d+1).div. 2)−1 times:
[0057] 4a. Variable T is set to the product A*B modulo f(x).
[0058] 4b. Variable A is set to the value (A+B)/ 2.
[0059] 4c. Variable B is set to the square root of T modulo f(x). (end of loop)
[0060] The initialization in step 2 can be made more accurate, for instance by setting A to 1+8+C^ 8−32*C^ 16. In step 4c, there is a choice of sign to be made in the square root. The sign should be chosen to ensure that B remains equal to 1 modulo 4. Then it may be observed that the values of A and B both remain equal to 1 modulo 4 and remain equal to each other modulo 8.
[0061] Note that each loop iteration in step 4 computes the arithmetic and geometric means of A and B, but unlike other known applications of the AGM iteration, the values of A and B do not converge to a single value.
[0062] Steps 1 to 4 constitute the first phase of the point-counting algorithm. The output is the elliptic curve over Z.sub.q given by the following equation:
y^ 2= x *( x−A^ A^ 2)*( x−B^ 2)
[0063] which is the canonical lift of the initially given curve, or else a conjugate of this lift. To improve efficiency in this phase, the working precision can initially be small, say 5 bits, and be gradually increased by one bit per loop iteration.
[0064] Note that in one form of the present invention, this first phase can be replaced by a different method for lifting, including those described in such prior art as reference [Sat2000]. In such a case, the lifted curve can be given by an equation above and the second phase is done with the AGM.
[0065] The second phase is illustrated in FIG. 2 and as follows.
[0066] 5. Variable C is set to A.
[0067] 6. The following steps are repeated in a loop d times:
[0068] 6a. Variable T is set to the product A*B modulo f(x).
[0069] 6b. Variable A is set to the value (A+B)/2.
[0070] 6c. Variable B is set to the square root of T modulo f(x).
[0071] (end of loop)
[0072] 7. Variable T is set to C/A modulo f(x).
[0073] (Note that T will then be found to be an element in Z.sub.2).
[0074] 8. Integer variable r is set to the unique integer with absolute value at most 2^ (1+d/2), and equal to 1 modulo 4 and equal to T to precision ((d+1).div. 2)+2.
[0075] The final output is q+1−r, which is the number of points on the given curve including the point at infinity. In cases where the number of points on the twisted curve is desired instead, the output is to be replaced by q+1+r.
[0076] Steps 5 to 8 constitute the second phase of the point-counting algorithm. Steps 5 to 7 compute the norm of the value that C/A would have after the first iteration of loop 6. Then step 8 computes the exact value of the trace of the curve.
[0077] Note that in one form of the present invention the first phase is done with the AGM, and this second phase can be replaced by a different method for computing this norm, such as one existing in prior art or the method very recently described by Professor Satoh in [Sat2001].
[0078] While the present invention has been described in connection with a specific embodiment, various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of what is described herein.
[0079] Certain specific steps may be replaced by steps that can be seen to be equivalent by those skilled in the art, and such equivalent steps are also implied. For example, the two-variable AGM iterations described above can easily be replaced with one-variable iterations of the form: Set S to (1+S)/2 divided by the square root of S.
[0080] Table I, below, lists various references referred to in this specification as follows:
TABLE I [ANSI1999]: American National Standards Institute. “Public Key Cryptography for the Financial Services Industry: The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm.” ANSI X9.62 (1999). [Atk1992]: A. Oliver L. Atkin. “The number of points on an elliptic curve modulo a prime.” NMBRTHRY mailing list (1992). Archived at http://listserv.nodak.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=nmbrthry [BM1988]: Jean-Benoit Bost, Jean-Francois Mestre “Moyenne arithme'tico-ge'ometrique et pe'riodes des courbes de genre 1 et 2.” Gazette des Mathematiciens. Vol. 38 (1998), pp. 36-64. [DGM1999]: Ivan Duursma, Pierrick Gaudry, Franc,ois Morain. “Speeding up the discrete log computation on curves with automorphisms.” In: Advances in Cryptology-ASIACRYPT ′99. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 1716 (1999), pp. 103-121. [GLV1998]: Robert Gallant, Robert Lambert, Scott A. Vanstone. “Improving the parallelized Pollard lambda search on binary anomalous curves.” (1998). To appear in Mathematics of Computation. [Elk1998]: Noam Elkies. “Elliptic and modular curves over finite fields and related computational issues.” Computational Perspectives on Number Theory. AMS/International Press (1998), pp. 21-76. [FGH2000]: Mireille Fouquet, Pierrick Gaudry, Robert Harley. “An extension of Satoh's algorithm and its implementation.” Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society. Vol. 15 (2000), pp. 281-318. [FGH2001]: Mireille Fouquet, Pierrick Gaudry, Robert Harley “Finding Secure Curves with the Satoh-FGH Algorithm and an Early- Abort Strategy.” In: Advances in Cryptology-Eurocrypt 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 2045 (2001), pp. 14-29. [FR1994]: Gerhard Frey, Hans-Georg Ru″ck. “A remark concerning m-divisibility and the discrete logarithm in the divisor class group of curves.” Mathematics of Computation. Vol. 62, #206 (1994), pp. 865-874. [GHS2000]: Pierrick Gaudry, Florian Hess, Nigel P. Smart. “Constructive and destructive facets of Weil descent on elliptic curves.” Technical Report CSTR-00-016, University of Bristol (2000). [Har1998]: Robert Harley. “Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithms Project, ECC2K-95.” (1998). Available at http://cristal.inria.fr/˜harley/ecdl/ [HM1989]: Guy Henniart, Jean-Franc,ois Mestre. “Moyenne arithme'tico-ge'ometrique p-adique.” Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris Vol. 308 (1989), pp. 391-395 [IEEE2000]: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. “Standard Specification for Public-Key Cryptography” IEEE P1363 (2000). [INRIA2000]: Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique. “Biggest public-key crypto crack ever-INRIA leads worldwide Internet- distributed calculation.” INRIA press release (2000). Available at http://www.inria.fr/presse/pre67.en.html [ISO1998]: “Information Technology--Security Techniques-Digital Signatures with Appendix-Part 3: Certificate Based-Mechanisms” ISO/IEC 14888-3 (1998). [JM1999]: Don Johnson, Alfred J. Menezes. “The elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA).” Technical Report CORR 99-34, University of Waterloo, (1999). [Kob1987]: Neal Koblitz. “Elliptic curve cryptosystems.” Mathematics of Computation. Vol. 48, #177 (1987), pp. 203-209. [Len1987]: Hendrik W. Lenstra Jr. “Factoring integers with elliptic curves.” Annals of Mathematics. Vol. 126 (1987), pp. 649-673. [Ler1997]: Reynald Lercier. “Finding good random elliptic curves for cryptosystems defined over F_{2{circumflex over ( )}n}.” In: Advances in Cryptology-EUROCRYPT ′97. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 1233 (1997), pp. 379-392. [Mill1987]: Victor S. Miller. “Use of elliptic curves in cryptography.” In: Advances in Cryptology-CRYPTO ′86, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 263 (1987), pp. 417-426. [MOV1991]: Alfred J. Menezes, Tatsuaki Okamoto, and Scott A. Vanstone. “Reducing elliptic curves logarithms to logarithms in a finite field.” In: Proceedings 23rd Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing. ACM Press (1991), pp. 80-89. [MP1998]: Volker Mu“ller, Sachar Paulus. “On the Generation of Cryptographically Strong Elliptic Curves.” Preprint (1998). Available at http://www.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/TI/Mitarbeiter/ vmueller.html [NIST2000]: National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Digital Signature Standard”. FIPS 186-2 (2000). [SA1998]: Takakazu Satoh, Kiyomichi Araki. “Fermat quotients and the polynomial time discrete log algorithm for anomalous elliptic curves.” Commentarii Mathematici Universitatis Sancti Pauli. Vol. 47 (1998), pp. 81-92. [Sat2000]: Takakazu Satoh. “The canonical lift of an ordinary elliptic curve over a finite field and its point counting.” Journal of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society. Vol. 15 (2000) , pp. 247-270. [Sat2001]: Takakazu Satoh. “Asymptotically Fast Algorithm for Computing the Frobenius Substitution and Norm over Unramified Extension of p-adic Number Fields.” Preprint available from Saitama University, Japan. [Sch1985]: Rene' Schoof. “Elliptic curves over finite fields and the computation of square roots mod p.” Mathematics of Computation. Vol. 44 (1985), pp. 483-494. [Sch1995]: Rene' Schoof. “Counting points on elliptic curves over finite fields.” Journal de The'orie des Nombres de Bordeaux. Vol. 7 (1995), pp. 219-254. [Sem1998]: Igor A. Semaev. “Evaluation of discrete logarithms in a group of p-torsion points of an elliptic curve in characteristic p.” Mathematics of Computation. Vol. 67, #221 (1998), pp. 353-356. [Skj2000]: Berit Skjernaa. “Satoh's algorithm in characteristic 2.” (2000). To appear. Copies available at http://www.imf.au.dk/˜skjernaa/ [Sma1999]: Nigel P. Smart. “The discrete logarithm problem on elliptic curves of trace one.” Journal of Cryptology. Vol. 12 (1999), pp. 193-196. [VPV2001]: Frederik Vercauteren, Bart Preneel, Joos Vandewalle. “A Memory Efficient Version of Satoh's Algorithm.” In: Advances in Cryptology-Eurocrypt 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 2045 (2001), pp. 1-13. [WZ1998]: Michael J. Wiener, Robert J. Zuecherato. “Faster Attacks on Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems.” Selected Areas in Cryptography ′98 Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 1556 (1998), pp. 190-200
[0081] The terms and expressions which have been employed here are used for purposes of description and not of limitation. There is no intention to exclude any equivalents of the various features shown and described. It should be understood that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, steps in the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 and 2 merely show one selection of basic steps for achieving the invention. Steps can be added to, or taken from, those shown. Further, the steps shown can be modified. In general, many approaches to achieving the functionality of the invention are possible.
[0082] Any suitable programming language or technique can be used. For example, object oriented, procedural, artificial intelligence, etc., techniques can be adopted. The steps can be performed serially or concurrently. The methods and aspects of the present invention can be practiced in a general-purpose computing environment or with distributed, parallel, co-processing, embedded, etc. architectures. Aspects of the invention need not be embodied in reprogrammable media. steps or functions described herein can be performed in hardware, software or a combination of the two. For example, hardware design can include application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), custom or semi custom designs, discrete logic, etc.
[0083] It is possible that the present invention can be practiced in other than electrical devices. For example, optical, biotechnology, nanoengineering, etc., devices can be employed.
[0084] Thus the scope of the invention is to be determined solely by the appended claims.
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The present invention is a fast new method for determining whether an arbitrary elliptic curve over a binary field is secure, by using a novel non-converging Arithmetic-Geometric Mean iteration to determine the exact number of points on the curve. This invention is used for the rapid generation of secure curves for Elliptic-Curve Cryptography by selecting a secure curve from among candidate curves with the new method. The secure curve chosen is a curve whose number of points, determined using the invention, is found to be divisible by a large prime number. The number of points on candidate curves is computed by a first phase, which lifts the curve to a certain related curve, followed by a second phase, which computes a certain norm that yields the result. The new Arithmetic-Geometric Mean iteration is used for the lifting phase or for the norm phase or for both.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to a unit injector system for internal combustion engines, and more particularly to such a system for diesel engines having a pump element for subjecting fuel in a pump chamber to high pressure, an injection element for injecting the pressurized fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine, and a control valve which opens and closes a connection between the pump chamber and a low-pressure chamber.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] One such unit injector system, or UIS for short, is described in German Patent Disclosure DE 198 35 494, which had not been published by the priority date of the present application. In a UIS, the pump element and the injection element form a unit, and one such unit is typically built into each cylinder head of the engine. The drive of the UIS is done either via a tappet or indirectly from the camshaft via rockers.
[0003] A 2/2-way valve can be used as the control valve. In the first position of the 2/2-way valve, the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is open. Then filling of the pump chamber is possible during the intake stroke, and during the pumping stroke a return flow of fuel to the low-pressure chamber is possible. In the second position of the 2/2-way valve, the connection between the pump chamber and the low- pressure chamber is interrupted. Then, the pressure required for injecting the fuel is built up in the pump chamber. Once the pressure exceeds a predetermined opening pressure, the injection element opens, and the pressurized fuel is injected into the engine combustion chamber. The closing time of the control valve thus determines the injection onset. The injection quantity depends on the closing duration of the control valve. To reduce fuel consumption and pollutants, a so-called preinjection of a slight fuel quantity can be performed before the actual main injection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The object of the invention is to furnish a unit injector system of the type described at the outset, with preinjection, that is simple in structure and can be produced economically.
[0005] In a unit injector system for internal combustion engines, in particular diesel engines, having a pump element for subjecting fuel in a pump chamber to high pressure, having an injection element for injecting the pressurized fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine, and having a control valve, which opens and closes a connection between the pump chamber and a low-pressure chamber, this object is attained in that a throttle device is disposed in the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber, and there is a flow through the throttle device as a function of the position of the control valve.
[0006] The throttle limits the fuel quantity that flows through the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber and thus in a simple way makes it possible to define a preinjection.
[0007] One embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the control valve includes a first valve body with a first valve seat face and a second valve body with a second valve seat face, which are received, capable of reciprocation, in a housing. The cooperation of the two valve bodies enables a precise setting of different strokes of the valve bodies.
[0008] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the control valve is a 3/3-way valve. In the first position of the 3/3-way valve, the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is interrupted. In the second position of the 3/3-way valve, because of the throttle device, less fuel flows through the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber than in the third valve position. The lesser fuel quantity is used for the preinjection. In the third position of the 3/3-way valve, a connection, provided parallel to the throttle device, to the low-pressure chamber enables normal filling of the pump chamber.
[0009] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that in a first valve position, the first valve body is spaced apart from the second valve body, and both the first valve body having the first valve seat face and the second valve body having the second valve seat face rest on their associated valve seat edges, as a result of which the connection between the pump chamber and a low-pressure chamber is closed;
[0010] that in a second valve position, the first valve body comes to rest on the second valve body, and the first valve body having the first valve seat face lifts from its associated valve seat edge, as a result of which fuel can flow to a throttle in the second valve body, which throttle communicates with the low-pressure chamber;
[0011] and that in a third valve position, the second valve body comes to rest on a stroke end stop, and both the first valve body having the first valve seat face and the second valve body having the second valve seat face are lifted from their associated valve seat edges, as a result of which a connection without a throttle is opened up to the low-pressure chamber. The first valve body can be kept in contact, with the first valve seat face, on the associated valve seat edge by a first valve closing spring. The actuation of the first valve body can be done by means of a magnet or a piezoelectric actuator. The second valve body can be kept in contact, with the second valve seat face, on the associated valve seat edge by means of a second valve closing spring. As a result, it is assured that in the unactuated state, the control valve is closed.
[0012] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that a groove is recessed out of the end face, toward the second valve body, of the first valve body. The groove assures that fuel can reach the throttle in the second valve body when the two valve bodies are in contact with one another.
[0013] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that a groove is embodied on the stroke end stop. The groove prevents the formation of a pressure cushion during operation between the second valve body and the stroke end stop, that could unfavorably affect the injection performance.
[0014] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the control valve is a 2/3-way valve. In the first position of the 2/3-way valve, the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is interrupted. In the first position of the 2/3-way valve, the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is interrupted. In the second position of the 2/3-way valve, because of the throttle device, less fuel flows through the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber than in the third valve position. The lesser fuel quantity is used for the preinjection. In the third position of the 2/3-way valve, a connection, provided parallel to the throttle device, to the low-pressure chamber enables normal filling of the pump chamber.
[0015] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the first valve body has a central bore, in which part of the second valve body is displaceably received;
[0016] that in a first valve position, the first valve body is spaced apart from a stroke stop on the second valve body, and both the first valve body having the first valve seat face and the second valve body having the second valve seat face rest on their associated valve seat edges, as a result of which the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is closed;
[0017] that in a second valve position, the first valve body comes to rest on the stroke stop of the second valve body, and the first valve body having the first valve seat face lifts from its associated valve seat edge, as a result of which fuel can flow to a throttle in the second valve body, which throttle communicates with the low-pressure chamber;
[0018] and that in a third valve position, the second valve body comes to rest on a stroke end stop, and both the first valve body having the first valve seat face and the second valve body having the second valve seat face are lifted from their associated valve seat edges, as a result of which a connection to the low-pressure chamber without a throttle is opened up. The first valve body can be kept in contact, with the first valve seat face, on the associated valve seat edge by a first valve closing spring. The actuation of the first valve body can be done by means of a magnet or a piezoelectric actuator. The second valve body can be kept in contact, with the second valve seat face, on the associated valve seat edge by means of a second valve closing spring. As a result, it is assured that in the unactuated state, the control valve is closed.
[0019] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the second valve body in the built-in state is substantially balanced in terms of force. As a result, it is attained that a closing spring of small dimensions can be used for the second valve body.
[0020] A further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the throttle has a constant flow diameter. The throttle can be manufactured as an independent component with high precision. As a result, it is possible to achieve a preinjection quantity with highly accurate replicability.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The invention will be better understood and further objects and advantages thereof will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
[0022] [0022]FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a control valve in a first embodiment of the invention; and
[0023] [0023]FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a control valve in a second embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0024] In FIG. 1, the control valve of a unit injector system according to the invention is shown in section. The unit injector system is used to deliver fuel to the combustion chamber of direct-injection internal combustion engines. The unit injector system includes a pump element for building up the injection pressure and an injection nozzle for injecting the fuel into the combustion chamber. The course of injection is controlled by the control valve.
[0025] The control valve shown in FIG. 1 includes a valve housing 1 , and a bore 2 is recessed out of the valve housing 1 . Discharging into the bore 2 is a connecting conduit 3 to the pump chamber (not shown), where the injection pressure is built up. A first connecting conduit 4 and a second connecting conduit 5 also extend from the bore 2 in the valve housing 1 to a low-pressure chamber (not shown). In the intake stroke, fuel from the low-pressure chamber reaches the pump chamber. In the pumping stroke, the low-pressure chamber serves to receive returning fuel and leakage. The low-pressure chamber can for instance be a line system that communicates with a fuel tank.
[0026] A first valve body 6 is received, in a manner capable of reciprocation, in the bore 2 in the valve housing 1 , in the region where the connecting conduit 3 discharges into the pump chamber. On the first valve body 6 , a first valve seat face 7 is formed, which is in contact with a first valve seat edge 8 that is embodied in the valve housing 1 . One end 9 of the first valve body 6 is shown in cutaway form. The end 9 , shown cut away, of the first valve body 6 is coupled with an actuating device (not shown). The actuating device can for instance be a magnet or a piezoelectric actuator. A groove 10 is formed in the end face on the other end of the first valve body 6 .
[0027] The first valve body 6 is spaced apart with its free end from a second valve body 11 by a spacing or stroke h 1 . A second valve seat face 17 is embodied on the second valve body 11 ; it is in contact with a second valve seat edge 18 that is embodied in the valve housing 1 . The second valve body 11 furthermore has a central through bore 12 , in which a throttle 13 is embodied. The second valve body 11 is kept in contact with the second valve seat edge 18 by a closing spring 14 . A stroke end stop 15 with a groove 16 is spaced apart from one end face of the second valve body 11 by a spacing or stroke h 2 .
[0028] The position shown in FIG. 1 of the control valve according to the invention will be called the first switching position. In the first switching position, the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is interrupted. When the first valve body 6 is moved by the stroke h 1 , for instance by magnet actuation, and put into contact with the second valve body 11 , the first valve seat face 7 lifts from the associated first valve seat edge 8 . The position, not shown in FIG. 1, of the control valve of the invention will be called the second switching position. In the second switching position of the control valve, a connection between the low-pressure chamber and the pump chamber is opened up via the connecting conduit 3 , the groove 10 , the through bore 12 , the throttle 13 , and the second connecting conduit 5 .
[0029] When the first valve body 6 together with the second valve body 11 is moved onward by the stroke h 2 , the second valve seat face 17 now also lifts up from the associated second valve seat edge 18 . This position of the control valve of the invention will be called the third switching position. In the third switching position, an additional connection is opened between the low-pressure chamber and the pump chamber, via the connecting conduit 3 and the first connecting conduit 4 .
[0030] In the first switching position of the control valve according to the invention, the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber is interrupted. Then the fuel flows through the throttle 13 , and a so-called preinjection is effected. In the second switching position of the control valve of the invention, a so-called main injection occurs.
[0031] In FIG. 2, a second embodiment of a control valve of a unit injector system according to the invention is shown in section. The control valve has a valve housing 21 . A bore 22 is recessed out of the valve housing 21 . Discharging into the bore 22 are a connecting conduit 23 to the pump chamber and a connecting conduit 24 to the low-pressure chamber of the unit injector system of the invention. In the region where the connecting conduit 23 discharges into the pump chamber, a first valve body 26 is received, in a manner capable of reciprocation, in the bore 22 . On the first valve body 26 , a first valve seat face 27 is embodied, which is in contact with a first valve seat edge 28 embodied in the valve housing 21 . An end 29 , shown cut away, of the first valve body 26 is actuated by a magnet. A central bore is recessed out of the first valve body 26 . The central bore in the valve body 26 includes one bore segment 30 with a large diameter and one bore segment 39 with a small diameter. The bore segment 39 with the small diameter is used for removing leaking oil. The bore segment 30 with the large diameter is used for receiving a portion of a second valve body 31 in a manner capable of reciprocation. On the second valve body 31 , there is a second valve seat face 37 , which is in contact with a second valve seat edge 38 in the valve housing 21 . A central longitudinal bore 32 , which discharges into a transverse bore 40 , is disposed in the end of the second valve body 31 facing away from the first valve body 26 .
[0032] The position shown in FIG. 2 of the control valve of the invention will be called the first switching position. In the first switching position, the connection between the low-pressure chamber and the pump chamber is interrupted. When the first valve body 26 is moved toward the second valve body 31 by a stroke h 1 , the first valve seat face 27 lifts away from the first valve seat edge 28 , and a flow course is opened up from the connecting conduit 23 , past the first valve seat face 27 , through the transverse bore 40 and the longitudinal bore 32 in the second valve body 31 , to the connecting conduit 24 to the low-pressure chamber. A throttle 33 , which assures that a so-called preinjection occurs, is embodied in the longitudinal bore 32 in the second valve body 31 . When the first valve body 26 together with the second valve body 31 is moved by a stroke h 2 as far as a stroke end stop 35 , counter to the prestressing force of a closing spring 34 , the second valve seat face 37 lifts away from the associated valve seat edge 38 as well. A connection between the connecting conduit 23 to the pump chamber and the connecting conduit 24 to the low-pressure chamber is then opened up, which bypasses the throttle 33 in the second valve body 31 .
[0033] By the introduction of the supplementary throttle 13 , 33 , it is possible in the case of short strokes to define a preinjection with highly accurate replicability from one UIS to another.
[0034] In FIGS. 1 and 2, the strokes h 1 and h 2 are shown larger than in reality, for the sake of clarity. In actuality, the strokes h 1 and h 2 are markedly shorter.
[0035] The foregoing relates to preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention, it being understood that other variants and embodiments thereof are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention, the latter being defined by the appended claims.
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The invention relates to a unit injector system for internal combustion engines, in particular diesel engines, having a pump element for subjecting fuel in a pump chamber to high pressure, having an injection element for injecting the pressurized fuel into the combustion chamber of the engine, and having a control valve, which opens and closes a connection between the pump chamber and a low-pressure chamber. To make a preinjection possible, a throttle device ( 13 ) is disposed in the connection between the pump chamber and the low-pressure chamber, and there is a flow through the throttle device as a function of the position of the control valve.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cooking ranges having ventilated surface units are well known in the prior art. One such range, with interchangeable surface elements, is disclosed in, among others, Cerola U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,375. Convected, or forced circulation ovens are also well known, these having the advantage of more efficient and rapid heat transfer to the food in preparation. This results in substantial energy saving and reduces meat shrinkage. To the present convected ovens have been used in institutional and commercial baking and have not been found in domestic ranges because of the long-established commitment to radiant type ovens and the design difficulty and customer resistance inherent in a change from the long-established radiant oven mode of operation.
The concept of the present invention envisages the adaptation of the ventilated surface unit type of range, disclosed in the patent mentioned above, for convected oven mode of operation. The oven can be operated, if desired, in the conventional radiant mode and, in the preferred form, utilizes the conventional lower oven baking element and the conventional, upper broil element without requiring the addition of special heating elements for the convection mode operation of the oven.
With the additional air passages formed in the oven to provide the convection oven option, and by providing for forced circulation of air within the hollow oven door (as contrasted to thermal convection of cooling air within the oven door), the oven may be operated at elevated temperature (of the order of 550° F) for a time interval without producing an unacceptable temperature rise on the outer surface of the oven door and adjacent frame and top surfaces of the range. This freedom to operate the oven at elevated temperature provides an important advantage. "Catalytic" type self-cleaning ovens have, in the recent past, achieved considerable market acceptance. A catalyst is added to the porcelain frit which covers the interior surface of the oven and, through its action, during normal oven use at normal temperatures, the heat, oxygen and the catalyst combine to remove and oxidize grease and spattered particles from the oven walls during use. The cleaning action occurs while the oven is in regular use and is referred to as "continuous cleaning". It has been found that debris removal performance at normal oven operating temperatures leaves much to be desired. However, if the oven can be safely operated at an elevated, 550° F, temperature for a cleaning cycle time interval of one to three hours, soil removal performance is vastly improved.
The structure of the present invention provides a passage adjacent the upper, insulated surface of the oven which, through apertures adjacent the surface heating elements, communicates with the ventilating plenum and, at the other end of the passage, communicates with apertures which generally register with apertures along the upper margin of the oven door. When the oven door is closed, cooling air is thus drawn through the oven door into the passage above the oven and then into the ventilating plenum. This cooling of the door and range surfaces adjacent the passage limits the temperature rise of these surfaces and permits operation of the oven in a cleaning cycle at high temperature for the desired time interval to provide the enhanced soil removal performance inherent in the high temperature, cleaning cycle operation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a range embodying the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side sectional view taken generally along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is an exploded, perspective view of the oven component shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a perspective, exploded view of a further portion of a oven assembly of FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is an exploded, perspective view of the plenum and cooperating air moving components of the structures shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the motor mounting ring.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the access door for the oven shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, side sectional view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating a modified form of the structure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, the range there disclosed includes a housing 11 accomodating upper top cooking elements identified generally at 10 and, underlying these, an insulated oven enclosure 21. The range housing 11 is formed by side panels 12 and 13, rear panels 14 (FIG. 2) and base 16. The oven enclosure is identified at 21 in FIG. 1 and is shown in detail in FIG. 3 as will subsequently be described. The front of the oven enclosure is open and is closed by the oven door 19, having a handle 19a. The oven door, as may be seen in FIG. 2 and as described in detail with reference to FIG. 7 is hollow and is hinged along its base at 19b to the front panel, generally identified at 17 in FIG. 2, of the range. The front panel is formed to provide an overhang 17a which houses the conventional oven controls and controls indicated at 18 for the upper elements 10. Extending generally along one sidewall 21a of the oven enclosure is a plenum structure 23. The plenum 23 extends over a portion of the upper wall of the oven enclosure and terminates at an inlet 24. A removable filter 26 may be disposed within the plenum. Mounted in the plenum and generally centered on the sidewall 21a of the oven enclosure is an electric motor 27 which drives a centrifugal wheel 28 disposed within the scroll or housing 29, the discharge of the centrifugal wheel being indicated at 31. It will be understood that this discharge or exhaust fitting may accommodate suitable flexible tubing which conveys the exhaust from the fan to the outside of the home or enclosure in which the range is located.
As may be seen in FIG. 1, the motor shaft, opposite its attachment to the centrifugal wheel 28, is extended through an opening 30 in the oven sidewall 21a and carries a centrifugal fan 32 which will subsequently be described in further detail with reference to FIG. 4. Inset in the insulation layer 22 is a dished plate 78 which provides a space 33 within which the fan 32 rotates, the plate 78 thus serving as a fan housing. The plate 34 forms the right hand (as viewed in FIG. 1) boundary of the space 33 and is provided with marginal upper and lower outlet slots 36 and 37 formed by cutting away a portion of the upper and lower marginal areas of the plate 34 as shown in detail in FIG. 4. As will be evident from FIGS. 2 and 4, the rear portion of the lower margin of the plate is cut away somewhat more deeply as indicated at 37a. As will be evident from FIG. 1, these slots 36 and 37 form the discharge openings for the fan 32, the intake for the fan being formed by the central, circular opening 38 in the plate 34. As will subsequently be explained the circulation of air within the oven caused by the operation of the fan 32 will sweep past the conventional upper or broil oven element 41 and the lower or baking element 42. Conventionally located within the oven at the upper end of the plenum 23 and adjacent its intake 24 there is provided a series of slots 23a which are shown in detail in FIG. 5. As may best be seen in FIG. 2, it should be noted that the burner box 51 which conventionally underlies the surface element 10 which is positioned above the oven 11 is spaced somewhat from the upper margin of the adjacent insulating layer 22 to form a passage 52. As may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 the rearwall 14 and the sidewall 13 which are adjacent the oven enclosure 21 may be slotted as indicated at 53 and 54 to permit the entry of air from the exterior of the range into the passage 52 from whence it is drawn through the slots 23a into the plenum.
Referring to FIG. 7 it will be noted that the oven door 19 is provided along its lower margin with a series of slots 56 and along its upper margin a series of slots 57. As previously mentioned, and as will be evident from FIG. 2, the interior of the door is hollow so that cooling air may enter the slot 56 and move upwardly to exit through the slots 57. This upward air flow through the door 19 is induced, not solely by convection, but by the sub-atmospheric pressure in the passage 52 caused by operation of the air moving means 28. Cooling air exiting through the slots 57 in the door is drawn through slots 58 which extend through the front panel 17 of the oven at the base of the overhang 17a as shown in FIG. 2. The slots 58 are closely adjacent the slots 57 when the door 19 is closed but are spaced somewhat therefrom and are in general registration or alignment with the slots 57.
Referring to FIG. 5, it will be noted that the housing 29 of the blower wheel 28 is attached to the face of the member 23 forming the plenum by means of bolts 61. The leftward extension (as viewed in FIG. 5) 27a of the motor shaft is received in the hub 28a of the blower wheel. The rightward extension 27b of the motor shaft receives a heat sink fitting 62, the extending shank of which, identified at 62a receives the hub of the centrifugal fan 32 of FIG. 4. The shank 62a of the fitting 62 extends through the aperture 23b in the sidewall of the plenum member 23, the fan 32 carried on the fitting being disposed within the adjacent enclosure formed in the oven sidewall as shown in FIG. 1. The motor 27 is mounted by means of a ring 27c and three spaced members 63, only a portion of the ring being shown in FIG. 5. A rectangular opening 64, providing access to the interior of the plenum, is normally closed by the removable cover plate 66, only a fragment of which is shown in FIG. 5. A mounting ring 67, as shown in FIG. 6, is received in the axial opening in the housing 29 and the three embossed portions 67a of the ring 67 (FIG. 6) accommodate the resilient spacers 63 and function to provide the three-point support for the motor 27, the spacers also providing air flow space around the motor.
Referring to FIG. 3, the oven is shown in further detail. The oven structure is composed of a generally rectangular box which receives in conventional fashion the upper or broil electrical heating element 41 which may be of the sheathed type. The conventional lower or baking heating element 42 is accommodated in the oven spaced slightly above the oven base. A drip tray 71 is slidable into and out of the oven and underlies the heating element 42. The wall 21a of the oven has a rectangular cutout portion 72. A conventional oven rack 73 may be inserted in the oven the rack being selectively positionable on the horizontal rails 74 of the side members 76, one of the members 76 being disposed on each side of the oven, only one, however, being shown in FIG. 3. Wire leads 77 by proper connection (not shown) serve to energize the conventional internal oven lamp (not shown).
It will be understood that the dished plate 78 (FIG. 4) overlies the opening 72 (FIG. 3) in the oven sidewall and, together with plate 34 (FIG. 4) forms the enclosed space 33 (FIG. 1) within which the fan 32. As may be seen in FIG. 4, the intake opening 38 in the plate 34 may be provided with a removable filter element 79.
In operation, the air moving means formed by the motor 27 and the blower 28 will draw fumes arising from food cooking on the surface elements into the intake 24 and will exhaust the fumes to the outside through the exhaust fitting 31 in conventional fashion. If the oven is to be utilized in the conventional mode, with the surface elements off the motor 27 will not be energized and conventional baking may proceed utilizing the lower heating element 42 in the oven, or conventional radiant broiling may be accomplished by utilizing the upper oven heating element 41. The oven, in this radiant heating mode of operation may thus be utilized in conventional, domestic oven fashion.
If the oven is to be used in the convected mode, by proper setting of the control one or both of the elements 41 and 42 may be energized together with the air moving means embodied in motor 27 and the centrifugal fan 32. As may be seen in FIG. 1, with the fan 32 in operation the discharge of the fan will be channeled through the slots 36 and 37, with the current of air passing across and adjacent to the upper and lower heating elements 41 and 42, the return path for the air moving through the opening 38 to the fan. As the air circulation arrows in FIG. 1 indicate, this provides a substantially closed circulation of air in the oven transferring the heat from the elements 41 and 42 to the food in the oven by means of this forced circulation. This forced circulation heat transfer within the oven occurs without additional heating elements in the oven other than the conventional upper and lower units 41 and 42. A single motor drives both the blower wheel 28 and the fan 32.
As previously mentioned, the interior of the oven may be coated with a porcelain compound containing catalytic material which functions to oxidize grease and food particles reaching the oven walls when the oven is heated. This catalytic coating for the oven interior is known in the prior art, however, the oven construction of the range construction of the present invention provides enhanced cleaning effect for this compound because of the elevated temperature to which the oven may be safely subjected, this being made possible by a cooling air circulation over certain of the oven surfaces. The controls for the oven may be provided with a setting for a cleaning cycle of the oven, the temperature setting being of the order of 550° F and the controls may be integrated with proper timing apparatus to automatically halt the elevated temperature operation of the oven after the passage of a predetermined time interval, for example, three hours. Again referring to FIG. 2, with the air moving means in operation cooling air will be drawn through the apertures 56 and the base of the oven door, will proceed upwardly through the door to exit through the apertures 57 in the oven door and will enter the passage 52 through the apertures 58 at the base of the over-hang portion of the oven front panel 17. This air flow will move across the upper, front surface of the oven and be drawn through the slots 23a into the plenum to eventually exit through the exhaust 31. Additional cooling air will be drawn through the slots 54 (FIG. 1) and 53 (FIG. 2) into the chamber 52 and through the slots 23a. It will be understood that operation of the air moving means is continued during the elevated temperature, cleaning cycle operation of the oven. The cooling effect of the air circulation just described within the interior of the oven door and over the adjacent oven surfaces permits operating the oven at the relatively high temperature which makes the catalytic cleaning feature far more effective than would be the case if the oven were operated at conventional, lower oven temperatures.
Referring to FIG. 8, there is shown a modified form of the range structure which is a duplicate of the structure shown in FIG. 1 except that the circular, sheathed heating elements 81 are supported in encircling relation to the fan 32. The heating element 81 is disposed within the enclosure fronted by plate 34 and in the discharge path of air from a fan 32 prior to the exit of the air through the slots 36 and 37. The addition of the heating element 81 provides an alternative method of heating the air circulated within the oven when operated in the convection mode and offers the possibility of providing this heated air circulation without operation of the conventional upper and lower oven heating units.
While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail in the drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modifications within the scope of the invention may readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art.
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Disclosed is a domestic cooking range of the ventilated type having surface elements and an underlying oven characterized by an extension of the ventilating fan motor shaft carrying an auxiliary fan disposed within the oven which provides forced circulation of air in the oven. The oven may thus be selectively operated in the conventional radiant heating mode or in the forced circulation or "convected" mode depending upon whether the ventilating fan motor is in operation. The oven can be held at an elevated temperature (of the order of 550° F) for a time interval to accelerate catalytic self-cleaning (catalyst added to the porcelain frit covering the oven surface) because of air circulation within the oven door and passages adjacent the door, this cooling air flow being induced by operation of the ventilating fan.
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RELATED ART
[0001] In electronic control devices, the unhoused semiconductors are soldered—with increased power loss—together with a few passive components on a power substrate designed for a specific application. The preferred substrate material currently in use is a DBC (direct bonded copper) ceramic substrate. The power semiconductor components are soldered onto it. The source and drain connections of the power semiconductors are then contacted with the strip conductors of the power substrate using aluminum thick wire bond connections. The connections with the plastic-coated parts of the control device housing to be inserted are also created using thick aluminum wire bonds. Multiple bonds are typically required in order to conduct the current intensities required for specific applications. When this assembly technique is used, the only way to release the dissipation heat produced in the power semiconductors is via the underside of the chip.
[0002] The thick aluminum wire bonds described above have the following two disadvantages: A particularly large number of bonds is required, and they must be formed in succession. As a result, this portion of the manufacturing procedure is particularly time-consuming. A further disadvantage of these thick aluminum wire bonds is that they have limited capability of dissipating heat from the power semiconductors.
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The inventive method with the features of the main claim has the advantage that the two semiconductor chips are interconnected by a lead frame on the side opposite to the conductor surface and, therefore, heat can be dissipated particularly well via this lead frame. A further advantage is that the connection of the lead frame with the two semiconductor chips can be created using a soldering process. This soldering process corresponds to the connection method used to connect the chips to the strip conductors of the first conductor carrier. Therefore, the chips are connected with the strip conductors and the lead frame is connected with the semiconductor chips in the same method step. This saves time, because the complicated bonding step is eliminated, and improved heat dissipation is achieved, since the lead frame conducts the heat particularly well.
[0004] Advantageous refinements of the method according to the main claim are made possible by the measures described in the subclaims.
[0005] According to a further embodiment of the present invention, it is provided that, immediately after the lead frame is mounted on the semiconductor chips, connections that serve no purpose in the circuit (i.e, short circuits) result between various contact points. Connections of this type are intended to mean that these connections would result in short-circuits during operation of the electronic circuit. Accordingly, it is provided in a further step of the present invention that the connections that serve no purpose in the circuit, i.e., the short-circuit connections, are severed in a subsequent step.
[0006] To ensure that the lead frame rests securely on the first conductor carrier over a particularly large surface area, it is provided that the lead frame is supported on support points that are not integrated in the electronic circuit.
[0007] A lead frame can be manufactured particularly easily when it is designed as a metallic punched grid. Particularly good compatibility of the lead frame with the coated first conductor carrier is given when the lead frame—like the first conductor carrier—is composed of a second conductor carrier coated with strip conductors. The first and second conductor carriers can be made of the same material, for example.
[0008] To ensure good adhesion and a good connection between the strip conductors on the first conductor carrier and the semiconductor chips, it is provided that the source and gate connections located on the second surfaces of the semiconductor chips are metallized before they are positioned on the first conductor carrier.
DRAWING
[0009] An exemplary embodiment of the inventive method is shown in the drawing.
[0010] FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of the method for manufacturing the electronic circuit,
[0011] FIGS. 2 through 8 are top views of a first conductor carrier after certain method steps have been carried out.
DESCRIPTION
[0012] A flow chart of the manufacturing method is shown schematically in FIG. 1 . The sequence of steps in the method depicted in FIG. 1 is described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 2 through 7 .
[0013] FIG. 2 shows a first conductor carrier, which is designed as a DBC ceramic substrate in this case. On its surface 13 , conductor carrier 10 has non-conductive areas and conductive areas, which are referred to here as strip conductors 16 . Strip conductors 16 shown in FIG. 2 serve various purposes in this case. The region furthest to the right will eventually serve as a negative connection 19 . A strip conductor 16 extends as one piece—designed as a “negative sense line” 22 —out of negative connection 19 , the remainder of which has a relatively large surface area. A strip conductor 16 that will eventually serve as positive connection 25 is located opposite to negative connection 19 . A “positive sense line” 28 extends out of connection 25 . A strip conductor 16 that serves as an A.C. power supply connection 31 is also shown on the surface of conductor carrier 10 . Located on one side of A.C. power supply connection 31 is a “gate 1 ” connection 34 , and, on the right-hand side, a “gate 2 ” connection 37 , designed as strip conductors 16 . In this case, two support surfaces 40 are also located on surface 13 of conductor carrier 10 . Support surfaces 40 serve initially only as strip conductors 16 , but they are electrically isolated from the other strip conductors.
[0014] A soldering paste is applied to the surface of a first conductor carrier 10 —which has been prepared accordingly—in step B 1 (see FIG. 1 ), i.e., to selected surface regions of strip conductors 16 . Soldering paste 43 can be applied to the surface using screen printing. After first step B 1 , soldering paste 43 is located on support surfaces 40 , negative connection 19 , positive connection 25 , gate 1 connection 34 , gate 2 connection 37 , and A.C. power supply connection 31 . A side view of semiconductor chip 46 is shown in FIG. 4 a. Semiconductor chip 46 has two surfaces: First surface 49 is the surface on which gate connection 52 and source connection 55 are located. Second surface 58 is the surface opposite to first surface 49 . Second surface 58 also carries drain connection 61 . According to FIG. 1 , method step A 1 is also used on a semiconductor 46 of this type. In so doing, source connection 55 and gate connection 52 are provided with “under-bond metallization”. According to step B 2 , FIG. 1 , two semiconductor chips 46 are now placed on certain strip conductors 16 of conductor carrier 10 . A first semiconductor chip 46 is placed—via its second surface 58 —on positive connection 25 or in the region of positive connection 25 , which is covered with soldering paste 43 . First semiconductor 46 now faces away from surface 13 with gate connection 52 and source connection 55 .
[0015] Positive connection 25 is depicted as a straight, wide strip conductor 16 in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 b. Gate 1 connection 34 , which is also designed as strip conductor 16 , extends at a right angle to positive connection 25 . Gate 1 connection 34 extends at a right angle into the vicinity of the boundary of positive connection 25 . A support surface 40 , the surface of gate 1 connection 34 coated with soldering paste 43 , and gate connection 52 of semiconductor 46 lying on positive connection 25 lie on a line in this exemplary embodiment. The other semiconductor 46 lies with its source connection 55 on the region of negative connection 19 coated with soldering paste 43 . Gate connection 52 of second semiconductor 46 lies on gate 2 connection 37 or the region of gate 2 connection 37 coated with soldering paste 43 .
[0016] A top view of a lead frame 64 is shown in FIG. 5 a. In the example, lead frame 64 shown in FIG. 5 a is a punched grid that has been punched out of a metal plate, e.g., a copper plate. According to method step C 1 , FIG. 1 , a layer of soldering paste 43 is applied to lead frame 64 on the side that will come in contact with semiconductors 46 . Soldering paste 43 is also applied using screen printing, for example. In a reflow soldering step (C 2 ), soldering paste 43 is liquified and then hardened via cooling. In an optional intermediate step C 3 , several connected lead frames 64 can be separated. This applies when lead frames 64 are punched out of one large, continuous plate. This separation is carried out, e.g., by punching away or severing the segments that connect adjacent lead frames 64 . For the case when certain sections of lead frame 64 are designed to eventually extend with marked elevation across strip conductors 16 of conductor carrier 10 , individual sections of lead frame 64 can be punched, so that these particular individual sections extend over individual connecting points in the manner of bridges. In a further method step C 5 , which typically follows one of the steps described above, lead frame 64 —with soldering paste 53 on the top—is flipped over. With soldering paste 43 now facing downward, lead frame 64 is immersed briefly in flux (step C 5 ).
[0017] Lead frame shown in FIG. 5 a has various sections. For example, lead frame 64 initially has a frame 67 that is actually closed overall and is annular in shape. Windows 70 are located in frame 67 , and are positioned such that various segments 73 remain. For example, a segment 73 . 1 is provided to eventually interconnect a support surface 40 , a gate connection 52 , and gate 1 connection 34 . A connector 76 located in the middle of frame 64 will eventually serve to connect a source connection 55 with a drain connection 61 and A.C. power supply connection 31 . A further connector 73 . 2 , located between frame 67 and connector 76 , will eventually serve only to connect connector 76 with a support surface 40 in a manner such that connector 76 is supported well over the individual electronic components. In a further step B 3 , lead frame 64 shown in FIG. 5 a is placed on conductor carrier 10 —which has been prepared in a suitable manner—thereby resulting in the connection points described above. In a further step B 4 , lead frame 64 —which, ideally, has been specially coated with soldering paste 43 only on the contact points—is joined in a vacuum soldering step with the strip conductors and the various connections of semiconductors 46 . In an optional further step B 5 , surface 13 —which may have become slightly contaminated during soldering—is cleaned.
[0018] In method step B 6 (see FIG. 7 ), connectors 73 are separated at the appropriate points, which are connections that serve no purpose in the circuit. Separation points 79 are shown in FIG. 7 . In the final step, the part of lead frame 64 that is no longer required is removed. The finished circuit is shown in FIG. 8 .
[0019] As an alternative to a lead frame made of a metal plate as described with reference to the previous figures, the lead frame can also be composed of a flat ceramic conductor carrier. With a conductor carrier of this type, solderable layers would only be applied, e.g., to the region of T-shaped connector 76 (see FIG. 5 a ) and connector 73 . 1 , and a small section of connector 73 . 2 in the region of support surfaces 40 .
[0020] In this case, semiconductor 46 shown on the right side in FIG. 4 b would be one of two semiconductor chips 46 that would be mounted on conductor carrier 10 using the flip chip technique. The electronic circuit shown in the figures described above is an H-bridge circuit, which is provided to control electrical motors.
[0021] Lead frame 64 —as a metallic, preferably copper connecting bridge—can be optimized in terms of thermomechanics, e.g., via the additional embossing described above, or by using suitable slots. For instance, this copper connecting bridge could connect the connections of the two transistors or semiconductors 46 in the shape of an omega.
[0022] In the steps described above, a method for manufacturing an electronic circuit is described, with which two semiconductor chips 46 are mounted on a surface 13 of a first conductor carrier 10 coated with strip conductors 16 . Semiconductor chips 46 have essentially the same structure. Both semiconductor chips 46 have a first surface 49 and a second surface 58 . One semiconductor chip 46 —via its first surface 49 —and the other semiconductor chip 46 —via its second surface 58 —are mounted on surface 13 of conductor carrier 10 . Second surface 58 of the one semiconductor chip 46 and first surface 49 of the other semiconductor chip 46 are interconnected by a lead frame 64 with an A.C. power supply connection 31 . It is also provided that, immediately after lead frame 64 is mounted on the semiconductor chips, connections 73 that serve no purpose in the circuit (i.e, short circuits) result between various contact points. In a subsequent step, the connections that serve no purpose in the circuit are severed. To obtain a lead frame 64 that is particularly resistant to vibration, it is provided that lead frame 64 is supported on support points 40 that are not integrated in the electronic circuit.
[0023] Lead frame 64 can be realized via two different possibilities: Using a metallic punched grid, which is preferably composed of copper, or using a second conductor carrier that is composed of insulating material—preferably ceramic, like conductor carrier 10 —and is coated with strip conductors 16 . It is provided that source connections 55 and gate connections 52 located on first surfaces 49 of semiconductor chips 64 are metallized before they are positioned on first conductor carrier 10 .
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The invention relates to a method for producing an electronic circuit. According to said method, two semiconductor chips ( 46 ) with essentially the same structure are mounted on a surface ( 13 ) pertaining to a first conductor carrier ( 10 ) and coated with strip conductors ( 16 ). Said two semiconductor chips ( 46 ) comprise a first surface ( 49 ) and a second surface ( 58 ), one semiconductor chip ( 46 ) being mounted on the conductor carrier surface ( 13 ) with the first surface ( 49 ) thereof, and the other semiconductor chip ( 46 ) being mounted on the conductor carrier surface ( 13 ) with the second surface ( 58 ) thereof. The second surface ( 58 ) of the first semiconductor chip ( 46 ) and the first surface ( 49 ) of the other semiconductor chip ( 46 ) are interconnected by a lead frame ( 64 ) with an A.C. power supply ( 31 ).
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a drop wire clamp for use with telephone drop wires and, more particularly, to a drop wire clamp which can accommodate new six pair drop wire cables as well as conventional two pair cables, and which may include a captive shim therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Drop wire clamps are used to secure a telephone drop wire from a pole mounted strand to a customer's premises. Known clamps, such as that manufactured and sold by Diamond Communication Products, Garwood, N.J., include a wedge assembly having an assembled bail wire, a shell in which the wedge assembly is received, and a shim which is inserted by the installer through a longitudinal slot in the shell, between the wedge and the cable, so as to protect the cable from the wedge and to help maintain the cable in place.
One difficulty which arises with these typical drop wire clamps is that they are too narrow to accommodate the new 6 pair drop wire cables recently introduced in the telephone market. Further, these known drop wire clamps are inconvenient for the installer, since the installer must carry three pieces--the two-piece clamp itself and the shim. Since the installation often takes place high off the ground, it is dangerous to have the installer fumbling for a separate shim with one hand while holding the cable within the shell with the other hand.
Although it is known to provide small circular dimples on the shim, these dimples do not deform the cable sufficiently to provide any enhanced gripping action.
Okura Electric Industry of Tokyo, Japan sells a drop wire clamp wherein the wedge and shell are connected by a hinge to form a one-piece unit and prevent the wedge from falling out during installation. However, this structure is cumbersome and does not include a protective shim.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a drop wire clamp having dimples disposed in longitudinal rows along the length of the shim. Alternatively, transverse ridges may be formed on the shim. In this way, the clamp of the present invention grips the cable better than conventional clamps do. Furthermore, the shim and shell may be provided with means for pivoting the shim within the shell while holding the shim "captive" within the shell. In this way, the shim is installed within the shell into a "one-piece unit" prior to the installer travelling to the site, thus reducing the number of separate parts which the installer must handle, thereby increasing installation efficiency.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from the following drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing various drop wire clamp arrangements on a telephone pole;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a prior art drop wire clamp;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged, partial side view of a dimpled shim in accordance with one aspect of the invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a shim in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a shim in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a shim in accordance with still another preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a shell for use with the shim illustrated in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a drop wire clamp in accordance with a second aspect of the invention using the shim and shell illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7;
FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view of the clamp shown in FIG. 8;
FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 9A, but with the shim being pivoted back to its horizontal position; and
FIG. 9C is a cross-sectional view as shown in FIG. 9B, but with the shim in its horizontal position and the wedge pressed into place.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention is directed a drop wire clamp, as shown schematically in FIG. 1 and generally designated 10. Throughout the figures, like numerals will be used to represent like elements.
As can be seen in FIG. 1, drop wire clamp 10 is used to secure a telephone drop wire from a pole mounted strand to a customer's premises. Drop wire clamp 10 generally includes wedge assembly 12 having bail wire 14 inserted therein, shell 16 which receives wedge assembly 12 therein, and shim 18 (shim 18 is not particularly shown in FIG. 1, although both ends of shim 18 can be seen protruding from shell 16 in FIG. 2).
Wedge assembly 12, shell 16 and shim 18 are preferably formed of either aluminum or stainless steel, although other suitable materials which can withstand the outdoor elements can be used. Bail wire 14 is generally made of stainless steel, although other materials having sufficient tensile strength and ruggedness can be used. Strain relief for the cable is provided by the bail wire which supports any tensile load so that the load is not carried by the cable itself.
As shown in FIGS. 3-5, one aspect of the present invention includes dimples or ribs provided on shim 18. A first preferred embodiment of shim 18 shown in FIG. 4 includes a plurality of elliptical dimples 20 preferably disposed in longitudinal rows along the mid-portion 22 of the shim between the two end portions 24. Although dimples 20 are illustrated as being oblong-shaped, it is to be understood that any suitably-shaped dimples may be used. In one example, the dimples are oblong-shaped and are 0.070 inches wide, 0.120 inches long and 0.030 inches high, and the rows of dimples are spaced 0.156 inches (5/32 of an inch) apart.
In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the center portion between the rows is free of dimples. This allows the clamp to be used with certain cable having copper conductors running along its central axis, such as that sold by General Cable Company. In this type of cable, the relatively fragile conductors are not well cushioned by the surrounding cover. By leaving the center portion of the shim dimple-free essentially no compressive forces are exerted on the conductors. Of course, if cable is used which does not have such centrally located copper conductors, then the rows of dimples may extend over the entire width of the shim.
Alternatively, a second preferred embodiment of shim 18 is shown in FIG. 5 and includes a plurality of transverse ribs 26 disposed along the mid-portion 22 of the shim. In one example, the ribs are 0.070 inches wide, 0.375 inches long and 0.030 inches deep. The ribs
As shown in FIG. 3, either dimples 20 or ribs 26 deform the drop wire cable, thus facilitating a more secure grip on the drop wire cable. Shim 18 having ribs 26, as used in the second preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 5, is particularly advantageous because it provides gripping action across essentially the entire width of the shim, and hence is particularly useful when installing the wider, six pair drop wire cables. Of course, a shim in accordance with the second preferred embodiment may also be used with conventional two pair drop wire cables.
A shim in accordance with either these first or second preferred embodiments may be installed in the conventional manner. Once the cable is inserted in the clamp, the shim is inserted through longitudinal slot 30 formed in shell 16 and rotated to bring the shim into a horizontal position. Then the installer inserts the wedge and bail wire assembly and pulls the bail wire, thus displacing the wedge within the shell until the cable is tightly wedged between the wedge assembly and the shell, while being protected by the shim. The dimples or ribs formed on the shim provide a superior grip on the cable so that cable slippage is reduced.
Another aspect of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 6-8. Shell 16 generally includes opening 28 formed in each transverse end thereof and a longitudinal slot 30 extending along the bottom surface thereof. According to the invention, shell 16 also includes opening 32 formed in a side wall of the shell for accommodating projections 34 projecting from shim 18 so as to allow shim 18 to pivot within shell 16 without being released therefrom so that the shim is "captive" within the shell. Projections 34 are preferably inverted L-shaped, although any other suitably-shaped projections can be used. Also, projections 34 and opening 32 are preferably formed in the mid-point of the shim and shell, respectively, in order to provide optimum pivoting action, although they may be located closer to one end or the other.
To install a drop wire clamp in accordance with the second aspect of the invention, the installer pivots shim 18 to the position shown in FIGS. 8 and 9A, and inserts the cable through the shell 16 and out the rear opening 28 of the shell. Once the cable is properly installed in the clamp, the installer pivots shim 18, as shown in FIG. 9B, to the position shown in FIG. 9C, inserts the wedge, fixes the bail wire onto a pole mounted strand or the pole itself and pulls on the bail wire to tighten the wedge against the shim and cable.
Of course, the captive shim may include dimples or ribs in accordance with a first aspect of the invention, as shown in
FIGS. 9A-9C.
The above is for illustrative purposes only. Modification can be made, particularly with regard to matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts, within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, instead a single T-shaped projection 34 projecting from the shim which fits within a T-shaped opening in the shell may be used to facilitate the pivoting action of the shim within the shell.
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A drop wire clamp is disclosed having dimples disposed in longitudinal rows along the length of the shim. Alternatively, transverse ridges may be formed on the shim instead of dimples. Furthermore, the shim may be held captive within the shell so that the shell is a convenient one-piece unit.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1) Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a method of harvesting a tree, preferably a Christmas tree, but it is capable of mounting other cut or artificial trees, trimming the tree if necessary, optionally packaging the tree in appropriate packaging material such as netting, and mounting it in a stand. The invention also relates to a tree stand that comprises two parts, namely a tapered sleeve and a base. The larger opening of the tapered sleeve slides over the harvested tree at its base while the small end (lesser diameter) slides into a centered raised wall portion of the base stand.
[0003] 2) Prior Art
[0004] Packaging Christmas trees in netting to prevent breakage of the limbs during shipping and to enable more trees to be shipped in a container such as a truck, is well known to those in the business. Often Christmas retail tree sellers build and construct their own stands and mount a few of the trees in their lot so that these trees can be fully viewed. Many retail sellers simply lean the trees against a fence, a wall, or ropes strung between trees. Generally the retail sellers also sell tree stands as a separate add-on component.
[0005] On the other hand, Christmas tree stands are well known to all buyers of Christmas trees, as these trees must be mounted in homes, businesses, and public locations. Christmas tree stand structures generally consist of legs, some upright pot that can hold the base of the tree as well as a supply of liquid for the base of the tree and fastening means to secure the tree to the pot. Such stands take many different shapes, are formed from many different types of materials, and other serve this purpose inconsistently (some are better than others).
[0006] There is a need to package the Christmas tree with a stand such that it is unnecessary for the retailer of the Christmas trees to design and produce a temporary holding structure, all trees can be fully viewed, and the trees can absorb water while present in the retail lot. Additionally, the same stands would be used in residential homes, public places, and businesses thereby omitting the mounting of the tree on a stand, as is usually required by the final user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention relates to both method and apparatus. The stand is meant to be used not only by the retail Christmas tree seller, but also enjoyed by the residential, business, or public building occupant/buyer. The tree stand enables the users to supply water or other aqueous based nutritional compositions to the tree, such that it remains more lifelike for a longer period of time.
[0008] In the broadest sense, the present invention relates to a method of harvesting and packaging Christmas trees, comprising: harvesting a Christmas tree from the field; trimming the tree; optionally packaging said tree in netting; and mounting a stand on said trimmed tree. The mounting step also includes sliding a tapered sleeve onto the base of the Christmas tree and jamming the tapered sleeve with Christmas tree into a corresponding well of the base stand.
[0009] In the broadest sense, the present invention also comprises a Christmas tree stand having a base portion and a sleeve portion, said base having a pan shape with a centered well projecting outwardly from said base, said well having at least one opening to allow water or other nutrients to have access to the interior of said well, said sleeve having an exterior diameter designed to snugly mount within said well by a friction fit.
[0010] In the broadest sense, the present invention also comprises a Christmas tree stand having a base portion and a bulb-like sleeve portion, said base having a pan shape with a centered well projecting outwardly from said base, said well having at least one opening to allow water or other nutrients to have access to the interior of said well, said bulb-like sleeve having an exterior diameter designed to initially rotatably mount within and on said well, and then once the tree is vertical, secure the sleeve by means of one or more wing screws.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The figures of the drawings are for illustrating the invention and to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the invention. It is not intended to limit the invention in any manner inconsistent with the claims.
[0012] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the Christmas tree stand.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hollow tapered sleeve that fits within the well of the stand.
[0014] FIG. 3 is a plan view looking into the tapered sleeve, showing the projections.
[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the Christmas tree stand without the tapered sleeve mounted within the well.
[0016] FIG. 5 is an exploded view showing a trimmed tree, the tapered hollow sleeve, and the stand (with the well shown in relief), all enclosed in netting.
[0017] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the stand base and a rotatably/secure sleeve mounted within and on the well.
[0018] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the bulb-like sleeve shown in FIG. 6 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] The Christmas tree stand 10 shown clearly in FIG. 1 comprises two friction-fitting pieces, namely: the base 12 and the tapered sleeve 14 . The Christmas tree stand 10 may be made from a variety of substances such as plastic, hard rubber, fiberglass, ceramic, concrete, metal and wood. Of these raw materials, plastic is preferred. Optionally, the plastic can include reinforcing fibers to provide extra strength. Conceivably, it is also possible that the tapered hollow sleeve 14 and the base 12 can be made from the same substances or difference substances. Preferably the entire Christmas tree stand 10 is made from the same plastic material. Unlike other stands, no hammering is required to mount the stand of the present invention. Accordingly, the stand may be made from low impact resistant plastic, whereas others must use high impact plastic.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a drawing of the tapered hollow sleeve 14 , which has a large end 16 and a narrow end 18 . The sleeve 14 has a hollow opening 20 extending entirely through the tapered sleeve. Generally, the thickness of the tapered sleeve remains approximately the same from the large end 16 to the narrow end 18 . However, it may also be possible to design the tapered sleeve 14 such that its thickness at one end is larger than that at the opposite end. Accordingly, those skilled in the art may design the tapered sleeve such that it is thicker at the narrow end 18 than at the larger end 16 , if there is to be a difference in the thickness to provide increased strength and support.
[0021] FIG. 3 is a plan view of the tapered hollow sleeve 14 wherein the larger end 16 (as viewed from FIG. 2 ) has an opening 22 , while the narrow end 18 (as viewed in FIG. 2 ) has an opening 24 . Mounted on the interior sidewall between openings 22 and 24 are one or more optional projections 26 . These projections 26 are designed to “bite” into the base of a Christmas tree when the tapered sleeve slides over the base of the tree. The projections 26 usually have a fairly sharp edge that permits them to bite into the base of the tree. The projections 26 not only seek to secure the tapered sleeve to the tree in a manner such that the tapered sleeve can only be removed from the tree with great difficulty, but it also enables the tapered sleeve to be applicable to slightly different sizes of the base of the tree. For example, the tapered sleeve may apply to small trees having a base diameter of 1½ to 2 inches. In this example the projections 26 would firmly secure the sleeve about the base of the tree, irrespective of the slight size differential. However, it is not necessary to have projections 26 on the interior of the sleeve 14 , but no projections means that the base of the tree and the sleeve must fit together more closely.
[0022] The tapered sleeve and base stand can be various sizes to accommodates various sizes of trees, such as trees with a base of 4 to 4½ inches. Relative to the tapered sleeve, the base must be large enough to support the size tree intended to be mounted therein. The larger the tree, the larger the base stand, and the larger the tapered sleeve, and vise versa. Larger trees with larger stands means that the base stand can be both larger in diameter and taller, and the well of the stand is larger in diameter along with the corresponding sleeve. The invention easily encompasses a base having a diameter from about 6 to about 24 inches (2 feet), while the height can be from about 4 to about 8 inches. The size of the stand must simply be sufficient to support the size of the tree.
[0023] Referring to FIG. 4 , the base of the Christmas tree stand 12 is shown in a perspective view and the nesting line 30 can easily be seen. The sidewall 28 is likewise tapered inwardly from its upper end 32 to its lower end 34 . The nesting line 30 , therefore, permits multiple base units to be stacked one on top of the other and the tapered sidewall 28 permits easy removal of the stands, one from the other. This is for shipping convenience. The sidewall 28 of the base unit 12 is integral with the bottom 36 .
[0024] The bottom 36 has in its centered area an integrally formed well 40 comprising an upstanding circular wall 42 which is projecting upwardly out of the bottom 36 and is generally thicker than the sidewall 28 . The well circular wall 42 is thicker because it is necessary for it to support the sleeve 14 shown in FIGS. 1-3 . Of course the sleeve 14 , is then supporting the base of the Christmas tree (not shown). The circular wall 42 has a slot 44 therein that extends from the bottom 36 to the top of the well or circular wall 42 . This slot serves several purposes in that it allows a slight expansion of the upper wall 46 of circular wall 42 and enables the sleeve 14 to be friction-fit within the well 40 but also permits its removal. The well 40 is likewise tapered very slightly from its upper edge 46 to its lower edge 48 . This taper generally matches or closely matches the taper of the sleeve 14 , which is designed to fit within the well 40 . Additionally, the slot 44 permits fluids, such as water or water-based nutrient compositions designed to maintain the tree in a healthy state as long as possible, to flow to the base of the Christmas tree. Optionally, the well 40 may include an additional button well 50 that can be used to hold nutrients for the tree or just the last vestiges of the volume of the well for holding fluid. It is not necessary for the present invention to have a button well 50 .
[0025] When the sleeve 14 is fully inserted into the well 40 , it is close to the bottom 36 of the base 12 . Generally, however, it is spaced a very slight distance above the bottom 36 such that, for example, a sheet of paper may be inserted between the two. This close relationship permits water to flow into the well such that the tree may absorb the water. Moreover, the height of the well 40 is substantially less than the depth or height of the sidewall 28 . Accordingly, when the base is filled approximately ⅔ full of water, for example, it will also overflow the upper edge 46 of the sleeve 14 and flow along the sides of the base of the Christmas tree, allowing water absorption thru the tree.
[0026] By inserting the sleeve 14 onto the base of the Christmas tree, the projections 26 bite into the tree. These same projections, which can lacerate the tree along its trunk open the bark of the trunk a bit and thus water flowing over the top of the sleeve 14 , when it is inserted into well 40 , also exposes the base of the tree such that it may absorb the liquid.
[0027] FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the present invention with a trimmed Christmas tree. The Christmas tree 60 has a base 62 , which has been trimmed of branches and some bark (optionally). The base of the tree can be made to be circular by use, for example, of a tenon cutter. This is a device, which typically makes tenons for furniture like chairs, for example. Optionally, cotton or plastic netting 70 is stretched over the tree and is sized sufficiently to easily cover the entire tree with or without the stand. Next, the sleeve 14 is secured to the tree by sliding it over and around the base of the tree. It is not necessary that the base 62 of the Christmas tree be perfectly cylindrical, but the more cylindrical it is, the more snugly it fits into the sleeve 14 , and the better and tighter the support can be. The assembly shown in FIG. 5 is for the base of the tree 62 to slide into the tapered sleeve 14 and for the tapered sleeve 14 to fit within the well 40 projecting upwardly from the base 12 as illustrated in FIG. 4 . In this manner, both the retailer and the consumer have a built-in stand for supporting the tree in a vertical upright manner as is known. Once the tree is supported in an upright manner, water or water-based nutrient compositions can be used to keep the tree as healthy for as long as possible.
[0028] FIG. 6 , is another alternative tree stand. The well 82 of the trees stand base is similar to that shown in FIG. 4 , except the upper edge 83 of the well is tapered so that it mates with the bulb-like sleeve 80 , thereby initially permitting the bulb-like sleeve to rotate within and on well 82 . Like the tapered sleeve shown in FIG. 2 , the bulb-like sleeve 80 has a hollow, tapered opening 88 (similar to opening 20 ) framed by the upper edge 86 . Sleeve 80 is designed to be mounted on the base or trunk of a tree. The sleeve 80 also has projections 26 such as those shown in FIG. 3 . This permits someone to more easily vertically mount a tree whose base is slightly angled compared to the remainder of the trunk. Once the tree is mounted as desired, one or more wing screws 84 can be employed to tighten and secure the bulb-like sleeve to the well.
[0029] In operation (with respect to FIGS. 1-5 ), a method of harvesting and packaging Christmas trees is illustrated by the present invention and comprises harvesting the Christmas tree from the field, trimming the base of the tree such that there are no lower branches, optionally encasing the entire tree in netting 7 , mounting the sleeve 14 onto the base of the tree, and mounting the base of the stand 12 onto the tapered sleeve 14 by sliding the tapered sleeve 14 into the well 40 . The type of netting employed for the present invention is well known to those skilled in the art and is generally plastic or cotton, but other less known materials will also suffice.
[0030] In operation (with respect to FIGS. 6 and 7 ), a method of harvesting and packaging Christmas trees is illustrated by the present invention and comprises harvesting the Christmas tree from the field, trimming the base of the tree such that there are no lower branches, optionally encasing the entire tree in netting 7 , mounting the bulb-like sleeve 80 onto the base of the tree, and mounting the base of the stand onto the bulb-like sleeve 80 by sliding the sleeve into and on the well 82 . Once the tree has been rotated to make it as vertical as possible when the stand in placed horizontally flat, the sleeve can then be secured to the well 82 by one or more wing screws 84 . The type of netting employed for the present invention is well known to those skilled in the art and is generally plastic or cotton, but other less known materials will also suffice.
[0031] Thus it is apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, a method and corresponding equipment that fully satisfies the objects, aims and advantages set forth above. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
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The invention is both a method of harvesting and mounting a tree and the tree stand itself. The method is for that of harvesting a live tree. On the other hand the tree stand can mount a live tree or an artificial tree. The description is written from the live tree viewpoint. The method comprises: harvesting a tree from the field; trimming the tree; optionally packaging said tree in netting; and mounting a stand on said trimmed tree. The mounting step also includes sliding a tapered sleeve or a bulb-like sleeve onto the base of the tree and jamming or inserting the sleeve with the tree into a corresponding well of the base stand. The tree stand comprises a base with an upwardly projecting well and a sleeve. The sleeve may be a tapered hollow sleeve, or a bulb-like sleeve. When the bulb-like sleeve is used, wing screws can be employed to secure it to the well.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to equipment for drilling operations.
1. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional drilling operations, mud or other drilling fluid is pumped down a hollow bore in the drill string and is ejected from the drill bit to lift the drill cuttings out of the bore-hole.
In an inclined well-bore it is been found that at a certain deviation or sail angle, some of the drill cuttings being transported back to the surface by the drilling fluid fall out of the main flow and settle on the lower portion of the bore-hole. These cuttings interfere with the drilling process and especially with the rotation of the rotating drill-pipe which also lies on the low side of the bore-hole.
The flow of returning drilling fluid which carries the cuttings is not uniform across the diameter of the bore-hole. On the low side of the bore-hole the flow is at a minimum and the capacity of the drilling fluid to transport drilling cuttings and solid particles is reduced.
To overcome this problem it is known to fit one or more cutting bed impellers to the drill-pipe. The impellers are integrally formed with a length of drill-pipe and comprise a body portion having a central longitudinal bore and a plurality of paddles in the form of single spiral blades which project radially outwardly from the body portion. These types of blade are similar in profile to those used on down-hole drilling stabilizers.
As the cutting bed impeller rotates with the drill-pipe, it disturbs and agitates the settled cuttings and other particles and moves them upwards into the path of the main flow of cutting fluid on the upper side of the bore-hole. Although these tools have proved reasonably effective they have been found to create extra down-hole torque.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a cutting bed impeller comprising a body portion and a plurality of paddles projecting from the body portion, one or more of the paddles having a recess on its leading face in the direction of rotation of the impeller.
Each paddle is preferably substantially V-shaped; the recess comprising the area enclosed by the sides of the vee. Preferably the sides of the vee are inclined at an angle of between 10° to 50°. Most preferably, the sides of the vee are inclined at an angle of approximately 30° to the longitudinal axis of the drill-pipe and may comprise a left hand partial spiral connected to a right hand partial spiral.
In an alternative embodiment, the paddles are straight; the recess in each paddle comprising a depression formed in the leading face of the paddle.
The or each recess is preferably between 1/4" to 2" (6.4 to 51 mm) deep.
Preferably the cutting bed impeller comprises part of a drill string sub, rather than a complete length of drill-pipe. Preferably the wall thickness of the sub is reduced on one or both sides of the cutting bed impeller. This reduced thickness portion accommodates bending due to high side forces which may be generated on the sub.
The provision of the cutting bed impeller on a sub allows the tool to be run in conjunction with or immediately between bearing devices or torque reduction tools. This is not possible with a conventional cutting bed impeller, which is integrally formed with a length of drill-pipe.
The radially outer face of one or more of the paddles may be provided with replaceable wear elements. These wear elements may comprise nylon inserts fitted into openings in the radially outer faces of the paddles. The nylon inserts may be cylindrical and may fit within blind bores in the paddles. In another embodiment, the wear elements comprise wear pads which fit within slots formed through the paddles. Alternatively, the replaceable wear elements may comprise any appropriate shape or size of element or elements which may be used to protect the cutting bed impeller from abrasion with the wall of the bore-hole and/or which reduce the down-hole torque.
Preferably the wear elements comprise approximately 60% of the total area of the radially outer surface of the or each paddle.
The recess on each paddle acts as a scoop to lift cuttings and solid particles from the lower portion of the bore-hole into the main flow of cutting fluid in the upper portion of the bore-hole. The effectiveness of the impeller is governed by the size of the clearance between the radially outer faces of the paddles and the bore-hole wall, the included angle of the sides of the vee of the recess and the profile of the recess.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a cutting bed impeller comprising a body portion and a plurality of paddles projecting from the body portion, replaceable wear elements being provided on the radially outer faces of one or more of the paddles.
Preferably, replaceable wear elements are disposed equidistantly around the circumference of the impeller to ensure an even bearing in the bore-hole. For example, they may be provided on oppositely disposed pairs of paddles. A plurality of cutting bed impellers may be fitted to a drill string. The cutting bed impellers are preferably spaced apart at 90 m to 150 m (300 ft to 500 ft) intervals.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal partial-cross section through a drill string sub;
FIG. 2 is a side view of a drill-string sub;
FIG. 3 is an axial cross-section on line III--III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a paddle having cylindrical replaceable wear elements;
FIG. 5 shows an alternative form of paddle having rectangular replaceable wear elements; and
FIG. 6 shows an alternative embodiment of paddle using square replaceable wear elements.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a drill string sub 2 comprising a hollow cylindrical sleeve 4 having a male connector or pin 6 at one end and a female connector or box 8 at the other end. A cutting bed impeller 10 is integrally formed with the sleeve 4 at an intermediate point along its length. On either side of the cutting bed impeller 10, the sleeve 4 has a reduced external diameter which provides bending zones 12, 14 which enable the drill string sub to accommodate the reverse bending forces which are generated as the sub 2 rotates in the curve of a deviated borehole.
As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cutting bed impeller 10 comprises a substantially cylindrical body portion into which are machined five substantially V-shaped grooves 18. Each groove 18 comprises a tangential bottom wall 20 and a radially disposed V-shaped wall 22. The angle D between the V-shaped sides of the wall 22 is preferably approximately 120°.
Between respective pairs of grooves 18 are defined respective V-shaped paddles 24 having a radially outer face 26 which is received with some play in the bore-hole. The V-shaped wall 22 which is substantially flat when viewed, as seen in FIG. 3, in axial cross-section, forms a leading face of a paddle 24 and the tangential bottom wall 20 forms a trailing face of the paddle 24. The angle A between the V-shaped wall 22 and the tangential bottom wall 20 is preferably between 60° and 120° and the angle B between the V-shaped wall 22 and tangent to the outer face 26 at the leading edge 23 of the paddle 24 is preferably between 60° to 120°. The angle C between the tangential bottom wall 20 and a tangent to the outer face 26 at the trailing edge 25 of the paddle 24 should always be less than the angle B and is preferably between 20° and 40° . Thus, the V-shaped wall 22 presents a sharp leading edge and 23 the recesses 18 are asymmetrical when viewed in cross-section.
FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of paddle 24 which is provided with a plurality of blind bores 28. Respective cylindrical replaceable wear elements 30 are located in each bore 28, such that they project slightly from the radially outer face 26 of the paddles 24. The wear elements 30 provide a replaceable bearing surface which protects the cutting bed impeller 10 from abrasion against the wall of the bore-hole and reduces down-hole torque.
FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the paddle 24 which is provided with cut outs 32 in which are located square replaceable wear elements 34.
FIG. 6 shows a final embodiment of paddle 24 in which are machined transverse slots 36. Rectangular replaceable wear elements 38 are located in the slots and are held in place by adhesive, by screws or by any other appropriate fixing means.
The replaceable wear elements 30, 34, 38 are preferably made of nylon but any other appropriate material may be used and any shape of wear element is contemplated.
In use, the drill string sub 2 is fitted to a drill pipe and is rotated in a direction indicated by an arrow R in FIG. 3, as drilling proceeds. Drilling fluid is pumped down the hollow interior of the drill-pipe and is ejected at the drill bit to force cuttings and other solid particles up and out of the bore-hole.
As the cutting bed impeller 10 rotates, cuttings and other solid particles lying on the lower portion of the bore-hole are caught against the radially disposed walls 22 of the grooves 18 and are scooped upwards into the main flow of drilling fluid where they become entrained in the flow. The zones 12, 14 act as clearance areas for the turbulence created by the paddles 24 in lifting the debris to the high side of the hole. Consequently, the borehole is kept cleaner with less debris accumulating on the low side of the hole, so that there is less sliding friction when picking up or lowering the drill string.
The combination of the V-shaping of the paddles 24 and the asymmetrical cross-section of the recess 18 result in a very efficient blade profile which enhances the scooping/pumping action of the impeller.
In the illustrated embodiments, the paddles 24 are defined between respective pairs of grooves 18 and the recesses which scoop up the cuttings and other solid particles are defined between the bottom wall 20 and radially disposed wall 22 of respective grooves 18. However it is contemplated that these recesses could comprise depressions formed in the leading face of each paddle 24 and consequently the scooping action characteristic of the present invention could be achieved using a straight paddle or a paddle which has only a single directional spiral, provided a suitable depression is formed in the leading face of the paddle 24.
If the paddles 24 are provided with replaceable wear elements, which can be renewed periodically, the service life of the cutting bed impeller 10 is greatly increased. Furthermore, the replaceable wear elements reduce the drag on the walls of the bore-hole, thereby reducing the down-hole torque.
If the cutting bed impeller 10 is carried on a short drill-string sub it can be run in conjunction with or immediately between bearing devices or torque reduction tools, so that a further reduction in downhole torque is possible. It is however contemplated that the cutting bed impeller 10 could also be formed on a length of drill-pipe, particularly as the provision of replaceable wear elements provides a torque reduction function.
In an embodiment of the invention which has been found to work successfully, the dimensions shown in the drawings are as follows:
r 1 =3.838"
r 2 =2.653"
r 3 =3.688"
r 4 =1.625"
r 5 =0.502"
r 6 =3.335"
A=90°
D=120°
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A cutting bed impeller (10) comprises a body portion and a plurality of paddles (24) projecting from the body portion, one or more of the paddles (24) having a recess (18) on its leading face in the direction of rotation of the impeller (10). The radially outer face (26) of one or more of the paddles (24) may be provided with one or more replaceable wear elements (30, 38). For example the elements may comprise nylon inserts (30) fitted into openings (28) in the radially outer faces (26) of the paddles (24).
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of operating system (OS) maintenance and service, and more particularly to improved diagnosis of operating system or application software crashes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Operating system (OS) crashes can result in significant monetary or operational losses in enterprise businesses and financial institutions. Operational losses may include the loss of all application services, data services, and the entire delivery chain of products and/or services provided by a business. When an OS or an application crash occurs, diagnostic data is needed to help identify the root cause of the problem, and to help find a solution. Technical support personnel and developers use stack-trace files to manually determine where the exception occurred for the failing thread/process. A stack-trace, in computing, is a report of the active stack frames at a certain point during the execution of a computer program. In other words, it is the list of function calls that the current thread/process was executing when an exception occurs. A thread is an execution stream within a process with its own stack, local variables, and program counter. There may be one or more execution streams in a process. Typically, technical support personnel search for similar known problems in a prior problems database for applicable solutions and developers try to manually determine the faulting function name and offset of the exception by analyzing registers, memory content, checking for reasonable outcomes during execution, and backtracking the stack-trace while reading the source code for each function in the stack-trace. A register is a small amount of high speed memory available as part of a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a hardware-thread of a CPU, designed to speed up its operations by providing quick access to commonly used values.
SUMMARY
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for diagnosing software crashes. A method includes retrieving a stack-trace from at least one of a new problem report, updated problem report, and authorized analysis report from a repository. A vector is automatically created from the retrieved stack-trace using the function name and associating the resultant vector with the problem report and authorized analysis reports. Vector space modeling is used to calculate the angles between the resultant vectors to determine similarities. Similar problem reports and authorized analysis reports are grouped into similar sets using a maximal cliques process. New software crashes are automatically diagnosed by extracting the stack-trace from a new problem report of the new software crash, and selecting a potential solution by searching the grouped problem reports and authorized analysis reports for a stack-trace similar to the new stack-trace.
A computer program product for diagnosing software crashes includes one or more computer-readable storage media and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage media, wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes the one or more processors to perform a method that includes retrieving a stack-trace from at least one of a new problem report, updated problem report, and authorized analysis report from a repository. A vector is automatically created from the retrieved stack-trace using the function name and associating the resultant vector with the problem report and authorized analysis reports. Vector space modeling is used to calculate the angles between the resultant vectors to determine similarities. Similar problem reports and authorized analysis reports are grouped into similar sets using a maximal cliques process. New software crashes are automatically diagnosed by extracting the stack-trace from a new problem report of the new software crash, and selecting a potential solution by searching the grouped problem reports and authorized analysis reports for a stack-trace similar to the new stack-trace.
A computer system for diagnosing software crashes includes one or more computer processors and one or more computer readable storage media. Program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media, wherein execution of the program instructions by the one or more processors of the computer system causes the one or more processors to perform a method that includes retrieving a stack-trace from at least one of a new problem report, updated problem report, and authorized analysis report from a repository. A vector is automatically created from the retrieved stack-trace using the function name and associating the resultant vector with the problem report and authorized analysis reports. Vector space modeling is used to calculate the angles between the resultant vectors to determine similarities. Similar problem reports and authorized analysis reports are grouped into similar sets using a maximal cliques process. New software crashes are automatically diagnosed by extracting the stack-trace from a new problem report of the new software crash, and selecting a potential solution by searching the grouped problem reports and authorized analysis reports for a stack-trace similar to the new stack-trace.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an OS diagnostic environment, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operational steps for batch processing of new or modified problem reports and authorized analysis reports of crashed software instances, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operational steps for real-time processing of a new problem report of a software crash with a stack-trace, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a computer system, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention recognize that software crashes may be quickly diagnosed by grouping existing software crashes into groups called cliques of similar problems based on their stack-traces, then identifying a similar problem by searching those cliques of stack-traces when a new software crash occurs. OS crashes can result in significant monetary and operational losses in enterprise businesses and financial institutions. An OS crash results in the loss of all application services and/or data services. IT disruptions can affect the entire delivery chain of products and/or services provided by a business. OS crashes are reported to OS-vendors in the form of crash reports. Crash reports contain the crash details and often include data such as stack-traces, type of crash, the program function causing the crash, the OS version and release. An OS, e.g., AIX, UNIX, or Linux™, kernel crash dump file containing a stack-trace, and Java™ JVM snap trace are examples of files that can be used to determine the cause of the crash. When an OS crash is reported to an OS-vendor, technical support personnel are required to manually search for similar incident on various large databases. Quickly diagnosing an OS crash to find its root cause and finding known solutions that have been applied to similar problem instances, in order to reduce downtimes is critical in any enterprise business environment.
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the Figures. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram, generally depicted by the numeral 100 , illustrating an OS diagnostic environment, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention. Analytics server 102 includes Random Access Memory (RAM) 104 , central processing unit 106 , and persistent storage 108 . Persistent storage 108 may, for example, be a hard disk drive. Problem report (PR) analyzer 110 and analytic repository 112 are stored in persistent storage 108 , which includes operating system software as well as software that enables analytics server 102 to communicate with problem report database 116 , patch support database 128 , and customer knowledgebase database 138 over a data connection on network 114 . In other embodiments, problem report database 116 , patch support database, and customer knowledgebase database 138 may be repositories or other storage devices capable of storing data such as crash reports, patches, and knowledgebase repositories e.g., IBM® Post Sales Database (PSdb), IBM® Support Fix Central Database, and IBM® Enhanced Customer Repository (ECuRep). In other embodiments, PR analyzer 110 and analytic repository 112 could be stored in separate server computer systems.
In FIG. 1 , network 114 is shown as the interconnecting fabric between analytics server 102 , problem report database 116 , patch support database 128 , and customer knowledgebase database 138 . In practice, the connection may be any viable data transport network, such as, for example, a LAN or WAN. Network 114 can be, for example, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, or a combination of the two, and include wired, wireless, or fiber optic connections. In general, network 114 can be any combination of connections and protocols that will support communications between analytics server 102 , problem report database 116 , patch support database 128 , and customer knowledgebase database 138 in accordance with a desired embodiment of the invention.
Problem report database 116 also contains RAM 118 , central processing unit 120 , and persistent storage 122 such as a hard disk drive. Problem report (PR) repository 124 and authorized analysis report (AAR) database 126 is stored in persistent storage 122 , including operating system software as well as software that enables problem report database 116 to communicate with analytics server 102 over a data connection on network 114 . A PR may be, for example, a customer problem management record, which is a document used to manage any technical product issue that a customer reports to a software vendor. Once created, the PR will be assigned a unique number which is communicated in real-time to the customer. Each time a software vendor support analyst updates a PR, the customer will receive an e-mail notifying them of the update. When necessary, the customer should respond with any information, data, or further questions they may have related to the reported issue.
An AAR is a formal report from the software or OS-vendor development-team of a problem caused by a suspected defect in a current release of a software/OS-vendor program. If the software/OS-vendor development-team is able to confirm the existence of the defect, they will update the AAR with any known workarounds. Additionally, an indication of a future release, if any, of the software/OS-vendor program targeting a formal fix for the defect as well as a patch or Program Temporary Fix (PTF), if planned, may be included. The AAR will then be published and visible to supported customers. In one embodiment, problem report database 116 , typically a server with large amounts of storage, is capable of communicating with analytics server 102 via network 114 . In other embodiments, problem report database 116 may consist of multiple server computer system repositories capable of communicating with analytics server 102 via network 114 .
Patch support database 128 also contains RAM 130 , central processing unit (CPU) 132 , and persistent storage 134 such as a hard disk drive. Patch repository 136 is stored in persistent storage 134 , including operating system software as well as software that enables patch support database 128 to communicate with analytics server 102 over a data connection on network 114 . In other embodiments, patch repository 136 may be used to store computer program fixes in the form of executable files or in the form of source code consisting of textual differences between two source code files. In other embodiments, patch support database 128 may consist of multiple server computer repositories capable of communicating with analytics server 102 via network 114 .
Customer knowledgebase database 138 also contains RAM 140 , central processing unit 142 , and persistent storage 144 such as a hard disk drive. Customer knowledge repository 146 is stored in persistent storage 144 , including operating system software as well as software that enables customer knowledgebase database 138 to communicate with analytics server 102 over a data connection on network 114 . In another embodiment, customer knowledgebase database 138 may consist of multiple server computer repositories, containing large amounts of storage, capable of communicating with analytics server 102 via network 114 .
FIG. 2 is a flowchart, generally depicted by the numeral 200 , illustrating operational steps for batch processing of new or modified problem reports and authorized analysis reports of crashed software instances, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention. In one embodiment, this process is performed during off-peak hours due to the large amounts of data being processed and transferred to analytics server 102 . In other embodiments, this process could be performed at any time. In other embodiments, PR analyzer 110 may be used to diagnose application program dumps for software programs that abnormally end or crash.
PR analyzer 110 checks problem report database 116 for new or updated PRs in PR repository 124 and AARs in AAR DB 126 as indicated in decision 202 . If new or updated PRs or AARs exist in PR repository 124 or AAR DB 126 (“yes” branch, decision 202 ), PR analyzer 110 retrieves the new or updated PRs or AARs from PR repository 124 and AAR DB 126 as shown in step 204 . If there are no new or updated PRs in PR repository 124 or AARs in AAR DB 126 (“no” branch, decision 202 ), PR analyzer 110 bypasses steps 204 through decision 216 . In step 206 , PR analyzer 110 parses all new PR and AAR files in PR repository 124 and AAR DB 126 to extract the associated stack-traces. In step 208 , PR analyzer 110 then creates vectors from the stack-traces using the faulting function name and offset of the exception that caused the crash, and stores those vectors in analytics server 102 . A vector is a mathematical structure formed by a collection of elements, which may be added together and multiplied by numbers. PR analyzer 110 uses each of the program function-names as a distinct dimension and the offset within the associated function as the length of the vector.
PR analyzer 110 applies a text mining technique called Vector Space Modeling to each PR or AAR to find similarity between the set of vectors stored in the analytics server as shown in step 210 . Vector Space Modeling is an algebraic model for representing text documents, or any object in general, as vectors of identifiers. Every distinct term in a document constitutes a dimension. For each document, the frequency of that term is the length of the vector in that dimension, i.e., each document is represented as a multi-dimensional vector. In an embodiment in accordance with the present invention, the stack traces, rather than term frequencies, are used to create the vectors. The angle between two vectors is then computed. Two vectors are defined as similar if the angle between the two vectors is below a user-specified value. For example, one can define two PRs or AARs to be similar when the angle between the corresponding two vectors is less than one degree. A difference angle threshold of one degree is an empirically derived value that has been determined to provide acceptable performance, although it is conceivable that other difference angles may also provide acceptable performance, or even improved performance in some contexts.
In step 212 , PR analyzer 110 then groups similar PRs and AARs together in cliques using the Maximal Cliques process in Undirected Graphs. In the mathematical field of graph theory, a clique in an undirected graph is a subset of its vertices such that every two vertices in the subset are connected by an edge. Vertices are also called nodes or points. A maximal clique is a clique that does not exist exclusively within the vertex set of a larger clique. PR analyzer 110 classifies a pair of PRs or AARs as similar if the angle between the PRs or AARs is less than or equal to a user-specified and fixed threshold. Angles greater than the user-specified fixed threshold are classified as dissimilar by PR analyzer 110 and another pair is selected. When the vertices of two PRs or AARs are classified as similar, an edge is added by PR analyzer 110 to connect the PRs or AARs. Every maximal clique represents a maximally-connected set of vertices, i.e., similar PRs or AARs. Each PR and AAR is represented by a vertex. If two PRs or AARs are determined to be similar by the above described vector space modeling, PR analyzer 110 connects the PRs or AARs by an edge to form a graph. PR analyzer 110 then extracts the separate component sub-graphs from the graph and the maximal clique is determined. Each maximal clique represents a set of similar PRs and AARs.
In step 214 , PR analyzer 110 stores the cliques into analytic repository 112 . PR analyzer 110 then checks problem report database 116 for new or updated PRs in PR repository 124 and AARs in AAR DB 126 again, as seen in decision 216 . If additional new or updated PRs or AARs exist in the queue (“yes” branch, decision 216 ), PR analyzer 110 repeats the process and returns to step 202 . If there are no additional new or updated PRs in PR repository 124 or AARs in AAR DB 126 , (“no” branch, decision 216 ), PR analyzer 110 continues on to step 218 . In step 218 , PR analyzer 110 schedules the next user determined scan for new or updated PRs in PR repository 124 and AARs in AAR DB 126 on problem report database 116 .
FIG. 3 is a flowchart, generally depicted by the numeral 300 , illustrating operational steps for real-time processing of a new problem report of a software crash with a stack-trace, in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention. Problem report database 116 receives a new PR in PR repository 124 or AAR in AAR DB 126 as depicted in step 302 and passes the information to PR analyzer 110 . PR analyzer 110 then parses the new PR or AAR to extract the stack-trace. In step 304 , PR analyzer 110 chooses a clique from the list of cliques in the analytic repository 112 and compares the vector of the new stack-trace to existing vector of one of the stack-traces in the clique as depicted in step 306 . PR analyzer 110 then checks to see if the stack-traces are similar, decision 308 . If the stack-traces are not similar (“no” branch, decision 308 ), PR analyzer 110 determines if all cliques in analytic repository 112 have been searched, as seen in decision 310 . If all cliques were searched (“yes” branch, decision 310 ), PR analyzer 110 reports no similar PR or AAR were found to system administrators via email or other digital forms of communication, as seen in step 314 . If all cliques in analytic repository 112 were not searched (“no” branch, decision 310 ), PR analyzer 110 goes on to the next clique, as seen in step 312 .
If the stack-traces are similar (“yes” branch, decision 308 ), PR analyzer 110 compares the stack-traces of all the PRs and AARs in that clique as seen in step 316 . In decision 318 , PR analyzer 110 determines if all the PR and AAR stack-traces are similar to the new stack-trace. If not (“no” branch, decision 318 ), PR analyzer 110 moves to the next clique as seen in step 320 . If all PRs and AARs match the new stack-trace (“yes” branch, decision 318 ), PR analyzer 110 checks to see if there are any AARs in the clique as seen in decision 322 . If no AARs exist in the clique (“no” branch, decision 322 ), PR analyzer 110 reports all similar PRs in the clique to system administrators via email or other digital forms of communication and logs the results to customer knowledge repository 146 as shown in step 324 . If there are any AARs in the clique (“yes” branch, decision 322 ), PR analyzer 110 then determines if there are any patches specified in the AAR and stored in patch repository 136 as illustrated in decision 326 . If there are no patches specified in the AAR (“no” branch, decision 326 ), PR analyzer 110 reports all the similar AARs in the clique to system administrators via email or other digital forms of communication and logs the results to customer knowledge repository 146 as seen in step 330 . If patches are specified in the AAR (“yes” branch, decision 326 ), PR analyzer 110 reports all the patches contained in patch repository 136 , with each alongside its AAR, to system administrators via email or other digital forms of communication and logs the results to customer knowledge repository 146 as shown in step 328 .
FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram, generally depicted by the numeral 400 , of components of analytics server 102 in an embodiment in accordance with the present invention. It should be appreciated that FIG. 4 provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environment may be made.
Analytics server 102 includes communications fabric 402 , which provides communications between computer processor(s) 404 , memory 406 , persistent storage 408 , communications unit 410 , and input/output (I/O) interface(s) 412 . Communications fabric 402 can be implemented with any architecture designed for passing data and/or control information between processors (such as microprocessors, communications and network processors, etc.), system memory, peripheral devices, and any other hardware components within a system. For example, communications fabric 402 can be implemented with one or more buses.
Memory 406 and persistent storage 408 are computer readable storage media. In this embodiment, memory 406 includes random access memory (RAM) 414 and cache memory 416 . In general, memory 406 can include any suitable volatile or non-volatile computer readable storage media.
PR analyzer 110 and analytic repository 112 are stored in persistent storage 408 for execution and/or access by one or more of the respective computer processors 404 via one or more memories of memory 406 . In this embodiment, persistent storage 408 includes a magnetic hard disk drive. Alternatively, or in addition to a magnetic hard disk drive, persistent storage 408 can include a solid state hard drive, a semiconductor storage device, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, or any other computer readable storage media that is capable of storing program instructions or digital information.
The media used by persistent storage 408 may also be removable. For example, a removable hard drive may be used for persistent storage 408 . Other examples include optical and magnetic disks, thumb drives, and smart cards that are inserted into a drive for transfer onto another computer readable storage medium that is also part of persistent storage 408 .
Communications unit 410 , in these examples, provides for communications with other data processing systems or devices, including resources of network 114 and problem report database 116 , patch support database 128 , and customer knowledgebase database 138 . In these examples, communications unit 410 includes one or more network interface cards. Communications unit 410 may provide communications through the use of either or both physical and wireless communications links. PR analyzer 110 and analytic repository 112 may be downloaded to persistent storage 408 through communications unit 410 .
I/O interface(s) 412 allows for input and output of data with other devices that may be connected to analytics Server 102 . For example, I/O interface 412 may provide a connection to external devices 418 such as a keyboard, keypad, a touch screen, and/or some other suitable input device. External devices 418 can also include portable computer readable storage media such as, for example, thumb drives, portable optical or magnetic disks, and memory cards. Software and data used to practice embodiments of the present invention, e.g., PR analyzer 110 and analytic repository 112 , can be stored on such portable computer readable storage media and can be loaded onto persistent storage 408 via I/O interface(s) 412 . I/O interface(s) 412 also connect to a display 420 .
Display 420 provides a mechanism to display data to a user and may be, for example, a computer monitor.
The programs described herein are identified based upon the application for which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of the invention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular program nomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus the invention should not be limited to use solely in any specific application identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
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A method for diagnosing software crashes includes retrieving a stack-trace from at least one of a new problem report, updated problem report, and authorized analysis report from a repository. A vector is automatically created from the retrieved stack-trace using the function name and associating the resultant vector with the problem report and authorized analysis reports. Vector space modeling is used to calculate the angles between the resultant vectors to determine similarities. Similar problem reports and authorized analysis reports are grouped into similar sets using a maximal cliques process. New software crashes are automatically diagnosed by extracting the stack-trace from a new problem report of the new software crash, and selecting a potential solution by searching the grouped problem reports and authorized analysis reports for a stack-trace similar to the new stack-trace.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the manufacture of contact lenses by cast molding technology, and in particular to disposable plastics material molds for casting contact lenses.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Contact lenses are traditionally manufactured by several means including "lathing", "spin casting" and "cast molding". Each of the above methods possesses advantages in terms of the cost of production of lenses or the variety of lens designs and materials which may be produced. Cast molding offers significant advantages in respect of relatively low cost of capital plant employed in the production process as well as low unit cost of production while being utilisable over a wide range of polymeric materials.
Present methods of cast molding described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,364 (Shepherd) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,399 (assigned to American Optical Corporation) suffer in practice from relatively low production yields due to defects in or originating from the edge of the cast lens, and in the case of the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,289 (assigned to American Optical Corporation), from numerous instances of poor optical quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,364 (Shepherd) teaches the casting of a lens between two disposable plastic mold members one of which is provided with a deformable lip which facilitates the relative movement of the mold members towards each other in order to compensate for the shrinkage of the lens polymer which occurs during polymerization. Said movement maintains contact between the optical surfaces of the mold members and the lens polymer thus ensuring good optical quality of the lens. However, said deformable lip against which the edge of the lens is formed, being of a disadvantageous cross-sectional form and minute dimensions, is difficult to produce to the required degree of precision by the specified injection molding process.
The resulting lens edges frequently exhibit imperfections which may become more pronounced during the process of removing the formed lens from the assembled mold members. Such imperfections existing in the edge of the lens often cause the lens to be judged as unfit for use. In addition, such imperfections often form sites for the initiation of cracks which may propagate into the lens providing further cause for rejection of the lens on inspection.
A further limitation of the method taught in the Shepherd patent results from variable deformation of the described flexible lip which in turn results in variation of the edge thickness around the lens and, at times, in unacceptable variation in the lens centre thickness.
As a result of the above deficiencies, the production yield of lenses manufactured by the Shepherd method, being the number of lenses produced from a given number of cast moldings, is generally of the order of 50% or less.
The method described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,399 (assigned to American Optical Corporation) does not provide a means for the mold members to move towards each other during polymerization other than by deformation of the surfaces of the mold members, which appears to be assisted by the loading of the assembled members with a weight of "two to three pounds". The deformation of the surfaces of the mold members can be expected to result in loss of optical quality in the molded lens.
The method can further suffer from imperfections in the lens edge which is formed against the junction line between the two mold members. Misalignment of the mold members on assembly of the members prior to polymerisation of the lens forming monomer may occur due to variation in the actual size of the mold members produced from given tooling at different times. Any such misalignment will result in a deformation of the lens edge.
A further limitation of the method described in the American Optical patent lies in the fact that the configuration of the portion of the female mold member at the point where the edge is formed against such member, being of disadvantageous cross-sectional form and minute dimensions, does not lend itself to production by the injection molding process specified in the patent. The lens edge form shown in the patent could not therefore be effectively molded without deformation resulting from imperfections in the said portion of the female mold member.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the described edge-related problems by providing a mold and a method which will result in an acceptable edge form while at the same time providing a means for the mold members to move towards each other in order to compensate for shrinkage which occurs during the polymerization of the lens forming monomer.
A further object of the invention is to provide a configuration for the respective mold members which can be readily molded by a conventional injection molding process such that the lens edge form described may be reliably achieved utilizing the said mold members.
According to the present invention there is provided a plastics material mould for casting a contact lens from curable material, said mold comprising:
male and female mold members adapted to fit together to define a mold cavity; and
said male and female mold members each present a curved surface for molding a respective desired optical surface of a contact lens;
characterized in that
said male mold member has a shoulder surrounding its optical curved surface;
said female mold member presents a generally cylindrical surface surrounding its optical curved surface; and
said shoulder is a slidable fit with said generally cylindrical surface when the mold members are assembled to permit the mold members to move relative to one another during curing of said curable material introduced into the mold cavity to cast a lens.
In another aspect the invention provides a method of casting a contact lens from curable material characterized by the steps of: providing disposable male and female mold members which fit together to define a mold cavity and each present a curved surface for molding a respective desired optical surface of the contact lens, the male mold member having a shoulder surrounding its optical curved surface, and the female mold member presenting a generally cylindrical surface surrounding its optical curved surface;
charging the female mold member with a predetermined dose of monomeric material;
assembling the charged female member with the male member with the shoulder being an engaging slidable fit with the generally cylindrical surface;
curing the monomeric material while permitting the mold members to move relative to one another with the shoulder in sliding engagement with the generally cylindrical surface; and
removing the cast lens from the mold members.
The embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1a is a vertical section through the prior art Shepherd mold;
FIG. 1b is an enlarged fragmentary view of an edge portion of the Shepherd mold;
FIG. 2a is a vertical section through the prior art American Optical mold;
FIG. 2b is an enlarged fragmentary view of an idealized edge portion in that mold;
FIG. 2c is an enlarged fragmentary view of an actual edge portion of that mold;
FIG. 3a is a vertical section through a mold according to the present invention;
FIG. 3b is an enlarged fragmentary view of an edge portion of the mold of FIG. 3a;
FIG. 4 is a vertical section through a second embodiment of a mold according to the invention adapted for mounting on a lathing machine; and
FIG. 5 is a vertical section through a third embodiment of a mold according to the present invention.
FIGS. 1a and 1b show the prior art Shepherd mold having male and female mold members 10,11 the male member having a deformable lip 12. The practical disadvantages of this arrangement have been described above, in particular that the deformable lip 12, against which the edge of the lens is formed, is of disadvantageous cross-sectional form and minute dimensions.
FIGS. 2a to 2c show the prior art American Optical mold having male and female mold members 15,16 provided with abutting annular seats 17,18. The practical disadvantages of this arrangement have been described above, in particular that the seats 17,18 do not provide means for the mold members to move towards each other during polymerization other than by deformation of the mold members. In addition the seat portion 18 of the female member, against which the edge of the lens is formed, is again of disadvantageous cross-sectional form and minute dimensions. While FIG. 2b shows an idealised shape, in practice the shape tends to be variable and more as shown in FIG. 2c.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
FIGS. 3a and 3b show an embodiment of the present invention. A mold member 20 having a convex optical surface 21 is generally referred to as the male mold member and the base curve of the cast contact lens is formed against the optical surface 21. A mold member 22 having a concave optical surface 23 is generally referred to as the female mold member and the anterior surface of the cast contact lens is formed against the optical surface 23. The male and female mold members fit together to define a mold cavity 24 within which the lens is cast.
The mold members 20,22 may conveniently be manufactured by an injection molding process using a thermo-molding polymer such as poly-propylene.
The female mold member 22 is provided with a generally cylindrical surface 25 which may be a right circular cylindrical surface or which may advantageously be of a frusto-conical form (as shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b) so as to provide a lead-in for the opposing shoulder of the male mold member 20 which mates with the said cylindrical surface 25 of the female mold member upon assembly of the mold members prior to polymerization of the lens monomer. The male mold member is provided with a shoulder 26 surrounding its optical curved surface 21. The shoulder presents a substantially right-angled corner formed by the junction of a first annular surface 27 facing the female mold member and a second right circular cylindrical surface 28.
The female mold member 22 is assembled with the male mold member 20 after first being charged with a metered dose of monomeric material from which the contact lens will be formed by polymerization. Polymerisation of the monomeric material is then effected by heating the assembly in a waterbath or temperature-controlled oven or by other means familiar to those skilled in the art such as ultra-violet radiation in which case at least one of the mold members must be formed from a material which is transparent or semi-transparent to such radiation.
The edge 29 of the lens is formed between the surface 27 of the shoulder 26 of the male mold and a portion of the cylindrical or frusto-conical surface 25 of the female mold as shown in FIG. 3b. The engagement of the corner at the junction between the surfaces 27 and 28 of the shoulder of the male mold member against the surface 25 of the female mold member provides a running seal between the two members through which excess monomeric material may escape from the cavity contained between the two mold members during the progressive assembly of the members.
During polymerization of the monomeric lens-forming material the male and female mold members may approach each other as the corner junction of surfaces 27 and 28 of the shoulder of the male mold member slides along the surface 25 of the female mold member. The positioning of the male mold member relative to the female mold member upon assembly of the members may be determined by appropriate adjustment of the stroke of the assembling means provided on a machine within or upon which the mold members are assembled.
Alternatively the mold members may be provided with mating flat ring surfaces respectively marked as 30 and 31 in FIG. 3a. In this case a hinging effect which occurs at the intersection of the surfaces 31 and 28 of the male mold member permits the surfaces of the mold members to move towards each other by means of the above described sliding of the shoulder of the male mold member along the cylindrical or frusto-conical surface of the female mold member. The male mold member may if required be weakened as shown at 32 by reduction of the wall thickness in the region of the point of intersection of the surfaces 31 and 28 so as to facilitate the above described hinging effect.
It will be noted that it is not necessary to place any load on the assembly during the polymerization process. The shrinkage of the monomeric material during polymerization serves to draw the two optical surfaces together by a combination of atmospheric pressure and adhesion of the respective surfaces of the mold members to the polymerizing monomeric material. The above described sliding fit between the surface 25 of the female mold member and the opposing shoulder 26 of the male mold member coupled with the hinging effect between surfaces 28 and 31 of the male mold member minimises the resistance to movement of the mold members towards each other under the influence of atmospheric pressure and or adhesive attachment of the respective surfaces of the mold members to the polymerizing monomeric material.
FIG. 3b is an enlarged view of the mold members in the region where the lens edge 29 is formed between the mold members. From this it will be seen that the configuration of each of the mold members in this region is such as to be readily moldable using conventional injection molding technology. Narrow and acutely angled cross-sections such as may be found in the region of the lip 12 on the relevant mold member of Shepherd or in the extreme edge 18 of the female mold member of American Optical have been avoided. Both mold members of the present embodiment have relevant cross-sections consisting of right angles or obtuse angles which may be accurately reproduced by conventional injection molding techniques.
As shown in FIG. 4, the disposable mold members may advantageously be designed incorporating a means 40 for mounting the mold members in their assembled form onto the rotating spindle 41 of a lathing machine (not shown) which may have cutting tool 42 to remove a portion 43 of the female mold member from the assembly so as to expose the front surface and a portion of the edge of the cast lens 44. After removal of the female mold portion 43 and lens 44 may be easily released from the male mold by distortion of the mold surface which may be achieved by a simple squeezing action applied at the base of the mold assembly.
In another embodiment (not shown) the portion of the female mold may be removed with the lens adhering to such portion from which it may subsequently be detached by a squeezing action applied across the diameter of the removed female mold portion.
The removal of the female mold portion as above described may be advantageously performed on a special purpose machine (not shown) wherein the loading of the mold assembly onto the rotating spindle and the machining of the portion of the female mold are carried out automatically.
The lens edge produced by the above described molds and methods is of an essentially triangular cross-section with its apex occurring at the approximate mid point of the edge. If a different cross-sectional edge profile is required the molded edge may be polished by conventional lens edge polishing means or by tumbling the lens utilizing small glass spheres in a manner similar to that used during the production of intra-ocular lenses.
FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment comprising a male mold member 50 and a female mold member 51. The male mold has a convex optical surface 52 and a shoulder 53 similar to shoulder 26 described in relation to FIGS. 3a and 3b. The female mold has a generally cylindrical surface surrounding its concave optical surface 54. The generally cylindrical surface comprises first, second and third surfaces in succession away from the optical surface 54. The first surface is a frusto-conical surface 55 tapering outwardly at a taper angle preferably in the range of from 5° to 10°, for providing the slidable fit with the shoulder 53 of the male member as described in relation to FIGS. 3a and 3b. The second surface is substantially a right circular cylindrical surface 56 to improve seating of the mold members together upon assembly. The third surface is a frusto-conical surface 57 tapering outwardly away from the optical surface.
The mold members are provided with opposing planar ring surface portions 58 and 59 similar to ring surface portions 30 and 31 in FIG. 3a and for a similar purpose. The female mold member has a further cylindrical portion 60 outwardly of the ring portion 59, and the inner surface 61 of portion 60 is slightly roughened. The ring portion 58 of the male member has an annular groove 62 close to its outer edge to produce an annular resilient beak 63 dimensioned to be a resilient fit within the roughened cylindrical portion 60. Accordingly, the beak and the roughened portion provide a locking or ratchet effect as the male member moves towards the female member during assembly of the mold members and during subsequent curing. This embodiment is particularly suitable for the casting of lenses from monomer mixtures with highly volatile components, when the molds must be relatively firmly sealed together. During curing the male mold member can travel towards the female member to compensate for monomer shrinkage, as with the earlier described embodiments.
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A plastics material mold for casting a contact lens from curable material. Disposable male and female mold members (20,22;50,51) define a mold cavity and each having a curved surface (21,23;52,54) for molding respective optical surface of the contact lens, the male mold member having a shoulder (26,53) which is a slidable fit with a generally cylindrical, e.g. frusto-conical, surface (25,55) on a female mold member to permit relative mold member movement during curing without substantially affecting the optical quality of the molded optical surfaces. The sliding fit shoulder and female surface are relatively simple to mold with accuracy and thus permit the edge (29) of the eventual cast lens to be formed relatively reliably and accurately.
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RELATED APPLICATIONS
The application is related to and claims the benefit of the filing date, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119, of commonly assigned provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/259,263 entitled “Method and Computerized System for Buying, Selling and Auctioning of Bankruptcy Claims and Other Choses In Action” filed on Dec. 29, 2000, which is incorporated by reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related to auction methods and systems, more specifically to a process for automating, managing, valuing and executing auctions of assets in bankruptcy.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is believed that the market size of bankruptcy claims trading is approximately $25 billion per year. However, bankruptcy claims trading is known and performed by a relatively small number of sophisticated buyers that understand and follow bankruptcy filings. A conventional bankruptcy process involving one or more buyers monitoring cases filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in which the buyer has expressed an interest. The buyer may then contact the sellers of the asset(s) of the bankrupt organization at key information points. The buyer and seller may negotiate a price for the assets or a bankruptcy trustee may order a sale of the assets, for example, through an auction, to obtain the highest price a buyer may be willing to pay.
Depending on the sophistication of seller and their credit exposure, there is often little or no information regarding a fair market price of the bankruptcy asset(s). Similarly, there is no established method for a buyer to determine a fair market price of the bankruptcy assets. Difficulty in determining a fair market value for claims and a limited trading community further hinders the auction process. Hence, in an auction of bankruptcy assets a seller may not know whether the value received is too low and, correspondingly, a buyer may not know whether the price paid is too high.
Hence, there is a need for a method and system that creates an effective environment for trading in the sale of bankruptcy assets which can also determine a valuation of bankruptcy assets based on previous or similar sales and/or transactions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method and system for conducting, managing and executing over a communication network, an auction of at least one claim or asset in bankruptcy to a plurality of buyers having expressed interest in items contained within the claims or assets, is disclosed. The auction method comprises, placing an indication of the availability of at least one of the assets at a remote location on the network wherein the indication is accessible by each of the plurality of buyers over the network, notifying at least one of the plurality of buyers predeterminedly expressing interest in items contained within the claims or assets of the availability of the at least one claim or asset, determining a market value of the at least one claim or asset based on historical data of same or similar claims or assets, dynamically adjusting the market value based on known factors, receiving bids from at least one of the responding buyers, notifying one of said at least one bidding buyers of acceptance of a corresponding bid when the bid satisfies predetermined criteria and recording said accepted bid.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
The advantages, and nature, and various additional features of the invention will appear more fully upon consideration of the illustrated embodiments now to be described in detail in connection with accompanying:
FIGS. 1 a – 1 e collectively illustrate a block diagram of an exemplary bankruptcy auction process in accordance with the principles of the present invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary process for valuing bankruptcy assets in accordance with the principles of the invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process for valuing bankruptcy assets in accordance with the principles of the present invention; and
FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system for valuing and auctioning bankruptcy assets in accordance with the principles of the invention.
It is to be understood that these drawings are solely for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the invention and are not intended as a level of the limits of the invention. It will be appreciated that the same reference numerals, possibly supplemented with reference characters where appropriate, have been used throughout to identify corresponding parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIGS. 1 a – 1 e collectively illustrate a bankruptcy auction process, as viewed from the perspective of a buyer, for trading of bankruptcy assets in accordance with one aspect of the invention. Although, not shown or discussed in detail, it would be understood that a process, as viewed from the perspective of the seller, may similarly be initiated in accordance with the principles of the invention. Hence, a process of valuing and auctioning assets as viewed by a seller is contemplated to be within the scope of the invention.
FIG. 1 a illustrates an exemplary bankruptcy filing processing in accordance with principles of the present invention. In this illustrative process, upon a bankruptcy filing 10 , a list of creditors 20 (i.e., creditor schedule) is supplied to a bankruptcy court. Creditor schedules may be obtained directly through the court from a claim administrator, either as hard copy or electronically. The data contained within creditor list 20 is then stored in a data store for creditor information 40 . Data store 40 may be a database or similar data collection device, which may be used to identify and store information regarding creditors. A subset of the data within creditor list 20 stored in the data store 40 is generated using filtering to populate a schedules database 50 that is used to analyze financial and market data to potential buyers and determine likely timing of amounts of distribution.
Identification of potential buyers 60 is then made based on factors, such as previous purchasing behavior, industry links, buyer predetermined preferences, market research, etc. Buying preferences, as stored in database 50 , of each potential buyer 60 is then matched against select marketing criteria 70 . Although the illustrative example discusses the use of database 50 for determining corresponding preferences of potential buyers, it would be appreciated that list of potential buyers 60 may also be matched against preference data store in database 40 .
FIG. 1 b is representative of a continuation of an exemplary bankruptcy asset auction process in accordance with the principles of the present invention. In this illustrative continuation of the asset auction process, at block 80 an appropriate notification method for each of the potential buyers meeting or matching criteria 70 is made. The notification method may be determined in accordance with, and responsive to, buyer predetermined or preferred methods or settings, which may be stored on data store 40 or schedule database 50 . For example, buyers may pre-store preferred methods of notifications such as the illustrated e-mail notification 90 , letter 100 or phone call 110 . However, it would be appreciated that other notification methods may be utilized and are contemplated. A response from a notified matched buyer is then awaited at block 120 . Responses may be in the form of a return phone call 140 or direct to site 150 such as communication over a network, e.g., Internet. A list of each responding buyer is then maintained.
FIG. 1 c is representative of a continuation of an exemplary bankruptcy auction process in accordance with the principles of the present invention after a buyer response is received. At block 160 , a determination is made whether the responding buyer is a registered client or member. If the respondent is not a registered client or member, then a request is made at block 170 for the buyer to register. Registration processes are well known in the art and need not be discussed in detail herein. After registration, a buyer may, at block 180 , establish preferences regarding, for example, the types of assets, claim amounts, bid limits, etc., that the buyer has an interest. A registered buyer client or member may also predeterminedly establish methods of notification. The buyer's predetermined or preferred interests and notification method may then be used to inform a registered client or member of subsequent auctions having similar assets. Assets within database 50 (and/or data store 40 ) may then be identified, at block 180 , using an identification number, for example, using corresponding to the buyer's preference 175 . Although FIG. 1 c represents a preferred embodiment, it would be appreciated that the process disclosed is not limited to only registered client or member buyers but may include unregistered buyers also.
FIG. 1 d is representative of a continuation of an exemplary bankruptcy auction process in accordance with the principles of the present invention. In this continuation of the auction process, an inquiry 200 is made regarding whether an asset/potential buyer match has been determined. If the answer is in the negative, then a notification is provided to the seller at block 210 to indicate no buyers have been determined that are interested in the assets. In another aspect of the invention, if a buyer expresses interest in buying a claim or asset but no matching claim or asset is available, the system preferably automatically begins searching for other claims from other sellers based on historical behavior or preferences of the buyer.
However, if one or more assets/buyers have been determined to exist, a determination is made, at block 240 , whether a market value for the assets is available. If a market value is available then this value is provided to the potential buyers that have been matched to the assets, at block 260 .
If, however, a market value is not available, then an inquiry 250 is made to determine whether a market value and/or asset score should be determined. If the answer is in the negative, then process continues at block 280 .
If, however, the answer is in the affirmative, a market value and/or asset score is determined at block 270 . As will be explained in more detail with regard to FIGS. 2 and 3 , a market value may be determined using historical value data for same or similar assets. In one aspect of the invention, an average market value may be determined as the average value of same assets previously sold or bidded upon. In another aspect of the invention, an average market value may be determined as a weighted average value of same and similar assets previously sold or bidded upon. In another aspect, a weighted unit asset value may be determined as the average value of a weighed average value. A market value may be determined from a determined weighted unit asset augmented by the number of unit assets available. In still another aspect of the invention, the weighting factors may be predeterminedly set at an equal value and then dynamically adjusted to create a greater weight or influence of one factor over another.
Asset score may be determined using a methodology similar to that disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/676,391, filed Sep. 29, 2000, entitled “An Improved Method and System for Indemnifying Subrogation Potential and Valuing a Subrogation File,” the entire of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
An inquiry 280 is made to determine whether there are sufficient claims or assets available to satisfy the buyers needs.
Although not shown, it would be appreciated that the auction process may then begin wherein each of the potential buyers 60 may place one of more bids for the purchase of the claims or assets subject to the bankruptcy proceedings. The bidding is completed by either the expiration of the duration of the auction process or when no additional bids are received. At the conclusion of the auction process, a reconciliation of the funds due the seller and the owed by the buyer may occur.
FIG. 1 e is representative of a continuation of an exemplary bankruptcy auction process in accordance with the principles of the present invention. In this continuation of the illustrative auction process, if there are sufficient assets or claims to meet the buyers needs which are consistent with the buyers established criteria or preferences, then a buyer transaction is initiated at block 290 . In one aspect of the invention, a buyer transaction may include a confirmation of acceptance of the highest bid price. In another aspect of the invention, a buyer transaction may include dynamically grouping like-claims from one or more cases of bankruptcy claims or sellers to meet the needs of the buyer. Bids and subsequent sale price are then stored, at block 292 , to provide data for subsequent determination of market value for same or similar assets.
If, however, there is an insufficient number of claims or assets that satisfy the buyer's needs, then a determination is made at block 295 whether the available claim or asset volume is greater than the buyer's need. If the determined claim or asset volume is greater than the buyer's needs, then the claims or assets are reviewed at block 297 to determine whether the amount of claims or assets can be divided or apportioned into smaller groups or amounts. If the answer is in the affirmative, then a buyer's transaction is initiated at block 290 . Bids and subsequent sale price are then stored at block 292 , to provide data for subsequent determination of market value for same or similar assets. If, however, the answer is in the negative then a seller notification process is initiated at block 299 . The seller notification process may inform the seller of the buyer's need. The seller may then inject additional claims or assets into the auction process to satisfy the buyer's needs. Bids and subsequent sale price are then stored at block 292 to provide data for subsequent determination of market value for same or similar assets.
If however, the claimed value volume is less than the buyer's needs, then a seller notification process is initiated at block 299 . Bids and subsequent sale price are then stored at block 292 to provide data for subsequent determination of market value for same or similar assets.
FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram 300 for determining a market value/asset score of an asset in accordance with the principles of the invention. In this illustrated example, each asset is valued or characterized based on claim or asset attributes such as claim size, debtor, creditor, etc. at block 310 . Asset value or characterization is also affected, or adjusted, by factors such as market price, buyer preference, etc. In one aspect of the invention, a simple average asset value when each previously bidded upon or sold claim or asset is the same the current claim or asset. In another aspect of the invention, a weighted average may be used when previously bidded upon or sold claims or assets are the same as, or similar to, the current claims or assets. A formulation of a market value may further consider factors such as type of industry, asset ratio, asset location, creditor, credit rating, claim value, asset class, disputed or not disputed claim, the nature of the claim and the claim amount, etc. At block 320 an asset score is determined using known arithmetic functions or operations. For example, asset score may be determined by translating an asset or market value, wherein the asset score may be in a range of zero–100. At block 330 , determined market values/assets scored are ordered according to buyer preferences and claimed value.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process 350 for determining a market value/asset score of one or more bankruptcy claims or assets. In this exemplary process, historical data regarding previous sales, offers, bids and/or distributions of the same or similar claims or assets to those claims or assets currently in bankruptcy proceedings are collected at block 355 . Similar assets may be selected based on the type of asset, general category of asset, etc. For example, if the claim or asset in bankruptcy were one or more cars, then type of assets may be selected from cars having similar characteristics, such as model and year, engine size, price range, etc. Further, the type of asset may be selected from similar American, European or Japanese cars having similar characteristics. General category of asset may include selection of cars, sport utility vehicles, trucks etc., which are included within a similar range of price, model year or mileage. As would be appreciated, a similar type or category of asset may be determined for each bankrupt asset.
At block 360 , a determination is made regarding a suggested base market value of the bankrupt claim or asset. In one aspect of the invention, a base market value may be determined by formulating an average value of historical sales, and/or offers and/or distributions of the same asset. In another aspect of the invention, a base market value may be determined by formulating a weighted average value of historical sales, and/or offers and/or distributions of the same and similar assets. In this aspect of the invention historical sales, offers or distributions of a same asset is weighted more than historical sales, offers or distributions of similar types or categories of assets. Returning to the example of the bankrupt asset being one or more cars, historical sales of the same make and model car may be weighted more or provided greater influence than historical sales of makes and models from the same manufacturer, which is weighted more or provided greater influence than historical sales of similar or comparable makes and models of different manufacturers, etc. Weighted averages are well known in the art.
At block 365 , an adjustment to the determined market value is determined based, for example, on the type goods, the location of the goods, the duration of the bankruptcy sale, announcements regarding the bankruptee, the court or competitors, the seller's need, the buyer's credit etc. An adjustment may decrease the determined market value of seasonal goods, such as clothing being sold outside the season of their use. Similarly, a market value of goods located in a region that is not suited for their use, e.g., snowblowers in Florida, may also be reduced. Decreases in the market value may similarly occur for perishable goods that are on sale for a period substantially similar to their expiration date. Announcements by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, for example, in forcing a sale may further reduce the determined market value. Similarly, an announcement by a competitor or a similar business entity regarding earnings, market forces, etc., may present the potential of similar assets being made available and consequentially affecting the determined market value. As would be appreciated, positive adjustment to a determined market value may also be determined.
At block 370 a determination is made whether an asset score is to be determined. If the answer is in the affirmative, than an asset score is determined at block 375 . As previously discussed an asset score may be determined using a methodology similar to that disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/676,391.
FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system 400 that may be used for implementing the principles of the present invention. System 400 includes one or more sources 410 , one or more input/output devices 443 , a processor 446 and a memory 404 . Source(s) 410 may represent communication devices, such as computers, laptops, modems, servers, telephones, facsimile machines, photocopiers, etc., that have access to bankruptcy court filings or claim administrator filings, which may be stored on databases 59 ( 40 ). Source(s) 410 may alternatively be in communication with one or more network connections for receiving data from a server or servers over network 420 , e.g., a global computer communications network such as the Internet, a wide area network, a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a terrestrial broadcast system, a cable network, a satellite network, a wireless network, or a telephone network, as well as portions or combinations of these and other types of networks.
Input/output devices 430 may be in communication with network 420 or may be in direct communication with input source 410 . I/O devices 430 provide means for entering data into, and transmitting data from, processor 443 and memory 446 . Data received by I/O devices 430 may be immediately accessible by processor 443 or may be stored in memory 446 . As will be appreciated, I/O device 430 may also allow for manual input, such as a keyboard or keypad entry or may read data from magnetic or optical medium (not shown).
I/O devices 430 , processors 443 and memory 446 may be in direct communication or in communication over medium 445 , as shown. Communication medium 445 may represent, for example, a bus, a communication network, one or more internal connections of a circuit, circuit card or other device, as well as portions and combinations of these and other communication media.
Data from the source(s) 410 received by I/O devices 430 is processed in accordance with one or more software programs operable to perform the functions illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 , which are stored in memory 446 and executed by processor 443 . The output of processor 443 may then be transmitted over network 450 to output devices 460 .
In a preferred embodiment, the coding and decoding employing the principles of the present invention may be implemented by computer readable code executed by processor 443 . The code may be stored in the memory 446 or read/downloaded from a memory medium such as a CD-ROM or floppy disk (not shown). In other embodiments, hardware circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with, software instructions to implement the invention. For example, the elements illustrated herein may also be implemented as discrete hardware elements. As would be appreciated, processor 443 may be means, such as general purpose or special purpose computing system, or may be a hardware configuration, such as a dedicated logic circuit, integrated circuit, Programmable Array Logic (PAL), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), that provides known outputs in response to known inputs.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, only registered clients or members are permitted to submit a bid related to one or assets in bankruptcy, after being notified of the availability of the asset. To bid, a member may access or view a centralized area at a remote location, such as an Internet webpage that contains one or more assets that are available for sale or auction and which the buyer has expressed an interest. The potential buyer may also review information regarding the asset or assets available. The member may then click on an indicator, e.g., a “Bid” box, to enter an amount. The member may then be prompted to enter a user name and password and then be instructed to click on a second indicator, e.g., a “Submit” button. A bidding member or user should be sure to have read the item description thoroughly before placing a bid as it is a contract to buy the item that in a preferred embodiment cannot be revoked.
Auctions, and/or claims or assets within an auction, may be identified using an asset listing ID number. This identification can also be advantageously used to match due diligence materials with the correct asset.
According to one form of the present invention, there are three possible outcomes of an auction: 1) the asset is sold to the highest bidder, 2) the asset is not sold because no bids were placed, or 3) bidding did not meet the seller's reserve price or minimum acceptable bid. The seller may consider completing the sale by accepting the highest bid. In either case, the bids and/or sale prices are stored for subsequent determination of same or similar assets.
Although the invention has been described in a preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in the details of construction and combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed. It is intended that the patent shall cover by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.
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A method and system for conducting, managing and executing over a communication network, an auction of at least one claim or asset in bankruptcy to a plurality of buyers having expressed interest purchasing bankruptcy claims or assets is presented. The method includes placing an indication of the availability of at least one of said assets at a remote site, such as a website, wherein said indication is accessible by each of said plurality of buyers over said network, notifying at least one buyer predeterminedly expressing interest in items contained within said claims or assets of the availability of said at least one claim or asset, determining a market value of said at least one claim or asset based on historical data of same or similar claims or assets, dynamically adjusting the market value based on known factors, conducting an interactive bidding process, notifying one of the bidding buyers of acceptance of a corresponding bid when said bid satisfies predetermined criteria, and recording the accepted bid.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the provisional patent application No. 60/244,517 for a Multiple Robotic Workstation With Multiple Fixtures, filed on Oct. 31, 2000. This claim is made under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) and 37 C.F.R. 1.53(c)(3).
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to a workstation having multiple robots and multiple fixtures, and more specifically, the invention provides welding workstations for automotive assembly lines having multiple independently-working welding robots and multiple fixtures for holding workpieces.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The efficiency of a welding workstation can be defined by the amount of time, normally a percentage, that a welding robot spends welding compared to the total time required for a particular repetitive cycle. The efficiency of the workstation relates to the amount of time that a welding robot takes to perform various welding operations compared to the total amount of time that the welding robot requires for a particular repetitive cycle. Idle time for a welding robot can occur when a new workpiece is loaded and prepared in a fixture. If the workstation has one welding robot and one fixture, the welding robot will stand idle as a completed part is unloaded from the fixture and a new workpiece is loaded onto the fixture. In the prior art, this problem was addressed by adding a second fixture at the workstation within reach of a single welding robot. In a workstation with two fixtures, the welding robot can complete welding operations at one fixture while workpieces are being loaded and unloaded at the second fixture. When the welding process is complete at the first fixture, the welding robot can move to the second fixture and immediately commence welding.
[0004] The amount of time that a workpiece is positioned in a fixture while work is being performed compared to the total amount of time that a workpiece is positioned in a fixture corresponds to workpiece efficiency. The amount of time that a workpiece sits idle in a fixture reduces the overall operating capacity of the workstation by reducing throughput, normally reported in parts per hour or similar units for the overall assembly process. In a workstation having one fixture and one welding robot, the amount of time that a workpiece sits idle in the fixture is minimized because the welding robot immediately commences welding operations as soon as a workpiece is loaded and any other setup procedures are completed. However, in a workstation that has two fixtures and one welding robot, a workpiece is loaded onto one fixture, is setup, and then sits idle until the welding robot completes welding operations at the second fixture. Therefore, in a workstation having one fixture and one welding robot, the workpiece efficiency is maximized while in a workstation having two fixtures and one welding robot the welding efficiency is maximized. It is desirable to provide a workstation wherein the welding efficiency and the workpiece efficiency are both enhanced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention includes a workstation having multiple robots and multiple fixtures. The workstation can perform processing operations on multiple workpieces sequentially or simultaneously. The robots performing processing operations on the workpieces are disposed between the fixtures and are independently movable relative to each other. The fixtures can be rotatable about a horizontal axis to position one of two or four major surfaces in a ready position for receiving workpieces. Each major surface has a separate workpiece rest for receiving workpieces of different configurations.
[0006] The present invention also includes a plurality of similar workstations positioned in sequence along an assembly line. A transfer robot can be disposed in between adjacent workstations for moving workpieces from one workstation to the next. The present invention can also include a robot for processing the workpieces while held by the transfer robot in between the adjacent workstations.
[0007] The present invention also provides an electronic control means for coordinating the movements of the processing robots. The electronic control means is programmable for processing any mix of workpieces of different configurations in any sequential order. The electronic control means presents the appropriate workpiece nest in the ready position to receive the workpiece to be processed next and operates the plurality of robots in programmable sequence to perform the necessary welding in an efficient manner for the particular workpiece.
[0008] Other objects, advantages and applications of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the best mode contemplated for practicing the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like workpieces throughout the several views, and wherein:
[0010] [0010]FIG. 1 is an overhead view of a workstation according to the present invention; and
[0011] [0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an electronic control means for the workstation according to the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0012] A workstation 10 according to the present invention includes a multiple robotic workstation with multiple fixtures for processing multiple workpieces 12 and 14 of the same or different configurations sequentially or concurrently. The workstation 10 of the present invention has at least two fixtures, a first fixture 16 and a second fixture 18 . The workstation 10 includes multiple robots located interposed between the fixtures 16 , 18 . In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the workstation 10 has three robots 20 , 22 and 24 positioned in between the two fixtures 16 , 18 with overlapping areas of reach between adjacent robots.
[0013] The fixtures 16 and 18 are operable to hold workpieces 12 and 14 , respectively, in position for a processing operation. Preferably, the fixtures 16 and 18 located at workstation 10 are capable of positioning a plurality of workpiece nests corresponding to the desired body style and model to be processed through the workstation 10 . In the preferred configuration, each of the fixtures 16 and 18 include four different workpiece nests positioned on four major surfaces of a fixture having a rectangular or square cross-section and rotatable about a horizontal axis A to position one of the four major surfaces in an upright, ready position for receiving workpieces to be processed at the workstation 10 .
[0014] The robots 20 , 22 and 24 are positioned between fixtures 16 and 18 with overlapping areas of reach between adjacent robots, preferably so that at least two robots can reach all areas of the workpiece to be processed. The robots 20 , 22 and 24 are independently movable with respect to each other. Also, the processing robots 20 , 22 and 24 are capable of performing various independent work cycles at each fixture. As used herein, “work cycle” refers to a particular quantity and configuration of processing operations on a part 12 or 14 . In a preferred embodiment of the workstation 10 , three robots 20 , 22 and 24 are positioned between the fixtures 16 , 18 . However, the present invention can be practiced with more than three robots. By way of example and not limitation, the robots 20 , 22 and 24 can be welding robots. Each robot can perform welding operations at both fixtures 16 and 18 . The robots 20 , 22 and 24 are disposed between fixtures 16 and 18 so that each robot can perform welding operations at programmed areas of the fixtures 16 and 18 . By way of example and not limitation, as shown in FIG. 1, robot 24 can be used to perform welding operations at one end of fixture 18 and one end of fixture 16 , while robot 20 can be performing welding operations at the other end of fixture 18 and the other end of fixture 16 . In such an embodiment of the present invention, robot 22 can be used to perform welding operations in the middle of fixture 16 and the middle of fixture 18 . Further, the robot 22 can also be used for welding operations at either end of fixture 16 and fixture 18 . By way of example and not limitation, if part 12 requires relatively numerous welding operations at end 26 and part 14 requires numerous welding operations at end 28 , robots 22 and 24 can each be responsible for a portion of the total number of welding operations required for both ends 26 and 28 of the parts 12 and 14 . The workstation 10 of the present invention provides flexibility in distributing the relative work loads among the robots 20 , 22 and 24 .
[0015] It is desirable in the present invention to provide a workstation 10 for performing welding operations on multiple workpieces 12 and 14 by multiple robots 20 , 22 and 24 while enhancing the overall efficiency of the workstation 10 . The workstation 10 is operable to perform welding operations on different components simultaneously or sequentially. By way of example and not limitation, part 14 can be an automotive floor pan (not shown) while part 12 can be an automotive body side assembly. These different styles of workpieces can be simultaneously processed at the workstation 10 . Furthermore, the operation of the robots 20 , 22 and 24 can be synchronized to process different workpieces. The floor pan of this example generally requires a greater amount of time to load and setup for welding than a right hand body side assembly. However, the right hand body side assembly requires a greater number of welding operations than a floor pan. Workstation 10 according to the present invention, can begin welding the right hand body side assembly with the welding robots 20 , 22 and 24 as soon as the right hand body side assembly is loaded onto fixture 16 , while the floor pan is being loaded into fixture 18 and set up for welding. One or more of the welding robots 20 , 22 and 24 can be repositioned once the floor pan has been loaded onto the fixture 18 and setup to weld a first series of welds, such as to attach brackets to the floor pan. After welding the brackets to the floor pan, the one or more robots can return to welding the right hand body side assembly, while additional components are set up with respect to the floor pan prior to returning for a second series of welds. For workpieces that require additional loading after one or more welding operations, the welding robots 20 , 22 and 24 can move between the fixtures while the additional loading occurs and return to the workpiece when loading is complete.
[0016] The workstation 10 can also be positioned adjacent to an identical workstation 10 a . As shown in FIG. 1, two workstations 10 , 10 a can be positioned adjacent to each other on an automotive assembly line. In such a configuration, transfer robots 30 and 32 can move workpieces from one fixture at one workstation 10 to the next workstation 10 a . The transfer robots 30 and 32 can grasp the respective workpieces at appropriate locations for lifting the workpieces out of the fixtures 16 , 18 at the first workstation 10 and positioning the workpieces at the fixtures 16 a , 18 a at the second workstation 10 a . The transferring of workpieces between workstations 10 , 10 a can also be sed to perform a processing operation. Robot 38 shown in phantom in FIG. 1 can be positioned above and between the two workstation 10 , 10 a for applying a sealant or an adhesive to the workpiece while being held by one of the transfer robots 30 , 32 during movement between fixtures 16 , 16 a and 18 , 18 a respectively. By way of example and not limitation, transfer robot 30 can grasp the part from end 34 , lift the part out of the fixture 16 at the first workstation 10 , hold the part in an elevated position between the workstations 10 , 10 a , and allow the robot 38 to apply a sealant or an adhesive to the part before the part is loaded onto the fixture 16 a at the second workstation 10 a.
[0017] The workstation 10 of the present invention can also include an electronic control means 40 . The electronic control means 40 can control the position of the welding robots 20 , 22 and 24 according to programmed repetitive movements. The electronic control means 40 can include a central processing unit 42 . The central processing unit 44 can receive a signal corresponding to the configuration of the respective workpieces to be worked on next, and the number and position of welds to be performed on the workpiece.
[0018] The central processing unit 42 is operable to receive a signal relating to the configuration of the workpieces to be loaded next onto fixtures 16 and 18 , respectively. This information is used to recall the programmed repetitive movement for the robots to accomplish the desired welding operations to be performed to control the position of the welding robots 20 , 22 and 24 during the welding cycle. An infinite variety of workpieces can be processed with various loading times, preparation times, and welding times according to the present invention. The present invention provides a workstation 10 having multiple processing robots 20 , 22 , 24 and multiple fixtures 16 , 18 for processing multiple workpieces 12 , 14 sequentially or simultaneously at an improved rate of workstation efficiency.
[0019] 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 embodiments but, on the contrary, 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 is permitted under the law.
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A workstation having multiple robots and multiple fixtures for processing multiple workpieces along two processing paths. A first fixture can be positioned on the first processing path and a second fixture can be positioned on the second processing path. The multiple robots are positioned between the two paths and are moveable to process workpieces moving along both the first and second paths. The robots can be welding robots. The robots can be independently moveable with respect to each other to enhance the efficiency of the workstation. The robots can have overlapping ranges of movement so that every portion of the workpiece can be processed by at least two of the robots.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a braking device for the ladder lifter of a fire-fighting or high-altitude working extensible ladder truck.
(B) Description of the Prior Art
The conventional braking device comprises a hook lever pivotally mounted on a crosspiece of a ladder. Normally said lever is locked in its retracted position on the lifter side, but when the lifting wire rope is broken, the lever is automatically released and swung into engagement with the associated crosspiece, thereby preventing the lowering of the lifter. According to this arrangement, although it is possible to stop the lifter in this manner by making use of the constant spacing between adjacent crosspieces of the ladder when the rope breaks, it sometimes occurs that the lifter falls through a distance up to said crosspiece spacing from the position assumed by the lifter when the rope breaks, giving the rider a great shock or a feeling of uneasiness.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a braking device for a ladder lifter, characterized in that it comprises a brake cam rotatably mounted on a lifter frame on a ladder rail and opposed to the rail, a spring installed between said lifter frame and said cam and urging the cam to be rotated and pressed against the rail, and a lifter lifting wire rope fastened to a cam lever in such a manner as to cause the cam to be retracted against the force of the spring when said wire rope is tensioned, the arrangement being such that normally the lifter is allowed to be lifted and lowered and stopped as desired, but upon breakage of the wire rope, the brake cam is actuated to brake the lifter so that the latter is securely stopped without falling, at whatever position the lifter assumes on the rail at the time of breakage of the wire rope.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the present invention:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ladder lifter equipped with a braking device according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view, in longitudinal section, of a cam attaching section; and
FIG. 3 is a side view of said section.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1, a 6-stage extensible ladder designated at 1 comprises channel-shaped unit ladders 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e and 1f of the same length but successively reduced in width so that they are extensibly mounted in each other through rollers (not shown). Each unit ladder is formed at its top on both sides with rails 2 outwardly projecting and extending parallel to each other and in the same plane. Designated at A is a lifter adapted to be lifted and lowered along the rails, and 3 designates a frame therefor. The lifter frame consists of cross members 3a, 3b and side members 3c, 3d, said cross members being positioned astride the rails 2. Axles 4, 5 are supported between suspension arms 3e, 3f at opposite ends of the cross members 3a, 3b. Wheels 6, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, are mounted on the axles so that they may roll on the respective rails while carrying the lifter A. It is so arranged that as the lifter A is lifted and lowered with the ladder 1 extended, the lifter is transferred from one unit ladder to another while assuring smooth switching to the rotation of the corresponding wheels associated with said another unit rail. The lifting and lowering of the lifter A is effected by a lifting wire rope 7. The rope extends from a winch drum fixed on a support table for the ladder base, passing in zigzags around pulleys at the bases and front ends of the unit ladders and extending from around the pulley at the front end of the uppermost unit ladder 1f to the lifter, to which it is then fastened. During extension and contraction of the ladder, the lifter is maintained stationary on the rear portion of the sixth stage ladder 1a. With the ladder 1 held in its erected and extended position, said drum is rotated for winding the rope to lift the lifter. At the time of lowering the lifter, said drum is rotated for unwinding the rope to allow the lifter to descend by its own weight and the weight of the rider. Therefore, if the wire rope 7 breaks when the ladder has been erected, the lifter will slide down the rails. To prevent this, the following braking device is provided. A pair of cam shafts 8 are provided rearwardly of the right and left rows of wheels 6 associated with the cross member 3a and extend parallel to the axles 4. Each cam shaft is rotatably supported by arms 3e transversely and parallelly spaced on and extending downwardly from the lower surface of the cross mamber 3a. Brake cams 9 are fixedly mounted on each cam shaft 8 so as to be opposed to the upper surfaces of the rails 2. As shown in FIG. 3, each cam 9 is formed rearwardly with a raised portion so that when it is rotated in a clockwise direction the raised portion is pressed against the opposed rail 2, thereby preventing the rightward movement as viewed in the Figure, or the lowering, of the lifter A. The cam surface 9a has irregularities such as, for example as shown, a serrated surface fit for prevention of slippage between the cam and the rail. A band plate 10 having a irregular surface 10a, such as, for example as shown, a serrated surface adapted to mesh with said irregularites is fixed to the rail 2 throughout the length thereof to further ensure the brake action. The inner end of each cam shaft 8 has a lever 11 fixed thereto and extending therefrom and a coiled spring 13 is installed under tension between the front end of said lever 11 and a bracket 12 fixed to the frame 3, so that a clockwise torque acts on the cam shaft 8 at all times. Disposed rearwardly of the lever 11 is an L-shaped lever 15 pivotally mounted on a bracket 17 extending from the frame 3 by means of a pivot pin 16. A wire rope or link 18 is connected between the upwardly extending portion 15a of the lever 15 and the front end of the lever 11 while the lifter lifting wire rope 7 is tied to the horizontal portion 15b of the lever 15. As shown in FIG. 2, the arms 3e, except the outermost one, are suspended from the cross member 3a outside the respective associated rails by making use of the spacing between adjacent parallel rails. The lower portion 3f of each arm 3e is bent in an L-shape to extend under the associated rail with a suitable spacing therebetween. To ensure brakage the surface of the projecting lower portion 3f opposed to the rail is provided with a friction plate 19. Designated at 20 is a recess for reception of the same.
FIG. 3 illustrates a condition in which the ladder 1 is erected and the lifting wire rope 7 is under tension. In this condition, the lowering, or rightward movement of the lifter A under loads as viewed in the Figure is restrained by the rope 7 payed out from the ladder front end at the left, through the lever 15, pin 16 and bracket 17. The horizontal arm 15b of the lever 15 is shown turned to a position where it is parallel to the ladder rail 2. The erected arm 15a is shown turned clockwise to turn the lever 11 to the right against the force of the spring 13 through the rope or link 18. As a result, the cams 9 have been shifted away a suitable distance from the respective associated rails 2. In this condition, if the rope 7 is wound, unwound or stopped by the winch, the lifter A will be lifted, lowered or stopped without hindrance. If the rope 7 should break to lose its tension during such operation, the lever 11 would be instantly swung in a clockwise direction by the tension in the spring 13. Thus, no matter what position on the ladder rails the lifter may assume, the cams on that rail are turned and pressed against the rail. Concurrently therewith, the lifter A is slightly floated up above the upper surface of the rail so that the projecting lower portion 3f of the arm below the rail is lifted and pressed against the lower surface of the rail. In other words, the rail 2 is clamped between the cams 9 and the projecting lower portions 3f of the arms and the cams 9 are locked against the rail, so that the lifter is braked and stopped. In this case, since the row of brake cams 9 and the row of clamp arms 3e forming pairs therewith are installed in the front cross member 3a, the lifter is floated up with the rail-engaging wheels in the rear cross member 3b serving as a fulcrum. The rear cross member 3b is provided with a step 21 as shown in FIG. 1 and since the operator stands on this step, the distribution of the load on the lifter is such that coupled with the ladder inclination, the rear portion of the lifter is more heavily loaded than the front portion thereof, enabling said floating-up to be effected more smoothly. As a result, the clamping of the rails by the cams and arms is ensured.
Further, since the rows of brake cams and arms are disposed on both sides corresponding to the right and left rails, the lifter can be floated up uniformly and symmetrically with respect to the right and left sides, so that the stability is high. Further, since the right and left cam shafts are separate from each other, they can be securely and individually operated without being interfered with by each other. Further, the cams and the upper surfaces of the rails are prevented from slipping relative to each other by the meshing between their irregularities, and the lower surfaces of the rails and the arms are pressed against each other through the friction plates 19, so that there is no danger of slip occurring when the lifter is braked and stopped.
In addition, thereafter, the broken wire rope 7 will be pieced together or replaced by a new one. When the ladder lies flat on the ladder truck, there is no tension acting on the wire rope 7, so that brakage acts on the lifter during running of the truck.
While the above embodiment refers to an extensible ladder, the invention may also be applied to a single-ladder lifter. Further, the cam shafts may not be separate from each other but they may be combined into a single shaft. Further, the L-shaped lever may be directly fixed to the cam shaft and the lifter lifting wire rope may then be fastened to the horizontal arm with a spring connected to the suspension arm.
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There is provided a cam type braking device for a ladder lifter arranged so that as soon as the lifting wire rope for the ladder lifter is broken, a brake cam is pressed against the associated ladder rail, whereby the lifter is braked and it is securely stopped at the position on the rail which it assumed at the time of breakage of the wire rope, without causing any large fall of the lifter.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to electric machines, in particular electronically commutated electric machines, in which a zero crossing of a winding phase current is detected for actuation, in particular for determination of the rotor position.
Electronically commutated electric machines, such as synchronous motors, asynchronous motors and the like, for example, are known from the prior art. Such an electric machine has a passive rotor, which can be provided with permanent magnets, for example, in order to form rotor poles. A drive force is exerted on the rotor by an external magnetic field being produced. The external magnetic field needs to be generated depending on the present rotor position, with the result that knowledge of the instantaneous rotor position of the rotor is necessary for actuation of such an electronically commutated electric machine.
The external magnetic field is produced with the aid of a stator winding, generally with a plurality of phases. The rotor position is used to determine the phase voltages to be applied to the stator winding and to apply these phase voltages to the winding phases of the stator winding.
The electric machine is actuated with the aid of a driver circuit, which is often formed with the aid of inverter circuits, in order to actuate the winding phases of the electric machine with the aid of H bridge or B6 bridge circuits. The actuation takes place in accordance with an energization pattern which is dependent on the instantaneous rotor position and is selected such that a stator magnetic field produced by the phase voltage is provided so as to lead the exciting magnetic field of the permanent magnets in the rotor in the direction of rotation in order to provide a drive torque.
Methods for detecting the rotor position are sufficiently well known from the prior art. Firstly, the present rotor position can be detected with the aid of a position detector, which gives an indication of the instantaneous rotor position on the basis of an analog or digital measurement signal of a corresponding actuation unit for the electric machine. Such position detectors can detect the instantaneous rotor position with the aid of a plurality of Hall sensors or GMR (Giant Magnetic Resistance) sensors. For this purpose, said sensors can be arranged close to the rotor poles of the rotor or on a magnetic sensor wheel and can indicate the position of the rotor on the basis of the intensity and direction of the magnetic field measured by the position detectors.
Secondly, the rotor position of the rotor of the electric machine can also be detected in accordance with a so-called back-EMF method by evaluation of a profile of an induced voltage in the deenergized state of a relevant winding phase of the stator winding. For this purpose, first the zero crossing of a winding phase current in the relevant winding phase is detected or predicted and the voltage supply for the phase voltage on the winding phase is deactivated for a predetermined measurement time window, which includes the zero crossing. During the measurement time window, the profile of the induced voltage is determined and, on the basis of the profile of the induced voltage, the zero crossing time of a zero crossing of the induced voltage is calculated. The zero crossing time of the induced voltage can be an indication of the instantaneous rotor position.
Until now, the detection of the zero crossing of the winding phase current in one or a plurality of the winding phases is established by measurement of a voltage drop across a shunt or a voltage drop across one of the power switches in the driver circuit. However, these methods are complex and require the provision of additional measures in order to monitor the current profile of a winding phase current in order to be able to establish the zero crossing thereof. In addition, when using shunts, said shunts need to be connected in series with the winding phases, with losses occurring which can impair the efficiency of the motor system.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to determine a method and an apparatus for determining a zero crossing of a winding phase current in a simple manner, with in particular the complexity in terms of design measures being reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object is achieved by the method for determining a zero crossing of a winding phase current and by the method for determining a rotor position of an electric machine, an apparatus for determining a zero crossing of the winding phase current and by the motor system.
In accordance with a first aspect, a method for determining a time of a zero crossing of a winding phase current in a polyphase electric machine is provided. In this case, the electric machine is actuated with the aid of a driver circuit with power switches in order to provide a plurality of phase voltages, which are applied to connection nodes of the electric machine which are associated with corresponding phases, at least some of the power switches being actuable cyclically on the basis of pulse width modulation with a duty factor in order to apply different potentials alternately to one of the connection nodes, said method comprising the following steps:
actuating the driver circuit for providing the phase voltages in order to operate the electric machine;
deactivating the pulse-width-modulated actuation for at least one of the power switches, with the result that, at least during a time segment in each cycle of the pulse width modulation, no potential is applied by the driver circuit to the connection nodes;
detecting a diode voltage across a freewheeling diode, with which the deactivated power switch is provided, within the time segment;
fixing the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current as the time after which, within the time segment, there is no longer a diode voltage present across the freewheeling diode.
One concept of the above method consists in identifying the occurrence of a winding phase current on the basis of a diode voltage across a freewheeling diode associated with a power switch of the driver circuit. If one of the power switches, which has been operated previously on the basis of pulse width modulation, is deactivated, the potential to be switched by the power switch is not present at the connection node, at least in time segments in which the relevant power switch is switched so as to be conducting. As a result, the connection node is floating.
On the basis of the winding phase current, the freewheeling diode of the deactivated power switch is operated in the forward direction and there is a diode voltage drop which impresses the potential onto the connection node. In particular, a potential which results from the diode voltage and the potential to be switched on by the deactivated power switch is produced at the connection node. In the case of a change in the mathematical sign of the winding phase current, the voltage across the diode corresponds to a voltage which is determined by the electrical circuit, since the freewheeling diode is now operated in the reverse direction. Therefore, by detecting the time at which the diode voltage is zero, it is possible to establish the time after which the freewheeling diode is operated in the reverse direction. This time corresponds to the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current.
In order to allow the winding phase current to flow through the freewheeling diode, it is necessary, in contrast to the conventional actuation method in which the power switches of the driver circuit are operated alternately in accordance with a duty factor of a pulse width modulation, to deactivate one of the power switches and to permit a diode current through the freewheeling diode associated with the deactivated power switch.
The detection of the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current as the time at which the diode voltage across the freewheeling diode of the deactivated power switch falls away has the advantage that it is possible to dispense with additional detectors for measuring the winding phase current. The determination of the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current is based only on the measurement which is required in any case of the connection voltages at the connection nodes for the winding phases of the electric machine.
Furthermore, the deactivation of the pulse-width-modulated actuation for at least one of the power switches can be performed within a measurement time window which begins at a time which is dependent on or corresponds to a time at which the mathematical sign of the phase voltage changes and ends at the earliest at a time at which the zero crossing of the winding phase current has been fixed. In particular, the step of deactivating the pulse-width-modulated actuation can comprise only that power switch being deactivated through which the instantaneous winding phase current effects a diode current in the forward direction.
In accordance with one embodiment, that power switch through which the instantaneous winding phase current effects a diode current in the forward direction can be determined by the gradient of the profile of the phase voltage.
In addition, the duty factor can be between 30% and 70%.
In accordance with a further aspect, a method for determining a rotor position of a rotor of an electric machine is provided. The method comprises the following steps:
determining a time of the zero crossing of a winding phase current with the aid of the above method;
once the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current has been fixed, determining one or more induced voltages across the winding phase within a further measurement time window, while the power switches of the electric machine which are associated with the winding phase are switched so as to be nonconducting;
determining the rotor position from the at least one induced voltage.
In accordance with a further aspect, an apparatus is provided for determining a time of a zero crossing of a winding phase current in a polyphase electric machine, which is actuated with the aid of a driver circuit with power switches by virtue of a plurality of phase voltages being provided which are applied to connection nodes of the electric machine which are associated with corresponding phases, at least some of the power switches being actuable cyclically on the basis of pulse width modulation with a duty factor in order to apply different potentials alternately to one of the connection nodes in order to provide the respective phase voltage. The apparatus is designed
to actuate the driver circuit for providing a plurality of phase voltages in order to operate the electric machine;
to deactivate the pulse-width-modulated actuation for at least one of the power switches, with the result that, at least during a time segment in each cycle of the pulse width modulation, no potential is applied to the connection nodes by the driver circuit;
to detect, within the time segment, a diode voltage across a freewheeling diode with which the at least one deactivated power switch is provided; and
to fix the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current at the time after which, within the time segment, there is no longer a diode voltage present across the freewheeling diode.
In accordance with a further aspect, a motor system is provided. The motor system comprises:
a polyphase electric machine;
a driver circuit, which has inverter circuits, each having series interconnection of power switches connected between a first potential and a second potential;
the above apparatus.
In accordance with a further aspect, a computer program product is provided, which contains a program code which, when run on a data processing unit, implements the above method.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Preferred embodiments will be explained in more detail below with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a motor system for operating an electric machine;
FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram of a driver circuit with a 2H topology for actuating a two-phase electric machine;
FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of the profiles of a winding phase current through a winding phase, a voltage induced in the winding phase and the applied phase voltage, and the corresponding switching signals for the power switches in one of the H bridges for operating a winding phase;
FIG. 4 shows a more detailed illustration of the profiles of the winding phase current through the winding phase, the induced voltage and the phase voltage, the actuating signals for the power switches and the resulting connection voltages in a region of the zero crossing of the winding phase current;
FIG. 5 shows a circuit diagram of a B6 driver circuit for actuating a three-phase electric machine;
FIG. 6 shows an illustration of the profiles of the phase currents and the associated actuating signals of the power switches; and
FIG. 7 shows a more detailed illustration of the profile of one of the phase currents through one of the winding phases, corresponding actuation of the associated power switches and the resulting connection potential.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a motor system 1 with an electric machine 2 . The electric machine 2 can be in the form of an electronically commutated synchronous machine, asynchronous machine or the like. The electric machine 2 has a phase winding with in general a plurality of winding phases, which can be energized separately by application of a respective phase voltage. Conventional synchronous machines are two-phase or three-phase, for example. The phase voltages required therefor are provided with the aid of a driver circuit 3 .
The driver circuit 3 produces the phase voltages depending on the actuating signals T, which are produced by a control unit 4 depending on a rotor position of the electric machine 2 . The rotor position of the electric machine 2 corresponds to the instantaneous position of a rotor of the electric machine 2 and, in the case of rotary machines, is specified as position angle.
The position angle for actuating the electric machine 2 is in the present case determined in sensorless fashion in accordance with the back-EMF method by monitoring the winding phase current and by evaluating a level and a profile of an induced voltage within a time window, during which the winding phase is deenergized.
In a first exemplary embodiment, it is assumed there is a motor system 1 in which the driver circuit 3 is in the form of a 2H bridge circuit in order to operate a two-phase electric machine with two winding phases. Such a topology is illustrated in FIG. 2 .
The 2H bridge circuit 31 , as is illustrated in FIG. 2 , has two H bridges 32 , 33 , which each comprise two inverter circuits 34 , 35 . Each of the inverter circuits 34 , 35 has a first power switch 36 in the form of a power transistor and a second power switch 37 in the form of a second power transistor. The power transistors can be in the form of MOSFETs, thyristors, IGBTs, IGCTs or the like. The power switches 36 , 37 are each connected in series between a high supply potential V H and a low supply potential V L . A respective connection node A 1 , A 2 , B 1 , B 2 between the first and second power switches 36 , 37 is connected to one of the winding phases 38 , 39 of the electric machine 2 . In particular, the connection node A 1 of the first inverter circuit 34 of the first H bridge 32 is connected to a first connection of a first winding phase 38 and the connection node A 2 of the second inverter circuit 35 of the first H bridge 32 is connected to a second connection of the first winding phase 38 . The inverter circuits 36 , 37 of the second H bridge 33 are connected in analogous fashion to a second winding phase 39 .
The control unit 4 provides actuating signals T 1 -T 8 for actuating the individual power transistors 36 , 37 of the inverter circuits 34 , 35 of the H bridges 32 , 33 . By means of the actuating signals, the power transistors can be operated as switches which can be switched so as to be conducting or nonconducting.
Freewheeling diodes 40 , which are connected between the high supply potential V H and the low supply potential V L in the reverse direction with respect to the applied supply voltage, are provided in parallel with the power switches 36 , 37 . The freewheeling diodes 40 can be formed intrinsically with the respective power switches 36 , 37 or separately.
In order to effect a positive phase current in the first winding phase 38 (current direction from left to right, as indicated by the arrow), a positive phase voltage can be provided by actuating the power transistors 36 and 37 of the first H bridge 32 on the basis of a suitable pulse width modulation. At the same time, the second power switch 37 of the second inverter circuit 35 of the first H bridge 32 is switched so as to be conducting and the first power switch 36 of the second inverter circuit 35 of the first H bridge 32 is switched so as to be nonconducting.
If a negative phase voltage is intended to be applied, a phase voltage is applied by the first and the second power switches 36 , 37 of the second inverter circuit 35 of the first H bridge 32 on the basis of a suitable pulse width modulation. Correspondingly, the second power switch 37 of the first inverter circuit 34 of the first H bridge 32 is switched so as to be conducting and the first power switch 36 of the first inverter circuit 34 of the first H bridge 32 is switched so as to be nonconducting.
The actuations for adjusting a positive or negative phase voltage at the second winding phase 39 are analogous.
The pulse width modulation represents cyclic actuation. The phase voltage adjusted by pulse width modulation can be adjusted by selecting a duty factor. The duty factor indicates a ratio of a time period during which the high supply potential V H is applied with respect to a total time period which corresponds to the cycle time of the pulse width modulation.
In the text which follows, the method for detecting a time of the zero crossing of one of the motor currents Ia, Ib is explained only on the basis of the first H bridge 32 . In order to determine the rotor position, this method is generally implemented for both H bridges. In order to detect the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current Ia, the mode of operation is altered during a predetermined measurement time window. While the clocked inverter circuit 34 , 35 , which is operated on the basis of the pulse width modulation, envisages the first and second power switches 36 , 37 being alternately switched so as to be conducting and correspondingly nonconducting during normal operation, in the measurement time window one of the power switches 36 , 37 of the inverter circuit, which is operated on the basis of the pulse width modulation, i.e. is clocked, is switched so as to be permanently nonconducting, with the result that said power switch is excluded from the clocking by the pulse width modulation. In the exemplary embodiment shown, when the phase voltage is positive and the winding phase current is positive and falling, the second power switch 37 of the first inverter circuit 34 is switched so as to be nonconducting and the clocking predetermined by the pulse width modulation continues only with the first power switch 36 . In other words, during the measurement time window, that one of the power switches 36 , 37 of the inverter circuit 34 , 35 operated on the basis of the pulse width modulation is switched so as to be nonconducting, with the result that the winding phase current through the freewheeling diode 40 associated with the power switch effects a diode current in the forward direction and thus a diode voltage.
The measurement time window is preferably selected such that the zero crossing of the winding phase current can be expected within this measurement time window. Since the profile of the winding phase current generally lags the profile of the phase voltage in the relevant winding phase, it is sufficient to fix the beginning of the measurement time window at the zero crossing of the phase voltage or shortly before this. This is possible in a simple manner since the profiles of the phase voltages to be applied are known in the control unit. Also, the actuating signals T 1 to T 8 are determined from the phase voltages.
Owing to the inductive load of the respective winding phase 38 , 39 and owing to the induction of an induced voltage as the result of a movement of the rotor, the winding phase current continues to flow during the measurement time window, for example in the case of the second power switch 37 being deactivated, i.e. switched so as to be nonconductive (switched off). In the time periods within the measurement time window during which, owing to the pulse-width-modulated actuation of the first power switch 36 , the first power switch 36 is switched off (time window in each cycle of the pulse width modulation from breaking of the first power switch 36 to making of the first power switch 36 in the next cycle), the winding phase current flows through the freewheeling diode 40 of the second power switch 37 . The corresponding freewheeling diode 40 is in this case operated by the winding phase current in the forward direction and results in a voltage drop between the low supply potential V L and the relevant connection node A 1 , A 2 for the first winding phase 38 . The winding phase current flows through the freewheeling diode 40 of the second power switch 37 as long as the winding phase current flows from the connection node A 1 or A 2 into the first winding phase 38 and the second power switch 37 is off. This can be seen from the more detailed illustration of the current and voltage profiles and the signal profiles for actuating the first and second power switches 36 , 37 in FIG. 4 . It can be seen in this regard that a potential UA 1 which is below the level of the low supply potential is present at the first connection node A 1 during the measurement time window, while the actuation takes place with a positive phase voltage.
This applies analogously also to the case in which the first power switch 36 is deactivated, i.e. switched so as to be nonconducting, with simultaneous continued operation of the second power switch 37 , in which case the corresponding freewheeling diode 40 in parallel with the first power switch 36 is operated by the diode current in the forward direction and results in a voltage drop between the relevant connection node A 1 , A 2 and the high supply potential V H . The diode current flows through the freewheeling diode 40 of the first power switch 36 as long as the winding phase current flows from the first winding phase 38 to the connection node A 1 or A 2 and the first power switch 36 is permanently off.
In the case of the 2H bridge circuit, as is shown in FIG. 3 , in each case only one of the inverter circuits of each H bridge is operated in accordance with a pulse width modulation and the power switches of the respective other inverter circuit are switched in such a way that the required winding phase current can be provided from one of the supply potentials. That is to say that, if a winding phase current flows into the respective inverter circuit which is not actuated on the basis of the pulse width modulation, the second power switch 37 is switched so as to be conducting and the first power switch 37 is switched so as to nonconducting, and vice versa.
If, in one phase, the phase voltage to be effected by the actuating signals reaches a zero crossing, in the case of the 2H bridge circuit the pulse-width-modulated actuation transfers to the corresponding other inverter circuit of the H bridge associated with the relevant phase and the power switches 36 , 37 of the respective other inverter circuit 34 , 35 are switched, as described above, in such a way that the required winding phase current can be provided from one of the supply potentials V L , V H .
Once, in the example shown in FIG. 4 , a negative voltage is applied as phase voltage, the pulse width modulation takes place by the second inverter circuit 35 . In order to achieve a voltage drop there across a freewheeling diode 40 operating in the forward direction of one of the power switches 36 , 37 in order to detect the winding phase current in the case of the still positive winding phase current Ia, it is now necessary for the first power switch 36 of the second inverter circuit 35 to remain deactivated during the measurement time window and for the pulse width modulation to be performed merely with the aid of the second power switch 37 of the second inverter circuit 35 . This takes place with the first power switch 36 off and the second power switch 37 of the first unclocked inverter circuit conducting.
During the measurement time window, as long as and if the phase voltage applied to the winding phase is positive, the potential at the first connection node A 1 is monitored. In the actuation breaks in the cyclic actuation of the first power switch 36 of the clocked inverter circuit, i.e. when the first power switch 36 is switched so as to be nonconducting on the basis of the duty factor, it is possible to establish whether a diode voltage has been added in parallel with the second power switch 36 of the first inverter circuit 34 on the basis of the conducting freewheeling diode. This becomes apparent at the first connection node A 1 by virtue of the fact that there is a voltage present across the second power switch 37 of the first inverter circuit 34 which is more negative than the low supply potential V L .
Once the pulse width modulation has switched over to the second inverter circuit 35 , in the case of a negative phase voltage the flow of a winding phase current through a freewheeling diode of the deactivated first power switch 36 of the second inverter circuit 35 can be established when the voltage potential present at the second connection node A 2 exceeds the high supply potential V H by a diode voltage of the freewheeling diode. This will be the case at the beginning of the measurement time window since a winding phase current flows in the positive direction. If, however, the winding phase current reaches the zero crossing, no freewheeling current can flow any more and the corresponding voltage drop across the corresponding freewheeling diode which has been excluded from the clocking no longer occurs. The zero crossing of the winding phase current can therefore be established, in accordance with the abovedescribed procedure, as the time after which it is not possible to detect a diode voltage drop across the relevant freewheeling diode.
If the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current is reached, in order to determine the rotor position, the first and second power switches 36 , 37 of the inverter circuits 34 , 35 which are connected to the relevant winding phase are switched off during a further measurement time window and the level and/or gradient of the voltage U ind induced across the winding phase 38 , 39 is determined.
The level of the voltage U ind induced across the winding phase 38 , 39 can take place by measurement of the voltage potentials at the first and second connection nodes A 1 , A 2 or of the voltages across the second power switch 37 and subsequent formation of a difference between the values thus obtained. The gradient of the induced voltage can be determined by repeated measurement, with a time offset, of the voltage potentials or the voltages at the connection node A 1 , A 2 and subsequent formation of the difference in order to obtain two values. From this and with the aid of the time interval between the measurements within the further measurement time window, the time gradient of the profile of the induced voltage within the further measurement time window can be determined in a known manner.
With the aid of the gradient and the level of the measured induced voltage, it is possible to draw a conclusion on the zero crossing of the induced voltage approximately, for example by linear regression, for example by calculation of a zero crossing of a straight line with a pitch at the level of the measured gradient and on the basis of the measured level of the induced voltage at a specific point in time within the further measurement time window. The time of the zero crossing of the induced voltage can be used as a measure of the rotor position. If, on the basis of the above method, the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current has been determined and the induced voltage within the further measurement time window has been determined, the actuation of the electric machine in accordance with the normal operating mode is resumed, i.e. the pulse-width-modulated actuation of both power switches 36 , 37 of the inverter circuit which has most recently been actuated on the basis of the pulse width modulation, in this case the second inverter circuit 35 , is resumed.
The principle of the abovedescribed actuation method envisages that, in the case of a polyphase electronically commutated electric machine which is operated with the aid of pulse-width-modulated phase voltages, one of the power switches 36 , 37 of the clocked inverter circuit is excluded in a measurement time window in which a zero crossing of the winding phase current is expected and is switched off completely for the duration of the measurement time window. The off power switch of the clocked inverter circuit corresponds to the power switch at which a diode current occurs in the forward direction on the basis of the corresponding winding phase current.
If the winding phase current then reaches the zero crossing, the freewheeling current also becomes zero and there is no diode voltage drop across the corresponding freewheeling diode 40 anymore. Instead, the polarity now prevailing turns the freewheeling diode off, with the result that there is a voltage drop across the diode which corresponds to the voltage across the associated power switch. The time at which the diode voltage falls away, which can be detected by corresponding monitoring and evaluation of the connection potentials at the first connection A 1 and at the second connection A 2 , can be determined as the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current.
FIG. 5 illustrates a B6 bridge circuit 50 as an alternative driver circuit for the motor system 1 . The B6 bridge circuit 50 is suitable in particular for actuating a three-phase electric machine. The B6 bridge circuit 50 has three inverter circuits 51 , which, as before, each have a first power switch 52 and a second power switch 53 . As in the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 2 , the individual power switches 52 , 53 are connected in series, with a winding phase of the electric machine 2 to be operated being connected to the connection node A between the power switches 52 , 53 . In the exemplary embodiment shown, the winding phases are star-connected, but it is also possible for other types of interconnection of the winding phases of the electric machine to be provided. Each of the power switches 52 , 53 is provided with a freewheeling diode 54 , which can be formed intrinsically or separately, as described above.
In the case of the B6 bridge circuit 50 , each of the inverter circuits 51 is associated with a phase, i.e. a winding phase of the electric machine. In the case of the B6 bridge circuit, the inverter circuits 51 are each actuated on the basis of an actuation pattern by the control unit 4 , said actuation pattern corresponding to a pulse width modulation with a specific duty factor. Thus, by selecting the individual phase voltages, the desired voltage phasor can be applied to the electric machine 2 . In principle, in order to establish the time of the zero crossing of a winding phase current of a phase, the inverter circuit 51 associated with the phase is operated during the measurement time window on the basis of passive clocking. The measurement time window is selected such that it begins safely before the zero crossing of the relevant winding phase current is reached, for example at the time of a zero crossing of the relevant phase voltage or prior to this time, and ends at the earliest with the detection of the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current.
If the winding phase current at the time of the beginning of the measurement time window is positive (i.e. the current flows from the relevant inverter circuit into the electric machine), the relevant second power switch 53 is switched so as to be nonconducting for passive clocking, while the first power switch 52 continues to be operated with the corresponding pulse-width-modulated actuation signal. If the winding phase current at the time of the beginning of the measurement time window is negative, instead the first power switch 52 is switched off, while the second power switch 53 is correspondingly clocked. In the last mentioned case, the actuating signal for the second power switch 53 is still the signal which causes the second power switch 53 to be switched on during normal operation (i.e. outside the passive clocking), while the first power switch 52 is switched off.
That power switch 52 , 53 by means of which the instantaneous winding phase current effects a diode current in the forward direction can be determined, for example, by the gradient of the profile of the predetermined phase voltage. If the gradient is positive, a zero crossing of the phase voltage in the direction of positive values takes place, which, with a time lag, effects a zero crossing of the winding phase current from the negative winding phase current to a positive winding phase current. That is to say that, at the beginning of the measurement time window, the winding phase current is negative and flows from the winding phase into the relevant connection node. In this case, only the freewheeling diode of the first power switch 52 could be operated in the forward direction. Therefore, the clocking of the first power switch 52 during the measurement time window is deactivated. If the gradient is negative, a zero crossing of the phase voltage in the direction of negative values takes place, which effects, with a time lag, a zero crossing of the winding phase current from a positive winding phase current to a negative winding phase current. That is to say that, at the beginning of the measurement time window, the winding phase current is positive and flows from the relevant connection node into the winding phase. In this case, only the freewheeling diode of the second power switch 53 could be operated in the forward direction. Therefore, the clocking of the second power switch 53 is deactivated during the measurement time window.
FIG. 6 shows the profiles of the winding phase currents Ia, Ib, Ic and the corresponding signal profiles of the actuating signals T 1 to T 6 for the power switches 52 , 53 and the individual time windows for the passive clocking during which the corresponding actuating signal for in each case one of the power switches 52 , 53 is switched so as to switch the relevant power switch 52 , 53 so as to nonconducting (switch said power switch off).
Analogously to the above described embodiment, FIG. 7 illustrates the passive clocking for one of the inverter circuits 51 of the B6 circuit. Analogously to the above described case, in this case too, the time of the zero crossing of the relevant winding phase current is established as the time when the winding phase current no longer effects a diode voltage across the freewheeling diode 54 of the deactivated power switch 52 , 53 .
As previously described, when the time of the zero crossing of the relevant winding phase current has been established, it is possible to draw a conclusion on a rotor position with the aid of known methods by measuring a level and a gradient of an induced voltage at the corresponding winding phase within a further measurement time window directly following the time of the zero crossing of the winding phase current.
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A method for determining a time for a zero crossing of a phase current in a polyphase electrical machine ( 2 ). The method including driving a driver circuit ( 31; 50 ) for providing phase voltages to operate the electrical machine ( 2 ); deactivating a pulse-width-modulated driving by at least one power switch ( 36, 37; 52, 53 ), such that no potential is applied to connecting nodes (AI, A 2 , B 1 , B 2 ) by the driver circuit ( 31; 50 ), at least during a time segment in each cycle of the pulse width modulation; detecting a diode voltage via a freewheeling diode, with which the deactivated power switch ( 36, 37; 52, 53 ) has been provided, within the time segment; and fixing the time for the zero crossing of the phase current as the time after which there is no longer a diode voltage present across the freewheeling diode ( 40; 54 ) within the time segment.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to apparatus and a method for stimulating salivation, and more particularly, to apparatus and a method for stimulating salivation by the application of electrical energy to nerves in the region of the oral cavity. Such stimulation, it has been found, can produce salivation by reflex action, by creating parasympathetic outflow to the salivary glands, parotid, submaxillary or sublingual.
When a patient is subjected to radiation treatment for carcinoma of the oral pharyngeal region, the radiation often produces as a side effect injury which results in the eventual necrosis of the salivary glands or the nerves associated with them. The injury may be unilateral or bilateral, depending upon the site of the application of the radiation and the dosage delivered. Loss of salivation results in drying of the epithelium of the oral cavity, attended by persistent and often debilitating pain and other symptoms.
The salivary glands can be stimulated to flow by electrically stimulating three nerve groups within the oral cavity and the surrounding region. These are: the maxillary nerve with its three divisions (anterior, middle and posterior), the mandibular nerve with its divisions and the lingual nerve. In general, the nerves of interest in connection with this invention have components which, when stimulated, produce reflex stimulation of the salivary glands.
The principal object of this invention is to provide a small, simple and effective apparatus to create an electrical stimulus which is capable of inducing salivation.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method for inducing salivation by means of electrical stimulation.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.
It has heretofore been proposed that electrical energy be applied in the oral cavity for a variety of medical reasons, but not for the purpose nor in the manner described herein. For example, in Russian Pat. No. 721,109, issued Aug. 15, 1977, a method is disclosed for treating inflammation of salivary glands by filling the salivary ducts with a liquid medication under pressure, and then using the liquid to carry out electrophoresis.
In German Offenlegungschrift No. 2740-188, published Mar. 8, 1979, a technique is disclosed for the application of an electrical stimulus to the gums to prevent, so the publication states, atrophy or bleeding of the gums and decay of the teeth.
In addition, it has heretofore been proposed (1) that electricity be applied to teeth or dental work to test neural response, (2) that electricity be applied to the gums to induce absorption of medicine by the gums, and (3) that pyorrhea be treated by the application of electricity. The above concepts, however, are not pertinent to the problem addressed by the present invention, or to its solution.
The above and other objects of this invention are realized, in a presently preferred form of the apparatus, by a stimulator which comprises a housing small enough to be comfortably received within the oral cavity of a user, the housing having an enclosure within which is housed a microcircuit and power supply capable of generating an electrical signal and a control switch. Associated with the housing, and electrically connected to the signal generator, are active and ground electrodes which apply the electrical signal to an area of the oral cavity which is determined by investigation to be neurally sensitive. Identification of the neurally sensitive area may be accomplished by applying to the oral cavity, on an exploratory basis, an electrical signal which simulates the salivation-inducting signal produced by the signal generator. One presently preferred technique for accomplishing this is the use of glove-mounted electrodes of the kind described in U.S. application Ser. No. 452,319, filed Dec. 22, 1982, for "MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING ELECTRICAL ENERGY TO AND FROM LIVING TISSUE" (assigned to the Assignee of the present application). It has been found that the application of a stimulus in the above manner induces salivation in those patients in whom pathosis is not so advanced or so profound that they cannot be helped by the present apparatus and method. In other words, if a patient has nerve function sufficient to increase salivation in response to the evaluation or diagnostic stimulus, that patient may be considered a logical candidate for the present apparatus and method. If a nerve has been so irradiated that it proves incapable of transmitting an impulse, then the glove and its associated electrode are placed in the region of the next potentially efficacious nerve. Thus, if the first-evaluated nerve was the maxillary, the next might be the mandibular nerve or, in turn, the lingual nerve on the tongue, until salivation is produced. If in fact salivation is not produced by stimulation on one side of the face (or medial plane), stimulus may be applied to the other side of the face until salivation is produced. Evaluation in this manner identifies a neurally sensitive "target", an area to which a stimulator in accordance with this invention may apply a stimulating signal.
In accordance with the present invention, therefore, at least one active electrode is juxtaposed as closely as possible to an area identified as neurally sensitive to electrical stimulation, and the stimulator may be maintained in place by a dental appliance clipped to the teeth or by association with a denture.
In its method aspect, the present invention involves the technique of identifying one or more neurally sensitive areas within the oral cavity; positioning with respect to those areas at least one active electrode capable to applying to those areas a stimulating signal; and generating a stimulating signal and applying the signal to sensitive area.
There are seen in the drawings forms of the invention which are presently preferred (and which represent the best mode contemplated for carrying the invention into effect), but it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown or described.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view, showing one embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the invention, operatively disposed with respect to the teeth and hard palate of a user.
FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the apparatus separated from the palate and teeth of the user.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of an apparatus of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a housing and associated components of an apparatus in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the apparatus prior to positioning on a dental appliance or denture.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view, similar in its vantage point to FIGS. 1 and 2, but showing apparatus in accordance with the invention associated with a denture.
FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing apparatus in accordance with the invention associated with a denture.
FIGS. 8, 8A and 9 are schematic circuit diagrams illustrating exemplary electronic circuit means for use in the present invention.
FIG. 10 illustrates the manner in which neural stimulation may be used to locate neurally sensitive areas for the purpose of this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein like reference numerals indicate like elements, there is seen in FIGS. 1 through 7, apparatus, designated generally by the reference numeral 10, for inducing salivation by neural stimulation.
The apparatus 10 comprises a two-section housing 12, 12', adapted, as is perhaps best seen in FIGS. 1 through 3, 6 and 7, to be received within the oral cavity of a user.
Disposed on an outer surface 14 of the housing 12 are electrodes, such as the active electrode 16 and ground or passive electrode 18 in the illustrated embodiment. As is perhaps best seen in FIGS. 1, 3, 6 and 7, the electrodes 16 and 18 are located in the area of the hard palate of a user, juxtaposed to the tongue (which does not itself appear in the drawings).
Referring now to FIG. 4, the housing section 12 provides an enclosure, designated generally by the reference numeral 20, defined by a rigid tray-like member 22 and a somewhat flexible cover member 24. When the housing 12, 12' is disposed for operation, the enclosure 20 is sealed, and is liquid and gas-impervious. The member 22 and cover member 24 may be made from numerous well-known chemically inert plastic polymeric materials suitable for use in the body. As is seen in FIG. 4, housed within the enclosure 20 are electrical and electronic components and circuitry, designated generally by the reference numeral 26. In general, the electrical and electronic circuitry includes a highly miniaturized and self-contained signal generator with associated control circuitry. The housing section 12', which is constructed in a manner similar to the housing section 12, houses a power supply, designated generally by the reference number 28, and carries additional active and passive electrodes 16', 18'. Associated with the housing 12, 12' and signal generator 26, is a tongue-actuable switch 30.
Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the cover member 24 is, in the illustrated and presently preferred form of the invention, a flexible membrane, and that the switch 30 is a normally open switch disposed beneath the cover member 24. The switch 30 may be of the pressure-actuated type commonly used in "membrane" type keyboards for hand-held calculators, microcomputers and the like. Switches which are functionally equivalent to "Type BM" switches, from SP America, Inc., are suitable. The application of tongue pressure to the cover member 24 in the area of the switch 30 is thus capable of closing the switch, to effect operation of the apparatus 10 in the manner described below. A projection 32 may be provided on the underside of the cover member 24, to facilitate the transmission of pressure to the switch 30.
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3 and 5 through 7, the power supply 28, in the presently preferred form of the invention, the power supply comprises a pair of 3.0 volt lithium batteries (Sanyo lithium cells or equivalent), connected in series to produce 6 volts. The power supply 28 in the housing section 12' is electrically connected to the circuitry 26 within the housing 12 by an insulated conductor 34, and both housing sections 12, 12' are affixed, as is seen in FIGS. 1 through 3, 6 and 7, to either an appliance 36 (seen in FIGS. 1 through 3) or a denture 38 (seen in FIGS. 6 and 7). Adhesive or other suitable fastening means may be used to affix the housing sections 12, 12' to the appliance 36. Consistently with the principles of this invention, the housing sections may also be fashioned integrally with the appliance 36.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 3, the appliance 36 consists of a plate 40, molded from an impression of the hard palate 42 of the user. Associated with the plate 40 are clips 44 which serve to affix the plate 40 to teeth of the user, such as the molars 46 and 48. Frictional engagement of a fore part of the plate 40 with the front teeth of the user, in association with the clips 44, serves to hold the appliance 36 in place.
In FIGS. 6 and 7, the apparatus 10 is shown in association with an upper denture 38. The apparatus 10, it will be seen, is in this instance affixed by any convenient means to a portion of the denture corresponding to the position of the hard palate. Thus, just as in the case of the above-described embodiment in which the apparatus 10 is associated with an appliance 36, the tongue of the user may operate a switch 30 to activate the electrodes 16 and 16'.
FIG. 8 illustrates presently preferred electronic circuitry, designated generally by the reference numeral 50, by which stimulating signals can be produced. Other specific circuitry capable of performing the same function may occur to those skilled in the art. It should be understood that the electronic circuitry 50 uses commercially available components, and because the apparatus 10 is intended for use within the oral cavity (making size an important consideration), the presently desired configuration of the device utilizes microminiature components in the "SO 2 ", "LIDS" or "DICE" size packages, although any standard CMOS equivalent integrated circuitry (chips) can be used to fabricate the circuitry 50.
The circuitry 50 is designed to produce an output of approximately 12 mA which is calculated on the basis of an assumed output voltage of 4 volts into an impedance of 330 ohms, and it will produce a constant output voltage regardless of the impedance fluctuations across the mucosa of the user. Such fluctuations are and can be expected to be considerable due to the fact that the medium surrounding the electrodes 16 and 18 may be very dry before salivation is induced and very wet afterwards, with large impedance changes between the two conditions. A current limited configuration, as is presently preferred, avoids high current spikes which might occur in low impedance conditions, and conserves battery power.
Referring again to the electronic circuitry 50, the first stage of the circuitry 50 comprises an astable multivibrator, consisting of the above-mentioned function generators 52 and 54 and capacitors 64 and 66 in their respective feedback loops. The function generator 52 is a 30 pulses per second generator, made up of two-quarters of a CD 4011 equivalent (quad 2-input NAND) integrated circuit 68 and 70. The integrated circuits 68 and 70, as well as the integrated circuits 72 and 74 associated with the function generator 54, are of a type sold by Amperex Electronics Corporation, a subsidiary of North American Phillips Corp., as so-called leadless inverted devices ("LIDS"), and are electronically equivalent, however, to large-sized integrated circuits. In other words, the integrated circuits 68, 70, 72 and 74 are LIDS equivalents to the CMOS 4011 integrated circuits available from numerous manufacturers, including, among others, RCA, Texas Instruments Corp., National Semiconductor and Solid State Scientific. The values of passive components 56, 58 and 64 of the function generator 52 are so selected that the output frequency of that stage is 30 pulses per second. The function generator 52, however, is itself turned on and off, that is, gated, by a one pulse per second input, at 76, from the one pulse per second generator 54. Thus, the function generators 52 and 54 produce a constant voltage output of 30 pulses per second, turned on and off at half-second intervals by the one pulse per second output of the function generator 54. The output of this function generator is applied to a stage which consists of a monostable multivibrator, designated generally by the reference numeral 78. The monostable multivibrator stage 78 comprises a commercially available CD 4011 equivalent integrated circuit, designated generally by the reference numeral 80, associated with passive components such as resistor 82, capacitor 84 and output resistor 86. The integrated circuit 80 and its passive components provide a monostable amplifier which sets the pulse width of the signal at a desired 500 microseconds.
The output of the monostable multivibrator stage 78 drives a stage 88 which provides a constant voltage output with an output current limitation of approximately 12 mA. In the stage 88, the output of the stage 78 drives a transistor stage 90, which in turn drives a transistor stage 92 and then a Darlington pair consisting of the transistors 94 and 96. The Darlington configuration provides a current gain squared function. Transistor stages 98 and 100 provide negative feedback to the Darlington pair 94, 96 to reduce the output voltage and thereby prevent the output current from exceeding 12 mA. The action of the transistor stages 98 and 100 also protects the output from accidental short-circuiting. Transistor stages 92 and 98 of the Amperex LDA 452 type, LIDS equivalents to 2N3906 transistors. Transistor stage 90 and the paired transistors 94 and 96 are Amperex LDA-404 or equivalent, LIDS equivalents to 2N3904 transistors.
Referring now to FIG. 8A, there is seen an arrangement for enabling stimulation, using the tongue-actuable switch 30 to control pulse output, and hence stimulation.
The switch 30 controls a flip-flop, designated generally by the reference numeral 102, which performs a latching function with respect to the power supply of the circuitry 50. The flip-flop 102 in its presently preferred form, is based upon a LIDS equivalent 4013 integrated circuit (LFF 4013), supplying, through the output resistor 104 a transistor 106 (Amperex LDA 452, LIDS equivalent to 2N3906). Changing the state of the flip-flop 102 by momentary actuation of the switch 30 will turn on the six volt supply to the circuitry, thus enabling stimulation. The circuitry illustrated in FIG. 8A provides, therefore, both a latching function (enabling continuous stimulation) and a controlled six volt power supply for the circuitry 30.
FIG. 9 illustrates schematically a power supply arrangement suitable for use in the invention, in which two batteries 28 (Sanyo lithium CR 1220, 3 v.) are connected in series, and associated with a capacitor 108. The batteries 28 provide an uncontrolled six volt (6 v.) source for the circuitry.
FIG. 10 illustrates, somewhat schematically, the above-described technique for identifying neurally sensitive areas, to which the active electrodes 16 of the apparatus 10 may advantageously be juxtaposed.
Referring to FIG. 10, a surgical glove 110 of the kind described in greater detail in the above-mentioned U.S. application Ser. No. 452,319, has on its first finger 112 a pair of electrodes 114 and 116. In this instance, the electrodes 114 and 116 are preferably approximately one-quarter inch in diameter, and approximately one-half to three-eights inch apart on the palmar surface of the first finger 112. The electrodes 114 and 116 are electrically connected to a source 118 of electrical energy, specifically, the output of a signal generating circuit 118 analogous to the above-described electronic circuitry 50. Thus, the signal generating circuit 118 can apply across the electrodes 114 and 116 of the glove 110 a potentially nervestimulating signal similar to the signal produced by the actual apparatus 10. The signal generating circuit, it has been found, may be contained in a small module or housing, not shown, clipped to the cuff of the glove 110 or otherwise associated with it.
In using the above technique in the preferred manner, a clinician first places the electrodes 114 and 116 in the area of the maxillary buccinator, that is the fornix of the palate, first to one side of the mid-line and then to the other. Increased salivation will be observed when the electrodes contact a neurally sensitive area if the patient has in that area nerve function capable of transmitting the impulse.
As is indicated above, if the first-tried nerve provides an unsatisfactory response, others may be tried, and eventually a location suitable for the apparatus 10 may be found.
In the illustrated forms of the apparatus 10, the electrodes 16 and 18 face downwardly and are positioned to contact the tongue. In some instances, however, it will be advantageous to position the electrodes in juxtaposition to the palate, so as to stimulate the nerves of that region. In such an application, the physical arrangement of the apparatus 10 would be suitably modified to assure the proper contact and to facilitate access of the tongue of the user to the switch 30, but the principle by which the apparatus stimulates salivation would remain the same.
It should be understood, therefore, that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential attributes. Accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.
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A stimulator for inducing salivation by neural stimulation comprises a housing which may be received in the oral cavity of a user, the housing enclosing electronic signal generating means and electrodes for applying a signal to neurally sensitive areas of the oral cavity to induce salivation. In its method aspect, the invention involves stimulation of salivation by the application of an electrical signal to neurally sensitive areas.
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CROSS REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. Section 119 of Korean Patent Application Serial No. 10-2011-0087368, entitled “Doctor Blade Apparatus and Printing Method Using the Same” filed on Aug. 30, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] The present invention relates to a doctor blade apparatus and a printing method using the same, and more particularly, to a doctor blade apparatus removing ink from an unnecessary portion in performing gravure printing and a printing method using the same.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Gravure printing refers to a scheme of filling ink in a groove formed on a surface of a printing cylinder and removing ink in portions other than the groove to thereby transfer only the ink filled in the groove to an object to be printed. In particular, a tool for removing ink in portions other than a groove is referred to as a doctor blade, which generally scrapes the surface of a printing roll using a blade made of a metal material to thereby remove ink in portions other than a groove.
[0006] The doctor blade scrapes the ink, while being in contact with a printing cylinder, thereby generating friction with the printing cylinder. Due to the friction, abrasion of the blade is caused during the process and consequently, the abraded blade impacts processing performance. Therefore, the abraded blade needs to be replaced by a new blade. As a result, work is suspended for replacing the blade, which may cause a rapid reduction in productivity of printing work.
[0007] In order to solve the problems mentioned above, a blade is being manufactured using a high hardness material by special heat-treatment or an abrasion of the blade is being prevented by surface treatment such as metal coating, ceramic coating, or the like. However, this may instead cause abrasion to a printing cylinder due to improved strength of the blade.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a doctor blade apparatus capable of minimizing work suspension due to replacing a blade for removing ink by scraping a surface of a printing cylinder at the time of gravure printing and improving a lifespan of the blade and the printing cylinder, and a printing method using the same.
[0009] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a doctor blade apparatus, including: a printing cylinder; a pre-wipe removing a portion of ink applied to a surface of the printing cylinder, while being spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder; and a blade removing the ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder, while being in contact with the surface of the printing cylinder.
[0010] The doctor blade apparatus may further include a spacing device allowing the pre-wipe to be spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder by a predetermined interval.
[0011] The spacing device may include: a bearing fixed to a side of the printing cylinder; a clamp enclosing an outer peripheral surface of the bearing; and a link having one end connected to the clamp and having the pre-wipe installed thereon.
[0012] The doctor blade apparatus may further include an elastic member applying elasticity to the link in a longitudinal direction.
[0013] The doctor blade apparatus may further include a pre-wipe holder controlling the position of the pre-wipe.
[0014] According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a printing method using a doctor blade apparatus, the method including: removing a portion of ink applied to the surface of a printing cylinder using a pre-wipe installed to be spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder; removing the ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder using a blade installed to be in contact with the surface of the printing cylinder; and transferring ink filled in the groove of the printing cylinder to an object to be printed.
[0015] The method may further include, before the removal of the ink using the pre-wipe, applying ink to a surface of the printing cylinder by rotating the printing cylinder in a state in which a portion of the printing cylinder is immersed in an ink tank.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a doctor blade apparatus according to the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 2 is a side view of the doctor blade apparatus of FIG. 1 ; and
[0018] FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of part A of FIG. 2 .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments are described by way of examples only and the present invention is not limited thereto.
[0020] In describing the present invention, when a detailed description of well-known technology relating to the present invention may unnecessarily make unclear the spirit of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, the following terminologies are defined in consideration of the functions in the present invention and may be construed in different ways by the intention of users and operators. Therefore, the definitions thereof should be construed based on the contents throughout the specification.
[0021] As a result, the spirit of the present invention is determined by the claims and the following exemplary embodiments may be provided to efficiently describe the spirit of the present invention to those skilled in the art.
[0022] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a doctor blade apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the doctor blade apparatus of FIG. 1 , and FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of part A of FIG. 2 . Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 , a doctor blade apparatus 100 according to the present invention is configured to include a printing cylinder 110 , a blade 120 , and a pre-wipe 130 .
[0023] The printing cylinder 110 has a groove formed on the surface thereof and a shape intended to be printed and transfers ink filled in the groove to an object to be printed, while being rotated, to thereby perform printing.
[0024] The blade 120 is supported by a blade support 125 and in contact with the printing cylinder 110 . When the printing cylinder 110 is rotated, the blade 120 scrapes and removes the ink smeared on the surface of the printing cylinder 110 In this case, the ink filled in the groove of the printing cylinder 110 is not in contact with the blade 120 to thereby remain in the groove as it is, and ink in portions other than the groove are removed by the blade 120 .
[0025] In addition, the pre-wipe 130 scrapes and removes the ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder 110 , while being spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder 110 . The pre-wipe 130 is spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder 110 by an interval (d) corresponding to a height lower than that of the ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder 110 . Therefore, the pre-wipe 130 removes only a portion of the ink instead of all the ink.
[0026] Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 2 , the printing cylinder 110 rotates in a counterclockwise direction, such that the ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder 110 passes by the pre-wipe 130 and then reaches the blade 120 . Therefore, a predetermined portion of the ink is first removed by the pre-wipe 130 and the remaining ink is removed by the blade 120 .
[0027] The doctor blade apparatus 100 according to the present invention first removes a predetermined portion of the ink using the pre-wipe 130 and removes the remaining ink using the blade 120 as described above, such that an amount of ink to be removed by the blade 120 is reduced.
[0028] Therefore, ink oil pressure in the blade 120 is lowered so that the ink may be removed even though contact pressure between the printing cylinder 110 and the blade 120 is lowered.
[0029] When the contact pressure between the printing cylinder 110 and the blade 120 is lowered, abrasion of the blade 120 is reduced, thereby making it possible to remarkably improve a lifespan of the blade 120 . In addition, the abrasion of the printing cylinder 110 contacting the blade 120 is also reduced, thereby making it also possible to improve a lifespan of the printing cylinder 110 .
[0030] Furthermore, work suspension due to the replacement of the blade 120 can be minimized, thereby making it possible to remarkably improve productivity of the printing work.
[0031] In addition, the pre-wipe 130 is not in contact with the printing cylinder 110 , thereby making it possible to have a semi-permanent lifespan.
[0032] Meanwhile, the doctor blade apparatus 100 according to the present invention may further include a spacing device 140 allowing the pre-wipe 130 to be spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder 110 by a predetermined interval.
[0033] The surface of the printing cylinder 110 may not maintain a predetermined position at the time of rotation of the printing cylinder 110 due to the runout of the printing cylinder, the warpage or machining error of the shaft 111 , the gap of a shaft bearing 112 , or the like, such that the pre-wipe 130 may be in contact with the surface of the printing cylinder 110 . Therefore, the spacing device 140 is required, the spacing device 140 allowing the pre-wipe 130 to have a predetermined interval from the surface of the printing cylinder 110 .
[0034] The spacing device 140 may include a bearing 113 , a clamp 115 , and a link 145 .
[0035] The bearing 113 is fixed to a side of the printing cylinder 110 and the clamp 115 is disposed to enclose the outer peripheral surface of the bearing 113 . The link 145 is connected to the clamp 115 to thereby move together with the clamp 115 according to the motion of the clamp 115 .
[0036] That is, the motion of the printing cylinder 110 generated at the time of rotation thereof is transferred to the clamp 115 through the bearing 113 and is transferred again to the link 145 from the clamp 115 . The pre-wipe 130 is installed at the link 145 , such that the pre-wipe 130 moves together with the motion generated from the printing cylinder 110 . Therefore, the pre-wipe 130 may have a predetermined interval from the surface of the printing cylinder 110 .
[0037] The present invention may further include an elastic member 147 applying elasticity to the link 145 in a longitudinal direction. The link 145 is closely attached by the elastic member 147 in one direction, thereby making it possible to remove a gap that may be generated from the bearing 113 or the clamp 115 .
[0038] Herein, as the elastic member 147 , a spring may be used and components made of other various elastic materials may be used.
[0039] The present invention may further include a pre-wipe holder 135 controlling a position of the pre-wipe 130 . The pre-wipe holder 135 is rotatably coupled to the link 145 , thereby making it possible to control the spaced interval d between the pre-wipe 130 and the surface of the printing cylinder 110 .
[0040] The spaced interval d of the pre-wipe 130 is controlled, thereby making it possible to control the amount of ink previously removed from the pre-wipe 130 and thus, to appropriately change the oil pressure of the ink previously transferred to the blade 120 and contact pressure between the blade 120 and the printing cylinder 110 .
[0041] Hereinafter, a printing method using a doctor blade apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
[0042] The printing method using a doctor blade apparatus according to the present invention first includes removing a portion of ink applied to a surface of a printing cylinder 110 using a pre-wipe 130 installed while being spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder 110 .
[0043] Then, the printing method includes removing ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder using a blade 120 installed while being in contact with the surface of the printing cylinder 110 . The printing cylinder 110 has a groove formed therein and having a shape intended to be printed. When the blade 120 scrapes the surface of the printing cylinder 110 to thereby remove the ink thereon, the ink remains only in the groove.
[0044] The printing method includes transferring the ink filled in the groove of the printing cylinder 110 to an object to be printed. The groove is formed in the printing cylinder 110 in a desired printing pattern and then the ink filled in the groove is transferred to the object to be printed, thereby making it possible to perform printing in a desired shape.
[0045] Meanwhile, the present invention may further include, before the removal of the portion of the ink using the pre-wipe 130 , applying ink to the surface of the printing cylinder 110 by rotating the printing cylinder 110 in a condition that a portion of the printing cylinder 110 is immersed in an ink tank having ink stored therein.
[0046] That is, the ink is applied to the surface of the printing cylinder 110 while the printing cylinder is rotated in a state in which it is immersed in the ink tank, and a portion of the applied ink is primarily removed from the pre-wipe 130 and then the ink in the portions except the groove is completely removed by the blade 120 .
[0047] In this case, since a portion of the ink is removed in the pre-wipe 130 , the amount of ink to be removed by the blade 120 is reduced and the pressure of the ink applied to the blade 120 is also reduced. Therefore, even though the contact pressure between the printing cylinder 110 and the blade 120 is lowered as compared with that in a general case, the ink may be removed and thus abrasion of the blade 120 and the printing cylinder 100 may also be reduced. In addition, since the pre-wipe 130 is spaced apart from the printing cylinder 100 , the abrasion of the pre-wipe 130 is not generated, thereby having a semi-permanent lifespan.
[0048] With the doctor blade and the printing method using the same according to the present invention, abrasion of the blade and the printing cylinder is reduced, thereby making it possible to remarkably improve a lifespan of the blade and the printing cylinder.
[0049] In addition, work suspension due to replacing the blade can be minimized, thereby making it possible to remarkably improve productivity of a printing apparatus.
[0050] Although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
[0051] Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is not construed as being limited to the described embodiments but is defined by the appended claims as well as equivalents thereto.
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Disclosed herein is a doctor blade apparatus, including a printing cylinder; a pre-wipe removing a portion of ink applied to a surface of the printing cylinder, while being spaced apart from the surface of the printing cylinder; and a blade removing the ink applied to the surface of the printing cylinder, while being in contact with the surface of the printing cylinder, whereby a life span of the blade can be remarkably improved and work suspension due to replacing the blade can be minimized. Furthermore, abrasion of the printing cylinder generating friction with the blade can be minimized, such that the entire lifespan of printing equipment can be improved.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a roll for use in the manufacture of glass and particular to pulling rolls for glass to be used in electronic applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The production of glass sheet often requires rolls for pulling, supporting, and conveying the sheet at elevated temperatures. The glass will often have a temperature in excess of 500° C. and frequently in excess of 650° C. Rolls must be capable of withstanding such operating temperatures for prolonged periods. Failure of the roll in a continuous production process can be very costly in time, man-power, material and lost revenue. The rolls should therefore resist thermally degradation, mechanically erosion, or dimensional changes, and should not negatively affect the glass.
Rolls may support or convey a glass sheet through an annealing or heat treating furnace. Rolls may also flatten, lengthen or otherwise alter the dimensions of the glass. A roll may even generate a pulling force on the glass to control the glass thickness. In any application, the roll should not contaminate the useable surface of the glass or produce an excessive number of onclusions. Onclusions can occur from “dusting” of the roll, that is, when small particles erode from the roll and stick to the glass. Onclusions are more likely to form on hot glass, such as around pulling rolls right out of the furnace.
Rolls may comprise an outer refractory body bonded to an inner metal shaft. The refractory body resists thermal insults and protects the metal shaft from heat. The metal shaft provides mechanical strength to the refractory body. In one such embodiment, a tubular outer refractory body is cemented to a metal shaft. This unitary structure is strong and simple to produce. Although the metal shaft is insulated from the high temperature glass, damage to any part of the roll requires replacement of the entire roll. Repair of only part of the roll is difficult or impossible. Other problems include cracking caused by mismatches in thermal expansion between the metal shaft, the cement, and the refractory body. The metal shaft expands more than the outer refractory body and exerts a tensile stress on the refractory body. Tensile stresses are particularly damaging because the refractory body is commonly a ceramic, and ceramics are typically weak in tension. Water cooling may be used to reduce the temperature of the metal shaft and therefore its expansion. Unfortunately, the fittings necessary for water cooling add additional expense and complexity to the roll.
A popular roll for use in glass manufacture had included a plurality of asbestos fiber discs stacked over a metal shaft. The asbestos discs were laterally compressed to form a rigid outer surface. The erosion-resistance of the surface could even be improved by impregnation with chemicals such as potassium sulfate. Unlike unitary structures, damage to one or several asbestos discs could be repaired by replacing only the damaged discs. Asbestos fiber is resilient and a good insulator, so it both thermally shielded the metal shaft and accommodated any thermal expansion of the metal shaft that might have occurred. Asbestos also had little affinity for glass, so eroded particles did not stick to glass or form onclusions. Of course, the health risks of asbestos prevent its use. Other ceramic fibers have been used in place of asbestos but such fibers are not as refractory, thermally insulating or erosion-resistant, and may share similar health risks. Further, eroded ceramic particles may adhere to the glass, thereby forming onclusions. Silica particles are particularly susceptible to onclusion formation.
Prior art includes rolls that reduce the erodable surface of the roll. Such rolls may comprise a metal shaft having a plurality of refractory collars. This configuration may be useful in those applications, such as pulling rolls, where only a portion of the glass contacts the roll. A large fraction of the metal shaft is left uncovered by a refractory body. Eliminating the refractory body removes a possible source of dusting and onclusions, but the exposed metal shaft is more susceptible to corrosion and dimensional instability when exposed to elevated temperatures, which may exceed 700° C. Corrosion may cause the metal shaft to break or deposit corrosion products on the glass. Dimensional changes in the roll can cause fracture or distortion of the glass. A coating may be applied to the metal shaft to reduce corrosion but the metal shaft still may warp from the high temperatures. The use of corrosion-resistant and more heat-tolerant metals, such as stainless steel, reduces this risk. Of course, this also increases costs and the metal still is substantially less refractory than a ceramic.
Rolls do not necessarily require a metal shaft for mechanical support. Prior art includes roll comprising a solid fused silica cylinder. Fused silica inherently has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion and has been used where thermal gradients are severe. Fused silica rolls do not corrode and are more dimensionally stable than rolls including metal shafts. Negatively, fused silica rolls do not grip glass sufficiently to function as pulling rolls, lack the strength of metal-shafted rolls, and cannot be directly connected to machinery for driving the rotation of the roll. Metal end caps, which are fixedly secured to the roll, permit mechanical connection to the driving machinery, but are not without their problems. The metal-capped ends must engage the driving machinery and transmit torque to the roll. Problems include securing the end caps permanently to the ceramic roll and loss of torque between the end cap and the roll. Thermal expansion disparities between the ceramic roll and the metal end cap contribute to both problems.
A need exists for a high temperature roll that overcomes the limitations of the prior art. The roll should be substantially non-dusting and should be suitable for use so as a pulling roll. The roll should possess good mechanical strength and accommodate any thermal expansion disparities between the materials. The roll should also possess excellent dimensional stability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention describes a roll for pulling a glass sheet particularly in draw down applications. The roll comprises a refractory ceramic shaft supporting a plurality of pulling flats. The shaft may be hollow or solid. The pulling flats are one or more annular discs comprising a substantially non-dusting material and are secured to the outer surface of the ceramic shaft. The non-dusting material may include a compressible or an incompressible material. The pulling flats are secured to the shaft by retainers and optionally a refractory adhesive. The retainer may comprise a split ring.
In one aspect, the pulling roll includes a body comprising a hollow cylinder. The cylinder may comprise fused silica. The hollow cylinder permits the introduction of cooling air into the body. The cylinder includes a longitudinal axis, an outer surface, and opposite ends. End caps are fixedly secured to the ends and are capable of connecting with a driving mechanism that rotates the roll. At least two pulling flats comprise a non-dusting material that is substantially free of colloidal silica or silica fiber. Convective currents may fluidize silica, which can then deposit on the glass to form onclusions. The pulling flats are fixed to the outer surface of the cylinder by a plurality of retainers.
In another aspect, the pulling roll includes a hollow body that is substantially cylindrical. The body comprises fused silica or other non-dusting, rigid refractory ceramic. The cylinder includes a longitudinal axis, an outer surface, an inner surface, and opposite ends. End caps are fixedly secured to the ends and are capable of connecting with a driving mechanism that rotates the roll. Pulling flats are fixed on the outer surface by retainers comprising split rings. A metal rod extends through the hollow cylinder and is secured to the cylinder by compressible supports. The supports accommodate differences in thermal expansion between the metal rod and ceramic cylinder so that thermal expansion of the rod does not exert an undue tensile stress on the body. The rod provides a fail-safe in the event the body breaks.
In one embodiment, the pulling roll includes a hollow body comprising fused amorphous silica and a pair of pulling flats fixed in place by retainers. The retainers include outer and inner end plates. Each pulling flat is near an end of the body and includes an outer circumference that extends beyond the end plates. The outer and inner end plates comprise a rigid, non-dusting, refractory material. Each inner end plate includes an outer diameter that is less than the outer diameter of the pulling flat. The inner end plate abuts an abutment of the body. The abutment may be molded or machined into the body or may be fixed to the body using mechanical fasteners or adhesives. Each outer end plate includes an outer diameter that is less than the outer diameter of the pulling flat. Each outer end plate also includes an inner diameter that increases towards the end of the roll. An outer retaining ring, having a wedge-shaped cross-section that complements the increasing diameter of the outer end plate, is forced at least partially between the inner diameter of the outer end plate and the body until the outer end plate is frictionally fixed to the roll. In this manner, the pulling flat is rigidly sandwiched between the end plates and the end plates are capable of providing support for the pulling flat during service.
In a second embodiment, the outer retaining ring comprises a plurality of portions and the body includes recesses having discontinuities. The portions have a substantially wedge-shaped cross-section and a face that complements the inner diameter of the outer end plate. The recesses are beneath the outer end plates. The recesses may be continuous or discontinuous around the body. The portions are forced between the outer end plate and the body until the engage the recess. The discontinuity of the recess restricts motion of the portion.
Materials other than silica that may be used in the body of the pulling roll of the invention include mullite, aluminum titanate, silicon carbide, or other fused or non-fused materials. A silicoaluminate composition having a low-shot fiber content under 3.5 wt % may be used. Such a composition may have 35-45 wt % alumina and 55-65 wt % silica, with a density in the range from 5-6 kg/m 3 , such as 5.5 kg/m 3 . A low shot fiber content may be obtained by blowing a glass molten stream with air. Construction of the body of the roll from a material with a thermal expansion coefficient below 6×10 −6 ° C. reduces thermal expansion disparities.
A silicoaluminate composition, a millboard or a silicoaluminate fiber material may be used for the pulling flats. Such a composition may have 35-45 wt % or 40-42 wt % alumina, 50-60 wt % or 53-56 wt % silica, and 3-6 wt % or 4-5 wt % B 2 O 3 , with a density in the range from 5-10 kg/m 3 . Other materials that may be used the pulling flats, alone or in combination, include mullite, aluminum titanate, silicon carbide, or other fused or non-fused materials.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a roll of the current invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the roll.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-section of the end of the roll.
FIG. 4 is a cross-section of a second embodiment of the end of a roll.
FIG. 5 is a cross-section of the end plate, retainer, and body.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the metal rod, body and supports.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention includes a roll for use in glass manufacturing. More particularly, the roll may be used as a pulling roll and has very little dusting and, therefore, restricts the formation of onclusions on the glass.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a roll 1 of the present invention. The roll 1 includes a longitudinal axis 2 and opposite ends 3 . End caps 4 cover each end 3 . The body 5 of the roll 1 includes a cylinder comprising a substantially incompressible refractory ceramic, such as fused silica. The body 5 has an outer surface 22 and an inner surface 23 . The inner surface 23 defines a cavity 24 . The ends 3 may close the cavity 24 but, preferably, the cavity 24 remains open at either end 3 . Open ends permits a metal rod 25 to extend through the cavity 24 between the end caps 4 . Supports 26 hold the metal rod 25 along the longitudinal axis 2 . An inner end plate 7 is adjacent to an inner retainer 6 , in this embodiment, an abutment. The abutment 6 is present near each end 3 . The inner end plate 7 and an outer end plate 8 sandwich a pulling flat 9 . An outer retainer 21 frictionally secures the pulling flat 9 against the outer end plate 8 .
The body comprises a substantially incompressible refractory ceramic material such as fused silica and, more preferably, a sintered amorphous silica. The fused silica may be produced by any method. The body should be machined to control concentricity and maintain balance. Preferably, deviation from the ideal is less than about 10 inch-pounds. The body preferably includes a hollow cylinder. The wall of the hollow cylinder will have a thickness sufficient to support the roll during operation and to accommodate the stresses at the end caps. For example, a fused silica roll having a length of four meters should have a wall thickness at least about 15 mm.
End caps fit around the end of the roll. End caps should be metallic and most commonly will be steel. Any known method, including adhesives, set screws, pins and compression fittings, may secure the end caps to the roll. US 2007/0042883 is hereby incorporated by reference. The end caps permit connection of the roll with a drive mechanism. Preferably, the end caps will not obstruct the cavity within the roll so that the flow of cooling air is not obstructed. In one embodiment, the end caps include a metal ferule adapted to fit over the end of the body. Interposed between the end cap and the body is a resilient metal ring having a plurality of circumferentially arranged corrugations as, for example, described in PCT/EP2006/001563 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The end plates are substantially discs having an inner diameter at least slightly larger than the diameter of the roll. The inner diameter of the end plates may vary as described below. The end plates should comprise a rigid, refractory, non-dusting material and preferably will also mechanically support the pulling flat. The retainers should exert a force parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body sufficient to properly support the pulling flats. This force is often at least several thousand pounds. The end plates may comprise fused silica or any other non-dusting refractory ceramic. The end plates may be secured to the body by mechanical retainers, such as abutments or retainers, or adhesives. Suitable adhesives may contain colloidal silica that bonds to both the body and the end plate. Alternatively, retainers mechanically fix the end plates to the body of the roll. In one embodiment, the retainer includes a ring comprising a plurality of portions and the body of the roll under the end plate includes a recess to accept the portions thereby locking the end plate in place. As shown in FIG. 5 , the body 5 includes a recess 51 with a discontinuity 52 . The retainer 21 includes an inclined surface 33 and a second surface 34 . The inclined surface 33 complementary engages an inner surface 32 of the outer end plate 8 , and the second surface 34 engages the recess 51 . The discontinuity 52 holds the retainer 21 in place. The outer retainer may comprise fused silica.
The pulling flat comprises a non-dusting material that is capable of pulling glass. The roll includes a plurality of pulling flats. Generally, the pulling flats produce two contact areas on either edge of the glass sheet; although, the pulling flats may have multiple contacts with the glass. Pulling glass requires the material to have a sufficiently high-temperature compressive strength. A suitable material for the pulling flats may include mica, clay such as for example kaolin, and refractory ceramics such as quartz, alumina, glass, and mullite. Advantageously, mica and clay inherently possess a high specific gravity that resists fluidization by convective currents. Particle size should be high enough to resist fluidization but small enough to produce a smooth pulling flat. Particle shapes that deviate from the spherical, such as elongated or flattened shapes, are less likely to be entrained in a fluid. The pulling flats may have a Shore D hardness value in the range of 25 to 35, and may contain a heat-resistant binder
The material may be reinforced with ceramic fiber and/or glass fiber. The fiber preferably comprises low shot content, where shot refers to generally non-fibrous agglomerations produced during fiber manufacture. The fiber reinforces the pulling flat material. Embedding the fiber reduces the likely that fiber will break free and create onclusions. The fiber may include silica, aluminosilicate or other suitable compound.
The pulling flat should rotate with the roll and should not spin relative to the roll. A refractory adhesive, such as colloidal silica or a refractory cement, may secure the pulling flat to the body. Adhesion to the body may be improved by roughening or creating grooves in the outer surface of the body.
FIG. 3 shows an enlarged cross-section of an end 3 of the roll 1 . The inner end plate 7 and outer end plate 8 sandwich the pulling flat 9 . The inner end plate 7 is adjacent to an abutment 6 . The outer end plate 8 includes an inclined inner surface 32 with a diameter that increases towards the end 3 . An outer retainer 21 includes a surface 34 with a diameter greater than that of the body 5 and a surface 33 complementarily engaging the inner surface 32 of the outer end plate 8 . The outer retainer 21 defines a wedge-shaped cross-section. Driving the outer retainer 21 inwards from the end 3 produces a frictional fit that secures the outer end plate 8 to the roll 1 . The outer retainer 21 may comprise a ring or may include a plurality of portions dispersed around the body. A ring may be a single unit; however, a split ring facilitates assembly of the roll and replacement of the pulling flat. The retainer ring 21 should comprise a hard refractory material and preferably should be non-dusting. The material may comprise fused silica. A refractory adhesive may also be used in conjunction with the retainer.
As shown in FIG. 4 , the inclined surface 32 will have an angle of inclination 41 from 5-25 degrees from the outer surface 42 of the body 5 of the roll. A smaller angle permits finer adjustment of the retaining force but demands tighter machining tolerances or a larger retainer ring. A larger angle accommodates larger mismatches between components but exerts a weaker retaining force and could loosen during use. Use of a retainer comprising a plurality of pieces, such as a split ring, facilitates assembly and permits the use of the mechanical fastening shown in FIG. 5 .
The abutment is typically machined or cast into the body of the roll during is manufacture. Alternatively, the abutment may be mechanically or adhesively secured to the body. The abutment may even be replaced with a second retainer ring. In this embodiment, the inner end plate would include an inner surface that increases in diameter away from the end. The second retainer ring includes a first surface with a diameter greater than that of the body and a second surface complementarily engaging the inner surface of the inner end plate. The second retainer ring has a wedge-shaped cross-section. As assembled, the inner end plate/retainer ring could be substantial mirror images of the outer end plate/retainer ring.
The body of the roll comprises fused silica. Because fused silica is susceptible to cracking, a metal rod may extend through the cavity of the roll. The metal rod may extend from end cap to end cap. Preferably, the metal rod does not impinge on the inner surface of the body. If the roll fractures during operation, the metal rod permits facile removal of the roll. A plurality of supports hold the metal rod along the longitudinal axis of the roll so that eccentricities of the roll are reduced. The metal rod will thermally expand more than the body of the roll. Direct contact of the metal rod on the inner surface of the body would produce a tensile stress in the body and could lead to fracture. The supports accommodate disparities in thermal expansion. The supports may comprise compressible refractory discs and may include refractory fiber. The discs accommodate thermal expansion of the metal rod by compressing, thereby transmitting a reduced stress to the inner surface of the body. Conveniently, the discs may include at least one passage that permits cooling air to pass through the cavity. Alternatively, the metal rod may be held in place using a plurality of collars. As shown in FIG. 6 , a plurality of collars 61 can be welded to the metal rod 25 . Each collar 61 includes a plurality of leaf springs 62 that align the metal rod 25 in the middle of the hollow body 5 . The inner surface 23 of the body 5 compresses the leaf springs 62 thereby exerting a force on the metal rod 25 that resists movement.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the following claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. While this invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, different variations, modifications, and additions to the invention will become evident to persons of ordinary skill in the art. All such modifications, variations, and additions are intended to be encompassed within the scope of this patent, which is limited only by the claims appended hereto.
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A roll for use in glass manufacture, such as in the production of non-dusting TFT glass, includes a hollow silica cylinder. A rod extends through the interior of the silica cylinder. A cooling volume is contained within the cylinder and extends around the rod. End caps are mechanically fixed to the roll. Pulling flats are fixed in place by inner and outer end plates. A compression fitting secures at least the outer end plate to the roll. The rod may serve to reinforce the roll and may be secured to the shaft by a plurality of supports. The supports accommodate differences in thermal expansion.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement made to installations allowing production of nonwoven fibrous webs, the cohesion of which is obtained by entangling the fibers in the thickness of said web by virtue of the action of fluid jets, and more particularly pressurized-water jets.
It was proposed a long time ago, as emerges from U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,819 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,308, to produce nonwoven textile webs in which the cohesion is given by the mutual interlacing of the elementary fibers, which interlacing is obtained by the action of pressurized-water jets which act on the fibrous structure in the manner of needles and allow some of the fibers making up the web to be reoriented into the thickness direction.
Such technology has now been extensively developed and is used not only to produce nonwoven fabrics for textile use, such as, in particular, for applications in medical or hospital fields, the field of wiping, of filtration, of envelopes for teabags, etc., but also for producing minute perforations in continuous supports, such as papers, cards, films, or even sheets of plastic or other materials, it being optionally possible for the articles obtained to have patterns in the form of hollows or raised areas, as emerges, in particular, from FR-A-2,068,676, FR-A-2,536,432 and EP-A-0,400,249.
Thus, as emerges from U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,819 which, to the knowledge of the Applicant, is the basic patent on this technology, the action of the water jets may be exerted in various ways on the article which is being treated, either, for example, on only one side of, it or successively on the two sides. However, the teachings provided by this document are essentially theoretical and the information given regarding the practical treatment conditions do not allow satisfactory industrial production. Thus, when it is envisaged to achieve bonding by acting alternately on one side and then the other, one of the steps in the treatment is performed through the fabric supporting the fibrous web. Such a way of operating results in very high absorption of the energy of the water jets by the supporting fabric, when it opposes the passage of said jets, as well as in disbonding of the fibrous structure from the surface of said supporting fabric, the jets pushing the fibrous structure back, causing the latter to elongate and creases to be formed.
Given these drawbacks, the installations proposed hitherto for carrying out a treatment on both sides of the basic product are of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,308 (see, in particular, FIGS. 7 and 8 and the corresponding description) and are designed so that the fibrous base structure passes through a succession of interlacing zones proper, each consisting of a rotating perforated roll combined with a plurality of injectors (three successive injection rails for each rotating roll in the example illustrated) which make it possible, first of all, to act on one side of the product, then, by virtue of turning means provided between two successive rolls, to act thereafter on the reverse side and, optionally, to perform a third treatment on the right side before drying and taking up the product produced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In general, the successive injection rails are set at different pressures depending on the articles to be produced, this pressure generally being between 300 and 100 bar or more.
However, such installations, which are satisfactory from the practical standpoint, have a number of drawbacks, among which may be mentioned:
they take up a lot of room lengthwise;
and, above all, they require the first series of interlacing treatments on one side to be carried out at a reduced pressure in order to prevent the fibers from emerging on the other side and creating defects; this is because, if the pressure is high, the fibers on the nonbonded side have a tendency to penetrate into the supporting fabric of the first roll; it is therefore necessary, in order to compensate for the lesser bonding effectiveness resulting from this reduced pressure, to increase the number of treatment injection rails (usually denoted by the term "injectors"), thereby appreciably increasing the cost of the installation, complicating the industrial operation and leading to high expenditure of energy and of water consumption.
An improved installation has now been discovered, and it is this which forms the subject of the present invention, which makes it possible to carry out such treatments using fluid jets providing cohesion to nonwoven fibrous webs which may be based on natural or man-made fibers, by themselves or as a mixture, or which are formed by nonwoven webs being combined with internal reinforcement, such as textile meshes, woven fabrics, knitted fabrics, cross-woven webs, longitudinal reinforcements, etc.
The installation in accordance with the invention makes it possible not only to tailor the treatment conditions to each type of textile structure much more easily, but also results in articles with a surface appearance much more uniform after action of the fluid and, above all, makes it possible, for equivalent articles, to operate with a reduced water consumption as well as a smaller number of passes under the interlacing injection rails.
Moreover, the installation in accordance with the invention also makes it possible to treat fibrous webs having a higher basis weight than conventional installations in which a series of successive inter-lacing treatments is carried out on each side of the article. This is because, in conventional machines, when the fibrous webs have a weight greater than 100 g/m 2 , and in particular when they consist of low-denier fibers, it has been observed that surface appearance defects (raised or hollowed areas) were produced which renders them unsuitable for most applications.
In general, the installation in accordance with the invention comprises, in a known manner, means allowing a fibrous web to be produced, compressed and introduced into a treatment zone in which the moving web is subjected to the action of a succession of rails for injection of pressurized-water jets which act alternately on one side of said web and on the other, said installation being characterized in that the interlacing means are formed by at least one series of perforated rolls, each roll being combined with an injection rail (or injector) blasting pressurized-water jets against the surface of said web, said injection rails being arranged in a staggered fashion from one treatment roll to the next, the jets acting perpendicularly on the surface of the treated product and the peripheral speed of the rolls increasing slightly from one treatment roll to the next.
The increase in speed, from one treatment roll to the next, allows the web to be held under tension during the succession of treatment steps and results in the elimination of surface defects which appear on conventional machines. By way of indication, a speed increase of between 0.5 and 3% is suitable for most basis weights of webs treated.
According to one embodiment in accordance with the invention, the installation comprises four super-imposed treatment rolls each combined with one injection rail blasting pressurized-water jets against the surface of the material, the first roll in the production cycle being combined with means for densifying the untreated fibrous base web.
Such densifying means are essentially formed by a porous endless conveyor belt which supports the material and which bears tangentially against the surface of the first perforated rotating roll, inside which a partial vacuum is applied, and which therefore allows the base web to be compressed before it is subjected to the action of the first rail for injection of pressurized jets; in this embodiment, when the base web is compressed between the conveyor belt and the perforated rotating roll, said web is wetted by means of a curtain of water produced by means of an additional injection rail placed inside the volume defined by the conveyor belt, said curtain of water being directed against the surface of the latter and passing, in succession, through said porous belt and the compressed web before being sucked out through the perforated roll.
Although for most applications two successive treatments on each side, the right side and the reverse side, allows good results to be obtained, it may be envisaged, in a variant of an installation in accordance with the invention, to produce a second series of alternating treatments by means of a second set of superimposed perforated rolls and injectors which are placed opposite the first series of treatment elements.
By virtue of such a design, it is not only possible to obtain a very compact installation making it possible to carry out web-interlacing treatments which act alternately on each side of the base product but, moreover, it has been observed that, when such an installation comprised means for compacting with prewetting, it was possible to reduce the number of treatment injection rails compared to a similar product made on conventional installations in which several successive interlacing treatments are carried out on one side of the support and then on the other side.
Obviously it is not outside the scope of the invention to provide an installation in which the rolls are placed not in a superimposed manner but side by side, the injection rails or injectors acting, in accordance with the invention, alternately on each side of the fibrous web.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention and the advantages which it provides will, however, be more clearly understood by means of the embodiment which is given hereinbelow by way of indication, but implying no limitation, and which is illustrated by the appended figures in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing the general structure of an installation produced in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view showing the structure of an elementary interlacing treatment zone of which such a machine consists.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to the appended claims and more particularly to FIG. 1, the installation in accordance with the invention comprises, following the direction in which the article is produced, means denoted by the general reference number (1) which allow a fibrous web (2) to be produced, compressed and introduced into a treatment zone proper denoted by the general reference number (3), in which zone the moving web (2) is subjected to the action of a succession of rails for injection of pressurized-water jets, which injection rails, denoted by the same reference letter (R) but with an index, act alternately on one side (N) of said web (2) and on the other side (S), which web, after treatment, is taken up by an extraction unit, designated by the general reference number (4), in which a complementary treatment may be applied to it.
Thus, as emerges from the appended FIG. 1, according to one characteristic of the invention all the perforated rolls (C1, C2, C3, C4) of the treatment zone are mounted so as to be superimposed on top of one another, each roll being combined with one injection rail of injectors (R1, R2, R3, R4) blasting pressurized-water jets against the surface of the web (2), said webs being placed in a staggered fashion from one treatment roll to the next and the jets acting perpendicularly on the surface of the product to be treated. Moreover, the peripheral speed of the rolls (C1, C2, C3, C4) is set so that it increases progressively from one roll to the next in order to tension the web during the various treatment steps. Such a machine design therefore enables a treatment to be easily carried out alternately on the side (S) and on the side (N) of the product.
In the embodiment illustrated, a second series of perforated rolls (C5, C6, C7) combined with injection rails (R5, R6, R7) is placed so as to be parallel to and opposite the first series. This second series of injection rails is not essential and it might, optionally, be envisaged taking up the treated product immediately on leaving the final interlacing treatment zone formed by the roll (C4) and the injection rail (R4).
Each treatment assembly (C) and injection rail (R) has a structure as illustrated in FIG. 2.
The perforated roll (C) is formed by a roll, preferably made of stainless steel, having a diameter of between 200 mm and 1,000 mm, and is rotated by any suitable means so as to have a peripheral speed equal to the speed at which the material (2) enters the installation. In general, this speed is between 10 m/min and 200 m/min and the increase in speed from one roll to the next is about 0.5 to 3%.
The perforations (10) of which the roll consists are of cylindrical or honeycomb shape, said roll being advantageously covered with a fabric made of steel monofilament or of plastic or with a perforated sheet having a porosity of between 3 and 20% (this element is not shown in FIG. 2). The injection rail or injector (R) which is placed so as to be parallel to a generatrix of the roll (C) is a conventional injection rail which creates water jets or needles (11) at a usual pressure of at least 30 bar, sometimes more, so as to entangle the elementary fibers of the web (2).
Such an injector may be designed in a manner similar to the teachings of EP-A-0,400,249.
Inside the roll (C) is placed a suction box (12) which is fixed, coaxial with the rotating roll (C) and connected to a suction source which allows a partial vacuum to be created inside said box. This fixed suction box (12) has, in alignment with the water jets (11), a slot (13) approximately 10 mm in width which allows the water passing through the fibrous web and through the perforated roll (10) to be sucked out.
In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the roll (C1) of the first treatment unit is designed not only to allow the interlacing operation, as explained above, but also to help to compress the untreated web before it is subjected to the interlacing treatment.
To do this, the roll (C1) has a diameter which is preferably greater than the diameter of the other rolls of the installation, this advantageously being between 500 mm and 1,000 mm. This roll bears against an endless porous conveyor belt (14) which allows the web to enter the treatment zone. This porous support has a speed synchronized to that of the roll. It therefore makes it possible to compress the web (1) between the surface of the roll (C1) and its own surface before it is subjected to the action of the first rail (R1) for injection of high-pressure jets. It has been observed that it was advantageous to wet the web during this web-compression operation. To do this, an injection rail (15) is placed inside the volume defined by the conveyor belt (14), said injection rail creating a curtain of slightly pressurized water acting through the porous support (14)/compressed web (2) and perforated roll (1) combination. In order to allow the water passing through the aforementioned elements to be removed, a second slot (16) is provided on the fixed suction box (12), opposite the water injection rail. This extraction slot has a width of between 10 and 20 mm.
This wetting injection rail (15) forms a continuous curtain of slightly pressurized water and is placed opposite the porous support fabric (14) at a distance of between 10 and 100 mm from said porous support. The water pressure of these jets is between 3 and 15 bar, and preferably approximately 3 to 8 bar. Below 3 bar, the curtain disperses too quickly and above 15 bar the additional cost is not justified. It is important for the curtain of water emanating from this first injection rail to act perpendicularly to the base web, which is moving forward and being compressed, so as to wet it under optimum conditions.
On leaving the treatment zone (3), the dried web (2) is taken up, in a conventional manner, at (4), for example by means of an endless conveyor belt (17). In the take-up zone, the web (2) may undergo an additional treatment, for example a treatment allowing perforated patterns to be produced in the web by means of a unit (16) of the type described in European Patent 0,400,249.
The advantages provided by the installation in accordance with the invention will, however, be more apparent from the specific implementation example given hereinbelow.
EXAMPLE
A nonwoven web (2), based on polyester fibers having a linear density of 3.3 dtex and a length of 38 mm, weighing 200 g/m 2 and having a thickness of 8 cm is made to enter an installation as defined above. The entry speed of the web is 20 m/min.
This web is brought to the zone (3) proper by passing over a conveyor belt (14) having a porosity of 46%. The web is compressed between the first rotating roll (13) and said conveyor belt and is subjected to the action of a curtain of water produced by the injection rail (15), the outlet of which is at a distance of 100 mm from the internal surface of the conveyor belt (14). The pressure of the water emanating from the injection rail (15) is set to 10 bar.
The compressed web is then subjected to the action of the water jets emanating from the injection rails (R1, R2, R3, R4) which act alternately on the side (N) and the side (S) of said web.
The four injection rails (R1-R4) together produce 1,250 jets to the meter and are set in the following manner.
______________________________________Injection Jet Roll speedrail order diameter Pressure in m/min______________________________________R1: side N 140 m 150 bar C1: 20 m/minR2: side S 140 m 180 bar C2: 20.2 m/minR3: side N 140 m 180 bar C3: 20.4 m/minR4: side S 140 m 180 bar C4: 20.6 m/min______________________________________
Next, the web passes directly onto the take-up conveyor belt (4) without being treated in the second series of perforated roll jet sic! combinations which is illustrated in FIG. 1.
Such a web has a very uniform surface finish, identical on both sides, and has the following mechanical properties, measured on a specimen 50 mm in width:
strength in the machine direction: 418 newtons
strength in the cross direction: 1,066 newtons
By way of indication, the production of a similar article on a conventional installation, in which several successive treatments are carried out on one side before treating the other side in a similar manner, the speed of the material being constant and set to 20 m/min, requires working under the following conditions:
______________________________________Injectionrail order Jet diameter Pressure______________________________________1st side, N,No. 1 140 m 150 barNo. 2 140 m 180 barNo. 3 140 m 180 bar2nd side, S,No. 1 140 m 180 barNo. 2 140 m 180 barNo. 3 140 m 180 bar______________________________________
The article treated under these conditions has similar mechanical properties but it is observed that some of the fibers reoriented during the treatment on the side N appear on the second side S which has a fluffed and non-uniform appearance. In addition, the planarity of the article is inferior to that of the article produced on a machine in accordance with the invention.
Moreover, the energy consumption necessary for bonding is, in a machine produced in accordance with the invention, about 0.65 kWh per kilogram of nonwoven while it rises to 0.94 kWh in the case of a conventional installation.
In addition, although the previous installations comprise only two perforated rolls each combined with a plurality of treatment injection rails, the installation in accordance with the invention requires as many rolls as treatment rails, the latter installation proving, however, to be less expensive since, in order to produce similar articles, it requires fewer treatment injection rails and less water consumption, with an energy saving of close to 50% and with a better final result being obtained.
Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described and illustrated but covers all alternative embodiments produced within the same spirit, in particular those which would comprise perforated rolls placed parallel to one another as long as the injection rails blasting the water jets act alternately on one side of the treated fibrous web and on the other side and as long as the peripheral speed of the rolls increases progressively from one treatment zone to the next.
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Apparatus for the production of a nonwoven material wherein a web of material is drawn over a series of parallelly aligned porous rolls. The web is treated with a jet of pressurized water as it moves in contact over each roll. The web is compressed between the first roll in the series and is wetted by a curtain of water as it is being compressed to increase the density of the web material prior to its being treated with the pressurized jets of water.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement provided for sheathing a shaft-like element, and/or a connection between two shafts—or a joint—and a method for arranging a bellows-like sheathing of a drive shaft.
Bellows-like arrangements are known for sheathing shaft-like elements, connections of shafts, such as in particular join connections or drive shafts, gear shafts and the like. Especially in the auto industry, drive shafts, gear joints, etc. are sheathed by means of rubber bellows joints, e.g. in order to protect the joints and prevent leakage of the lubrication.
As a rule, rubber bellows joints are mounted on the drive shafts with, already mounted at each end of the bellows, closed hose clamps or clamping rings or press rings such as the commercially very well known “Oetiker” clamps that are clamped or contracted on by means of suitable tools or devices for solid, tight connection of the bellows with the respective shaft sections.
With this pre-mounted, already closed arrangement of the clamps or clamping or press rings, on the one hand cost-intensive measures are necessary on the bellows so that the non-contracted or unclamped, loose mounted clamps or rings are held on collar-like end sections, and in addition, after loose mounting of the bellows on the drive shaft to be sheathed, any defective clamps or rings can no longer be replaced and/or additional clamps or rings or replacement clamps or ring cannot be mounted.
A still open clamping ring already pre-mounted on a rubber bellows end is indeed proposed in EP 0 545 629 that is held “automatically” on a mounting section at each end of the rubber bellows. After mounting the rubber ring, however, this clamping ring must first be clamped and closed in a first mounting step by applying a tool, to then be compressed in a second mounting step if necessary. The latter is true especially when, due to manufacturing tolerances, the clamping or press ring does not already allow secure mounting of the bellows by clamping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the technical problem of the present invention to propose a measure such that already loosely pre-mounted clamps or clamping or press rings can also be easily held on a bellows and can be easily replaced, or additional clamps or rings can be mounted that subsequently allow a secure, solid mounting of the bellows preferably only by means of one further processing step.
It is proposed that an arrangement intended for sheathing a shaft-like element and/or a connection between two shafts or a drive shaft and having a bellow-like element which in turn has at each end a collar-like section designed largely annularly, with, mounted on it, an open clamping, press or contracting ring or a so-called open hose clamp that is pre-stressed toward the center such that the two ends of the ring or clamping belt mutually overlap and the ring or the clamp is automatically retained on the section. In the two belt ends of the clamp or ring, meshing or interlocking sections are provided in order, when the ring or the clamp widens, to mesh or interlock and snap the ring belt or clamp belt closed.
Also proposed is a method for arranging a bellows-like sheathing of a drive shaft or a gear joint, for example to protect the lubrication of a shaft connection or a joint, in connection with which at each end the bellows-like sheathing is provided at a collar-like end section with an open clamping, press or contracting ring or a hose clamp that is pre-stressed toward the center and the ends of which are provided with corresponding contours to form a meshing or interlocking connection of the ends, and these ends mutually overlap due to the pre-stressing such that subsequently at least the one collar section at each end is slid in sleeve-like manner or pushed on a largely circular support[ section provided an a shaft or in the area of the shaft end. This support section is provided for mounting and holding one of the ends of the bellows-like sheathing, in connection with which, when the collar-like end of the bellows-like sheathing is slid in sleeve-like manner or pushed on and widened, the clamping, press or contracting ring or the hose clamp is widened such that the two ends of the ring or the clamp are moved far enough in the belt-widening direction that the meshing or interlocking solid connection of the two belt ends arises due to the contours provided for, and then, by means of a press, contracting or clamping step, the ring or the clamp is fastened on the collar-like end in the diameter-reducing direction to produce the solid connection between the bellows-like element and the shaft.
The arrangement and, respectively, the method defined according to the invention is of course suitable for sheathing shafts or shaft-like elements of different kinds, for sheathing or protecting joint-like connections, drive shafts, gear shafts, etc. The widest variety of bellows-like elements made of the widest variety of elastic materials such as rubber, elastomer, thermoplastic plastics, etc. can also be used for the arrangements and/or methods according to the invention, as can the widest variety of hose clamps, clamping or press rings as well. In this connection; the ends joining the two belt ends of the clamps or the rings can have the widest variety of designs. The essential point is that the two ends have a contour which, when the clamp or the belt is widened, allows a meshing or interlocking connection or allows them to slide into each other or snap in. In this connection, the following clamps should be pointed out, for example: those described in EP 570 742, EP 591648, EP 503 609, CH 561383, CH 555 026, CH 669 642, CH 677 010, CH 679 945, EP 543 338, as well as so-called “Oetiker” clamps, as are widely used commercially and very well known, just to name a few.
The major advantage of the method proposed according to the invention is in the fact that the pre-stressed clamping, press or contracting ring selected according to the invention can be designed smaller and more accurate and is thereby less expensive to manufacture. In addition, there is a smaller contracting path than there is, for example, with an already mounted, closed ring.
Another advantage results from the fact that the ring according to the invention can be inserted from the side and can be precisely positioned where it is to be mounted in the end. In this way, a contracting or press ring can also be mounted at a specific location that is provided with corresponding production or mounting data, which should be placed precisely at that location. These—if necessary—important details on the contracting or press ring placed according to the invention can thus be reviewed later; for example, they can be stamped into the press ring.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is described in more detail below with reference to the attached figures. They show:
FIG. 1 in exploded view and as seen in the direction of an opening, a bellows having at one end an open contracting or press ring as proposed by the invention,
FIG. 2 a cutout from FIG. 1, showing the overlapping belt ends of the contracting or press ring from FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 possible designs of contracting or press rings, and FIG. 4 known from the state of the art for the pre-mounted arrangement of the press and contracting rings,
FIG. 5 the contracting or press ring from FIG. 1 in the non-mounted status,
FIG. 6 the bellows from FIG. 1 in the status mounted on a shaft end before compression of the press or contracting ring,
FIG. 6 a a rear-axle shaft, and respectively, a drive shaft by means of a bellows, corresponding to that of FIG. 6,
FIG. 7 a possible design of the two belt ends of the press or contracting ring,
FIG. 8 a further form of construction of the connection of the press or contracting ring, and
FIG. 9 as an example, an installation for contracting or clamping the clamping ring or press ring on the bellows.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 shows in an exploded view as seen in the direction of the larger bellows end, an arrangement according to the invention having a bellows 10 with the individual bellows sections 12 . The bellows 10 may be made of a rubber or a rubber mixture, for example, or of another suitable elastic material, such as a suitable thermoplastic plastic. On the larger collar-like end 14 visible in FIG. 1, a clamping or press or contracting ring 20 is mounted. The two ends 22 and 24 are mounted loosely and mutually overlapping, i.e., in other words, the contracting ring 20 is loose and can be removed at any time by pulling apart the two ends of the collar 14 of the bellows 10 . In order for the contracting ring 20 to be firmly retained automatically on the collar 14 at each end of the bellows 10 , as already mentioned it is designed pre-stressed toward the middle of the ring on the one hand, and in addition, the collar 14 preferably has a further, second edge like grading 18 designed toward the first bellows section. The edge 16 of the collar 14 as well as the grading 18 are preferably designed at such a distance from each other that the ring can be attached with its width between them. The edge 16 comprises a retaining section, such as a groove-like section, that holds the ring 20 on the collar 14 when the ring 20 is in an open, non-mounted status. In particular in FIG. 2, in which the two belt ends 22 and 24 from FIG. 1 are illustrated enlarged, it can be clearly seen that the one belt end 22 has a protruding tongue 23 or latch with sections protruding laterally, i.e., crosswise to the direction of the belt. A corresponding recess or notching 25 —not shown—is provided in the other belt end 24 so that when the ring belt 20 is opened up, the latch 23 can snap into the corresponding recess 25 without loss. As can furthermore be seen in FIG. 2, that belt end is arranged directed outward that has the latch or the tongue 23 .
It was already attempted in the state of the art to solve at least a portion of the technical problem at the basis of this invention; i.e., to hold a not yet contracted press or clamping or contracting ring on the collar-like end of a bellows. A possible start of a solution is shown in FIG. 3, in that, for example, the belt is designed oval or elliptic in order to achieve a clamping effect vis-a-vis the collar surface. According to a further illustration from FIG. 3, the belt is arranged triangularly in order to achieve a clamping effect vis-a-vis the collar at least at three support sections.
In FIG. 4, on the other hand, a further starting point for a solution is shown, in that it is also conceivable that during the pre-mounting of the already closed clamping or contracting ring, the bellows is reduced in diameter by an inward-facing deformation thereof, so that the already closed ring can be pulled on. This method is indeed possible in connection with rubber-like materials for bellows but hardly in connection with the thermoplastic materials or elastomers such as Hytrel, Anitel, etc. often used nowadays.
In addition, the potential solutions illustrated in FIG. 3 and 4 always start from already closed clamping or contracting rings, occasionally a disadvantage.
For this reason, it is proposed to use the contracting or press ring 20 shown in FIG. 5, which is designed pre-stressed toward the center, and to have the two belt ends 22 and 24 overlap in loose status. This creates a tensioning or clamping effect which automatically holds the press or contracting ring 20 on the collar-like end 14 , as shown in FIG. 1 .
When mounting the bellows 10 with pre-mounted contracting or press ring 20 , such as a so-called multi-crimp ring (MCR) on the metal counterpiece or end of a shaft, the collarlike end 14 of the bellows is widened. The MCR overlapping with the two open belt ends in delivery condition is likewise extended due to this widening process, and the two ends automatically snap in on the same belt level, as FIG. 6 clearly shows. The latch or tongue 23 snaps into the corresponding recess 25 in the belt end 24 , and due to the design of the tongue or latch 23 with the sections protruding laterally crosswise to the belt direction, the two ends are locked.
FIG. 6 a shows a rear-axle shaft 50 having two joints arranged on the one hand between a drive shaft 51 and connecting shaft or steering shaft 53 , and on the other hand between the connecting or steering shaft 53 and the wheel shaft or wheel-hub 55 . The two joints are each sheathed by means of a bellows 10 that protects each of the joints and “secures” their lubrication. The two bellows 10 are in turn secured with contracting or press rings 20 proposed according to the invention, with the two belt ends 22 and 24 as well as the tongue 23 engaging a corresponding recess are clearly recognizable on the contracting ring near the drive shaft 51 . The major advantage of the present invention again becomes clear with the help of such a rear-axle shaft or drive shaft 50 , in that it can be-delivered with “loose” contracting or press rings, but with no risk that these press or contracting rings may fall off. There is also the possibility at any time to remove one of the already mounted contracting or press rings even if the rear-axle shaft has already been definitively mounted, since a new, still open contracting or press ring can still be pushed laterally onto the collar to be compressed.
Possible forms of construction of belt ends are illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, for example, in connection with which in FIG. 7, the latch protruding from the one end 22 or the edge 26 has the aforementioned sections 28 protruding crosswise to the belt direction. Furthermore, the end of the belt section 22 has sections 29 protruding laterally relative to the latch 23 , in order to prevent a lateral breaking out of the end areas 26 grasped from behind by the two sections 28 . The latch and the corresponding recess are preferably designed such that a meshing is ensured without loss.
FIG. 8 shows a further form of construction of a connection, in connection with which the latch or tongue 23 ′ arranged once again in the middle of the belt end 22 is mounted meshing in a corresponding recess 25 ′. In this form of construction, several sections protruding laterally and crosswise to the belt direction are provided that additionally have special contours.
The two belt connections or belt closures shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are of course only examples and are only used to better comprehend the present invention. Of course, this also covers any number of other belt locks or connections that make possible an automatic meshing or interlocking connection or snapping in of the ends during the widening step of the b.
After successfully mounting the bellows on a shaft end, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 6 a , only the press or contracting ring or the pre-mounted MCR then need to be clamped or compressed. Once again as an example, FIG. 9 shows such an installation that is suitable for contracting pre-mounted MCRs. In this procedure, the lock of the contracting or press ring, attached in the pre-mounted status, is sealed such that it can no longer be automatically opened or separated. The installation 40 shown in FIG. 9 has, described in simplified manner, clamping segments 41 able to be actuated annularly inward and together displaying an annular opening 43 with their inner contours. With a hydraulic or pneumatic installation 42 , the individual clamping segments 41 can be pressed or driven radially inward in order to reduce the diameter of or contract the contracting or press ring.
The present new development thus includes clamping or contracting rings or so-called multi-crimp rings (MCR) with open ends and known mechanical lock. Due to the fact that these MCRs are produced with open ends, they can be manufactured with corresponding pre-stress. This pre-stress causes a spring effect in the direction of the ring center. This spring effect can be used to the effect that the ring automatically holds, will no structural adaptation on the bellows, in the area of the end collar in an appropriately provided groove, e.g. provided for receiving MCRs. This is because, as is well known, practically every model of bellows is manufactured with the aforementioned groove. This groove can be designed running throughout or also as just an individual cam arranged on the bellows periphery. A pre-mounting is thus possible, namely without any structural modification on the bellows, i.e., every mass-production bellows can be equipped with the integrated MCR, provided as a system, thereby saving a work step during definitive mounting.
The forms of construction or installations shown in FIGS. 1-9 in connection with the arrangement of bellows are of course only examples intended to explain in greater detail the inventive step or the aforementioned mounting step. The design of the bellows, particularly the material used for the bellows, and also the design of the contracting or press ring or the so-called MCR, and in turn the material used for this, may be modified in any desired manner, of course, and the invention is not limited to any form of construction. It has indeed been shown that for manufacturing the MCR, aluminum is suitable, for example but stainless steel or any other suitable metallic materials can also be used for this, of course.
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The invention relates to an arrangement for covering a shaft-type mechanism and/or a joint-type connection of two shafts or a steering gear, comprising a bellows-type element ( 10 ). Said bellows-type element ( 10 ) has a collar-type essentially ring-shaped section ( 14 ) at each end, with an open clamping, pressing or shrink ring ( 20 ) or a so-called open hose clamp located thereon. Said hose clamp is pre-stressed in the direction of the centre in such a way that the two open ends ( 22, 24 ) mutually overlap each other and the ring or the clamp is automatically held tight on the respective section.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in part and claims priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 12/887,144 filed Sep. 21, 2010 titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC TRANSPARENT CONSISTENT APPLICATION-REPLICATION OF MULTI-PROCESS MULTI-THREADED APPLICATION which is a continuation-in part and claims priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 12/851,706 filed on Aug. 6, 2010 titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSPARENT CONSISTENT APPLICATION-REPLICATION OF MULTI-PROCESS MULTI-THREADED APPLICATIONS, the disclosure of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC
Not Applicable
NOTICE OF MATERIAL SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
A portion of the material in this patent document is subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the United States and of other countries. The owner of the copyright rights has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office publicly available file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The copyright owner does not hereby waive any of its rights to have this patent document maintained in secrecy, including without limitation its rights pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §1.14.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to software-based fault tolerant computer systems, computer networks, telecommunications systems, embedded computer systems, wireless devices such as cell phones and PDAs, and more particularly to methods, systems and procedures (i.e., programming) for reliable messaging for use in application replication between two or more servers. The reliable messaging ensures consistent and ordered message delivery in the event of messages getting lost, arriving out-of-order or in duplicate.
2. Description of Related Art
In many environments one of the most important features is to ensure that a running application continues to run even in the event of one or more system or software faults. Mission critical systems in telecommunications, military, financial and embedded applications must continue to provide their service even in the event of hardware or software faults. The auto-pilot on an airplane is designed to continue to operate even if some of the computer and instrumentation is damaged; the 911 emergency phone system is designed to operate even if the main phone system if severely damaged, and stock exchanges deploy software that keep the exchange running even if some of the routers and servers go down. Today, the same expectations of “fault-free” operations are being placed on commodity computer systems and standard applications.
Fault tolerant systems are based on the use of redundancy (replication) to mask faults. For hardware fault tolerance, servers, networking or subsystems are replicated. For application fault tolerance, the applications are replicated. Faults on the primary system or application are masked by having the backup system or application (the replica) take over and continue to provide the service. The take-over after a fault at the primary system is delicate and often very system or application specific.
Several approaches have been developed addressing the fundamental problem of providing fault tolerance. Tandem Computers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem computer) is an example of a computer system with custom hardware, custom operating system and custom applications, offering transaction-level fault tolerance. In this closed environment, with custom applications, operating system and hardware, a fault on the primary system can be masked down to the transaction boundary and the backup system and application take over seamlessly. The fault-detection and failover is performed in real-time.
In many telecommunication systems fault tolerance is built in. Redundant line cards are provided within the switch chassis, and if one line card goes down, the switching fabric automatically re-routes traffic and live connections to a backup line card. As with the Tandem systems, many telecommunications systems are essentially closed systems with custom hardware, custom operating systems and custom applications. The fault detection and failover is performed in real-time.
In enterprise software systems the general approach taken is the combined use of databases and high availability. By custom programming the applications with hooks for high-availability it is generally possible to detect and recovery from many, but not all, types of faults. In enterprise systems, it is typically considered “good enough” to recover the application's transactional state, and there are often no hard requirements that the recovery be performed in real-time. In general, rebuilding the transactional state for an application server can take as much as 30 minutes or longer. During this time, the application services, an e-commerce website for instance, is unavailable and cannot service customers. The very slow fault recovery can to some extent be alleviated by extensive use of clustering and highly customized applications, as evidenced by Amazon.com and ebay.com, but that is generally not a viable choice for most deployments.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,228,452 Moser et al teach “transparent consistent semi-active and passive replication of multithreaded application programs”. Moser et al disclose a technique to replicate running applications across two or more servers. The teachings are limited to single process applications and only address replica consistency as it related to mutex operations and multi-threading. Moser's invention does not require any modification to the applications and work on commodity operating systems and hardware. Moser is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The present invention builds on the teachings in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/887,144 titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC TRANSPARENT CONSISTENT APPLICATION-REPLICATION OF MULTI-PROCESS MULTI-THREADED APPLICATIONS and on the teachings in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/851,706 titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSPARENT CONSISTENT APPLICATION-REPLICATION OF MULTI-PROCESS MULTI-THREADED APPLICATIONS in which Havemose (Havemose) teaches systems and methods for transparent and consistent application replication.
Replication relies on communicating information between servers. The communication often relies on one of the core networking protocols, such as UDP or TCP. UDP, for instance, transmits messages without implicit handshaking and thus does not guarantee delivery, ordering or data integrity. TCP uses a more rigorous protocol to ensure some level of reliable, ordered delivery of messages, In the event of faults, such as a network or server faults; TCP cannot guarantee delivery, ordering or integrity.
Therefore, a need exists for systems and methods for providing transparent reliable messaging for use with application-replication of multi-process multi-threaded application, that ensures message delivery, ordering and integrity Furthermore, the reliable messaging must work on commodity operating system, such as Windows and Linux, and commodity hardware with standard applications.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides systems and methods for application-replication that is consistent, transparent and works on commodity operating system and hardware. The terms “Application-replication” or “replication” are used herein to describe the mechanism by which two copies of an application are kept running in virtual lock step. The application-replication in the present invention uses a leader-follower (primary-backup) strategy, where the primary application runs on the primary server and the backup application (also called the “replica”) runs on a backup server. While it's possible to run the primary application and the backup application on the same physical server, the primary and backup are generally depicted as separate servers.
The primary application runs at full speed without waiting for the backup, and a messaging system, a key component of the present invention, keeps the backup application in virtual lock step with the primary.
A replication strategy is said to achieve “replica consistency” or be “consistent” if the strategy guarantees that the primary and backup application produce the same results in the same order. Replica consistency is critical with multi-process applications where the various parts of the application execute independently of each other. Replica consistency is a key element of the present invention and is explained in further detail below.
The term “virtual lock-step” is used to describe that the application and the application's replica produce the same results in the same order, but not necessarily at the same time; the backup may be behind.
The terms “primary” and “primary application” are used interchangeably to designate the primary application running on the primary host. The host on which the primary application is running is referred to as the “primary server”, “primary host” or simply the “host” when the context is clear. The term “on the primary” is used to designate an operation or activity related to the primary application on the primary server.
Similarly, the terms “backup” and “backup application” are used interchangeably to designate a backup application running on a backup host. The host on which the backup application is running is referred to as a “backup server”, a “backup host” or simply a “host” when the context is clear. The terms “on the backup” or “on a backup” are used interchangeably to designate an operation or activity related to a backup application on a backup server.
The following terms are used throughout the disclosures:
The terms “Windows” and “Microsoft Windows” is utilized herein interchangeably to designate any and all versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems. By example, and not limitation, this includes Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows NT, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, and Windows Embedded.
The terms “Linux” and “UNIX” is utilized herein to designate any and all variants of Linux and UNIX. By example, and not limitation, this includes RedHat Linux, Suse Linux, Ubuntu Linux, HPUX (HP UNIX), and Solaris (Sun UNIX).
The term “node” and “host” are utilized herein interchangeably to designate one or more processors running a single instance of an operating system. A virtual machine, such as VMWare, KVM, or XEN VM instance, is also considered a “node”. Using VM technology, it is possible to have multiple nodes on one physical server.
The terms “application” is utilized to designate a grouping of one or more processes, where each process can consist of one or more threads. Operating systems generally launch an application by creating the application's initial process and letting that initial process run/execute. In the following teachings we often identify the application at launch time with that initial process.
The term “application group” is utilized to designate a grouping of one or more applications.
In the following we use commonly known terms including but not limited to “client”, “server”, “API”, “lava”, “process”, “process ID (PID)”, “thread”, “thread ID (TID)”, “thread local storage (TLS)”, “instruction pointer”, “stack”, “kernel”, “kernel module”, “loadable kernel module”, “heap”, “stack”, “files”, “disk”, “CPU”, “CPU registers”, “storage”, “memory”, “memory segments”, “address space”, “semaphore”, “loader”, “system loader”, “system path”, “sockets”, “TCP/IP”, “http”, “ftp”, “Inter-process communication (IPC), “Asynchronous Procedure Calls (APC), “POSIX”, “certificate”, “certificate authority”, “Secure Socket Layer”, “SSL”, MD-5″, “MD-6”, “Message Digest”, “SHA”, “Secure Hash Algorithm”, “NSA”, “NIST”, “private key”, “public key”, “key pair”, and “hash collision”, and “signal”. These terms are well known in the art and thus will not be described in detail herein.
The term “transport” is utilized to designate the connection, mechanism and/or protocols used for communicating across the distributed application. Examples of transport include TCP/IP, UDP, Message Passing Interface (MPI), Myrinet, Fibre Channel, ATM, shared memory, DMA, RDMA, system buses, and custom backplanes. In the following, the term “transport driver” is utilized to designate the implementation of the transport. By way of example, the transport driver for TCP/IP would be the local TCP/IP stack running on the host.
The term TCP is used herein to describe the Transmission Control Protocol as found in the core suite of internet protocols. TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery of a stream of bytes, provided the network is operational and fault-free during transmission
The term UDP is herein used to describe the User Datagram Protocol as found in the core suite of internet protocols. UDP is a simple protocol without implicit handshaking to guarantee data integrity or reliable, ordered delivery of data. UDP may thus delivery messages out of order, in duplicate or not at all.
The terms Two Phase Commit and 2PC are used interchangeably to designate the blocking distributed atomic transaction algorithms commonly used in databases. Likewise, the terms Three Phase Commit and 3PC are used interchangeably to designate the non-blocking distributed transaction algorithm used in some database systems. Both 2PC and 3PC are well known in the art and thus will not be described in detail herein.
The term “interception” is used to designate the mechanism by which an application re-directs a system call or library call to a new implementation. On Linux and other UNIX variants interception is generally achieved by a combination of LD_PRELOAD, wrapper functions, identically named functions resolved earlier in the load process, and changes to the kernel sys_call_table. On Windows, interception can be achieved by modifying a process' Import Address Table and creating Trampoline functions, as documented by “Detours: Binary Interception of Win32 Functions” by Galen Hunt and Doug Brubacher, Microsoft Research July 1999″. Throughout the rest of this document we use the term interception to designate the functionality across all operating systems.
The term “transparent” is used herein to designate that no modification to the application is required. In other words, the present invention works directly on the application binary without needing any application customization, source code modifications, recompilation, re-linking, special installation, custom agents, or other extensions.
To avoid simultaneous use of shared resources in multi-threaded multi-process applications locking is used. Several techniques and software constructs exists to arbitrate access to resources. Examples include, but are not limited to, mutexes, semaphores, futexes, critical sections and monitors. All serve similar purposes and often vary little from one implementation and operating system to another. In the following, the term “Lock” is used to designate any and all such locking mechanism. Properly written multi-process and multi-threaded application use locking to arbitrate access to shared resources
The context of the present invention is an application on the primary server (primary application or the primary) and one or more backup applications on backup servers (also called the replicas or backups). While any number of backup-servers with backup applications is supported the disclosures generally describe the scenario with one backup. As is obvious to anyone skilled in the art this is done without loss of generality.
As part of loading the primary application interceptors are installed. The interceptors monitor the primary applications activities and sends messages to the backup. The backup uses said messages to enforce the primary's execution order on the backup thereby ensuring replica consistency.
A key element of the present invention is thus the combined use of interceptors and a messaging subsystem to provide replica consistency.
Another aspect of the present invention is that the replica consistency is achieved without requiring any application modifications. The application replication is provided as a system service and is fully transparent to the application.
Another aspect of the present invention is the use of sequence numbering to capture the execution stream of for multi process and multi threaded applications. Yet another aspect is the use of the sequence numbers on the backup to enforce execution that is in virtual synchrony with the primary.
Another aspect of the present invention is a reliable communication protocol that ensures ordered and reliable delivery of replication messages over both UDP and TCP on a LAN or a WAN. A related aspect of the reliable communication protocol is that it is non-blocking, i.e. that the primary executes at full speed, while the backup execute as replication messages are received, and the ordered and reliable delivery is ensured even if the underlying transport protocol does not provide guaranteed ordered delivery. Another related aspect is the acknowledgement (ACK) of received messages and the request for re-transmission (REQ) in the case of lost of missing messages.
Yet another aspect is a Message Processing Unit (MPU) responsible for receiving messages and hiding the ACK/REQ sequences from the backup applications.
A further aspect of the present invention is that it can be provided on commodity operating systems such as Linux and Windows, and on commodity hardware such as Intel, AMD, SPARC and MIPS. The present invention thus works on commodity operating systems, commodity hardware with standard (off the shelf) software without needing any further modifications.
One example embodiment of the present invention includes a system for providing replica consistency between a primary application and one or more backup applications, the system including one or more memory locations configured to store the primary application executing for a host with a host operating system. The system also includes an interception layer for the primary application intercepting calls to the host operating system and to shared libraries and generating replication messages based on said intercepted calls, a messaging engine for the primary application sending said replication messages to the one or more backup applications, and one or more additional memory locations are configured to store the one or more backup applications executing for one or more hosts each with a corresponding host operating system. The system further includes one or more additional messaging engines for each backup application receiving said replication messages from the primary application, and backup interception layers corresponding to each backup intercepting call to the operating system and shared libraries. The ordering information is retrieved from the one or more additional messaging engines for each backup application, and each replication message contains at least the process ID, thread ID and a sequence number, and replica consistency is provided by imposing the same call ordering on backup applications as on the primary application. The system further includes one or more message processing units (MPUs) used to ensure ordered message delivery, and pending acknowledgement queues (PAQs) to ensure message delivery.
Further aspects of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention without placing limitations thereon.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)
The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following drawings which are for illustrative purposes only:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the core system architecture for both primary and backups
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a pair of primary and backup
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating Interception
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating creation of replication messages by the primary
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the primary's messaging engine
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a backup's messaging engine
FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating handling of PROCESS messages
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a backup's processing replication messages
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating I/O write processing
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating various deployment scenarios.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating sending one replication message
FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating multiple messages with retransmit
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating the Message Processing Unit
FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating multiple backups
FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating non-blocking primary execution
FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating reliable messaging over TCP.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring more specifically to the drawings, for illustrative purposes the present invention will be disclosed in relation to FIG. 1 through FIG. 16 It will be appreciated that the system and apparatus of the invention may vary as to configuration and as to details of the constituent components, and that the method may vary as to the specific steps and sequence, without departing from the basic concepts as disclosed herein.
0. Introduction
The context in which this invention is disclosed is an application running on a primary server and one or more replicated instances of the application running on one or more backup servers. Without affecting the general case of multiple replicated backup applications, the following disclosures often depict and describe just one backup. Multiple backups are handled in a similar manner.
Similarly, the disclosures describe one primary application. Multiple applications are handled in a similar manner. Likewise, the disclosures generally describe applications with one or two processes; any number of processes is handled in a similar manner. Finally, the disclosures generally describe one or two threads per process; any number of threads is handled in a similar manner
1. Overview
FIG. 1 illustrates by way of example embodiment 10 the overall structure of the present invention for both primary and backups. The following brief overview illustrates the high-level relationship between the various components; further details on the inner workings and interdependencies are provided in the following sections. FIG. 1 . Illustrates by way of example embodiment a primary and backup server 12 with an application 16 loaded into system memory 14 . The application 16 is comprised of two processes; process A 18 and process B 20 . Each of the two processes has two running threads. Process A contains thread T 0 22 and thread T 1 24 , while process B is contains thread T 3 26 and thread T 4 28 . An interception layer (IL) 30 , 32 is interposed between each application process and the Messaging Engine (ME) 34 , the system libraries 36 and operating system 38 . Process A's interception Layer 30 and Process B's interception Layer 32 use the shared messaging engine (ME) 34 to send and receive messages used to enforce replica consistency.
System resources, such as CPUs 46 , I/O devices 44 , Network interfaces 42 and storage 40 are accessed using the operating system 38 . Devices accessing remote resources use some form of transport network 48 . By way of example, system networking 42 may use TCP/IP over Ethernet transport, Storage 40 may use Fibre Channel or Ethernet transport, and I/O may use USB.
In the preferred embodiment storage 40 is external and accessible by both primary and backups.
The architecture for the primary and backups are identical. At the functional level, the Messaging Engine 34 generally is sending out replication messages on the primary, while the ME 34 on the backup is receiving and processing replication messages sent by the primary.
FIG. 2 illustrates by way of example embodiment 60 a primary server 62 and its corresponding backup server 82 working as a pair of primary and backup. The primary application 64 is comprised of two processes; process A 66 and process B 68 , each with two running threads. Process A's interception layer 70 and the Messaging Engine 74 are interposed between process A 66 and the operating system and libraries 76 . Likewise, Process B's interception layer 72 and the Messaging Engine 74 are interposed between process B 68 and the operating system and libraries 76 .
Using a similar architecture, the backup server 82 contains the backup application (the replica) 84 comprised of process A 86 and process B 88 each with two threads. The Interception Layers IL 90 for process A and IL 92 for process B are interposed together with the Messaging Engine 94 between the two processes and the system libraries and operating system 96 .
As illustrated on both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 there is one Messaging Engine per application. If an application contains multiple processes, the application processes share one message engine.
2. Interception
Interception is used to intercept all events, library calls and locking calls that affect replica consistency. FIG. 3 illustrates by way of example embodiment 100 , the core interception architecture for an application with two processes. Details on the Messaging Engine and its architecture are given below. Process A 102 with interception layer 106 , and process B 112 with interception layer 116 . By way of example, ifunc1( ) and ifunc2( ) are subject to interception. When process A 102 reaches ifunc1( ) it is intercepted 108 and the call redirected to the interception layer 106 . The interception layers processes the ifunc1( ) calls as follows (in pseudo code)
Call ifunc1( ) and store return values
Collect ProcessID and ThreadID for ifunc1( )
Call Message Engine 122 with (ProcessID,ThreadID) identifiers and any data from ifunc1( ) as necessary
Return to caller 110
Upon returning to the caller 110 Process A resumes execution as if ifunc1( ) had not been intercepted.
The interception mechanism is identical for process B 112 , where ifunc2( ) 114 is intercepted 118 , the interception processed 116 with the same algorithm, and then returned 120 to the caller.
In a preferred embodiment the interception layer is implemented as a shared library and pre-loaded into each application process' address space as part of loading the application. Shared libraries are implemented in such as way that each instance of the interception layer share the same code, but have their own private data. In a multi-process application the interception layer is therefore comprised of one interception layer per application process, and together the process-level interception layers comprise the interception layer for the entire application.
A related issue with interception is that intercepted functions may call other intercepted functions. As long as said calls are performed using public intercepted names, the previous teachings fully describe the interception. At times shared-library developers take shortcuts and don't use the public names, but refer directly to the implementation using a private name. In such cases, the interceptor must overlay a copy of the intercepted shared library code using fully resolved public function names.
3. Replica Consistency
Even with correctly written multi-process and multi-threaded programs, there are no guarantees that the same program run multiple times produces the same result at each run. By way of example consider an application consisting of two threads. The program contains one global variable, one global lock, and two threads to operate on the global variable. In pseudo code:
main( )
{
int globalInt = 0;
Lock globalLock = new Lock( );
Start thread1;
Start thread2;
Print(“Final value=” + globalInt);
}
private thread1( )
{
for(int i=0; i< 10; i++)
{
globalLock.lock( );
globalInt = globalInt + 1;
globalLock.unlock( );
sleep(random( ));
}
}
private thread2( )
{
for(int i=0; i< 10; i++)
{
globalLock.lock( );
globalInt = globalInt * 2;
globalLock.unlock( );
sleep(random( ));
}
}
Thread 1 repeats the core loop 10 times and each time first locks the global lock to ensure atomic access to globalInt, increments globalInt by one, frees the lock and waits a random amount of time. Thread 2 has the same structure except it multiplies globalInt by 2.
Depending on how long each thread sleeps each time they reach sleep( ) thread 1 and thread 2 will execute their locks in different orders and thus globalInt is not guaranteed to be the same at the end of separate runs
To ensure replica consistency, the present invention enforces an ordering on events, so that the primary and backup produces the same results. Specifically, if the application runs on the primary and produces a final value of 10, so will the backup. If next time the primary produces the final value of 10240, so will the backup.
While the use of sleep( ) highlighted the consistency problem, even without sleep( ) different runs would produce different final results. The reason is that the operating system schedules Tread 1 and Thread 2 based on a wide range of factors, and likely will make different scheduling decisions from run to run.
4. Generating unique global IDs
The present invention utilizes global IDs in several places. A “global ID” is a 64 bit integer that is guaranteed to be unique within the context of an application. When a new global ID is created it is guaranteed to be one larger than the most recently generated global ID. Global IDs are used as counters for replication messages. Global IDs start at zero upon initialization and continue to increase as more global IDs are requested. 64 bits ensures that integer wrap-around is not a practical concern. In an alternate embodiment global IDs are implemented as arbitrary precision integers, which can hold any size integer and never wrap.
In a preferred embodiment generation of global IDs are provided in a shared library. On some operating systems, shared libraries can have variables, called static library variables, or global library variables, that are shared across all instances of the shared library. For such operating system, the preferred implementation uses such global library variables to implement the global IDs. In pseudo code the implementation is, where “m_GlobalID” is the global shared variable:
static Int64 m_GlobalID=0;
Lock m_GlobalIDLock = new Lock( );
static int64 createGlobalID( )
{
Int64 id = m_GlobalID;
m_GlobalIDLock.lock( );
m_GlobalID = m_GlobalID + 1;
id = m_GlobalID;
m_GlobalLock.unlock( );
return id;
}
Alternatively, if the operating system doesn't support global variables within shared libraries, the same functionality can be implemented using shared memory, using, by way of example, the POSIX shared memory subsystem found on modern operating system. In stead of using a static Int 64 to hold the m_GlobalID, the m_GlobalID is placed in a shmem segment shared among all instances of the shared library and locked using a named semaphore This alternate technique is substantially identical to the algorithm above other than the use of shared memory in stead of library static variable
In a preferred implementation the global ID functionality is built into to the Messaging Engine shared library. In an alternate implementation, the global ID functionality is provided in a separate shared library. In the following disclosures the global ID functionality is depicted as being provided by the Messaging Engine shared library, per the preferred implantation.
5. Identifying Resources
As a thread executes it proceeds along a unique path. Generally a thread runs within the context of a process. The process has a unique identifier, called the process ID or PID, and each thread has a unique identifier called the thread ID or TID. In some operating systems thread IDs are globally unique, in others unique within the context of its parent process. The combination of PID and TID uniquely identifies a thread and process pair independently of whether TIDs are globally or process unique. On many operating systems the PID is determined by the getpid( ) or GetProcessId( ) functions, while the TID is determined by the gettid( ) or GetThreadId( ) functions. Other operating systems offer similar functionality.
As an application is loaded control is first transferred from the loader to the applications init( ) method. Generally, init( ) is provided as part of the standard system libraries but custom init( ) may be provided. init( ) ends by calling the main application entry point, generally called main( ). As main( ) starts executing it does so as one process with a single thread. The teachings of the present invention follow this model where each process automatically is created with one thread, where said thread is executing the initial program code. There are operating systems where every thread must be created programmatically and where no initial thread is attached to a process. The present invention supports adding threads to a running process at any time, and it's thus apparent to anyone skilled in the art that the following disclosures easily adapt to the case where a thread needs to be programmatically added following process creation.
In the preferred embodiment, the present invention supplies a custom init( ) wherein all interceptors are loaded. This ensures that all resources, including threads and processes, can be intercepted and that the interceptors are installed before the application's main( ) is called.
The process and thread interceptors intercept all process and thread creation, termination and exits. As the primary application executes and uses threads and processes, said events are communicated using Replication Messages (described below) to the backup providing the necessary information for the backup to rebuild the process and thread hierarchy and match it against incoming replication messages from the primary.
By way of example, as init( ) calls main( ) the programs consists of one process with one thread. Prior to calling main( ) a special initialization replication message (called PROCESS_INIT) with the initial process ID and thread ID is sent to the backups. When a new process is created the new process ID together with its initial thread ID are sent to the backup in a replication message (PROCESS_CREATE). Whenever a new thread is created, a replication message with the process ID and new thread ID are sent to the backup (THREAD_CREATE). Likewise, whenever a process or thread terminates a replication message with the terminating process and thread is sent to the backups. The backup can thus build a representation of the process and thread hierarchy on the primary and use that to map incoming replication messages against the backup's own process and thread hierarchy.
To ensure replica consistency, access to all resources is intercepted and tagged, so that the identical access sequence can be imposed on the replica. The first set of interceptors intercept all process and thread creation and termination calls. Tracking the process and thread hierarchy on the primary enables recreation of the hierarchy on the replica. The process and thread <PID,TID> pair is attached to all resource access performed on process PID and thread TID and provides the tagging necessary to associate resource interceptors on the backup with the corresponding process and thread on the primary
As a thread executes it does so sequentially. While a multi process and/or multi threaded application may contain many simultaneous executing threads and processes, each thread is performing its work serially. By way of example consider the following pseudo code:
FILE *fp = fopen(“/home/user/newfile.txt”, “w”)
if (fp != null)
fwrite(pStr,1, strlen(pStr),fp);
fclose(fp)
The thread first opens the file using fopen( ) then writes to the files with fwrite( ), and finally closes the file with fclose( ). The program will not, by way of example, first call fwrite( ) then f close( ), and finally fopen( ). The instruction sequence, as it relates to the resource FILE *fp, is guaranteed to be sequential as programmed in the example code. Compilers may rearrange some of the compiled code as part of code generation and optimization, but it will always leave the resource access ordering as specified in the source code. If the compiler re-arranges other aspects of the code execution, the same rearranged order would be in place on the backup, and such compiler optimization thus have no effect on the teachings of the present invention.
By way of example, this means that a thread on the primary and the backup both would first call fopen( ) then fwrite( ) and finally fclose( ). The present invention uses this implicit ordering to map replication messages against the right methods. By way of continued example, the backup would first, as this is how the program executes, request the replication message for fopen( ) then for fwrite( ) and finally for fclose( ) and thus automatically match the ordering of Replication Messages generated by the primary as far as the resource FILE *fp is concerned.
If, by way of example, a thread uses two resources the same teachings apply. While the compiler may have rearranged the relative order of the two resources, said reordering would be identical on primary and backups and thus not affect any difference in execution on the primary and the backups.
If by way of example, an execution environment such as Java or .NET is used, said execution environment is included as part of the application as the execution environment affects and controls execution.
There is thus no need to assign any resource identifiers to resources in order to match resource on the primary with the resource on the backup. The execution context itself suffices to identify a resource and its use within the context of a thread and process. By way of example, the creation of a resource by a process and thread is used directly to match it to the corresponding process and thread on the backups. The matching on the backups is explained in detailed below.
By way of example consider a process with two threads. The two threads access a shared lock and arbitrate for access using the lock( ) and unlock( ) methods. In pseudo code:
Lock globalLock = null;
private thread1( )
{
globalLock = new Lock ( );// create
globalLock.lock( );
// do thread 1 work
globalLock.unlock( );
}
}
private thread2( )
{
globalLock.lock( );
// do thread 2 work
globalLock.unlock( );
}
}
FIG. 4 illustrates by way of example embodiment 140 , the interception of Lock objects in a scenario with two threads and the creation of <PID,TID> pairs. A process is comprised of two threads, Thread- 0 142 and Thread- 1 144 . The resource interceptor 146 intercepts access to the underlying Lock resource 148 .
First Thread- 0 142 creates 150 the lock. The create( ) call is intercepted 152 by the resource interceptor 146 . First the actual resource create( ) 154 call is performed and the returning value stored. A replication message with the pair <PID,TID> is created and sent 156 to the Message Engine 141 for transmittal to the backup. Finally the creation call return 158 the results of the resource create ( ) call. Later the Thread- 0 142 calls the lock( ) method 160 on the Lock object. The lock( ) is intercepted 162 , and initially forwarded to the lock( ) call within the Lock object 164 . The lock is returned to the interceptor 162 , and a replication message with <PID,TID> is created and sent to the Messaging Engine. The lock is returned 168 to thread- 0 . At this point thread- 0 has acquired the Lock and no other threads are can acquire it while the Lock is held by thread- 0 .
Later thread- 1 144 calls the lock( ) method 172 on the Lock object. The lock( ) is intercepted 172 and initially is forwarded to the lock( ) call within the Lock object 174 . The lock( ) 174 blocks as the lock is already acquired by Thread- 0 and the call does not return to the interceptor and thread- 1 144 . Later thread- 0 142 calls the unlock( ) method 180 on the Lock object. The unlock( ) is intercepted 182 and forwarded to the Lock object 184 . The Lock object processes the unlock( ) 184 and returns to the interceptor 182 . A replication message with <PID,TID> is created and sent to the Message Engine 141 . The unlock( ) call returns 188 .
Thread- 2 can now acquire the lock 174 and the lock( ) call return 190 to the interceptor 192 where a replication message with the <PID,TID> pair is constructed and sent to the Messaging engine.
5.1 Resource types
The present invention breaks resources down into distinct categories and handles each separately:
1. Processes and threads and their methods: processes and threads methods are intercepted and used to build a mapping between processes and threads on the primary and backup.
2. Locks and their methods: Locks are intercepted and used to enforce replica consistency relative to locks and their use
3. I/O Resources and their methods: I/O (Input/Output) resources are resources writing data to locations outside the application or reading external data into the application. I/O Resource methods are intercepted and additional replication messages corresponding are added. Example I/O resource methods that write data include, but are not limited to, write( ) for files, srand(n) where the srand(s) sets the seed value for a random number generator, and sendmsg( ) from the sockets library. All three examples write data to a location outside the application proper. Example I/O resource methods that read data include, but are not limited to, read( ) for files, rand( ) to generate a random number, gettimeofday( ) and readmsg( ) from the sockets library. All four examples reads or generates external data and delivers it into the application proper.
4. Other and Special Cases.
All classes of resources are included in the teachings of the present invention. I/O Resources are the most general type of resource and provide additional information in the replication messages. Any resource not included in the first two groups is treated as an I/O resource even though the functionality may not be I/O related.
6. Replication Messages
Replication Messages use the following Layout
METHOD_ID, Sn, PID,TID, DATA
Where “METHOD_ID” is one of a few pre-defined method IDs, “Sn” is the replications sequence number, “PID” is the process ID, “TID” is the thread ID, and “DATA” is an additional field that in some case carry extra information.
The sequence number is a global ID generated and added by the Messaging Engine to every replication message. Each new sequence number is exactly one larger than the previous sequence number, and is used on the backup to impose the same ordering as on the primary.
Example METHOD_IDs include
PROCESS_INIT used to initialize the process and thread hierarchy
PROCESS_CREATE used to designate the creation of a new process
THREAD_CREATE used to designate the creation of a new thread
PROCESS_EXIT used to designate the termination of a process and associated threads
THREAD_EXIT used to designate the termination of a thread
METHOD_NONE used to designate that no special method ID is required
In the preferred embodiment, Method IDs are integers and predefined. In the preferred embodiment METHOD_NONE is defined as zero or null, indicating that the method is implicitly provided via the sequential execution of the thread.
Every time a resource is created, accessed, or used a replication message is created on the primary and sent via the messaging engine to the backup. The replication message contains the process and thread where the resource was accessed and a sequence number ensuring strict ordering of events. To distinguish the replication messages from the surrounding text it is at times enclosed in “<” and “>”. Those special characters are not part of the replication messages and are used entirely for clarify of presentation.
As disclosed previously, the implicit ordering of execution within a thread is used to order resource access and the present invention thus does not need to specify the nature of the intercepted method; the interception ordering is identical on the backups and the corresponding primary. Therefore, most replication message has a METHOD_ID of METHOD_NONE as the primary and backup process the resource requests in the same sequential order and need no further data to indentify resource and interception.
Continuing the example embodiment referred to in FIG. 4 , the messages generated by the Resource Interceptor, has a process ID of ‘P’, thread ID of T 0 for Thread- 0 142 , and thread ID of T 1 for Thread- 1 144 . By way of example we identify the sequence numbers as S 0 , S 1 , S 2 etc.
METHOD_NONE,S0,P,T0
// new Lock( ), Thread 0
METHOD_NONE,S1,P,T0
// lock( ), Thread 0
METHOD_NONE,S2,P,T0
// unlock( ), Thread 0
METHOD_NONE,S3,P,T1
// lock( ), Thread 1
Where everything after and including “//” are comments included only for clarity of presentation
The messages and the ordering implied by the ever increasing sequence numbers S 0 , S 1 , S 2 and S 3 describe the ordering, use and access of shared resources. If a library method exists in two variants with different signatures, each method is intercepted and generates its own message, if Lock.lock( ) had two different signatures, and thread- 1 144 used the alternate method, the replication messages would look the same, as the backup automatically would be executing the alternate lock implementation on thread- 1 as well.
METHOD_NONE,S0, P,T0
METHOD_NONE,S1, P,T0
METHOD_NONE,S2, P,T0
METHOD_NONE,S3, P,T1
// second lock( ) signature
If the operating system provided two methods to create new processes, there would be both a PROCESS_CREATE and PROCESS_CREATE 2 , where PROCESS_CREATE 2 designates the alternate method to create processes.
As disclosed above, process and threads require special consideration and have their own replication messages. Upon creating a new process a special PROCESS_CREATE replication message is sent to the backups. The PROCESS_CREATE identifies the new process ID, its corresponding thread ID and its parent process. The parent process ID is encoded in the DATA field. Upon creating a new thread, the new thread ID, its corresponding process' PID, and the threads parent thread ID encoded in the DATA field, is sent within a THREAD_CREATE replication message to the backups. Depending on when the operating system schedules the new process and thread they will get to run either before or after the parent process and thread. On the backups, the messaging engine may thus receive messages from the newly created process or thread before receiving the PROCESS_CREATE or THREAD_CREATE replication messages, or alternatively receive requests for PROCESS_CREATE or THREAD_CREATE messages before the messages from the primary have arrived. The messaging engine on the backups automatically suspends requests from the new processes and threads until the mapping of process and thread ID have been established as disclosed later.
By way of example, the process replication messages corresponding to a program starting, creating one new process called P 1 , then terminating P 1 , are:
PROCESS_INIT, S0, P0,T0
PROCESS_CREATE, S1, P1,T1,P0
PROCESS_EXIT, S2, P1,T1
Where S 0 , S 1 and S 2 are the sequence numbers, P 0 the process ID of the initial process, T 0 the thread ID of the thread for P 0 . P 1 is the process ID of the created process while T 1 is the thread ID of the first thread in P 1 . The parent process's process IDs is provided as DATA for PROCESS_CREATE. PROCESS_INIT is the special previously disclosed initialization message sent just prior to entering main( ).
At times a replication message optionally includes additional data. The data is appended in the DATA block and transmitted along with the core replication message. The DATA block contains the DATA identifier, a 64 bit long identifying the length of the data block, and the data itself. By way of example, a replication message for a (write( ) operation may look like METHOD_NONE S 0 , P 0 , T 0 , {DATA,len,datablock}
DATA blocks are used primarily to send complex data such as data written to files, results of operations and success/failure of operations. The DATA blocks are primarily used with I/O Resources. The curly brackets “{” and “}” are not part of the message, they are used here for clarity of presentation. The DATA block is also used by PROCESS_CREATE to designate the parent process's PID.
7. Message Engine
FIG. 5 illustrates by way of example embodiment 200 , the structure of the Message Engine 201 on the primary. The base replication message is sent to the Message Engine 206 where it's received 212 . A sequence number is requested 214 from the Sequence Number generator 210 , and added to the message. The message is ready for transmission 218 to the backup over the network 219 .
In the preferred embodiment Sequence Numbers are generated with the preferred Global ID embodiment disclosed above.
The message engine on the backup receives all the replication messages and sorts them by sequence number. The sequence number in the replication message identifies the order in which events previously took place on the primary, and therefore must be imposed on the backup during execution. As disclosed above and illustrated on the example embodiment on FIG. 4 , the resource interceptor relies on the underlying operating system and system libraries to supply the native resource access and locking, and then tags on the process, thread, and sequence numbers to indentify the context and relative order.
FIG. 6 illustrates by way of example embodiment 220 the Message Engine 221 on a backup. Replication messages are received 224 over the network 222 . Replication Messages may arrive out of order and are therefore sorted 226 by sequence number. A sorted list of new messages 228 is maintained by the present invention within the Message Engine 221 on the backups. In a preferred embodiment replication messages are sent using a reliable non-blocking communication protocol. The protocol delivers the messages sorted by sequence number and no further sorting 226 is required. The non-blocking reliable messaging protocol is disclosed in section 10 below.
In alternate embodiments directly using UDP or TCP Replication Messages may arrive out of order: In an embodiment using TCP, TCP ensures message ordering. In an embodiment using UDP, there is no guarantee that messages arrive in the same order they were sent. In general, Replication Messages may thus arrive out of order and are therefore sorted 226 by sequence number. A sorted list of new messages 228 is maintained by the present invention within the Message Engine 221 on the backups By way of example, a message with sequence number 100 is sent, followed by a message with sequence number 101, they may arrive out-of-order on the backup, so that the message with sequence number 101 arrives prior to the replication message with sequence number 100. The sorting step 226 ensures that the oldest replication message with lowest sequence number is kept at the top, while later messages are placed in their sorted order later in the list 228
When the resource interceptors on the backup requests a replication message 232 , the request is processed by the request module 230 . In order to deliver a replication message to an interceptor two tests must be passed:
Test 1—Sequence number: The request module 230 compares the sequence number at the top of the sorted list of replication messages 228 with the sequence number of the most recent message 236 . If top of the list 228 has a sequence number of exactly one more than the most recent sequence number 236 the top-message is a candidate for delivery to the calling interceptor 232 , 234 . If the top-message sequence number is more than one larger than the last sequence number 236 , one or more replication messages are missing, and the request module 230 pauses pending the arrival of the delayed message.
By way of example, and in continuation of the example above, if the last sequence number is 99, and the message with sequence number 101 has arrived, while the message with sequence number 100 has not arrived, the request module 230 waits until the message with sequence number 100 has been received and placed at the top of the sorted list. Upon arrival of the replication message with sequence number 100, said message is now a candidate for delivery to the calling interceptor 232 , 234 provided the second test passes.
Test 2—METHOD ID, Process ID and Thread ID: The caller 232 supplies METHOD_ID, PID,TID and parent PID, when requesting a replication message. This means that the calling interceptor is requesting the oldest replication message of type METHOD_ID with process ID of PID and thread ID of TID.
When METHOD_ID is METHOD_NONE the requested method is implicit in the serial execution of the thread and it suffice to compare process ID and thread ID. By way of example, to retrieve the replication message for process B-P 0 and Thread B-T 1 , the interceptor would supply parameters of B-P 0 and B-T 1 which are the process ID and thread ID of the interceptor and calling application on the backup. The replication messages contain PIDs and TIDs from the primary. As the backup executes, each process and thread generally have different IDs than the corresponding threads on the primary. The present invention maintains a mapping 233 between the <PID,TID> pairs on the primary and the corresponding pairs on the backup <B-PID, B-TID>. Detailed teachings on creation and management of said mapping is given in section 8. The interceptors, when requesting a replication message 232 , provide B-P 0 and B-T 1 as those are its local process and thread IDs. The replication request module 230 then translates the local process and thread IDs, using the PID-TID mapping 233 into the primary <PID,TID> and uses said primary <PID,TID> in the process and thread ID comparisons described. If the replication message at the top of the list 228 has a <PID,TID> that matches the translated <B-T 0 ,B-T 1 > there is a match and test is successful.
If the METHOD_ID provided by the calling interceptor 232 is different from METHOD_NONE, special processing is required. Replication messages related to process and threads have their own METHOD_IDs and are thus handled with special processing. By way of example, to retrieve the replication message for PROCESS_CREATE, the calling interceptor supplies parameters of PROCESS_CREATE, B-P 1 ,B-T 1 ,B-P 0 , where B-P 1 is the newly created process with initial thread of B-T 1 , and B-P 0 is its parent process. When requesting the replication message for PROCESS_CREATE only the parent process B-P 0 is already mapped in the translations 233 . For an incoming PROCESS_CREATE message with parent process P 0 , the corresponding B-P 0 can be found in the mappings 233 as the process previously was mapped. If a process ID match is found for the parent processes, the “new process”<P 1 ,T 1 > pair from the replication message is mapped against the <B-P 1 ,B-T 1 > pair supplied in the interceptor and added to the mappings 233 and the test is successful.
Similarly teachings apply for THREAD_CREATE, where the parent's thread ID and the process ID are the two known quantities. Creation and maintenance of the mappings 233 is explained in further detail in section 8.
If both tests are satisfied, the top replication message is removed from the list and returned 234 to the calling interceptor and the last sequence number 236 updated to the sequence number of the just-returned message 234 .
The combined use of sequence numbers, which ensure that only the oldest message is delivered, combined with the full calling context of P 0 and T 1 enable the Replication Request Module 230 to only return replication messages that are designated for the particular thread and process. If a thread requests a replication message and the particular message isn't at the top of the list, the thread is placed in a “pending threads callback” queue 231 . As soon as the requested message is available at the top of the message list 228 , the thread is removed from the “pending threads callback” queue 231 and the call is returned 234 . The mechanism of pausing threads where the replication messages are not available or at the top of the message list 228 is what enables the present invention to enforce replica consistency on the backup even when processes and threads are scheduled differently on the backup than they were on the primary.
Further teachings on the use of replication messages by the interceptors on the backups, and the access methods are disclosed next
8. Processing Replication Messages on the Backup
The backup is launched and interceptors are installed in init( ) as disclosed above for the primary. On the backup, however, init does not immediately call main( ) rather it requests and waits for the PROCESS_INIT message from the primary before proceeding. Where the primary runs un-impeded and sends replication messages when accessing resources, the backup conversely stops immediately upon entering a resource interceptor and retrieves the replication message corresponding to the particular event before proceeding.
Generally, operating systems assign different process IDs, thread IDs, resource handles etc. each time an application is run. There is thus no guarantee that a particular application always gets the same process ID. This means that the initial process on the primary and the initial process on the backup may have different process IDs. Likewise for all other resources. To correctly map replication messages from the primary to interceptors on the backups a mapping of between process and thread IDs on the primary and backup is created.
As the initial process is created and just prior to calling main, an replication message <PROCESS_INIT, S 0 , P 0 , T 0 > is created and sent to the backup. On the backup, the messaging engine receives the PROCESS_INIT message. Referring to FIG. 6 for illustrative purposes: When the interceptor on the backup requests 232 the PROCESS_INIT it supplies its process and thread IDs (B-P 0 , B-T 0 ). The replication request module 230 is thus able to match the <P 0 ,T 0 > pair with <B-P 0 ,B-T 0 > and creates an entry in the PID-TID mapping 233 . Likewise, when a PROCESS_CREATE or THREAD_CREATE message is at the top of the sorted message list 228 , the replication request module 230 creates a mapping between the newly created process's and/or thread's primary and backup IDs. When a process or thread terminates and sends PROCESS_EXIT or THREAD_EXIT, the replication request module 230 similarly removes the related entry from the PID-TID mappings upon receiving the request 232 from the interceptor. The Replication Request module 230 thus dynamically maintains mappings between <PID,TID> pairs on the primary and the corresponding <B-PID,B-TID> on the backup.
In the preferred embodiment the messaging engine maintains the process and thread ID mappings. In an alternate embodiment the interceptors maintain the mappings
In the preferred embodiment, the mapping between processes and threads on the primary <Pi,Ti> and their counterparts on the backups <B-Pi, B-Ti> are maintained using a hash table, with the <Pi,Ti> pair being the key and the pair <B-Pi,B-Ti> being the corresponding process/thread on the backup. In an alternate embodiment a database is used to maintain the mappings.
FIG. 7 illustrates by way of example embodiment 240 an application starting as one process P 0 242 . The application starts and gets to init 244 where interceptors are installed. Before calling main 245 the replication message 254 <PROCESS_INIT S 0 , P 0 ,T 0 > is created and sent to the Message engine 241 . The initial process P 0 contains one thread T 0 246 . At some point during execution a second process P 1 248 is created. A replication message 256 <PROCESS_CREATE,S 1 ,P 1 ,T 3 ,P 0 > is created designating the process, the initial thread T 3 250 , and the parent process P 0 . Said message is transmitted via the Messaging Engine 241 . A second thread T 4 252 is later created within the process P 1 . The corresponding replication message <THREAD_CREATE,S 2 ,P 1 ,T 4 ,T 3 > is created 258 and transmitted via the message engine 241 .
On the backup incoming replication messages are sorted by sequence number, and the process and thread ID mappings are created as previously disclosed The list of replication messages are
PROCESS_INIT S0,P0,T0,P0
PROCESS_CREATE,S1,P1,T3,P0
THREAD_CREATE, S2,P1,T4,T3
On the backup, the application is started 262 and gets to init 264 where interceptors are installed. Where the primary sends out the PROCESS_INIT message prior to calling main( ) the backup in stead requests the PROCESS_INIT message from the message engine 261 . The message engine, delivers the message 274 <PROCESS_INIT S 0 , P 0 ,T 0 ,P 0 > to init 264 . The PROCESS_INIT replication message allows the backup messaging engine to map its process ID of B-P 0 to P 0 and B-T 0 to primary thread ID T 0 . Henceforth, whenever a replication message with process ID of P 0 is received, the backup maps it to the process with ID B-P 0 . Likewise replication messages with thread ID of T 0 are mapped to B-T 0 on the backup. The backup proceeds to main 265 and begins to execute. Later during the single-threaded execution of B-P 0 a second process B-P 1 is created. The “process create” is intercepted as part of the interceptors for processes and threads. After creating the process B-P 1 268 and the initial thread B-T 3 270 the message engine is called again. The request is for a <PROCESS_CREATE> message 276 with parent process P 0 . At the top of the list is <PROCESS_CREATE,S 1 ,P 1 ,T 3 ,P 0 > which is the correct message, and its returned to the calling interceptor. The messaging engine can now map P 1 to B-P 1 and T 3 to B-T 3 . Later during the execution of thread B-T 3 a thread_create( ) is encountered. The thread is created and a THREAD_CREATE message is requested with process ID P 1 and thread ID P 3 . At the top of the list is <THREAD_CREATE, S 2 ,P 1 ,T 4 > which is the correct message and its returned 278 to the interceptor. The messaging engine can now map thread ID T 4 to B-T 4 on the backup.
FIG. 8 illustrates by way of example embodiment 280 , processing of the replication messages on the backup generated by the embodiment of the primary shown on FIG. 4 . The replication messages generated by the primary were disclosed above as:
METHOD_NONE,S0, P,T0
// new Lock( ), Thread 0
METHOD_NONE,S1, P,T0
// lock( ), Thread 0
METHOD_NONE,S2, P,T0
// unlock( ), Thread 0
METHOD_NONE,S3, P,T1
// lock( ), Thread 1
The following assumes that the process and thread mappings have been established as taught above and mapping thus exists between threads and processes on the primary and the backup. Thread- 0 282 is the thread on the backup corresponding to thread- 0 FIG. 4 — 142 while Thread- 1 284 is the thread on the backup corresponding to thread- 1 FIG. 4 — 144 . The interceptor for Lock 286 was installed during init( ) and the Lock resource is 288 .
Initially, Thread- 0 282 calls create( ) 290 to create the resource. The call is intercepted 292 . The interceptor requests the replication message for process P and Thread T 0 . The message with matching <PID,TID> is at the top of the message list in the messaging engine 281 and is returned to the interceptor. The interceptor proceeds to call the resource create( ) 294 and returns the resource to the calling thread 0 296 .
By way of example, on the backup thread 2 284 is scheduled to run and thread 2 request the lock ( ) 290 prior to thread 1 requesting the lock as were the case illustrated on FIG. 4 . The call is intercepted 292 and the message for process P and thread T 1 is requested. This message with matching <PID,TID> is not at the top of the list in the messaging engine 281 and thread T 1 284 thus is blocked and put on the Pending Threads Callback list and the call not returned to the interceptor.
Thread 0 282 is then scheduled and requests a lock( ) 300 on the resource. The call is intercepted 302 , and the message for process P and thread T 0 is requested. The is the message with matching <PID,TID> is at the top of the message list 281 and is thus returned to the calling interceptor 302 . The interceptor calls lock( ) in the resource 304 and returns the lock to the called 306 . After using the lock'ed objected unlock 310 is called an intercepted 312 . The replication message with matching <PID,TID> for process P and thread T 0 is requested and returned as it's at the top of the message list 381 . The interceptor 312 calls the resource unlock( ) and the resource is unlocked.
Upon delivering the replication message corresponding to unlock( ) 310 for Thread 0 to the interceptor 312 the earlier request from thread 1 284 containing <P,T 1 > is now at the top of the list in the messaging engine 281 . The message is therefore returned to the interceptor 322 and lock ( ) is called in the resource 324 . If Thread 1 282 has not yet called unlock ( ) 314 the resource lock 324 blocks until the resource is unlocked by thread 0 282 . If thread 0 has unlocked the resource 316 the resource lock 324 would immediately succeed and return the interceptor 322 . The lock is then returned 326 to the calling thread.
The present invention thus ensures that the lock ordering from the primary is enforced on the backup, even if the backup requests locks in a different order. It is readily apparent to anyone skilled in the art that the teachings extends to multiple locks, processes, threads and objects and that the teachings thus ensures replica consistency between the primary and backup.
9. I/O Resource Methods
The teachings so far have focused on processes, threads and locks. I/O Resource methods may write data to locations outside the application proper. By way of example, the locations can be files on disk, locations in memory belong to the operating system or system libraries, or locations addressable over a network. The data written with writing methods persists beyond the write operation: data is stored in files, the seed for a random number generator affects future random( ) calls, and data written to a socket is received by the another application.
9.1 I/O Resources—Writing Data
Write operations generally cannot be repeated. By way of example, if data is appended to a file (a write operation) appending the data a second time produces a different file larger file with the data appended twice. This present invention addresses this issue by ensuring that the backup, by way of continued example, doesn't append the data to the file even though the primary performed an append write operation. Write operations on the backup are suppressed, i.e. the interceptors capture the results from the primary application and use those on the backup in stead of performing the actual write. This aspect of the present invention is explained in further detailed below.
The primary application run unimpeded and performs all write operations. The replication messages corresponding to write operations are similar to the ones used for locks. However, write operations may have return values indicating, by way of example, the number of bytes written, and may modify some of the parameters passed to the method of the write operation. This additional information is also packed into replication messages and sent to the backup using the DATA field in the replication messages
int main(void)
{
char const *pStr = “small text”;
FILE *fp = fopen(“/home/user/newfile.txt”, “w”)
if (fp != null)
fwrite(pStr,1, strlen(pStr),fp);
fclose (fp)
}
By way of example, the replication messages corresponding to the above example are:
METHOD_NONE,S0,P,T0,{DATA,len1,data1}
//fopen( )
METHOD_NONE,S1,P,T0,{DATA,len2,data2}
//fwrite( )
METHOD_NONE,S2,P,T0,{DATA,len3,data3}
//fclose( )
Many write operations, such as by way of example, fwrite on a FILE opened with ‘w’ are exclusive and behave like Locks: Only one thread can write to a particular file at any one time. The locking behavior is thus automatically handled, as the replication messages enforce the order of execution as it takes place on the primary, and thus forces the backup through the same locking steps in the same order.
The DATA block {DATA, len1, data1} attached to the fopen( ) replication message contains the return value of the fopen ( ) call, which is the file handle. The file handle (a pointer) from the primary is of no direct use on the backup, as the backup generally creates a different file handle. The contents of the FILE handle, however, contains important internal FILE state data such as current directory, time stamps of last access, and error conditions. The FILE handle is therefore sent to the backup so the backup can extract said internal state and set the FILE handle state on the backup to the values from the primary. By way of example, if fopen ( ) fails on the primary, it is forced to fail on the backup, if fopen ( ) succeeds on the primary, it should succeed on the backup.
The DATA block {DATA, len2, data2} attached to the fwrite( ) replication message contains the size_t object with the number of objects successfully written and the FILE pointer. The count is sent to the backup in order for the backup to return the same return value as the primary and the FILE pointer is sent so that the backup can update its local FILE point to have the same internal state.
For every I/O operation that writes data the return value is encoded and transmitted in the DATA block along with the parameters. The encoding can be as simple as an ASCII representation of the data. As long as primary and backup agree on encoding any encoding can be used. In the preferred embodiment the data is encoded using XML and MIME. In an alternate embodiment a custom encoding is used.
The actual data written is not transmitted via a replication message. The replica already has a full running copy of the application and it can generate the data itself if need be.
Write operations on the backup are handled much like the previous teachings with one major exception. The actual write operation is suppressed, i.e. skipped, on the backup as it generally is not valid to repeat a write operation. The results produced on the primary are “played back” on the backup. The state is adjusted based on the primary's state as necessary.
FIG. 9 illustrates by way of example embodiment 340 the above outlined example of opening a file for writing, writing a string to the file, then closing the file. For clarify of presentation, the Message Engine is not shown on the diagram.
FIG. 9 shows replication messages going directly from the interceptor on the primary 344 to the interceptor on the backup 346 . It is however assumed that messages go through the messaging engine, are sorted by sequence number and delivered to the interceptors on the backup as previously disclosed. Similarly, the actual I/O resource is not shown on the diagram. The resource is responsible for writing similarly to the resource on FIG. 8 — 288 as previously disclosed.
Referring to FIG. 9 , the primary application consists of one thread T 0 342 with the interceptor 344 . The backup application likewise consists of one thread B-T 0 348 and the resource interceptor 346 . The primary application is launched as is the backup application.
The primary thread calls fopen( ) and is intercepted 352 . The fopen( ) call is processed by the I/O resource (not shown as explained above) and the return value from fopen is packaged into the DATA block and the replication message METHOD_NONE, S 0 , P, T 0 , {DATA, len, data1} is sent 354 to the backup interceptor 346 via the messaging engine. This is followed by fopen( ) returning 360 to the calling thread 342 . On the backup the main thread B-T 0 is processing and reaches fopen( ) 358 , which is intercepted 356 . The interceptor requests the replication message with <P, T 0 > and is delivered the matching message S 0 , P, T 0 , {DATA, len, data1}. As disclosed previously, the backup doesn't open the file, rather it uses the data in the DATA block to determine the actual return value of fopen( ) and to set the internal state of the FILE object. This is followed by returning 362 the return value to the calling thread 348 . The backup application thus operates under the assumption that it has opened the file, even though it has only been presented with the results from the primary.
Later the primary thread 342 calls fwrite( ) 370 which is intercepted 372 . The write operation is completed using the I/O resource and the results packed into the DATA block of the replication message METHOD_NONE, S 11 , P, T 0 , {DATA, len2, data2}. The replication message is sent 374 via the messaging engine and eventually retrieved by the interceptor on the backup 376 . In the meantime the backup thread is executing and reaches the fwrite( ) 378 call, which is intercepted 376 . The interceptor requests the replication message corresponding to <P,T 0 > and is delivered the above mentioned message when available. The data in the DATA block of the replication message is used to set the return value of fwrite( ) 380 , and to set the internal state of the FILE pointer; no actual write takes place. Upon returning to the main thread in the backup 348 the program continues under the assumption that a file has been written, even tough no writing took place on the backup.
Finally, the thread T 0 342 calls fclose( ) 390 , which is intercepted 392 . The close operation is completed using the I/O resource and the result packed into the DATA block of the replication message METHOD_NONE, S 2 , P, T 0 , {DATA, len3, data3}. The replication message is sent 394 via the messaging engine and eventually retrieved by the interceptor 396 on the backup. This is followed by fclose( ) returning 400 to the calling thread. In the meantime the backup thread continues executing and calls fclose( ) 398 , which is intercepted 396 . The interceptor request the replication message corresponding to <P,T 0 > and uses the data in the data block to set the return value and internal state of the FILE object. Said return value is returned via fclose( )'S return 402 .
9.2 I/O Resources—Reading Data
For Read operations the same general technique is used. The primary application is responsible for all reading operations, while the backup receives a DATA block indicating the read operation results. For read operations the DATA block additionally contains the actual data read. The data is encoded along with return values and parameters using the preferred embodiment disclosed above. As with write-operations, and alternate embodiment with custom encoding is also considered.
int main(void)
{
int length = 10;
char pStr[length];
int count = 0;
FILE *fp = fopen(“/home/user/newfile.txt”, “r”)
if (fp != null)
count = fread(pStr,1, length,fp);
fclose(fp)
}
By way of example, which reads 10 (length) characters from a file generates the following replication messages
METHOD_NONE, S0,P,T0,{DATA,len1, data1}
// fopen( )
METHOD_NONE, S1,P,T0,{DATA,len2,data2}
// fread( )
METHOD_NONE, S2,P,T0,{DATA,len3,data3}
// fclose( )
The DATA block for fread( ) is the only one which is substantively different from the previous (write( ). For fread ( ) the DATA block encodes the return value (count), the parameter (fp) and the content of buffer read (pStr).
Upon retrieving the fread( ) replication message the interceptor for fread( ) on the backup updates the return value (count), updates the state of the local FILE object and copies the pStr from the DATA block into the pStr on the backup. The interceptor then returns the fread( ) to the calling thread. On the backup no data is read, rather the original freed( ) is intercepted and suppressed, and the data read by the primary is supplied to the interceptor which uses it in-lieu of reading the data.
While in some cases it would be possible to let the backup actually read the data directly and not pass it via replication messages that is not always the case. Some storage devices only allow one access at any one time, some storage device might be mounted for single user access, or the read operation might actually be from a location in primary local memory not accessible by the backup.
Similarly, for network read operations using, by way of example, sockets it's only possible to read/receive any particular message once. The backup does not have the ability to also read the incoming message.
Thus, in the preferred implementation, data read is passed via replication messages to the backup. In an alternate implementation, the backup reads the data wherever possible.
9.3 I/O Resources—Other
For read and write operations that affect system libraries similar teachings apply. By way of example, srand (unsigned int seed) initializes a random number generator with a chosen seed value. This is equivalent to a write operation to “a library memory location” and the corresponding replication message METHOD_NONE, S 0 , P 0 , T 0 , {DATA, len2, data1} has the seed value encoded within the DATA block. The seed value is thus passed to the backup.
By way of example, “double rand ( )”, which generates a random number is similar to a read( ) operation in that it produces a number from the system library. The corresponding replication message is again METHOD_NONE, S 0 , P 0 , T 0 , {DATA, len2, data2}. The random number is encoded as the return value and passed via a replication message to the backup. When the backup program executes the rand( ) method call, it is presented with the value of rand( ) produced on the primary, and is not generating its own.
The general teachings are thus: for write operations the writes are performed on the primary and the results and parameters are sent to the backup using replication messages. For read operations the reads are performed on the primary and the results, parameters and data-read are sent to the backup using replication messages.
10. Reliable Non-Blocking Messaging Protocol
One of the key characteristics of the present invention's replication strategy is that the primary runs at full speed without waiting for the backups. The backups process incoming replication messages and use those to maintain replica consistency with the primary. While the backups are running behind in time, the replication strategy guarantees that they will produce the same results in the same order as the primary.
TCP is optimized for accurate delivery rather than timely delivery. It's therefore common for TCP to pause for several seconds waiting for retransmissions and out-of-order message. For real-time operations, such as replication, TCP is thus not always an ideal choice. TCP is “point to point” meaning that a TCP connection is between two predefined endpoints.
UDP is optimized for timely delivery rather than accurate delivery. UDP may deliver message out of order, or not at all and thus requires additional layers of software in order to be used for reliable messaging. UDP can operate point to point but also offers broadcast, where a packet goes to all devices on a particular subnet, and multicast, where each packet is sent only once and the nodes in the network replicate and forward the message as necessary. Multicast is well known in the art and is thus not further described here.
The combined use of UDP and multicast enables real-time delivery of messages to one or more subscribers, even though the originator of the multicast message (the primary in this case) sends only one message. The non-blocking nature of UDP combined with multicast it thus an ideal mechanism to distribute replication messages from a primary to one or more backups and is used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. An alternate embodiment uses TCP and transmits each replication message to all backups over TCP.
10.1 Reliable ordered delivery over UDP
Using UDP as underlying transport means that the communication protocol must ensure ordered delivery of all messages. There are two parts to ordered delivery: guaranteeing delivery and ordering. To ensure delivery, a copy of each message sent by the primary is placed in a “Pending ACK Queue” (PAQ) until receipt of the message has been confirmed.
FIG. 11 illustrates by way of example embodiment 440 , sending one message, sending and receiving ACK messages, and management of the PAQ. In the following we identify a replication message with its sequence number, i.e. a replication message with sequence number S 0 , is called S 0 . On the primary 442 the message engine 443 has a replication message with sequence number S 0 to be sent 446 . Prior to sending S 0 , a copy of the message (S 0 ) is placed in the PAQ indicating that it's intended for the backup, but receipt has not been acknowledged by the backup yet. The message S 0 is sent to the backup 444 , where it's received 450 . The message S 0 is handed off to the Message Processing Unit (MPU) 452 (disclosed in detail later) and the message acknowledged (ACK) 454 to the primary 456 . The MPU then delivers the message to the Message Engine 453 on the backup. On the primary, receiving the ACK for S 0 indicates that S 0 can be removed 458 from the PAQ 460 , which thereafter no longer contains S 0 .
The Message Processing Unit (MPU) 452 on the backup is responsible for sorting incoming replication messages by sequence number, acknowledge receipt of replication messages, and to request missing replication messages. The operation of the MPU is disclosed in section 10.3 below.
FIG. 12 illustrates by way of example embodiment 460 , sending multiple messages from a primary 462 to a backup 464 , with delivered messages, lost messages and retransmitted messages. From now on the Message Engine is no longer depicted on the diagrams; it is understood that the local message engine delivers messages on the primary and is the recipient on the backup. Prior to sending message S 0 466 a copy is of S 0 is placed in the PAQ 468 and the message is sent. Prior to sending message S 1 476 a copy of S 1 is added to the PAQ 478 , and prior to sending message S 2 486 a copy is added to the PAQ 488 . After sending S 0 , S 1 and S 2 the PAQ thus contains a copy of all three messages sent. On the backup 464 , message S 0 is received 470 , message S 1 is not received 480 , while message S 2 is received 489 . With UDP there is no guarantee that S 0 , S 1 and S 2 arrive in the same order they were sent, but for clarity of presentation we assume that S 0 was received before S 2 . The teachings are extended later to handle out-of-order receipt of messages.
Received message S 0 470 is forwarded to the MPU 472 . The MPU acknowledges receipt of message S 0 by sending an ACK S 0 494 back to the primary. The ACK S 0 is received 492 and S 0 is removed from the PAQ 490 . Received message S 2 489 is forwarded to the MPU 472 . The MPU detects that S 2 's sequence number is more than 1 higher than S 0 's sequence number and a message thus is missing. The MPU 472 therefore requests a retransmit of S 1 by sending a REQ S 1 504 to the primary. The REQ S 1 502 is received and S 1 is retrieved from the PAQ 500 , and retransmitted 506 to the backup. This time S 1 is received on the backup 508 and forwarded to the MPU 472 . The MPU acknowledges receipt of S 1 by sending an ACK S 1 514 to the primary. The ACK S 1 is received 512 and S 1 is removed from the PAQ 510 . With S 2 being the next messages after S 1 , the MPU 472 acknowledges receipt of S 2 by sending an ACK S 2 524 to the primary. The ACK S 2 is received by the primary 522 and S 2 is removed from the PAQ 520 . At this point all messages sent by the primary have been received by the MPU 472 and all have been acknowledged and removed from the PAQ 520 .
10.2 Out of Order Processing of ACK and REQ
In the just disclosed example embodiment 460 on FIG. 11 , the backup acknowledges, i.e. sends ACK messages, following the strict ordering imposed by the sequence numbers S 0 , S 1 and S 2 . This is not necessary and was done to better illustrate the flow of messages. The backup can issue ACK messages for a received message as soon as it has been received by the MPU. The teachings above are adapted to out of order ACK as follows: After receiving S 0 470 the MPU issues ACK S 0 494 . This is followed by the receipt of S 2 489 and the MPU issues the ACK 524 . At the time the MPU receives message S 2 the MPU detects the absence of message S 1 , and therefore issues a REQ S 1 504 to request re-transmission of S 1 .
The primary would first receive ACK S 0 492 and update the PAQ 490 to contain S 1 and S 2 . This would be followed by receipt of ACK S 2 522 and updating of the PAQ 520 to contain S 1 . S 1 is now the only message that has not been ACK'ed by the backup. This followed by the receipt of REQ S 1 , which triggers a re-transmission of message S 1 506 to the backup. The backup receives S 1 508 , and the MPU 472 issues the ACK for S 1 . The primary receives the ACK for S 1 and removes S 1 from the PAQ. The purpose of the PAQ is to preserve a copy of replication messages not yet acknowledged by the backup. The ordering in which the ACKs are received is therefore not important.
The preferred implementation ACK's messages in the order in which they arrive at the backup, and does not impose the implied message ordering from the primary.
10.3 Message Processing Unit (MPU)
The MPU is responsible for receiving replication messages, sorting incoming replication messages by sequence number, sending ACK messages to the primary, requesting retransmission of missing messages, and for delivering the replication messages to the messaging engine in the right order.
FIG. 13 illustrates by way of example embodiment 540 the MPU and its functional components. An incoming message Si 544 arrives over the transport 542 . First test 546 is to see if this is an older message, i.e. a replication message with a sequence number less than the current ‘LastSeqNum’ 562 . The sequence number of the most recently transmitted messages (LastSeqNum) is used to ensure that messages are delivered to the local messaging engine in the right order and with sequence numbers increasing by one every time. If the Si is less than LastSeqNum it means the message was previously received, and this message can be discarded 548 . If Si> LastSeqNum in the first test 546 the message is newer and it needs to be determined if an ACK should be generated for Si. With messages arriving out of order Si could be a message previously received and already ACK'ed. To determine 551 if Si has been previously received the pending message list 564 is searched for Si. If Si is found in the list, Si was previously received and already ACK'ed and no further action is needed 553 . If Si is not found in the pending messages list 564 Si is a new message and an ACK is sent 552 . In alternate embodiments the functionality of the pending message list 564 is implemented as a queue, hashmap or database.
The second test 554 determines if Si is the next replication message to be sent. If Si>=LastSeqNum+2 it means that Si is at least one message further along in the message stream that the current last message 556 . Si is added 557 to the pending messages list 564 , if not already in the list, and it is determined which messages are missing. Messages with sequence number between (LastSeqNum+1) and (Si−1) are possible missing messages. If a sequence number is missing from the pending message list the corresponding message is missing, and is requested 559 with a REQ message to the primary.
In pseudo code, where ‘sn’ represents possible messaging messages:
for(int sn = LastSeqNum+1; sn <= Si-1;sn++)
{
if (sn is not in pending message list)
Send REQ for sn
}
After sending REQ messages it is determined if the pending message list now contains the next message to be sent. The third test 566 determines if the sequence number of the top message in the pending message list 564 is one larger than LastSeqNum, which means that the top message in the message list 564 is next message to be sent. If it is, the message is removed from the list 564 , sent 572 and the LastSeqNum 562 is updated 570 . If the sequence number of the top message in the message list 564 is more than one larger than LastSeqNum no action is taken 568 . After sending the message 570 the third test 566 is run again 574 until there is no top message in the message list 564 with a sequence number one larger than the LastSeqNum. This ensures that all messages are delivered to the local messaging engine as soon as they are available
10.4 Multiple Backups
In the case of multiple backups, there are three different scenarios to consider for each replication message: 1) the message is received by all backups and the corresponding ACKs are returned, 2) the message is not received by any backups and backups issue the corresponding REQ at some point, or 3) some backups receive the message and issue an ACK, while other backups don't receive the message and issue REQ.
The teachings in section 10.3 disclose how the MPU on each backup ensures that only one ACK is issued for a received message and how missing messages are REQ'ed until received.
The teachings in section 10.1 and 10.2 are augmented in the following way to ensure accurate tracking of ACKs for the individual backups. The previous teachings disclosed one element in the PAQ for each replication message corresponding to the one backup in the example embodiments. In the case of two or more backups there are correspondingly two or more entries in the PAQ for each replication message. The PAQ entries are each assigned to one backup, so that, by way of example, if there are two backups, replication message S 0 is repeated twice in the PAQ
FIG. 14 illustrates by way of example embodiment 580 the PAQ operation in an example embodiment with two backups. The primary 582 sends replication messages to two backups, backup- 0 584 and backup- 1 586 . Prior to sending message S 0 588 , a copy for each backup is placed in the PAQ 590 . S 0 (B 0 ) is the copy of S 0 corresponding to backup- 0 584 , and S 0 (B 1 ) is the copy of S 0 corresponding to backup- 1 586 . The message is received on backup 0 602 , and the MPU 604 issues the ACK S 0 606 as previously disclosed. On the primary, the ACK-S 0 from backup- 0 584 is received 592 and the corresponding copy S 0 (B 0 ) is removed 594 from the PAQ. Likewise, S 0 is received on backup- 1 608 , and the MPU 610 issues an ACK S 0 612 . On the primary the ACK S 0 from backup- 1 is received 596 and S 0 (B 1 ) is removed from the PAQ 598 . The PAQ at all times contains those messages sent to backups where no ACK has been received.
If one or more of the backups issue a REQ for a particular message, the corresponding replication message is retransmitted per the teachings above. If, by way of example, backup- 1 issued a REQ S 0 , the primary would retrieve S 0 (B 1 ), which was still in the PAQ, and retransmit. Both backup- 0 584 and backup- 1 586 could thus receive S 0 based on the bacup- 1 requesting a S 0 . On backup- 0 the second copy of S 0 is automatically rejected as illustrated in FIG. 13 Step 546 and disclosed previously.
It is thus obvious to anyone with ordinary skills in the art, that the above disclosures support one or more backups.
10.5 Non-Blocking Processing on the Primary
A key aspect of the present invention's replication strategy is that the primary runs at full speed without waiting for the backups. As control and messages pass from the messaging engine down to the reliably messaging layer, the present invention likewise ensures that the processing in the reliable messaging layer is non-blocking as it relates to sending messages.
In a preferred implementation the non-blocking of the reliably messaging engine is achieved through the use of multi-threading or multi tasking. FIG. 15 illustrates by way of example embodiment 620 the primary 622 and the two core threads in use. The reliable messaging engine is called from the message engine using the existing thread of the messaging engine 624 . In the example embodiment 620 a message S 0 has already been sent, and message S 1 is ready for sending 628 . As previously disclosed, a copy of S 1 is first placed in the PAQ 630 , and the message is sent 629 . After sending the message, the calling thread 624 returns to the messaging engine. The messaging engine thus immediately regains full control of its thread and is not involved in resolving ACK and REQ messages that arrive later.
Separately, an ACK/REQ thread 626 processes all incoming requests. The ACK/REQ thread 626 receives an ACK S 0 632 indicating that message S 0 was properly received. S 0 is subsequently removed from the PAQ 634 . This is followed by a REQ for S 1 636 , which is retrieved from the PAQ 638 and retransmitted 640 . All processing of ACK and REQ messages are performed on the ACK/REQ thread and therefore does not impact the execution of the core thread 624 belonging to the messaging engine. The primary thus runs unimpeded with all management of ACK and REQ being handled in the background by a dedicated ACK/REQ thread 626 . The primary can thus also send messages concurrently with processing the ACK/REQ request.
10.6 Implementation Over TCP
The preferred implementation disclosed above uses UDP with multicast as an efficient mechanism to deliver one message to multiple recipients. An alternate preferred implementation uses TCP with the teachings adapted as follows.
TCP is a point-to-point protocol, which in a preferred embodiment means that the replication message is sent multiple times; once to each backup. FIG. 15 illustrates by way of example embodiment 660 sending a replication message S 0 668 from the primary 662 to two backups; backup- 0 664 and backup- 1 666 . Sending the replication message S 0 to the backups is a two step process with TCP: First the message is sent 670 to backup- 0 , and then the message is sent 672 to backup- 1 666 . On backup- 0 the message is received 674 and delivered to the MPU 676 . On backup- 1 the message is received 678 and delivered to the MPU 690 .
As TCP guarantees ordered delivery, replication messages arrive in the order they were sent, and there is thus no need for the ACK and REQ messages and the PAQ on the primary. The teachings above for the MPU are thus simplified over TCP as there is no tracking to be done and all messages therefore are delivered directly to the messaging engine without need for further processing. The simplification at the backups come at the cost of the primary, where the primary now needs to generate as many networks transactions per replication message as there are backups. This doubling, tripling etc of the number of network packets has exponentially negative effect on network throughput and latency. Sending multiple replication messages in stead of one, also takes additional CPU which reduces overall throughput on the primary.
10.6 One-to-One and WAN Considerations
As disclosed in section 10.5 for scenarios with only one backup, TCP simplifies the MPU functionality and eliminates the need for ACK, REQ and PAQ, while only sending one replication message. For this particular configuration, the preferred embodiment uses TCP.
In WAN deployments with one primary and one or more backups and where the network connection between the primary and the backups are over a wide area network (WAN), TCP is the preferred implementation. The longer the distance between primary and backups, the more likely a UDP failure is. Over a WAN with many hops, UDP is more likely to require many retransmits, and is thus a less ideal choice than TCP. For WAN deployments with one primary and one backup, TCP is thus also the preferred transport
WAN deployments with physically separate primary and backups are common in fault tolerant and disaster recovery systems, where the backup by design is placed geographically “far away” to reduce the possibility of simultaneous failure of primary and backup.
10.7 Comparison to Two Phase Commit
The problem of ensuring consistency between primary and backup appears similar to the distributed atomic transaction commitment encountered in database systems. One might thus think that some of the well-known solutions, such as two-phase commit (2PC) and three-phase commit (3PC) would work. This is however, not the case. The transaction model underlying 2PC and 3PC uses query to commit, commit and rollback as fundamental operations. None of those have equivalents in functional programming. By way of example, an intercepted function is called and the return values used. There is no notion of rolling back the function call, or pre-determine if the call should be taken. Functions are called based on the programmed logic, and no other conditions. Furthermore, 2PC is a blocking protocol, while the present invention lets the primary run unimpeded for maximum speed.
11. Deployment Scenarios
FIG. 10 further illustrates by way of example embodiment 420 a variety of ways the invention can be configured to operate.
In one embodiment, the invention is configured with a central file server 422 , primary server 424 and backup server 426 . The primary server 424 runs the primary application and the backup server runs the backup application. The primary 424 and backup 426 are connected to each other and the storage device 422 via a network 428 . The network is connected to the internet 436 for external access. In another embodiment the primary server 424 is replicated onto two backup servers; backup 426 and backup- 2 425 . In yet another embodiment the primary 424 runs in the data center, while the backup 427 runs off site, accessed over the internet
In one embodiment a PC client 432 on the local network 428 is connected to the primary application while the backup application is prepared to take over in the event of a fault. In another embodiment a PC 434 is configured to access the primary application server 424 over the public internet 436 . In a third embodiment a cell phone or PDA 430 is accessing the primary application 424 over wireless internet 438 , 436 . The present invention is configured to server all clients simultaneously independently of how they connect into the application server; and in all cases the backup server is continuously replicating prepared to take over in the event of a fault
Finally, as the interceptors and messaging engine are components implemented outside the application, the operating system and system libraries, the present invention provides replication consistency without requiring any modifications to the application, operating system and system libraries.
The just illustrated example embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the exemplary embodiments of this invention
12. Conclusion
In the embodiments described herein, an example programming environment was disclosed for which an embodiment of programming according to the invention was taught. It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented by one of ordinary skill in the art using different program organizations and structures, different data structures, and of course any desired naming conventions without departing from the teachings herein. In addition, the invention can be ported, or otherwise configured for, use across a wide-range of operating system environments.
Although the description above contains many details, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the exemplary embodiments of this invention. Therefore, it will be appreciated that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for.”
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A system, method, and computer readable medium for reliable messaging between two or more servers. The computer readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system. Primary applications runs on primary hosts and one or more replicated instances of each primary application run on one or more backup hosts. The reliable messaging ensures consistent ordered delivery of messages in the event that messages are lost; arrive out of order, or in duplicate. The messaging layer operates over TCP or UDP with our without multi-cast and broad-cast and requires no modification to applications, operating system or libraries.
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The present invention relates to a flash discharge lamp having high power, high discharge frequency, and a long life expectancy.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows the interior structure of an embodiment of a flash discharge lamp commonly used in photographic cameras. It comprises a glass tube 11 ; a pair of electrodes, i.e., an anode 12 and a cathode 13 , oppositely disposed in at both ends of said glass bulb; a electro-conductive member 14 is provided on the outer surface of the glass tube; a electrode 15 and a triggering electrode 18 mounted on the cathode 13 and xenon gas sealed in said glass tube, wherein the triggering electrode 18 is electrically connected to said electro-conductive member 14 . In operation, when an operating voltage is applied between the two electrodes 12 and 13 , a trigger coil is activated to apply a high trigger voltage to the xenon gas, which is then electro-ionized. Under the action of the field formed between the two electrodes, ions and electrons are accelerated and come into collision with each other so that an electron avalanche effect is created. While all the xenon gas is nearly ionized and a high temperature is produced, a high temperature plasma is formed in the glass tube and emits bright light, which comes close to sunlight, in a short period of time.
The flash discharge lamp undergoes high temperature with each flash. Physical and chemical reactions occur over each component so that the electrodes in the tube become yellow gradually and the brightness decreases gradually.
In the photographic industries, the general life expectancy requirement of a stroboscopic discharge lamp is 3,000 flashes with a flash interval of 15 seconds, where skipping is not allowed. Light output of the flashes cannot be lower than 10% of its original specification before the life ends. In general, the flash discharge lamp can meet the customer criteria. However, in recent years, the demand in the light output has been increased, which leads to an increase of the input power, the discharge temperature of the emitted ions, and the duration of the discharge temperature of the flash discharge lamp. Moreover, as its application has been growing into safety alarms and emergency lighting systems, there is a substantial increase in technical requirement of discharge frequency and longer life span. With the current strobe manufacturing technology, after 15,000 continuous flashes, a sputtering black residue appears on the inner surface of the strobe, the brightness output decreases by more than 30%, blackening appears at the electrode ends and the center of the strobe becomes yellow. With the increase of the discharge frequency, the operational conditions of the flash discharge will go from bad to worse due to the discharge temperature and contamination incurred each flash.
It is an object of this invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide a flash discharge lamp having the characteristic of higher output power with a longer life span.
Another object of this invention is to provide a flash discharge lamp having a higher discharge frequency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To accomplish the foregoing objects, the present invention provides a flash discharge lamp comprising a pair of electrodes i.e. an anode and a cathode, oppositely disposed in at both ends of the glass tube, a electro-conductive member is provided on the outer surface of the glass tube, a triggering electrode mounted on said cathode and electrically connected to said electro-conductive member, and xenon gas sealed in said glass tube, characterized in that said flash discharge lamp further includes at least one high temperature resistant electrode mounted on said cathode and at least one getter electrode mounted on said cathode and/or said anode.
By use of the flash discharge lamps according to this invention, the light output can be multiplied 3 to 10 times. In another words, it can increase the total luminous flux by 3 to 10 times, and the unilateral luminous intensity by 1 to 3 times. The life expectancy of the said lamp is extended by 0.5 to 4 times and up to 10 million times. Moreover, the application of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention has been extended to safety alarms and emergency lighting systems due to the increase in the discharge frequency.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with the reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the reference numbers designate the corresponding parts therein. Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description:
FIG. 1 is a sectional side elevation of a flash discharge lamp according to prior art.
FIG. 2 is a sectional side elevation of first preferred embodiment of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention; and
FIG. 3 is a sectional side elevation of second preferred embodiment of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention; and
FIG. 4 is a sectional side elevation of third preferred embodiment of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention; and
FIG. 5 is a sectional side elevation of forth preferred embodiment of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention; and
FIG. 6 is a sectional side elevation of fifth preferred embodiment of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In the flash discharge lamp according to this invention, at least two electrodes are used which have different functions. One electrode, taken as a High Temperature Resistant electrode, is made of high temperature resistant rare metal with a certain activity and its alloy thereby enabling the said lamp to withstand high temperature ion flushes. Another electrode, taken as a Getter electrode, is made of a more active rare metal and its alloy thereby possessing a desirable purifying effect.
The High Temperature Resistant electrode is made of tantalum and tantalum alloy, niobium and niobium alloy, or vanadium and vanadium alloy. In these materials, tantalum and tantalum alloy has extremely high melting point and therefore can withstand extremely high temperature. Although its oxidation activeness is not as active as titanium and zirconium, it is similar to other active metals in the sense that it produces non-reversible oxide. It is therefore able to absorb impure oxidative gases. However, tantalum and tantalum alloys have a lower diffusion coefficient of oxygen, so it is difficult for oxidative material absorbed on the surface to permeate inwards thereby reducing its surface oxygenic concentration and thus limiting its ability to absorb oxygenic materials. Niobium and niobium alloys have a melting point of over 2400° C. and can withstand higher temperature. They are also more active and vigorous and have a higher diffusion coefficient compared to that of tantalum. Niobium, an in-expensive material, and its alloys can produce non-reversible materials after reacting with oxidation gas and therefore have a higher ability to absorb oxygenic material compared to that of tantalum. Vanadium and its alloy have a melting point at 1920° C., which is lower than tantalum, niobium or their alloys; nevertheless, it is the most active among the three materials. Therefore, vanadium and vanadium alloy are the materials in between those used to make High Temperature Resistant electrode and Getter electrode, and they are suitable for a flash discharge lamp with a low power output yet having certain purifying characteristics.
Titanium and its alloy, or Zirconium and its alloy, are highly active materials used for Getter electrodes. Under certain conditions, they can form a stable, non-reversible chemical compound after reacting with all kinds of gases. Furthermore, they have a relatively high diffusion coefficient against external atoms, thereby swiftly diffusing chemical compounds formed on the surface inwards, and rapidly cleaning the surface and maintaining the purifying function over a long time. According to the flash discharge lamp of this invention, the High Temperature Resistant electrode and the Getter electrode can be made of any combination of the above materials in order to achieve a better performance result.
FIG. 2 is the first example of this invention, showing a structural diagram of a flash discharge lamp. A High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 25 ) made of tantalum alloy is affixed at the cathode ( 13 ) side (towards the anode side ( 12 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A Getter electrode ( 26 ) made of titanium alloy is affixed at the cathode side ( 13 ) (towards the cathode side ( 13 )) of the flash discharge lamp. The thickness of the tantalum alloy High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 25 ) and the titanium alloy Getter electrode ( 26 ) are 1.3 mm and 1.1 mm respectively. The operating voltage is 330V, triggering voltage is 4.5 kV, xenon gas pressure is 200-300 mmHg, and the main capacitor is 10 μF. With 3 flashes per second, the life span of the flash discharge lamp can sustain up to 1 million flashes.
FIG. 3 is the second example of this invention, showing a structural diagram of a flash discharge lamp. A High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 35 ) made of tantalum alloy is affixed at the cathode ( 13 ) side (towards the anode side ( 12 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A Getter electrode ( 36 ) made of zirconium alloy is affixed at the cathode side ( 13 ) (towards the cathode side ( 13 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A second Getter electrode ( 37 ) made of titanium alloy is affixed at the anode side ( 12 ) of the flash discharge lamp. The thickness of the tantalum alloy High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 35 ), the zirconium alloy Getter electrode ( 36 ) and the titanium alloy getter electrode ( 37 ) are 1.3 mm, 1.1 mm and 1.1 mm respectively. The operating voltage is 472V, triggering voltage is 4.0 kV, xenon gas pressure is 350-450 mmHg, the main capacitor is 47 μF. With 8 flashes per second, the life span of the flash discharge lamp can sustain up to 10 million flashes.
FIG. 4 is the third example of this invention, showing a structural diagram of a flash discharge lamp. A High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 45 ) made of niobium alloy is affixed at the cathode ( 13 ) side (towards the anode side ( 12 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A Getter electrode ( 46 ) made of zirconium alloy is affixed at the cathode ( 13 ) side (towards the cathode side ( 13 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A second Getter electrode ( 47 ) made of titanium alloy is affixed at the anode side ( 12 ) of the flash discharge lamp. The thickness of the niobium alloy High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 45 ), the zirconium alloy Getter electrode ( 46 ) and the titanium alloy Getter electrode ( 47 ) are 1.1 mm, 1.0 mm and 1.1 mm respectively. The operating voltage is 285V, triggering voltage is 4.5 kV, xenon gas pressure is 350-500 mmHg, the main capacitor is 100 μF. With one flash per second, the life span of the flash discharge lamp can sustain up to 1 million flashes, and the light output deteriorates less than 20%.
FIG. 5 is the fourth example of this invention, showing a structural diagram of a flash discharge lamp. A High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 55 ) made of tantalum alloy is affixed at the cathode ( 13 ) side (towards the anode side ( 12 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A Getter electrode ( 56 ) made out of titanium alloy is affixed at the cathode side ( 13 ) (towards the cathode side 13 ) of the flash discharge lamp. A second Getter electrode ( 57 ) made of vanadium alloy is affixed at the anode side 12 of the flash discharge lamp. The thickness of the tantalum alloy High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 55 ), the titanium alloy Getter electrode ( 56 ) and the vanadium alloy Getter electrode ( 57 ) are 1.3 mm, 1.1 mm and 1.1 mm respectively. The operating voltage is 210V, triggering voltage is 6.0 kV, xenon gas pressure is 400-500 mmHg, the main capacitor is 10 μF. With eight flashes per second, the life span of the flash discharge lamp can sustain up to 6 million flashes.
FIG. 6 is the fifth example of this invention, showing a structural diagram of a flash discharge lamp. A High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 65 ) made of tantalum alloy is affixed at the cathode ( 13 ) side (towards the anode side ( 12 )) of the flash discharge lamp. A Getter electrode ( 67 ) made of titanium alloy is affixed at the anode side ( 12 ) of the flash discharge lamp. The thickness of the tantalum alloy High Temperature Resistant electrode ( 65 ) and the titanium alloy getter electrode ( 67 ) are 1.3 mm and 1.1 mm respectively. The operating voltage is 220V, triggering voltage is 5.0 kV, xenon gas pressure is 150-300 mmHg, the main capacitor is 3 μF. With eight flashes per second, the life span of the flash discharge lamp can sustain up to 10 million flashes.
The electrodes of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention are processed by the conventional practice of powder metallurgy. The High Temperature Resistant electrode and the getter electrode are composed of different kinds of metals, the percentages of such metal weightings distributed from the above examples are as follows:
1. Tantalum alloy: tantalum-niobium (or vanadium) 2-25%—titanium (or zirconium) 0.1-10%
2. Niobium alloy: niobium-tantalum (or vanadium) 2-25%—titanium (or zirconium) 0.1-10%
3. Vanadium alloy: vanadium-niobium (or tantalum) 2-25%—titanium (or zirconium) 0.1-10%
4. Titanium alloy: titanium-aluminum 0.5-4%—cerium, barium, calcium, cesium (small quantities)
5. Zirconium alloy: Zirconium-titanium 0.5-10%—aluminum 0.1-1%—cerium, barium, calcium, cesium (small quantities)
The operation of the flash discharge lamp according to this invention is analogous to that of the existing flash discharge lamp, but since at least two electrode attachments with High Temperature Resistance and purifying functions are being constructed on the cathode and anode, the forte of each electrode attachment can be brought into full play. As a result, the lamp's output power has been raised, the heat and contamination, which are caused by flashes, have been reduced more quickly and effectively, the discharge frequency has been increased and the lamp's life span has also been extended. Beyond question, these are only a few specific illustrations of achieving the best result of this invention by using electrode attachment of different materials and different arrangements. For example, the said Getter electrode can be made of the more common Nickel alloy; the said Tantalum alloy can be Tantalum-Titanium or Tantalum-Zirconium alloy; the said Niobium alloy can be Niobium-Titanium or Niobium-Zirconium alloy; the said Vanadium alloy can be Vanadium-Titanium alloy and so forth. Changes and variation in arrangements like these are also part of this invention.
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A flash discharge lamp includes a pair of electrodes i.e. an anode and a cathode, oppositely disposed in at both ends of the glass bulb. An electro-conductive member is provided on the outer surface of the glass tube. A triggering electrode is mounted on the cathode and electrically connected to the electro-conductive member. Xenon gas is sealed in the glass tube. The flash discharge lamp further includes at least one High Temperature Resistant electrode mounted on the cathode and at least one Getter electrode mounted on the cathode and/or the anode. Not only can the above design increase the discharge output power and the discharge frequency, but it also extends the life expectancy of the flash discharge lamp.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an isolating decoupler having an arm having a frictional surface slidingly engaged with a pulley inner surface, a spring having an intermittent engagement with the arm, and the radially extending arm intermittently engageable with a pulley stop.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Diesel engines used for passenger car applications is increasing due to the benefit of better fuel economy. Further, gasoline engines are increasing compression ratios to improve the fuel efficiency. As a result, diesel and gasoline engine accessory drive systems have to overcome the vibrations of greater magnitude from crankshafts due to above mentioned changes in engines.
Due to increased crankshaft vibration plus high acceleration/deceleration rates and high alternator inertia the engine accessory drive system is often experiencing belt chirp noise due to belt slip. This will also reduce the belt operating life.
Crankshaft isolators/decouplers and alternator decouplers/isolators have been widely used for engines with high angular vibration to filter out vibration in engine operation speed range. However, although a crankshaft isolator can function very well in engine running speed range; it still presents problems during engine start-up or shut-down due to the natural frequency of the isolator itself.
An alternator decoupler/isolator can eliminate belt slipping at an alternator pulley, but it cannot resolve belt slip taking place at the crankshaft pulley. For some engines, a crankshaft isolator/decoupler and an alternator decoupler/isolator have to be used together. Unfortunately, this can add significant cost to the accessory drive system.
Representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,943 which discloses a crankshaft decoupler has a mounting hub, a pulley rotatably mounted on the mounting hub, an annular carrier mounted within said pulley, a biasing device mounted therebetween, and a one way clutch mounted between the annular carrier and the pulley. The biasing device cushions the belt drive from crankshaft impulses and lowers the angular resonant frequency of the belt system. The one way clutch prevents sudden reversal of the belt tension in the drive due to start/stop of the engine or sudden deceleration of the engine and prevents momentary reverse slip belt squeal as a result of the tensioners' inadequate output for the reverse mode. The one way clutch limits the maximum amount of torque which may be transmitted preventing belt slippage during momentary overload.
What is needed is an isolating decoupler having an arm having a frictional surface slidingly engaged with a pulley inner surface, a spring having an intermittent engagement with the arm, and the radially extending arm intermittently engageable with a pulley stop. The present invention meets this need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary aspect of the invention is an isolating decoupler having an arm having a frictional surface slidingly engaged with a pulley inner surface, a spring having an intermittent engagement with the arm, and the radially extending arm intermittently engageable with a pulley stop.
Other aspects of the invention will be pointed out or made obvious by the following description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
The invention comprises an isolating decoupler comprising a pulley having a pulley inner surface, a hub having a radially extending arm, the radially extending arm having a frictional surface slidingly engaged with the pulley inner surface, a spring fixed to the pulley, the spring intermittently engageable with the radially extending arm, an elastomeric member disposed between the spring and the radially extending arm; and the radially extending arm intermittently engageable with a pulley stop.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with a description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the isolator decoupler.
FIG. 2 is a front exploded view of the isolator decoupler.
FIG. 3 is a rear exploded view of the isolator decoupler.
FIG. 3 a is a cross-sectional view of the damping members.
FIG. 4 is a front view of the isolator decoupler.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the isolator decoupler. The device comprises a shaft 10 . Shaft 10 is used to connect the device to an engine crankshaft (not shown). Torque is transmitted from the crankshaft through shaft 10 to a hub 20 . Shaft 10 can be press fit into hub 20 so that shaft 10 and hub 20 rotate together.
Hub 20 comprises radially extending arms 21 , 22 , 23 . The radial extension is with respect to the axis of rotation A-A of shaft 10 , see FIG. 2 . Although the preferred number of arms 21 , 22 , 23 is three, any number of radially extending arms may be used with equal success for this device. The range of motion of the device is a function of the number of arms. Three radially extending arms allow a range of relative movement of approximately 120° between the hub 20 and pulley 30 . For four radially extending arms the range of relative movement is approximately 90° and so on.
The end of each arm comprises a friction plate member 210 , 220 , 230 . A friction member 211 , 212 , 213 is fixed on the end of each respective frictional plate member 210 , 220 , 230 . Each friction member frictionally contacts an inner surface 300 of pulley 30 . Inner surface 300 is a cylindrical section. Each frictional plate member 210 , 220 , 230 comprises an arcuate shape for engaging the inner surface 300 .
The friction plate members allow relative motion between the pulley and the shaft during decoupling and re-coupling. Pulley 30 comprises a belt engaging surface 31 for contacting a belt. Belt engaging surface 31 may comprise a multi-ribbed profile as shown, or may also comprise any other profile known in the art such as toothed, flat, or a single v notch.
A spring member 41 , 42 , 43 extends from a mounting member 301 , 302 , 303 respectively. Each spring member 41 , 42 , 43 engages a radially extending arm 21 , 22 , 23 respectively. Each spring member 41 , 42 , 43 is loaded in a substantially cantilever manner. Each mounting member 301 , 302 , 303 also acts as a stop to stop a rotation of each radially extending arm during operation.
Each radially extending arm engages its respective spring during operation thereby allowing the transfer of torque from the crankshaft to the pulley while engine is in operation. The spring members 41 , 42 , 43 cushion and damp engine vibrations and isolate them from the pulley, and therefore, from the rest of the belt drive system.
For example, in a shaft 10 driving direction D 1 friction plate member 210 will contact mounting member 301 . In a shaft driving direction D 2 friction plate member 210 will contact mounting member 302 . Driving direction D 1 is typically associated with engine deceleration. Driving direction D 2 is typically associated with engine acceleration.
Each spring member comprises an arm 41 a , 42 a , 43 a that bends in a cantilever bending mode. Each spring member also comprises an end 41 b , 42 b , 43 b that has an accordion-like shape, or multiple bends, that are used in compression mode.
Each spring member shape can be varied in the bending area 41 a , 42 a , 43 a by comprising various curves as well as in the accordion area by having different number of compression folds. Flexibility in the spring member design allows isolating of engine vibration to be designed and tuned according to the needs of any given engine. In addition to the many shapes that the spring member can have in its bend and compression areas, the thickness of it can also be varied to adjust the spring rate as needed. The simplest way of changing the spring member thickness is doubling or tripling its thickness in the desired areas.
FIG. 2 is a front exploded view of the isolator decoupler. Friction ring 50 damps a relative movement of the pulley 30 with respect to the hub 20 . Friction ring 50 comprises materials known in the art.
Each radially extending arm 21 , 22 , 23 is attached to a plate 400 , which plate also serves to enclose the interior of the device, thereby protecting it from debris.
FIG. 3 is a rear exploded view of the isolator decoupler. Friction ring 51 damps a relative movement of the pulley 30 with respect to the hub 20 . Friction ring 51 comprises materials known in the art.
FIG. 3 a is a cross-sectional view of the damping members. Damping members 61 , 62 , 63 cushions the impacts between each spring member 41 , 42 , 43 and the respective radially extending arm 21 , 22 , 23 . The lower level 601 , which is attached to each radially extending arm, is an energy absorbing material known in the art to prevent a “knocking” sound and shock, and the second (top) layer 600 , which contacts the end of the spring member, is a wear resistant elastomer or polymer also known in the art.
In an alternate embodiment, the points of contact points of each radially extending arm and spring under the damping members 61 , 62 , 63 is magnetized using a permanent magnet. This feature will keep the system always coupled. The amount of magnetization can be adjusted to enable decoupling at the desired decoupling force for the system. The decoupling force should overcome the magnetic force and separate the radially extending arm from the respective contact point. For example, this feature reduces unnecessary decoupling and re-coupling when engine is turned off, or with minute decoupling forces.
FIG. 4 is a front view of the isolator decoupler. The contact areas of metal-to-metal that are four points times the number of arms are all covered by at least two layers of elastomers or polymers. This results in a smooth decoupling action.
Upon deceleration of the engine, the arms and springs simply separate from each other and the arms move backwards over their friction plate contacts on the internal diameter of the pulley. This creates a very simple and efficient decoupling. Since most engines require about 15 degrees of decoupling, this device provides much more degrees of decoupling than required.
Although a form of the invention has been described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variations may be made in the construction and relation of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described herein.
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An isolating decoupler comprising a pulley having a pulley inner surface, a hub having a radially extending arm, the radially extending arm having a frictional surface slidingly engaged with the pulley inner surface, a spring fixed to the pulley, the spring intermittently engageable with the radially extending arm, an elastomeric member disposed between the spring and the radially extending arm; and the radially extending arm intermittently engageable with a pulley stop.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention has to do with locks, and relates especially to locks that require two keys for their operation, as is typically true, for example, in locks for safe deposit boxes and similar applications.
Locks of that general type ordinarily require a correspondingly large number of parts, making them relatively expensive to manufacture and service. In particular, if each key drives a distinct and independent set of tumblers the number of moving parts in the lock may approach twice that required in a single-key lock.
Many presently available dual-key locks employ two sets of pivoted tumblers each of which is independently operated by one of the keys. In such locks the radial length of the tumblers is severely limited by the conventional size of the lock housing. That shorter tumbler length increases the angle through which the tumbler must swing for any given bit height of the key, increasing correspondingly the range of angles at which the key engages the various tumblers in bolt-releasing position. That increased range of working angles between key and tumbler tends to reduce accuracy, limiting the number of different key configurations that can be provided with a given number of tumblers.
It has also been proposed to construct a dual key lock with a single stack of floating tumblers which are engaged by the two keys at spaced positions along their length. That concept is disclosed, with a variety of auxiliary features, in a series of patents by Roy T. Ellis, of which U.S. Pat. No. 3,127,759 is illustrative. However, the tumblers of Ellis' single stack are of complex shape and require numerous auxiliary levers and secondary tumblers for their operation. Moreover, the gate positions on each tumbler's primary working edge must take account of the bit height of both the keys. Thus, if the key combination is to be changed by replacing one set of tumblers by a set corresponding to a new pair of keys, a very large number of different tumbler forms must be kept on hand. If key A has six bit heights, for example, and key B has eight, the possible key combinations may involve 48 different positions of the primary gate, all of which must be available if all possible combinations are to be provided. In contrast, the more conventional locks with two independent stacks of tumblers involve only six gate configurations for one tumbler and eight for the other, or a total of 14 species. The increased complexity and expense of the Ellis lock in changing keys is evident.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides dual key locks which combine remarkable simplicity of basic form with improved accuracy of operation. The locks of the invention typically require no more parts, aside from the obvious need for two key noses, than the most rudimentary of single key locks having the same number of teeth per key. The structure of the invention permits the keys to position the lock tumblers with such accuracy that it becomes feasible to provide an increased number of bit heights within a given range of radial key dimensions. Thus a larger number of combinations can be provided with a given number of key teeth; or a given number of combinations can be made available with fewer key teeth, and hence with correspondingly fewer tumblers, leading to further reduction of the number of parts without loss of performance.
The invention further facilitates required key changes when that is done by replacing one or more tumblers by tumblers having different gate positions. The invention reduces the number of different tumblers that must be kept on hand for carrying out such changes. Both the capital and labor cost of key changes are thereby reduced.
Those and other advantages of the invention are attained by employing a single stack of elongated tumblers which are movable laterally primarily in translation and have two gated transverse blocking edges adapted to cooperate with respective fence lugs, typically mounted directly on the bolt. The tumblers are laterally positioned by dual keys working at longitudinally spaced points of the tumblers, which points are in principle directly opposite the respective blocking edges. That simple configuration has been found to permit each key to act accurately and reliably to bring the corresponding gates into alignment to release the corresponding fence lug entirely independently of the action of the other key.
A further aspect of the present invention is the discovery that the described independence of function of the two keys permits the tumblers to be designed with such symmetry that each one can be installed in the lock in up to four alternative orientations, each such orientation corresponding to a different combination of bit heights on the two keys. More particularly, symmetry of each tumbler with respect to a transverse axis permits two alternative working orientations which are derivable from each other by inverting the tumbler about that axis; and two-fold tumbler symmetry, with respect to a transverse axis and also with respect to a longitudinal axis, permits four alternative working orientations for each tumbler. Since each tumbler can provide four different key combinations, the number of different tumbler configurations required to make up any desired number of combinations is typically reduced by a factor of four.
In preferred form of the invention each tumbler comprises a generally rectangular flat plate with a transverse guide slot midway of its length and two transverse control slots equally spaced on opposite sides of the guide slot. Both side edges of both control slots are provided with one or more gates at selected positions. A fixed pin is slidably received in the guide slots of all tumblers, and two fence lugs carried by the bolt project through the respective control slots.
The control and guide slots, and the laterally facing tumbler edges which are engaged by the two keys, are formed symmetrically with respect to both a transverse and a longitudinal axis. Each tumbler can then be received in the lock with either end forward, and with either face directed toward the cover plate. The gates, however, are normally positioned unsymmetrically. Inversion of a tumbler then typically alters the effective bit height for both keys in two, or in all four, tumbler orientations.
It will be noted that in any tumbler orientation the locking action for the forward key is always controlled by the gate on an inner slot edge, that is, the edge nearest the center of the tumbler; while the active gate for the rearward key is on an outer slot edge. Thus, distinct gates cooperate with the forward and rearward keys. Inversion of a tumbler about a longitudinal axis causes the effective position of each active gate to be measured from the opposite tumbler side edge.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
A full understanding of the invention, and of its further ojbects and advantages, will be had from the following description of certain illustrative manners of carrying it out. The particulars of that description, and of the accompanying drawings which form part of it, are intended only as illustration and not as a limitation upon the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective representing an illustrative lock in accordance with the invention in its normal orientation;
FIGS. 2 and 3 are vertical transverse sections on the respective lines 2--2 and 3--3 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section on the lines 4--4 of FIGS. 2 and 3 and showing the lock in released position;
FIG. 5 is a section corresponding to FIG. 4 and showing the lock in locked position;
FIG. 6 is a vertical transverse section on the line 6--6 of FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective corresponding generally to the preceding figures;
FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective representing four alternative orientations which a typical tumbler may assume in a lock;
FIG. 9 is a schematic plan representing a typical tumbler in its four alternative orientations, and indicating illustrative gate positions;
FIG. 10 is a schematic plan representing a modified form of tumbler; providing distinct tumblers for each key nose;
FIG. 11 is a schematic plan representing a modification of FIG. 10; and
FIG. 12 is a schematic plan representing a modified form of single tumbler.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The illustrative lock shown in the drawings comprises the case 20, typically of conventional construction and size, with the cover plate 22. The lock is ordinarily installed in the orientation shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 with the outer face of cover plate 22 against the inside surface of the door that is to be locked, not explicitly shown. The mounting posts at the case corners facilitate such mounting, as by screws in the bores 21. Since the cover plate is retained securely when the lock is so mounted, only the single screw 23 is typically provided for holding the cover when the lock is removed, as for servicing. For clarity of description, the lock will be assumed to be in its normal orientation, but without implying any limitation to such use.
Case 20 includes the rectangular back wall 24, the upper and lower side walls 25 and 26, the rearward end wall 27 and the forward end wall 28. The bolt 30 is mounted in case 20 for sliding movement along the bolt axis 31, which is parallel to the length of the case. The bolt is typically guided in that movement by case back wall 24, by sliding fit of its thickened forward working end 32 in the rectangular aperture 29 in case front wall 28, and by the pin 34 which projects rigidly and perpendicularly from case back wall 24 and is slidingly received in the longitudinal slot 36 in the bolt. That slot defines the range of bolt movement between its forward, projecting locking position (FIGS. 1 and 5) and its rearward, retracted releasing position (FIG. 4). The bolt is provided with the two upstanding fence lugs 38 and 39, which are typically of like form and are spaced longitudinally of the bolt forward and rearward, respectively, of guide slot 36.
The tumblers 40 are slidably mounted in a stack between the flat upper face of bolt 30 and the inner face of cover plate 22. They are guided in their sliding movement by pin 34, which is slidingly received in the transverse slot 42 of each tumbler. Guide slot 42 is perpendicular to the longitudinal tumbler axis 41 and positively defines the position of each tumbler along bolt axis 31. The tumblers also have two transverse control slots 44 and 45, equally spaced forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, from guide slot 42. In locking position of the bolt, as in FIG. 5, tumbler control slots 44 and 45 freely receive the respective bolt fence lugs 38 and 39, normally blocking bolt movement toward releasing position.
The two key noses 50 and 52 are mounted in case 20 laterally adjacent the lower edge of the tumbler stack and mutually spaced longitudinally of the tumblers. The key noses typically comprise the core members 54 and 56, which are journaled on the key axes 51 and 53 in aligned bores in back wall 24 and in cover plate 22. The cores project through the cover plate within the protective collars 65, and are thus accessible from outside the door on which the lock is mounted. The cores are slotted in conventional manner to receive their respective keys 55 and 57, which are rotatable with the nose cores between generally horizontal bolt locking positions (FIG. 5) and generally vertical bolt releasing positions (FIG. 4).
Tumblers 40 are individually biased laterally toward the two key noses by spring means which may be of any suitable type. As illustratively shown, the unitary spring 60 comprises the base portion 62, typically mounted between top case wall 25 and the fixed post 61, and the individual spring arms 64. Each arm is provided with a tumbler-engaging finger structure 66 of U-section adapted to embrace the upper edge of a tumbler approximately midway of its length, where the tumbler plate is thinned by coining 67, as shown in FIG. 5. The resulting downward force on each tumbler maintains its lower edge in light contact with both key noses when the keys are in bolt locking positions. As the keys are rotated clockwise to bolt releasing positions each tumbler is lifted by the key teeth to a definite elevated position, slightly compressing the respective spring arms.
Control slots 44 and 45 of each tumbler are provided on their rearward edges 46 and 47 with gate apertures 48 and 49. Those gates are just wide enough to receive the fence lugs, and are positioned laterally of each tumbler in accordance with the various bit heights of the corresponding key. Clockwise rotation of both keys to their bolt releasing positions thus lifts each of the tumblers a distance just sufficient to align the gates with the respective fence lugs 38 and 39. The bolt is thus released from the blocking action of the tumblers at both the forward and rearward control slots 44 and 45.
One of the two key noses, shown typically as forward nose 50, is provided with a lever 70 for engaging the bolt faces 71 and 72 to drive bolt 30 between its locking and releasing positions in response to rotation of the associated key. As illustratively shown, the bolt releasing face 71 is engaged by lever 70 as key 55 reaches its bolt releasing position. Continued key rotation through a small angle drives the bolt to its fully retracted position, defined by pin 34. Counterclockwise key rotation then causes lever 70 to engage the second bolt drive face 72, driving the bolt forward. The lever slips off face 72 as the bolt reaches its locking position. The key is then free to return to its normal locked position, with lever 70 opposite the arcuate clearance surface 73 on the bolt, positively blocking the latter from release movement.
The key nose with which bolt drive lever 70 is associated is normally operated to releasing position only after the other key nose has been so operated. Thus, in the present instance, key 57 is operated first. Its bolt locking and releasing positions are defined by the respective stops 75 and 76. Bolt locking and releasing positions of key 55 are defined via lever 70 by the stop 78 and by the action of pin 34 in limiting bolt movement.
The longitudinal positions of the two key noses along bolt axis 31 are such that the respective keys engage driving surfaces on the lower tumbler edges at points approximately opposite the respective tumbler control slots 44 and 45. Stating the preferred relation more precisely, each key axis 51 is directly in line with the normal position of the rearward, or active, edge of the associated control slot 44 or 45. The point of contact of each key on the lower tumbler edge when in bolt releasing position is then also approximately aligned with that active slot edge. A slight deviation from that latter relation may be caused by inclination of the tumbler when the bit height is greater for one key than for the other, as illustrated in FIG. 4. However, such inclination is in general as likely to be in one direction as the other, and its maximum value is limited by the relatively wide separation of the two key noses so that in practice its effect is completely negligible.
The defined relative location of the key noses has the important result that rotation of each key to bolt releasing position aligns the corresponding tumbler gates independently of any action by the other key. Thus, not only is the bolt fully released by operation of both keys, but operation of either key alone completes the releasing action corresponding to that key, and that action is not disturbed by later operation of the other key.
That independence of action by the two keys may be visualized more precisely from the detailed nature of the tumbler movement when one key is operated. The resulting level change at the operated key causes movement that is limited by support of the tumbler on the stationary key and by guiding action of pin 34 in tumbler guide slot 42. The resulting tumbler movement is rotation about a center of rotation which shifts with the movement but is always close to the gated edge for the stationary key. The precise locus of the center of rotation at each moment is the intersection of a line perpendicular to slot 42 at pin 34 and a line perpendicular to the tumbler edge at the stationary key. Since in practice that center of rotation is always virtually at the control slot edge, the tumbler rotation due to one key can cause no appreciable variation in gate level at the other key, thus insuring that each key functions independently of the other.
An advantage of meeting that independence condition strictly is that the lock operates in an unusually precise manner with a linear one-to-one relationship between the various bit heights of each key and the spacings of the corresponding gates along the blocking edge of the tumbler. Thus, the spacing between gate positions is directly equal to the difference between the corresponding key bit heights. That equality has been found to improve the accuracy of operation sufficiently to permit a reduction of the bit intervals. A given available range of bit heights can then accommodate a larger number of distinct bit levels and provide a correspondingly increased number of key combinations.
The attainment of independent key operation with a single set of floating tumblers further permits each tumbler to assume multiple orientations in the lock, providing a correspondingly increased number of key combinations. That concept is illustrated in FIG. 9 for a tumbler with typical gate configuration. Four different tumbler orientations are designated A, B, C and D. The tumbler can be shifted from one orientation to an adjacent one by inverting it about the horizontal axis 90 or the vertical axis 92. A typical configuration of gates is shown, selected from six equally spaced gate positions for the left key, designated 1 to 6, and three gate positions for the right key, designated a, b and c. The total range of available gate positions is indicated by the lines 94 and 95 for the respective keys, considerably exaggerated for clarity of illustration. The provision of more bit positions for one key than the other may be useful, for example, when many different subscribers' keys are required, but only a smaller number of guard keys.
As seen in tumbler orientation A, the two inner gates 96 and 97, which relate to the left key, appear at positions 1 and 3, whereas the two outer gates 98 and 99 which relate to the right key, appear at positions b and c. The operative gates for the respective left and right keys are then gate 96 in position 1 and gate 99 in position c. Those positions are typically marked on the face of the tumbler in some definite relation to the respective gates, as indicated in the figure.
Inversion of the tumbler about axis 90 to orientation B shifts each of the operative gates 96 and 99 to the opposite side of the longitudinal axis of tumbler symmetry 41. The gates then assume the respective positions 6 and a, which are also marked on the tumbler face. Inversion of the tumbler about vertical axis 92 from A to C, on the other hand, moves gates 97 and 98 into operative positions for the left and right keys, respectively. The gate positions at C are thus 3 for the left key and b for the right key. The further inversion from C to D shifts operative gate 97 for the left key to the symmetrically opposite position 4; but gate 98 for the right key, being directly on axis 41, is not altered by the inversion. Orientation D can obviously be reached via B as well as via C; or directly from A by tumbler rotation in its plane about the point 91.
The invariance of gate 98 with respect to inversion between positions C and D has practical value when it is desired to change the left key without changing the right one, as when a subscribers' key is changed and a bank control key is held constant, for example. Such invariance for a gate position off the axis of symmetry may be obtained by providing the blocking edge with dual gates, symmetrically placed with respect to the axis.
With each tumbler marked clearly with the combination of key bit levels to which it corresponds in each of its four orientations, as typically indicated in FIG. 9, for example, the proper tumblers can readily be selected from a suitable stock to assemble a tumbler stack corresponding to any given pair of keys; or keys can readily be cut to correspond to any given stack of tumblers. For servicing any required number of different key combinations, the invention thus reduces by a factor of approximately four the number of distinct varieties of tumbler that must be kept in stock.
Some of the above described advantages of the invention are attainable with separate tumblers for each key. Although more items are then required for servicing a given number of key combinations, the length of each tumbler is typically reduced, which may sometimes be advantageous. As indicated illustratively in FIGS. 10 and 11, each tumbler of the previous embodiment may be replaced by two generally identical units, with suitable means for guiding their lateral movement. The tumbler units are all generally identical in shape, each one having two distinct gated blocking edges with the gates typically positioned differently along the two edges. Each tumbler is then usable alternatively for cooperating with either one of the two key noses, one blocking edge being adapted for cooperating with one key nose, the other blocking edge with the other key nose.
In FIG. 10 each of the smaller tumblers 140 is guided by the pair of fixed pins 106 or 108 working in a single transverse tumbler guide slot 110. Since the movement is then strictly translational, the key noses 50a and 52a may be placed at any convenient longitudinal position, preferably close enough to the guide slots to avoid any tendency of the guide pins to bind. A single spring element 160 may be arranged to bias all the tumblers if desired.
In FIG. 11 the two stacks of tumblers 140a are pivoted on the respective fixed pins 112 and 114 for swinging movement in response to the bias springs 60b and the respective key noses 50b and 52b. Control slots 144a are preferably curved approximately about the pivot pin as a center, and the keys engage driving edges on the tumblers that are preferably approximately radial with respect to the pivots. Both tumbler stacks can be pivoted on the same pin, if preferred, with suitable provision for interleaving, as by thinning the tumblers near the pivot.
In both FIGS. 10 and 11 the tumblers are preferably symmetrical with respect to individual longitudinal axes 141 or 141a. They can then be inverted about that axis; and are also insertable in the lock in position to control either one of the two fence lugs. Thus each tumbler is usable in four alternative orientations, and is typically labeled, as in the general manner previously described, to indicate the gate positions that are active in each orientation. As in the first described embodiment lug 38 is controlled only by the gates 196 on the inner side edge of the control slot, lug 39 only by the gates 198 on the outer side edge.
FIG. 12 illustrates somewhat schematically a further modification of the first described embodiment. As before, tumblers 40a are guided by the fixed pin 34 working in the transverse guide slots 42, and the bolt movement is controlled by the fence lugs 38 and 39 which cooperate with gated blocking edges on the tumblers. The gates, however, in the present structure may be described as being formed in the outer and inner edges of the two transverse bridge portions 100 and 102 of the tumblers, rather than in the inner and outer side edges of the respective control slots 44 and 45, as before. From another viewpoint, the gates 49, which control fence lug 39, are formed in the outer side edges 47 of the control slots, as before, but the gates 48a for lug 38 are formed in the end edges 104 of the tumbler. Thus the inner side edges 46 of the control slots are free of their previous function, and can be given any convenient shape.
Key noses for tumblers 40a are preferably placed in the previously described relation to their respective gated blocking edges; that is, with key nose 50c in line with the forward or lefthand end 104 of the tumbler, and with key nose 52c in line with the rearward or righthand side edge 47 of control slot 45. The lateral sides of the tumblers may be extended beyond the drive edges 104, as indicated typically at 105, to insure adequate driving contact for the key in nose 50c. Operation of the modified tumblers is then in principle as has been described. The embodiments of FIGS. 10 and 11 may be modified in corresponding manner, as will be evident without specific illustration.
It will be understood that many further modifications may be made in the illustrative configurations described herein without departing from the proper scope of the invention. For example, it is sometimes convenient to make all required key changes by inverting certain ones of the tumblers, retaining other tumblers always in a predetermined orientation in the lock. Under that condition the tumblers that are not inverted may be of somewhat simplified form, as by omitting gates and accurately finished driving edges that are not needed. Under that condition, the tumblers that are not to be inverted are preferably arranged at the bottom of the stack.
As a further example, it is sometimes useful to provide single key locks which are interchangeable with dual key locks of a particular design. The structures already described are well adapted for that purpose. To convert the present locks to single key operation key nose 52 and its collar 65 (FIG. 1) can be omitted, for example, together with fence lug 39. In embodiments based on FIGS. 10 and 11 the rearward tumbler stack is also omitted. In the forms of the invention with a single tumbler stack, a fixed pin is typically substituted for the omitted nose core to support all the tumblers at their rearward ends at any selected uniform level. Operation of a key in nose 50 then aligns the corresponding gates correctly, unblocking fence lug 38 and releasing the bolt despite absence of the second key.
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The invention provides an improved lock configuration by which a dual key lock can operate efficiently and conveniently with a single stack of tumblers. That configuration permits more accurate positioning of the tumblers upon key operation, whereby a larger number of key combinations can generally be accommodated. Also, the individual tumblers of the invention are typically receivable in the lock in a plurality of alternative orientations in which their gates assume different functions. That difference of function may constitute a change of effective gate position with respect to the same key, or may shift cooperation with the two keys from one pair of gates to another. That aspect of the invention is useful in facilitating key changes, especially in locks designed for safe deposit and similar service.
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CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present invention claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a-d) to CN 201510700119.4, filed Oct. 26, 2015.
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a technical field of textile, and more particularly to method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Arts
[0005] Weft knitting produces a knitted fabric using one or several yarns simultaneously and laterally along a fabric to form loops which interlock with each other longitudinally by needles, wherein weft knitting is divided into the single-sided and the double-sided. Weft knitted fabric forming process is divided into three stages: yarn feeding, wherein yarn is fed into a forming area of a weft knitting machine with a constant tension; knitting, wherein the yarn in the forming area is processed with different loop-forming methods to convert into the weft knitted fabrics; and up-taking, wherein the weft knitted fabrics are reeled from the loop-forming area to form a fabric package with a certain tension. The weft knitting machine commonly comprises circular arranged knitting needles, which is called a circular machine or known as a knitting machine using crochet hooks or latch needles as the key parts of loop-forming and cone yarn as the feeding material. The cone yarn is formed by winding bobbin yarns onto a cone package. Modern winding process is characterized by high speed and automation, wherein an automatic winding speed can be up to 1200 m/min, leading to serious problems of yarn during winding. In practice, it is noticed that after automatic winding, bobbin yarn total hair amount are increased by 3-6 times, wherein the hairs equal to or longer than 4 mm present higher increase amplitudes. Cone yarn with excessive long hairs will lower resultant fabric appearance due to entanglements of hairs to form yarn imperfections such as thick places, neps. Furthermore, long hairs of cone yarn are easily wrapped or wounded onto the knitting needles to break or even destruct them, reducing knitting efficiency dramatically.
[0006] For solving the above problems caused by yarn hairiness, current solutions are: improving weft knitting yarn hairiness property, and improving weft knitting processes as well as technologies; wherein improvement of weft knitting yarn hairiness property mainly solves the problem that yarn hairiness is over-increased during winding. Although it is possible to solve the problem by singeing of yarn, the singeing of yarn leads to fiber material losses and wastes. With rising costs of fiber materials, manufacturers are not likely to adapt singeing. Winding process optimization can partly suppress yarn hairiness increase by grinding and waxing, but employing hairiness reducing devices during winding are considered effective methods to solve yarn hairiness problems. There are a lot of relevant patents for the effective methods; however they are with similar principles, wherein in a winding machine, a forward-moving yarn is just roughly treated by one-step false-twisting method or one-step vortex rotating method; in such a manner that yarn hairs can be partly reduced by re-winding them onto yarn surface. Representatively, European patent EP 0,866,014 A2, published Sep. 23, 1998, Auto Winder, discloses mechanical action of false-twisting disc during winding, which forces free protruding fiber ends to return to a yarn body along a twisting direction, so as to reduce the yarn hairiness. U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,588 B1, published Apr. 23, 2002, Hairiness controlling device and winder, discloses mechanical action of false-twisting disc during winding, which forces free protruding fiber ends to return to a yarn body along a twisting direction, so as to reduce the yarn hairiness. European patent EP 1,146,002 A2, published Oct. 17, 2001, Automatic winder and hairiness suppressing device, discloses using an air vortex tube, so as to generate rotary airflow to re-wrap hairiness onto yarn body to reduce hairiness. In principle, airflow alone is not able to provide a sufficient wrapping effect. European patent EP 1,013,803 A2, published Jun. 28, 2000, Hairiness suppressing device for automatic winder , also discloses using an air vortex tube, which rotates yarn with airflow. When the rotating yarn passes through a regulating plate, fibers wrap onto a yarn body, in order to reduce hairiness. Chinese patent ZL99127507.1, published Jul. 5, 2000, Hairiness suppressing device for automatic winder , also discloses using an air vortex tube, which rotates yarn with airflow. However, two controller are provided at both ends of the device for ensuring yarn rotates along an axis thereof and causes a false-twisting effect, improving efficiency of reducing yarn hairiness. In addition, Chinese patent ZL 200710052991.8, published Jan. 23, 2008, Method to reduce yarn hairiness , discloses false-twisting ironing method, which attaches yarn and wraps yarn hairiness during winding; however a very small amount of the hairiness is involved into a yarn body, so as to reduce the yarn hairiness during winding and knitting. Above methods and devices for reducing yarn hairiness have common functions: only suppressing the amount increase of yarn hairs by flattening or re-wrapping them onto yarn stem via airflow or mechanical force. Practical applications show that the flattened or re-wrapped hairiness has three defects: firstly, the hairiness flattening or re-wrapping direction is opposite to the moving direction of yarn as it is winded to form a cone package, then the flattened or re-wrapped hairiness is directional to the moving of yarn as it is un-winded from the cone package during weft-knitting process, in which the flattened or re-wrapped hairiness is extremely easy to be scraped or bounced out; secondly, throughout flattening or re-wrapping process, the yarn hairiness lacks of positive and effective nipping force to improve the surface structure compactness, leading to a loose flattened or wrapped structure which facilitates the hairiness reformation of yarn enduring friction or rubbing again; thirdly, yarn imperfections such as neps and thick places are largely increased due to the fiber concentrations when the hairiness roughly flattened or re-wrapped onto yarn stem. To solve the problem, Chinese Patent ZL 201410204503.0, published May 15, 2014, Method for improving yarn surface structure with positively holding, discloses wrapping yarn surface hairiness tightly on a yarn stem by a negative pressure holding. It is proved by practice that the method is able to effectively improve the hair-wrapping tightness. However, technical problems are still not solved such as the hairiness wrapping direction opposite to the yarn moving direction, yarn imperfection formation due to the rough wrapping hairiness concentrations. Moreover, above conventional hairiness reduction devices are not able to solve the hairiness problem at a room temperature for spun yarn of highly resilient fibers (such as wool fibers) and high stiffness fibers (such as hemp fibers).
[0007] Currently, there are two main methods for improving weft knitting techniques and technologies. Firstly, weft knitting processes simply employ the yarn hairiness reduction techniques and devices which are commonly used for winding process. However, many fatal technical problems still exist: the hairiness reduction techniques and devices only partly decrease yarn hairiness, instead of eliminating yarn hairiness thoroughly; the remaining hair ends in knitted fabric facilitates the decreased hairiness greatly protruding out of fabric surface again after repeated washing, scouring and bleaching. Disappointedly, after introducing and grafting the above techniques, such problems as hairiness wrapping direction, thorough hairiness elimination and yarn increased imperfections due to fiber concentration are still unsolved. Thus, ultra-smooth weft knitting using hairy cone yarn is impossible by simply employing the hairiness reducing techniques and devices for yarn winding processes. The second method is using weft knitting processes optimization to improve the weft-knitting quality such as reducing friction by waxing, eliminating static electricity by wetting, and setting yarn by steaming; Obviously, the second method only improves the weft knitting from aspects such as friction reduction, heat setting, and static electricity elimination, which is not directly aimed to solve those weft knitting problems caused by the yarn surface hairiness, and is not able to achieve the ultra-smooth weft knitting production of hairy yarn.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0008] For overcoming the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn, which effectively processes the hairy yarn with ultra-smooth treatment during weft kitting, so as to achieve ultra-smooth weft knitted fabric. Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides:
[0009] a method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn, comprising steps of: inputting yarn, each of which is unwound from a cone yarn package on a yarn creel of each yarn knitting mechanism of a weft knitting machine, into a yarn guider of a knitting mechanism through a yarn feeder, then guiding the yarn into a knitting area of the knitting mechanism through the yarn guider; converting the yarn into a knitted fabric with a looping unit in the knitting area; and guiding the knitted fabric out of the knitting area with a rotary up-taking unit and winding the knitted fabric onto a cloth roller for weft knitting. According to the present invention, on each yarn knitting mechanism of the weft knitting machine, an ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus is placed between the yarn feeder and the yarn guider, which comprises a holder, a false-twisting device, a heating device, a directional hairiness stretching device, and a vortex hair-wrapping device, wherein the false-twisting device and the vortex hair-wrapping device are respectively placed at two ends on a top surface of the holder; the false-twisting device is mounded on the holder by a first supporter and a second supporter, and the vortex hair-wrapping device is mounted on the holder by a connector; a yarn inlet of the vortex hair-wrapping device is corresponding to a second yarn guiding wheel in a false-twisting hollow shaft of the false-twisting device; the yarn inlet and the false-twisting hollow shaft are on a same plane perpendicular to the holder top surface; the heating device is provided between the vortex hair-wrapping device and the false-twisting device, and an ironing face of the heating device is parallel to the false-twisting hollow shaft of the false-twisting device while the ironing face is 0-5 mm higher than a highest horizontal section of a wheel slot bottom of the second yarn guiding wheel; the ironing face is at a same level as a yarn passage at a center of a hot cone static spindle of the vortex hair-wrapping device; an elastic yarn presser is provided on the ironing face of the heating device; the directional hairiness stretching device is provided at a side of the heating device and is in a tube form; the directional hairiness stretching device is mounted on the top surface of the holder through a thermal isolation holder and is along a direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the false-twisting hollow shaft; a gas outlet of the directional hairiness stretching device is rectangle and is at a same level as the ironing face of the heating device; a plane, where the gas outlet is, is parallel to and is 1-6 mm away from an axis of the false-twisting hollow shaft. A tensioned yarn Y is delivering forward from the yarn feeder with a speed of 1-6 m/min. Under the guidance by a yarn input hook, the tensioned yarn Y enters the yarn passage of the false-twisting hollow shaft which rapidly rotates in a false-twisting device; outputting from the yarn passage, the yarn Y reaches the ironing face of the heating device under a S-shape path guidance by a wheel slot of a first yarn guiding wheel and a wheel slot of the second yarn guiding wheel in the false-twisting hollow shaft; the yarn Y is tightly pressed against the ironing face by the elastic yarn presser thereon; the false-twisting hollow shaft, which rapidly rotates, drives the wheel slot of the first yarn guiding wheel and the wheel slot of the second yarn guiding wheel to false-twist the tensioned yarn Y in a rotary holding form, so as to rotate the stem S of the tensioned yarn Y moving on the ironing face; meanwhile, the gas outlet of the directional hairiness stretching device directionally ejects a steam flow towards the tensioned yarn Y along a direction which forms a angle ranged from 20 to 60 degrees with the tensioned yarn Y forward direction, then hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y is directionally stretched by the steam flow in a direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the tensioned yarn Y forward direction; the hairiness H after being directionally stretched is thoroughly softened on the ironing face, in such a manner that the softened hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y, pre-wraps reversely to yarn forward direction and orderly on the rotating stem S of the tensioned yarn Y. Meanwhile, the tensioned yarn Y with pre-wrapped hairiness is heat-set on the ironing face; after outputting from the ironing face, the yarn with heat-set pre-wrapped hairiness enters a vortex chamber of the vortex hair-wrapping device through the yarn inlet, and the rest un-wrapped hairiness H on the tensioned yarn Y surface is tightly pressed against a surface of the hot cone static spindle by a vortex airflow in the vortex chamber; the rest un-wrapped hairiness H is held by outer hot surface friction of the cone shaped static spindle and meanwhile blew to rotate by the vortex airflow as well as dragged forwards by an up-taken force, in such a manner that the rest un-wrapped hairiness H reversely wraps on the stem S of the tensioned yarn Y along a direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the yarn forward direction, so as to effectively stabilize and fix the heat-set pre-wrapped hairiness H formed on the ironing face; then the tensioned yarn Y with all its hairiness H completely wrapped and fixed onto the stem S, obtains an ultra-smooth surface structure. Outputting through a yarn output wheel, the ultra-smooth yarn enters into the knitting area under the guidance of the yarn guider of the knitting mechanism; and the ultra-smooth yarn is converted into the knitted fabric with ultra-smooth appearance by the looping unit in the knitting area; the knitted fabric is dragged out of the knitting area by the up-taking unit and is wound onto the cloth roller for the weft knitting.
[0010] By adopting above technical solutions, compared with conventional technologies, a method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn of the present invention have advantages as follows. According to the present invention, the first yarn guiding wheel and the second yarn guiding wheel in the false-twisting hollow shaft of the false-twisting device are used for false-twisting the yarn in a rotary holding form, so as to rotate the yarn stem as it passing on the ironing face. Meanwhile, the gas outlet of the directional hairiness stretching device directionally ejects the steam flow towards the yarn along the direction which forms a angle ranged from 20 to 60 degrees with the moving direction of the yarn, then the hairiness of the yarn is directionally stretched by the steam flow in the direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the moving direction of the yarn, so as to reversely and orderly pre-wrap on the rotating stem of the yarn, which avoids the yarn imperfection occurrence as the hairiness randomly or vertically wrapping onto the yarn stem. Therefore, the problem is effectively solved that yarn imperfections such as thick places and neps are greatly increased due to fiber concentration for the roughly re-wrapped hairiness. The steam flow ejected from a steam pipe outlet thoroughly softens the hairiness of the yarn passing on the ironing face, wherein highly resilient fibers (such as wool fibers) and high stiffness fibers (such as hemp and ramie fibers) are effectively softened, so as to eliminate stubborn surface hairiness of wool yarn, ramie yarn, etc., by effectively and tightly wrapping on the yarn body, which solves a problem that conventional hairiness reduction devices are not able to eliminate hairiness of the wool yarn and the ramie yarn at a room temperature. The vortex hair-wrapping device holds the rest hairiness of the yarn with hot surface friction for wrapping treatment, so as to reversely wrap all the hairiness onto the yarn stem, wherein the wrapping direction is opposite to the yarn moving direction for increasing difficulty of pulling out the re-wrapped hairiness during weft knitting; meanwhile effectively stabilizing and fixing the hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y which reversely and orderly pre-wraps during a period on the ironing face, to achieve a complete yarn hairiness wrapping progressively. The whole hairiness wrapping process involves hydrothermal softening and heat setting, which effectively stabilizes and fixes the ultra-smooth yarn structure, and substantially increases tightness and fastness of hairiness wrapping, so as to solve a problem that the loose structure of yarn surface hair-wrapping for conventional hairiness reduction technologies leads to a large amount of hairiness reproduction due to friction. In addition, hydrothermal softened yarn is dragged by a tension, in such a manner that fibers of an inner structure is relatively stretched for improving fiber straightness, degree of orientation, and yarn strength. According to the present invention, a hydrothermal temperature and a rotation speed of the false-twisting hollow shaft are adjustable, which satisfies different yarn post-treatment requirements. According to the present invention, the ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus is reasonably constructed and easily operated, which is conducive to a wide application.
[0011] These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates principles of the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 2 is a sketch view of an ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus of the present invention.
[0014] FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2 .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0015] Referring to the drawings, a method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn according to the present invention is further illustrated.
[0016] Referring to FIGS. 1-3 , a method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn are provided, comprising steps of: inputting yarn, each of which is unwound from a cone yarn package placed on a yarn creel of each yarn knitting mechanism of a weft knitting machine, into a yarn guider of a knitting mechanism through a yarn feeder, then guiding the yarn into a knitting area of the knitting mechanism through the yarn guider; converting the yarn into a knitted fabric with a looping unit in the knitting area; and guiding the knitted fabric out of the knitting area with a rotary up-taking unit and winding onto a cloth roller for weft knitting. According to the present invention, on each yarn knitting mechanism of the weft knitting machine, an ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus is placed between the yarn feeder and the yarn guider, which comprises a holder 17 , a false-twisting device, a heating device, a directional hairiness stretching device 19 , and a vortex hair-wrapping device, wherein the false-twisting device and the vortex hair-wrapping device are respectively placed at two ends on a top surface of the holder 17 . The false-twisting device comprises a first supporter 4 , a second supporter 7 , a false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , a first belt guiding shaft 1 , a second belt guiding shaft 5 , a first yarn guiding wheel 8 , and a second yarn guiding wheel 9 , wherein the false-twisting device is mounded on the holder 17 by the first supporter 4 and the second supporter 7 which are parallel to each other. The false-twisting hollow shaft 3 comprises a shaft body and a yarn passage, wherein a belt slot is provided at a middle of the shaft body; the first belt guiding shaft 1 and the second belt guiding shaft 5 are symmetrically provided at a bottom left and a bottom right of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 in parallel; belt slots are provided at middles of the first belt guiding shaft 1 and the second belt guiding shaft 5 ; a middle of the shaft body of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , the first belt guiding shaft 1 , and the second belt guiding shaft 5 are provided between the first supporter 4 and the second supporter 7 ; a first end and a second end of the shaft body of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 respectively extend out of external sides of the second supporter 7 and the first supporter 4 ; the first yarn guiding wheel 8 and the second yarn guiding yarn 9 , which are placed along an axis of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , are provided at the first end which extends out of the external side of the second supporter 7 ; a wheel slot of the first yarn guiding wheel 8 , a wheel slot of the second yarn guiding wheel 9 and the axis of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 are at a same plane. The vortex hair-wrapping device is provided in front of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , comprising a vortex tube 12 , a hot cone static spindle 14 and a connector 22 , wherein the vortex hair-wrapping device is mounted on the holder 17 by the connector 22 ; an end of the vortex tube 12 faces the second yarn guiding wheel 9 of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , and an yarn inlet 11 is provided on the vertex tube 12 ; the hot cone static spindle 14 is fixedly inserted into another end of the vortex tube 12 and forms a vortex chamber with an inner wall of the vortex tube 12 ; an upper portion of the hot cone static spindle 14 is conical and is provided at a top portion inside the vortex chamber; a yarn tunnel is provided on the hot cone static spindle 14 along an axis thereof, and 3-4 air inlets are symmetrically provided along a radial direction of a tube wall of the vortex tube 12 corresponding to an inlet of the yarn tunnel; a lower portion of the hot cone static spindle 14 is cylindrical and is provided at a bottom portion of the vortex chamber; an air outlet 18 is provided on a tube wall of the vortex tube 12 corresponding to the bottom portion of the vortex chamber; a heating sheet 13 is provided inside a wall of the hot cone static spindle 14 ; the yarn inlet 11 of the vortex hair-wrapping device is corresponding to the second yarn guiding wheel 9 in the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 of the false-twisting device; the yarn inlet 11 and the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 are on a same plane perpendicular to the holder 17 top surface. The heating device is provided between the vortex hair-wrapping device and the false-twisting device, wherein the heating device is mounded on the top surface of the holder 17 ; the heating device may be an ironing spinning device disclosed in Chinese patent application CN 201245734, published May. 27, 2009, or other forms; an ironing face of the heating device is parallel to the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 of the false-twisting device while the ironing face is 0-5 mm higher than a highest horizontal section of a wheel slot bottom of the second yarn guiding wheel 9 in the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , wherein the higher the ironing face is than the highest horizontal section of the wheel slot bottom of the second yarn guiding wheel 9 , the larger a positive contacting pressure of the yarn on the ironing face will be, and the tighter the hairiness will be when wrapping on the stem of the yarn; the ironing face is at a same level as the yarn passage at a center of the hot cone static spindle 14 of the vortex hair-wrapping device. An elastic yarn presser 10 is provided on the ironing face of the heating device. The directional hairiness stretching device 19 is provided at a side of the heating device and is in a tube form, wherein the directional hairiness stretching device 19 is mounted on the top surface of the holder 17 through a thermal isolation holder 21 and is along a direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 ; a gas outlet 20 of the directional hairiness stretching device 19 is rectangle and is at a same level as the ironing face of the heating device; a plane, where the gas outlet 20 is, is parallel to and is 1-6 mm away from the axis of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , wherein the closer the plane is from the axis of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , the larger a directional ejecting force of the gas outlet 20 will be for stretching the hairiness of the yarn between the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 and ironing face. A yarn input hook 2 is provided at an input end of the ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus, wherein a center of the yarn input hook 2 and the axis of the false-twisting hollow shaft 2 are at a same line. A yarn output wheel 15 is provide at an output end of the ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus, wherein the yarn output wheel 15 is mounted on the top surface of the holder 17 by a supporting post 16 ; a highest horizontal section of a wheel slot bottom of the yarn output wheel 15 is at a same level as the yarn passage at the center of the hot cone static spindle 14 . The false-twisting device is externally connected to a driving belt 6 through the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , the first belt guiding shaft 1 , and the second belt guiding shaft 5 , so as to drive the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 to rotate rapidly. The directional hairiness stretching device 19 is externally connected to a high-temperature high-pressure steam generator through a steam pipe, so as to eject a steam flow from the gas outlet 20 , wherein a temperature of the steam flow is 100-150° C. The heating device is externally connected to a power source through wires, for raising a temperature of the ironing face to 100-170° C. The vortex hair-wrapping device is externally connected to a compressed air hose through the air inlet of the vortex tube 12 , so as to guide a high-speed high-pressure airflow into the vortex chamber for forming vortex airflow which is outputted through the air outlet 18 of the vortex tube 12 . The high-temperature high-pressure steam can be also guided into the vortex chamber for forming the vortex airflow, wherein a temperature of the vortex airflow is 100-150° C. The tensioned yarn Y is delivering forward from the yarn feeder with a speed of 1-6 m/min; under the guidance of a yarn input hook 2 , the tensioned yarn Y enters the yarn passage of the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 which rapidly rotates in a false-twisting device; outputting from the yarn passage, the tensioned yarn Y reaches the ironing face of the heating device under a S-shape path guidance by the wheel slot of the first yarn guiding wheel 8 and the wheel slot of the second yarn guiding wheel 9 in the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 ; the tensioned yarn Y is tightly pressed against the ironing face by the elastic yarn presser 10 thereon; the false-twisting hollow shaft 3 , which rapidly rotates, drives the wheel slot of the first yarn guiding wheel 8 and the wheel slot of the second yarn guiding wheel 9 to false-twist the tensioned yarn Y in a rotary holding form, so as to rotate the tensioned yarn Y stem S moving on the ironing face; meanwhile, the gas outlet 20 of the directional hairiness stretching device 19 directionally ejects the steam flow towards the tensioned yarn Y along a direction which forms a angle ranged from 20 to 60 degrees with the tensioned yarn Y forward direction, then hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y is directionally stretched by the steam flow in a direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the tensioned yarn Y forward direction; the hairiness H after being directionally stretched is thoroughly softened on the ironing face for making the hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y easier to bend and wrap, in such a manner that the softened hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y, pre-wraps reversely to yarn forward direction and orderly on the rotary stem S of the tensioned yarn Y with a holding effect of the ironing face. As a result, the yarn imperfection occurrence is avoided as the hairiness randomly or vertically wrapping onto the yarn stem. Therefore, the problem is effectively solved that yarn imperfections such as thick places and neps are greatly increased due to fiber concentration for the hairiness wrapping. Then the tensioned yarn Y is processed with heat setting on the ironing face; after the heat setting, the tensioned yarn Y with heat-set pre-wrapped yarn hairiness is passed though the ironing face and enters a vortex chamber of the vortex hair-wrapping device through the yarn inlet 11 , and the rest un-wrapped hairiness H on a surface of the tensioned yarn Y is tightly pressed against a surface of the hot cone static spindle 14 by a vortex airflow in the vortex chamber; the rest un-wrapped hairiness H is held by hot surface friction of the hot cone static spindle 14 and meanwhile blew to rotate by the vortex airflow as well as dragged forwards by an up-taken force, in such a manner that the rest un-wrapped hairiness H of the tensioned yarn Y reversely wraps on the stem S of the tensioned yarn Y along a direction which forms a angle ranged from 120 to 160 degrees with the moving direction of the tensioned yarn Y. The wrapping direction is opposite to the yarn moving direction, increasing difficulty of pulling out the wrapped hairiness during weft knitting; meanwhile the wrapped hairiness by the vortex hair-wrapping device effectively stabilizing and fixing the pre-wrapped hairiness H on the ironing face. Thus, all hairiness H of the tensed yarn Y completely wrapped and fixed onto the stem S, which forms an ultra-smooth surface structure of yarn. The whole hairiness wrapping process involves hydrothermal softening and heat setting, which effectively stabilizes and fixes the surface structure of ultra-smooth yarn, and substantially increases tightness and fastness of hairiness wrapping, so as to solve the problem of loose hair-wrapping structure in conventional hairiness reducing technologies, and the problem of a large amount of yarn hairs reproducing due to friction. The tensioned yarn Y, whose hairiness H is processed with complete wrapping and fixing, obtains an ultra-smooth surface structure. In addition, hydrothermal softened yarn is dragged by a tension, in such a manner that fibers of an inner structure is relatively stretched for improving fiber straightness, degree of orientation, and yarn strength. Outputting through the yarn output wheel 15 , the yarn Y with stable ultra-smooth structure and improved strength enters the yarn guider of the knitting mechanism. Under the guidance of the yarn guider, the tensioned yarn Y with stable ultra-smooth surface structure is fed into the knitting area of the knitting mechanism; and the yarn is converted into the knitted fabric with the looping unit in the knitting area; the knitted fabric is dragged out of the knitting area with the rotary up-taking unit and is wound onto the cloth roller for the weft knitting.
[0017] It is proved in practice that compared with conventional weft knitting, the weft knitted fabric according to the present invention, which is produced with ring spun 50 English counts cotton knitting yarn, has an ultra-smooth surface (wherein a yarn feeding speed of the yarn feeder is 1.2 m/min). Furthermore, wear-resistance of the fabric is improved by 2 grades.
[0018] 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.
[0019] It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. Its 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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Method and apparatus for producing ultra-smooth knitted fabric using hairy yarn belong to a technical field of textile. Yarn is false-twisted in a rotary holding form, for rotating the yarn stem on an ironing face. Meanwhile, a directional hairiness stretching device directionally ejects a steam flow towards the yarn, for reversely and orderly pre-wrapping hairiness on the rotating stem of the yarn, which avoids the yarn imperfection occurrence as the hairiness randomly or vertically wrapping onto the yarn stem. A vortex hair-wrapping device is used, so as to reversely wrap all the rest hairiness on the stem of the yarn, wherein a wrapping direction is opposite to a yarn moving direction for increasing difficulty of pulling out the wrapped hairiness during weft knitting, and increasing hair-wrapping tightness and fastness. The ultra-smooth yarn treatment apparatus is reasonably constructed and easily operated, which facilitates wide application.
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisional application No. 62/232,069, filed 24-Sep.-2015, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to ice and cooling packs and, more particularly, an elongated cooling gel band for selectively securing to various body parts, and embodying methods for using the same for preventing overheating and treating injuries.
[0003] Traditional cooling devices, such as ice packs, are not adapted and dimensioned for selectively securing to various portions of a user's body in the form of an elongated band. Current cooling devices, such as wet-and-snap cooling fabrics (cloths) are ineffective, typically providing less than ten minutes of cooling, before requiring rewetting.
[0004] As can be seen, there is a need for an elongated cooling gel band for selectively securing to various body parts, embodying methods for preventing overheating by being disposed in close contact with major arteries in the head and/or neck so as to reduce the individual's body temperature, which in turn reduces sweating and provides overall cooling comfort. There is also a need for an elongated cooling gel band for treating injuries. The elongated band can be easily wrapped and tied around an injured joint or area so that the area is completely encircled. Standard gel packs must be secured with tape and only treat one side of the injured area. Moreover, the elongated cooling gel bands permit greater mobility for the patient during treatment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] In all aspects of the present invention, an elongated cooling gel band includes an elongated tubing filled with a cooling gel, wherein the cooling gel is adapted to be pliable when frozen. The elongated cooling gel band includes the elongated tubing with a length to width ratio of approximately 12:1 for use as a head/neck band and a length to width ratio of up to 26:1 for injury-treatment bands and further includes a covering sleeve dimensioned to slidably receive the entire elongated tubing. The elongated cooling gel band may further include a cooperating connector disposed on each of the opposing ends of the covering sleeve, or may be extend substantially longer than the tubing length so that the opposing ends of the covering sleeve may be tied together. Moreover, the covering sleeve provides an opening for inserting and removing the elongated tubing. The cooling gel tubing is filled with a formula made up of water, salt, and a starch.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown in use;
[0007] FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown in use;
[0008] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown in use;
[0009] FIG. 4 is a detailed perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown in use;
[0010] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown in use as an injury-treatment band;
[0011] FIG. 6 is a detailed perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown in use as an injury-treatment band;
[0012] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown with a detachable connector;
[0013] FIG. 8 is a section detail view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, taken along line 8 - 8 of FIG. 7 ;
[0014] FIG. 9 is a section detail view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, taken along line 9 - 9 of FIG. 7 ;
[0015] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, shown with a knot tie; and
[0016] FIG. 11 is a section detail view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, illustrating an opening in the covering sleeve for insertion/removal of gel tubing.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
[0018] Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides an elongated gel band providing a gel-filled tubing sheathed by a covering sleeve, wherein the covering sleeve is adapted to removably connect opposing ends thereof so that the gel tubing, which is adapted to bend around various body parts, can provide cooling temperatures for 45 to 60 minutes.
[0019] Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 11 , the present invention may include an elongated gel band assembly 10 . The elongated gel band assembly 10 may include a gel formula 16 , a gel tubing 14 and a covering sleeve 12 .
[0020] The gel formula 16 may have freezing and/or cooling properties as a function of its chemical composition. The chemical composition may be adapted to include at least water, salt and a starch or other chemicals so as to maintain a first predetermined viscosity at room temperature and a second predetermined viscosity when subject to temperatures around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Moreover, the chemical composition may be adapted so that the second predetermined viscosity provides a non-rigid pliable physical property so as to facility its physical conformity to the curves and contours of different human wearers. The chemical composition may be adapted so that the gel formula 16 maintains temperatures around 32-50 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 45 to 60 minutes.
[0021] The gel tubing 14 may be made of flexible, temperature-insulating material(s) that can be bent and twisted repeatedly without failure even when subject to sub-freezing temperatures, such as various plasticized materials, like polycarbonate.
[0022] The covering sleeve 12 may be made of any comfortable, resilient material, such as cotton or blends thereof, so as to be repeatedly stretched without failure, even when subject to freezing temperatures. The covering sleeve 12 extends from a first end 42 to a second end 44 , forming a lumen throughout. One end, for example the second end 44 , may be sealed.
[0023] A connector or connectors 40 may be disposed near each end 42 , 44 . The connector(s) 40 , in certain embodiments, may include a clip 18 secured within a fixed clip loop 20 connected to the first end 42 , wherein a hook-and-loop fastener 24 may be disposed on the opposing second end 44 so that the second end can be formed into an adjustable loop 22 for removably securing the opposing clip 18 , as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9 . It should be understood that the connector(s), in selective embodiments, may be any fastener known in the art for fastening or removably securing one object to another including, for example, standard push-button snaps, hook-and-loop-type fasteners, adhesive substances, combinations thereof, and the like. It should also be that the connector(s) 40 may be configured in any array and/or number, so long as the connector(s) 40 function in accordance with the present invention as described herein.
[0024] In certain embodiments, the gel tubing 14 lumen may be approximately 2 inches in diameter and have a length of about 24 inches, providing an elongated shape at approximately a 12:1 ratio of length to width. The lumen of the covering sleeve may be dimensioned and adapted to slidably receive the gel tubing 14 substantially filed with gel formula 16 . In certain embodiments, the first end 42 and the second end 44 of the covering sleeve 12 each extends substantially beyond the length of the gel tubing, so that said first and second ends 44 may be tied together, forming a knot 32 so as to secure it to a user's body part, as illustrated in FIG. 10 .
[0025] A process of making the present invention may include the following. A maker may cut an approximately 2 inch, 6 mil gel tubing 14 to fit a desired head or body part size and seal one end. Then the maker may inject the gel formula 16 into the gel tubing 14 until it's about 80% full, leaving about, in certain embodiments, 4 inches of empty space in certain embodiments. Then the maker may squeeze the air from that space within the lumen, and seal the open end. Knead the gel tubing 14 until the gel formula 16 is evenly distributed within the gel tubing 14 .
[0026] In certain embodiments, the long injection or extrusion valve may inject the gel formula 16 into the gel tubing 14 from bottom to top so as to avoid getting any gel formula 16 on the last 2 inches of the open gel tubing 14 . The gel tubing 14 end must be cleaned and dry for proper sealing.
[0027] Then the maker may make a fabric by sewing one side to produce the tubular covering sleeve 12 that may be approximately 2½ inches wide and 23 to 26 inches in length (depending on desired head size). Dry-Fit fabric works well for this. Reverse (turn) the covering sleeve 12 so that the stitches are on the inside. Sew or clamp a connector(s) 40 to one or both of the first and second ends 42 , 44 of the covering sleeve 12 .
[0028] The maker may slide the gel-formula- 16 -filled gel tubing 14 through an opening 34 provided by the covering sleeve 12 , whereby the gel tubing 14 can be removed later and the band can be washed.
[0029] A method of using the present invention may include the following. The elongated gel band assembly 10 disclosed above may be provided. To use the product, a user may simply place the elongated gel band assembly 10 or the gel-formula- 16 -filled gel tubing 14 in a freezer overnight. The gel formula 16 in the gel tubing 14 freezes completely but remains soft and pliable. If several elongated gel bands 10 are kept in a cooler, they can provide many hours of comfort and protection. The gel-formula- 16 -filled gel tubing 14 slides neatly into the covering sleeve 12 and stays there through multiple uses. The band can be refrozen and reused hundreds of times. The gel tubing 14 can be easily removed for washing of the covering sleeve 12 .
[0030] The frozen elongated gel band assembly 10 remains soft/pliable and can be tied or buckled (via the connector 40 ) around the head 28 , the neck, or the knee 30 of a user 26 , as illustrated in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5 , respectively. The frozen band can also be used by tying or buckling it around the neck. Essentially, via the elongated gel band assembly 10 , the frozen gel formula 16 encircling the head prevents forehead sweat and cooling the entire body, whereby the covering sleeve may absorb or wick any perspiration of condensation. The cooling effects of one elongated gel band assembly 10 may last 45 to 60 minutes, whereby multiple elongated gel bands 10 stored in a cooler can give all-day relief and protection. As a result, the elongated gel band assembly 10 can replace or assist the cooling and moistening fans seen on football fields. They can also keep sweat out of the eyes of athletes and make the hottest days comfortable.
[0031] It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0032] Any elongated gel band can be effectively used for both general cooling and injury treatment, but doctors, athletic trainers, and personal trainers will want longer bands (36″ to 50″) in order to completely encircle injured knees, elbows, shoulders, hips, and other areas of the body.
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An elongated gel band is provided. The elongated gel band is dimensioned so that a gel-filled tubing sheathed by a covering sleeve is adapted to bend around various body parts, providing cooling temperatures for 45 to 60 minutes. The covering sleeve is adapted to removably connect opposing ends thereof so as to secure the elongated gel band in a desired place. The elongated gel band can be made in various lengths to accommodate various head or neck sizes. Extra long elongated gel bands (36″ to 50″) will provide immediate and highly effective treatment for injuries to various body parts, especially joints.
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